Centered on the Gospel

March 30, 2025|Centered on the Gospel|1 Corinthians 15:1-11

John-Daniel Cutler

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 This morning we continue our sermon series through the book of 1st Corinthians as we come to chapter 15. Having worked through 14 of 16 chapters, our time in this 1st letter to the church at Corinth coming to a close. Take your bibles and open to the 15th chapter of 1st Corinthians this morning as we begin looking at some of the final words of this wonderful letter.

To give you an overview of what is left, Chapter 15 deals with the issue of the resurrection which is Paul’s final doctrinal section before chapter 16 that includes some closing instructions, personal plans, and greetings from various associates of Paul. As in most communication whether written or spoken, some of the most important things are contained within the introduction and the conclusion. What a person says at the beginning and end is often the most impactful part of the communication.

What did Paul save until the very end of His letter? As we come to Paul’s final topic of instruction, we will see Paul turns his attention to the gospel and particularly how the gospel and the issue of resurrection, both Christ’s and the believers, are inseparable. If we had to summarize Paul’s intention with this portion of the letter it would be that his goal is to center the Corinthian church in and on the gospel. To make sure they have a right understanding of it, that they are rightly proclaiming it, and that their lives are being lived in line with the reality it brings.

In some ways, this is Paul’s crescendo, this is what he has been building to. As we go through the chapter Paul is going to address resurrection from various viewpoints, including how the believers resurrection is tied to Christ’s resurrection, the hopelessness of a Christianity without a risen savior, the resurrected body itself, as well as how those who are still alive at Christ’s return will experience the resurrection.

I was talking to a pastor friend the other day about starting chapter 15 this week and how awesome it is to be in this place in 1st Corinthians as we approach Easter Sunday. Although I cannot take credit for planning that, I am grateful for the opportunity to follow Paul as he turns our minds towards the resurrection this morning.

I believe that we, like the Corinthian church, need to make sure we are centered in and on the gospel of Jesus Christ. Over the last couple of weeks as we have looked at chapter 14 we have seen that to excel at building up the church we must reveal the gospel with clarity in our gatherings, and last week how conducting ourselves decently and in order allows us to proclaim who God is clearly, so this morning I want to dig into the gospel itself, as Paul does here in the first part of chapter 15.

To that end, I want to share how we can center ourselves on the gospel by understanding three truths. The first truth this morning is…

I. THE CENTRALITY OF THE GOSPEL

1 Corinthians 15:1–3a “1 Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. 3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received:…”

Paul essentially anchors his whole letter in the gospel. It’s where he begins when he says…

English Standard Version Chapter 1

2 To the church of God that is in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints together with all those who in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours: 3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

In the first 9 verses Paul firmly roots their identity in Christ. This is who you are.

Now at the end of his letter, he says, now I want you to remember all the problems with division within the church they have been experiencing, he says, if you are not experiencing the reality of who you are then perhaps you have gotten confused about the message I preached to you when I was there, so let me remind you of what the gospel is.

If we knew nothing else about this letter except that it begins with implications for a believer who has received the gospel and it ends with a clarification of the gospel, we would still know enough to be able to confidently say, this gospel thing must occupy the central place of this letter.

But how much more are we aware of it having gone through this letter over the last six months? Paul begins with the gospel and he never gets very far removed from it.

In chapter 1, Paul says, in verse 13, concerning their divisions over teachers, Was Paul crucified for you?

In that same chapter, Paul highlights that the gospel message is central to salvation for all those who are called. 1 Corinthians 1:21–24 “21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. 22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.”

In chapter 2, Paul reminds them that it was the simple gospel message that he preached to them. 1 Corinthians 2:2–5 “2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. 3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, 4 and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”

In chapter 3, Paul reminds them that they are just servants who proclaimed the gospel that the Corinthians had believed. 1 Corinthians 3:5 “5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each.”

In chapter 4, Paul reminds them that he is their spiritual father, because of the gospel he preached to them. 1 Corinthians 4:15 “15 For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.”

