1 Corinthians 15:1-11 Believe with Your Heart!

1 Corinthians 15:1-11  Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand.  By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you.  Otherwise, you have believed in vain.  For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve.  After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.  Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.  For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.  But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect.  No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.  Whether, then, it is I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.  

In the above focus we see Paul's purpose in life: to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior to all people everywhere. He lived to announce the Good News that Christ died for people's sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.  All who hear and act on this Good News will be saved.  If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.   For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved.  (Romans 10:9-10)  No longer would people have to discover God and his ways through religious practice or human effort.  Paul claims, the Good News is in your mouth and in your heart; by faith you will know God.  Faith is a heartfelt understanding that Jesus is THE WAY to God and that there is no other way to please God or be right with him.  Salvation through Jesus is a very simple and easy passage.  Jesus said, “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life. Very truly I tell you, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live.  For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.  And he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man.  (John 5:24-27)  Since the fall of mankind through the disobedience of Adam and Eve, men and women have been dead to God, buried in sin.  The journey of men without the presence of God in their lives quickly degenerated into death.  Cain KILLED Abel because of  jealousy, for God was pleased with Abel’s gift to Him and not Cain’s gift.  Abel offered the firstborn of his flock and their fat portions to God.  Cain offered to God as a gift to him part of his crop.  Abel offered what he considered the best of his flock to God, the strongest and best DNA of his flock.  Because of offering his best, he is telling God that he is dependent on God to improve his livelihood, not in the natural way to upgrade by breeding the best to the best.  Abel is functioning on faith; God must do the work to bless him.  Cain offered part of his crop, not a bad offering, but not one based on God furthering his existence in abundance.  He gave God part of his crop; he could exist well without God’s blessings.  As we see in the story of Cain and Abel, quickly, violence and death shrouded man’s existence.   Later, we see God repenting of making humans.  God’s covenant with Adam was shattered: his covenants, not only have blessings but curses too.  God completed his word to Adam by bringing destruction on mankind because of Adam and Eve’s disobedience.  Rebellion always brings destruction.  He sweeps the earth clean of humans by a great flood, but as usual God saves a remnant of his creation: Noah AND his family.  Are they good, exceptional?  No, sin is abundant even in Noah’s family.  The cohesiveness of Noah’s family breaks down because of sin.  Corruption and death are the products of rebellion to God’s way of peace and life.  Nevertheless, God’s eternal grace and love always supersede man’s disobedience to him.  While the world is engulfed by sin, Jesus died on the cross for people.  We see this same kind of grace when Moses is receiving the law from God’s hands.  While God is instructing Moses about the law on Mt Sinai, the Israelites are in full-blown rebellion, worshipping other gods and  their sinful practices.  But God possesses enduring love for his people, his creation.  Paul is preaching this eternal love of God.  The Good News is that the Lord Jesus will rescue men and women from their sinfulness, finiteness, and that eternal life in the kingdom of God will be their inheritance through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross.

Paul is claiming his right to instruct the Corinthians in the ways of God, for he holds the position of an apostle in the church of the living God.  The Temple of God is Jesus Christ and within the body of Jesus there are believers who hold special positions in his body and one is apostleship. Along with special positions are spiritual gifts that are activated by the Holy Spirit.   Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.  And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues.  (1 Corinthians 12:27-28)  These positions and gifts are to strengthen and edify the church.  Paul knows he is an apostle because God called him on the road to Damascus directly to be the father of many churches.  By the grace of God, Paul realized,  I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect.  No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me.  We see in the depiction of Paul’s life an example of God’s eternal love for mankind.  Paul, a chief enemy of God’s redemption plan through Jesus Christ, was rescued from eternal punishment.  Paul’s primary intention in life was to destroy the church of the living God by persecuting the Christian believers and by supporting the killing of God’s redeemed.  Even while in full-blown rebellion to God’s purpose on earth, God called him; God’s grace superseded his rebellious nature, bringing salvation to a person who did not deserve God’s love and care for him.  Of course, all through history, God’s love has been manifested to the world.  Only three days afterThere the Lord issued a ruling and instruction for them and put them to the test.  He said, “If you listen carefully to the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you.”  (Exodus 15:25-26)  The God of their rescue from Egypt told them, I am the Lord who heals you.  If you trust in me and rely on my works and directions for your existence, I will always be by your side.  But men and women have a tendency to grumble, to be discontented with their lives.  Paul is reminding the Corinthians that if they continue in the faith He has taught them, their salvation will be firm, but, if not, you have believed in vain.  Marah times will happen in our lives, but we must be consistent in our lives and fall back on the knowledge that I am the Lord, who heals you.  We do not heal ourselves, God heals us.

The salvation message comes through the Seed that God planted in the human race a long time ago when Abraham chose to believe God’s words other than his circumstances.  At that time we saw God protecting his seed through the generations of time.  We see the Seed settle only in Isaac’s loins and not in the other children of Abraham.  This Seed, this promise to mankind of eternal life, was carried by the chosen people of God: the Israelites.  Even though they experienced times of judgment and even pogroms, God always protected his Seed through a remnant of the Israelites. The promise of eternal life that Abraham believed in would be passed down from generation to generation.  Prophets would arise to remind the Israelites of God’s promise to them and to the world.  Abraham’s faith would bless all the people of the world.  What did Abraham believe?  He believed that God could make something out of nothing and that God can raise the dead.  This faith was personified in Jesus Christ.  Jesus became the way to God, the way to be right with God.  Faith in him and his works would make men and women right with God with an inheritance of eternal life.  Paul is instrumental in teaching this Good News to the Gentiles.  They would know THE WAY to God by his ministry.  Paul would tell the story of how Jesus came into existence.  He would tell how God chose Joseph and Mary to protect Mary’s baby son.  He would tell of Joseph, a good man, who would faithfully believe the dreams God gave him to insure the baby's survival.  Paul would tell them of the death of Jesus on the cross and his subsequent resurrection.  He would let them know that Jesus, the Christ, is the final and complete atonement for man’s sins.  He would capsulate their faith in the statement of Jesus to Nicodemus: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.  (John 3:16-18)  The new-born in the city of Cornith must hold to this truth by faith until the end of their lives.  They must be full of the Spirit of God and consider their duty to carry the Good News to others.  In today’s focus, we see Paul reminding the Corinthians of the Good News that they have received.  Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you.  We around this breakfast table must remind ourselves of what we have received from the word of God.  We have received eternal life through believing the Good News of salvation that has been written by the Holy Spirit in the scriptures.  Paul merely recounted this Good News.  As a rabbi well versed in the Old Testament, he could put together the whole counsel of God to the Corinthians.  Salvation does not come through work or effort, it is a gift of God.  The Corinthians and we are the recipients of this Good News.  We around this breakfast table are the born-again believers who have an inheritance of eternal life with God.  Paul wanted to remind the Corinthians of that truth, and we, too, who sometimes struggle with the vicissitudes of life, need to remind ourselves that Jesus is THE WAY, THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE.  There is no other way, truth, or life for us. Walk in him, believe in him and live in him today.