Resurrection of the Christ

Welcome to our Resurrection Sunday service.

On Resurrection Sunday, we are reminded of the very heart of Christianity

because at the heart of Christianity is not a system of belief or a philosophy,

but a person, Jesus Christ.

At the heart of Christianity is not an abstract principle,

but a concrete person, Jesus Christ.

It's tempting to try to reduce Christianity to a set of manageable rules,

but we must not do that because to be a Christian is to be a disciple of Christ.

Christianity is a religion, yes, but it's also a personal dynamic relationship.

And this sets it apart from all the other major religions of the world,

which provide people with a set of instructions, a way of living.

Zoroastrianism teaches its adherents to pursue good thoughts, good words, and good deeds.

Hinduism delineates four objectives of the human life,

namely righteousness, wealth, sensual pleasure, and freedom from the birth-rebirth cycle.

Buddhism tells people to follow the four noble truths and the eightfold path

in order to attain nirvana or enlightenment.

Islam prescribes its five pillars,

a declaration of faith, prayer, almsgiving, fasting, and pilgrimage to Mecca.

In stark contrast, the greatest command of Christianity is to love God.

Christian scholar Ravi Zacharias writes in his book,

Jesus Among Other Gods,

Jesus did not only teach or expound His message,

He was identical with His message.

In Him, says the Scriptures,

dwelt the fullness of the Godhead bodily.

He did not just proclaim the truth,

He said, I am the truth.

He did not just show a way,

He said, I am the way.

He did not just open up vistas,

He said, I am the door,

I am the good shepherd,

I am the resurrection and the life.

I am the I am.

In Him is not just an offer of life's bread,

He is the bread of life.

In this sense, Christianity is unique,

but because of its uniqueness,

precisely because it's so counterintuitive,

it's easy to lose sight of it

and replace Christ that's at the center of Christianity

with something else.

And a similar forgetfulness

was threatening to undo the Corinthian church

that Paul is now writing to.

And they were so enamored with their own brand of spirituality,

they rejected the doctrine that God's people would,

at some point, be resurrected from the dead.

And because of their error,

they were jeopardizing the very doctrine

of Christ's resurrection itself,

which they believed.

And so Paul writes this passage to remind them

that we must hold fast to the gospel

of the resurrected Christ.

That's the main point of this passage.

And I will talk about that in three sections.

First is the communication of the gospel

in verses 1 to 2.

Secondly, it's the content of the gospel

in verses 3 to 7.

And thirdly, it's the character of the gospel

in verses 8 to 11.

First, we see Paul's communication of the gospel

in verses 1 to 2.

He begins by saying,

Now I would remind you, brothers,

of the gospel I preached to you.

I'm going to say this word a lot

throughout this message,

so please listen now for what it means.

What is the gospel?

The gospel is Christian shorthand

for the good news of Jesus Christ.

It is the good news of the person and work

of Jesus Christ.

Who he was, the promised Messiah,

the king that was to come,

the savior of the world,

and what he did.

So his person, who he was,

and what he did,

namely dying on the cross for our sins

and rising from the dead

to redeem us from our slavery to sin and death

and to give us new life.

That's the gospel.

It's the good news of Jesus Christ

and that he made his relationship with him

possible through his life and work.

And it's important to remember that

the gospel is good news.

And insofar as it is news,

the gospel must be communicated.

It has to be preached.

Some Christians insist that actions speak louder than words

and that preaching the gospel is old-fashioned

and doesn't suit our times.

They quote Francis of Assisi,

a 12th century Christian preacher

who allegedly said,

preach the gospel at all times

when necessary, use words.

As appealing as that sounds,

Francis never said any such thing.

What he did say is found in the rule

that he wrote to guide the Franciscan order

of the Christian monks.

And it reads this way,

no brother should preach contrary

to the form and regulation of the Holy Church,

nor unless he has been permitted by his minister.

The minister should take care not to grant this permission

to anyone indiscriminately.

All the friars, however,

should preach by their deeds.

Far from diminishing the importance

of the verbal proclamation of the gospel,

Francis wanted to ensure

the faithful proclamation of the gospel

by restricting who gets to preach.

And on the other hand,

he permitted all people

to preach by their deeds.

