Pastor Jonah Albrecht

Easter Sunday

March 31st, 2024

1 Corinthians 15:1-11

Christ’s Resurrection is Foundational

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he gave us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 into an inheritance that is undying, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you. Amen:

Brothers, I am going to call your attention to the gospel that I preached to you. You received it, and you took your stand on it. 2You are also being saved by that gospel that was expressed in the words I preached to you, if you keep your hold on it—unless you believed in vain. 3For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. 6After that he appeared to over five hundred brothers at the same time, most of whom are still alive, but some have fallen asleep. 7Then he appeared to James, and then to all the apostles. 8Last of all, he appeared also to me, the stillborn child, so to speak. 9For I am the least of the apostles, and I am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted God’s church.10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not ineffective. On the contrary, I worked more than all of them (and yet it wasn’t my doing, but it was the grace of God, which was with me, that did it). 11So whether it is I or they, that is what we preach, and that is what you believed.

In the Name of Jesus, who took up His life in victory over the grave so that you and I might have life everlasting, dear fellow redeemed:

Centuries ago, on the South Coast of China, high up on a hill overlooking the harbor of Macao, Portuguese settlers built an enormous cathedral. They believed it would weather time, and they placed upon the front wall of this cathedral a massive bronze cross that stood high into the sky.

Not too many years later, a typhoon came and nature’s finger work swept away man’s handiwork. That entire cathedral was pushed down the hill and into the ocean as debris, except the front wall and that bronze cross that stood high.

Centuries later, there was a shipwreck out a little beyond that harbor. Some died but a few lived. One of the men that was hanging onto wreckage from the ship, moving up and down in the crest of the ocean as the swells were moving, was disoriented, frightened. He didn’t know where land was. As he would come up on the swell, he’d spot that cross, tiny from that distance. His name was Sir John Bowring.

When he made it to land and lived to tell the story, he wrote this hymn:

In the cross of Christ I glory, Towering o’er the wrecks of time; All the light of sacred story Gathers round its head sublime. The last stanza says: When the woes of life o’ertake me, Hopes deceive, and fears annoy, Never shall the cross forsake me: Lo! It glows with peace and joy.

Sir John Bowring realized something very important that day in the South China coast: Everything had failed him. The ship he was in had shattered, and all he had left was broken pieces to hold on to and a slim hope to find land. And yet, in that moment, when he saw that cross in the distance, he still had a solid foundation to stand on. The cross that Bowring looked upon, the cross that is at the top of the steeple in this church, both provide that solid foundation. Both tell the truth about God, our Savior: How He stepped into human history in order to give up His life on that cross, but whose perfect death satisfied God’s wrath over our sin and was raised from the dead on Easter morning in order to declare the world, not guilty. Bowring found his foundation in the cross of his Savior, knowing that because of Jesus, he too had victory over death. Sure, he was disoriented and frightened, but at the same time calm and at peace because his life was in the hands of his Savior.

That is the truth we are considering this morning. Christ’s Resurrection is Foundational.

Just a few days ago, we joined Christians throughout the history of the New Testament in mourning over the death of our Savior. We did not only mourn the fact that He died on the cross, but because of why He was there…our sin. We were reminded of the words from Isaiah 53 which say, We thought it was because of God that he was stricken, smitten, and afflicted, 5but it was because of our rebellion that he was pierced. He was crushed for the guilt our sins deserved. The punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. 6We all have gone astray like sheep. Each of us has turned to his own way, but the Lord has charged all our guilt to him (4-6).

Jesus’ death reminded us of the position we are in: completely helpless, dead in trespasses and sin. Want an explanation of all the wickedness, deceit, and debauchery in the world? Look no further than your own heart. Or my heart. No, you may not be the one who has committed heinous acts against humanity, but the disease that causes others to commit those deeds is the same disease that lives within you and me. We have a sin problem. Like John Bowring who was helplessly swept along by the swell of the waves, so too are we helpless as our sins continue to swell us further and further away from God. Nothing in our power can propel us the other way.

