1 Corinthians 15:1-11

in your Bibles, if you have one, to 1 Corinthians chapter 15.

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

If you're using one of the Pew Bibles, it's page 961.

We are continuing in our series through this book

on the home stretch as we've been going through this book

throughout the year.

As you turn there, I want to thank you to the church

for allowing and encouraging us as your pastors

and staff members to take vacation time

with our families this summer.

Jane and I were certainly blessed by our time away

over the last couple weeks.

So thank you for giving us that flexibility

in our employment contracts and also bearing with us

in the practicalities of when you call the office

and you don't know who will answer.

But we will always have somebody here,

even if some of us are in and some of us are out.

You know, it's a good reminder that God's work continues

and that God's work in this church is not dependent

exclusively on one particular individual.

And, you know, it's a good sign.

That we can go away for a couple weeks and come back

and God's continuing and doing good work here.

During our time away, I had a little time to reflect.

And so before I read this passage this morning,

I want to just share some reflections

on the last five years.

It's been five years since Pastor Matt and I came on staff

and Pastor Nick, we became the three co-pastors.

And so I was thinking a little bit of what God has taught us

as a church.

Some of you have been here for those five years.

Some of you have come more recently.

You know, but if you think five years ago,

we were just emerging from a two-and-a-half-year

interim leadership period after our senior pastor had left.

We were venturing into this team leadership model

with three co-pastors.

None of us had had previous experience on a church staff

outside of Trinity.

And so we moved into our offices.

And then, as you may remember, a week later,

Matt's wife, Brandy, was diagnosed with breast cancer.

And so over the last five years, as a church,

we've been brought to face realities that many of us

and many of us in our culture try to avoid.

Sickness and pain and death.

And we've prayed fervently and boldly for healing.

We've come to trust the Lord's providence,

even through grief and pain.

We've been reminded that our true home,

our true home is with the Lord,

that our hope and our help come from Him.

I think also the message that we preached about

in 1 Corinthians 13, about the supremacy of love,

the excellence of love, the importance of love,

that above all else, we as Jesus' disciples

must be characterized by love for one another.

I think that message has sunk in more deeply

over the last five years.

I think we live in a culture where many of us

might be tempted to focus on our performance

or our knowledge.

We're in a church where there's always people coming in,

moving to town and leaving town,

and our relationships might wear thin

in a context like this.

But I think God has brought us to a deeper level

of community and love for one another as a church.

I think we've learned to rejoice together

and to mourn together, to care for each other,

not just for Pastor Matt and his family,

but to really care for each other

as we go through our own struggles and trials

and to rejoice as we share joys and victories.

And so I think our community has grown deeper,

more vulnerable, and also more hospitable as a result.

So that's, I think, sort of the first way we've grown

is in our love for one another

and in our depth as a community.

But we've also grown outwardly.

Our building is, especially during the school year,

it's more crowded on Sunday mornings.

Sometimes you have trouble finding a seat.

Some people are up in the balcony sometimes.

The youth group has grown on Wednesday nights.

Some of the small groups are outgrowing

people's living rooms.

That's all a good thing.

And God is bringing not just more people,

but I think more different people.

You know, you look around and you talk to people

and you're like, we're not all the same here.

And, you know, sometimes it takes a little while

to figure out what we have in common.

But what draws us together above everything else

is the message we're preaching about this morning

of Jesus Christ crucified and risen.

And as we look into the,

and God has also brought opportunities

for outreach our way,

even ones that we wouldn't have looked for.

Planting a church in New London

was not on our strategic plan,

but God brought that to pass

over the last five years.

The idea of joining together with other churches

in a partnership in New Haven

for ministry like Bridges of Hope,

that didn't exist two years ago.

Might have thought,

well, that's sort of a nice idea,

but when does that ever really happen?

But God has brought that together

and is beginning to grow that.

And Lord willing, may that continue to have

a greater impact over the next five years.

I think the Lord's also giving us

a growing love for internationals,

for people from all parts of the world.

God has brought many of you here

from different parts of the world

and to contribute to our church life

and to help us more effectively reach out

to our international neighbors.

So as we look to the next five years,

what will the next five years hold

for us as a church and for the kingdom of God

in New Haven more broadly?

You know, some days I have ideas.

