• When it comes to death, there’s only 1 source which gives us real hope–and that’s the Gospel
• 1 Corinthians 15 is our focus today
• Denial of the resurrection is denial of the Gospel itself–it denies our resurrection along with His
• V12-18, Resurrection was a hotly contested topic which we see discussed in several places
• The fruit of their agency may have been spoiled because of a lack of understanding of the resurrection and how that impacts their own lives
• V16-18
• The Corinthian leaders and teachers were prideful, but Paul contrasts this with himself and his partners in ministry. Sarcasm litters his writing, condemning their flavor of spirituality
• Paul highlights suffering and humility in service to God rather than earthly triumph
• In ch5 Paul highlights their pride even in the presence of overt sin
• They practiced all kinds of inappropriate bodily action from eating to lawsuits to sex
• These were inappropriate outworkings of their belief in the victory of Christ for his church
• Christ’s resurrection was the firstfruits of the full and future resurrection
• V33-34
• They lived in an echo chamber to bolster a faith which enabled their vices
• Physical death and setting aside our current bodies is a necessity to take up the new, resurrected state which is following after Christ’s new resurrected body
• Paul calls them to be immovable and vigilant in their eternal investment
• The Pharisees were wary of this clearly preached resurrection, which is why they made sure the tomb was well guarded. They were rightly insecure about their position against Jesus
• Paul’s conversion was completely inspired by his realization of Jesus’ resurrection
• Even a man as motivated as Paul was fully turned by the complete Gospel of Christ
• And Paul understood this Good News of Jesus’ victory to be translated to also be our victory
• John 5
• Since the apostles preached Christ crucified, buried, and risen–their ministry would be in vain if the last step hadn’t happened and therefore had no power to save
• This resurrection is never left out from basically any teaching of Paul whatsoever
• It’s the only thing which allows us to move forward with hope in any and all things
• Paul was well aware that the OT commands death for all false teachers in Judaism, and yet he stood upon this Gospel as absolute and transcendent truth to be laid alongside the OT
• The crux of all Scripture is the resurrection of the Messiah, for victory against sin for God and for all his beneficiaries of the inheritance offered to us
• Christians should be pitied if there is no resurrection–but Paul doesn’t end there. He ends with the victory in the resurrection and the hope we can take from it in this world
• V30-32, Paul encourages his behavior to be taken as evidence of his hope and expectation
• If there’s no hope, the world can only live by YOLO philosophy to full self-gratification
• The Corinthians were led to a worldly outworking because of their inappropriate understand of the significance of their victory in Christ. Many things were a hot mess in their church
• This was true even though they were very talented
• We must understand our agency in light of true victory
• V58 gives us sound orthopraxy and stability thru the deep roots promised to the godly people
• We also must be diligent and persistent 

QUESTIONS:

• WHAT HAS VICTORY OVER DEATH MEANT FOR YOU IN A PRACTICAL WAY?
• ARE THERE ADJUSTMENTS IN YOUR BEHAVIOR OR CONDUCT WHICH COULD BETTER REFLECT OUR VICTORY IN CHRIST?
• AS YOU FORECAST YOUR LIFE TO THE VERY END, WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE THE PRIMARY INDICATOR THAT YOU LIVED A VICTORIOUS LIFE IN CHRIST?