Hopeless…Helpless…until we see on the horizon the cross of our Savior. The Apostle Paul puts it this way in our text this morning: Brothers, I am going to call your attention to the gospel that I preached to you. You received it, and you took your stand on it. 2You are also being saved by that gospel that was expressed in the words I preached to you, if you keep your hold on it—unless you believed in vain. 3For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,

First Importance. In other words, Paul is saying: Everything else is built on what I’m about to tell you. There is a lot of teaching in Christianity. There is Creation, End Times, Stewardship, Behavior towards others, etc. All of that, however, means nothing if what Paul says here is not true because all those things are built upon the foundation of the Gospel. Without the truth of the Gospel: Christ crucified for sinners, Christ buried in the tomb, and Christ bodily risen from the dead; Creation does not matter, End Times do not matter, nothing else matters because there is no life.

Paul explains this later in this same chapter when he says, 13If there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised. 14And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is pointless, and your faith is pointless too. 15Then we are even guilty of giving false testimony about God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise, if it were true that the dead are not raised. 16For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. 17And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18Then it also follows that those who fell asleep in Christ perished. 19If our hope in Christ applies only to this life, we are the most pitiful people of all (1 Corinthians 15:13-19).

Why did you come here this morning? To fulfill an expectation? To worship someone who died way back when, but is still dead? Or did you come here to hear about how God willingly sacrificed His own life for all the despicable things you and I have done; and how it was impossible for death to hold Him and He rose again from the dead, never to die again?

Let me share with you just how precious this truth of our Savior’s resurrection is:

There was a little boy named Philip who was born with Down’s syndrome. While attending a third-grade Sunday School class, many of the children did not readily accept Philip because he was different. Slowly, but surely, with the help of the teacher, the other students began to care and include Philip as part of the group. The Sunday after Easter the teacher brought in these containers that look like large eggs. Each child was to go outside, find a symbol of new life, and put it in the container.  When they were finished, they would each share what they found by opening the containers one by one.  After running around the church property in wild confusion, the students returned and placed the containers on the table.  One by one the teacher opened the containers to reveal a flower, butterfly, or leaf, and the children would ooh and ahh.  Then one was opened revealing nothing inside.  The children exclaimed, “That’s not fair. Somebody didn’t do their assignment.”  Philip spoke up, “That’s mine.”  “Philip, you don’t ever do things right!” the students retorted.  “There’s nothing there!”  “I did so do it,” Philip insisted. “I did do it.  It’s empty.  The tomb was empty!”

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the tomb is empty. The resurrection of Jesus brings new life. It gives you and me a purpose for being here. It gives us an answer to our helplessness over our sin. There are not a million hoops to jump through. There is not a special spell you must utter. It is simple: God has taken care of your biggest adversaries. He destroyed the power of the Devil so that with the Word He has preserved for you in the Bible, you too can cause the Devil to flee from you. He destroyed the power of sin. Sin kills. It drags you down under the water and drowns you. Jesus took your sin and nailed them to the cross. There they remain for eternity. Nailed to the cross, pinned beneath the innocent blood of your God. He overcame death. Peter says in Acts 2, 22“Men of Israel, hear these words! Jesus the Nazarene was a man recommended to you by God with miracles, wonders, and signs that God did through him among you, as you yourselves know. 23This man, who was handed over by God’s set plan and foreknowledge, you killed by having lawless men nail him to a cross. 24He is the one God raised up by freeing him from the agony of death, because death was not able to hold him in its grip (22-24). Death was not able to hold Him. God accepted the payment His Son made on the cross for your sins and even death could not contain the innocent Son of God.

Faith. Belief. That is all God calls you to do. Reach out your hand and receive from Him the blessings that are made possible because of Jesus. I’m not standing up here to call you to make a decision and accept Christ into your heart. That is impossible for us to do without the Holy Spirit first creating faith. What I am doing is reminding you of the foundation that your faith, yes your life is built on. Jesus Lives! The vict’ry’s won! Death no longer can appal me; Jesus lives! Death’s reign is done! From the grave Christ will recall me. Brighter scenes will then commence; this shall be my confidence (TLH 201 vs 1). He lives and grants me daily breath; He lives, and I shall conquer death; He lives my mansion to prepare; He lives to bring me safely there (TLH 200 vs 7). Then Let us feast this Easter Day On Christ, the Bread of heaven; The Word of Grace hath purged away the old and evil leaven. Christ alone our souls will feed, He is our meat and drink indeed; Faith lives upon no other. Hallelujah (TLH 195 vs 5)! In Jesus name, Amen.