And, lord, I pray that you would accompany your word with your power this morning. In the mighty name of Jesus, the resurrected king. Amen.
World War two ended on September 2, 1945, when Japan surrendered. But World War two did not end on that day for everyone. Second Lieutenant Hiroo Onoda was assigned before the end of the war with a small force to an island remote island in the Philippines to conduct guerrilla war operations against the allied forces there. The war ended on September 2, 1945, but he refused to believe it. He assumed that leaflets that were dropped over the jungle were fake. He assumed that messages even carried to him from his family members were fake. He assumed that pictures of where he grew up trying to show, like, hey, we're not the Americans. These are places you grew up in. He assumed those were fake as well. In the end, he continued running and hiding in the jungle for 10,000 days until he finally came home in 1974. Imagine that gap. September 2, 1945. All the way to 1974, he was out there. Everything in that span of time had changed. The world had changed. Japan had changed. The war was over. But he refused to believe it.
And similarly, today, everything in the world has changed. There are signs of it everywhere, but too many refuse to believe that it has changed. Too many are like Hiru Onoda, hiding in the jungle, refusing to come home. That is why Paul begins this last section with a reminder, a reminder, as it were, to. To everyone out in the jungle that it is safe to come home. He reminds him, he says in verse one, I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel that I preach to you. Paul assumes this is extraordinary. After 14 chapters of Gospel, after he had planted this church, after he had ministered to this church again, he assumes they need to hear the gospel again. Why? Because the gospel has changed everything. And yet this church refused to live like that was true. That was the problem. Paul assumes that this old, old story that they have become familiar with, if they truly understand it and grasp it, that it will have an effect on them, that it will impact their present and their future.
Look at the phrasing here. Just before we jump in in earnest, he says, the gospel I preach you which you received. So this is interesting. This is a received gospel. This is not a discovered gospel, not an invented themselves gospel, not a developed themselves gospel, but something that they came outside of them and came to them in the past in which you stand. Meaning the present is not just a past event, but one that has implications for where they are and how they stand in the present. And then third, by which you are being saved. This moves from the past and present to the future, from the heiress tense to the perfect tense, from the past to now, and extending on indefinitely into eternity by which you are being saved. Meaning that the accomplishment of God's salvation is present and ongoing and will, its effects will continue to be felt for all eternity.
And then he ends it. Look at verse two with a warning, if you hold fast unless you believed in vain. So the reason he's reminding them is that there is a danger. There's a danger that they could lose their grip on what he has passed on to them. There is a danger that all the christian activity that they have done so far will be in vain if they miss what is of first importance.
So here is what I'm gonna say is the controlling question of the text today. It is this. Has the reality that everything has changed, changed everything in your life? Has that reality that everything has changed because of Jesus death and resurrection changed everything in your life? Is it changing everything? Three points the apostle Paul makes that should change everything in our lives. The first one is that the gospel is utterly true, and that changes everything.
6 · Exposition of verses 3-8 establishes Paul's argument for the historical truth of the resurrection through listing eyewitnesses
Look at verse three again. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas and then did the twelve. And then he appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. And then he appeared to James and then to all the apostles. And last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. Now, why does Paul belabor this point? Remember, this wasn't written 2000 years distant from Jesus life. This was written within a couple of decades, likely of Jesus, or a few decades at least, of Jesus life and death. Why does he remind them this? Well, he wants to establish that Jesus life, death and resurrection are utterly true. Because look at verse 14. If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. Meaning that if you lose the trueness, if you lose the historicity of Jesus life, death and resurrection, then all of it is worthless.
