If the Dead are not Raised…
So, if you’ve been following our current sermon series, you know that we’ve been visiting with the church at Corinth since early January and we’ve discovered that they have a few issues. They’ve divided the church around its renowned leaders to include Christ. They like to boast about themselves, especially by comparing themselves to others. They have serious sexual immorality problems like sleeping with your father’s wife and indulging in prostitutes. They’re prone to take one another to court to resolve their conflicts. They’re horribly confused about God’s design for marriage. They’re proud of their knowledge and have no problem using their Christian liberty to harm their brothers and sisters by their knowledge, even when what they’re convinced they know is totally wrong, especially in matters of eating food sacrificed to idols. They can’t get Paul to accept their support because of the strings they’ve attached to it. They dishonor one another in corporate worship with great gusto, and they exercise their spiritual gifts in worship in the most unloving ways. And just when you thought it was safe to visit them one more time, maybe believing “What’s left to discover?”, you discover instead that Paul was saving the worst for last. In last week’s text, we saw how Paul made it super-evident that Christ was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures. In fact, besides Paul, the Corinthians had plenty of witnesses to the Lord’s resurrection still available to question if they chose. But belief in Christ’s resurrection wasn’t the Corinthian’s issue because Paul reminded them that they believed in Christ’s resurrection when He preached the resurrection to them. So, what was the problem? Paul gives us a clue when he suggests to the Corinthians that maybe they hadn’t given the gospel enough careful thought. I can believe that the rains will come in the spring, but it’s another thing to believe that this will lead to a crop. It’s one thing to believe in Christ’s resurrection, but it’s a necessary thing to then believe that it must lead to something vital to a believer’s faith. What do you think that something might be?
We invite you to come join us this Sunday morning for our in-person worship service at Leptondale Bible Church in Newburgh, starting at 10:55 AM. For those unable to attend, our service can be viewed live on the church’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/leptondalebiblechurch. This Sunday, we’ll continue a sermon series from 1st Corinthians titled “Written for Our Instruction” with a message from 1st Corinthians 15:12-34 titled “If the dead are not raised...”
God bless!
Pastor Mike