Because the gospel is good news,

it is always necessary to use words.

Of course, good deeds always accompany good news.

But good deeds apart from good work,

good news,

divorce from the good news

doesn't do anyone eternal good.

That's why Paul says here,

he preached the gospel to the Corinthians.

The word preach is actually

a verbal form of the word gospel,

which goes to show

that it is in the very nature of the gospel

itself to be preached,

to be proclaimed.

And then Paul recalls

the response of the Corinthians

to his preaching of the gospel.

He continues in verses 1 to 2,

Now I would remind you, brothers,

of the gospel I preached to you,

which you received,

in which you stand,

and by which you are being saved,

if you hold fast to the word I preached to you,

unless you believed in vain.

We see the progression of the gospel here in this verse.

First, it was received.

That refers to what happened in the past.

Second, it is the gospel in which they stand currently.

That refers to what the Corinthians are doing in the present.

And then third,

it is the gospel by which they are being saved,

meaning that their salvation will only be consummated in the future time.

And because of this past, present, and future reality of the gospel,

we must hold fast to the gospel of the resurrected Christ.

Paul says,

If you hold fast to the gospel,

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

that parallels the phrase,

the gospel I preach to you,

the word is shorthand for the gospel here as well.

So Christians who do not hold fast to the gospel

will fail to experience that final salvation,

which still lies ahead in the future.

This is why we must daily preach the gospel to ourselves.

This is why Christians gather weekly to preach the gospel to themselves.

This is why I preach the gospel every time I come to preach,

even when everybody in the audience is Christian.

17th century Christian pastor Richard Baxter

expressed this sentiment in one of the poems that he wrote.

It reads this way,

Still thinking I had little time to live,

My fervent heart to win men's souls did strive.

I preached as never sure to preach again,

and as a dying man to dying men.

Well, how should preachers men's repenting crave,

who see how near the church is to the grave?

On no day do I think of myself as preaching to the choir.

I preach to you urgently, earnestly,

because we must hold fast to the gospel of the resurrected Christ.

As Paul says at the end of verse 2,

Those who do not hold fast will have believed in vain.

Having exhorted them to hold fast,

Paul then explains the content of the gospel in verse 3 to 7.

This gospel is not something that Paul came up with by himself

in one of his brainstorming sessions.

Rather, the gospel that Paul preached to the Corinthians,

which they received,

is something that he himself also received.

He says in verse 3,

For I deliver to you as of first importance

what I also received.

Paul used this expression of delivering what he received earlier

in 1 Corinthians 11,

which we talked about on Friday.

By the way,

we've been in 1 Corinthians for a while.

I don't know if you want to change the battery,

or is there something?

I can just...

I can just...

Can you guys hear me?

Yeah.

So I can just...

I just preach like this on Friday,

so I'll preach like this again.

This mic might come flying to one of you guys.

I move my hands so much when I preach.

The language of delivering what he has received

is a language of faithful transmission

of what he has himself received from the Lord Jesus Christ.

So he's saying that he's faithfully passing on

what he has received from the Lord Jesus himself.

And this, what he's about to articulate,

the gospel,

is not something that's of secondary importance

for Paul.

It is something that he says is of first importance.

And the gospel of Jesus Christ,

which is at the heart of Christianity,

this goes back to the very beginning,

to Jesus.

And it's crucial that we get this,

especially for all of us,

but for Christians who are trying to live by the gospel.

Because, yes, it's important that we believe

all of the right and true things

that are taught in Scripture.

But it's also important that we believe

all the right things in proper proportion.

Think about it this way.

There's a bodybuilder

who has the biggest biceps in the whole world.

It's twice the size of your thighs.

But imagine that he skipped leg days

when he went to the gym.

So he has skinny chicken legs.

If you look at him,

he would look hideous and aily.

Because the best bodybuilders in the world

don't just try to build big muscles.

They try to build big muscles

in proper proportion

so that it looks good.

So that it looks human.

So that it looks right.

Similarly, we have to believe

all the truths of Scripture,

but we have to believe them

in proper proportion.

And this, what Paul's about to tell us,

is of first importance.

In Matthew 23, 24,

Jesus accused the Pharisees

of missing this particular thing.

He said that they were keeping

the smallest minutiae of the law

while neglecting the weightier matters

of the law.