7 · Apologetic argument for the historical truth of the resurrection through six lines of evidence: the reality of Jesus's death, eyewitness testimony (including women and unflattering apostle portrayals), the birth of the church in Jerusalem, martyrdom of the disciples, reliability of gospel manuscripts, and Paul's own conversion
So he establishes with a number of points the reality, again, of Jesus life, death and resurrection. I'm just going to run through these in rapid succession, but here are some of the proofs that Paul offers that these things are utterly true. Now, if you're not a christian or skeptical, or maybe you've grown up in a christian family and you've always kind of harbored doubts, like, I don't know about this stuff. This is where you lean in. Is what Paul is saying convincing? Here's what he says. Here's how you know it's utterly true. First, the reality of Jesus death and burial. So this is true and established by facts that every ancient source that is credible acknowledges that Jesus of Nazareth was a real man and that he really died in real Jerusalem. Okay, he's not a metaphorical guy. The gospels list by name, in fact, the name of a prominent man whose tomb Jesus used. Right. Even non Christians, like jewish historians like Josephus, acknowledged the reality of Jesus life and death. It really did happen. Second, the eyewitnesses, then of the resurrection. So Jesus really did die, and then, well, how do we know he really rose? Well, there are eyewitnesses of the resurrection. Now, here's what you have to understand about the eyewitnesses of the resurrection. While some jewish people believed, as you see in the gospels, in, quote, the resurrection, the resurrection was always everyone rising up at the end of time. There was no even concept of an individual resurrection that wouldn't have made any sense to either the jewish people or the roman people or the greek people. Nobody had a category. Like, if somebody was going to make up a claim, this was not an old legend that they could dig up and go, yeah, Lahiru, it was bizarre. And it was not only bizarre, the fact that he died an ignoble, shameful death and then rose and was resurrected was even more bizarre. It was the strangest possible story. And yet Paul is saying 500 people claim to have seen this risen, resurrected, Jesus Christ. Right. That is extraordinary. And then these eyewitnesses, even according to the material in the Gospels, are extremely credible. And here's just one detail of them. The Gospels carefully record that women first discovered the empty tomb and encountered Jesus. Now, that's a terrible way to start a religion. And here's why women were not considered reliable eyewitnesses in, in terms of law at that time, there's no reason to even include the women. There's no reason to give the earliest glimpses of Jesus to women unless it was actually historical. Even secular historians are like, yeah, that's probably the most compelling piece of evidence that something weird was going on, because nobody would claim women first discovered the body unless it was actually true. And you have all these weird, unflattering portrayals of the apostles during that time as well. So if you're starting a religion, you want the guy starting the religion to what, look good? Yes. You want them to look good. You want people to follow them. What are the gospels full of? The apostles looking terrible. They're trying to call down fire on people. They don't understand what's happening. They keep asking stupid questions. Peter's running away from a little girl. Mark, writer of one of the gospels, is running away naked so he doesn't get caught. Like, these are the least flattering portrayals of the founders of a religion ever. And so why would it be included if it had not happened? Third, the birth of the church in Jerusalem. It's historically established the church began in Jerusalem. And in fact, it began with preaching seven weeks after Jesus crucifixion. Now, here's why this is insane, because seven weeks after Jesus died, do you not think that the jewish authorities and roman authorities would have just gone back to the tomb, pulled the body out and been like, this guy? Nope. And put him back in? In fact, it records they immediately knew the body wasn't there. It was established. And, in fact, the fact that the body wasn't there, they led them to have to come up with a cover story like, well, maybe the disciples stole the body or whatever. Look, man, here's the reality. If you're. If you're trying to hide the founder of your religion's death, you don't start the religion in the place he died. It's easy to disprove. We could be like this guy. We saw him. He saw them take the body out, right? There's nothing that they can do. They cannot stop the spread of the gospel, even in the very place that Jesus died, right? That's the birth of the church in Jerusalem. Fourth, then you find the commitment unto death of the disciples. If the disciples had faked something, why would they continue to confess it in the face of persecution and death? We have clear accounts that many, if not all, the apostles suffered and died for their faith, much less many of the other christians at the time. So if the disciples, perpetuated some kind of weird hoax. Why would they die for it? Why couldn't they just accept, like, oh, well, Jesus. Like, as later scholars have done, Jesus kind of metaphorically rose. That's kind of what we're saying. We're not like, literally rose, but like sort of the metaphor of his life lives on in all of us. You know, like Gandhi and Martin Luther King Junior. Like, it just lives on. Look, you don't die for that. And yet the disciples did, again and again and again and again. Fifth, gospel records, are the gospel records themselves reliable? Well, here's what we know. The gospel records are reliable because of a number of reasons. I'm just gonna give you one or two or two points here. Most historical events are established by a one or two or a