Miserable Christians

Miserable Christians 2020 08 23

1 Corinthians 15:12 – 20

How many times have you heard someone say, “I hate my job!” I always answer that with, “Well, then, get a different job!” There is no point in doing something miserable, if it’s never going to bring you any real benefit. Having a life that is only happy on the weekend while blowing money on riotous living is not much of a life. It’s a miserable life, because the vast majority of your waking hours you are doing something you hate.

Christian, do you hate your job? Get with God and get a new job. Even better, ask Him for direction and wait on Him.

But what about your Christian walk? Is it too much effort for too little return? Are you a miserable Christian?

1 Corinthians 15:12 – 20

What would Christianity be if there was no resurrection of the dead? If that were so, Christianity would be a miserable existence. We would be going through all the motions, going to church instead of going on a picnic or to a drag race, living a clean life, not taking part in worldly fun like riotous drunken parties, and so on. Even more, as in Paul’s day, many were and still are martyred for their faith. And for what? If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.

I No Resurrection? vv 12,13

  1. Paul had just finished his powerful and irrefutable proof and witness of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. But some, right in the church at Corinth, did not believe that the dead could rise.

    1. This was in spite of the preaching of the resurrection by eye-witnesses and their close associates. It seems that while they could accept that Jesus Christ the Son of God could rise from the dead, they did not believe that there was a resurrection for anyone else.

  2. But if there is no resurrection from the dead, then Christ could not have risen, either. His body was no different from ours. He was fully God, but also just as human in body as you and I.

    1. If it’s too difficult to raise up a human being from the dead, then it was too difficult to raise our Saviour from the dead in His body.

II Misplaced Faith vv 14,15

  1. If Christ did not rise from the dead, then our entire faith is in vain. All the preaching and teaching is completely worthless.

  2. If Christ did not rise from the dead, then the Apostles were all false witnesses of God, because they testified, as eye-witnesses that God raised Christ from the dead. If the dead do not rise, their testimony of the resurrection was completely false.

III Implications vv 16 – 18

      1. Again, if the dead do not rise, Christ did not rise.

      2. If Christ did not rise, your faith is worthless, and your sins are still upon you.

      3. If Christ did not rise, then the dead who trusted in him are perished.

IV Miserable Christians v 19

      1. In Paul’s day and shortly thereafter, to put your faith in Jesus Christ was to become an outcast, marked for ridicule, loss, abuse and often death. That has continued down through all the centuries since Christ in many places.

      2. It is estimated that up to 160,000 Christians die every year for their testimony. Some 70 million are estimated to have been killed for their faith since the time of Christ, and there have been more martyred in the 20th century than in the previous 19. The slaughter continues in the 21st century.

        1. According to a 1998 article in Chick Publications’ magazine, BattleCry, “Today, religion-based governments in two-thirds of the world allow no tolerance for anyone labeled “Christian.” These include Atheistic Communism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and other Eastern beliefs. Christians living under any of these are either severely unwelcome or shot on sight.”

      3. If our only hope in Christ is while we are still alive in this life, we are the most miserable of all people.

        1. We still aren’t facing the same persecution in North America as those just mentioned, but there is growing opposition to Christianity, even here.

        2. An increasing number of Christian business owners are losing their businesses defending themselves against charges that specifically target their faith.

        3. Street preachers have been arrested, even in Canada, simply for preaching the gospel publicly.

        4. Churches are under direct attack by the government in many places in North America, right now, under the guise of protecting people from this pandemic, while at the same time, bars, shopping malls and other public venues are wide open and large protests are even encouraged.

        5. The people around us often indulge themselves in all manner of worldly and Godless events and practices, while we keep ourselves Scripturally separated to maintain a good witness out of love for our risen Saviour.

      4. If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen, our faith is in vain, and we are putting in all this effort to maintain a good witness for nothing.

V Good News! V 20

  1. But all this is not the way it really is. Christ IS risen from the dead and become the firstfruits of them that slept.

    1. The firstfruits, under the Law of Moses, were the first part of the crop to ripen. They were offered to God in a testimony of faith in the fact that the entire crop would soon follow.

    2. Christ is the first to rise from the dead, never to die again, but He is the first of many. A great harvest is coming, when the dead in Christ shall rise, “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” 1 Thessalonians 4:16,17

  2. The evidence of the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most well documented event in history! Four books written by two different eye-witnesses and two different close friends of eye-witnesses attest to both the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

    1. Paul met the risen Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus, a zealous Jew, a Pharisee, on his way with orders and authority to arrest all those who believed in Jesus Christ. It was there, on that road, that this violent persecutor of Christians was instantly converted and became one of those he had previously persecuted.

    2. The Bible records more than 500 eye-witnesses of the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

      1. At the time that record was written, you could still go and talk to many of them, who, under pain of death for their faith, would openly and joyfully tell you their eye-witness account of the resurrection.

Conclusion

  1. Have you put your faith in Jesus Christ to save you from your sins and give you everlasting life? Have confidence in the resurrection of the dead! Have confidence that you are going to rise, even if you were to die today. The evidence is there. It is irrefutable. Jesus Christ did rise from the dead, opening the way for you. If you have put your faith in Him, there is no doubt: you will rise. “For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” Titus 2:11 – 14 Amen!