Gospel Change
Sermon Notes
Today we’re taking a break from our Visible God series to start a new 8 wk teaching series called Gospel Revolution, which is about understanding the life changing power of the Gospel. The gospel is the primary message of Jesus, and it’s a message that has life changing implications for our lives. So we’re gonna spend the next 8 wks diving deeper in our understanding of the gospel. As a church we’ve been calling 2020 A Year of Transformation, and it’s certainly been a challenging year, but it’s also been a transformational year. In fact that’s how faith often works! In order to have faith, you have to be put in situations that’ll require you to have faith. In order to grow in your faith, you have to be put in situations that’ll stretch your faith. Faith often works like a muscle, you have to stretch it for it to grow.
So even though it’s been a challenging year, we want to continue growing in our faith by diving deeper in the gospel, and today we’re gonna talk about how the gospel changes us.
Both skeptics and believers have certain things they want to change about their lives, but they’ve been powerless to change. In fact some of us are becoming more aware of those things the longer this pandemic lingers. I mean we’ve seen a wave of emotions in our city since COVID started. It started with people being like “It’s all fake news or news that won’t ever affect us,” to people freaking out over toilet paper!...Then we had the shutdown, people were outside walking, running, being all neighborly; to now everyone’s wearing masks and ready to shank you if you go the wrong way down the Publix aisle!...The longer this pandemic lingers, the more we’re becoming aware of our inner demons, of things we want to change about their lives, but we’ve been powerless to change. Today we’re gonna talk about how the gospel works to change our lives, and so let’s turn to 1st Corinthians 15:1-10 and get into it. You’ll find 1st Corinthians in the last quarter of your bible. We’ll be in 1st Corinthians 15:1-10. The title of today’s message is Gospel Change, and here’s the big idea. The gospel changes us not through religious activity, but through love...The gospel changes us not through religious activity, but through love.
Context:
Here’s your context. 1st Corinthians is written by the Apostle Paul who’s known as one of the strongest Christian leaders in history. He writes this letter to address issues Christians are facing in Corinth, and to teach them how to live faithfully in a corrupt Greco Roman society. In ch 15 he specifically talks about the resurrection of Jesus, because in that society they didn’t believe in a physical resurrection of the dead. Now in vs 1-10 Paul gives a very clear explanation of the gospel, and so we’ll be addressing 2 questions today. It’s what’s the gospel, and how’s the gospel work? What’s the gospel, and how’s the gospel work to change us. Let’s check it out.
The Word:
1st Corinthians 15:1-10 states this, “Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel...” There’s Paul’s thesis for the next several verses. He’s reminding the Corinthians of the gospel.
Again vs. 1, “Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, 2 and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.” Notice he says they received, stand, and are continually being saved by the gospel. It’s past, present, and future, meaning we don’t ever outgrow our need for the gospel. We don’t just need the gospel for salvation, we need it for daily growth and transformation. This is why one of our codes here at City Awakening is the gospel is more than a way to eternal life, the gospel IS our life! It’s because we need the gospel to redeem and transform every aspect of our lives. So we need to rely on the gospel daily. Paul says we receive, stand, and are continually being saved by the gospel. But what is the gospel? Paul’s about to tell us, he’s about to give one of clearest explanations of the gospel in the bible.
Vs. 3, “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ…” There’s the 1st part of the gospel. Paul’s about to teach us 4 parts to the gospel, and this is the 1st.
#1 The gospel is about Jesus = The very first thing Paul says is the gospel’s about Jesus. Now in the original Greek the word gospel means joyful news. Historically it’s a word that was used to announce a life changing event like a nation crowning a king or winning a war against an invading army. It was considered joyful news, good news, gospel news for people. The reason Jesus is such joyful, good, gospel news is because he came to our hurting world to be more than just another religious teacher, he came to be our Savior! It’s what makes Christianity different from all other religions, because in other religions you get a teacher not a Savior. Buddhists have Siddhārtha Gautama Buddha, Muslims have Muhammad, atheists have Richard Dawkins; they’re all teachers teaching different versions of the same things. It’s that there’s things you need to do, to escape this hurting world and have joy in life. Buddhists say follow the 8th Fold Path, Muslims the 5 Pillars of Truth, Dawkins you need to outgrow God, get rid of your God delusion. They’re all announcing things you need to do; but Christianity announces something that’s already been done. It’s that a new King with a new Kingdom has come! It’s that a great battle’s been won over humanity’s greatest enemy which is death! It’s that a Savior has come to save us from this hurting world, and his name is Jesus. The gospel is about the joyful, good, gospel news of Jesus.
