This is the audio (25:45, 19.2 MB) of a sermon preached at LCC’s International Christian Fellowship entitled, “The First Fruits of Resurrection,” at our Easter Sunday celebration (April 21). The main text is 1 Corinthians 15:20–28.

In this sermon I’m relying heavily on the work of N.T. Wright, especially The Resurrection of the Son of God (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2003), 685–711.

Here is an excerpt of the sermon:

The Gospel writers, how ever they wanted to present the story of Jesus for later readers, knew that the resurrection was central to their claims about Jesus. And for this reason, they apparently chose to preserve these very early resurrection stories, unedited, unchanged, uninterpreted, in their biographies of Jesus…

But I recognize that it’s not usually arguments that ultimately lead to belief. In fact, we still have this one huge evidential barrier to belief in the resurrection: People who are dead always stay dead! For some people, they can accept the improbability of someone making up the resurrection stories, but cannot accept that a human being could rise from the dead. Maybe that’s where you stand on the issue, or maybe that’s someone you know.

So, let’s set that aside for a moment and consider the question: What would be the implications if Jesus did rise from the dead—implications for me, for you, for us, for the whole world, and for God?

Audio and text: ©2019 by Benjamin D. Giffone. Reproduction and distribution are permitted, providing that the author is properly credited and that no fee is charged.