The Mix

So, as I said at the beginning of the service, this is if you are new, the mix, It's adult teaching in bite sized chunks and today we are, of course, having a resurrection themed mix.

Now the main Bible passage that we are going to be looking at this morning is 1 Corinthians chapter 15. So if you've got a Bible can open up 1 Corinthians 15 and have that open in front of you. Now kids who've got the older worksheets, there's a number of kind of word bible verse challenges on the worksheets. Those verses are all from 1 Corinthians chapter 15. If you want a little bit of help with your puzzles, then you can look up that bible passage and you'll get some help with those things.

But we're going to begin before we get there by imagining or I would like you to imagine that we are on a game show together, and we have come to a part of the show called the mystery box. Yeah. It's called the mystery box. Alright? Okay.

So it's as simple as this. On the table, and I'll hold it up for those who are over there. On the table, there are 2 boxes. This is box a. And this is, this is box B.

Okay. Box A in box B. And here's what we need to know about the boxes. In box A, there might be nothing or there might be something marvelous. In box B, there might be nothing, or there might be something dreadful.

Okay? And so what I would like is a volunteer to come and play the mystery box and to choose between these boxes, Luke. Would you like would you are you up for it, Luke? Okay. Shall I bring the boxes to you?

Okay. So just have a think what you would do if you were in Luke's position. Okay? You're gonna choose box a or box b, Luke, which do you want? It's your birthday as well today.

Okay. This could be this could be marvelous or it could be dreadful. Yeah. Which 1 would you like? A.

There we go. Do you wanna open it up? Go on. Chris, you can give him a hand if you like. So just put your hand up.

Would you put your hand up if you agree with what Luke did? Given the choice, would you have chosen box a? Is there anyone who would have chosen box b instead of box a? No, David. You wouldn't.

No. Just put your hand out. No. What have you want, Luke? He's got whisper, jelly babies.

And a packet of starburst. Okay? So there was something marvelous in there. Yeah? Now I think given the choice, if all of us were to have a go at what Luke just did playing mystery box, we all would have done the same thing.

Right? And this is how we would reason it. Well, this game doesn't cost me anything at all to play. And in 1 sense, I've got nothing to lose. And so I may as well pick box because with box a, it's true.

There might be nothing in there after all, but there might be something marvelous, and so it's worth choosing that 1. Why then would I pick box b which also might contain nothing, but it might contain something dreadful. Given the choice and providing it doesn't cost us anything, the obvious choice for all of us is to select the box, which might have some nothing in it, but may have something marvellous. Now the reason for that game and for getting you to think about the mystery box is because some people think that Christian faith is a little bit like that game, and here's how the reasoning goes. If I choose to believe in Jesus, there might be nothing after I die.

There may be nothing in the box at all. But if it's true and Jesus did rise from the dead and heaven is real and hell is real, then I'm gonna go to heaven because I chose box a. I chose to believe. And if I discover after death, it's not true, then I haven't really lost anything. Have I?

Haven't really lost anything major. But if I choose in this life to reject Jesus, if I choose box B and discover after I die that it was true and that heaven is real and that hell is real, and I'm now going to that second dreadful place. Then that's a disaster. And so the reasoning goes, okay. Well, look, we we don't know.

None of us really know, but the safest thing with the highest possible reward and the lowest possible risk is to believe and to choose box A. Now, of course, when you think of it like that, there is a certain logic to that reasoning. The problem is that is not how the Bible understands or describes Christian faith. If Jesus Christ has not been raised from the dead, and if we therefore are not going to be raised from the dead to everlasting life, it's not just, you know, yeah, oh well, you know, well, that was that. We we always knew there could be nothing.

And now it turns out there is nothing, and so some choose to believe, and some choose not to believe, but this whole Christian thing at least gives us something to do in life, doesn't it? At least if it's not true, it gives us some sort of purpose and meaning. Yeah? That is that is not how the Bible thinks of or understands Christian faith. Just look what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15, and kids with the older worksheet, this top verse is part of your first challenge.

Here's what he says. If only for this life, we have hope in Christ, we are of all people to be most pitied. And then he says, or in a different version, if all we get out of Christ is a little inspiration for a few short years, we are a pretty sorry lot. In other words, he's saying, if Jesus Christ is not risen from the dead, if there is nothing in box a after all, and if all that we get from this Christianity and from this church, is a little bit of inspiration for a few years, then we are a pretty sorry lot. We are to be pitied more than all men.

