1 Corinthians 15:1-4 • Everything I Need to Know I Learned at VBS

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(This transcript was prepared using software tools and has not been reviewed for complete accuracy.)

 I'm going to ask that you look in your Bibles this morning at 1 Corinthians chapter 15. First Corinthians chapter 15, as we'll look at just the opening verses of the things that the Apostle Paul calls of first importance, just the elemental things.



 But the most significant that we who are getting ready for vacation Bible school might think, what do we want to pass along of first importance? Probably not the most complicated and sophisticated things, but those things that make the most difference. Here's how the Apostle Paul identifies them, just the opening verses of 1 Corinthians 15. That's verses 1 through 4. The Apostle Paul writes, "Now, I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.



 For I delivered to you, as of first importance, what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures." Let's pray together.



 Father, these things are not unfamiliar to us, but we recognize in them that which is of first importance, that our hearts would affirm again, not just for ourselves, but for those who would gather here, so many young people this coming week, that they too would know that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. He was buried, but on the third day he rose again according to the Scriptures.



 May these truths so basic be so powerful because they are the truths our lives affirm, that others would affirm them too, for eternity. We ask for this blessing in Jesus' name.



 Amen.



 Well, I've missed you.



 I've been away for a couple of weeks, and it's interesting to Kathy and me how much our hearts already long for this home. So being away for even two weeks is painful for us right now. It became painful for me in another way that I'll let you know in a little bit. I was ministering in Spain with Kathy at World Harvest Mission. World Harvest Mission is a ministry that's gone on for a number of years, and we actually have a couple of missionaries from this church who serve with World Harvest Mission.



 You may remember Shaw O'Sullivan and Chase Johnson. I met Shaw while I was there, and they do something very creative. They actually minister to those who are in the arts in Romania.



 They themselves are artists, and one of the things that they do is what World Harvest Mission is known for, and that is bringing to communities often ignored by evangelicals the message of the gospel, and the arts community in Romania is one that Shaw and Chase serve by bringing their own artistic gifts in devotion to God for the sake of others.



 And we met a number of people who are doing that. World Harvest is known for a couple of reasons that are significant here at Grace, and one is that World Harvest very much emphasizes the gospel of grace. Not just the grace that saves us as we trust in Jesus to take away our sin, but the gospel that continues to empower us. As we say, "If Jesus loves me enough to give himself for me, I actually love him, and love for him becomes the controlling power of my life." It's what the Apostle Paul talks about in his messages to Corinthians. He actually says, "The love of God controls us because sin has power when we love it,



 and what overcomes love for sin is a surpassing love for Jesus Christ." World Harvest Mission and Grace Church here, what we want to say is, "Love for Christ becomes a surpassing love that actually becomes the power of the gospel in our lives because it overcomes love for sin."



 I met some people at World Harvest Mission who were very much exemplifying that, creatively taking the gospel to difficult and hard places. One, a group of five young doctors, Christians, met each other in med school, and began to believe that God was calling them to use their gifts and their intellects for very important purposes in parts of the world that are difficult to reach with the gospel. So these five young doctors with their families agreed to go as a team to one of those unreached countries where it's difficult to take the gospel, and they're giving their lives to that purpose.



 Another man that I met, another doctor, was kind of at the other end of his career. He retired early from being one of our nation's leading toxicologist. And he was actually the head of the American Medical Association in that branch of the association, looking at animal venoms and various toxins that affect the people in our country, but also looking at how they might help those who were affected by venoms in other countries as well. And that became crucial. And our story that I'll tell you about in just a little bit of what happened. Over and over again, we met young families with children who were saying, "God has called us to take the gospel to difficult places, and we go, because we know how great is Christ's love for us." I think about that in this church right here with what we're planning to do next week. You know, as Kathy and I were coming into Grace Church and kind of learning some of the distinctives of this church, one of the things that just amazed us, I mean, one of the wonderful things, is that you support not just a lot of missionaries, but over 80% of the missionaries that you support have at one time or another attended this church. That they are people you have raised up with a love for the gospel, and then they want to go into the world to take the message of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's incredible when you think of what's happening next week. It's vacation Bible school. And we can think of that as something small and insignificant and done for young people, and so you think of what's happening is this church, you're preparing for another generation like the ones who have already gone out, inspired, helped by your gifts, by your testimony, who will again take the gospel to difficult places. So many of those in World Harvest Mission, I can't tell you their countries and I can't tell you their names, because they serve in places that it would be dangerous for you to know or publicize where they are. And yet, they're people like young people who will be here next week at vacation Bible school that have heard from you, seen your testimony, been supported by you, and are making a difference in the world for Christ.



