The Story of Jesus
April 20, 2025
Preached by Ron Smith
Scripture Reading
1 Corinthians 15:1-11
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.
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, 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. 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.11 Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.
We all like a good story. We especially like ones that end well and that are bit hard to believe because it makes it more mysterious and intriguing. The problem is that when that story claims to be true, we begin to scrutinize all the details to ensure that every aspect lines up and there are no holes. In my opinion skepticism seems to become stronger the older I get. Perhaps the experience we gain in life of people trying to pull one over on us makes us raise our eyebrows when we are presented with something that doesn’t fit into the normal categories we have for life. I remember years ago my kids were looking for ways to make money. One of them stumbled across a website that promised to pay you big bucks for simply filling out surveys. I voiced by skepticism. It was not well received – ‘you always think that things like this won’t work. It’s just your generation. This is something new.’ My kids made millions – not.
Experiences like that make so that when you hear about strange stories like the story of the “Dancing Plague of 1518” where hundreds of people began to dance uncontrollably in Europe, some even being reported to have died as a result, our suspicion goes up. That’s not normal. We check out the story. We consider the historical evidence. How can something like that happen?
What do we do with the story of the gospel? The story of Jesus? If it remains a fable, a great story that that has been passed on through the generations that teaches good morals like the tales of Mother Goose, no problem. But if it is more than a fable, if it is true, what do we do with it? It is a story that is hard to believe. And perhaps seems too good to be true. It is a remarkable story that spans eternity and involves the God who created all things and it involves you and me. What will we do with the story of Jesus?
When we talk about his story we could talk about many things. But Paul here in 1 Cor 15 boils it down to the essential aspects. If you ever wondered what the gospel is, what the story of Jesus is all about, these are the verses to come to.
He starts off stating that he wanted to remind the Corinthians of the gospel. Gospel simply means the Goodnews of Jesus Christ. Right off the bat we see that their story is wrapped up in his story. Paul says that he preached the gospel to them, they received the gospel, they stand in the gospel, and now, they need to hold fast to the gospel.
We have been going through 1 Corinthians chapter by chapter, so we know a little bit of their story. We learned earlier that before they believed in Christ some of them were drunkards, thieves, swindlers, idolaters, sexually immoral. But they received the gospel – they were washed, sanctified, and justified in Jesus.
However, we also know that this whole letter is a letter of rebuke and correction. Even though they had received the gospel, it was not having an impact in all areas of their life. It is apparent that they were extremely spiritually immature. Throughout the letter Paul labors to correct them and to bring them in line with the story of Jesus. I think that is why here in 1 Cor 15:2 he reminds them to hold fast and not to believe in vain.
Our faith in Jesus is proved by our steadfastness to him. Faith produces good works that line up with the gospel. Believing in vain would be like the person who has a Sunday belief but not an everyday belief. It is the person who checks that they are a Christian on some survey, but their neighbors would be shocked to hear that. It is the person who knows a lot about Christianity and goes through the motions of holding on to Christian traditions but doesn’t know Jesus. Paul doesn’t want that for them. He wants them to hold fast and live transformed lives.
What I find remarkable is that after all the negative things we have seen, all of the correction that Paul has given, he brings them back to the gospel. He does’t tell them that they just simply need to ‘level-up’ or unlock the deeper mystery of being a true Christian. He goes back to the simplicity of the gospel. It was the gospel that was going to bring the healing that they so desperately needed. Their story had been wrapped up into the story of Jesus and they needed to remember that.
What about your story? How would you describe it? It might be like the Corinthians were before they received the gospel. You might be far away from God and pursuing your own dreams, hopes and desires not wanting anything to do with Jesus.
Or maybe you do feel the brokenness of this world, you feel hopeless, despair even. Perhaps you feel the shame of the things you have done in walking away from God. What do you do? Where do you turn?
Or maybe like the Corinthians, you received the gospel, but you have been living according to your own standards, doing what you want to do when you want to do it. Treating the gospel more like fire insurance instead of the life changing story that it is.
As you think about your story, let’s keep digging into the story of Jesus.
Paul says starting in verse 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, 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. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.
Here we get to the succinct statement of the gospel. The story of Jesus is summed up in his death, burial, and resurrection. Paul says, this is of first importance. We can disagree about different theological issues, but not on this.
The death, burial, and resurrection are the historical facts of the story. They happened at a specific moment in history. The fact that Jesus died and was buried is no problem. They fit into the categories we have from our experience of life. People die and are buried.
But then we come to the resurrection and our skepticism radars go ballistic. Have you ever witnessed someone coming back to life? I haven’t. And yet, Paul says that this fact, is of first importance. It happened. He is going to go on in the rest of the chapter to explain why it is so important that it happened.
