1 Corinthians 15:1-11

This talk can be taken as the fourth in the little series of talks we had at the Men’s weekend. Although it is also part of our evening series in 1 Corinthians this passage fits neatly into the Stand theme of the weekend. During the weekend we were looking at what it means to stand – to stand firm, to stand together, to stand on the rock and tonight I want to look at what it means to Stand for the Gospel.

When you take a stand for something you are more or less saying this is important, this is something which I fundamentally believe; it shapes my life and if necessary I am prepared to stand for this truth even if it costs me my life. Perhaps there are few issues that we would be willing to die for, but if we are Christians, then the gospel is surely a die for issue and all over our world today there are indeed men and women who are being persecuted and are dying for the gospel – in Nigeria, in Uganda, in Afghanistan, in Egypt, in China and many other countries people are being arrested or intimidated. A Korean Christian writing in the January Release magazine says: “The North Korean government considers Christianity to be its highest crime. Under these circumstances, it is dangerous to share the gospel in North Korea. In spite of this danger we must do what God wants.”

In the final talk of the weekend the men may remember that I spoke of Christ the Rock as needing to be our compelling vision. Whatever stage we are at – whether that is a younger Christian or an older christian, whether we are in our twenties or our sixties, we need to have a compelling vision of Jesus and see that he is worth following and that he leads us into the way of joy and satisfaction. If we do not have this compelling vision then we will be sidetracked and vulnerable to idolatry, to immorality, to cynicism and grumbling especially in our world today where the temptations are bombarding us left, right and centre.

We need to be able to stand in a political culture which is increasingly hostile to Christianity – fortunately an amendment which the govt were trying to push through in the Equality Bill was defeated last week. This was trying to impose what they termed anti-discrimination legislation against churches employing people in “non-religious” posts. We also need to stand in a sexual culture which is anti Christian where sex outside of marriage is actually encouraged and where co-habitation is becoming the norm. Also in the general population the percentage of people who are approving of gay sex has increased significantly over the past ten years. All this of course is through the gradual drip, drip of the media. As this continues and as we live in a culture which becomes more hostile to basic christian teaching we begin to doubt our faith and what we stand for. Thirdly there is a liberal religious culture which says that all religions are equal and that all ways can lead to God, all we need is sincerity. Thus when a Christian, or a muslim, says we are right and other ways are wrong the current culture cannot accept this – it wants a general, bland, we are all on the same road ideology which does not even look at the different religions with integrity and sees that actually they cannot be all right for they teach such differing things about God and salvation.In the face of all this going on today and wrapped up in an increasingly secular culture where faith is privatised and relatavised this can leave us not standing but reeling.

And so what we need to do is get back to the basics and this is what Paul does here in 1 Corinthians 15, and this is where we need to get back to as well if we are to stand in the middle of this hostile culture. Three things here – stand for the gospel, stand for the things of first importance, and stand in grace.

1.Stand for the gospel.

As christians we are to be gospel people. Gospel literally means good news. Of course before someone can accept the good news they need to realise that there is bad news. The bad news is that we are all sinners. The bad news is that we cannot save ourselves by our own efforts. The bad news is that we cannot earn our way into heaven. This is bad news for self-sufficent, proud, independent men and women. But if under the conviction of the Spirit men and women come to that realisation of the bad news about themselves then they can move towards the good news that Jesus came to die for us, that in trusting in him, our sins are dealt with and our self obsession begins to be turned around the right away so that God begins to take central place and not us.

The gospel saves, says Paul. To talk in language of salvation means that there is something to be saved from – we are saved from ourselves and our wrong headed notions of God and ourselves, we are saved from doing further evil, and we are saved from hell, an eternal, conscious separation from God. This gospel was passed on by Paul to the Corinthians and received by them and then it has been passed on from generation to generation.  But it is always only one generation from extinction. God has no grandchildren it is said. We need one generation to pass it on to the next. But if we are to do this then we have to see the gospel as good news, as important news, as trustworthy news. We have to see it as something to stand for and if necessary to die for.

I have always been challenged by the example of that saint of old – Polycarp, the Bishop of Smyrna who died in the 2nd century (AD 155). The Christians were being forced to worship Caesar and Polycarp refused. The Christians were called atheists because they would not worship the Roman gods and had no images or shrines. So they were considered counter cultural and a people who worshipped no real god.  The authorities sought out Polycarp. They found him and the commander said to him “Now what harm is there in saying lord Caesar and in offering incense thus saving yourself? Polycarp answered – I do not intend to do what you advise.” They took him to the stadium where the proconsul again tried to persuade him  - “have respect to your age (86). Swear by the genius of Caesar – say away with the atheists – that is the Christians.” Polycarp turned to the stadium and waving his hand at the people said “away with the atheists”. Again the proconsul said “Swear and I will release thee”. Polycarp replied in his most famous words – “Eighty and six years have I served him, and he hath done me no wrong; how then can I blaspheme my king who saved me.” At this point wood and fire were brought in and Polycarp was killed.

If and when persecution comes, we must determine whether we will stand or fall, whether we will profess Christ or deny Christ. But sometimes the test is more subtle and less obvious than what Polycarp faced, and maybe it comes in little ways at work and we have a decision to make whether we stand for Christ or not.