 I want to tell you a quick story about our time at World Harvest in Spain, and thank you again as a church that the allowance of your pastor to minister in mission places is a great privilege that I don't take lightly. We were in Spain on the Mediterranean, and at least one of the mornings where we had off, I and some of the missionaries decided, "Well, what are we going to do with the morning off?" "We're going to go fishing."



 And so we're on the Mediterranean, we cobbled together our funds and hired a boat, and we went out fishing. We caught a lot of fish. We weren't there very long, but as we were about to end, and the captain said, "Time's done, your money's up.



 We need to go back." I did what all good fishermen do with that announcement, right? When you say, "Fishing time is up, what did fishermen do?" One more cast.



 So I cast one more time and caught a pretty good fish on that one. I pulled that fish in, and it looked about the same as the other fish that we had caught, about the same size, about the same shape, but much more colorful than the other fish that we had caught. Well, because it was the last cast, I just kind of reached down to take it off the hook, and did not hear the captain in the cabin shouting at me, "Don't touch it." The other missionaries told me about that later. So I took it off the hook and just noticed a little pinprick in my hand. Well, by that time, the captain had come out of the little wheelhouse there, and he looked at me and he pointed and said, "Something, not in English, you know, kind of like, are you okay?" And I kind of pointed to the little pinprick, and I watched him reach for his knife, you know, and do this motion like, you know, like suck out the poison. Well, you know, I've seen John Wayne and Roy Rogers do that, but I, you know, enough doctors have told me, "You know, you just make a bad problem worse when you do that kind of thing." So he was shaking his head, but I shook my head, you know, which means he went back to the wheelhouse there and he gunned it for the shore. The moment at which I recognized I was kind of in, you know, some trouble is we got to the low wake zone, you know, the harbor where the other boats are, and he did not slow down at all. He just plowed, you know, a ride on up to the dock and kind of indicated we needed to move along. And so we went back to a clinic and went to the hotel first and asked some of the missionaries if they knew where a clinic was, and we went on to the little clinic. And I must tell you, we take for granted in this country the medical care that we can receive. You know, in a little town on the coast of Spain, we found the clinic, and, you know, nobody was wearing, you know, white uniforms of any sort.



 And so they began, they didn't have a computer, and they began to look up how to treat me because there was some great argument going on. Do you put ice on this thing, or do you put hot water on this thing? Now, to that point, you know, to keep the swelling down, we had put ice on it. But putting ice on it meant this. The pain had gone from my hand to my elbow up to my shoulder, and all the thing new to do ultimately when they found the computer was to put my hand in hot water. Here was the problem. In this clinic, there was no hot water.



 So, you know, I did get a shot of a steroid that was going to try to help my body heal, but nothing for the pain.



 And let me tell you, it was hurting.



 So it wasn't just affecting my arm anymore. Kathy, who was watching with me and others, at that point, my body was beginning to react to the toxins, and I was going into spasms every 30 seconds, my whole body. So I'm beginning to react to whatever neurotoxin is there as well. We went back to the hotel where we thought we could get hot water, because what we ultimately found out as the toxicologist—remember who I told you was there? The world-famous toxicologist, he was among the missionaries. And he said at this point, what happens is if you can get your hand in hot water, the hottest water you can stand, it will begin to break down the proteins in the poison, and it will begin to help you out. Now, the other doctors there gave me some narcotics that had already given me some narcotics to help with the pain. It did not do a thing to help with the pain. And the toxicologist told us, he said, "Narcotics will not help with this kind of venom. You need some kind of nerve block, and we don't happen to have that here." So that meant I just had to wait hours and hours for this to subside.



 And that was hard. That was hard going. Came back from Spain, and some of you know that I had already scheduled to go to a conference in Washington state. So I went right from Spain to Washington state. When I was in Washington state, the medication the missionaries had given me ran out.



 And my hand began to swell again and hurt again. So I went to another doctor, got more medication that made no difference, flew back from Washington early from the conference, came back Friday, saw my doctor day before yesterday, got new medication, and I'm scheduled to see a surgeon tomorrow to see if my little friend, the fish, left me a Spanish souvenir inside my hand still. So I do that tomorrow. Now as fun as it is to tell you all of that, let me tell you, despite the adventure and despite the pain, I would do it all again. Why? Think of all the great sermon illustrations I'm going to get out of this.