I could give you lots of ideas

that I think have a lot of potential.

Sometimes I can be an optimist.

And other days I can come up

with all kinds of obstacles

and difficulties and anxieties

and things that could go wrong.

But the passage we're looking at today

is I think what can serve it

as an anchor point for us.

It provides an anchor for us personally.

It provides an anchor for us as a church.

It reminds us the ground that we stand on,

the foundation that this church

and every true church is built on.

And it gives us a reason

that we can look into the future

with both humility and confidence.

So that's what we're going to read together.

And I want to sort of frame the passage

by thinking about what might God have for us

in the next few years.

So let me read this passage,

1 Corinthians 15, 1 to 11,

and then we'll jump in.

Paul writes this,

Now I would remind you,

brothers of the gospel I preach to you,

which you received,

in which you stand,

and by which you are being saved.

If you hold fast to the word I preach to you,

unless you believed in vain.

For I delivered to you,

as of first importance,

what I also received,

that Christ died for our sins

in accordance with the Scriptures,

that he was buried,

that he was raised on the third day

in accordance with the Scriptures,

and that he appeared to Cephas

and then to the 12th.

Then he appeared to more than 500 brothers

at one time,

most of whom are still alive,

though some have fallen asleep.

Then he appeared to James,

then to all the apostles.

Last of all,

as to one untimely born,

he appeared also to me.

For I am the least of the apostles,

unworthy to be called an apostle

because I persecuted the church of God.

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 wasn't I,

but the grace of God that is with me.

Whether then it was I or they,

so we preach,

and so you believed.

This morning,

the apostle Paul

wants to remind us of two things

that matter more than anything else.

Number one,

one,

the historical reality

of Jesus' bodily resurrection.

Number two,

the present reality

of his transforming grace.

Those are the two points

I want to look at this morning.

Let's begin with the first one.

Now, as I said,

we're on the home stretch of our journey

through 1 Corinthians.

We've made it through

chapter one to four

about divisions in the church,

chapters five

about church discipline,

chapter six and seven

about sex and singleness

and marriage,

chapter eight and nine and ten

about idol worship,

chapter 11

about head coverings

and the Lord's Supper,

chapter 12, 13, and 14

about spiritual gifts,

tongues, and prophecy.

We've made it through

a lot of different topics.

This is the last major topic

of the book.

But it's not just one more topic

on sort of Paul's laundry list

of problems and issues

that he wants to address

with the Corinthian church.

This is really the capstone

of the book.

Paul began, if you remember,

in chapter two

by talking about

the message of the cross.

He said,

I've resolved to know

nothing among you

except Christ

and him crucified.

So he begins

by speaking about the cross

and now he's going to end

by speaking about

the resurrection.

And those are sort of

the two pillars

that hold up

the whole book.

And everything in the middle

only makes sense

if you see these two things.

That Jesus Christ died

on the cross for our sins

and that he was raised

for us on the third day.

And so he's,

we see the implications

of those things.

Karl Barth wrote,

this chapter

forms not only

the clothes and crown

of the whole epistle

but also provides

the clue to its meaning.

Light is shed upon the whole

from this place

on the book as a unity.

What we'll see

as we look at this chapter

for the next five weeks

is that the resurrection

of Jesus

not only gives us hope

for the future

and eternity

but it also transforms

our life in the present.

It does both

of those things

and they're both

essential and important.

But Paul starts

this morning

by bringing us back

to the basics.

Verse three.

He says,

I deliver to you

as of first importance

what I also received.

Now there are some translations

that it's possible

to translate that

slightly differently

to say,

I deliver to you

at the first.

In other words,

this was the first thing

I told you.

But the reason why

Paul would have told them

this first

is because it was

a first importance

so it doesn't actually matter

how you translate it.

But Paul wants us

to remember

this matters more

than anything else.

as you read

1 Corinthians

and talk about

all these topics

he says,

don't lose the forest

for the trees.

This is what

it's all about.

This is what

matters more

than anything else.

This is the good news

I preached.

It's what you believed.

It's

the message

through which

you are being saved.

And Paul says,

this isn't just

my distinctive message.

it's the message

of every true

Christian believer

since the earliest days

of the Christian church.

Paul says,

I delivered to you

what I also received.

