This is the last sermon of the series, which turned out to be the hardest sermon in the series. I am not sure that the sermon actually preached the I Corinthians text, even though I read that text. I might also not note that when I looked at what others have done with this text, I think a lot of preachers do not quite get what Paul is writing, so I am in good company. I'm not sure if people do not know what to do with resurrection, or if we just do not want to go where Paul goes. Ultimately, I read some work Tom Long did on this text, and it helped me find a sermon, but I'm not sure he "stuck" to the text very well either.
The Deuteronomy passage deserves its own sermon. I'm not even sure I connected that with the Corinthians text in a way that was fair to either texts. I do believe the sermon was accurate about who God is and how God is at work, just not sure it explored the texts properly.
(1 Corinthians 15:12-25) Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead? If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified of God that he raised Christ--whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised. If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have died in Christ have perished. If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have died. For since death came through a human being, the resurrection of the dead has also come through a human being; for as all die in Adam, so all will be made alive in Christ. But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at his coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed every ruler and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. (NRSV)
“Is Our Faith in Vain? ” May 22, 2016; FPC, Troy; I Corinthians 15: 12-25
Introduction: Moses is on the mountaintop. He looks off into the distance and God shows him the Promised Land.
He has been God's guy; leading the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt and through 40 years in the wilderness.
Now at the brink of moving into the Promised Land – he can almost taste the milk and honey – he is going to die.
He never makes it.
Was all this trust in God; climbing up on Mt. Sinai to be in God's presence; leading the Israelites; arguing and obeying God; was it all in vain?
That's one of the issues for the early church.
The early church was the gathering of those who had become convinced that Jesus had been resurrected.
They band together. The proclaim the resurrection.
Then things happen. Maybe a loved one dies. The jerk at work gets the promotion.
Something happens that is not idyllic and they wonder – does following the resurrected Christ matter
Maybe you know that question.
We finish our preaching series on questions we might ask the resurrected Christ with this question: is our faith in vain?
As I pondered that question, I went from the resurrected Christ answering, “Absolutely not!” Words of certainty in response to our question.
But, then I had this idea that the resurrected Christ might answer: “I don't know. You tell me.”
Move 1: Whichever answer the resurrected Christ might give us, the answer is rooted in what it means to believe in the resurrection.
a. Paul tells us, “If the resurrection is not true, then we are to be pitied.”
- our faith is in vain.
- really, there would be no purpose to our lives if Christ is not resurrected from the dead.
- Of course, Paul knows that he cannot prove the resurrection.
- Maybe those who actually saw the resurrected Christ could say they had proof, but the people to whom Paul is writing did not see the resurrected Christ. They have only heard about it.
- I think Paul (it's always dangerous to try and think like Paul), I think Paul is pushing the argument to an extreme.
6. he is challenging the Corinthians to imagine what life would be like if the resurrection were not true, and then inviting them to live in the faith and power of the resurrection.
b. Tom Long, recounts a conversation he heard on a Christian talk-radio show that he stumbled upon one day when he was looking for a traffic report.
The talk show host was taking telephone calls from the listeners that day and a woman named Barbara had called in. Barbara had problems; Barbara had a lot of problems. She had problems with her boss at work. She complained about trouble in her marriage. She was at odds with her teen-aged children. She said she had occasional bouts of depression. Barbara had problems.
As she unfolded her litany of troubles and woes, suddenly the talk show host interrupted her. "Barbara," he said, "I want to ask you something. Are you a believer? You know, you're never going to solve any of these problems unless you're a believer. Are you a believer?"
"I don't know," said Barbara hesitantly.
"Now, Barbara," said the host, "either you are a believer or you aren't. If you're a believer, you know it. You know it in your heart. Now, Barbara, tell me, are you a believer?"
"I'd like to be," Barbara replied. "I guess I'm just more agnostic at this point in my life."
The talk show host reacted quickly to that. "Now, Barbara, there's a book I've written that I want to send to you. In this book I prove that Jesus was who he said he was and that he was raised from the dead. Now, if I send you this book and you read it, will you become a believer?"
"I don't know," she said. "I've had a lot of trouble from preachers."
"We're not talking about preachers," the host said. "We're talking about proof. I've got proof-irrefutable proof that Jesus was raised from the dead. Now if I send this book to you, will you become a believer?"
By this point, Barbara was becoming frustrated. "I don't think you're listening to me," she said. "I'm having trouble trusting at this point in my life."
"Barbara," he said, "we're not talking about trust. We're talking about truth. I have unassailable proof that Jesus was raised from the dead. Now if I send it to you, will you become a believer?"
