Easter Gifts – 1 Corinthians 15:12-28

by Pastor | April 17, 2022

YouTube video sermon

1 Corinthians 15:12-28

Let me invite you to take your copy of God’s Word and turn with me to 1 Corinthians 15. We’re in a little series that I’m calling Passages from Paul – just a few key verses from some of Paul’s epistles. Week before last we considered Philippians 3, where Paul says that he wants to know Christ and the power of His resurrection. This week, we’re going consider six (6) gifts of that resurrection.

All of us would probably agree that we associate presents with Christmas, rather than Easter. In fact, I was in a conversation with a small group of guys this week and one of the men asked the group: Why do you suppose Christians gets more excited about Christmas, and are more attentive to the Christmas season than they are to Easter? And, of course, one of the answers had to do with the commercialization and secularization of Christmas and the tradition of giving and receiving gifts.

And I think that’s partly true – the anticipation and excitement of giving and receiving gifts is partly, if not mostly, what drives our emotional connection with Christmas. But according to Paul, Easter and the resurrection give us six (6) gifts that should stir the same excitement and anticipation that we get at Christmas. So, perhaps I should’ve titled today’s sermon Easter Presents or Gifts at Easter. Either way, let’s give our attention to the reading of God’s Word (shall we):

12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. 15 We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that He raised Christ, whom He did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

20 But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, then at His coming those who belong to Christ. 24 Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. 25 For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27 For “God has put all things in subjection under His feet.” But when it says, “all things are put in subjection,” it is plain that He is excepted who put all things in subjection under Him. 28 When all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subjected to Him who put all things in subjection under Him, that God may be all in all.

“Our Father and our God, as we take these precious moments to consider the truth of your Holy Word, we ask that what we know not, You teach us; that what we have not, You give to us; and that what we are not, You would make us. For your Son’s sake. Amen.”

Paul says there are six things that would be in shambles if Christ did not rise from the dead. Then verse 20 reverses the whole paragraph: “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead.” So, let’s look at those six things.

Verse 14: “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain.” But since Christ has been raised, our preaching is not in vain.
Verse 14: “. . . and your faith is in vain.” But since Christ has been raised, our faith is not in vain.
Verse 15: If Christ has not been raised, “we are found to be misrepresenting God [literally: we are false witnesses], because we testified of God that He raised Christ.” But since Christ has been raised, the apostles are not false witnesses about the work of God.
Verse 17: “If Christ has not been raised then your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.” But since Christ has been raised, we’re not still in our sins.
Verse 18: If Christ has not been raised, then “those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.” But since Christ has been raised, the dead in Christ have not perished.
Verse 19: If Christ has not been raised, then “we are of all men most to be pitied.” But since Christ has been raised, we are not to be pitied.

Those are the six gifts. But the way that Paul expresses them, they appear in the negative. For example, “If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.” That’s kind of negative. So, I’m going to switch the order around this time, because when the resurrection starts meeting our needs, there’s a kind of pattern that fits our experience.

First, from verse 17, instead of saying negatively that we are not still in our sins, we can say positively that because of the resurrection we are forgiven for our sins.

We Are Forgiven For Our Sins

I put this first as the basic need and longing of our hearts because if God holds our sins against us – and all of us have sinned! – then there’s no hope of anything else from God. The foundation for every other blessing from God is that God won’t hold our sins against us. Everything hangs on forgiveness.

But how’s the resurrection connected to our forgiveness? Isn’t it the death of Jesus that takes away our sin, because He bore our sins and took our judgment (1 Corinthians 15:3)? Yes. But the connection with the resurrection is very important. Romans 4:25 puts it like this. “He was handed over [to death] on account of our transgressions, and He was raised on account of our justification.”

This means that by Jesus’ death He paid the penalty for our sins and purchased our acquittal, our justification, our forgiveness. And since the achievement of the cross was so complete and the work of our justification so decisive, God raised Jesus from the dead to validate our forgiveness and to vindicate His Son’s righteousness and to celebrate the work of justification.

Everybody in this room this morning needs forgiveness, and deep inside, even when we don’t think about it, we long for it. We long to be accepted by God. We fear the alienation of our guilt. But Paul says, because Christ rose from the dead, we are no longer in our sins. This is the first and most basic longing of our hearts.

Second, from verse 14, instead of saying negatively that our faith is not in vain, we can say positively that because of the resurrection our faith is well-founded. Or, to put it more personally, because of the resurrection of Jesus there’s someone we can trust absolutely.

Our Faith Is Well-Founded

I believe that deep in the heart of every person is a longing for someone that you can count on through thick and thin. Someone who is absolutely trustworthy. Someone who, if you put your faith in Him, it won’t be in vain. He won’t let you down. He’ll always be there. We want it because we were made for it. God put man and woman in the garden of Eden to glorify God by trusting Him for everything they needed.

