Sermon Tone Analysis

*Good News!

Jesus Is Raised—(1 Corinthians 15:1-10)*

 

/1//…As the first day of the week was dawning… 2 … an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it.

3 … 4 For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. 5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified.

6 He is not here; for he has been raised, then he said.

Come, see the place where he lay./

*Matthew** 28:1-6*

 

*The Good News Of Jesus Resurrection:*

 

¨    Is *[CRUCIAL]* For Our Faith!

 

/16 //Avoid such godless chatter, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness, 17 and their talk will eat its way like gangrene.

Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, 18 who have swerved from the truth by holding that the resurrection is past already.

They are upsetting the faith of some.//

*2 Timothy 2:16-18*/

 

/1 //Now I would remind you, brethren, in what terms I preached to you the Good News, which *you received*, in which *you stand*, 2 by which *you are saved*, if *you hold it fas*t—unless you believed in vain.

*Verses 1-2*/

 

¨    Is *[CRITICAL]* For Our Understanding Of The Bible.

 

/3 //For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures//.

*Verses 3-4*/

 

/45 //Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, 46 and said to them, //“Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead,// 47 //and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be preached in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem//.*

Luke 24:45-47*/

 

¨    Is *[CREDIBLE]* For Our Intellect.

/5 //Jesus// appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.

6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.

7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.

8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.

*Verses 5-8*/

 

/16 //For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

*2 Peter 1:16*/

 

/1 //That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life.//

*1 John 1:1*/

 

¨    Is *[CAPABLE]* Of Transforming Your Life.

 

/9 //For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain.

On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God which is with me//.

*Verses 9-10*/

 

/4 //We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.  5 For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his//./

*/Romans 6:4-5/*

\\ Welcome!

We are delighted that you come to be with us this morning.

All of you are a treasure.

While preparing for this lesson I did a search on the internet for a historical date for the Resurrection of Jesus.

What I wanted to know was could we pen it down to an actual year, month, and day.

And from what I saw the answer is no.

One of the dates one scholar came up with was March 25th AD 31.

Another date that some arrived at was April 23rd AD. 30.

Some time between April of AD 29 and March of Ad 33 during the Passover Jesus dies and rises again.

Western Europe and the Americas celebrate the Resurrection based on a church decree developed by the council of Nicaea in 325 AD.

The Eastern Orthodox and Coptic traditions of Christianity have a different set of rules of when to celebrate His Resurrection.

To me all this is interesting because I like history.

And even if I could pin point and actual date for His resurrection it would not be very important to my faith.

But the fact that I can’t, illustrates a major point which is the resurrection of Jesus in not about a date set up by ancient 1700 years ago.

His resurrection is also not about an annual celebration of spring, or Easter Eggs, or cotton tail rabbits named Peter.

I don’t have a problem with any of those things.

They are wonderful cultural myths and If God wills, when I get to be a grand pa someday,  I want to hide an egg or two.

Maybe help boil em, and color them.

See my grand children get all dressed up for church.

Read Peter Cotton Tail, and be grateful that God’s world is wakening up from its long sleep of winter.

So if it is not about a date.

If it’s not about spring festivals or any of those things then what is his resurrection about.

It is about Good News.

Thrilling wonderful awesome news about God’s love and power in the world.

You may not recognize it yet, but the best news you ever got in your whole life is that Jesus is raised.

He is alive and present with us today.

He lives not in our historical imaginations, but in the present exercising his power, showing his glory, and living in his church.

The Gospel of Matthew gives my favorite account of His resurrection.

Matthew records, /“As the first day of the week was dawning… 2 … an angel of the Lord, descending from heaven, came and rolled back the stone and sat on it.

3 … 4 For fear of him the guards shook and became like dead men. 5 But the angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid; I know that you are looking for Jesus who was crucified.

6 He is not here; for he has been raised, then he said.

Come, see the place where he lay.”

/These few verses give us the essence of Jesus’ resurrection.

It was at dawn.

An angel rolled the stone back, and the guards were stunned with fear.

The angel invites the women to investigate the fact without fear that Jesus was not in the tomb because he was raised.

The essence of the story is the fact he was not in the tomb.

He rose.

He lives.

He was dead and now he is alive.

And just like the women we are invited to see this good news.

Paul writing 15 or 20 years latter in 1 Corinthians will give us a chronology of his appearances after his resurrection.

He didn’t give a complete one, but mentions the highlights.

He even tells us of two appearances after the resurrections that are not recorded in any of the gospels.

They are the time that He showed himself to 500 brothers, and another time to his own physical brother James.

What is very important for us 2000 years latter is that the passage in 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 is probably the earliest written Gospel ever written.

Paul is reminding them in what terms he preached the good news to them.

Good News and the word gospel mean the same thing.

Paul based his gospel on four things in these verses.

He based it on #1 that the resurrection was the key to their faith.

#2 it was found to be consistent with the Old Testament Scriptures.

#3 it was verified by eyewitnesses.

And #4 it changed his life.

Not only did the women believe that Jesus wasn’t in the tomb, but a skilled rabbi believed it too because he saw Jesus alive.

This fact of his resurrection became the foundation of the church Jesus showed himself over and over again.

You might not believe a few women who claimed this fantastic news, but there were hundreds who saw Jesus alive.

Jesus resurrection is not a conspiracy of the gullible.

It is a historical fact attested to by men who gained everything in this life if they denied it.

They did not.

Every Apostle save John ended his life violently because of their testimony.

The eye witnesses were persecuted and killed, and yet none them recanted their experience.

They all bled, hurt, and died because they saw the empty tomb, the living Christ, and the eternal blessing of his resurrection.

This morning I want to take you through Paul’s gospel or good news in 1 Corinthians 15:1-11.

The resurrection of Jesus according to Paul’s mini gospel is such good news that it is worth your life, your time, and your sacrifice.