OF FIRST IMPORTANCE

1 Corinthians 15:3,4

“For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures…”

The apostle Paul said, “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance…” What could be the most important truth of our lives? Could it be to know who our one true love, our soul mate, the one with whom we can share the rest of our lives in romantic enlightenment with? Could it be to know how to make the most amount of money with the least amount of time and effort? Or could it be to know the best way to raise our children to be number one in the world? Surely, there are many important things to know in life. But Paul tells us what he regards as of first importance. What is it? His short and simple answer is the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. That’s it! Why does Paul regard Jesus’ death and resurrection as the single most important truth that all mankind needs to know? It’s because only Jesus’ death and resurrection solves the fundamental problem of all mankind—sin. Let’s now consider in some depth and detail the problem of sin, because without a clear understanding of sin, no one can understand or appreciate the utmost importance of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection. What is sin? What are sins’ consequences? And how does Jesus’ death and resurrection solve our sin problem?

1st, sin. What is sin? Children think sin is what adults tell them not to do to make them feel guilty: Don’t lie, don’t steal, don’t do drugs, and so on. In UBF some think sin is when they don’t write their Bible testimonies or when they don’t study the Bible with others. This may be true to some degree,  but sin has a far deeper meaning than just doing what we should not do, or fail to do what we should do. The word “sin” is derived from the Greek word “hamartia,” which means to miss the mark. Romans 3:23 says, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” This verse explains that the tragedy of all mankind is that he has missed the mark. In other words,  he has fallen short of what God expects of him or her. For instance, when God looks at us, he expects that we should be as pure-hearted and as innocent as a newborn baby. But even when we try to be pure, we see impurity in us that can easily overwhelm us, if we allow it to. A young woman wants to be pure. But she is unable to get out of the gravity of living in a romantic fantasy world. Though no one knows about this except God, she sins and falls short of the glory of God.

Why is sin so irresistible? It’s because sin is like candy coated poison. One who entertains sin enjoys the delicious candy, while refusing to see or even think about the hidden poison. The attraction of sin is like the attraction of drugs. A famous actor who was once a junkie describes 3 stages of addiction: stage 1: fun all the time; stage 2: fun, with some problems; stage 3: only problems. We delude ourselves into thinking that we can enjoy sin without any problems. But problems will come. Those who live in sin become like a prisoner trapped in a dungeon from which there is no escape. This could describe the tragic premature death of Heath Ledger. His success, popularity and fame were phenomenal. But he had no joy. His only escape was to take multiple drugs until a fateful day when he took too many of them and died at the age of 28, just as his career was about to take off.

2nd, the consequences of sin. Historically, man deceives himself to think that he can sin and still be OK. He also deceives himself to think that because he has the freedom of choice, he also has the freedom to choose his consequences. But we do not have a choice regarding our consequences. For example, if you chose not to pay your credit card bills, you just choose for them to go away. Likewise, if one chooses to sin, he or she cannot avoid the consequences of sin. So what are the consequences of sin? Let’s address 4 of them.

1. Falling short of the glory of God. When we sin and fall short of God’s expectation, we become cut off from God. It is because God is light and God is holy, and light and darkness and holiness and sin cannot coexist. All of mankind’s problems stem from his separation from God. When parent’s divorce, problems arise. They hurt each other in the process, and they wound their children, often for a lifetime. Tom Cruise, the movie superstar, often states in public interviews that the worst experience of his entire life was his parent’s divorce. Though he looks so cool, he is wounded because of his parent’s divorce. And he also wounds up divorcing. As long as we are separated from God because of our own sin, we hurt ourselves, and when we hurt, we will hurt others as well.

2. Tasting death. Romans 6:23a says, “The wages of sin is death.” We know that someday we will all die. We think that we die because we get old or sick. But the real reason we die is because of our sin. But we do not die just at the time of death. Instead, we experience and taste death all our life. For example, there was a young lawyer who became a multimillionaire in his 30s. But one day he was diagnosed with a rare cancer in his esophagus. His doctor told him he had 4 months to live and that there was no cure. When he heard the news, his face immediately turned pale and he bawled and wailed uncontrollably before his wife and his doctor for half an hour. None of his matchless entrepreneurial genius could prolong his life. Though he lived 4 months more, he died that day in his doctor’s office. Like this young man, so many taste death because “the wages of sin is death.”