And so do you see the mystery box just doesn't cut it? It's not, oh, well, it wasn't true, and never mind, because it gave us a happy life anyway. No. No. No.

No. Paul says, if it's not true, we are to be pitied more than all people. It's a disaster. If if all that we can get from this Jesus thing is a bit of inspiration, we're a really sorry lot. And this morning, we're going to see together exactly why that is the case.

And why it is such good news that Jesus Christ really is risen from the dead. So this morning, we're thinking about why it is that the mystery box is a bad way to think about Christianity and how much better it is to know and understand what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15. And at the start of this next section, I wonder if you can remember a time when either you told a lie to somebody else or when you discovered that you were being lied to. It's gutting, isn't it? It's gutting when you discover that someone, particularly someone you love has been lying to you, that there was, after all, a party taking place, it's just you weren't invited to it.

Or when you discover that there was never a cheaper deal available on your broadband, it was all just a scam and a lie after all. Or when you discover that a boyfriend or girlfriend or partner or husband or wife hasn't been as faithful to you as they let on. They've been lying to you. It's a debt. It rips the guts out from inside you, doesn't it, to be lied to?

Well, have a look with me at 1 Corinthians 15 and see some of that in Paul's language. If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless, and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about god. For we have testified about god that he raised Christ from the dead, but if there is no resurrection, then we are false witnesses, and that's all been allied.

You see what he's saying? If Christ has not been raised from the dead, it's not just oh well after death. He says we are found to be false witnesses about god. We have given our lives to believing a lie, and we have invited other people in to join us in that lie. That's how we've spent our lives.

That's not just oh well, is it? Put your hand up if you were born on or after 19 98. If you were born on or after 19 98, This section definitely tracks young, doesn't it? These sections not so much. This section really not.

I'm afraid. Reason I say that is because in 19 98, a film came out, which this section of the room may not know so well, called the Truman Show. Now I know this is, a little bit dated, as I've just illustrated to you, and, film illustrations are are not super helpful if you haven't seen the film. But just stay with me on this 1 because I think it's gonna really help us with our understanding of 1 Corinthians 15. So this is the Truman Show, and it follows the life of a man called Truman Burbank.

He is a 30 year old insurance salesman who lives in a village or a town called Sea Haven, and he is married to a lady called Meryl, or so he thinks. But what he doesn't realize is that his entire life is actually a television show that is being broadcast 24 7 to the whole world. In fact, from the very moment of his birth, he has been secretly filmed inside this enormous studio and all the events of his life have been been to the world. And everybody that he knows therefore, that's his wife and his coworkers and his neighbors and his friends and the people who work in the supermarket are not real people at all. They are in fact actors who are playing a role in what Truman thinks is his real life.

And then you discover that the whole thing is controlled by a man called Kristov, which I wonder if it's a slight digger, something there. His name is Kristov, and his job is to manipulate everything in Truman's life. To stop him discovering that his life is actually a TV show. But if you've seen the movie over the course of it, he starts to think that something might be up with his life. So for instance, 1 day he's walking along the road and a stage light falls out of heaven.

And a big stage light comes crashing down next to him, and he starts to think, oh, that's a bit weird. Because stage lights don't normally fall from the sky like that. We know that above the sky is stage lights and microphones and cameras. He doesn't know that. And then he starts to realize as he gets older that the people in his life seem to just say the same things in the same way and do the same things in the same way all the time, almost as if they were following some kind of script.

And then he notices some weird things about his wife. His wife starts to explain new products to him as if she was trying to advertise them to a wider world. And so not only is she talking to him about the new shampoo that she's bought, it looks like product placement, you know, that she's trying to advertise it to a wider audience, which we know that she is. And then right at the end, he decides things are just too weird, and he's gotta discover the truth. And so he gets in a boat, if you remember that very powerful scene, He gets in a boat and manages to escape over the sea of sea haven, and eventually he bumps into the wall of the studio, which he'd always thought was just the horizon and the sky, but now he realizes it was the final wall of the studio life that he'd been living.