So, what proof do we have that the resurrection actually happened? Well, there are numerous proofs we could talk about that are well attested.[1]
But Paul focuses in on one proof in particular. Jesus appeared to more than 500 people after his resurrection. He gives the list: Cephas (Peter), the twelve disciples, more than 500 people at one time (he elaborates that some of them are still alive. Go ask them!) James (brother of Jesus), then to all the apostles, and finally to Paul.
That’s a lot of people. People who could verify that they had seen the risen Christ. The thing about it is they had nothing to gain. There were no riches waiting for them if they professed to having seen Christ. There was no fame. What waited for them was nothing but hardship, suffering, and death. They ran the risk of losing their livelihood, their status in society, their friends, their family. And yet, they were utterly convinced that the resurrection happened. He is risen.
“Fine, but what does it mean?” This is not just some event that happened like a concert at Hersey Stadium last year. The story of Jesus is the story of ultimate meaning.
Paul says that Jesus died and then adds these important words: for our sins. In the Bible sin is what separates us from God. It is what we do and what we think that is opposed to what God desires. We think doing what we want gives us true freedom. But in reality it robs us of life, leaves us broken, it steals meaning from us, it fills our life with shame, it obscures truth, it gives false hope, it promises what it can never deliver. Sin leads to death.
Jesus’ death is for our sins – he died in our place. He sets us free from sin. The resurrection is the guarantee that his death for our sins was effective. Because he died for our sins and was raised on the third day, he gives us life, wholeness, meaning, glory, truth, hope, and promises that he delivers on. The story of Jesus is the ultimate story that makes sense of this universe we live in because he triumphed over sin and death.
All of this, Paul says, is according to Scripture. The cross and resurrection were not events that just happened. They happened according to the plan and foreknowledge of God. From before the foundation of the earth, the events that would bring our salvation were set in place. They are attested to in the whole Bible. The whole OT prepares us for and speaks to us of Jesus.[2]
This is the gospel. The story of Jesus. Has your story been wrapped up into his? How will you respond to this story?
Paul tells us how his own story was merged with the story of Jesus. His past was a painful one. He says that he was a persecutor of the church. He was responsible for the death and imprisonment of Christians. He was not proud of this fact. He even felt inferior to the other apostles. Have you done something you are not proud of; something you would rather stay hidden? Well, this was that for Paul. Yet he freely shares this embarrassing and shameful part of his life. Why? Because despite it, he experienced the grace of God. He says, but by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain.
Even though Paul was far away from Jesus, as he was trying to bring an end to the story of Jesus, God saved him. His life was transformed and now instead of destroying the church he was planting churches. He became a powerful proclaimer of the gospel.
There are two things we can pull from Paul’s story. The first is that no one is too far gone that God’s grace cannot reach you. It doesn’t matter what you have done, Jesus can forgive you and make you clean. His triumph can be your triumph.
The other thing from Paul’s story is that no one is too close to God’s grace that it cannot break through the numbness of your heart you have towards it. What do I mean? Paul says he persecuted the church. But in another letter, he lets us know that he was persecuting the church thinking he was doing the very work of God (Philippians 3:6). He was a Pharisee, one who sought to obey God’s law. In other words, he was so close he couldn’t see his need for Jesus. He didn’t see his need for God’s grace. He tried to do it all himself, and it didn’t do anything but drive a wedge between him and God.
Many of us might not see our need of Jesus. We aren’t bad people. We don’t do those really bad things. We might even do good things – giving to the poor, try to be honest, try to treat people with respect. But do we see our need for a savior? One who will set our lives in line with God. Who will breathe supernatural life into us, who will set us free from our sin.
The story of Jesus seems unbelievable, but it’s true. Do you believe it? Believe in him. Don’t stop believing in him. Receive the gospel that Paul preached, and you have heard this morning. Hold fast to it. Jesus died for our sins, he was buried, and he was raised from the dead three days later. He is Risen!
[1] One such proof that theologians put forth, focuses on the empty tomb. Was the tomb found empty? There is lots of evidence to suggest that it was. In the first place the tomb was in a public place known by all. We know from the Gospel accounts that the tomb he was put in was the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea. Joseph was a member of the Jewish Sanhedrin, the very group that was involved in the crucifixion of Jesus. The Sanhedrin could have easily gone to the tomb and exhumed the body. Secondly, the tomb was discovered by women. This doesn’t seem like such a big deal to us now, but in that day the women were not viewed as credible witnesses. If the story was invented, it would have surely been John or Peter that would have discovered the tomb empty. And finally, we can know the tomb was empty because the earliest Jewish rebuttal admitted that the tomb was empty. They paid the soldiers to say that the disciples had stolen the body.
[2] This is what Jesus teaches his disciples after the resurrection in Luke 24:44-49. There are lots of passages in the OT but the clearest is perhaps Isaiah 53. Daniel 12:1-4 speaks of resurrection.