Of First Importance: The Death and Resurrection of Jesus

1 Corinthians 15:1-10 On September 18, 2007 Randy Pausch, a computer science professor, stepped in front of a groups of 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—to tell them that which was of first importance.

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- that which was of first importance:  the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  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…

            The Good News of Jesus crucified and raised 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 without error.

But in the Bible there is something that comes first:  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 crucified and raised was the content of his preaching and it was the content of the Corinthians’ faith.  When Paul preached—the Corinthians listened and took his words to heart and believed what he said. 

Now we may say “well, of course—that’s the whole point of preaching”—and it is—but we should never become cavalier about the gracious way that God brings us to faith through the preaching of Jesus’ death and resurrection. 

The bible says that:  Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.  That means that if we are to have saving faith and be right in God’s sight there has to be a preacher who will tell us about Jesus-- and we have to be willing to listen to the truth 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 by Jesus Christ. 

How blessed we are to say that the same is true for us and for our congregation—that we stand in the Gospel of Christ’s death and resurrection! 

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 Jesus says that it is only those who remain faithful to the end who will be saved.  Paul said:

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

It is important to begin well when it comes to our faith.  That is why we baptize our babies.  It is important to continue in faith.  That is why we come to church and bible study to be strengthened in our faith.  But it will all be in vain if we do not continue in faith until that day we are called into the Lord’s presence. 

There are many things that can trip us up along the way in our journey to heaven 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…  

            The gospel message that saves 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 in Jesus 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 have a life with God.

            This message tells us the truth about ourselves—that we are sinners who need a savior.  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. 

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 God’s plan for our future:  that since Jesus Christ has conquered death and the grave by his dying and rising we too can live a new life and be certain of an eternal home with God. 

That is the Gospel and if it seems too good to be true, it is important to remember that Paul sets this Good News 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 eternal life and death and so it can never be of the same quality as the myths and fables of ancient Greece and Rome.  Rather, it is an accomplished fact of history.

The apostles proclaimed:  a man they knew; events they saw; and places they traveled to.  The faith they proclaimed was not, first of all, a dogma—it was a person.  The Gospel they proclaimed was not a myth or metaphor-- but real events and concrete places and living people who were witnesses of the risen Christ.

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 myth 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 said that he was the least of the apostles—that, in fact, he was unworthy to be called an apostle.  There was simply no thought in Paul’s mind of his own holiness—but only of the goodness of God that extended grace and mercy to a sinner like him.

So it is for us!  What God has done for us in Jesus Christ—that which is of first importance—is a gift of God’s grace 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 and receive his forgiveness in word and sacrament.  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.

Our life with God is a gift.  Christ has done it all by his dying and rising.  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 understand that just because our salvation is God’s gift, that doesn’t mean 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.  Our Christian faith calls us into action and witness.

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—about that which 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 Christ crucified and risen and the difference he makes in our lives.  Amen.