Resurrection...without it, there is no story to be told

1 Corinthians 15

New International Version (NIV)

The Resurrection of Christ

15 Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. ² By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.

³ For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance^[a]: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, ⁴ that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, ⁵ and that he appeared to Cephas,^[b] and then to the Twelve. ⁶ After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. ⁷ Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, ⁸ and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
⁹ For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. ¹⁰ But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. ¹¹ Whether, then, it is I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.

The Resurrection of the Dead

¹² But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? ¹³ If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. ¹⁴ And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. ¹⁵ More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. ¹⁶ For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. ¹⁷ And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. ¹⁸ Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. ¹⁹ If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.
²⁰ But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. ²¹ For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. ²² For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. ²³ But each in turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. ²⁴ Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, 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 he “has put everything under his feet.”^[c] Now when it says that “everything” has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. ²⁸ When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.
²⁹ Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them? ³⁰ And as for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? ³¹ I face death every day—yes, just as surely as I boast about you in Christ Jesus our Lord. ³² If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus with no more than human hopes, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised,

“Let us eat and drink,
    for tomorrow we die.”^[d]

³³ Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.”^{[e] 34} Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame.

The Gift of Obstacles

     I googled Morris Convert on the internet of Christianity.  The information I found gives me insight into his character as a Christian.  Under his name is a short paragraph:  Upon finding our Lord, Morris became exceedingly inspired to glorify the Lord.  Exploding from the room, as if shot from a cannon, he hit the wall opposite the doorway.  Smarting from the shock of impact, he turned and walked alone down the hallway returning to his customary routine in life.  The impact had knocked the inspiration from him.

     Sound familiar?  I have seen the powerful sight of people completely overcome by the spirit at the moment of conversion.  They explode into the world excited and out of control in their new found belief and its inspirational energy.  The first obstacle they hit…it's over…kaput.

 

     As Christians, we have an obligation to take charge of new converts.  There is a need to help them understand this initial burst of spiritual energy will level out.  We must impart to them the need to develop spiritual discipline.  New Christians must be educated in the word and prayer mixed with counseling about the obstacles and failures common to the life of Christians.  They need to understand that even after a certain expertise from their education is developed, they will most likely experience obstacles and failures.  Converts must understand how important perseverance is in Christianity.

     My father drilled into my head as a young boy time after time, "Failures are the building blocks to success.  A man who states he has not failed is a liar.  A man that laughs at another man's failure is blind to his own."

     If a person living in the ancient world googled Moses, he would have found that Moses failed to convince Pharaoh time and time again before succeeding in freeing the Israelites.  The same can be seen in David's failure to gain Saul's trust on the road to becoming king.

      God trains us through failure.  He is attempting to train us to bounce back when we hit the obstacles.  Our Father wants us to gain knowledge and strength from each failure or obstacle.  He is teaching us perseverance.  He does not want highly excited and untrained servants sent on difficult missions.  That would be like sending unarmed soldiers into battle.

 

     Paul is a shining example of perseverance through many obstacles and failures.  For one, he was lowered by basket from a window to escape pursuers whose only desire was to kill him for his new found belief in Jesus.  Had he quit then, we would most likely have never known Christianity today as anything other than an ancient incident.

 

     Let us teach the newly converted brethren the important lesson that they should not and cannot do it alone.  They need to call upon the strength of the church family, prayer, and a faith that will grow and be strengthened from failure and obstacles to accomplish their missions.

 

     Let us teach them about the greatest example of perseverance…God, our Father.  He has shown divine (of course) perseverance in dealing with Israel, Christians, and people in general.

 

     When Christians are googled, wouldn't we want the paragraph to read like this: Upon finding our Lord, Morris became exceedingly inspired to glorify the Lord.  Exploding from the room, as if shot from a cannon, he hit the wall opposite the doorway.  Shrugging off the shock of impact, he rebounded with the help of his fellow Christians who counseled him on the most prudent manner in which to proceed.  With constant counseling mixed with prayer, education, and a growing faith, Morris persevered over the years and experienced great success in spreading the word and glorifying our Lord.

     The late Alan Redpath, longtime pastor at the historic Moody Church in Chicago, had this insight into a Christian: "The conversion of a soul is the miracle of a moment, the manufacture of a saint is the task of a lifetime." 

Forgotten?

     Have you ever thought you were too old, forgotten by the Lord?  Have you ever experienced tan  empty and purposeless feeling?  It's called feeling sorry for yourself.  If you have faith, you are never finished, never empty, never forgotten, and never without purpose.  Our Father does things in his own time...not ours.  Have hope.  Moses was eighty years old when our Father came to him with his primary mission in life.  Don't be sad.  Don't feel forgotten.  Your time is coming. The Bible is filled with these instances.

Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”

When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”

And Moses said, “Here I am.”

“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”

But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”

Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”

God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”

God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’

“This is my name forever,
    the name you shall call me
    from generation to generation.

“Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—appeared to me and said: I have watched over you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt. And I have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egypt into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—a land flowing with milk and honey.’

“The elders of Israel will listen to you. Then you and the elders are to go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God.’ But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him. So I will stretch out my hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that I will perform among them. After that, he will let you go.

“And I will make the Egyptians favorably disposed toward this people, so that when you leave you will not go empty-handed.

(Exodus 3:1-21 NIV)

Love If?

When asked what the greatest commandment is, Jesus replied, "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: 'love your neighbor as yourself.'  All the law and the prophets hang on these two commandments." (Matthew 22:37-40 NIV)

     With that in mind, why do we Christians love-if others?  Love if they meet our standards.  Love if they dress in a certain fashion.  Love if they live in a certain area.  Love if their life is a glorious path of pious dedication to our Lord (even though our lives rarely mirror that image).  Love if…on and on and on.  I certainly exhibit the love-if characteristic  on many occasions.

     We forget the filthy rags we were dressed in when our Father presented us to our Lord Jesus that first day.  His eyes burned a whole through those rags and saw the beautiful soul within and all the possibilities for good we possessed.  Yes, we were in such disarray.

 

     Let us remember the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians  13:4-7 NIV, "Love is patient, love is kind.  It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not rejoice in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."

     Is that not a splendid interpretation and extension of the first and second commandments?  We must keep the first and second commandments foremost in our hearts and actions for Jesus told us those were the commandments dearest to our Father's heart.  Along with those commands, we must use the interpretation by Paul as a how-to guide in carrying out those commands.  Practice these commands every hour of every day for practice makes perfect.  With that constant practice, these commands will become unthinking habit in our day to day lives.

     Surely, we will become a glory to our Father for making these so simple and yet so mighty commands habit.  Glory to our Father is the business we should be about as Christians.