That need has never changed, in spite of sin. And now that we are no longer in our sins, this longing too is satisfied by the resurrection of Jesus. The death of Jesus proves His love for us, and the resurrection proves His power over every enemy of life. And so, there’s someone you can count on. Someone absolutely trustworthy. Someone who will never let you down. Jesus is alive to be trusted. Paul, in Galatians, writes, “The life I live I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). Our faith is well-founded because of the resurrection.

Third, from verse 15, instead of saying negatively that the apostles are not false witnesses about the work of God, we can say positively that because of the resurrection the apostles preach what is true.

The Apostles Preach What Is True

Our young people are being taught (and many of us were taught) that there is no absolute truth. Absolute truth is something that’s true all the time and everywhere, whether people know it or like it. It’s a rare teenager today who has the guts and fortitude to say, for example, in a high school health class that premarital sex is wrong – wrong for everybody, not just those who think it’s wrong. Homosexual activity is wrong – wrong for everybody and not just those who think it’s wrong.

Without the conviction that there are some absolute truths for all times and peoples, then the only end will be anarchy where everyone does what is right in his own eyes. Therefore, the need for truth is a deep need of the human soul and human society. And Jesus came into the world and boldly proclaimed, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). And then He rose from the dead to validate His claim.

The resurrection proved Jesus to be absolutely true. And if you attend a church that doesn’t preach Christ, a church that denies either His humanity or His deity, a church that is skeptical about the resurrection, then they aren’t preaching the truth. Find a church that makes much about Jesus; and not just the “love your neighbor” and “turn the other cheek” part of His teaching, but the “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” and “‘I never knew you. Away from Me, you evildoers” parts too (Mark 12:31; Matthew 5:39; 4:17; 7:23). The resurrection proves what’s true.

Fourth and fifth, from verse 19, instead of saying negatively that we are not to be pitied, we can say positively that because of the resurrection we are to be envied.

We Are To Be Envied

Our preaching, our ministry, our obedience is not in vain – it’s full, meaningful, valid, valuable, significant. If Christ is not raised, then living for Him, doing what He says, following His will . . . it’s all a great delusion. We should be pitied like insane people who live by hallucinations. But since He has been raised, and since He is alive, and He does, indeed, reign as King forever, all our obedience, all our love, all our self-denial is not just not-to-be-pitied, but is positively enviable. In his second letter to the Corinthians Church, Paul writes, “This slight momentary affliction is working for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Corinthians 4:17).

There is – in every one of us – the longing that our lives be spent well, that our lives count for something, that they have significance, that they’re usefulness, that we don’t come to the end of our days and say, it was all in vain, it was all worthless, it was just empty and pointless, useless and insignificant and pitiable.

Paul knows this. That’s why he ends this whole chapter on the resurrection (v. 58) with the words: “Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” Not in vain! That’s the longing of our lives. O Lord, let me not come to my grave and say, “I’ve wasted it!” It does not have to be that way. Christ is risen and everything done in His name, by His strength, and for His glory is not in vain. Our faith is enviable. It’s significant. It’s valuable. It’s eternal.

Finally, there is the longing that we shall live forever in joy. That we not come to an empty end after a full and valuable life. That we not become a zero, or worse, damned.

Those Who Have Fallen Asleep Are Alive

And so, Paul says in verse 18 that because Christ is raised from the dead, then those who have fallen asleep in Him – those who have died in faith – have not perished. Or positively, they’re alive. They live forevermore. They live the way Christ lives. They’ve entered into the joy of their Master.

Former pastor, author, theologian, and a Greenville, SC son John Piper was famous for saying that “God and His Son are most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.” And to make that true, God raised Jesus from the dead to reign forevermore. And in raising Jesus from the dead:

  • God gave us forgiveness and glorified Jesus as the all-sufficient forgiver;
  • God gave us a Friend to count on and glorified Jesus as utterly reliable;
  • God gave us guidance and unchanging truth and glorified Jesus as the absolute foundation for truth and righteousness;
  • God gave us a life that is not pitiable but enviable,
  • God gave us a ministry that is not in vain but fruitful, and glorified Jesus as the source and goal of all life and ministry;
  • God gave us everlasting joy that will not be ended by death, and glorified Jesus as the author of life, the victor over death, and the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

Therefore, I urge you with all my heart this morning to lift up your heart and say with the choirs on earth and in heaven: “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain and hath redeemed us to God by His blood to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. Amen” (Revelation 5:12, paraphrased).

“We bow down before you, our good God, asking that you will write your Word in our hearts, that we may find ourselves trusting in nothing and no one other than Your beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name we pray. Amen.”