1 CORINTHIANS 15

Heart Issues
As I approach Easter this year I want to experience it brand new. I want it to be as fresh as the first time I understood it. I long for Christ to be made real to me again and to experience the power of His resurrection and the glory of God through it. The resurrection is the most incredible event of all history and the least understood. It tells me that there is hope and purpose in this life and a reason for striving hard after God. This causes me to want to worship God for He has conquered death and I should fear no other but Him. I am challenged to continue on and press forward into the presence of God and what He has called me to do.

Notes
-THE GOSPEL – This is what Christianity is all about, this is where our foundation is and where we stake our claim. It all hinges on Christ dying for our sins and being raised the third day. If this is not true the whole of Christianity is not true.
-Paul here states that there is an element in salvation of persevering to the end. We must hold firm to the end to experience salvation for if we are children of God then we will live like children of God. Initial belief, like the parable of the sower, is not fully indicative of salvation. Our faith is not in vain, but if the resurrection were not true it would all be in vain.
-Paul understands here that he is only what he is by the grace of God. If we had a better understanding of that we would be a lot less judgmental. Only by grace are we “good people”.
-Paul presents a defense of the resurrection by showing the truth that would follow if Christ were not raised. All of Christianity would be pointless, futile, and in vain.
-Sin and death came through Adam, life and resurrection come through Christ. God has given Christ all authority and he will destroy every authority that sets itself up against Him.
-After this discussion there is a brief break to talk to the Corinthians about their witness vv.33-34. We don’t stop sinning because God is mad at us, but because we want others to know Christ. We want to reflect Christ to the World and if we are intimate with Him we will be like Him. If we are intimate with the world we will be like the world.
-If there is a natural body there is also a spiritual body. We are heavenly creatures as well as earthly ones. We are spiritual and we are perishable. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. We can look forward to an eternal home and because of this we have victory through Christ.
-The end of this chapter brings us to Paul’s final summation that our labor for the Lord is never in vain. Because of the resurrection, our life makes sense, without it, all would be pointless.