We never leave the gospel. We never outgrow the gospel. Sadly sometimes we become complacent to the gospel if we have grown up with it. Familiarity can breed a kind of contempt or we might consider it too simple, too basic. Certainly there are other deeper doctrines and teachings that we need to move to but we never leave the gospel behind it provides the foundation of all that we believe. Stand in the gospel – people are dying for it today, it is a precious thing

2. Stand for the things of first importance.

Sometimes it is good to rehearse the historical reasons which ground our faith in reality. If we believe in the gospel then it is important that it has a rational basis – that it is worth believing for it is based on true events. Later in this chapter Paul will focus on the whole question of what happens after we die and he deals in detail with the resurrection. But the key to our understanding of this lies with Jesus himself. If he did not rise then we will not rise, if he did rise Paul argues then what happened to him will be a model and pattern for us.

If we are to stand for Christ then we need to stand on these fundamental historical truths. Our faith is a reasonable faith for it is based upon eye witness accounts, it is based on real appearances of the risen Jesus. If we take away the resurrection we take away the basis of truth for the gospel. In this passage Paul refers to Jesus’ appearances to Peter and the Twelve disciples, to five hundred people, then to James, then to the apostles and finally to Paul himself as a bright light on the road to Damascus. Either all these people were hallucinating at different times, or they were lying, or they were telling the truth. The fact is that a number of men on the arrest, trial and killing of Jesus, were scattered, fearful and in hiding their leader killed, but a few days later they turned from being afraid and in hiding to being willing to stand, to stand in temples to stand on street corners, to stand before Roman leaders and Jewish leaders, they went from fear to fearlessness. What made the difference? The resurrection made the difference.

There was a time when some liberal Anglican bishops were saying it does not really matter whether Jesus was actually, physically and really raised from the dead. What matters is the idea, what matter is the concept, of resurrection, what matters is that just as spring follows winter so the idea of Christ rising is the important thing. What nonsense. Paul says later in this chapter “if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile”.  (v.17) This goes to the very heart of our faith, if Christ is not raised then our faith is useless – we should not meet together, we should not give our money, we should not sing our hymns, we should not spread the good news for it is not good news - it is deceived news.

These things are of “first importance” and either we believe them or we do not. Either they happened or they did not. The resurrection was central to me becoming a Christian. I had to be convinced that Jesus had risen – if that is true then Christianity is true. If it did not happen then Christianity is a waste of time. We must present people with the evidence and ask people to consider it. We cannot equivocate on this, it goes to the heart of our faith. It is based on historical reality and real appearances by a really risen Jesus to real people.

You are probably like me – if you are going to stand for something and maybe even look foolish for something or go against the majority you want to know that it is worth it and that it has evidence to support it. Paul uses this word appeared four times – Jesus appeared, appeared, appeared, appeared – we saw and heard him with our own eyes and ears. We are depending upon the testimony of these people for we have not physically seen the risen Jesus. But what we do have is the confirmation of the Spirit within us and the change that he has made in our hearts and lives.  So we stand – we stand for the gospel and we stand for the historical events which are of first importance.

3. Stand in grace

Finally we stand together in the grace of Christ. Paul says “by the grace of God I am what I am.” (v17) This applies to all of us. Because Paul had persecuted the church he felt very strongly this sense of thankfulness. How could God have mercy on him, he had been such an opponent of the church and yet now God was using him greatly.  But all of us maybe need to pause and reflect how central grace is in our lives. If we have been a Christian a long time, or if we have come out of a fairly religious background, we can actually downplay grace. We do not mean to do this but it can happen. As we stand together as brothers and sisters can I urge you to reflect again on the grace of God in your life.

For Paul, grace was absolutely central, it permeates his writings. When was the last time we reflected on the grace of God to us, when was the last time we spoke to someone else of the grace of God and its influence in our lives. One thing is for sure - when grace is front and centre it makes us humble, it makes us less critical, it make us less complacent, it makes us more appreciative of God’s mercies. If we are to stand in strength then the best position is to stand in an attitude of grace, grace to each other and grace in all of our lives.

At the heart of the Christian faith is grace – undeserving love shown to us, mercy poured out. When we receive such mercy we find it easier to deal mercifully with each other. We recognise that all we have and are is solely by his grace and goodness to us. We are a grace community who have received grace and give grace. Some people maybe find it hard to be gracious for they have a limited understanding and appreciation of God’s grace to them.

Grace does not ignore sin. It recognises sin as sin but it offers forgiveness and the opportunity of a better way. Grace is an energising thing. It fuels a love for God and for other people and wants the best for them. Grace kills off jealousy, grace kills off one-upmanship, grace kills off gossip, grace treats everyone the same and sees us all in need of mercy. Grace is also an energising thing in that it compels us to love and to good works. Grace is not opposed to hard work, it is opposed to earning our way to heaven, but grace fuels us to work harder for the kingdom of God because we are so thankful. We desire what is best for the kingdom of God, this kingdom that has purchased us with blood. Grace fuels the fire of our devotion for God. Instead of being listless in our praise, we are wholehearted. Grace drives our love for God and produces good works.  Paul says “his grace is not without effect.” Is grace without effect in our lives? Grace should make a real practical difference in our lives. It makes an impact, it drives us to worship and to service and to outreach and to helpfulness and to giving our money and to loving our wives better and to being more honest at our work and in our school and college. Grace is energising. We love for he has first loved us. As an old saint CT Studd once put it –  “If Jesus Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him."

So let us stand for the gospel, let us stand for the important things that prove our faith is genuine and reasonable, and let us stand together as a community of grace offering grace to each other and to the community around us for they need God and they need the touch of his grace more than anything. This is what we can give to the world.

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