 But better than that, what I recognize is there are missionaries that I was with, scores of them, missionaries, who put themselves in such situations every day of their lives and worse.



 They are the ones who are serving in parts of the world that if they or those to whom they minister are understood to be believers, their lives or their freedom is in danger.



 And being able to be with them is inspiring. I'm reminded again how great is the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ with what He has done for us, that it would bring such people to give their lives for that purpose. And I couldn't help but think, as I remembered that we were going to get ready for vacation Bible school this Sunday for this coming week, just tell you again how important it is that we are training young people to understand those matters of first importance in their lives. I mean, we can just discount it and we can say, you know, it's just young people and it's just vacation Bible school again this year. But these are absolutely vital things for the sake of the gospel.



 As I think about it, what are the vital things that we learn? Do you remember that book that was kind of Making the Rounds a few years ago by Robert Fulgium? All I really need to know I learned in where?



 Kindergarten.



 Everything that you really need to know you probably learn at the earliest stages of life. Now I know it's the time of graduation in our culture, right? So people graduating from high school and college and grad school, you don't want to hear that the really important things were back there in kindergarten or vacation Bible school.



 But when it comes to matters of faith, the most important things are often the first things.



 Robert Fulgium, when he began to say what we learn in kindergarten that is so important, he spelled it out this way. He says, "What you learn is first, share everything."



 Second, put things back where you found them. And third, say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.



 Share everything.



 I mean, really that's what the Apostle Paul is doing here. In the third verse he says in 1 Corinthians 15.3, "I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received."



 He received something.



 And it became so precious and important that he felt he had to share it with others. And that is what he is doing here. Share everything. Paul is saying, "I received something?"



 Isn't that what you would say? "I received something."



 Those who keep the records tell us that across this culture, if you're in church today, over 90 percent of you are here because a friend or family member shared with you the message of Jesus Christ. I mean, we can think of the importance of all the other things that we do and all that the church may do, but it is absolutely vital that somebody who loved you or knew you simply said, "I believe that Jesus died for my sin.



 And I believe that though he was buried, he rose again according to the Scripture and was the victor over my sin. And I have a hope not just for now but for eternity because of what Jesus did for me." And I know it just sounds simple. I know it's just the kindergarten stuff of the faith.



 But you're here because somebody loved you enough to say that.



 And you're called like the apostle here just to share that with someone else as well. What do we end up sharing? What's the message? Robert Fulgium said a second thing that we learned in kindergarten is, "Put things back where you found them."



 Now keeping things in order is what the apostle is doing here too. If you'll consider verses 3 and 4, twice he says, "What I passed on to you is what is in accordance with the Scriptures. Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures. He was buried and raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures." Now I know that seems like too simple a message.



 I mean, that's not very sophisticated. You don't have to go to graduate school or seminary. You almost want something with more pizzazz.



 You know, what will really convince people in a secular culture of the importance of what we believe? But the apostle is saying, "This is the first thing. This is the thing of greatest and first importance." Will you just say, "Christ died for our sin according to the Scripture. He was buried on the third day. He rose again according to the Scriptures." That's just keeping in place what has been passed along to us as the apostle calls.



 Now it's possible to say different things.



 And perhaps as we think about the importance of things like vacation Bible school and young people's lessons, we need to be reminding ourselves what is in accordance with the Scriptures as we share it with another generation.



 An arresting title for a lesser-known book went by this interesting title, "The Menace of the Sunday School."



 Ooh, what an awful title. The Menace of the Sunday School. And the Christian author who wrote that chapter said, "Here's the menace of the Sunday School. It's the well-meaning, sincere, sweet Sunday School teacher who speaks to a little girl, a little boy, and says something like this, "Sally, if you're just a good little girl,



 Jesus will love you.



 It sounds so sweet.



 It is pure spiritual poison, far worse than what went into my hand. If you are good, Jesus will love you." What's wrong with that message? Jesus doesn't love us because we're good. He loves us because what?



 Because He is good. Our faith is not in what we do. No, He died for our sins according to the Scriptures.



 He was buried and He rose again the victor over our sin according to the Scriptures. We do not believe it as our accomplishment, our good, our doing. It is the grace of God in our behalf that makes us right with the Savior. And the thing that we want to say from the very beginning to the youngest child is that while we were yet His enemies, Christ died for us. We are not made right with Him because we are good. We are good because He has made us right with Himself. We live according to what He has done, not because He would love us in accord with what we have done. It's the simple, basic message of grace from which this church gets its name. And we keep things in their place when we are sure that what we are saying to people young and old is the message of grace. How do we say that message? Robert Fulghum, again, teaching us lessons from kindergarten, said, "You're supposed to say you're sorry when you hurt somebody."



