"This Is of First Importance!" (Sermon on 1 Corinthians 15:1-11) | April 5, 2026

Sermon Text: 1 Corinthians 15:1–11
Date: April 5, 2026
Event: The Resurrection of Our Lord, Year A

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.

This Is of First Importance!

Think for just a moment—what is the area of life that you have the most personal expertise in? It might flow out of your family life—parenting or navigating other tricky family relationships and situations. It might come from your interests, a hobby that you are particularly knowledgeable about. It might come from your professional life, where you have tremendous experience and skill in the areas required for that work, whether inside or outside the home.

So, center yourself in whatever areas of expertise you have. If someone came to you and said they had no knowledge or skill in one of those areas but that they wanted to learn, how would you guide them? What would be the most important single thing you would share with them about your hobby or profession? What single lesson that you had learned raising children or helping elderly parents would rise to the very top in your advice?

This morning, on this highest of festivals in the Christian church, we are staring at the absolute most important thing not only in the Christian faith, but in our lives as a whole. Or at least we’re starting at the effects of the most important thing, but everything is tied together in a tight knot, secured by God’s eternal love for us, so we do well to take it all in.

We began our service with a review of God’s plan of salvation because we really, really need to know how we got to Easter in order to appreciate what this empty tomb actually means—but Easter is the linchpin in everything. Easter gives Good Friday its meaning; Easter gives Christmas its meaning. Without Easter, everything we would hope for falls to pieces, but with it, we have eternal comfort beyond compare.

1 Corinthians chapter 15 is often nicknamed the “Resurrection Chapter” of the Bible. We have just the first eleven verses of this somewhat lengthy chapter as our Second Reading for this morning’s worship, so I would encourage you to take a few minutes sometime today to read through it in whole at home, but these opening verses lay out the importance of what we’re celebrating today.

Paul is writing to the Christians living in the city of Corinth. If you read the two letters in the New Testament that he wrote to them, you will quickly see just how many problems this congregation has. Internal strife and divisions that led to abuses in how they handled the sacraments (especially the Holy Communion), jealousy in seeking out spiritual gifts, toleration and even support of open, wanton sin, and then difficulty in forgiving people of sin when they had repented.

But in these opening verses of chapter 15, Paul seeks to ground the whole conversation he’s had with them in the letter up to this point, and what will follow in his next letter. He says, “I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received.” Not that the other things weren’t important, but what Paul is going to spend time on here in this chapter is the most important, of first importance; this outranks everything else.

He proceeds to lay out a series of four statements of faith, which sound very much like the Apostles’ Creed, which would develop later. The very first statement is perhaps the most important: Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures.

This is where we spent our whole service on Friday evening. Jesus allowed himself to be crucified, and more than that, suffered the full wrath of hell as he was abandoned by the Father, because of our sins. Our sins are the reason that he went to his death, and his death fully dealt with them, just as had been promised. And we left things on Friday with Paul’s second statement: he was buried. Jesus wasn’t passed out or unconscious. He died. The separated blood and water from his pierced side showed that. When they left him in the tomb late Friday afternoon, he was dead.

He needed to die because death is the wages of sin. If he was truly going to die for our sins, he had to actually die. And so he did. And in many ways, that would have been enough. But if no one knew what had happened, it all would have been worthless. The sins would have been paid for, yes, but if no one knew it and believed it, that reality would not have benefited anyone. People needed to hear and see what had happened in order to trust the blessings he freely gives. He needed to prove his victory for us so that we could put our trust in him. And that’s what brings us to our celebration this morning: he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.

We said a few times during Lent that Jesus didn’t look all that triumphant or glorious. In fact, he looked like a defeated husk of a man. Easter is necessary, not to forgive our sins—that was accomplished on Good Friday; it is necessary to prove that Good Friday was successful, that Jesus’ “It is finished!” from the cross was truly a cry of victory, not defeat.

