April 13 devotion

You can watch today's devotion here.

It’s essential

1 Corinthians 15:1-5

4/13/20

Pastor John C. Berg

Brothers, I am going to call your attention to the gospel that I preached to you. You received it, and you took your stand on it. ² You are also being saved by that gospel that was expressed in the words I preached to you, if you keep your hold on it—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.

This is your daily devotion for April 3, the day after Easter. If that wasn’t the strangest Holy Week of your life I’d love to hear your story.  I never would have thought that I would not attend Maundy Thursday, Good Friday or Easter worship services.  It will help us to appreciate the next “normal” Holy Week.  What an Easter that will be!  That appreciation of things we once took for granted is a prominent part of our lives now.  That’s not a bad thing.  We have been forced to reevaluate what really matters.  What’s essential?  What’s important enough to risk going out into public to purchase?  Who could have predicted how seriously we would take toilet paper?

Do you have a greater appreciation for Easter worship?  What about the resurrection itself?  That’s what we’re going to explore for a while in 1 Corinthians 15, often called “the great resurrection chapter.”  The resurrection of Jesus from the dead is the most important thing that’s ever happened.  That’s what the Apostle Paul thought.

You can see here in the Evangelical Heritage Version translation of the Bible that the last part of these verses is formatted differently.  That’s because this part was likely an early Christian creed.  Believers of that time memorized and used these words to confess what it means to be a Christian.  In other words, they thought this is really important:

1.  Jesus died for us, as the Bible had said would happen.
2. Jesus rose from the dead, as the Bible had said would happen.
3. The disciples were eyewitnesses that Jesus rose.

Paul says that this is the gospel.  Jesus died and rose for us.  If you have been watching these devotions and the worship videos I think you understand that.  Paul tells us to hold on to it.  Don’t allow these difficult times to distract you from the essentials.  Your Jesus is alive.   He already saved you with his death.  He is living and breathing and loving you with every breath.  If you are watching this and you aren’t sure if you believe it I pray that you will soon, because it’s essential.

Let’s pray:   Jesus, fill us with a deep appreciation for how important your resurrection is.  Use these strange times to point us to what is essential. Amen.