Read with me from the Easy-to-Read Version, 1 Corinthians
15:12-19:
12 We tell everyone that Christ was raised from death.
So why do some of you say that people will not be raised from death? 13 If no
one will ever be raised from death, then Christ has never been raised. 14 And if Christ has never been raised, then the
message we tell is worth nothing. And your faith is worth nothing. 15 And we will also be guilty of lying about God,
because we have told people about him, saying that he raised Christ from death.
And if no one is raised from death, then God never raised Christ from death.
16 If those who have died are not raised, then
Christ has not been raised either. 17 And
if Christ has not been raised from death, then your faith is for nothing; you
are still guilty of your sins. 18 And
those in Christ who have already died are lost. 19 If
our hope in Christ is only for this life here on earth, then people should feel
more sorry for us than for anyone else.
Here Paul is very concerned about a matter in the Corinthian
church. I love that Paul does not back away from tough subject matters and
deals with the situation head on. As we
read this passage we can discern that some in the church were in doubt about
the resurrection of the dead, thus ultimately denying the resurrection of
Christ. Due to the nature of this dispute, Paul is compelled to provide a
strong answer to the church because the entire validity of their faith as
Christians was at stake!
As I think about this passage, my mind is drawn back to
the days of ole’ when I was a youngster in Wee Worship. We use to sing a song
entitled, ‘The Wise Man and The Foolish Man’. If you know that song, you know
that it talks about how the Wise man built his house upon the rock and the
Foolish man built his house upon the sand. As the song progresses we see that
as the rains of life came tumbling down, the wise man’s house on the rock stood
firm and the foolish man’s house on the sand went ‘splat’ (be sure and clap
your hands together to get the full effect!).
This favorite children’s song then finishes with a noteworthy ending by
saying; so build your life on the Lord Jesus Christ and the blessings will come
down!
While this little song is cute and fun to sing, the
lesson we find in it is foundational (pun intended) to our life in Christ and
parallel to Paul’s defense in 1 Corinthians. Everything that we are or have as
Christians is built upon the fact that we serve a Savior that was crucified and
is now ALIVE. If we deny this historical fact, then our religion is ultimately
worthless, and we are a people without any hope.
I do believe that God calls us to walk in faith about
certain matters in our Christian walk, even in regards to the life and death of
Jesus. However, I also, firmly believe that God has provided us with factual
confirmation as well, and while I may not be an actual eye witness to these
truths, I do trust and believe wholeheartedly that he has ordained these truths
through the ages. He has preserved the truth of Christ so that those of us who
come behind can have confidence and assurance in our Christian foundation.
For example, there are outside sources that site that Jesus
was a man who walked this earth, that he did outstanding things, and that he was
crucified and appeared on the third day. Flavius Josephus, a prominent Jewish
historian of the first century mentions Jesus in his monumental work
Antiquities of the Jews, written A.D. 90-95;
"Now, there was about this
time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man, for he was a doer of
wonderful works,—a teacher of such men as received the truth with pleasure. He
drew over to him both many of the Jews, and many of the Gentiles. He was [the]
Christ; and when Pilate, at the suggestion of the principal men amongst us, had
condemned him to the cross, those that loved him at the first did not forsake
him, for he appeared to them alive again the third day, as the divine prophets
had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him; and
the tribe of Christians, so named from him, are not extinct at this day".
Christian author Lee Strobel, began writing, A Case for the Christ as an atheist. As
he began interviewing and investigating the life and history of Jesus, he was remarkably
stunned, by the compiling and critical evidence regarding Jesus. I love this
quote Strobel makes; “In the end, after I had thoroughly investigated the
matter, I reached an unexpected conclusion: it would actually take more faith
to maintain my atheism than to become a follower of Jesus.”
Christianity starts with a foundation on Jesus Christ,
the risen Savior. If we do not have that building block firmly in place then
anything else we build upon will come crashing down with a splat! Throw out
those doubts and any faulty thinking that hinders you from standing firmly on the
truth of the resurrected Christ. Double check your foundation…make sure you are
building as a wise man should…and ask God to help you overcome any doubts
you may have and remember that old
gospel hymn; On Christ, the solid Rock, I stand; All other ground is sinking
sand…All other ground is sinking sand…
Blessings,
Christy Garison
SERVE Minister
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