"I guess so," Barbara said. "Yeah, I guess so. I'll become a believer."
Long notes that he wishes Barbara had not given in so easily.
I, too, would like for Barbara to believe the Gospel, and I, too, would like for her to find some help for her troubles in the Christian faith, but I also know that this talk-show host stepped way out of bounds in what he said. He doesn't have any irrefutable proof of the resurrection. The fact is there isn't any. There is no logical, scientific proof of the resurrection. We don't have a videotape of the empty tomb. We have no seismograph of the Easter earthquake. All we have are the stories-the stories of Jesus' resurrection passed down by people of faith from generation to generation. (Tom Long, So, What about the Resurrection?, 2/15/14; http://day1.org/476-so_what_about_the_resurrection)
- Paul points out to the Christians the dilemma we face – the power of the resurrection is not found in scientific proof of the resurrection, but in the power of the resurrection to change lives.
- At the core of our faith is the resurrection, but our faith is not in the theory of resurrection, but in the God who resurrects.
Move 2: Our faith is not in vain when we live our faith.
a. Paul says, “If Christ is not raised, then your faith is in vain.”
1. By faith, Paul is not talking about what we think.
- It’s more than what we believe; it is how we live.
- The novelist Frederick Buechner once wondered what would happen if God, instead of depending upon our faith, did decide to give us a proof. What if God did decide to clear all this religion business up and give us something scientific, something tangible, that would be beyond the shadow of a doubt. "Suppose," Buechner imagined, "that God were to take the great, dim river of the Milky Way - stars flowing across the night sky -- and were to brighten it up a little and then rearrange it so that all of a sudden one night the world would step outside and look up at the heavens and see not the usual haphazard scattering of stars, but written out in letters light years tall the sentence: I REALLY EXIST.
What would happen? Well, the reaction would be dramatic. Churches would spill over into football stadiums, crime would cease, wars would suddenly stop, an uncanny hush would fall over the world-for a while. But, then, there would be the message in the stars night after night, month after month, year after year. Every night the sky would proclaim "I REALLY EXIST," and it would become a normal part of nature. "I REALLY EXIST." So what? What difference would that make?
For, as Buechner says, what we really want in our deepest need is not proof that there is a God somewhere who exists or even scientific evidence that a resurrection happened some time ago in history. What we need is a God who is right here, knee-deep in the mud and mire of human existence-a risen Christ who comes to us every day to give life and hope. That is a God who comes not in evidence but in the relationship of trust we call faith. God cannot be seen when we draw a line in the sand and say, "Give me proof or I don't step over the line." God can be seen only by those who already step over the line in trust. When we do, our eyes are opened, and the world is full of resurrection light. When we encounter that Christ, when we experience the power of that presence, then we know in faith that Christ is raised from the dead and our faith is not in vain (Tom Long, So, What about the Resurrection?, 2/15/14; http://day1.org/476-so_what_about_the_resurrection)
b. Millenials are suspicious of the church.
1. Have questions of faith.
2. not satisfied that the institutional church can provide authentic answers.
3. but they believe.
4. they are looking for people and groups that live the faith.
- Today we recognize our Seniors who are graduating from high school.
- I suspect that if you ask them after church about their memories of being in this congregation, the answer will not be about some theological argument they have learned to be true.
- They will tell you stories about how they discovered the living Christ in their lives through the actions of others toward them and opportunities they have had to serve others.
- When they wander into a church at some point during their college years, or seek out a community of faith later in life,they w ill not be looking for a church that can argue for the resurrection the best. They will be looking for a church that lives out their belief in the resurrection.
- they will look for churches who have people like Moses in it – people whose lives matter because they have followed God's call, not because they have reached a particular destination.
- They will look for churches that dare to pray and work for peace, despite the fact that wars continue to rage.
- they will look for a church that feeds the hungry, even though the never seems to be an end to the number of those who need to be fed.
- they will look for people who actions show that their faith is not in vain.
Conclusion: I performed a wedding recently and after the service a person at the wedding came up to talk to me.
“I noticed that the words you used in the service sounded like words you might use at other weddings” (yes, I really do have conversations like this).
“yes, most of it came straight out of the Book of Common Worship.”
“Well, it worked for you.”
(Long pause, as I'm not sure what to say).
“Do you want to know why it worked?”
“Sure.”
“It worked because you sounded like you really believed those words. Some people just say them. You believed them.”
We cannot prove the resurrection, but it we act in the belief that God has resurrected, then we open ourselves up to the God who does resurrect.
Our faith is not in vain because God is not done with us.
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