 Well, the Apostle Paul is actually doing that in this passage. I want you to remember that the Apostle Paul was not always named Paul. What was he named initially? Not Paul, but Saul as he began to breathe out threats against Christians, the very ones who said, "Christ died for our sins according to the Scripture. He was buried and He rose again on the third day." There was a time the Apostle Paul did not believe that. And so he went persecuting Christians. Actually remember, he held the cloaks of those who stoned Stephen as he began to organize the death of Christians. But now, writing to Christians, the Apostle Paul says, "I believe it too. And I don't just believe that I was doing something wrong. He's confessing it. Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. And I believe this now. It was delivered unto me. I pass it on to you, which is this great confession to the people." He's right. "I was wrong."



 But it's not just a statement to people. Once the Apostle says, "Christ died for our sins according to the Scripture," it's the Apostle acknowledging to God Himself that he is not right with God, even though he was a Hebrew of the Hebrews, a Pharisee of the Pharisees, he's doing all the law correctly. He's saying it was not my righteousness that may be right with God. Ultimately, it was my faith in what Jesus did for me because what I did against Him is unforgivable except because of the grace of God.



 And that wonderful message of grace that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures is the thing that the Apostle wants to make clear over and over again. Saying you're sorry is not just saying it to another person. Ultimately, it's acknowledging that the God who made you was sinned against by you and yet sent His Son for you.



 Most of you knew that before you sat down.



 And yet these are the things of first importance so that not only we, but the generations after us whom you have so wonderfully supported as you serve one another for the sake of the gospel, need to make sure that we keep in place.



 It's not always to keep it in place because we know that to say in our society today, Jesus died for my sins according to Scripture and our faith has to be not in our goodness, but in His, that can be a dangerous and difficult message.



 Robert Fulgin, when he writes again about the significance of things that we learn in kindergarten, says, "Here's a fourth lesson.



 When you go out in the world, watch out for the traffic. Hold hands and stick together."



 That was on the field trip, remember?



 The Apostle Paul is doing much of that. In the verses that I did not read, he says the testimony that Christ was buried and rose again was made known to the apostles. That's verse 5. "He appeared to Cephas," that's Peter, "and then to the twelve." And then this interesting verse, verse 6. "Then he," that is Jesus, "appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep."



 These were not apostles, these five hundred. These were just regular people who were willing to join hands to stick together and say, "We too believe that Jesus died but rose again the victor over our sins."



 It's what we do here, isn't it? The fact that we gather corporately is hopefully not just something that we do for ourselves. We are serving one another. We are joining hands. We are sticking together, saying, "You know, it can be dangerous out there to actually confess to other people. I believe that my sin required the death of Jesus and penalty. But as I believe that, at the same moment what God is doing is He's taking my sin off of me and putting it on Christ so that now the same Jesus who rose from the dead rose victor over my sin and there is now sinless life eternally with God because of that work of Jesus Christ." People may think you silly.



 People may require of you your reputation.



 They may require of you your job and career.



 But we stick together and we give our funds and our prayers and our service and our time to young people, even at something like Vacation Bible School, because we know what we are doing is preparing them for a world where there's traffic, sometimes difficult traffic sometimes quite dangerous as Paul himself could attest because at one point he was the traffic. You know, one of the amazing things that happens in this passage, here's now just maybe a little more than kindergarten knowledge, when the Apostle Paul writes that there were 500 people, most of whom were still alive, who would share his testimony that Jesus rose from the dead because He appeared to those 500.



 What the Apostle is really doing is he's challenging his critics.



 He's saying, "Listen, I know I'm an Apostle and Peter, that Cephas and the other 12, and you might say it's self-serving for them to acknowledge that Jesus rose from the dead to establish their religion.



 But these 500 other people, well, they suffer and they have potential for much more suffering if they go into the world saying these things. But here's the great thing. Paul is challenging his critics. "Listen, you don't believe me? You go check. You look at the other people. I mean, I think of the parallel in our situations. It can be to my advantage and people in Greg's profession, in Kerry's profession, that you all kind of hear us affirm the gospel.



 What's even more powerful?



 That people who have something to lose would join hands, would come together and stick together to say, "Though I do not deserve it, I believe that Jesus died for my sin according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures." And that, in a sense, becomes the greater power of the gospel as those with no personal gain stick with one another and hold each other's hands and speak even to young people in Vacation Bible School about the wonder and the goodness of the grace of the gospel.