In other words,

he's sort of like

the UPS guy.

Right?

He got the package

and he faithfully

delivered it to you.

He didn't open the package,

take out half the stuff inside,

throw in some other stuff

that he wanted to throw in,

and then deliver it to you.

He's saying,

I got it

and I've passed it

on to you

faithfully

the message

that you believe.

Paul is quoting here

from an early Christian creed

or summary

of the faith.

That's why he says,

I deliver to you

what I received.

And just as he did

in chapter 11,

he used the same language

when talking about

the Lord's Supper.

Right?

Not just something

that Paul's churches

observed,

but something

that all Christians

have always shared.

The meal to remember

Jesus' death

on the cross

for our sins.

Now,

look for a minute

at what Paul

delivers to them.

He says,

Christ died for our sins

in accordance with

the Scriptures.

He was buried.

He was raised

in accordance with

the Scriptures

and then he appeared.

So,

there's four sections.

There's a symmetry

to it.

It's easy to remember.

Right?

In accordance

with the Scriptures.

In accordance

with the Scriptures,

there's a rhythm to it.

It's very simple.

Right?

Paul says,

this is the core.

And this message

that Paul's quoting

goes back to the earliest

days of the Christian movement.

So,

just let me give you

a little bit

of the background here.

1 Corinthians is written

sometime between 52

and 55 A.D.

That would be about

20 to 25 years

after Jesus was crucified

under Pontius Pilate.

Either 30 or 33 A.D.

was when that happened.

But Paul says,

I delivered this to you.

That means

he taught it to them

when he was there

with them,

which was back in A.D. 50

a few years earlier.

And then Paul said,

before that,

I received this.

You might think,

well,

where did Paul receive this?

Right?

Where would he have received

this sort of summary

of the Christian faith

from someone else

or some other group

of Christians?

Well,

in Galatians 1,

one of Paul's earliest letters,

he says,

three years after

he came to faith in Jesus,

he went up to Jerusalem

to visit James

and Peter

or Cephas,

both of whom

are prominently mentioned

in this list of people

Jesus appeared to.

Take note.

That would have been back

in the mid to late 30s A.D.

Most likely,

that's when and where

Paul received this summary

of Christian beliefs.

Now,

other scholars suggest

he might have got it

at Antioch or Damascus.

That was basically

around the same time.

Now,

here's the point.

Paul is quoting something here

that goes back to

within five to ten years

of Jesus' death

and resurrection.

And by then,

this was such

an established belief

in the Christian community,

he could say,

this is what we believe.

This is the package.

It wasn't somebody's

new idea then.

It was already

a settled consensus.

Now,

here's the point

about all this chronology.

If you read about,

if you go on Wikipedia,

right,

the fount of all knowledge,

right,

and you read about

early Christianity,

or even if you read

some books

by scholars

with PhDs

from Yale

and other places,

some of them will say

the early Jesus movement

didn't believe

in the bodily resurrection

of Jesus

and didn't believe

that Jesus' death

was an atoning sacrifice,

they only expected

his imminent return

as king.

And later on,

when he didn't return

as soon as they hoped for,

then they came up

with these other ideas

to give meaning

to what had happened.

Well,

there are many problems

with this view.

One problem

is it simply doesn't fit

any of the evidence

that we have

for what the earliest Christians

actually believed.

Right?

This is one of the earliest

Christian creeds.

Right?

It's in one of Paul's

relatively early letters,

and it's something

that he delivered,

had received,

and had previously

become a consensus.

That's going three steps back,

pretty far back.

And this affirms

the atoning death

of Jesus, right?

He died for our sins

as a sacrifice,

and he was buried

and he was raised.

In other words,

he ain't still in the tomb.

Because you don't say

he was buried

and then he was raised

if his body's still there

in the tomb.

So,

and the other time

in 1 Corinthians,

Paul quotes

an early Christian creed

one other time

in chapter 8,

verse 6,

and it refers to Jesus

as God,

the Lord,

from whom are all things.

So,

these are not beliefs

that Paul

or Mark

or Luke

developed

a couple of decades

after the facts.

This is what

the earliest Christians

consistently believed

and proclaimed.

Right?

All the way back

to the apostles

in Jerusalem

where Jesus lived

and died

and was raised.