Again vs. 3, “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins...” There’s the 2nd part of the gospel.
#2 The gospel is about Jesus dying for our sins = The gospel is about Jesus dying for our sins. The Greek word Paul uses is huper; it means on behalf of or in place of, and that’s the gospel. It’s that Jesus stood in our place, he took the punishment we deserve for our sins on the cross. He lived the perfect life we haven’t lived and died the death we deserve to die for our sins. Sin is when we substitute ourselves for God, the gospel is when God substitutes Himself for us. Sin is when we try standing in the place of God, the gospel is when Jesus stood in our place to absorb the wrath of God. The gospel is that Jesus stood in our place. Humanity’s fundamental issue is sin, it’s that we don’t follow God. We don’t live for Him or care for His creation, instead we live for ourselves and destroy His creation. We lie, gossip, slander, hurt others, take more than we need, the list goes on. Sin is what’s killing me, you, our relationships, our world. If you think you’re not a part of the problem, you just proved you’re a part of the problem by your own self-righteousness pride. Sin is the reason our world’s so messed up, it’s that we don’t follow God.
Look if you believe there’s a God who created you, then you owe your life to Him since apart from Him you’d be dead. You also should want to follow His ways because He knows what’s best for you since He created you. But the problem is we don’t follow our Creator instead we sin. Now Jesus could’ve came and gave us another list of things to do, but we’d fail to follow that list too! In fact Paul was considered a very religious guy who had the scriptures memorized, yet he still failed to live it out. He says this in Romans 7, “For I don’t do the good I want, but the evil I don’t want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I don’t want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me...24Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Paul’s saying what all of us need isn’t another teacher with a list, it’s a Savior who can save us. That Savior’s name is Jesus.
Again vs. 3, “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.” There’s the 3rd part of the gospel.
#3 The gospel is about Jesus rising from the dead = So the gospel is about #1 Jesus, #2 Jesus dying for our sins, and #3 Jesus rising from the dead. The resurrection of Jesus is critical to the gospel being good news, because it gives us the assurance of salvation. There’s no other way you can be assured that God’s forgiven you or that you’ll be in a better place after you die apart from the resurrection of Jesus. One of the smartest men I ever met was the vice president of a Hindu University, and I asked him how far along he was in the karmic cycle of life, death, and rebirth? I asked him how close he was to reaching nirvana? This confident, very intelligent man started shrinking in his seat, and this is what he said. “I wish I knew...I wish I knew...” He had no assurance...I remember another time I was flying home from Louisville and started talking with a Muslim engineer who sat next to me. Muslims believe Allah has a scale of all your good and bad deeds, and if the good outweighs the bad you’ll go to paradise. But if it doesn’t, you’ll go to hell unless Allah forgives you. So I asked him if he thought Allah would forgive him on judgement day, and he said “I’m not sure...I hope so, but I’m not sure.” He had no assurance.
So how do you know?...How do you know if you’re forgiven of your sins?...How do you know if you’re really going to a better place after you die?...The only assurance you can have is the resurrection of Jesus. Other religious leaders can’t give you that assurance, because they’re dead. But if Christianity’s true...if Jesus really rose from the dead...it means you can have the assurance of forgiveness and an eternally better life in heaven with him. All of us want this, all of us want a better life free from suffering, including skeptics. It’s why we love superhero movies so much. As secular, scientific, and irreligious as our society is you think we’d be over all the superhero movies by now, but we can’t get enough of Star Wars, Hunger Games, all the Marvel movies. It’s because they tell a story our hearts can connect with, our hearts are longing for, which is to be rescued from evil and our own sin suffering world. The good news of the gospel is we aren’t dealing with a fairytale, we’re dealing with history. We’re dealing with a real superhero savior named Jesus, who’s given us the assurance of victory through his resurrection. Paul wants us to have that assurance, so he turns to the historical credibility of the resurrection next.
