Sunday, September3, 2017 - New Heights Christian Church, Kent, WA - Pastor Micah Adamson

Sunday, September3, 2017 - New Heights Christian Church, Kent, WA - Pastor Micah Adamson

Title: Communion: Believing the Gospel about Jesus our Risen Savior

Text: 1 Corinthians 15:1-11

1 Corinthians 15:2 (NIV84)

2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you.

Otherwise, you have believed in vain.

Introduction:

October 31, 2017 marks the 500th Anniversary of Martin Luther posting his “95 Theses” on the door of the church in Wittenberg, which led to start of the Protestant Reformation.
This fall, we’ll be reviewing Martin Luther’s story in adult Sunday School.
As Protestant Christians we are grateful to God for the Reformation since it led to a recovery of the clarity of the gospel found in scripture.
This fall, we’ll be reviewing the gospel from Galatians in our sermons.
I hope that you already know that returning to preaching the gospel from the Bible is what the Protestant Reformation was primarily about.
But, did you know that during the Protestant Reformation the issue of correctly celebrating the Lord’s Supper was very closely related to the issue of correctly preaching the gospel?
This is because both preaching and the Lord’s Supper “proclaim” the gospel (1 Cor. 11:26).
Since NHCC takes communion on the first Sunday of each month, we’ll be reviewing how to correctly celebrate the Lord’s Supper in our sermons on the first Sunday of each month this year.
Today, we’ll start by looking at how believing the gospel is the primary requirement for correctly celebrating the Lord’s Supper from 1 Corinthians 15.

Issues related to correctly practicing communion:

Until recently, I only would have been able to tell you that there was one issue related to communion from the time of the reformation (if the bread and wine become Jesus’ body and blood).
However, in my recent reading of Martin Luther’s book “On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church”, I see that there were several issues related to communion from the time of the reformation:
Does the Bread and Wine become Jesus' body and blood? (Protestant/Catholic divide)
Is Jesus present during communion in any way? (Inter-Protestant divide)
Is the Bread for the laity and the Winereserved for the clergy? (Communion in two kinds)
This practice made it seem like sin couldn’t be completely forgiven unless you became a priest. The Roman Catholic church doesn’t restrict the cup today.
Is confessing your sin aloud to a priest and working off your sin required as preparation before taking communion? (Penance)
Protestants agree that preparing for communion is a good idea. We’re discuss how.
Today, Christians disagree over many other issues related to communion:
Frequency: Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, Yearly, etc.
Elements: Leavened or unleavened bread, wine or grape juice, or they think it doesn’t matter.
Recipients: Open or closed communion, is baptism required, when are children allowed, etc.
It’s sad that baptism and the Lord’s supper which should be signs of unity among Christians are often the source of divisions among Christians.

How to prepare for the Lord’s supper:

Martin Luther wrote the first Protestant Catechism/teaching tool to summarize the essential truths of the Christian faith for children and for adults who are new Christians (Luther’s Shorter Catechism).
The other early Protestant groups followed Martin Luther’s lead and wrote their own Catechism which reflect their theological understandings on some issues where they differed from Luther.
However, most protestant Catechisms follow Martin Luther’s outline (Westminster, Heidelberg):
Law (The Ten Commandments) – To understand what sin is and the judgment we deserve.
Gospel (The Apostles’ or NiceneCreed) – To understand our what Jesus did to save us.
Prayer (The Lord's Prayer) – To understand how to talk to God about our sin.
Instructions on the Sacraments/Ordinances of the church (The Lord’s Supper and Baptism)

What is a Creed:

The Ten Commandments and The Lord’s Prayer are found in the Bible, but The Apostles’ Creed and The Nicene Creed are not found in the Bible.
Creed = Belief (Statement of Faith)
The creeds are early (200-300s A.D.) summaries of the most important things Christians believe.
Both of them follow the same basic outline in 12 statements about God:
The Trinity: Father (1), Son (6), and Spirit (5)
The Gospel: Jesus’ Deity, Incarnation, Death, Resurrection, Ascension, and Return
1 Corinthians 15:1-11 contains a very early (35-50 A.D.) creed right in the Bible.
This provides a precedent for writing creedal summaries of what Christians believe.
And, for writing creedal summaries designed to be used in a worship service.
NHCC has a statement of faith, but it’s not specifically designed for use in worship like all three of these early Christian creeds are.