So,

you can be confident

that there's reasons

to believe this.

And this wasn't

just something

that some people

sort of cooked up

later on

or developed

somewhere

long ago

and far away

from what had

actually happened.

This is what

Christians have

believed and proclaimed

from the first.

And Paul makes

the point

that this wasn't

an accident

what had happened,

that it happened

according to

the scriptures.

That is,

according to

the story

of the old,

in fulfillment

of the Old Testament

story.

Paul says,

Christ died

for our sins

according to

the scriptures.

You might say,

well,

where does it say

in the Old Testament?

That's the scriptures

Paul would be referring to.

Where does it say

in the Old Testament

that Christ,

the Messiah,

would die

for people's sins?

Well,

one place it says it

is in Isaiah 53.

You can read

that chapter.

It talks about

the suffering servant.

One verse in it

says,

all we,

like sheep,

have gone astray.

Each of us

has turned

to his own way.

And the Lord

has laid on him,

on this suffering servant,

the iniquity,

the sin of us all.

But you know,

it wasn't just a few

isolated prophecies

Paul's referring to.

This is a theme

that runs through

the whole Old Testament.

That humanity

as a whole

and God's people

included

have fallen

into sin.

That is,

we've

turned,

we don't want

God to be in charge

and everything

is falling apart.

And the result

of that sin

is ultimately death.

Physical,

spiritual,

all kinds of other ways.

But,

there's a promise

that one day

God would deal

with sin

and conquer death.

Right?

It goes through

the whole Old Testament.

So,

story of Adam and Eve

right at the beginning.

What happens?

They disobey

God's command.

They're prohibited

from eating

of the tree of life.

But,

they're promised

one day

the seed of the woman

will crush

the serpent's head.

Will defeat

the enemy.

Then you have

the story of Abraham.

Right?

Abraham and Isaac.

A haunting story

that sort of

hangs over

the whole Old Testament

when he

is called to offer

his one and only son

as a burnt offering.

But then he's rescued

at the last moment

by God's provision

of a substitute sacrifice.

And then you read

the laws

and they have

all these laws

about all the ways

you become unclean.

Sort of reminds you

all the stuff,

all the junk

that's in the world

and in our hearts

and all the ways

that we can become

unclean before a holy God

and then all the remedies.

But then there's

one chapter

in the middle of Leviticus

that says

once a year

on the day of atonement

the people of Israel

can be cleansed

from all their sins.

And you think,

well, what's going on here?

Right?

It's sort of,

it's looking forward

and the prophets,

Zachariah said,

one day

the Lord will remove

the iniquity

of the whole land

in a single day.

All right?

So there's a,

there's,

you see the problem

and you see a promised solution

which hasn't come yet.

The problem of sin and death

and a promised solution

which God says

it's coming one day.

You see that

throughout the whole Old Testament

Paul says

that's why Jesus came

into the world.

To reconcile us to God.

To pay for our sins.

That's why Christ died

for our sins

according to the scriptures.

If you have younger kids

there's a great children's book

that puts

the sacrifice,

the sacrificial death

of Jesus

in the context

of the story

of the whole Bible.

It's called

The Garden,

The Curtain,

and The Cross.

It's a great book

if,

if I highly recommend it

and,

and it's one of those books

that if you read it

as an adult

it's like wow

that was a really good

children's book

because it's,

it spoke to me too.

Right?

And,

anyway,

so I recommend that.

So Christ died for our sins

according to the scriptures.

But second,

Paul says,

Christ was raised

on the third day

according to the scriptures.

And again,

you might say,

and some people have asked,

well where in the Bible

does it say

that the Messiah

will be raised

from the dead

on the third day?

Well,

again,

interesting,

it's not just one verse,

it's,

there's a pattern

in the Old Testament

that very often

God's saving intervention

happens

on the third day.

So when Abraham

takes Isaac up the mountain,

it's on the third day

when the,

when,

when,

when he sees

the animal

and the thicket

and his son

is saved from death.

And Exodus 19,

it's on the third day

when God comes down

on Mount Sinai

in glory.

The story of Jonah,

it's on the third day

when he's rescued

from the belly

of the fish.

Hosea chapter 6,

Hosea 6 · chapter mention

again,

one of the prophets

says,

after two days

he will revive us

on the third day.