Christians can do the same.

Among all the good and right things

that we believe,

the gospel of Jesus Christ

is the first important.

That's the heartbeat of Christianity

because it's the good use

of the person and work

of Jesus Christ,

our King and Savior.

It's what makes us tick.

It's what makes us go in life.

It's what makes us get up

in the morning.

It's what we are most passionate about.

It's what we are most eager

to share with anyone that we see.

Sure, the Bible does call us

to be good stewards

of our environment.

The Bible teaches that.

But if you're more passionate

about Earth Day

than Resurrection Sunday,

then there's something profoundly

amiss about your theology.

The Bible does call us

to be loyal subjects

of the governing authorities.

But if you're a patriot

before you're a Christian,

if you're more passionate

about Independence Day

than above Resurrection Sunday,

then there is something profoundly

amiss about your proportions

of belief.

The gospel of Jesus Christ

is of first importance.

And Paul succinctly summarizes

this gospel in verses 3 to 5.

And because of the balanced structure

of verses 3 to 5,

and because Paul explicitly says

that it's something

that he's passing on

that he received in this form,

most people,

most who study the Bible

conclude that verses 3 to 5

is a formal early Christian creed.

It probably goes back

to 33 AD or so,

which is around the time

when Paul visited the apostles.

And that's probably

when he received this creed.

So this is as ancient

as you can get.

So the gospel that he's teaching here

goes all the way back to Jesus

probably within the lifetime,

really, within years,

a few years of Jesus' lifetime.

And this gospel formulation

in verses 3 to 5

has an A, B, A, B structure.

The first and third clauses

deal with the death

and resurrection of Jesus,

and they both include the phrase

according to the scriptures.

And then the second and fourth clauses,

they verify the first

and third clauses respectively.

You'll see what I mean.

The first clause states this,

that Christ died for our sins

in accordance with the scriptures.

Paul is referencing Isaiah 53, 5 to 6,

which prophesies about Christ in this way.

He was pierced for our transgressions.

He was crushed for our iniquities.

Upon him was the chastisement

that brought us peace,

and with his wounds we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray.

We have turned everyone to his own way,

and the Lord has laid on him

the iniquity of us all.

Some of you might wonder,

if you are quite perceptive,

that if this is a prophecy about Christ,

why is everything in the past tense?

And that's because in the Hebrew,

there's what grammarians call

the prophetic perfect.

In order to convey the fact

that what God says about the future

is as sure and certain

as something that has already happened,

when the prophets use prophecy,

they use what they call

the prophetic perfect.

They use the past tense to indicate

that it's as sure as if it had already happened.

And so this prophecy,

recorded in 8th century BC,

800 years before Christ,

accurately predicts that Jesus

would be an unusual messianic king.

One who would come to reign, yes,

but one who would first be pierced

for our sins,

crushed for our iniquities.

But Paul's not merely saying

that this one specific Old Testament passage

spoke that Christ would die for our sins,

but all of scripture,

he says,

Jesus said in Luke 24,

27 speaks about him.

So all the institutions

from the Old Testament,

the Passover lamb

that was sacrificed

for God's people,

the sacrificial system

with atonement for sin

through the sacrifice of animals,

all of that ultimately pointed

to the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus.

They foreshadowed his coming

and his death.

So that's why Paul writes

that in accordance with the scriptures,

Christ died for our sins.

The language that he died for our sins

is referring to atonement,

which is a cleansing or removal

of the defilement and punishment

that we deserve because of sin.

Sin is an offense against God.

It's a violation of the will of God,

rebellion against God.

And by living for our own glory,

for ourselves rather than living for God,

as we were created to do,

we have all sinned.

For this reason,

there was enmity between God and man.

We were God's enemies.

David Wells,

a local theologian

at the Gordon-Kylew Theological Seminary,

he puts it this way in his book,

The Search for Salvation.

Man is alienated from God by sin,

and God is alienated from man by wrath.

It is in the substitutionary death of Christ

that sin is overcome and wrath averted

so that God can look on man without displeasure

and man can look on God without fear.

Sin is expiated and God is propitiated.

This is the reality that Paul is speaking of.

