Resurrection of the Dead
March 29, 2008 6:05 pmPreached by Chris Broom, 3/23/2008
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Resurrection of the Dead - Outline
- Paul planted the church in Corinth, and was now writing to help them with some problems in the church and to help them stay faithful to the end.
- He reminds them of the gospel on which they had taken their stand, and that it would all be in vain if they didn’t hold firmly to the word that Paul had preached to them.
- Gospel is from the Old English godspel, meaning “good story” or “good news,” and that is accurately translated from the Greek. The good news is that God has provided salvation through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
- We have to wrestle with what Paul means by verse 2 … “By it (the gospel) you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached.”
- Roughly 2 billion people will celebrate Easter today! (How quickly could we evangelize the world if 2 billion disciples were preaching the word?)
- For many of them, the celebration of Easter is the only time other than Christmas that they even consider going to church.
- Others who profess to be Christians will not celebrate Easter today because they contend that it is a pagan holiday and they believe that it is wrong to participate in these traditions.
- The truth is that most of the things we do to celebrate Easter (with the bunnies and eggs and all) have been handed down from idolatrous religions. (Baal worship from as far back as the Assyrians, and the worship of the sun god from the ancient Egyptians.)
- So should we allow our kids to paint eggs and then hunt for them? Some would say no.
- It is my conviction that by participating in these traditions, we are no more worshiping these ancient pagan gods than people that attend church on.y on Easter and Christmas are worshiping the true God.
- The danger of Easter is not the worship of Baal or the sun god, it is the thinking that by simply attending Easter service, we are holding firmly to the word Paul preached. We are not. The danger of Easter is the “have it your way at Burger King” Christianity that allows so called Christians to live however they want and still think they will be raised with Christ.
- 1 Timothy 4:16 calls us to watch our life and doctrine closely.
- Colossians 2:8 states, “See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of the world rather than on Christ”
- 1 John 2:6 tells us that “Whoever Claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did.”
- Luke 9:23-26 reminds us of Jesus’ call for us to take up our cross daily.
- So I want to encourage you to enjoy this Easter Sunday, but remember that we should celebrate and teach about the resurrection of the dead everyday. Let’s take advantage of the fact that so many people want to focus on Jesus at this time of year and proclaim to them the full gospel that Paul proclaimed to the Corinthians.
Today, we really need to wrestle with Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 15:2 where he says, “By it (the gospel) you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise you have believed in vain.”
We are in danger of believing in vain if we don’t…
- Know the scriptures.
- Apply the scriptures to our lives.
- Pass on the scriptures as of first importance.
I hope you will take the time to listen to this lesson and that by doing so you will be inspired to put all your hope in the resurrection of the dead.
Chris Broom