He will raise us up.

So the third day

represents

completeness

or finality.

God's saving intervention.

God's gonna come

and rescue you

on the third day.

You see that

throughout the Old Testament

and Paul says,

don't you see?

That's exactly

what just happened

in the resurrection

of Jesus.

Nobody put it all together

beforehand.

Right?

Nobody could see

exactly where the story

was leading.

Nobody expected

Jesus to be raised

on the third day

even though

he said he would.

But when you look back

you say,

oh,

it makes sense.

The pieces fit together.

Now Paul reminds us

verse 5 through 7,

there were several witnesses

to Jesus' resurrection.

Again,

he's reminding them.

This isn't just something

I said.

There's other witnesses too.

So he mentions Peter

or Cephas.

Cephas is just the Greek word

that means rock

or maybe it's the Hebrew.

I don't know.

It's one language

and Peter's the other language.

I don't remember which language.

But they both mean rock

and he went by both names.

Right?

But Peter

and then James.

This is not James the apostle

but James the half-brother

of Jesus.

The younger brother

of Jesus

who had become

the leader of the church

in Jerusalem

and Paul.

Now if you notice

all three of these

Peter had denied Jesus publicly.

It says James

and Jesus' other siblings

didn't believe in him

during his earthly ministry

and Paul had persecuted the church.

So Jesus didn't just appear

to his most loyal supporters.

Right?

Like John the apostle

and the women

who stood around the cross

and went to the tomb.

Right?

They were his most loyal supporters

but Jesus didn't just appear

to them.

He also appeared

to people who were

who had failed him

and who were against him

and who were skeptical.

And that's another reason

why we can be confident

these are credible witnesses.

They weren't exactly

the most likely people

to believe this stuff

on their own.

So Jesus

appeared to individuals.

He also appeared to groups.

The twelve disciples.

Paul mentions all the apostles.

Perhaps that includes

some others

who had accompanied Jesus

besides the twelve.

More than five hundred brothers

and sisters.

Perhaps that's when

what Matthew recorded

in chapter 28

when Jesus gave

the Great Commission.

Paul says

most of them are still alive.

In other words

ask them if you want.

So what do we take

from this first point?

Besides the fact

that I need a drink of water

just a second.

What do we take

from this first point?

Well during

during my sophomore

and junior year in college

I wrestled with a number

of doubts about Christianity.

And there were

a few Christian doctrines

that I just

really struggled

to figure out

how do they all make sense?

How can these

all be true

at the same time

and all make sense together?

Thinking about questions

that I didn't have

complete answers to.

What about people

who've never heard of Jesus?

How is God sovereign

over everything?

And we have

meaningful human responsibility

in a world of evil

and suffering.

And I spent hours

thinking about these questions.

I spent sleepless nights

pondering and thinking

I was probably

the only one

who spent sleepless nights

pondering these questions.

But then I would come back

to passages like these.

Christ died for our sins.

He was buried.

He was raised.

He appeared.

And I was like

I can't deny this.

You know whatever else

doesn't quite make sense

in your mind.

Whatever else

you're wrestling with

or doubting.

Whatever other teachings

in the Bible

you struggle with.

Come back to this.

And look at

the people Jesus appeared to.

Look at

this is the core message

of Christianity.

Everything else

will only make sense

if you start here.

Right?

This is the foundation.

You can build

the rest of the house

after you have

the foundation.

And I looked into

the alternate explanations

that skeptical historians

offered.

None of them

were ultimately convincing.

So let me encourage

if you're having doubts

this is the anchor

that you can hold on to.

The central reality

of the scriptures.

The heart

of the Christian faith.

The bodily resurrection

of Jesus.

So that's the first thing

Paul wants us

to be anchored in.

The historical reality

of Jesus' resurrection.

Second point.

The present reality

of his transforming grace.

Now there's a connection

between these two points.

Jesus' resurrection

and Jesus' transforming grace.

Paul doesn't make it

explicit here

but he does

in some of his other letters.

So Romans 8

Paul says

he who raised Christ Jesus

from the dead

will also give life

to your mortal bodies

through his spirit

who dwells in you.

In Ephesians 1

Paul speaks about

the immeasurable greatness

of God's power

toward us who believe

according to the working

of his great might

that he worked in Christ

when he raised him

from the dead.