Howthe 1 Corinthians 15Creed fits in 1 Corinthians:

1 Corinthians =An apologetics argument FROM the resurrection
1 Corinthians 15 = An apologetics argument FOR the resurrection

1 Corinthians: An apologetics argument FROM the resurrection

In 1 Corinthians, Jesus’ resurrection is our:

The Bible Project: 1 Corinthians

Chapters 1-4:Reason for unity
Jesus is the one who died and rose for use.
Chapters 5-7:Motivation for sexual purity
What we do with our bodies matters since our bodies will be raised like Jesus’ was.
Chapters 9-10:Source of Power to love others related to false worship
Not eating meat sacrificed to idols if it makes it seem like it’s okay for Christians to worship other gods.
Chapters 11-14:Source of Power to love others related to true worship.
Not speaking/preaching/praying in church or eating the Lord’s supper without looking out for others whoare also members of Christ’s body.
Chapters 15:Hope for victory over death
Jesus’ resurrection means that we will rise too, and so all the other arguments in
1 Corinthians work.
Chapters 16:Conclusion

1 Corinthians 15: An apologetics argument FOR the resurrection

1 Corinthians 15:1-3a (NIV84)

1 Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.

3a For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance:

Gospel (good news) = Word (message/news).
Christianity is first and foremost good news that we preach/pass-on.
With all the divisions in Corinth that Paul encouraged people not to divide over, Paul is willing to classify this issue as “of first importance” and affirm that they must divide over this issue.
Preach = pass-on
Paul is the one who brought this news to Corinth, but Paul was also a recipient of this news.
This reference to having received the gospelmost likely even refers to the words of this creed.
Paul received the gospel from Jesus himself (Acts 9), but this Creed from the apostles (Gal. 1?).
1 Corinthians was written 40-50 A.D. and the words of this Creed are earlier (35 A.D?).
Even most liberal scholars take this creed to be the earliest summary of what Christians believed dating back virtually to exact time of the resurrection of Jesus.

Receive = Believe = Hold firmly to = Take your stand on
Paul’s choice of verbs related to what we are supposed to do with the gospel is interesting.
Receive: We get the news from someone else.
Believe: We accept the news as true.
Hold firmly/Take our stand on: We cling to this news as our only hope of salvation!
Be saved vs. Believe in vain
Paul is saying that this news can save us from God’s wrath for our if we trust it,
but otherwise having this news won’t do us any good.

1 Corinthians 15:3b-8 (NIV84)

3b that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,

4 that he was buried,

that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,

5 and that he appeared to Peter,

and then to the Twelve.

6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep.

7 Then he appeared to James,

then to all the apostles,

8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

This creed primarily affirms Jesus’ death and resurrection and gives evidence for both, especially the resurrection…. But, this creed also, tells us something important about Jesus and about us.
Evidence for Jesus’ death:
The OT scriptures predicted Jesus’ death (the disciples didn’t see that Jesus would have to die in advance, but the NT is full of examples that they understood after Jesus’ resurrection).
Jesus was buried (being wrapped up and sealed without air after you are dead makes it harder for you to be revived not easier).
Evidence for Jesus’ resurrection:
The OT scriptures predicted Jesus’ resurrection too (the disciples struggled with this after the resurrection too, but learned lots of passages on this from Jesus too).
There were a lot of witnesses who saw Jesus after He rose from the dead (Peter, all of “the Twelve” at once, 500 other believers/brothers, Jesus’ then unbelieving brother James, all “the apostles” at once, and finally Paul who was the lead persecutor of Christians).
Also note: The only reason to mention that most of the witnesses are still alive is to invite the readers to go question them.
Jesus is the Christ:
The creed doesn’t expand on it, but calling Jesus the Christ is to say that He was the coming king in the line of David prophesied in the OT.
Everything the OT says about the Christ is true about Jesus (He’s God and man, priest and king, the judge of the final judgment, the one who will send the Holy Spirit, etc.)

– See several recent sermons by Pastors Dan and Micah and most of the OT and NT. ?

We are sinners who need to be saved:
Again, the creed doesn’t expand on it, but by saying that Jesus died for sinners is to say that Jesus’ death was for a purpose: to save us (Paul argues in the rest of 1 Corinthians 15 that if Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, then Christianity can’t save us. But, the same is true about Jesus death. It’s good news that Jesus died as our sacrifice to save us from God’s wrath.)

1 Corinthians 15:9-11 (NIV84)

9 For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve 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 to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 11 Whether, then, it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.

Paul adds a note to the creed about his part as a witness to Jesus’ resurrection.
Paul calls himself an apostle/messenger/ambassador sent directly by Jesus.
As Martin Luther discovered, Paul’s books in the NT are vital for understanding the gospel of good news that we are saved freely by God’s grace.
Paul’s apostleship is defended a lot in the NT (in books written by Paul, Luke, and Peter) since if we lose Paul as an apostle, we losethe written record of the gospel in the NT.
Paul says that he is a sinner saved by grace through the same message that he preached.
Paul knew that he was a bad sinner, a persecutor Of God’s church, but was saved by faith in Jesus and changed into a hard worker for the gospel.
Paul knew that the Corinthians were bad sinners too (see the rest of 1 Corinthians),
but that the Corinthians were saved by faith in Jesus too and could also be changed by God.
Paul concludes by saying that all of the apostles preach the same gospel defined in the
1 Corinthians 15 Creed.