Christ died for our sins

so that those who entrust themselves to Jesus Christ

for salvation have their sins forgiven,

they have their debts paid,

they have their guilt absolved,

they have their penalties satisfied.

Do you know this truth?

That when God looks at you,

if you are in Christ,

that he does not see the squalor and filth of your sin,

but that he sees the light and glory of Christ's righteousness.

That when God looks at one of his children,

that he does not see a failure and a disappointment,

but his beloved child.

When you feel the weight of your own sins,

remember this truth that Christ died for your sins.

Christ died for our sins so that you would not have to,

the only man that ever lived who did not have to be punished for his sins,

because he did not sin.

The Holy Son of God himself,

he bore our sins and paid its exacting penalty.

As a confirmation of this truth,

Paul moves on to the second clause of the creedal formula in verse 4,

that he was buried.

This verifies Paul's first claim that he died.

He was dead and buried.

He was laid in a tomb cut out of a rock

and a large stone was rolled in front of it to seal the entrance.

There's a sense of finality to that statement that he was buried.

But that's not the end of the story.

In the second half of verse 4,

Paul moves on to the third part of the creed,

which parallels the first.

He says that he was raised on the third day

in accordance with the scriptures.

Unlike the preceding phrases,

this one in the Greek is actually in the perfect passive tense.

So it should be translated that he has been raised.

Paul says that intentionally to convey the fact

that not only was Christ raised back then at that point,

then to die again later,

but that he has been raised

in the sense that he was raised once

and that he still lives,

that he remains the risen Lord.

When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead in John 11,

though Lazarus came back to life,

he lived for a while and then died again.

He was raised only to temporal life.

But Jesus' case is different.

When Jesus was raised from the dead,

he was raised to eternal life.

That's why later in verse 23,

Paul describes Jesus as the first fruit of the resurrection.

All those who have put their faith in Jesus

will soon share in that eternal resurrection life

when Christ returns.

This too was in accordance with the scriptures,

Paul says.

Matthew 12, 40 alludes to the Old Testament book,

Jonah 1, 17, and says this,

For just as Jonah was three days and three nights

in the belly of the great fish,

so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights

in the heart of the earth.

The Jews counted their days inclusively,

meaning that if you went on a skiing trip

on a Friday night

and returned on Sunday morning

like good Christians to attend worship service,

that would be counted inclusively as three full days,

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

So even though technically Jesus died on Friday night

and he rose at the beginning of Sunday,

this is consistent within a Jewish time reckoning

to say that it was three days and three nights.

So Jonah's confinement in the belly of the great fish

lasted three days,

and afterward he preached to Nineveh

and the city repented and was saved.

So that pointed to and foreshadowed

Christ's death and burial for three days

and his subsequent resurrection,

which brought about the salvation of the nations.

Similarly, in describing the affliction

and suffering of God's people,

Israel, in Hosea 6, 2, it prophesied,

after two days he will revive us.

On the third day he will raise us up,

that we may live before him.

And since the nation of Israel

is metaphorically described as God's son

in the Old Testament,

and since Jesus is the son of God,

the new and true Israel,

this prophecy also prefigured

the resurrection of Christ after three days.

Besides these specific parallels,

the expression on the third day occurs

some 30 times or so in the Old Testament.

And there is a general pattern

throughout Scripture of God

bringing about deliverance and resolution

to a difficult situation on the third day.

For instance, Genesis 22, 4.

On the third day,

Abraham arrives at the place

where he is to sacrifice his only son,

his beloved son, Isaac.

And Abraham offers up Isaac

in the faith that God would even raise him

from the dead.

But when he is about to slay him,

God stops him

and commends Abraham's faith

and provides a substitute for Isaac,

a lamb that will be sacrificed

in the place of Isaac.

So on the third day,

Abraham, in a figurative sense,

receives his son back from the dead.

That points to Jesus.

When the king of Persia,

incited by the cunning official,

Haman orders the genocide of the Jews,

Queen Esther, who is Jewish,

instructs her people to pray

and fast for three days.

And it says in Esther 5, 1,

that on the third day,

she intervenes by speaking to the king

and saves the Jews.

Exodus 19, 11, God says,

on the third day,

the Lord will come down

on Mount Sinai

in the sight of all the people.

