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Many years ago near the end of WWII, an old Glasgow professor by the name of
McDonald and a Scottish chaplain were placed in a Nazi prison camp.
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A tall wire fence separated the Americans from the British. McDonald was put in
the American barracks, and the chaplain with the British.
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Unknown to the guards, the Americans had a little homemade radio and they were
able to get news from the outside.
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Daily, McDonald met the chaplain at the fence sharing a headline or two in
Gaelic, which was completely impossible to interpret for the Germans.
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One day, news came over the little radio that the German high command had
surrendered and the war was over.
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McDonald took the news to his friend, then watched him disappear into the
barracks. A moment later, a roar of celebration came from the barracks.
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Life in that camp was utterly transformed. Men walked around singing and
shouting, waving at the guards, even laughing at the dogs.
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When the German guards finally heard the news three nights later, they fled
into the dark, leaving the gates unlocked.
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The next morning, British and American prisoners walked out, free men. Yet they
had truly been set free three days earlier by the news that the war was over.
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Good news is powerful! It has power to transform and power to set free.
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This morning, we ask the question: What is the Good News?
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The answer is simple. The Good News is Jesus: crucified, buried, risen for our
sins, according to the Scriptures.
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Today, I want to encourage you to look into God's word and see his salvation
plan.
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The gospel, the good news, is the central theme of Scripture. Because it is the
main idea of the Bible, it's also the main idea for the Christian's life to
share this good news.
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Normally, none of us intentionally keep really good news to ourselves. Our
natural leaning when we hear good news is to share it.
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The news that the war was over had the power to cause celebration, lift spirits
and set men free behind prison bars, so also does the gospel of Jesus Christ.
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The church in North America has been silent for too long in sharing this good
news and a Cold War against religious freedom is upon us.
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Now is the time for every one of us to stand up and proclaim and live the truth
in Jesus' name.
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The apostle Paul
points out to his readers that the good news he delivered to them is not a
fantasy but real by reminding them that Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection
fulfill the prophetic insights of Scripture and were confirmed by numerous
witnesses.
- The good news which Paul preached was
an actual historical event. It was
grounded in history, foretold by the Scriptures, and observed by many
eyewitnesses.
- Many Bible scholars have made
convincing arguments that verses 3 to 5 contain what is perhaps the earliest
creed of the Christian faith.
- Let's listen again with fresh ears:
(3) For I delivered to you what was of first importance and what I had
received, that Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures, (4) and
that he was buried, and that he was raised up on the third day according to the
scriptures, (5) and that he appeared to Peter, then to the Twelve.
- One commentator boldly states that we
find in these verses "an early creed
which declares the absolute fundamentals of the Christian faith and on which
Christian identity (and experience of salvation) is built."[1]
- The Good News is Jesus: crucified,
buried, risen for our sins according to the Scriptures.
- We might ask which Scriptures Paul
had in mind since he doesn't list any, but Paul didn't have particular
Scriptures in mind he had the whole of Scripture in mind.
- When taken as a whole, all the
Scriptures together point to the suffering, death, and resurrection of the
Messiah.
- The Psalms again and again point to
his suffering and victory as do the prophets.
- Genesis 3:15 contains the earliest
inkling of the promise. "And I will cause hostility between you [i.e., the
serpent, the snake] and the woman, and between your offspring and her
offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel."
- What Paul told his readers was that the
entire biblical story finds its climax in the person of the Lord Jesus.
- That Jesus has been raised uncovers
the mystery of the story, that Jesus is now, and ever will be, Christ and Lord.
- That Jesus was raised is no myth.
Paul's description in the remainder of the chapter was of a literal physical
resurrection and the eyewitness accounts of the Gospels and Acts show the Lord
Jesus not only being seen, but being touched, as well as eating and drinking.
- Paul's further list of witnesses was
to show that his claim about the resurrection of Jesus was neither mythological
nor symbolic, but real.
- "Last of all," Paul wrote,
"as to one still born, he appeared also to me."
- To be an apostle one had to be an
eyewitness, and Paul's eyewitness testimony was a special case.