Evidence for the Resurrection:

Surprised by Faith by Don Bierle – Chapter 3: Is Jesus Really God?
Empty Tomb (No one ever attempted to deny that the tomb was empty, they just tried to explain how it got empty.)
Appearances of Jesus (Even the disciples were skeptical of the empty tomb and women’s testimony, but then they saw Jesus. 500 witnesses are hard to explain away.)
Transformation of the Disciples (All 12 disciples appeared to believe the story since they were willing to die for it. The Watergate conspiracy fell apart with the threat of jail time.)
There is no historical or archeological evidence against the empty tomb.
More than a Carpenter by Josh McDowell – Chapter 8: Can You Keep a Good Man Down?
Wrong TombTheory Refuted(The guards’testimony proves it was the right tomb. Also, lots of people had motive and opportunity to prove it was the wrong tomb and never did.)
Swoon TheoryRefuted(Being wrapped up and sealed without air after you are presumed dead makes it harder for you to be revived not easier.Besides, the disciples won’t have followed a mostly dead Messiah. They believed Jesus resurrection proved He could raise them, not just barely survive himself).
Body StolenTheory Refuted(The disciples were too scared. They were also too honest afterward. Why lie and steal to start a moral following that calls these wrong. No one else a motive to steal the body besides the disciples. Besides, if someone else stole the body the disciples still wouldn’t have believed without seeing Jesus.)
Lawyers who work in the trial method are some of those most likely to conclude that Jesus rose from the dead based on the historical evidence.
The Case for Christ by Lee Strobel – Chapter 12: The Missing Body
Mark and 1 Corinthians 15 are such early in history(and both appear to be based on even earlier writings).
Empty tomb is affirmed by friends and enemies alike (even the story of the stolen body admits an empty tomb).
The women finding Jesus empty tomb(isn’t something you would make up).
It’s not a historical objection to say that resurrections can’t happen,
that’s a philosophical objection.

Applying 1 Corinthians 15 to prepare to eat the Lord’s supper:

1 Corinthians 11:23-26 (NIV84)

23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

The Lord’s supper is proclaiming the gospel to you just as a sermon does.
It’s possible to eat the bread and drink the cup without believing, just as you do a sermon.
But, the picture of eating is accepting the gospel and getting your life from Jesus.

1 Corinthians 11:27-32 (NIV84)

27 Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself. 30 That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep. 31 But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment. 32 When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.

We’ll return later this year to look at 1 Corinthians 11 in greater detail to understand how the Corinthians were eating the Lord’s supper without thinking of each other in the body of Christ.
Some of them even got drunk off the wine without letting others have any.
Failing to recognize that Jesus died to save us together as His people and body is a big part of how we prepare to eat the Lord’s supper correctly.
But, before we can address our relation to other believers in Christ, we have to address our own faith in Christ.

Self-Examination: The Three Ingredients of Faith

1. Notice/Good News: Your statement of faith has to be true.
It doesn’t matter how much you honestly believe in a god other than the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, found in scripture.
Or, how much you believe in a salvation story other than the one provided by Jesus’ deity, incarnation, death, resurrection, ascension, and return.
If the God and gospel you believe is not true, it can’t save you.
Question:Do you have the correct God and gospel?
Warning:If you aren’t sure that you understand the good news of the gospel, don’t feel bad about not eating with us yet.
Come talk to me after the service, I’d love to share the gospel with you again.
2. Ascent/Belief: You have to honestly believe this statement of faith is true.
It doesn’t matter if the facts of your creed are accurate if you don’t believe that they are true.
Being a part of a churchwith a correct statement of faith won’t save you if you don’t believeit.
Question:Do you actually believe the evidence that Jesus really is the Christ the son of God who died and rose again?
Warning:If you don’t actually believe that Jesus died and rose again, please don’t say that you do by eating with us. God is real and warns us not to invite His judgment this way.
Come talk to me after the service, I’d love to share the evidence that Jesus really died and rose again.

3. Trust/Taking your stand: You have to trust that the good news of salvation in Jesus, found in the gospel, is your only hope of salvation rather than trusting your own ability to make up for sin.
It doesn’t matter if you admit that the facts of the gospel are true in principle and can save sinners if you aren’t willing to admit that you are a sinner and trust in what God has done in Christ to save you.
If your trust isn’t in Christ to save you, you don’t have faith.
The only way that it’s safe to approach God is in Christ.
Question: Do you admit that you are sinner whose only hope is to take your stand on Jesus’ death in your place?
Warning 1:If you are committed to doing what is right in your own eyes without letting Jesus tell you what to do, then please don’t invite His judgment by eating with us.
Warning 2: If you know you have sinned, but aren’t willing to accept Jesus as your only hope of salvation, but are trusting in your own ability to make things right with God, then please don’t invite Jesus to judge you for your attempt to work your sin off.
Come talk to me after the service, I’d love to share with you how good God’s rules are and how freely His gift of forgiveness is given to us in Christ.

Fellow saints in Christ who are struggling against sin by the help of the Spirit: