15:1-11
Pastor Nathan P. Kassulke
“Take Your Stand on This: Christ Was Raised”
Sunday, April 5, 2026
Paul, what took you so long? I can’t help but wonder about this when I focus on the words of our Second Reading this morning. Why are these words relegated to the 15th chapter of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians? Now, I understand that Paul was not the one to number the chapters and verses in his letter, but even if this were to be numbered somewhat differently, there are still sentences and paragraphs before this, content that makes up 14 chapters before Paul gets to what was read earlier. It’s important also to acknowledge that this wasn’t simply a decision for Paul whether stylistically or content-wise. God’s Holy Spirit moved and inspired Paul to write exactly what God wanted to be written. But do you see where my question comes from? Paul, that is God through Paul, is speaking to his original hearers, and to generations since, and even to us today, and he is saying something that is absolutely foundational.
So that is where he begins what has become famous as the Easter chapter of the Bible—not the Gospel account of which we have four separate perspectives—but the Great Resurrection Chapter of the Bible, 1 Corinthians 15. Paul writes to those Christians in the city of Corinth and he says, Brothers, I am going to call your attention to the gospel that I preached to you.
By the way, Paul has done that already. He has many times over, from the very first greeting in this letter and at multiple points since emphasized the good news, the Gospel. He has pointed to the work of Jesus and the results that the Corinthians could see and knew in their lives. And then in chapter 15 he is going to do so once again. And he is going to remind them just how foundational these truths are. This is the Gospel that you believed. This is the Gospel on which you took your stand. This is the Gospel that saves you as you hold tightly to it. This is the thing that is of first importance for me to deliver to you.
So what is this Gospel? How would Paul succinctly share this primary truth? He does so with four points. You can just glance at this section and see them. The editors have placed them with a little indentation so they stand out from the surrounding text. And that wouldn’t have shown up the same way for the Corinthians, but they would have heard the emphasis on each point with a short Greek word that is translated: that, that, that, that. That number one: Christ died. He died for our sins. This was according to the Scriptures. This is what God promised throughout his Word. So much is packed into just a few words as Paul writes this.
That number two: he was buried. Maybe that doesn’t sound quite so meaningful. “He was buried” actually fits into one Greek word. But it is important. Jesus was really dead. This is not some scam or sham. There would have been people who could have taken the Corinthians on a tour in the area of Jerusalem and even pointed out the tomb in which Jesus was laid. That’s how Friday ended just before the sun went down. Jesus was in the tomb. And when the sun came up on Sunday morning, that’s exactly what everyone expected.
But it’s not what they got. What they got was that number three. He was raised. It was the third day. Some Scriptures describe the time between Jesus’ death and burial as “three days and three nights.” That’s how the Jewish people counted their days. Don’t let anyone convince you that our days are wrong or that Jesus didn’t die on Friday. The Jewish reckoning of days meant that any part of a day could be counted as a day and night. The third day from his death on Friday was his resurrection on Sunday. Jesus was alive again.
But there was one important step remaining. No one knew. So Jesus appeared. We heard how he appeared to the women who had come to his tomb, but Paul doesn’t focus on that. Those women had an important job. They were to tell the disciples. But Jesus wasn’t going to leave the disciples without proof. He was going to appear to them, too, and they would be responsible for sharing the message with many more. That’s where Paul starts his list. First Jesus appeared to Cephas. You might know him better as Peter. Then he appeared to the Twelve. The Twelve were the close associates of Jesus, the disciples or apostles. Actually, by this time their number was down to eleven because Judas had taken his own life after betraying Jesus. That group was still known as the Twelve.
That’s still a relatively small number of people who were intimately aware of what had happened, but God planned that this foundational message was going to change the world in a profound way. So he made sure that there was even more evidence that Jesus had indeed risen from the dead. Jesus appeared to over 500 believers. As Paul was writing about them, most of those men were still alive. This was what God wanted for the world. This was undeniable evidence. If anyone wasn’t sure whether they could believe the rumors about someone coming back from the dead, if anyone wasn’t certain that what they had learned from Jesus was absolutely reliable, they could be sure and certain. Jesus rose, just as he said he would. You can try to explain these appearances away, but those explanations all fall flat. There is only one satisfying explanation. This is completely true. Jesus died, and he was alive again.
