Saturday, April 30, 2005
1 Corinthians 15:1-10 "Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the ScripturesÂ…"
REMEMBERING POINT #1
The congregation at Corinth was in trouble. Some of the people in the church were saying that there was no such thing as a resurrection from the dead. They were questioning the very Word of God, and were tempting others to do the same.
So, what does Paul do? He simply brings them back to the most important teaching of the Bible. Paul directs them back to point #1.
It's as if Paul says, "Okay guys, you're way off on this point about the resurrection, so we need to go back to point #1. Never mind all the arguments that I could try to use, you're not going to get this point, if you don't understand point #1."
Wow. What a revelation. Start with point #1 and then proceed to point #2, #3 and so on. Maybe it doesn't seem like such an amazing revelation, but don't we often argue with someone about point #345 when what we need to do is tell them about point #1? We seem to forget that nobody is going to really understand the teaching on fellowship, or women in the church, or sex outside of marriage if they don't know point #1, that Jesus is their Savior, who died to save them from hell.
Next time someone you know directs a religious question your way, remember that point #569 can wait if this person doesn't know point #1.