Vs. 5, “And that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.” Paul says repeatedly he appeared, he appeared, he appeared. He appeared to Cephas, to the 12, to 500 others, to James, to all the apostles. You know what Paul’s doing here? He’s providing footnotes so his readers can check the facts. It’s like when you write a paper in college. Your professor wants footnotes to check if you’re using credible sources. Well back then if you wanted people to trust what you’re saying you’d tell them to check the witnesses. You’d say “Here’s 2-3 credible witnesses you can check with to see if I’m telling the truth.” But Paul doesn’t give them 2-3 witnesses, he gives them over 500! You know what that’s called? Assurance...It’s called assurance!...The reason he tells them to check the witnesses is because he knows it’s all true! He’s saying it isn’t a legend, a myth, or a Marvel movie, it’s the real deal! It’s a real historical story backed by hundreds of real witnesses.
Vs. 8, “Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy 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 toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me.” There’s the 4th part of the gospel. The gospel is about Jesus, him dying for our sins, his resurrection, and:
#4 The Gospel is about grace = The gospel is about grace...Paul says 3 times it’s about grace, grace, grace, and the Christian understanding of grace entails 2 things. First it’s undeserved, meaning we don’t deserve God’s favor for our lives because of our sin. So it’s undeserved, but it’s also unmerited, meaning we can’t earn it with our good works and good deeds. God’s grace and favor isn’t based on our merit, it’s based on Christ’s merit. God’s grace is 100% free for us, but it was infinitely costly for Jesus. Our response is to give him our gratitude, our obedience, our life, and our love for what he did for us on the cross. R.C. Sproul states, “The Christian motivation for ethics isn’t merely to obey some abstract law or a list of rules; rather our response is provoked by gratitude...A true understanding of grace, of God’s unmerited favor, always provokes a life of gratitude and obedience.” Paul says in vs 10 that he worked harder than all the apostles, but it wasn’t to earn God’s grace, it was in response to God’s grace. Our desire is to obey God and do good works not to earn God’s grace, it’s in response to God’s grace.
So what’s grace? It’s the undeserved, unmerited favor of God...It’s the undeserved, unmerited favor of God, and you can hear this grace at work in Paul’s life. He says he’s the least of the apostles, he’s unworthy to be called an apostle. It’s because he persecuted the church, he literally killed Christians for their faith in Jesus. But then he experienced the grace of Jesus and became one of the strongest leaders in Christian history. He went from being a murderer of Christians, to a leader of Christians. He went from being a recipient of grace, to an instrument of grace. It’s because the grace of God, the power of the gospel changed him, which brings us to our last question. It’s how does the gospel change us? How does the gospel change our lives, like it did Paul?
1st John 4:19 says, “We love because he first loved us.” It says we love, because Jesus first loved us, and that’s how the gospel works to change us. It changes us by first experiencing the love of Jesus, and then that love starts permeating its way through every fiber of your body, affecting every aspect of your life. It’s the love of Jesus that motivates and empowers you to change, which goes back to what I said earlier about the difference between Christianity and other religions. See other religions teach mechanical change, meaning here’s the nuts and bolts on how to change, here’s a list of things to do to change. As Christians we sometimes slip into this mindset too, thinking we need to be better and do better or else God won’t love us. We sometimes forget the grace of God, try to merit God’s favor, and we get burdened or burnt out in following Jesus. Even those who aren’t religious have this mechanical mindset, a list of things they’re trying to do to change their lives. It’s all attempts at trying to change your life from the outside in. There’s a list of outside rules you’re trying to follow to change your life, but here’s why that doesn’t work. It’s because the problem isn’t coming from the outside, it’s coming from the inside. The problem is your heart!...You need to change your heart!...Jesus said “What comes out of the mouth, flows from the heart.” So you can try following as many religious rules or 10 steps to a better you lists as you want, but none of it can change your heart. Rules can try to restrain your heart, but they can’t change your heart. Real change doesn’t happen from the outside in, it happens from the inside out, and this is the good news the gospel offers us.