handful of sources. And often they are established a century or later after the fact. So even much of the books of history that we think we know about the greek era and the roman era those are sources way distant when we only have a handful of them. Yet when it comes to the gospels, we find something unique. We find immediate accounts of the events of Jesus written within years or a couple decades. And the reliability of the manuscripts from that point, from that early period is un. I'm not exaggerating this. It is unmatched in the ancient world. There are 5000 early greek copies of passages or whole sections of the New Testament, all still continuing to line up. Everybody freaks out every time a new scroll, it comes out like, oh, we found an old scroll. What, is it going to disprove Christianity? No, actually it's the same as the other God. You know, it just happens again and again. It's going to happen another decade or two. Watch. The manuscript evidence is voluminous to the point that we are assured that what Mark wrote or what Luke wrote we actually have with near certainty, which is unmatched in texts of this age. All right, last evidence. Paul the apostle himself. So Paul the apostle is saying, I know all of these things. I've met a bunch of these people. And also I myself was an eyewitness of this. And what's behind that is Paul saying, you know my story. You know that I persecuted the church. You know that I was highly regarded in the Judaism tradition of the Pharisees. You know that I'm a roman citizen. And you also know that I have given up all of that for this. Why? Why would he do that? Right? Nobody wakes up and goes, you know what, man? It's just too hard being famous and having a wealthy family and being a roman citizen. I gotta figure out something else to do with my life. Now. The only explanation is that Jesus of Nazareth, the risen king, knocked him off his horse and changed his life. Paul is the last piece of evidence.
8 · The logical conclusion of the resurrection's truth: if Jesus rose, everything he said is authoritative; if he didn't, his teachings don't matter
Now, I can say much more about that. I put a bunch of resources on our news page, on the website. If you go to crossword grace.net, comma, go to the news page. There's a bunch of resources especially want to recommend to you. There's a video from Lee Strobel, author of the Case for Christ, where he tells his story of being a skeptical investigative journalist trying to disprove his wife's faith. And then he ends up becoming a Christian. He tells a story at Passion city church just a few years ago. So good read that. It'll edify you, encourage you. But here's the point. Paul is reminding the Corinthians and the Lord is reminding us that this is utterly true, that the life, death and resurrection of Jesus are utterly true. A real man was really dead for three days and then got up and walked out of the tomb with a beating heart and breathing lungs. Again, that does not happen. And if it did happen, it changes everything. Tim Keller says this. If Jesus rose from the dead, then you have to accept all that he said. If he didn't rise from the dead, then why worry about any of what he said? He's saying, Christianity. You can't just be like, well, I like the teachings of Jesus. The cross stuff is a little bloody for me, like, nope. But either Jesus rose from the dead and everything he says is authoritative, or he didn't and you don't have to worry about it.
9 · Pastoral correction addresses the congregation's tendency to let faith drift into ethereal spirituality
Look, christians, here's why I'm belaboring this. We all have a tendency for our faith to drift from the physical realm into the ethereal when our faith becomes a nice system of thinking, a spiritual belief among all the other good spiritual beliefs of our world. But resurrection, the resurrection of Jesus moves it from, moves our faith from the realm of nice wishes, inspirational stuff, to flesh and blood and immediacy. It is utterly true, right? An Anglican says this. We could cope, the world could cope with a Jesus who ultimately remains a wonderful idea inside his disciples minds and hearts. The world cannot cope with a Jesus who comes out of the tomb, who inaugurates God's new creation right in the middle of the old one. That's what we believe. This is utterly true.
10 · Transition to the second major point by returning to the text's phrase 'of first importance,' setting up the exposition of the gospel's foundational nature
Second utterly foundational. Look at verse one again. Now, I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preach to you. Verse three. For I deliver to you as of. Listen to this phrase as of first importance, what I also received first importance.
11 · Buffet illustration depicts the error of treating Christianity as an a la carte religion where individuals select preferred elements while ignoring others
Now, too many, I think, treat Christianity as sort of an a la carte religion, a buffet style religion, right? Or, you know, where it's like, you show up at the buffet and you're like, hmm, what do I feel like today? You know? And you're like, oh, I love. You know, I don't want salad. I'm not paying for salad. Why would I pay somebody else to make a salad? I will take some of this. You know, I love fried chicken. Let me do that. Let me. Do you know what, some of these spicy asian wings. That sounds good. You know, over here. Green beans. Nope. And, you know, you're like, these are fried green beans. Yep. And then take that and you build your plate. And Christianity is just like a buffet. Everybody goes in, and then they come back out with, oh, the salad guy loves his salads. The fresh fruit person, they love their fresh fruit. The shrimp guy. There's always one at a buffet getting the weird shrimp that's warmed over, you know, in the back, sketchy, and, like, they grab that. And so everybody's like, hey, we're all Christians. We just have different plates.
