Paul gave us several consequences of not believing in the resurrection of the dead. He said that the Christian faith and life is absurd if the resurrection is not true.

First, if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. (v.13) If the general proposition of resurrection is invalid, then, of course, Christ's resurrection is impossible. But resurrection was prophesied by Daniel centuries before: Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake; some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. (12:2) Jesus had already fulfilled that prophecy in raising three people from the dead: Jairus's daughter, the widow of Nains son, and Lazarus. If it was possible for them, it would be possible for Jesus to rise from the dead.

Secondly, if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. (v.14) What the apostles had been doing: communicating the message of the resurrection of Jesus so that people would respond in faith, was, as The Message puts it, everything weve told you is smoke and mirrors, and everything youve staked your life on is smoke and mirrors. Unless Christ was raised from the dead the Gospel was an illusion, worthless, a fiction, of no help to anyone. You cant elicit faith and followers of a dead teacher based on a myth. You cant change lives, and transform character without resurrection power.

Thirdly, we preachers are false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. That is not possible if the dead are not raised. Therefore, we are liars. (v.15,16) If Christ was not raised from the dead, Christianity is an imposture, based on fraudulent deception. The apostles, and all subsequent preachers of the Gospel, evangelists, pastors and teachers, are nothing better than quacks peddling spurious sophistry, con men who take advantage of the naeve.

Fourthly, if Christ is not raised your faith is futile; the claims about Christ dying for your sins, is false, you are still unforgiven, and you have no victory over death and evil that the resurrection of Jesus brings. (v.17)

Fifthly, those who have died in the faith of Christ are lost. They have no assurance of salvation, or hope of heaven. (v.18) They died taken in by a hoax. They might as well have believed in the murky underworld of the Roman god Pluto.

Sixthly, if our hope in Christ is confined to this life, we are to be pitied for our credulity. (v.19) When I began my ministry in London I met a brilliant young man, Hugh Anderson, who was a rising star in one of the political parties. He died of a brain tumor while still a student at Cambridge University. His death was announced on the BBC, and the Prime Minister came to his funeral.

A week later his father was scheduled to preach. John Stott offered to excuse him, but he insisted that he wanted to preach. Dr Norman Anderson was the Chairman of the House of Laity of the Church of England, Professor of Oriental Law in the University of London, and Director of the Institute of Legal Studies. When he died years later, the obituaries called him a polymath: a man of great learning.

He entered the pulpit, a man who had just lost his only son, a polymath like himself. I will never forget him announcing his text: If for this life only we have hoped in Christ, we are of all men most to be pitied. (1 Cor. 15:19) His sermon proclaimed his belief in the resurrection.

Seventhly, if there is no resurrection why do people care to try to pray for the dead. (v.29) Some of his readers were apparently baptizing people on behalf of deceased unbelievers. Paul is not condoning this practice, but pointing out how ridiculous it is to do it if there is no hope beyond the grave. Salvation is not transferable from one individual to another. We are each called to individual faith.

Eighthly, if there is no resurrection why should I put myself in danger for the Gospel? Why should I have to face all the opposition that I encounter when I preach the Gospel? What is the point if the message I preach is false? (vv.30-32) Why suffer for nothing? He lists what he suffered: 85 in prison, flogged, exposed to death again and again. Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked. I spent a night and a day in the open sea85 I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea, and in danger from false brothers. (2 Corinthians 11:23-26) Unless Christ was raised from the dead all this would be worthless.

Ninthly, if the dead are not raised, why don't I just follow the philosophies of the day, e.g. Epicureanism eat, and drink for tomorrow we die self-indulgence? If I do not believe in a future resurrection to judgment why should I bother about who I associate with and how I should behave? (vv.32,33) Self-indulgence is the natural outgrowth of a materialism that denies the resurrection.

Our culture is preoccupied with physical health, dieting, recreation and fitness, all at the expense of anything close to a comparable concern for spiritual health and salvation. Yet incurable diseases, unexpected accidents, and periodic exposure to the horrors of the less affluent parts of our world continue to point out the sheer inadequacy of such preoccupations. (Craig Blomberg, NIV Application Commentary, 1 Corinthians, p.311) If there is no belief in the resurrection then people tend to live only for the present, and usually only for themselves.

Self-restraint, and delayed gratification is practiced by those who believe in the future hope of resurrection. This life is not all there is, and we do not have to experience health and wealth here and now if we know that there is future reward for our sacrificial suffering. We do not have to experience the new heavens and the new earth now if we know we shall later. We do not have to take vengeance, or demand justice, if we believe that there is final accountability for all.

St. Paul then dismisses all these doubts by expounding the reality of the truth of the resurrection of Jesus. Since Jesus has indeed been raised from the dead, as there are plenty of people who have testified to seeing him alive (cf. vv.1-11), then all sorts of consequences follow.

Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. (v.20) Death is for Christians no more than falling asleep, to awake in the resurrection. The first-fruits were a sign of the harvest which was to come. The resurrection of Jesus was a sign of the resurrection of all believers which was to come. Jesus is the first fruit of the harvest to come. He is the beginning of the crop who will be resurrected. (v.20)

Just as the sin of Adam infected the whole human race, the resurrection of Jesus will affect all who follow him. (v.21) Just as the consequences of Adams sin was death, so the consequences of Christs victory will be eternal life. (v.22) Just as we know that everyone shares the reality of death no one can dispute that all people die; we can also know, by faith, that all people will be raised from the dead, and those who belong to Christ will reign with him. (v.22)

All this will be revealed in the last day, when the end or goal of human history will occur. Christ will finally destroy all opposition to his kingdom, all his enemies, including death. (vv.24-26)

Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951), the celebrated philosopher once wrote, What inclines even me to believe in Christ's Resurrection?. If he did not rise from the dead, then he decomposed in the grave like any other man. He is dead and decomposed. In that case he is a teacher like any other and can no longer help; and once more we are orphaned and alone. So we have to content ourselves with wisdom and speculation. We are in a sort of hell where we can do nothing but dream, roofed in, as it were, and cut off from heaven. But if I am to be REALLY saved, - what I need is certainty not wisdom, dreams, or speculation and this certainty is faith. And faith is faith in what is needed by my heart, my soul, not my speculative intelligence. For it is my soul, with its passions, as it were with its flesh and blood, that has to be saved, not my abstract mind. (Culture and Value, trans. Peter Winch, ed. G.H. Von Wright, p.33)

St. Paul concludes his argument for the resurrection with a call for clear thinking and moral conduct. Think straight. Awaken to holiness of life. No more playing fast and loose with resurrection facts. Ignorance of God is a luxury you cant afford in times like these. Aren't you embarrassed that you've let this kind of thing go on as long as you have? (v.34 The Message)

In other words: get off the dime, stop sitting on the fence, Don't dabble in sinful doubts or excuses for shady conduct. The resurrection of Jesus really happened, and there are all sorts of consequences that follow from it. Your resurrection is to come. Get ready for it. This is no time for abstract speculation, but for certainty, for faith, for commitment. The stakes are high. Eternity waits. Don't be deceived by skeptical, specious arguments. The Gospel is a total package. It is either a transparent lie, or the truth about life. Get on board so that you will be part of the harvest to come.

An audio presentation of this message may be found on www.ameliachapel.com.

Amelia Plantation Chapel,
Amelia Island, Florida