In chapter 6 Paul reminds them that they have been sanctified and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. In chapter 10 Paul shows them the impossibility of being in union with Christ and with idols because they belong to Christ. In chapter 11 Paul reminds them that the Lord’s Supper is a proclamation of his death for sins. In chapter 12 Paul reminds them that they have all been baptized into the one body of Christ. In chapter 14 Paul tells them that it will be the clear corporate proclamation of the gospel that will lead an unbeliever to fall down on his face and praise God. For Paul, all of the Christian life surrounds the gospel. It can all be tied back to the gospel. For the Christian, the gospel is our past, it is our present, and it is our future.

If we get the gospel wrong, it is hard to get anything else right

Listen to the way Paul lays this out in the first three verses.

of the gospel I preached to you, which you received…church was founded by the preaching of Paul and associates during his secondary missionary journey over an 18 month period in Corinth. Those believers who heard the gospel being proclaimed by Paul, received the substance of it, they put their faith in it. in which you stand… , or in which you have taken your stand. This is your foundation, your strength, your stability by which you are being saved… ongoing power of the gospel, we never grow beyond the gospel.

Stephen Um, in his commentary on this passage says there are three common mistakes about gospel centrality. One, the gospel is something that happened merely in my past. It was the beginning of my Christian life, I accepted the gospel and now I am moving on to deeper things. Two, the gospel is something I need only occasionally in the present. I only need the gospel when I mess up, but by and large I am self-sufficient in my Christian walk. Three, the gospel is primarily about what is going to happen in the future. The gospel is a means by which I can secure my future in heaven. I got my get out of hell free card punched, I’m good to go.

He goes on to say, the gospel is intended to be a part of the past, present, and future reality of a Christian’s salvific experience. The gospel settles our past, secures and empowers our present, and makes certain our future.

Another way to say it is that the gospel gives us our identity, explains our present realities, and points to our future hope.

If we get the gospel wrong, it is hard to get anything else right. It is central to everything, which is why Paul points out the evidence we have believed the gospel is that we will hold fast to the gospel. If as believers we ever abandon the gospel, it will be because we never truly understood it in the first place, or as Paul says ‘believed in vain’. Essentially, if your belief did not have effect, or if your belief was not genuine.

Don’t hear what I am not saying. Many times when someone is wrestling with whether they are truly converted are not, we try and point them back to the sincerity of a moment. Did you ask God to save you, did you really mean it? I do not think that is what Paul is saying at all. More likely Paul is saying is, unless you really didn’t understand the gospel at all.

Belief in a different gospel or a partial gospel or a false gospel, no matter how sincere will not produce salvation. This is why it is so important for us to understand the gospel. This is why Paul calls it of first importance. It is the principle thing by which all other Christian thought flows from.

Belief in a different gospel or a partial gospel or a false gospel, no matter how sincere will not produce salvation.

So if the gospel is the center of it all, what is the center of the gospel? This is our next truth this morning. We look at the centrality of the gospel, let’s turn to…

II. THE CENTRALITY OF THE RESURRECTION

1 Corinthians 15:3b–10 “…that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.”

Levi and I were talking about a conversation they recently had in our student Sunday morning Bible study on what is the most important holiday, Christmas or Easter (Jesus’ birth or his resurrection). As wonderful as celebrating the birth of Christ is, there is a reason that we celebrate the resurrection every single Sunday. You know that is why we meet on the first day of the week, because we are celebrating every time we gather, that our savior is risen!

Christ is born is a wonderful proclamation, but Christ is risen is the central claim of the gospel.

Paul doesn’t explicitly begin with the incarnation, but it is assumed. Jesus could not have died if he had not lived. The gospel declares that God became man in the person of Jesus Christ in order to carry out his plan of redemption. The gospel claims that Christ lived a life of perfect obedience to God’s law, meeting the demands that you and I never could.