3. Facing judgment. Hebrews 9:27 says, “Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment.” We like the word “destiny.” We say, “Make your own destiny,” or “His destiny is to be a great man.” But the Bible tells us 2 unavoidable destinies that we don’t like to hear. Our 1st unavoidable destiny is “You’re going die.” And our 2nd unavoidable destiny is “You’re going to face judgment.” From the young lawyer we can see that death can completely knock the wind out of anyone. Judgment is worse! There is a vivid story of judgment in the O.T. Saul was the first king of Israel. When he initially became king he was good and he humbly listened to the prophet Samuel. But after his kingdom was established, he began to disobey Samuel by compromising with the word of God. He spent most of his latter life trying to kill David out of his jealousy, even though David was his most loyal general. In his final battle against the enemy Philistines, Saul sensed impending defeat. In desperation, he visited a witch and requested that she call up the spirit of Samuel, who had died. Saul wanted some word of encouragement. He said to the spirit of Samuel, “I am in great distress. The Philistines are fighting against me, and God has turned away from me. He no longer answers me, either by prophets or by dreams. So I have called on you to tell me what to do.” Samuel replied, “Because you did not obey the Lord…the Lord has done this to you today. The Lord will hand over both Israel and you to the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons will be with me.” “Immediately Saul fell full length on the ground, filled with fear because of Samuel’s words. His strength was gone…” (1 Sa 28:15,18-20). The next day, Saul committed suicide by falling on his own sword just before he was to be killed by the Philistines. His 3 sons were also killed. (1 Sa 31:4-6). Saul faced God’s dreadful judgment because of his disobedience. Today, people do not speak of God’s judgment. They condemn anyone who would dare speak of it. They blatantly insist that there is no day of judgment. One day, they will be very sorry. 2 Corinthians 5:10 says, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.” What then is God’s criterion for judgment? God judges man not according to his outward actions which others can see, but God judges according to the motives of his heart, which no one else sees but God. Romans 2:7,8 says, “To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking…there will be wrath and anger.” God will judge man according to what he seeks in his heart, not according to what he says with his mouth.

4. A Christless eternity. This is hell. Hell is not a place where bad people will be shoveling coal and hanging out all day long. But Hell is the day when there will be no more 2nd chances. Hell is also the most devastating of the consequences of sin, because it lasts forever in fire.  Forever is a long time. Today, comedians make fun of hell. One day, they will have all the “comic fun” they want in that exact location. The Bible calls hell the 2nd death. Revelation 21:8 tells us who is qualified to go there: “But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the 2nd death.” It is interesting that those who are numero uno on this list are not those who are unbelieving, murderers or immoral, but they are the cowardly. Why are the cowardly No. 1 on this list? It’s because God made man to be a man. A man must be courageous. He must stand up unashamed for what is true and for what he believes. God is most displeased when a man is a coward, by not standing up to what he knows is true. So, the cowardly are No. 1.

3rd, the meaning of Jesus’ death. So far, we should realize that sin is not cool. Living in sin is like living on a slippery slope that slides rapidly down a hill to sharp rocks below. If we want to be real and honest with ourselves, we must know that no one can cheat sin and live. Humanly, there is no solution to the problem of man’s sin. McCain, Obama or Clinton cannot solve man’s sin problem. Though many may like Oprah and Dr. Phil, their advice is not able to solve anyone’s major life issues, not to mention solving their sin problem. What then is the solution to man’s sin problem? Read verse 3. “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures…” How does Christ’s death for our sins solve our sin problem? This could well be a theological question for the ages. The answer is that sin demands payment in blood, which represents life. Hebrews 9:22b says, “…and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” Any man’s blood will not do, because even a most noble man has sin-stained blood. The only payment that sin accepts is the holy blood of the sinless Son of God.