So because of all of these examples

and more God's people

who were steeped in Scripture

in the Old Testament,

they were conditioned to expect

God's ultimate deliverance

on the third day.

And that pointed to

the resurrection of the Son of God

on the third day.

Sometimes as Christians,

we can miss the significance

of Christ's resurrection.

We think that his death alone

is sufficient for our atonement.

But Paul corrects this misbelief

later in verse 17

of the same chapter.

He says,

And if Christ has not been raised,

your faith is futile

and you are still in your sins.

Christ's resurrection

is the proof

that his crucifixion

for our sin

was effective.

It's because Christ

was raised from the dead

that we can be raised

to new life.

Because Christ was raised

from the dead,

we can be assured

of our victory

over sin and death.

Because Christ was raised

from the dead,

we can hope

in our resurrection life

to come

and endure

suffering and trials

of this life.

That's why the resurrection

is worth celebrating.

And it's for this reason

that Christians

of all subsequent ages

chose to gather

for worship

on,

not on Saturday

when the Jewish

predecessors worshipped,

but on Sunday,

the day Christ rose

from the dead,

the first day of the week

to commemorate the fact

that he makes

all things new.

That's why we call

this day Easter.

In many languages,

the word for east

is connected to

the idea of the resurrection

because the sun

which had set

rises from the east.

Baptism in water,

which is the initial

rite of becoming

a Christian,

signifies our union

with Christ

and his death

and resurrection.

Our submersion

in the water

signifies our death

and our emergence

from the water

signifies our new life

with Christ.

Our sinful past

is gone.

Our old selves

are gone.

We who had fallen low

due to sin

rise again

when we are united

to Christ to faith.

That's why the resurrection

is essential to the gospel.

Then,

just as the second clause

that he was buried

confirmed the first clause

that Christ died,

so now the fourth clause

that he appeared

confirms the third clause

that he was raised.

That Christ was raised

can be verified

by the fact

that after his resurrection

he appeared to people.

Verse 5 says,

and that he appeared

to Cephas,

then to the twelve.

Cephas is another name

for Peter

and the twelve

refers to Jesus'

original disciples

who were closest to him.

And this ancient creed

includes mention

of Christ's appearance

to demonstrate

that Christ's resurrection

was not a figment

of someone's imagination,

that Christ's resurrection

was not figurative,

oh Christ is alive

in our hearts,

no,

but that it was

a real,

physical,

concrete

resurrection.

resurrection.

That's what it means

that Christ died,

that he was buried,

that he was raised,

and that he appeared.

And because it's imperative

that we believe

the reality of the resurrection,

Paul heaps up

more evidence

in verse 6.

He says,

then he appeared

to more than 500 brothers

at one time,

most of whom

are still alive,

though some have

fallen asleep.

people.

By brothers,

it's the typical,

the Greek word

is inclusive,

so it includes

men and women.

So he's saying

most of them

are still alive,

500 or so of them.

Go ask them.

Check the facts

yourself.

Then Paul continues

in verse 7,

he appeared to James,

then to all

the apostles.

James was the brother

of Jesus,

who initially

didn't believe in him,

but later came to faith

and became a leader

of the church

in Jerusalem.

And after appearing

to him,

Jesus appeared

to all the apostles

collectively.

And the fact that

all the apostles

here is a distinct

category from

the 12 disciples

shows that

the apostles

is a more general

category that

includes the 12,

but also includes

others who were

eyewitnesses

of Jesus' resurrection

and were commissioned

to be his

authoritative witnesses.

And if you are

not yet a follower

of Jesus Christ,

you might object

to this

as modern people

living in the midst

of great scientific

advances and

progress and reason,

how can we believe

in such fairy tales

as the resurrection

that these gullible,

ignorant people

of the ancient world

believed?

But this kind of thinking

reflects what

C.S. Lewis likes to call

and what I like to call

the chronological snobbery.

Because truth be told,

people in the first

century didn't believe

that people came back

from the dead

any more than we do

today.

For a moment,

seriously consider

the foundational claim

of Christianity

that is radically

different from how

all the other

religions began.

C. Michael Patton,

the author of the book

Now That I'm a Christian's,

I've mentioned this

actually last

Good Friday, I think.