This was of such first importance to Jesus that he was going to spend the next 40 days after Easter making appearances to people, many of whom saw him dying or even dead, and proving that he was alive. Paul puts these post-resurrection appearances on the same level of importance in this brief confession as Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection: he appeared to Cephas (that is, Peter), then to the Twelve. And he even then goes to offer more detail on these appearances: After that he appeared to over five hundred brothers at the same time, most of whom are still alive, but some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, and then to all the apostles. Last of all, he appeared also to me…

After his work was done, Jesus made it his highest priority to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that the work truly was done. Next Sunday, we’ll hear Jesus directly address Thomas’ confusion and doubt as he encourages Thomas to put his fingers in the places where the nails had been, and the spear had pierced him. Even on this first Easter evening, Jesus eats some food, not because he was hungry, but to prove that he wasn’t a ghost or a collective hallucination or some other figment of their imagination, but a truly living and breathing human being—who had been dead just days before.

So what is the point of all of this? Why are we gathered here this morning for a special service? Why do we make all of this a priority ideally not just one day a year, but everyday? Paul gave us the “why” in the opening verses of our Second Reading: 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.

The Christian faith is not just some cultural heritage or family tradition that we look to preserve. Jesus’ death and resurrection is the saving work of God to rescue us from our sins, to rescue us from hell. The horrid suffering and abandonment by God that Jesus faced on the cross is what our sins deserve. Jesus’ resurrection proves that this is defeated so that, when clinging to Jesus by faith, we will never, ever have to face that.

Jesus’ resurrection isn’t just a nice, inspiring story. It’s the certainty of your eternal life, and mine. Jesus had told his disciples the night before he died, “Because I live, you also will live.” Two weeks ago, we heard Jesus tell Martha that he was the resurrection and the life. He is our life and our resurrection.

Unless Jesus returns before we die, we all will have graves just as Jesus did. We will have remains that will be laid to rest as the soul and body separate as one of the results of sin in this broken world. But Easter shows that our graves will be just as temporary as Jesus’ grave was. We, too, will rise, not because we were so strong or good or anything else involving us, but because Jesus won the victory for us. The Good Shepherd who laid down his life only to take it up again will be the one to raise us to life at the start of that full, eternal life with him.

Because of Jesus, we have no fear in death because the punishment that we deserved is done. Because of Jesus, we have confidence in the eternal life to come that will not be like this life with its heartaches and headaches; that life will be perfect. Because of Jesus, we have the confidence to know that we go through each day under his love and protection.

When you do the math, anything that deals with the eternal is infinitely more important than something that deals with the temporary. That’s why our eternal lives are of even greater importance than our lives right here and right now. That’s why this message of sins forgiven in Jesus and proved by his resurrection from the dead is of first importance. There is nothing bigger, better, or more impactful than Jesus’ victory for you. And he gives it to you freely and completely because he loves you.

May God help each of us to cherish this reality of sins forgiven in Jesus as the single most important thing in our lives. May we prioritize not just one day out of the year, but every moment of every day of our lives!

Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia! Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria

Sermon prepared for Gloria Dei Lutheran Church (WELS), Belmont, CA (www.gdluth.org) by Pastor Timothy Shrimpton. All rights reserved. Contact pastor@gdluth.org for usage information.

"Focus on the Resurrection and the Life" (Sermon on John 11:17-27, 38-45) | March 22, 2026

Sermon Text: John 11:17-27, 38-45
Date: March 22, 2026
Event: The Fifth Sunday in Lent, Year A

John 11:17-27, 38-45 (EHV)

When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. 18Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles away. 19Many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them concerning their brother.

20When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him, while Mary was sitting in the house.

21Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.”

23Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

24Martha replied, “I know that he will rise in the resurrection on the Last Day.”

25Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live, even if he dies. 26And whoever lives and believes in me will never perish. Do you believe this?”

27“Yes, Lord,” she told him. “I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.” …

38Jesus was deeply moved again as he came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. 39“Take away the stone,” he said.

Martha, the dead man’s sister, told him, “Lord, by this time there will be an odor, because it has been four days.”

40Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” 41So they took away the stone.

Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you heard me. 42I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” 43After he said this, he shouted with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”

44The man who had died came out with his feet and his hands bound with strips of linen and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus told them, “Loose him and let him go.”

45Therefore many of the Jews who came to Mary and saw what Jesus did believed in him.

