This is Part 7 of a 7-Part sermon series titled “Easter according to Paul” preached at Mt. Gilead UMC in Georgetown, KY.

If you want to listen to the whole worship service, click this first link below.

If you want to listen only to the sermon, click this second link below.

1 Corinthians 15:50-58

What Is Easter?

• Well, it is Easter, and Easter is a special time for us as Christians. It is certainly the height of the Christian Year, the celebration of all celebrations for us. I’ve heard many Easter sermons, and this actually is my first. I come to it with excitement, mixed with a little bit of fear and trembling, and also with mixed feelings. And the reason is because I don’t want to mess it up.
• You see, I’ve heard lots of Easter sermons in my life, and without sounding too conceited and overly critical, I tell you, many of them have had little to do with Easter, at least Easter according to Scripture, according to the Apostles, and according to Paul.
• These last 7 weeks, we’ve dived into Paul’s explanation of the resurrection of the dead in 1 Cor 15 and have been drawing out his understanding of the resurrection of Christ and our resurrection with Christ when Christ comes again. In other words, we’ve been exploring Easter according to Paul.
• And so I come to this sermon a bit fearful this morning that my preaching of Easter—that is, my preaching of the Gospel—might fall utterly short of what Paul, the Apostles, and the early church called Easter. I’ve seen it done many times and heard lots of Easter sermons that were nothing more than sentimentalism and wishful thinking.
• So my prayer this morning is that I wouldn’t miss that mark. But more so, my prayer is that we would encounter the living, resurrected, sin conquering, death conquering Savior, the Lord of life, Jesus Christ. My prayer is that we not just go through the religious motions, not just say and hear the status quo and meaningless platitudes and cliches that we are so accustomed to hearing, but that we would be drawn into the very presence of our Savior who has saved not only our souls from sin, hell, and spiritual death, but our Savior who has also saved our bodies to be changed and transformed like his glorious body.

What Easter Is Not

• Well, let’s begin by clarifying what Easter is not according to Paul in 1 Corinthians 15.
• In our passage this morning, we see in vv. 53-54 that Jesus’ resurrection was not simply him coming back alive again, that is, he was not simply resuscitated. No one did some secret CPR on Jesus when he was in the tomb. He wasn’t secretly rushed to the ER and given an IV and all that and just miraculously healed in three days. It wasn’t that he died and was brought back either. That happens to some people sometimes. But that is not what Easter is. Jesus was not simply resuscitated back into his old body. Instead, we hear Paul explain that Christ’s resurrection and our own when he returns is our perishable, mortal bodies putting on and being clothed in imperishability and immortality.
• So when we read in the Gospels those famous words from the angel on the first Easter Sunday “He is not here; he has risen” (Matt 28:6), that does not mean that he simply came back to life.

What Easter Is

• No, that means that he was resurrected! His body that was dead, broken, beaten, and crucified by sinful men did not just miraculously heal overnight, instead it was changed, transformed by the resurrection power of God who creates all things new. This was a perishable, mortal, dead body that God clothed with imperishability and immortality. Why couldn’t the disciples recognize Jesus after he was raised from the dead? It was because he was new, perfected, and glorified. Yet he still bore the scars of Good Friday when gave up his life on that cross for the sins of me and you and the whole world.
• “God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor 5:21).
• And “we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again” (2 Cor 5:14-15).
• “Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again: death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God” (Rom 6:8-10).
• Easter, my friends, is not about Jesus simply coming back to life. It’s not about the Easter bunny. It’s not about Jesus dying and rising once a year every year. No, Jesus died once and for all—one time 2,000 years ago for all time and for all peoples. And his resurrection that we celebrate on this holy day is our annual remembrance and reminder that he conquered, defeated, overcame, overwhelmed, and beat death to a bloody pulp. Death is the punishment for sin. Jesus never sinned yet died. And through his death, God—the God of the living and the living God—raised Jesus from death as the victor, the winner supreme. He is “the firstborn from the dead” as Revelation 1:5 says. And as Paul says, he is “the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive” (1 Cor 15:20-22).
• My friends, when the angel says, “He is not here; he has risen” (Matt 28:6), what he is saying is that “Death has been swallowed up in victory” (1 Cor 15:54). He is saying that Jesus has saved us, both our souls and our bodies. That is true and full salvation, freedom from sin and freedom from death. “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives to us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor 15:55-57).

And So?

• Did you see that? Did you hear that? Our response to Easter should be thanksgiving to God who has given to us as well this very victory through Christ.
• I will end this morning with my favorite verse in 1 Corinthians. It is 1 Cor 6:14: “God raised the Lord, and he will also raise us by his power.” What does Easter mean? What is Easter according to Paul? “God raised the Lord, and he will also raise us by his power.” This is salvation, my brothers. This is the Gospel, my sisters. This is Easter, my friends. Let us pray.

Prayer

• Jesus, you said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die” (John 11:25-26). And so, Lord, we here this morning call upon you, the living One, the Lord, the giver of life. Meet us here in a special way, Lord, perhaps like you did to those walking on the road to Emmaus. May we have burning hearts to hear you, to see you, to recognize you, to walk with you. As that old hymn says, “He walks with me and talks with me along life’s narrow way.” Lord, I pray that for us, that as you walk with us and talk with us that we’d follow your lead, hear your words, grow closer to you, and love you more each moment of each day. Thank you that you have given us victory over sin and victory over death! We praise you for saving us, for loving us, for forgiving us, for suffering on our behalf and showing us just how much God loves us. Thank you for giving us your Holy Spirit, who raised Christ from the dead and is the deposit guaranteeing our inheritance of the resurrection of the body and life everlasting. We are humbled and grateful for all that you’ve done, and we celebrate once again your victory and salvation. Alleluia! Amen.