And there's a very powerful moment at the end when he gets the opportunity to talk to Kristov, the man who's been manipulating his whole life. For 30 years, and here's a snippet of that conversation. He says to him, was nothing real? You were real. That's what made you so good to watch.

Listen to me Truman, there is no more truth out there than there is in the world I created for you, same lies, same deceit, but in my world, you have nothing to fear. But of course for Truman, that's no good. That's no good. It's no good to be told, oh, no. Listen Truman.

There's lies everywhere. Everywhere's a lie. There's deceit in here. There's deceit out there. So at least you were safer in here.

He's not just gonna turn around and say, oh, was it? Oh, we're never, you know, never my men. So it was all a lie. Everyone I've loved and worked with, it was all a lie, but if there's deceit everywhere, it doesn't really matter. No.

No. He's not gonna respond like that. In fact, he doesn't. He decides in the end very powerfully to choose the real life, even if it's full of deceit than to go back into a lie. Devestating, isn't it?

Devestating for him to discover that his whole life and everything that he had believed to be true was in fact a lie. It's not just oh well, is it? His life was a lie. And Paul is saying something similar to that here in 1 Corinthians 15. If Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless and your faith is useless, and we apostles would all be lying about god.

For we have said that god raised Christ from the grave, but that can't be true if there's no resurrection of the dead. You see what he's saying? If Christ is not raised, then we are all just actors together in a religious drama, and I'm here this morning playing the part of speaker up the front, and you're here playing a part on the chairs and serving and talking to 1 another, and we're all just playing our part in some kind of religious drama. And maybe we feel as if that gives us some peace and some purpose in life, But without the resurrection of Jesus, friends, it's not true. It's not true.

We're just living a false soap drama. And you think of what that means for a Muslim, for instance. Who in a Islamic country has given their life to Jesus at great personal cost, and has perhaps had to leave behind family and coworkers risking even their lives to follow Jesus. If there's no resurrection, what a silly drama to be part of? You can lose your life for something that's just a fabrication and a studio.

And then you think of what we were all doing on Good Friday. We were there in the town telling people that Jesus is alive, and we were inviting them to come and participate in this lie with us. Now we weren't doing that for malicious reasons or because we knew that we wanted to deliberately harm them. But do you see if Christ is not risen, it's not true. And therefore, we are a people who've not just believed something wrong, we believe something that actually misrepresents reality.

There is no resurrection from the dead. Death is the end. We're misrepresenting reality together. All of that is the case, if Christ is not risen from the dead, and so praise the lord and hallelujah for what Paul says in 15 verse 20, but Christ has indeed been raised from the dead. Brothers and sisters, if Christ was raised, which he was, and if he was seen by many, many witnesses, which he was, And if people ate with him, which they did, and spoke to him, which they did, and if they touched him in his resurrection body, which they did, then we are not false witnesses.

But rather we are those who breathe in and live and speak the great truth of god that Christ is risen and resurrection is coming. And I don't know about you, but increasingly That seems like a beautiful thing in this world because we're in a world where almost everything is fake. Elmis, everything is fake. Even my little ones, you know, 7 is the oldest. Now looks at videos and says, has that been a eyed?

You know, is it, you know, is that re is that real? Does he really look like that? Because we're living and breathing a world where everything seems to be fake and none of us really seem to care. It's all it's all fake. And so how good it is to be inside the great truth that Jesus Christ is alive, and we are not false witnesses about god, but we live and we breathe and we invite people to join us in the authentic truth of god, the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

That's great news, isn't it? Okay. We're going to, come to our last section of the mix and, I want to begin this section with another, very simple, challenge. And so here is a table. Here is a, a plank of wood And, on this plank of wood, it will be hard for you to see there are 2 nails sticking out of this, plank of wood.

And what I'm gonna do is ask for 2, they're not quite gonna be volunteers, but I'm gonna get 2 people up and their job is simply to hammer into the wood the rest of the nail. Okay? Now 1 volunteer will be given a inflatable hammer with which to try to complete the task, the other will be given a real hammer from my toolbox. Now James Sadly, who I can see is a carpenter. And he is used to working with wooden nails and hammers.

So I'm gonna ask you James to responsibly come and take this hammer. Is that okay? Thank you very much. Round of applause for James. Just coming up.

There we are. And because all the young people are over here, I'm gonna say that James is representing this side of the room, okay, this side of the room. So James is your champion. Who would like to come and have a go, with the inflatable hammer? Luke's nominating Chris Bradshaw.