He writes that

Christianity is the

world's most

falsifiable religion.

And he contrasts that

with other religions.

For example,

he says,

consider Islam.

In order to become

a Muslim,

one must trust

in a private encounter

that Muhammad

supposedly had with God,

which is historically

unverifiable.

Consider Buddhism

and Hinduism,

whose central tenets

are philosophy

rather than a historical

event rooted in

time and space,

so there's no

empirical way

to verify those

either.

consider every

religion you can

think of besides

Christianity,

and it either

begins with a

private dream

about God,

or a private

angelic encounter

with God,

or a private

idea or philosophy

about God.

And then this

one person

tells everybody

else about

their experience.

These cannot

be investigated

or verified,

and they are

unfalsifiable.

people.

But contrast

this with how

Christianity started.

After a public

ministry,

Christ was killed

in public

execution.

Then Christ

rose from a

public tomb

accessible to

all.

Then Christ

showed himself

to the public,

and this public

that saw him

then told

everyone else

what they

saw.

Jesus

predicted his

own death

and said

that he

would rise

again.

That's about

the best you

can do

if you want

to set

yourself up

for failure

as a

founder of

a cult.

Because

when he

dies,

and if he

does not

rise again,

like the

hundreds of

people who

have claimed

to be the

Son of God

and the

Savior of the

world before

him and

after him,

he would

have faded

into history

like the

rest of

them.

But Jesus

has not

been forgotten.

He has

not been

forgotten

because he

is worshipped

still in the

farthest

corners of

the earth.

Why?

Because

Christ is

risen.

There was

an empty

tomb to be

reckoned

with.

It would

have been

impossible for

Jesus'

disciples to

proclaim

the

resurrection

of

Jesus

if his

tomb

hadn't

in fact

been

empty.

When the

apostles began

to preach

the gospel

of the

resurrected

Christ

and people

began to

come to

faith in

droves,

the Jewish

religious

authorities

and the

Roman

governing

authorities

who wanted

to stamp

out this

fledgling

movement,

they stood

hopelessly

by.

Why?

Because

the tomb

was empty.

Because

his corpse

was nowhere

to be found.

Or else

they could

have just

showed it

to everybody

and put

this down

once and

for all.

The fact

that the

gospel of

Jesus Christ

took root

and grew

in the

very city

where Christ

was crucified

and buried

remains to

this day

a compelling

evidence for

the historicity

of the

resurrection.

After

articulating

the content

of the

gospel,

Paul then

reveals the

character of

the gospel

in verses

8 to

11.

and he

connects

then the

gospel of

Christ

to his

own

conversion

and

ministry.

He says

this in

verses 8 to

9.

Read with

me.

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.

all kinds

of things

are

happening

to me.

Sound is

not working

and it

looks like

my printer

also

malfunctioned

so I'm

missing

the rest

of my

manuscript

but thankfully

I still have

the Bible

in front of

me and I

can still

preach to

you exactly

what I

wanted to

say.

Just give

me a

second and

we

just

find

the

passage.

The

gospel

must

go

forward.

The

character

of

the

gospel.

He

says

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.

So he

calls

himself

the

one

who

is

untimely

born

because

apostles

as he

taught

earlier

in

1 Corinthians

are

those

who

have

to

have

seen

Christ

if

he

resurrected

Christ

with

their

own

eyes

and

had

been

commissioned

afterward

to be

his

authoritative

witnesses.

But

Paul

didn't

see

ascended

Christ

and

because

he

received

his

apostolic

commission

in that

way

he

called

himself

the

one

who

was

untimely

born.

And

that's

actually

a

very

degrading

way

to

refer

him

to

himself.

And

it's

very

possible

that

because

the

Corinthians

as we

know

it

were already

questioning

and challenging

Paul's

apostleship

they were

saying

that

your

teaching

is

not

up

to

snuff.