In other words

the same power of God

that raised Jesus

from the dead

is at work within us.

Transforming us

by his mercy and grace.

I mean just consider

the three people

Paul mentions by name.

Think about Peter.

Peter.

I mean Peter

was a guy

who talked smack

and then he didn't

do what he said.

Right?

He didn't always

live up to his talk.

He said to Jesus

I'll stand by you

I'll die for you

even if everybody else

abandons you

I'll be there with you.

And then that night

he denied Jesus

three times.

But Jesus appeared

to him

in particular

alone

not just with all

the other people

in a group

but him.

and then Jesus

talked to him

in John chapter 21

John 21 · chapter mention

he brought him

face to face

with his past failure

and he said to Peter

come

you follow me

I have a plan

for your future

I'm not done

with you yet.

And so Peter

became a powerful

preacher

and evangelist

and writer

of two New Testament

epistles.

Then you have James

Jesus' younger brother.

I mean imagine

being Jesus'

younger brother

seemed like he had

a few

from the reference

in Mark chapter 6

Mark 6 · chapter mention

but it says

in the gospels

John chapter 7

John 7:5

verse 5

says even Jesus'

own brothers

did not believe

in him.

And at one point

Mark chapter 3

Mark 3 · chapter mention

it says his family

went to take charge

of him

or to seize him

because they were

saying to each other

he's out of his mind.

Right?

In other words

they wanted to commit him.

Right?

It wasn't such a thing

as a psych hospital

back then

but they were like

he's crazy.

But then what happens

to James

after the resurrection?

He becomes

a respected

and courageous

leader of the

Christian church

in Jerusalem.

Right?

One who had

in his skepticism

and cynicism

had dismissed Jesus

and thought

no he can't be.

He becomes convinced

and he

again

he wrote

a New Testament book

the epistle of James

and at the council

in Jerusalem

in Acts chapter 15

Acts 15 · chapter mention

which was sort of

a crucial turning point

for the church

he's the one

who stands up

just at the right time

and says exactly

what needed to be said

and people say

yes that's right.

So there's Peter

James

and then Paul.

Right?

Paul hadn't just

denied Jesus

by his words

or been skeptical

of him.

Paul had actively

persecuted

Jesus' followers

violently

and Paul doesn't

try to hide

that aspect

of his past.

He doesn't try

to sweep it

under the rug

and hope nobody

figures it out.

He confesses

and freely

in verse 9

he says

I'm the least

of the apostles

I don't deserve

to be an apostle

because I persecuted

the church of God.

Paul didn't put

on a mask

of self-reliance

and flawlessness

he knew

that he was a sinner

saved by God's grace.

He said

it's only

by the grace of God

that I am

what I am.