12 · Theological assertion that the gospel is not one item among many in Christianity but the essential, non-negotiable center without which Christianity ceases to be Christian
Paul says you can't do that. Paul says that there is one controlling thing that is of first importance to everything else in Christianity, without which, if you remove it, it is not Christian anymore in any sense. And that is the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
13 · Garage door vs
Now, think of it this way. I think too many christians assume, though, that Christianity is like the door. I mean, the gospel, rather, of Jesus life, death, and resurrection is the door. You have to pray the prayer, lord, you know, I'm sorry for my sins. I confess and believe, and I want to follow you. And then basically that opens the door. Imagine you're in a garage, right? And you want to drive, but. But you can't drive with the garage door closed. And so you open the garage door of the gospel, and then you back the car out, and then you kind of drive off into life, right? And you're like, man, I'm so grateful that garage door opened, but to be honest, I don't think a whole lot about it anymore. You got to open the garage, though, to enter into the life. Paul would say, what are you thinking? This phrase of first importance means the thing that is foundational, the thing that not just was of first importance. Remember his phrasing in which you stand and by which you are being saved? Meaning it changes your past. It changes your present. It changes your future trajectory. And the way I think about it is this. The gospel is not the garage door that goes up so you can drive out into life. The gospel is the engine that moves you. And as soon as the engine stops, you're dead in the street.
14 · Extended theological claim establishing the gospel's threefold foundational nature: (1) it is the center of the Bible's storyline, (2) it is foundational to all Christian doctrine, and (3) it is foundational to all Christian ethics
So is the gospel. Paul is saying to the corinthian church and to us, is the gospel continuing to be what it actually is, which is of first importance, because it's easy to go like, yep, the gospel is of first importance. I'm so glad I believed it back there. No, no, no. Paul saying, you stand in it, you walk in it, is the thing by which you are being saved. It means the core, the center, the foundation. Paul is saying, we've talked about this other times. Go look up the messages on the website. I wish I could spend 45 minutes on this. Paul is saying that this message of the cross and resurrection is the preeminent doctrine of the christian faith. Everything in the Bible is important, but not everything in the Bible is equally important. And not everything in the Bible can be the center of the Bible, the center of Christianity. And PauL is saying, right here, this is it. The GosPeL is foundational to the storyline of the Bible. So the entire story, if you look at the arc of the Bible, the Gospel, the message of Jesus life, death and Resurrection, is the center of the story. Everything from the sacrifices in EXodus and the Exodus itself, of being freed from Egypt and the salvation of God's people and the exile and the return, all of it points to Jesus life, death and resurrection. And everything in the New Testament points back to Jesus life, death and resurrection. It is the center of the story. If you remove it, the story makes no sense. Second, the Gospel is foundational as a doctrinal category. A doctrinal category. We do not fully know God unless we know the gospel. We do not fully know ourselves as humanity. Without the truths of the gospel, every doctrine has a tie back to what is of first importance. And third, the Gospel is foundational for all the ethics of the Bible. Living the christian life makes no sense without the gospel. Everywhere Paul is drawing ties back from marriage to the gospel, to sexuality, to the gospel, to reconciliation, to the gospel love and to the gospel unity and the gospel. Why would it even make any sense as an ethical category to say, love your enemies, do good to those who hurt you unless you had the gospel. That's the only thing that makes sense. So not only does the gospel shape the entire, it's the center of the whole story. It's the centerpiece of all the doctrines. It is the center of the ethical calls. The gospel of Jesus Christ is of first importance, and it is beautiful. Look, the gospel of Jesus Christ is the only thing that makes sense of the world around us. It makes sense of the world. There's a sense in which understanding the gospel means you understand the truths of the gospel and you go, oh, I see it now. Oh, I understand myself now. Oh, I understand the world now. Oh, I understand God now. Right? Again and again and again. It is the center of everything.