Paul begins at the death of Christ. God robed himself in flesh, lived a perfect life, and yet undeservedly, he died a criminal’s death on a Roman cross. So far, there is no real controversy between Christians and non-Christians at this point. There are very few who would deny the historical figure of Christ, and there are none that would deny that this historical person died.

But why did he die? For rebelling against Rome, for leading an uprising? No, he died for our sins.

He had no sins of his own to die for, but the wages of our sin was Jesus’ death. He bore the penalty for all those that are His. All of this Paul says is in accordance with the scriptures. Paul, as a Jewish Pharisee, who knew the Old Testament, now through the illuminating power of the Holy Spirit, says that the scriptures clearly testify that God’s plan of salvation always included the substitutionary atoning death of Christ.

What is the evidence that he died? Paul says he was buried. Jesus did not simply swoon, or pass out. Professional Roman soldiers examined his body, friends and followers prepared his body and placed it in a tomb. This man Jesus died and was buried. But the gospel says he did not stay in that borrowed tomb. On the third day, he was raised in accordance with the scriptures.

This is the extraordinary claim of the gospel, and by the way it was just as extraordinary in the first century as it is today. People in the first century, whether Gentile or Jew did not have a category for someone being bodily resurrected in the middle of human history. It is not like it was easier for them to believe because they were less scientifically developed than us. We are told in acts that as Paul engaged the thinkers of Athens that he had their attention until he came to the resurrection of Christ and men began to scoff.  30 So having overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now proclaiming to mankind that all people everywhere are to repent, 31 because He has set a day on which He will judge [v]the world in righteousness [w]through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all people [x]by raising Him from the dead.”32 Now when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some began to scoff,

The resurrection is the miraculous claim of the gospel.

How do we know he was raised?

Paul gives eyewitness accounts to validate the claims of the gospel. Christ appeared to Peter, then the twelve, then more than five hundred at a time, then James, then Paul himself. For those that knew Christ and followed Christ, his resurrection was an eyewitness experience. They saw him alive, they saw him dead, and they saw him alive again.

Think about the weight of evidence Paul is laying out here. One person could hysterically see what they wanted to see. Three may be able to come up with a story. Twelve may even be able to keep a lie from being exposed, but 500 people, many Paul says, you can go ask right now, saw the risen Savior. That’s pretty significant evidence for a risen savior.

Not to mention the empty tomb and the way it changed the early disciples of Jesus who were changed from fearful, cowering men to those willing to die before they would renounce that Christ is the risen Lord.

Think for a moment how central the resurrection is to the gospel, or the good news.

If Christ was simply born, lived a perfect life, and ascended into heaven, we would have an example of how to live perfectly that would ultimately be useless to us.

If Christ was born, lived a perfect life, and more perfectly revealed the Father’s law and will for us, and then left us, we would be in no better shape than before, in fact, we would simply have a clear understanding of how hopeless we are.

If Christ was born, lived a perfect life and then died as an innocent man and yet remained dead physically, we would have a gross injustice and again ultimately an unhelpful message.

God raising Christ from death is what proves that not only did Christ die for our sins, but the Father accepted the sacrifice. Paul says in his sermon on Mars Hill that God raising Christ from the dead is proof to all people that there is a day of judgement coming on which God will judge the world in righteousness through Christ. Those robed in the righteousness of Christ will be welcomed into the eternal presence of the Father and those apart from the righteousness of Christ will be told to depart into everlasting torment.

 To remove the resurrection from the gospel is to remove the very power of the gospel.

The good news of the gospel is that through Christ, God has made a way for unrighteous men and women, deserving of death, may experience everlasting life. To remove the resurrection from the gospel is to remove the very power of the gospel. Paul is going to say in our text next week, 14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We will deal with that more fully next week, but suffice it to say, that according to scripture, a gospel without the resurrection is impotent to save.

So far, we have looked at the centrality of the gospel in our lives as Christians, and we have looked at the centrality of the resurrection to the gospel, finally this morning, I want us to look at…

III. THE CENTRALITY OF THE PROCLAMATION

1 Corinthians 15:11 “11 Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.”

The gospel, or in Greek, euangelion (yoo-ang-ghel'-ee-on) literally translated is the good news or good tidings. It ought to go without saying, but to announce the good news or to bring good tidings, words are essential.