So what is the meaning of Jesus’ death for our sins? Jesus’ death helps us to know 2 fundamental truths: 1) we are sinful; 2) God loves you. Most people don’t think that they are that bad. Christians don’t think they are as bad as other Christians. Some churches think that they are not as bad as other churches. And some people think they’re not as bad as the guy sitting next to them. But Jesus’ death for our sins helps us know that we are bad and rotten to the core. Only when a man knows that he is sinful, can he ever truly know what God’s love is. A young man thought that he was pretty good because he knew how to behave. But when he met Jesus bleeding and dying in agony for him, he realized that he was really no good at all. He felt he should be condemned to hell at that very moment because of all his sins, especially his hidden sins. But instead, he tasted the love of God. He could not believe that God would love such a wretch as he. For the first time he understood John 3:16: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Jesus death for our sins helps us to clearly see and know that God loves us. God watched his own son suffer and die.  No parent can endure seeing his child suffer and die. We can ever know the agony of God the Father seeing his only Son Jesus tortured to death. “Christ died for our sins” is nothing but God’s unfathomable love for us.

4th, the meaning of Jesus’ resurrection. So far we thought about the meaning of Jesus’ death. Now let’s think about the meaning of the resurrection of Christ. Why is the resurrection of Jesus so important?

1. Resurrection is victory in life. We all want to live a victorious life, don’t we? Nobody wants to be a loser, do we? But if we are really honest with ourselves we know that life often feels like an endless repetition of failure, disappointment, regret and defeat. We all live with sorrow, bitterness, wounds, loneliness and with pain that we cannot even share with others. There is seemingly no solution to our agonies of life. Oftentimes there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel. But one person and one event, Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, shows every man the way to victory. Why? It is because death defeats every man, even while he is still alive. But Jesus completely defeated death. Only Jesus’ resurrection defeats this last and greatest enemy of man—death (26). This is why St. Paul boldly and confidently taunts death saying, “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” (55) People die, not because of age or disease, but because of sin. Since Jesus was without sin, “it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him” (Ac 2:24). I once was a man full of defeat and fear. I was defeated by school. I was defeated by sin and death. I was afraid to die. I thought when I did, that was it. I was also  afraid to marry and was afraid to leave my mommy. In one word, I was afraid of everything. But through Bible study, I met the Risen Jesus. My Bible teacher, M. Grace Sun Lee, taught me about Jesus’ death and resurrection. Once, she had me memorize 1 Corinthians 15, the whole entire chapter. It was like dying. But through it, the resurrected Jesus came into my heart and  gave me victory over all my fears.  Jesus helped me to commit my life to him. He helped me to marry a most faithful  woman of God. Most importantly, Jesus gave me victory over my fear of death. Now I can’t wait to die so that I may be with my Savior Jesus forever and ever. Resurrection is victory in life!

2. Resurrection gives man the only real hope in life. 1 Peter 1:3,4 say, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that never perishes, spoils or fades—kept in heaven for you.” The two key words in these verses are “living and hope”. Today, there’s not much hope. Wherever we turn, there is always some sort of bad news – such as interest rates rising, gas prices breaking records, recession coming, student’s getting killed, and corrupted politicians. But Peter said, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead”. Jesus’ resurrection gives us a living hope. What is this living hope? Our living hope is that someday we will enter into the glorious kingdom of heaven and be with Jesus forever. Someday there will be no more pain, sorrow, or death, but only eternal happiness and joy. With this kind of living hope, we can do anything while we are alive. We can overcome depression. We can get good grades. We can marry godly men and women. We can use our gifts for the glory of God. We can even become missionaries. There’s a beautiful story. In 1952, Jim Elliot and 4 of his friends, along with their families, went to Ecuador to evangelize Huaorani Indians. Even though they knew that these Indians were killers, they had no fear. A few days after making contact with them, all 5 of them were brutally murdered. Upon hearing this,  the wives and children of these missionaries could have retaliated or could have gone back home. But instead, they decided to stay in order to continue the work their husbands began. And do you know what happened? The Huaronai tribe accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Resurrection gives man the only real hope in life.

Let’s read verses 3 and 4 again. “For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures…” Paul regarded the death and resurrection of Christ as of first importance, because only through Jesus’ death for our sins do we truly know what love is; and only through Jesus’ resurrection do we have real hope while living in this world. I pray that God may help us to know from our hearts that Jesus’ death and resurrection is indeed of first importance.