15 · Application addresses the danger of gospel drift—not outright denial but allowing the gospel to move from center to periphery of Christian thought and practice
But if it is so true and so foundational, why do we need a reminder, right? Why is Paul worried? If this actually is the center of our faith, why does Paul remind us? Because there is always a danger of drift, that what happens is that the gospel, which is central, drifts from the center over to the periphery. And I think most christians aren't saying, look, I don't think most christians are saying, I don't believe the gospel anymore. I think it's far more common, though, for christians to say, well, I stopped thinking about the gospel quite a while ago. It doesn't really drive what I do on a daily basis anymore. It's not like I like reading other parts of theology or other christian living. It's always a gospel, gospel, gospel. I wish John would pick another theme for one of our songs. Can't we think of something cool like the Nephilim or something? He's just always harping on about the gospel over and over. Right? We move the gospel from the center to the periphery.
16 · Application challenges the congregation to examine what excites and animates them in the Christian faith
Da Carson has this question about, you can often tell whether the gospel is central in your heart and life by what excites you. Here's what he says. What is it in the christian faith that excites you or animates you or puts you in emotion? Today there are endless subgroups of confessing christians who invest enormously, enormous quantities of time and energy in one issue or another. Abortion, pornography, homeschooling, women's ordination for it or against it, economic justice, styles of worship, the defense of a particular Bible version, countries that have a full agenda, urgent peripheral demands. Now, not for a moment am I suggesting we should not think about such matters. Okay, he's not saying that. I'm not saying he should not think about such matters nor throw our weight behind some of them. But here's his question. But when such matters devour most, if not all of our time and passion, each must ask ourselves, in what fashion then am I confessing the centrality of the gospel? Look, it is so easy to be like man. This this other thing that flows out of the gospel, I'm going to replace the gospel with that. Move the gospel to the periphery. All of a sudden, my entire christian life now is centered on this political agenda, this method of schooling, this particular subset of christian ethics, this particular subset of christian theology. That's what animates me, gets me fired up. Oh, yeah. And I did believe the gospel back there, so don't worry. Is what is foundational to the christian story and christian doctrine and christian ethics is what is foundational, all those ways foundational to your life. Has the gospel stopped moving you, exciting you, animating you? Is it the center of your thinking, or has something else replaced it as central? Is this how you read the Bible, through the lens of the gospel?
17 · Transition addresses skeptics and doubters with pastoral counsel
Now let me just say this to maybe the skeptical or the doubter. Let me make this observation. I've often found that when people begin to harbor doubts about Christianity, they begin to pick at it from the edges. Okay, here's what I mean by that. So you'll begin to go like, well, I don't know if I believe in God or the Bible or the, the protestant Jesus or whatever anymore. And you ask them why? And then they say, well, what this, this ethical thing that happened in history, I don't like that. And the way christians behave sometimes, I don't like that. And, and the way my mom treated me, even though she says she was a Christian, I really didn't, that really deeply hurt me. And all those things may be true. What begins to happen is like, well, well, and then I found, I found, you know, my friend showed me this video that has an apparent contradiction in the Bible, you know, and then with this other thing, you know, and so you just begin to pick at it from the edges. And here's what I've often found. You pick at a little bit from the edges and you go, well, the whole thing must be gone. The whole thing must be stupid. The whole thing must be, you know, not real. You haven't dealt with the center. Like, you can't reject Christianity until you go straight at the life, death and resurrection of Jesus and say, no, you can't come out. You can't pick it up. Well, I guess we'll throw everything away. No, you must deal with what Paul says is of first importance. And I want to encourage you and challenge you, man. Probably no more important thing in your life than to go back, maybe even some of those resources online and go, okay, did Jesus really die and rise again? Because if it did, everything in your life explodes from that point outward into ripples outward.
18 · Transition to third point and exposition of verses 9-11 establishing Paul's transformation by grace as evidence of the gospel's transformative power
The Bible, I mean, the gospel, rather, is utterly central. Third, utterly transformative. Utterly transformative. Verse nine. For I am the least of the apostles. Paul says, unworthy to be called an apostle because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God, I am what I am. And his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me, whether then it was I or they. So we preach, and so you believe.