- He had not traveled with the Lord
Jesus through his earthly ministry like the rest of the apostles, who lived and
traveled with him for three years yet Jesus chose to show himself to Paul.
- Some suggest that Paul, the rest of
the apostles, and the more than 500 witnesses hallucinated the resurrection
[i.e., that they were delirious, they saw an illusion].
- Others suggest that the Gospels are
mere legends.
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These suggestions cannot prove true for several reasons: (1) people do not share the same hallucination en
masse or corporately; (2) hallucinations cannot account for the empty tomb; (3)
hallucinations cannot account for Paul's transformation; (4) hallucinations cannot
account for the transformation in James, from sceptic to pastor in Jerusalem;
and (5) hallucinations cannot account for the diversity of apostolic
experiences of the resurrected Christ.
- The
Good News is Jesus: crucified, buried, risen for our sins according to the
Scriptures.
- Josh and Sean McDowell also argue for
the importance of eyewitness testimony in their book, Evidence for the Resurrection.
- In the study of historical events, it
is crucial to discover participants or eyewitnesses of the event in order to
publish the facts. The greater the number of eyewitness testimony, the greater
the authenticity and accuracy of a written record.
- "When a Book is written about an
event, the accuracy of its content can be validated if enough eyewitnesses or
participants in the event are alive when the book is published."
- In 1 Corinthians 15:3-8, we find such
a record. If it were not true, Paul
never would have claimed that Jesus appeared to over 500 people at the same
time who were still living at the time of his writing this letter because this
claim was verifiable.
- The McDowell's conclude, "If
each of these 500 people were to testify in a court room for only six minutes
each, including cross-examination, you would have an amazing 50 hours of
first-hand eyewitness testimony.
- "Add to this the testimony of
many other witnesses and you could well have the largest and most lopsided
trial in history."[2]
- Eyewitness testimony certifies that the resurrection of Jesus is
grounded in history ... a verifiable fact in the fabric of history.
- Never was there a time when Jesus
Christ, crucified, buried and risen was not central to the good news the
apostles announced.
- Just like the news the war was over
changed life in that prison camp, the gospel of Jesus Christ doesn't just have
an "other worldly" meaning but "this worldly" meaning and
consequences. The gospel affects life here and now.
- "Jesus is raised, therefore he
is the Messiah; he is the true Lord of the whole world; therefore we, his
followers, have a job to do: we must act as his heralds, announcing his Lordship
to the entire world.
- "...Jesus is raised, therefore
God's new world has begun, and therefore we, you, and everybody else are
invited to be not only beneficiaries of that new world but participants in
making it happen."[3]
- In a sermon excerpt entitled, "I Am What I Am," from his book,
Apologetic Preaching, Craig Loscalzo
states, "Paul reveals that the good news of Christ's death and
resurrection provides the foundation on which we stand. We sometimes get caught up in nonessential
matters in the church, and we lose sight of what is foundational to our faith,
namely, Christ's sacrificial death and resurrection. If only we could get our priorities right and
keep them before our face."[4]
- The chorus from one of my favourite
worship songs declares how we, the church, are called to respond to this marvellous
news:
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Church arise and sing for the joy
Sing for the joy we've found
With our lives we shout out Your praise
God we proclaim Your kingdom's coming
Sing for the joy we've found
With our lives we shout out Your praise
God we proclaim Your kingdom's coming
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The Good News is Jesus: crucified,
buried, risen for our sins according to the Scriptures.
[1] Thiselton, First Epistle to the Corinthians., p. 1186
[2] McDowell, Josh, & Sean
McDowell, Evidence for the Resurrection:
What It Means for Your Relationship with God. Ventura, CA: Regal Books,
2009, pp. 195-196
[3] Wright, N. T. "The Surprise
of Resurrection." In Jesus, The
Final Days: What Really Happened. By Craig A. Evans & N. T. Wright,
Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009, p. 100
[4] Loscalzo, Craig A. Apologetic Preaching:
Proclaiming Christ to a Postmodern World. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity
Press, 2000, p. 43
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