See the gospel doesn’t change you from the outside in, it changes you from the inside out! It isn’t a mechanical change, it’s an organic change that starts flowing naturally from a heart changed by the love of Jesus. For example I don’t have to be forced to do something I love. I don’t have to be forced to eat BBQ and watch sports...But I’ll have to be forced to watch a ballet, unless it’s my daughter’s ballet then I’ll watch it...I don’t have to be forced, because I love my daughter. The gospel works like that, it starts with the love of Jesus changing our hearts on the inside, so the love of Jesus will flow more naturally on the outside. Tim Keller states, “The gospel brings massive changes to your life...It profoundly changes your character. It changes the very structure of your identity. It changes the very pathways of your heart. It changes the way your heart works...But those things only come after having received the gospel.” So the more we grow in our love for Jesus, the more our hearts will change. It’s like my first date with my wife. It didn’t go well. I called her Angela instead of Andrea...It didn’t go well in the beginning, but as we spent more time with each other our love changed, it grew deeper and better. In a similar way as we spend more time with Jesus our love will change, it’ll grow deeper and better allowing his love to flow more naturally through us. The more we spend time sitting with Jesus reading our bibles and praying, the more our love for Jesus will grow, and the more his love will naturally start to change every aspect of our lives. The gospel doesn’t change us mechanically from the outside by giving us a list of things to do. It changes us organically from the inside by capturing our hearts over what Jesus has done. It changes our hearts, from the inside out.
The Big Idea:
So what is the gospel? The gospel is about Jesus, his death on the cross for our sins, his resurrection, and his grace. It’s about the undeserved, unmerited favor of Jesus for our life. Simply put, the gospel is about Jesus in our place. How does the gospel change us? The gospel changes us not through religious activity, but through love...If you’re a Christian remember the gospel today. Remember that Jesus desires your love, not your religious conformity. Remember he desires a heart that desires him, and the more you desire him, the more your heart will want to follow him. The more your heart will change into being more loving like Jesus.
If you’re a skeptic, it’s possible what you’ve been rejecting isn’t the gospel, instead it’s a false view of Christianity. A lot of skeptics I meet have a false view of Christianity. They think being a Christian is about having to obey a bunch of rules, not having any fun, hating gay people, and always voting republican. But that isn’t true. To be a Christian means believing the gospel, it means loving Jesus, and from that starts the process of our hearts changing into being more like Jesus. So if you’re a skeptic what you might be rejecting isn’t the true gospel, it’s a false view of Christianity, so receive the true gospel today. Let all of us receive the true gospel of Jesus today. If you truly want to change your life, it’ll happen not through your religious activity, but through the love of Jesus. So believe in the gospel today, receive his love today, and let his love continue to change every fiber of your body, so you can be more loving like Jesus.
#1 The gospel is about Jesus
#2 The gospel is about Jesus dying for our sins
Romans 7, “For I don’t do the good I want, but the evil I don’t want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I don’t want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me...24Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
#3 The gospel is about Jesus rising from the dead
#4 The Gospel is about grace
R.C. Sproul states, “The Christian motivation for ethics isn’t merely to obey some abstract law or a list of rules; rather our response is provoked by gratitude...A true understanding of grace, of God’s unmerited favor, always provokes a life of gratitude and obedience.”
1st John 4:19 says, “We love because he first loved us.”
Tim Keller states, “The gospel brings massive changes to your life...It profoundly changes your character. It changes the very structure of your identity. It changes the very pathways of your heart. It changes the way your heart works...But those things only come after having received the gospel.”