There is a popular saying circulating in Christian circles, often wrongly attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi, that goes ‘preach the gospel at all times, and when necessary use words’. This is one of those sayings that I truly don’t understand its popularity.

Yes, our lives should show evidence of the impact of the gospel.

I mean listen to the radical description Paul gives of his transformation. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.”

From a persecutor of the church of God to an apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ. From killing and imprisoning those who claimed to be followers of Christ to a church planter and missionary, taking the gospel to unreached peoples. What could possibly account for such a change? Paul says it was the grace of God that took him from a persecutor to a proclaimer. Having experienced the grace of God in the gospel, Paul was transformed and that same grace was working in him to labor harder than any other apostle, probably a reference to the shear number of miles Paul travelled proclaiming the gospel in his missionary journeys.

We do not preach the gospel with our lives, we preach the gospel with our words, because at its core, it is good news, and the news is only good if people hear it. God’s grace working in our lives gives evidence to its transformative work of the grace of God that accompanies salvation, but it is not the message of the gospel.

So Paul says, whether then it was I or they, so we preach- The word preach there carries the idea of being a herald or of publishing something which has been done, to proclaim openly. Paul says, the reason any of you are believers at all is because someone, either me or someone else proclaimed to you what God has done through Christ.

If you are a believer today, it is because someone proclaimed the gospel to you.

Why then, according to statistics, is it more common in our churches today that the vast majority of people do not regularly share the gospel than do?

I want to take you to the 10th chapter of Romans for a moment. You don’t have to turn there, but you are free to if you want to follow along in your Bible.

Romans 10:8-14 (ESV) 8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); 9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. 11 For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”

14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?

What does Paul say is essential to the gospel they proclaim? If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Nowhere does Paul indicate that the level of our sincerity or earnestness is what saves us, but he does indicate that our belief must be rooted in the gospel message for us to be saved, which as we have seen, surrounds the central truth that Christ is risen.

Paul is so sure that the faith in the genuine gospel of Christ will save that he quotes the prophet Joel and says, everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Elsewhere he says, the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

Think about that friends. The only way anyone will be saved is through the gospel message, and according to this everyone who calls on the name of the Lord having believed the gospel will be saved. We literally have the key to the salvation of every person we meet, and yet.

We literally have the key to the salvation of every person we meet...

Paul says, how will they call on him in whom they have not believed? How can anyone call on Jesus if they do not believe that he is the risen savior? Moreover, how can they believe that he is the risen savior if they have never heard the good news? Finally, how can they hear the good news, believe in Christ, and call on Him to be saved, if no one preaches, or proclaims it?

Who is supposed to preach it? Paul goes on in Romans 10.

Romans 10:15-17 (ESV) 15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” 16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.

How are they to preach unless they are sent? The word sent carries the idea of being sent on a mission, someone who has been commissioned. You see where I’m going?

If not, turn to Matthew 28:16–20 “16 Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. 17 And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. 18 And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.””

If you are a follower of Jesus Christ, you have been commissioned to proclaim the good news that you have believed in to others so that they may believe in it too.

Here is where I want to end. Tim Keller has said, “If Jesus rose from the dead, then you have to accept all that he said; if he didn’t rise from the dead, then why worry about any of what he said?”

Friends, our scripture this morning presents a resurrected savior, who died for sin, who conquered death, sin, and the grave. If you believe that, not only does the Bible say that you are saved, but that you have been commissioned to tell others the wonderful news of the gospel.

I pray today that you have seen that we never grow beyond the gospel, that it is central to who we are and what we are called to do.

I pray that you have seen that the gospel isn’t the gospel without a resurrected savior.

Finally, I pray that you have seen the gospel isn’t good news if you don’t share it with those around you and around the world.

Let us pray this morning.