You know this week

I was

this week I was

talking with Pastor Nick

and we were reminiscing

about our brother

Randall Perkins

who recently passed away

and Nick said

I remember

several years ago

I was teaching

Sunday school

and Randall piped up

and said

wasn't there a guy

in the Bible

who was a murderer

and killed Christians

and then God

forgave him

and Nick said

that's right

it was the apostle Paul

and Randall said

well if God

can forgive him

then he can forgive me

and that's exactly

the point

Randall wasn't

a murderer

by the way

don't get a misconception

here

but God

can forgive

anyone

whatever their past

whatever your past

includes

now it seems

that some people

in Corinth

were questioning

Paul

questioning his

credentials as an apostle

not just because

of his past

but also because

he didn't seem

that impressive

in the present

you know

the New Testament

doesn't describe

what Paul looked like

but there's a

second century document

that describes Paul

this way

small in size

bald headed

bow legged

well built

with eyebrows that met

got a unibrow

and rather long nosed

if this is accurate

we don't know if it is

but it very well could be

Paul didn't exactly

have the most impressive

physique

by ancient standards

and in verse 8

Paul refers to himself

as one untimely born

that was actually a word

that was sometimes used

as a derogatory insult

sometimes it referred

to someone born prematurely

or even born

as a result

of a failed abortion

and someone who might

have been disfigured

or deformed

as a result

it was a term

that's sort of like

the word freak

today

used in a negative way

often about people

and some people

might have even

used that term

to talk about Paul

and said this guy's

a freak

he's crazy

he's weird

he's messed up

and Paul

Paul wasn't

Paul wasn't fazed

by that

he said the foundation

on which I stand

is not my physical

appearance

it's not

my past accomplishments

it's by the grace

of God

he says it's by the grace

of God

I am what I am

and so Paul

could live

with humility

and with confidence

you know

maybe you

maybe you're

like Peter

maybe you feel

insecure

because you can

look back

on ways

you've screwed up

during your time

as a follower

of Jesus

like Peter could

maybe you're

like James

and you're

you have a

skeptical

cynical

side of you

that seems

hard to shake

maybe you're

like Paul

you have a

pre-Christian

past

that you're

deeply ashamed

of

and you

think

if people

in the church

knew about

everything

I used

to do

maybe

they

wouldn't

love me

or accept

me

maybe

I

wouldn't

be welcome

here

and I

wouldn't

have

a purpose

here

anymore

you know

what this

passage says

to you

is trust

in

the reality

of Jesus

transforming

grace

wherever

you're

coming

from

you can

be empowered

by the

Holy Spirit

despite

your past

failures

and

whatever

you've

accomplished

it's

interesting

Paul talks

about his

worst

failures

in the

past

and his

greatest

accomplishments

in the

present

verse 10

he says

I worked

harder

than all

the rest

of them

and it's

probably

true

right

Paul

planted

more

churches

in more

cities

than anyone

else we

know of

in the

ancient

world

he traveled

more miles

around the

Roman Empire

than any of

the other

apostles

it's true

he worked

harder than

everybody else

but then he

could say

it's not

I

but the

grace of

God

and so

if you're

haunted by

your failures

and weaknesses

and insecurities

you need to be

encouraged by

this passage

that God

can use you

and he can

transform you

by his grace

and it's not

too

we are past

and your present

struggles are not

too big for

God to handle

and if you're

really accomplished

like Paul

if you've

succeeded

if you've

done a lot

in the world

or in the church

or if you

have a high

status

in one way

or other

you need to

be reminded

of what

Paul said

it's not

I

but the

grace of

God

that's

within me

you know

if you can

look around

and honestly

like Paul

say I

worked harder

than most

of the people

around me

can you also

say

but not

I

yet the

grace of

God

because if

you don't

say that

you're

vulnerable

to fall

into being

condescending

and arrogant

and looking

down on other

people

and God's

not pleased

by that

but you see

what this message

does is it

humbles

is it

humbles us

and it makes

us confident

it humbles

it humbles

us

because it's

only by

the grace

of God

that we

are what

we are

and it

gives us

confidence

because it's

by the grace

of God

that God

deals with

our sin

and our

past

and he

gives us

hope and

confidence

for our

work in the

future

that he

calls us

to

so that's

how we

can look

forward

into the

future

with humility

and with

confidence

God's done

good things

among us

in the last

five years

you know

as you look

through

as you

think of

the past

five years

in your own

life

whatever your

journey

has been

you can think

about what's

led you

to this day

what's led

you here

but if you

take your

stand on

this foundation

that Christ

died for your

sins

and he was

buried and he

was raised

on the third

day

and if you

trust in his

transforming grace

you can face

you can go

into the

future

with hope

and with

confidence

and with

humility

and graciousness

let us

pray

oh God

we thank you

for this

message

we thank you

for the

central reality

that brings us

here this

morning

Lord we thank

you for the

grace to

transform Paul

and James

and Peter's

life

we thank you

for the grace

that empowered

them to do

mighty works

for your

kingdom

Lord to

bring many

people to

faith in

you

to write

letters

that are

still used

by your

Holy Spirit

to instruct

and guide

your church

Lord we pray

that your

transforming grace

will be at

work among us

give us

confidence

Lord

where we see

and are aware

of our

weaknesses

and failures

we pray

that we

would come

and receive

the forgiveness

of our

sins

and Lord

where we

need your

empowerment

and your

wisdom

to guide

us

for the

task

that you

lay

before us

we pray

that we

would come

before you

and be

empowered

only by your

grace

Lord we pray

that you

would continue

your work

in this

church

in the next

years ahead

we pray

that you

would continue

your work

in each one

of us

for your

glory

we pray

these things

in Jesus

name

amen