Focus on the Resurrection and the Life

“Let’s spend some time talking about death.” That sentence might rank at the top of a list of “most awkward conversation starters.” We know that death is a reality; we see it all the time in nature. Plants die, bugs die, and animals are hit by cars. We even see it in our families, as people receive dire and terminal diagnoses from their doctors, someone passes away suddenly or expectedly, or even as beloved pets come to the end of their lives. Death is reality, we know that, and yet we often try to pretend like it’s not there, like it’s not something that is around. It’s like that pile of laundry that needs to be folded or that home improvement project that has been on the to-do list for months or years. It’s something we know we will have to deal with, but we don’t really want to think about it.

If I may, let’s just pull that Band-Aid off right now. Let’s talk about death in whatever way comes to mind when you hear that. It might be your own mortality, it might be someone you care about who is sick or suffering, or perhaps your mind immediately jumps to someone dear to you who preceded you in death. It’s uncomfortable and perhaps unsettling, but it’s also important.

One of the things that we have to come to grips with is that death isn’t “simply a part of life.” Death is not how God designed the world when he originally created it. It was a possibility, but not a foregone conclusion. Back in the Garden of Eden, God had given Adam one command: “You may freely eat from every tree in the garden, but you shall not eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, for on the day that you eat from it, you will certainly die” (Genesis 2:16-17). One command—don’t eat from this tree—and one result if that command was broken—certain death.

You know how that went; we heard it just a few weeks ago for our sermon focus on the First Sunday in Lent. Satan convinces Adam and Eve that obeying God is bad, so they take the fruit and eat. And what happens? Instant death. Not instant physical death that we are used to, but instant spiritual death, separation from God by unbelief. Instantly, Adam and Eve are scared of God rather than in harmony with him, hiding from him rather than rejoicing to be near him. Sin destroyed that relationship; the image of God that we were created with was lost.

In that moment, death and decay entered the world, and we’ve been dealing with it ever since. Why do plants, animals, and people die? While there are many varied and detailed answers to that question, it all boils down to one main answer: sin. Sin’s wages are death; sin is the reason for death.

In our Gospel this morning, we find Jesus directly coping and dealing with death. We meet him as he enters the town of Bethany, where a family, the adult siblings, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, all lived. This family was dear to Jesus, and he to them. Lazarus had fallen ill, and Jesus made the confusing choice to wait several days to go to see him, so that by the time he arrived in Bethany, Lazarus was already dead.

I always appreciate this account, because Martha’s faith shines. She need not be known simply as the one who prioritized the kitchen over the Jesus’ teaching. This conversation between Martha and Jesus after Lazarus had died shows that Martha was a true believer and had clear confessions of faith that were on par with the best that ever came from the disciples’ mouths—very, very close to Peter’s confession upon which Jesus promised to build his church.

Martha comes with what might initially sound like a criticism, but she also showed tremendous trust in Jesus: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” She’s not so much blaming Jesus for Lazarus’ death, but confessing that she knew that no matter what was wrong with her brother, Jesus could have dealt with it. Her next statement drives that point home, “But even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you.”

Jesus gives her encouragement that her brother will live again. And Martha clearly doesn’t not understand Jesus to be promising to raise her brother from the dead in a few moments. Her focus is elsewhere, to the greater promises of God, “I know that he will rise in the resurrection on the Last Day.” Here Martha is taking solace and comfort in everything she knew and believed about Jesus: the one who believes in him as Savior will have eternal life. And Jesus says as much, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live, even if he dies. And whoever lives and believes in me will never perish.” “Will live even if he dies” is a promise that death in this life is not the end; “will never perish” is the promise of complete rescue from the eternal death of hell.

Jesus is focused on giving life, but not necessarily the life that we are familiar with or might choose in the heat of the moment. Jesus is focused on eternal life, not earthly life. That’s not to say that he doesn’t care about our earthly lives; he certainly does and promises to provide for us and protect us, working everything in this life out for our good. But the good that he is working towards is our eternal good. If a hardship here would lead us to lean on him more fully, then the hardship might stick around. If a lack of fulfillment, wealth, or health here leads us to long for the perfect life he provides after this life, then we just might find ourselves wanting in those areas of our lives. Not because Jesus doesn’t care about us, but because he does. He wants us focused on eternal life; he wants us focused on him—the Resurrection and the Life.