19 · Theological claim that addresses the 'so what' question: Why does the resurrection matter? Because human beings are desperate for transformation (as evidenced by cultural promises), and the resurrection offers the only genuine transformative power
Look, this is where I want to insert a question that often christians are afraid to insert, which is this, so what? So what if Jesus lived and died and rose again? So what? Right? I think we crave not just the true, not just the beautiful, but the transformative. We want to know that that thing that is true and beautiful actually has a transformative, powerful, meaningful effect on our lives. Now, we should care about it because it's true. We should care about it because it makes sense of the world. But Paul also goes at this question of transformation, and here's what I think is relevant. Everything in our culture preaches a gospel of transformation, doesn't it? This is a deep, underlying need that we have, right? This is why when an ad pops up on your feed, that's like a 40 day workout that can change your life. You're like, maybe, you know, click it, you know, awesome. You're gonna change your life. You've made the best decision ever. Sign up for this thing. It's $59.99 per week, you know, and you take this weird pill, and it's probably fine. We get it from. Well, we're not gonna tell you where we get it from, right? It's just this. And yet, okay, why do people still order it? Because that claim. I mean, I want to change my life is so powerful. It's so powerful, right? We, look, get those ads for an online therapist or counselor, because it can change your life. You. You get connected by a recruiter or ziprecruiter or whatever to sign up and put your resume out there because you want a job that will. This new job, this new career, this new path will change your life, right? This hobby is. This passion will finally change your life. You just need to travel more, get out there, live, live, and it will change your life. Right? And here's the problem. We're like, ooh, ooh. And then you take the trip to Iceland and see the volcano, and you're like, I'm kind of the same, though. I mean, it was great, right? You know, I did the 40 day workout and I am more fit, but my marriage is still a wreck, right? And so you're like, well, maybe I read this book on marriage that's real popular, or this podcast and I started listening to it, and we're constantly craving, looking for transformation. We know. Why do we do this? Because we know deep down inside of us that there is something deeply in need of transformation. And that's why Paul says, notice the way he phrases this, even back in verse five I delivered to you. It's of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins. I mean, we know that. We know that there is something deeply wrong inside of us. Even if people in a modern world reject the category of sin. I don't believe in sin. If you just ask them, do you ever do things you don't want to do? Have you ever done things that you're ashamed of? Have you ever done things that you don't want to know, don't want to tell anyone about? Everybody, everybody knows. Everybody's carrying that around. And so we're looking for transformation. How do I fix that? How do I become whole? How do I become better? Right? This answers the so what of the death, life and resurrection of Jesus. So what if Jesus rose from the dead? The so what is that? In Jesus resurrection, a power ripples out into the world that can give us hope, that we can be resurrected to. We look at the resurrection of Jesus and go, there's hope because if someone can bring life from death, maybe they can do it for me.
20 · Extended theological claim using N
Right. That, that is what Paul is saying here. Now when I read a lengthy quote from, from Nt. Wright, who's an Anglican, who I actually strongly disagree with in other areas, but I happily agree with right here about the resurrection. It is, it is moving. Here's what he says. Says, I wish I could do it in an old british professor voice, but I'm not going to attempt it. It's too lengthy a quote. All right, here we go. He says this, the resurrection from the beginning, was never seen by the early christians as simply a very odd event within the present world. They always saw it and preached it as the beginning, the foundation, the launching point of a new creation. They did that in continuity with the promises about new creation, which there are in Israel, scriptures, which are, I think, the only place in the history of culture, philosophy, religion, where there's a picture of a new creation, a new world of peace and joy and justice. I think of Isaiah eleven, think of Psalm 72 notice that Paul quotes Isaiah eleven, the root of Jesse rises to rule the nations, and the nations will hope. That's the passage about the wolf and the lamb lying down together, etcetera. He quotes that at the climax of Romans, at the end of the passage in romans 15, where he's urging the church to live as people of new creation and to show that by being united in faith and worship. Okay, here's the point. It isn't that we can fit the great tornado of resurrection into the small bottle of the old creation. The tornado of resurrection launches this new creation. If a scientist says, well, I'm a scientist, so I really can't believe in this stuff, I want to say, well, fine science studies that which can be repeated, which we can test in the laboratory. But the whole claim here is that there is something new launched upon the world which in the nature of the case, you wouldn't expect to be able to repeat in a laboratory, except insofar that the claim involves a claim about a new community, a new way of being human, a new way of living, which actually goes out into the world and has gone out into the world. I mean, I love that image of the resurrection tornado that we try to bottle up and make sense of it when the tornado of resurrection goes out and begins to transform everything in the world. And look, Paul the apostle is saying, I am exhibit a. Do you see how I have been utterly transformed? The gospel is not just true. It's not just beautiful. It is transformative. It turns your life inside out. And you know what else is proof of this? The corinthian church itself. They are people for whom the tornado of the resurrection of Jesus has blown into their town and upended their lives. They've just forgotten it. And so Paul is saying, listen, you and you and you and you, none of you would be here if the tornado of the new creation, the new way to be human, the new community, had not been loosed out upon the world. The evidence of it is everywhere. And look, friends, how much more those of us who've had 2000 years to see, well, is this going to just peter out? Is this a fad? Is this kind of a phase the jewish people went through? No, it is 2000 years of the gospel in the best of ways, transforming and wrecking life and city and country and city, nation. Right? This is real. There is a power here.