Chris, is that? Are you ready to represent? Yeah. Okay. Round of applause for Chris?

You are. I'm gonna hold the table. Okay? And so if your kids if your parents with kids near the back, you might wanna lift them up, you know, put them on your shoulders so they can see, I'm gonna hold the table and, after 3, I would just like you to have a go. Let me just show you the prize available.

For you. It's a, a pack of fizzy cola bottles. Okay? Alright. Right.

Let's just take a little vote. Who thinks kids here? Who thinks James with the real hammer is likely to win this challenge? Thanks. Yeah.

Who thinks Chris Bradshaw is likely to win this challenge? Yeah. Oh, Chris. Okay. Are you ready?

Alright. Let's count down together from 3. Ready? 3 2, 1, go. James is 1.

James is 1. 0, brothers. That's a pretty sorry effort, isn't it? From the inflatable. How James is 1 though, everybody.

Well done, James. And of course, thank you very much. You can sit down now. Now as as is, as I hope, we'll be very, very plain to you from that challenge. There is, very few things more useless for a challenge like that than an inflatable hammer.

Okay? I mean, there are other useless things in the world. You know, watering cans like that. And there are willing to boots with the toes cut out. But for a challenge like that, an inflatable hammer is about a useless thing as you can imagine.

But there is According to 1 Corinthians 15, something even more useless than an inflatable hammer, and it's not a chocolate teapot, and it's not a paper umbrella. It is a Christianity with no resurrection. That is more useless than anything else you could possibly imagine, a Christianity with no resurrection. Can you see the language that Paul uses on the screen? If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless, and so is your faith.

And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is, is the useless word again, futile, useless. You are still in your sins. That is what Paul is saying. Here we are preaching the resurrection of Jesus But if resurrection doesn't happen, then firstly, Christ wasn't raised. Secondly, neither will we be.

And so this message is as much used to you as an inflatable hammer. It's interesting to look at, but it has no actual usefulness in your life. It can't do anything for you. It's a useless message, 1 that we can admire, but 1 that ultimately leaves us stuck where we are. See how he puts it very powerfully put, isn't it?

If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless. Now he doesn't there mean that the act of proclamation and preaching is a useless mode of communication He means the thing preached is useless. The thing we're actually telling you has no use in your life. And if Christ has not been raised, it's not just our preaching, it's our faith. Your faith is useless.

Because you're still in your sins. Why is a Christianity with no resurrection so useless? Because according to sentence number 17, it cannot take us out of our sin. Which is our biggest and most threatening problem. See how he puts it there.

If Christ did not rise again, then he's still dead. And if Jesus is still dead, that means sin beat him. He was not able to beat sin. Despite what he said on the cross, it is finished. It was sin that finished him.

It wasn't him that finished sin. And if sin beat him, then sin beats us. And we're still stuck in our sin, hundred percent stuck in our sin. And friends, what are we left with if that's true? We are left with a religious teaching that has no power and no use.

That's all we have. If Christ is not risen, we just have another religious teaching to offer people. You feel like you made some mistakes in life? You feel a bit guilty? You feel you've messed up a bit.

Well, here's a teaching that help you. Stop doing those things. And love your neighbor. And Jesus will be a good example to you. If you read Jesus' words, he'll help you.

You follow his example. You can be different, all partly true. But you see how it's just another teaching with no power. There's no power in it because there's no living savior at the heart of it. If Christ is still dead, That's all we have.

It's just a useless message. Another 1 of those, fix yourself. You can do it. Follow God's it's useless. But praise the lord for verse 20.

Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, brothers and sisters, if Christ was raised from the dead, which he was, and if he was seen by many witnesses, which he was. And if people ate with him, which they did, And if they saw him with their own eyes, which they did, and if they touched them with their own fingers, which they did, then we have not just a teaching, but a power. Because Christ is alive, and therefore he lives to take us out of our sins. He can do for us what we cannot do for ourselves. There is a power to come and forgive and lift us out of our sins.

And it means we can pray because Jesus is alive. If Jesus is dead, what's the use in praying? We just talk into the ceiling, hoping some good vibes will bounce back to us. But if Jesus is alive, we can say living Jesus You rose to beat my sin. Help me.

