Rev. David Holwick
First Baptist Church
West Lafayette, Ohio
April 3, 1988
HE IS TRULY RISEN
1 Corinthians 15:12-20, King James Version
Do you grasp the difficulties of Easter? We are celebrating an event that the scientific mindset says cannot possibly happen. I think this is why there is such a focus on the Easter bunny this time of year. We can commemorate the coming of spring and the wonder of life, and sidestep the whole issue of the resurrection.
Even many Christians say there can be no such thing as a literal resurrection. The famous German theologian, Rudolph Bultmann, said that no one who had ever turned on a light bulb could still believe in the miraculous. So he took all the miracles out of his Christianity.
These Christians are called "Modernists," or "Liberals." They believe in the resurrection, but they mean something totally different by it. To them, the resurrection becomes an enriching idea. Thinking about it makes you feel good, even if it could never really happen.
This may seem very strange to you, but I have met people like this. When I was a young Christian in Germany, one of our youth group leaders was studying theology at the University of Heidelberg. He had become a Christian after both his parents had died. This tragic event had made him think about God. He even entered the ministry. But he did not believe in heaven - or at least he wasn't sure of it. Here was a man who was searching, but he never really found the answers.
But something in our modern hearts can't let go of the idea of eternity. One of the cable networks (Ted Turner's TBS) just did a documentary on life in the Soviet Union. The Russians lost 20 million people in World War II. Remembering the dead has become an obsession for them. Many of the cemeteries are decorated with huge monuments and flames that never go out. They are officially an atheistic nation, but they can't get rid of the hope for eternal life.
Even the Christians in the New Testament period did not agree on the resurrection. Some of those who were against Paul said that dead Christians would not be physically raised in a resurrection. These people probably did not go as far as some liberal Christians do today. A consistent liberal would deny any future existence. Paul's opponents did not - they believed in heaven. They just didn't think we would have a resurrected body there.
Paul says this is a very dangerous development. To him, the resurrection was an absolutely essential Christian belief. Paul goes on to show the logical consequences if the resurrection is denied. In verse 13 he says, "If there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not raised."
It all has to hang together. The teaching of the Bible is that the resurrection of Jesus is a preview of what God has in store for all believers. Verse 20 calls it the "firstfruits." If Christ is truly raised from the dead, then we must be also. The Bible never treats the resurrection of Jesus as just an isolated event. By denying the resurrection, we eliminate the foundation of the Christian faith. Our past history becomes a lie.
There is a further result. If Christ is not resurrected, then our faith in Jesus right now is pointless. It is vain. Paul makes a very powerful statement in verse 19: "If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable."
Does this mean that the Christian existence is miserable, but we have pie in the sky to make it bearable? This is not really his point here. He wants us to understand that denying the resurrection also affects our present situation. If Jesus has not been resurrected, then his whole mission was a failure. And if his mission was a failure, then verse 17 applies - we are still in our sins. We can only experience forgiveness right now because of what was accomplished 2000 years ago in the empty tomb.
We also affect our future, because we have no personal resurrection to look forward to. And according to verse 18, there will be no reunions with loved ones who have died.
There is no escaping the conclusion: Those who deny the resurrection, of either Jesus or Christians in general, are denying the true faith. They may use the same words as we do, but they cannot be genuine Christians. Verse 15 says they are calling God a liar, because his Bible clearly teaches the resurrection of believers. This is not just pointless religious nitpicking. Our destiny depends on it.
According to a Baptist Press release, 16-year-old Jennifer Cody attended a Southern Baptist youth camp in July 1987. She had missed the registration deadline at her church in Tempe, Arizona, so she didn't think she'd be able to go. However, a boy canceled his reservation at the last minute and they were able to squeeze her in. She not only went to the camp, late one evening she asked Jesus Christ to come into her life as Lord and Savior.
After returning home from camp, she went to Michigan to visit relatives. Then, with her mother, Jennifer boarded Northwest Airlines Flight 255 so they could fly home to Phoenix. It was August 16, 1987.
Less than a second after takeoff Flight 255 had its first hint of trouble - the pilot's control column started to vibrate. The jet climbed slowly, and began to roll to the right and to the left. After fourteen seconds it should have been 600 feet in the air. Instead, it was only 45 feet up. The pilot had forgotten to lower his wing flaps.
At 222 miles per hour, it clipped a light pole in a parking lot and sheared off 18 feet of wing. Flames burst from the left engine. The plane struck another light pole. It banked 45 degrees to the left and slammed into the concrete embankment of a highway. The explosion scattered debris and bodies for half a mile.
Emergency squads scrambled over the wreckage. Firefighter Dan Kish thought he heard moaning. His partners turned off their hose and listened. They spotted a woman lying in some debris. They checked her for breathing, but she was dead. Then they saw an arm move beneath her. It was a little girl, deeply burned but alive, and still strapped in her seat. She was the only survivor.
It was a little girl, but it wasn't Jennifer. (It was Cecelia Cichan.) Out of 156 dead, only 3 were in a condition to be viewed by next-of-kin. Jennifer was not among those three, either.
If Jesus Christ is not raised from the dead, then Jennifer's death can never be anything more than a senseless tragedy. But if he was really raised, then Jennifer is in heaven with him right now, and someday her spirit will be clothed with a glorious new body. It will be recognizable, indestructible and glorious. Just like the glorious body of Jesus.
Jennifer had been saved at summer camp less than one month before. Her trust in Jesus gives a hope that can never be destroyed. [#4343]
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SOURCE FOR ILLUSTRATION USED IN THIS SERMON:
#4343 "One Survived, But Not Jennifer," by Dr. Robert Summer, "Illustrations and Incidents,"
Biblical Evangelist newspaper, November 1, 1988, page 13.
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Sermon start: 12:00 am Finish: 4:00 am Friday
Sunrise 50, Regis Shivers
Attendance: 127/257 (185/85-13)
Invitation: Membership - Larry Karns
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