21 · Personal story illustration using the car engine to depict the gospel's explosive, violent power
Look, the gospel is, again, not the garage door that you open, and you're like so grateful for that garage door, you know, and then you walk off, drive down to the street under some other power. Paul is saying, have you ever seen an engine work, man? Engines are actually incredibly violent. It's funny, my kids are a little skittish about some things. And so I was checking something with one of our engines while it was running, and I opened the hood, and it's like. And one of the kids, when they were little, dad, close it, close it, right? And finally they asked, like, well, how does it work? And I just tried to plan with them. I'm like, well, it works with explosions. And what? Yeah, it's essentially just an controlled explosion that happens over and over and over and again with incredible power that drives the car forward. And they were like, is it safe? Right? Because you realize the engine is this thing of explosive power that. That we often forget to lift the hood and look at. We're just like, oh, I drive. No, it's. You are driving on a controlled explosion at 60 miles an hour, you know, or 80. Some of you, I've seen you. That is the gospel. That is the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. Utterly powerful, utterly transformative.
22 · Theological claim via Keller quotation: the resurrection brings the future eschatological power into the present
Tim Keller says this. In the resurrection, we have the presence of the future. The power by which God will finally destroy all suffering, evil, deformity and death at the end of time has broken into history now and is available partially but substantially now. When we unite with the risen Christ by faith, that future power that is potent enough to remake the universe comes into us. Right? Do you see that? That the power that will renew all creation is, even now, if you're a Christian, in your heart, renewing and roaring and powering a transformation, this is what the Corinthians have forgotten. This is so often what we forget.
23 · Application questions the congregation: is the gospel's transformative power actually transforming your life? If not, the engine has been disconnected
So here's my question, is, what has transformed the world, transforming your life? And here's one of my challenges. If it's not, let me ask a question. Maybe you've turned the engine off. Maybe the engine is disconnected, right? Maybe the axles have gotten disconnected from that power. When did that happen? Where did it happen? Work hard, then give attention to reconnecting the power of the gospel, that transformative power, to the areas of your life.
24 · Application to skeptics: examine the historical evidence, examine the scriptures, and examine the transformed lives of Christians around you
Now, if you're a skeptic or perhaps a doubter, I just want to say this. I don't think you can deny that this resurrection of Jesus has changed the world. I want to challenge you. If you would examine the evidence for yourself and then examine the scriptures. And then I want to recommend one further step here. Examine the evidence of the people around you. I guarantee you this. Just pick somebody at random in this gathering and go up to them and be like, can you tell me, why is it that you're a Christian? What has Jesus done in your life? And they will have a story. They'll have a story of how Jesus died for their sins, and their life is different now as a result. Not perfect, but profoundly different. So examine the sources, examine the scriptures, but then examine the people.