Help me out of it now. Help me to look to you. I need more than just myself. A power greater than me. And so come living savior and help me.

That's what we have. If Jesus is alive, which he is. But there's more than that. Have a look with me at what he goes on to say in verse 17 to 18. If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile, you are still in your sins, Then those also who have fallen asleep, which is a Christian way to describe dying, then those also who have fallen in sleep as in Christ are lost.

I was at a funeral very recently in this borough, which, was a very, very strange mixture of things. As the body was being led into the church down the corridor, the people officiating the service read 6 or 7 verses from the Bible as the body was being led in, and they were wonderful verses. I am the resurrection and the life. We came into this world with nothing we leave with nothing. The lord has given, and the lord has taken away.

Blessed be the name of the lord. There was truth following the body into the church. But when the time came for the sermon, the vicar stood up and denied all of that wonderful truth. With this kind of message. Well, we don't really know what happens after death.

Nobody knows. We can't say for sure where this man is now, but what we do know is that he knows what's true after death. And we know that he now is in a place of comfort. None of us can say that we know, but we know that he knows. That was the message to a company the Bible readings.

And as I was preparing this this week, it struck me that that was a perfect sermon if Christ has not been raised from the dead. If Christ has not been raised, we don't know. We don't know. We don't know what will happen after we die, and we don't know where those we have loved and lost have now gone. We don't know, but we trust that they know and that's good enough for us.

What a perfectly unchristian sermon that really is, and actually in the context of that funeral, an offensive sermon. Because that man died confident that he would be with Jesus. He believed in a risen Jesus and trusted that he would be with him. And so the story of the funeral goes, here's a man who has passed away, confident that he'll be with Jesus, but we don't know what happens after we die. What a tragically offensive talk to give for a man's final gathering and in memory of him.

And you know, I think if Paul was there, he would have stood up with the words of verse 20, and maybe I should have done. But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead. And we do know because Jesus was alive, and he was seen, and he was spoken to and people touched him and ate with him, and that means we will rise, and we will be with him. We do know because Christ has risen. And what that also means is that everyone that you have loved and lost who trusted in Jesus, you will see again.

You will see them again. That is not just a comforting thought with which to medicate ourselves. It's not like god says that's a comforting thought. Maybe I'll make it happen for them. It happens because of history.

It happens because Jesus rose, and all who believe in him will be with him and will rise with him. And so let's think back to those boxes. Mistery box A mystery box B. Maybe it's not true. Maybe it is, but we may as well bank on box A.

It just doesn't cut it, does it? Just doesn't cut it. Christianity is either completely true and therefore marvelous in every imaginable way, or it is not true, and it is a disaster for us. Everything hinges on the resurrection of Jesus from the dead and the testimony of the bible and the testimony of the church and the testimony of the apostles and the testimony of history is 1 Corinthians 15 verse 20, Christ has indeed been raised from the dead. And that means we're in the truth, and we speak the truth, and our sins are forgiven, and death is not the end, and our loved ones who knew him awaiting from us for us.

And we have great news to share. Christ has indeed been raised from the dead. Christ is risen. Risen indeed. Hallelujah.

Let's just take a moment of quiet at the end of our service for us all in the quiet of our own hearts to praise the lord Jesus for his resurrection. And, hey, listen, it might be that you're here, and you're not a Christian. And today would be the first time you could come to Jesus and say, forgive my sin. I want this glad, useful faith that I've been hearing about this morning. Come to Christ this morning and meet him as the risen king.

Let's have a moment of quiet, and then I'll lead us in a prayer. Father in heaven, we thank you for all the things we've sung and we've heard this morning. We thank you for Jesus Jesus Christ, our risen conquering son. And even as we Here, the sound of sirens this morning, we're reminded that the world we live in now is still marked by decay and by sickness and by suffering and by death. But we thank you that Jesus Christ came out of that grave on Easter Sunday morning, and now a resurrection world is sure to come, where sickness and suffering and decay and death will never be seen again and the sound of sirens will not be heard for all eternity.

Because life in all its fullness will have come. Help us, please, whether for the first time or for the thousandth time this morning to put all of our confidence in the empty tomb and in the savior who lives and to experience that resurrection power in our lives. And we ask all of these things to the glory of the risen conquering son. Amen. Amen.