First Presbyterian Church
647 East Market Street
Akron, Ohio 44304-1684
330-434-5183

Food for Thought: The God Who Raises the Dead

Easter 2005...

Dr. Mark Ruppert

I Corinthians 15:1-22

Years ago the communist lecturer paused before summing up. His large audience listened fearfully. ‘Therefore,’ he said, ‘there is no God; Jesus Christ never existed; there is no such thing as a Holy Spirit. The Church is an oppressive institution, and anyway it’s out of date. The future belongs to the State; and the State is in the hands of the Party.’

He was about to sit down when an old priest near the front stood up, ‘May I say two words?’ he asked. (It’s three in English, but he was of course speaking Russian.) The lecturer, disdainfully, gave him permission. He turned, looked out over the crowd, and shouted: ‘Christ is risen!’ Back came the roar of the people. ‘Christ is risen indeed!’ They had been saying it every Easter; why should they have stopped then?”

Where those Russians who responded to the priest statement just clinging to a possible hope? Was there any ounce of truth in the priest’s declaration? Maybe he had been disillusioned or maybe he had been drinking too much Russian vodka before he made his way to hear the communist lecturer. Or was what he said true and was the reply of the crowd true?

The world renowned Christian apologist, Ravi Zacharias, who travels all around the world speaking on the Christian faith and defending the faith in debate type settings on university campus and other arenas tells when, in 1966, Mao Tse Tung had pronounced his eulogy over Christianity in China. He said it was buried and finished, just like Jesus. China , he said, had broken the yoke of “imperialistic religions” and had destroyed even their memories. And yet he did not have any idea of the power of God. Today, Mao is dead and gone.

Today, it is estimated that the church in China is over, are you ready for this, 80 million and growing by leaps and bounds. When Ravi was in Beijing at the beginning of this year, the day after New Year’s he tells of riding around the city and seeing banners reading “Merry Christmas”. And in this country we hear less and less of Merry Christmas and more and more of “Happy Holidays.”

Today is Easter Sunday, 2005. Easter Sunday is the most triumphant and joyful day on the Christian Church calendar. For many people the day is symbolized with new clothes, bright colored flowers and magnificent Easter lilies. And yet, most of all, the wonder and the beauty of the Christ’s resurrection is found in the hope that pulsates our hearts and the hearts of believers everywhere as we say, “He is risen. He is risen indeed” and as we sing “Jesus Christ Is Risen Today.”

This morning’s passage is not a typical Easter passage but one I selected because it speaks of Christ’s resurrection and the fact that His resurrection is our only hope.

What seems to have happened in the Corinthian Church was that there was a question that surfaced over the resurrection of the dead. More than likely these Corinthians did not question Christ’s resurrection but the issue was whether or not Christians who died would be raised. Maybe there was a death in the church that had raised this discussion. Unfortunately for those Corinthian Christians they did not have the New Testament at that time because they could have turned to John 11:25 where these reassuring words of Jesus are found, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in my will never die.”

There could have been a number of sources behind the Corinthian question. There was the Greek train of thought that the body was a prison where the soul was incarcerated and that in death the soul that is good is freed. If you would have believed this any thought of a bodily resurrection would have been offensive. And there was the popular Jewish idea that resurrection meant that the present physical life would start all over again. And now speed forward better than 2,000 years to today where questions of the resurrection might come out of a humanistic mindset that insists that this life is all there is and there ain’t no more.

First, in verses 1-11 Paul addresses the fact that the Gospel is based on a HISTORIC event. His main argument was the fact that at the time he is writing I Corinthians there are still eyewitnesses to the resurrection.

While it is true that there where those eyewitnesses who had died since the great event, Paul estimated there were somewhere around 500 people living at the time he was writing who could verify the fact of the resurrection.

Second, Paul addresses the notion of there being no resurrection of the dead. So what does he say? His first conclusion is found in verse 13 where he says, “If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised.” There were those who could buy into the fact that Jesus was raised from the grave but doubted that others would. So Paul is reminding them that Christ was a human being too and that if people are not raised from the dead then Christ wasn’t raised. You see, all other conclusions were coming from this main point of the resurrection and Paul paints a very bleak and dark picture with no hope for a world without the resurrection.

Look at what he says in verse 14, “And if Christ has not been raised then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain.” Friends, if Jesus Christ did not resurrect from the dead, then there is no sense in me saying another word, as a matter of fact there is no reason for us to be here. Paul goes on to say that all preaching would be empty or even a false witness. There would be no forgiveness of sin, we would all face death without hope and we would all be anguishing in the thought that those loved ones of ours who have previously died would have perished forever.

Friends the bottom line is vs.14 and there is where we either have to buy into it or check out at the door. Either Jesus Christ was the Son of God or He was a terrific liar. Either Jesus Christ rose from the dead or the whole thing was one terrific hoax. What do you think? Did any of us meet Jesus on the road to Damascus like Paul did? NO.

But for those who have met Him by faith everything is riding on the fact that He is alive, right this very minute alive.

What I love about this passage is that Paul doesn’t leave it with the “what ifs”. He lays those thoughts aside and makes them irrelevant when he says in verse 20, “But in fact Christ has been raised form the dead…” He then brings up two popular analogies to show the effects of the resurrection of Christ when he speaks of the first fruits of the harvest in verse 20 and then in verse 21 the contrast between Adam and Christ.

Back in biblical times when the harvest was completed and before the grain could be sold at the market place or could even be eaten by the people, the firstfruits of the harvest had to be offered to God. From a general field the grain was harvested and specially prepared and then offered to God. Only after this had taken place could the grain be used for food.

And so Paul uses this concept to say that until God raised Jesus from the dead, no one had any chance, no one had any hope. But Christ’s resurrection became like the grain that had been offered up to God-it opened up the opportunity for eveyone, I mean everyone to have hope, resurrection hope. And Adam was the symbol of the old earthly order of things and Jesus Christ is the symbol of the new order and the new age that has come.

Think of it this way-when Jesus Christ rose from the dead God took sides that day. He sided for truth and not lies; He sided for good and not evil; He sided for love and not hate; He sided for life and not death.

Friends, if the message of Good Friday and Easter does not stir our hearts and our emotions then the tyrant has enslaved us.

If Easter is like just all the other Sundays then we have become like the song Joni Mitchell used to sing years ago in her song Big Yellow Taxi, “They Paved Paradise and Put Up a Parking Lot.” And the parking lot is covering our hearts.

The God Who Raises the Dead! He did it with Jesus and He will do it for us. With Easter we have hope, and hope depends on love and love became human and died, and is now alive for evermore. And because He lives all who believe in Him will live as well.

And so I say again: “Christ is Risen. And what is your response? Christ is risen indeed. Amen.

Key Points

Introduction: Years ago the communist lecturer paused before summing up. “Therefore, there is no God; Jesus never existed; there is no such thing as a Holy Spirit….”

In 1996 Mao Tse Tung pronounced his eulogy over Christianity in China

Today it is estimated the church in China is over ____ million and growing

I Corinthians 15:1-22

A question in the Corinthian church over the resurrection of the dead

A number of sources behind the question:

First in verses 1-11 Paul address the fact that the Gospel is based on a _________ event

Second, Paul address the notion of there being no resurrection of the dead vs. 13

Verse 14

Two popular analogies to show the effects of the resurrection of Christ

The first fruits of the harvest vs. 20

The contrast between Adam and Christ vs. 21

Conclusion: The God who raises the Dead! He did it with Jesus and He will do it for us.

Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)