I

mean

it's

not

as

good

as

these

teachers

philosophers

you

don't

have

the

worldly

wisdom

that

these

people

have

so

they

were

already

challenging

his

apostleship

so

this

fact

that

he

was

untimely

born

may have

been

something

that

they

were

also

accusing

him

of

and

saying

that

you

are

not

a

real

apostle

and

the

word

untimely

born

is

literally

one

Greek

word

that

means

abortion

a

premature

baby

that's

what

it

means

he's

saying

that

he's

like

a

pleamy

like

an

aborted

fetus

that's

the

kind

of

apostle

I

am

so

he's

really

degrading

himself

and

humbling

himself

before

the

Corinthians

and

he

says

I

am

the

least

of

the

apostles

but

even

though

he

was

untimely

born

he

nonetheless

is

an

apostle

but

he

never

says

that

he

is

the

least

of

the

apostles

unworthy

to

be

called

an

apostle

but

for

a

different

reason

than

what

the

Corinthians

would

have

said

they

would

have

objected

to

his

ministry

saying

that

your

ministry

is

not

as

powerful

is

not

as

wise

it's

not

as

insightful

as

the

ministries

of

these

people

but

Paul

says

to

them

that's

not

the

reason

why

I'm

the

least

of

the

apostles

he

says

he's

the

least

of

the

apostles

unworthy

to be

called

an

apostle

because

I

persecuted

the

church

of

God

this

remained

for

Paul

always

a

tender

spot

in

his

heart

that

he

was

formerly

a

persecutor

of

the

church

that

he

persecuted

his

own

Lord

and

so

in

1st

Timothy

115

he

calls

himself

the

foremost

of

sinners

the

chief

of

all

sinners

in

Ephesians

3

he

says

that

he

is

less

than

the

least

of

all

the

saints

why

because

he

persecuted

the

church

of

God

he

persecuted

Christ

the

Lord

himself

but

even

though

he

degrades

himself

and

humbles

himself

in

this

way

he

nevertheless

has

tremendous

confidence

and

this

is

why

because

he

says

in

verse

10

but

by

the

grace

of

God

I

am

what

I

am

grace

unmerited

favor

something

that

is

not

earned

it's

not

a

reward

that

is

given

to

us

but

it

is

a

gift

that

is

freely

given

even

though

we

don't

deserve

it

grace

it's

when

a

son

a

rebellious

son

shames

his

father

and

tells

him

that

I

wish

you

were

dead

and

takes

half

of

his

wealth

runs

away

from

the

house

squanders

all

of

his

wealth

with

prostitutes

becomes

a homeless

beggar

and

returns

home

in

shame

and

when

he

does

that

and

the

father

does

not

reject

him

or

shame

him

but

embraces

him

kisses

him

puts

the

best

robe

on

him

and

throws

the

biggest

party

for

him

because

his

son

has

returned

that's

grace

that's

what

God

did

for

us

grace

is

when

a

sworn

enemy

of

God

who

opposed

God

at

every

turn

and

rounded

up

his

very

followers

the

adopted

children

of

God

rounded

them

up

to

jail

them

and

even

to

execute

them

and

when

God

doesn't

destroy

this

insolent

enemy

but

saves

him

and

calls

him

to be

one

of

his

most

esteemed

messengers

that's

grace

that's

the

grace

that

God

showed

to

apostle

Paul

and

so

he

says

yes

I

am

the

least

of

the

apostles

I'm

not

even

worthy

to

be

called

an

apostle

I

freely

admit

that

to

you

but

by

the

grace

of

God

I

am

what

I

am

and

his

grace

toward

me

was

not

in

vain

on

the

contrary

he

says

I

worked

harder

than

any

of

them

though

it

was

not

I

but

the

grace

of

God

that

is

with

me

now

Paul

is

mentioning

that

after

degrading

himself

he's

not

trying

to

lift

himself

up

saying

oh

I'm

better

than

all

these

other

apostles

because

I

work

harder

than

all

of

them

he's

trying

to

because

the

Corinthians

are

questioning

his

authority

as

an

apostle

he's

trying

to

build

his

credibility

because

they

were

questioning

his

apostleship

on the

basis

of

his

ministry

but

he's

saying

on

the

basis

of

my

ministry

I'm

not

one

with

less

than

any

of

those

apostles

so

don't

you

dare

reject

the

gospel

I

preach

to

you

because

you

think

less

of

me

don't

think

less

of

the

gospel

I

preach

to

you

just

because

you

think

less

of

me

that's

what

Paul

is

trying

to

say

I

worked

harder

than

all

of

them

and

he's

telling

the

truth