LIFE WITHOUT CHRIST’S RESURRECTION
Imagine with me for a moment. The year is 2075 and technology has advanced in ridiculous proportions. Through these advancements, researchers have been able to find out, with 100 percent accuracy, specific details of major historical events. Using these tools they discovered the answers to questions like who killed John F. Kennedy, what happened to Amelia Earhart, what happened the Angkor Wat civilization, and what happened to the dinosaurs. Most importantly, the researchers found, again with 100 percent accuracy, that Christ was not raised from the dead and was actually a normal man.
What would life be like if Christ actually had not been raised from the dead? Just posing this question sends painful chills through my body. In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul was posing this exact question. If there was no resurrection (Vs. 13) and Christ had not been raised (Vs. 13-14), then what would this mean? Here is Paul’s answer…
If Christ Had Not Been Resurrected…
– Preaching Would Be Vain (Vs. 14). Anything that would be preached from Scripture would be meaningless. There would be no point in coming to church and worshipping. The Bible would be degraded down to a “good book” about moral living. There would be no point in believing what was preached or making any life changes.
– Faith Would Be Vain And Worthless (Vs. 14, 17). If Christ remained in His tomb, faith would simply become ignorance. There would be no point in having faith. It would just be a waste of time. If there is no faith, then there is also no hope (Vs. 19). No hope in or after this life.
– The Apostles Become False Witnesses Of God (Vs. 15). All of the apostles’ writings and teachings would be trash. Instead of being witnesses of God, they would be liars. So for us, there would be nothing meaningful to tell people about Christ. There would be no conversions. No one would, or even could, be saved.
– We Would Be Lost In Sin (Vs. 17). This is definitely the most painful point to grasp. We would not be going to heaven. There would be no hope of salvation or peace after this life. The burden of our sins would be ours alone to bear.
– Those Who Lived A Life For Christ And Died Are Not In Heaven (Vs. 18). One of the single greatest hopes after this life is to be able to see the ones we loved in heaven again one day. However, if Christ was not raised, then they lived a pointless life. We will not see grandpa, grandma, mom, dad, or our brothers and sisters in heaven because a lie.
– Christians Are To Be Most Pitied Of All Men (Vs. 19). We are to be most pitied because we have chosen to live a life abstaining from all the “pleasures” in this life. Instead of “living life to its fullest” we have chosen to miss out. But all of this turns out to be for nothing. In addition, we have taught others to obey the Gospel, based on false promises, thus robbing them of this “good life” as well.
No Christ, no faith, no eternal expectations, no heaven, and certainly no salvation. What a miserable life this would be! Sadly, this is exactly how many people in this world live. Everything is about the here and now. There is simply no hope to be found and as a result there is very little purpose to life. If everyone in the world came to this conclusion, there would be nothing to stop people from committing heinous crimes day in and day out (Genesis 6:5). People could do whatever they wanted (Judges 17:6; 21:25). It’s hard to imagine, but this world would be even more sinful and corrupt.
However, praise be to God that Christ WAS raised from the dead! This being the truth, it makes everything we do as Christians worth it. Preaching becomes significant, faith becomes valuable, the apostles’ writings become meaningful, evangelism becomes beneficial, and most of all, we can be saved from our sins, which is unimaginably precious.
Christ has been raised from the dead! Therefore, the service we do as Christians is priceless. It’s sad that Christians who know Christ has been raised are actually living their lives as if He had not been. Do not get discouraged by the daily challenges and struggles that come with living a godly life (1 Peter 1:6-9; James 1:2-4). It is meaningful and valuable. Keep pressing towards the goal that has been promised to the faithful (1 Peter 1:4-5; Colossians 1:5; Matthew 5:11-12; 2 Corinthians 5:1-2). Christ has been raised, therefore we too will be raised one day (1 Thess. 4:13-18). Since this is the truth, let’s live our lives like we believe Christ was resurrected.
–Brett Petrillo