In the verses that we hopped over from John chapter 11, we hear the famous two-word verse, “Jesus wept.” And then in what we read for our gospel, we see a second wave of emotions wash over him: Jesus was deeply moved again as he came to the tomb. Jesus’ fragile-looking emotions point to his humanity; we see how he, as a human being, deals with death and loss. But I also believe this gives us a glimpse into his divine nature, revealing a bit of God’s heart. For Jesus, this is not “merely” losing a dear loved one to death. For Jesus, as the Creator of the universe, this is his beloved creation suffering exactly what he didn’t want for them, the direct opposite of how he designed them. He wanted them to live forever, in perfect harmony with him. In some ways, Jesus’ emotions show his determination to go to the cross.

Nothing could or would fix the death problem with God’s direct intervention. God, as a perfectly just being, couldn’t just pretend that sin didn’t matter, shove it under the rug, or ignore it. No, God’s justice demands that sin had to be dealt with properly, but his love meant that he wouldn’t make you and me deal with it ourselves.

Martha’s faith that Lazarus would rise again on the Last Day was centered in the truth that Jesus is our Savior. Death could never be undone unless sin was undone, and that could only happen in the body of the God-man taking the place of humanity under God’s just wrath.

We’re not so far away from seeing that happen. In less than two weeks, we will sit and hear his cries of physical pain at his crucifixion, but much more so his cries of spiritual torment, of being abandoned by his Father and suffering the punishment for sins he never committed, but that we did. He will suffer the wages of sin—hell itself—for us.

But the end of that story points to the end of our story as well. Jesus, as the firstfruits of all who die, showed what will happen to us on the Last Day, as Martha knew would happen for Lazarus. Jesus’ resurrection shows not only his victory over sin, death, and hell, but also shows us what is in store for us. Despite our sin, despite the death that we deserve, we will live. Not because of us, but because of Jesus. “Whoever believes in me will live, even if he dies. And whoever lives and believes in me will never perish.”

Could Jesus go to the tomb of our loved one, whether they’ve been there for four days or four decades, and raise them to life? Of course. Is he going to do that? That does not seem likely, not only because that’s not what he normally does, but also because it's not his main goal. Jesus is not ultimately interested in restoring people to life in this sinful, corrupted world. Even when Jesus raised Lazarus, it wasn’t to reunite him with his sisters and friends. No, why did Jesus do this? “Father, I thank you that you heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” Jesus’ goals go way, way beyond this cave near Bethany and go well beyond our loved ones’ graves or our own upcoming graves. Jesus’ goals and plans stretch into eternity, eternal safety from perishing in hell. The Father sent his Son on a mission of mercy, on a mission of grace, on a mission to save the fallen creation that he loves so dearly. As Jesus raises Lazarus to physical life, his message to us is clear: I will do this and so much more for you.

As you deal with death in the many horrid ways it makes itself known in your life, or even as you deal with the other, less dire effects of sin, keep your focus on the Resurrection and the Life. Jesus came that you may have life and have it abundantly (John 10:10), not here and now, but forever with him, away from any sin consequence of sin. There we will dwell with the one who is our Resurrection and our Life forever.

As Jesus said to Martha, so he says to us as well, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me will live, even if he dies. And whoever lives and believes in me will never perish. Do you believe this?” With the faith the Holy Spirit gives, we can confidently answer, “Yes, Lord! I believe that you are the Christ—the promised Savior—who has rescued me from all sins, death, and the power of the Devil, not with gold or silver but with your holy, precious blood and your innocent suffering and death, in order that I would be your own and live under you in your kingdom just as you have risen from death!”

Lord, keep us in that faith until life everlasting. Focus us on your resurrection and your life forever. Amen.

Soli Deo Gloria

Sermon prepared for Gloria Dei Lutheran Church (WELS), Belmont, CA (www.gdluth.org) by Pastor Timothy Shrimpton. All rights reserved. Contact pastor@gdluth.org for usage information.