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Sunday 31 March 2002 - Whole resurrection - engagement of Qinisani & Zongile

(Summary of sermon by Rev Erlo Stegen)

1 Cor 15:12 - 19

12 ¶ Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?

13 But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen:

14 And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.

15 Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not.

16 For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised:

17 And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.

18 Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.

19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.

Has Christ risen in your life. There are some who are not serving Christ, but they actually serve their own belly, appetite and lusts. This is clear if one looks at their deeds and words. But those that serve Christ keep their hearts free from sin, and even their thoughts are pure.

In this portion we find Paul stressing the importance of the historical, factual, bodily resurrection of Christ. In Corinth there were many Greeks who did not believe in the bodily resurrection. They believed that only your soul lives eternally. Some of these Greeks brought their former beliefs with them when they became Christians. What a sad state it is when someone becomes a Christian, but the old does not pass away, and everything becomes new. It is important to realise that we will receive a new, glorified body, and will be saved in spirit, soul and body. There are three aspects to salvation - the spirit, soul and the body. Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, and he who destroys his body, him will God destroy.

The historical, factual resurrection of Jesus Christ is a well-known fact of history. Jesus, who had no habitation of his own here on earth, was buried, in his death, like a rich man. Joseph of Arimathea buried Jesus in his own tomb, hewn out of a rock, with a huge stone in front. Nicodemus wound Jesus in linen clothes with over 30kg of spices (Jn 19:39), as was the custom of the Jews to bury people. When Peter and John came to the tomb, they saw the grave clothes lying there intact, but the body was gone. Immediately they realised that He has risen from the dead. The way in which the grave clothes just collapsed under their own weight and the weight of the spices, when Jesus arose from the dead, testified to only one possibility. And afterwards they saw Him alive, communed with Him and so were eye witnesses of His resurrected body.

In verse 19 Paul says that if we trust in Christ only for this life, we are of all men the most miserable. Why does he make such a statement?

Remember how the Christians suffered in Paul's day, and also the persecutions Paul endured. In Paul's day they were beaten, persecuted, lost their jobs, chased away from their homes, separated from their parents or from their wife or husband, and were killed - all for the sake of Christ Jesus. Yet, they still chose to become Christians, and remain faithful till death, for the sake of Christ alone. Many gospels preached today are not the Gospel that was preached by Paul. They preach health, wealth and prosperity for those coming to Christ. They just hold out the chocolate and when the people come to Christ, and the sun gets hot, they melt and forsake Christ.

When you became a Christian in Paul's day, you were asking for death. And this is why Paul makes this statement. Paul says that all his persecutions he counts as nothing, if he compares it to the prize that lies ahead. Moses too chose to suffer together with the children of God, rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a time, because he looked to the eternal reward.

What does Christ mean to you? Is He all to you? Can you stand for the truth of Christ till death, or are you fickle and change with the popular opinion? Paul writes to Timothy about that steadfast faith that had been in his grandmother, mother and in him. There are some whose faith is destroyed simply by a boy or a girl that comes their way, and they even contradict what they themselves had preached! Such is not a steadfast faith.

The Bible says that we died with Christ and rose again with Him to new life. Is your life a testimony of this fact, that you too died to sin and the world, and is only alive to Christ in a new life. If this is not so, your baptism was a lie, for this is what you testify to through baptism.

There are even those that teach that God is not concerned about what we do in our body, but He is just concerned about our soul. However, God says that our bodies are His Spirit's temple, and if we sin with our body, He will destroy us. Those eyes that look at pornography on the internet will be closed by God in hell, unless you repent. God requires even your eyes to be sanctified. Even your feet are important to Him. We read in Isaiah 52

7 ¶ How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!

Are your feet used for this purpose, or do they run after financial gain? Even your feet need to be consecrated wholly unto the Lord.