That Which Is of Most Importance

1 Corinthians 15:1-10

On September 18, 2007 Randy Pausch, a computer science professor, stepped in front of a groups of 400 students and fellow faculty members at Carnegie Mellon University and gave a lecture entitled “Achieving Your Childhood Dreams”. It was a lecture about what was most important to him. It was his last lecture and he knew it.

He had slides on his computer that he projected on a screen beside him. They showed CT scans of his pancreas, ravaged by the cancer that would in short order rob him of his life; his wife of her husband; and his three young boys of their father. A teacher to the end, he wanted this one last chance to tell his students and colleagues and family what really mattered to him—what came first.

What about you? If given the opportunity to tell those you loved and cared about what really mattered to you—what was of first importance—what would you tell them?

That’s the situation we have in our lesson today: Paul taking one last opportunity to tell the Christians at Corinth- and us here today- what was really important. He said:

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,

The Good News of Jesus was of first importance to Paul and not only was of first importance to Paul, it was of first importance to God. Paul wasn’t the one who prioritized this message and said it was first, he received it from Christ as that which was most important and passed it along the same way.

There are all kinds of important things in the Bible. In fact, everything there is important! God the Holy Spirit inspired every word and caused it to be written down. But there is something that comes first- and that is what Jesus Christ has done for us in his dying and rising-- for that alone is the way of salvation. Paul wrote:

Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand,

In Paul’s ministry- and in the life of the Corinthian Christians -the gospel of Jesus Christ came first. The Good News of Jesus was the content of his preaching and it was the content of their faith. When Paul preached-- they listened-- and took it heart and believed what he said.

Now we may say “well, of course—that’s the whole point”—and it is—but we should never become cavalier about the gracious way that God brings us to faith through preaching. The bible says that: Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. That means there has to be a preacher who will tell us the truth-- and we have to be willing to listen to it and believe it-- and there can be a failure on both ends. But there in Corinth…

Paul preached the Gospel- and the people believed the Gospel- and they were being saved. How blessed we are to say that the same is true for us!

And yet Paul knew that we need to hold fast to the Gospel throughout our life --or it all will have been in vain-- for it is only those who remain faithful to the end who will be saved. He said:

You are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you— unless you believed in vain.

I read story this week about an ancient king who was the richest, most powerful man of his day. And he called a philosopher into his court to ask who was the happiest man who ever lived—thinking it would be himself. But the philosopher said that it was another man no longer living. Then he asked who was the second happiest man who had ever lived, thinking that, surely this time it would be him. Again the philosopher mentioned another man no longer living. And so it went. When the angry king asked for an explanation the philosopher said that it was only after a man’s death—when his whole life and manner of death could be seen—that one could determine who was truly happy.

It is important to begin well when it comes to our faith. That is why we baptize babies. It is important to continue in faith. That is why we come to church to be strengthened in our faith. But it is also important to recognize that it will all be in vain if we do not continue in faith until that day we stand in the Lord’s presence. There are many things that can trip us up along the way which is why we return to the main thing again and gain. Paul says:

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,

The gospel message is simple: I am a sinner in need of a savior and Jesus is that savior who died for my sins and rose again to give me a new life. This way of salvation was what God promised from the very beginning to Adam and Eve and renewed again and again throughout the Old Testament. This Gospel message is of first importance because it is the only way to God.

This message tells us the truth about ourselves—that we are sinners who need a savior—and in fact, we are such great sinners that it takes the death of God’s own Son to make things right again between us and God.

We must never lose night of that like the Pharisee in our Gospel lesson today who either forgot- or didn’t know- that being in right in God’s sight came from counting on God’s mercy -rather than being better than others.

The Gospel message tells us the truth about God: that he loves us with an everlasting love and sent his Son to take upon himself all of our sins and suffer the punishment we deserve on the cross where he died for the whole world full of sinners.

The Gospel message tells us the truth about our own lives: that since Jesus Christ has conquered death and the grave we too can live a new life and be certain of an eternal home with God.

And if all this simply seems too good to be true, it is important to remember that Paul sets this Gospel message on the rock-solid foundation of real people in real places in real moments of history. Paul says that after the resurrection, Jesus:

appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.

The message of the Gospel—that which is of most importance—is a matter of life and death and so it can never be of the same quality as the myths and fables of ancient Greece and Rome. The apostles proclaimed a man they knew. Events they saw. Places they traveled to. The faith they proclaimed was not, first of all, a dogma—it was a person—and it was not a myth-- but times and places and people who were witnesses.

It’s is important for you to know that God does not ask you to commit your life here on earth and your eternal future to a fable or metaphor—but to a real person: Jesus Christ—and to real historical events: his death and resurrection that makes a way back to God for even the worst of sinners. Paul said:

Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am…

Paul not only taught the truth about what mattered most—his own life was a testimony and enduring example of what matters most.

When Paul wrote these words about being unworthy he had been an apostle for decades. He had seen the risen Christ. His mission field was the entire Gentile world.

And yet even after years of faithful service to Jesus and his people-- there was no thought in his mind of how deserving he was of God’s salvation—no thought of how much better he was than everyone else.

He says that he is the least of the apostles—that, in fact, he is unworthy to be called an apostle. In our bible study last week we heard Paul call himself the foremost of sinners. There is simply no thought in Paul’s mind of his own holiness—but only of the goodness of God that extended to a sinner like him.

It is important for us to know that, what God has done for us in Jesus Christ—the first things of which Paul writes—is a gift from beginning to end. It is not given to us because we are better than others or because we deserve it.

It is given to us because we are sinners who can not save ourselves but can only cast ourselves upon the mercy and grace of God like the man in our Gospel lesson today who left the temple justified in God’s sight. At the same time, that grace and mercy DOES makes a real difference in how we live our lives. Paul says that God’s grace:

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.

Earlier in our sermon we talked about the necessity of continuing in faith so that all Christ has done for us will not be in vain. Paul uses that same phrase to talk about the necessity of an active Christian life—that God has saved us to do good works that serve our neighbor and bring glory to him.

Our life with God is a gift. Christ has done it all. All of us can say with the apostle Paul that it is only by the grace of God that I am what I am. But it’s also important for us to know that just because our salvation is God’s gift—that doesn’t mean that we then sit back and do nothing once we come to faith in Jesus.

In fact, just the opposite is true! What God has done for in Christ moves us into action --and the greater our awareness of our sin is and the greater our awareness of God’s goodness is, the more profound a change there is in our life. That was certainly true of Paul! Of the other apostles he said I worked harder than any of them.

The Christian life takes effort on our part. Luther says that faith is a living, busy, active thing. We repent of our sins. We ask for the help of the Holy Spirit to amend our ways and our deeds. We open our eyes and our hearts and our hands to the needs of those around us. We bear witness to the goodness of God. Our Christian faith calls us into action.

But it’s also important to know that we can have this kind of faith- and live this kind of life -only because of God’s grace.

When Paul says that he worked harder than the other apostles he was still not bragging on himself—even then he says his busy, active faith is by God’s grace.

So it is for us and that is why we are here today—to receive God’s gracious gifts that he gives in absolution and in his Word and in Holy Communion which empower our lives of faith.

Earlier in the sermon I asked the question: If given the opportunity to tell those you loved and cared about what really mattered to you—what was of first importance—what would you tell them?

Well that opportunity does exist right now—to share with our friends and family and this community that which is most important: the Good News of Jesus and the difference it makes in our lives. Amen.