The Resurrection Necessity

When I think of today's passage and the title of “The Resurrection Necessity,” my mind instantly goes to a song found in The Jungle Book. During the movie Mowgli is sung to by Baloo, and the song has a powerful line in it: “Look for the bear necessities, the simple bear necessities.” We are going to find today that Paul is telling the Church in Corinth without the resurrection of Jesus Christ everything else the church had was useless (this was the necessity!) The same is true for us! When we think of our salvation it begins with the birth of Christ and goes all the way to the resurrection. Without the birth of the Savior there is no death on the cross, without the death on the cross there is no resurrection, without the resurrection there is no defeat of sin and death! This is what Paul is making sure the church of Corinth understood. The resurrection isn't just a side story of God's grace and salvation; it's the fundamental component.

I love that in our passage today we have a turning point, we see in verse 12-19 Paul talking about what it would be like if Jesus did not conquer the grave. However, in the first half of verse 20 we see it all come together:

“But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead. ”Everything before verse 20 is devastating if Jesus is still dead, but everything after it brings hope! Verse 20 goes on to speak of the first fruits. Paul is calling Jesus Christ the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep, meaning that the resurrection of Christ was the beginning and a promise that more was coming. We must be thankful for every part of the redemption plan! Let us not take any of this for granted. So, I ask you this one simple question: do you cherish the resurrection of Jesus Christ?