1 Corinthians 15:1-28

What We Believe

If some things are of “first importance” then obviously not all doctrines and teachings are of equal importance. This is of first importance: Christ died for our sins, was buried, and was raised from the dead on the third day. The sacrificial death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ trumps everything else. 

Let’s go a step further. It isn’t just that these things are historical events of Jesus life. These things are historical fulfillments of the scriptures. As Paul says, “according to the scriptures.” Jesus fulfilled the revealed Word of God brought by the prophets. Some people tend to view the Bible as two separate books: the Old Testament and the New Testament. (Actually it is sixty-six books but more to the point it is one book.) What Jesus did has meaning because of the foundation on which it was based: the law and the prophets. Those who focus on the New Testament but ignore the Old Testament are like writers who ignore grammar and spelling. They might make sense occasionally but more by accident than anything else.

Paul launches into a lengthly passage about the resurrection of the dead. Most of this we will cover tomorrow, but today I want to focus on verses seventeen through nineteen. If there is no resurrection then those who ave fallen asleep in Christ are lost and we are to be pitied. This stands as the flip side of 1 Thessalonians 4:13, “Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope.”

My mom passed from this life November of 2004. My dad passed in July of 2009. I miss them both but I can honestly say that I never really experienced anything like intense grief at their passing. I’m not saying that everyone should be like me by any means. We are all different and our situations are different. My parents both lived a long and blessed life. For my entire life they both were completely sold out to the Lord. They lived their lives in the full expectation of being with their Lord Jesus in the next life. I live with the full expectation of seeing them again in a place where we are never parted, in the presence of the Lord. All I can say is, it is not only a wonderful way to live, it is a wonderful way to die.