Why did it take Paul 14 chapters before he got to this amazing news? Well, one part of the explanation for this is he needed those 14 chapters to deal with a lot of other things. There were some real problems in the Christian congregation at Corinth. There were factions and fighting. There was selfishness and pride. There were sins being celebrated instead of rebuked. There were spiritual gifts being ignored while less important things were being praised. That’s what makes chapter 15 so beautiful. This is what the Corinthians have taken their stand on, and it is what they can continue to stand on. They aren’t taking a stand on fixing their factions or ridding the congregation of sin. They are taking their stand on Jesus died and rose again. That’s why Paul can call them brothers. That is what is saving them.
That is what is saving us. How long is the list of things in your life that really should be dealt with?
Certainly this congregation is far from perfect. We have mistaken priorities and pet sins. We struggle to identify and rebuke sin. We seek comfort in finding our own factions with whom we agree about something and disagree with someone else. We have lost loved ones to death and have felt the bitter sting of knowing that one day we will follow them. Do you want to take your stand on “I tried really hard”? Do you want to take your stand on “I was nice to people most of the time”? Do you want to take your stand on “There are lots of other people who are worse sinners than I am”? The good news isn’t in any of these statements. Take your stand on the real good news, the Gospel: Christ died for our sins and was raised again.
After working his way through all these appearances of the risen Lord Jesus, Paul finally gets to himself. And here we don’t have to ask why Paul waited to mention himself. He tells us very plainly. He was the last. He was the one who had been persecuting Christians, fighting against the risen Lord. He compares himself to a stillborn child: lifeless, helpless. This was his spiritual condition. There was nothing in him for God to love, nothing in him to suggest that he would serve God and his people. He was actively doing the exact opposite. Until Jesus appeared.
Do you want to see what sort of difference the risen Lord makes in the lives of people? Look at the example of Paul. God’s grace showed him his sins and forgiveness. God’s grace took a worthless persecutor and made him into a faithful, hardworking servant. God took someone dead in sin and unbelief and made him alive.
Your story is no doubt very different from that of Paul. I doubt we find many persecutors gathered here today. And we have not personally seen the risen Lord. But that is exactly why God has lined up so much evidence for us. 500 brothers all at once. Disciples, apostles, James, Paul. Every one a witness. And Paul’s life in reality is very much like ours. When we were born physically, we were dead spiritually. There was nothing in us to earn God’s love. There was nothing about us to suggest that God would use our service. But God sent us the good news. He gave us the Gospel. He pours it over us in Holy Baptism. He feeds us with it in Holy Communion. He speaks to our ears and our minds and our hearts. He says, “You can take your stand on this. It is true. It is reliable. It is dependable.” Jesus did everything he said he would do. He is everything that he claimed. He brings us from death to life. He was dead and buried but now is alive forever. Take your stand on this. You, too can serve God. You, too can serve his people. You, too will live forever. Listen to the good news. Hold on to it. Celebrate. Rejoice. Take your stand on this: Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia. Amen.
Sermon Text: 1 Corinthians 15:1–11 (EHV)
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. 2You 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. 3For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, 4that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, 5and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve.
6After that he appeared to over five hundred brothers at the same time, most of whom are still alive, but some have fallen asleep. 7Then he appeared to James, and then to all the apostles. 8Last of all, he appeared also to me, the stillborn child, so to speak. 9For I am the least of the apostles, and I am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted God’s church. 10But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not ineffective. On the contrary, I worked more than all of them (and yet it wasn’t my doing, but it was the grace of God, which was with me, that did it). 11So whether it is I or they, that is what we preach, and that is what you believed.