25 · Application using the Onoda metaphor identifies the first category of hearer: those still in the jungle, suspecting the truth but refusing to believe and trying to scrape together life through self-help transformations that never work
And then if you're a Christian, let me just encourage us that the same engine that we began with is the engine that we end with. Switch fuel halfway through the race. We must continue to make those gospel connections. And let me end with this. I want to end with perhaps a few different responses in the metaphor of the Hiru Onoda story. That guy who lived for 10,000 days in the jungle when he did not have to because he refused to believe that the world had changed. Where might you be in that story? Might you be like him, thinking it might be true? Maybe he confessed later. He did have some doubts after a while, like after year five, he began to think, maybe the war is over. But he was like, nope. They told me I got to stay here. So he did, right? It might be true, but I'm okay out here in the jungle. I think far too many people live there. You think you can scrape together a life out here in the jungle? You grab this transformative cure and that one and this one. And maybe you think maybe with just the right number of transformative cures, you'll change enough that the jungle will become habitable. And yet here's the reality. It's not working. You know that it's not working. It's never gonna work. And every ad that sells you something new is preying on that desire. Well, maybe the next one will work. You know what actually did work? The resurrection of Jesus. He really did walk out of the tomb. History has proved it. The church has proved it. The people in this room prove it. So come out of the jungle.
26 · Application identifies the second category: Christians who are out of the jungle positionally but still living with jungle mindsets—hiding, suspicious, fearful, anxious
Maybe you're there. Second, maybe you're out of the jungle and you're a Christian, but you still act like you're living out there, meaning that you've come to Christ. But rather than living in the home he brought for you, you're still hiding in the bushes. You're still suspicious of the mailman, right? You're not living in the good of the resurrection. You're going like, well, I don't know. You may have changed locations, but you still got your old jungle mindsets in this beautiful new place that you've been brought back to. And maybe if that's you today. You stop running. You stop hiding. Stop living in self protection and fear. Stop being bound by just the normal anxieties of life. And remember, the resurrection power has changed everything and begin to live like it.
27 · Application identifies the third category: those who will embrace the full reality of the resurrection and live accordingly, putting away death and embracing life in every area
And third, well, that's the last response. It's all true, and I'm gonna live like it. It's all true, and I'm gonna live like it. This is what Paul is calling the Corinthians to do, to put away those things that are death and embrace the things that are life. In every area, more and more, feeling the power of the resurrection flow more and more into every area of life. That's what this is a call to do in the end.
28 · Conclusion completes the Onoda story: he only surrendered when his commanding officer stood before him undeniably
Here's what happened to Hiru Onada. He said he would only surrender to his commanding officer. So, look, this is 1974, right? So they find his commanding officer somewhere, and he's like, okay. So he finds his old uniform. He. They fly him to this island, and the commanding officer in his old uniform, which I'm sure is a little bit tighter, it's a, you know, he's standing there, and he orders second Lieutenant Onoda to Onoda to stand down. And you know what Onoda did? He just broke down crying. Can you imagine? It's really true. Now? What finally helped him believe everything had changed when someone stood in front of him that he could not explain away anymore because another in the jungle had become paranoid. He had become fearful. He distrusted everything and everyone. And then finally, somebody came and stood in front of him that he couldn't deny anymore. He couldn't explain away anymore. And so it is with us today. Someone is standing in front of us that we cannot explain away. The resurrected Jesus of Nazareth. That he died and rose again is utterly true. That he died and rose again is the center of everything in the christian faith. That he died and rose again transforms lives. It has from 2000 years, and it does today. The question is this. Will you believe it? He is standing in front of you, friend, ordering you, asking you, pleading with you to come home. And in his resurrection, he shows us a new way to be human, a new way of life, living a new creation that is coming. The question is this. Will you listen and come home?
29 · Closing prayer intercedes for two groups: those whose faith is wavering or doubting, asking God to break in and reveal himself; and Christians who have drifted from gospel-centeredness, confessing the tendency to drift despite believing
Would you stand? Let's pray. Lord, I pray for, especially today, anyone who may feel that their faith has begun to waver. They've begun to wonder whether it really is true. They've begun to chip away on the margins of faith, wondering, well, what about this? And what about that? They began to doubt that Christianity truly offers the transformation that they long for. Lord, I just pray you'd break in on them today. I pray that you would reveal yourself the way you often reveal yourself and so faithfully reveal yourself. Stand in front of them, as it were, and call them home. And lord, I pray for all of us who are Christians. Lord, we are. So many of us, just like the corinthian church, we confess the gospel. We may even sing the gospel. We may believe in the gospel, and yet we so often in our lives begin to drift. It's a living like it's.