 How dangerous is the world in which we stick together? Robert Fulgium says, "You learn something about danger even in kindergarten. Here's what you learn. You learn goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even little seeds in the styrofoam cup.



 They all die.



 So do we.



 Everything dies."



 The Apostle Paul's real reason for writing the lesson that you knew before you got here



 is because he wants us to know that when this life ends, that's not really the end.



 That we are immortal beings and guilt for sin can be put away now but also forever.



 And the things that aren't right here and the things that scare us and the things that shame us and the things that trouble us can be made right, not just taking away guilt now but giving us power for a life with God eternally.



 And that's one of the great things of the gospel, that we need to be prepared to say to other people, "It's just true."



 And we stick together and we say it to crowds large and small and friend and family and neighbor and coworker and kids at vacation Bible school because they too need to know the end of this life is not really the end.



 People tease me sometimes, I really do like telling fish stories and travel stories. I like doing that sort of thing.



 And I'll probably continue to tell you fish stories and travel stories from time to time.



 And I can't help but think right now of about a year ago when I was on an airplane and I was preparing a message for a conference I was going to and how do I say this to you? I wasn't ready.



 You know, I was typing away, typing fast. And the guy beside me was like the guy in the commercial, you know, he kept doing this at my computer screen, you know, looking at what I was writing.



 And finally after he kind of glanced at my screen a number of times he said, "What are you a minister or something?"



 I said, "Yeah, something like that."



 So after the question he then, you know, he kind of looked back at his Blackberry smartphone and kept doing whatever he was doing there. And honestly, I wasn't glad that I wasn't unhappy that he was preoccupied with his Blackberry because I had a sermon to write, you know. I had to get back to my work.



 But as I was typing away and he was looking at his Blackberry without even looking at me, this is what he said.



 You know what I can't understand is why some people have easy lives and other people suffer.



 Well I stopped typing.



 "What are you thinking about?" I asked him.



 He said, "There's this gal in my office and she's had a brain tumor and they've operated on it a couple of times and she's learned that her son now probably has it too.



 But last week they told her they were going to have to operate on her again as well."



 "That's tough," I said.



 You know one of the really sweet things about being a minister is that I get to tell people that what happens in this life is not the whole story.



 Even when this life seems hard and wrong, it is short compared with eternity.



 When those who trust in Jesus will have all things made right, things wrong in their hearts and things wrong in their bodies, it will all be made right even if we suffer here.



 He said, "You know, it's strange how suffering makes you believe in God."



 He said, "I believe in God, but my brother doesn't.



 He's always trying to disprove God. Now I don't go to church," he said, "or anything like that, but I figure you can't disprove God."



 So being the smart guy I am, I said, "Yeah, it's a pretty big universe for you to think that you could find some final proof that God does not exist."



 Now at that moment I'm congratulating myself. For those of you who've been to graduate school in theology, that is known as the Anselm proof, the antilogical existence of God. And I'm just kind of, "Man, am I smart."



 And here is this, you know, this modern twist on this ancient proposition for the existence of God.



 Well, having given him that, that at least slowed him down a little bit, and he thought what it would mean to have a universe so big that you couldn't disprove God in it.



 And then he said this, "Do you know anything about bipolar depression?"



 I said, "Well, I have a brother and a nephew who have struggled with that." He said, "Do you know about that?



 Do you think it's just because people lack character that they struggle with depression?"



 I said, "If it were only a matter of character, that would not explain why some people are helped by medication."



 My wife is bipolar, he said, and probably my children too.



 Tell me, I said, and I finally closed my computer.



 He put his blackberry down and he said this, "When my wife is depressed, there is no life in her eyes.



 Do you know what it's like to look in the eyes of someone you love and see no life?"



 "Yes," I said, "I know what that is like, and I know how scary it is."



 He said, "Yeah, and it really hurts."



 He says, "I left her two years ago because I couldn't take it anymore."



 And then last week, I found her on the floor of her apartment.



 She took her life, and her eyes were just like it when she was depressed.



 He hesitated and then he said to me, "I don't know why I told you that.



 I haven't told anybody that.



 I haven't even told my kids that.



 Maybe I said the Lord wanted to let me tell you that this life is not the end.



 All the broken stuff isn't the final chapter.



 The wrong things don't follow into eternity those who trust in Jesus because he takes the guilt away.



 And for those who believe in him, he makes eternity right in every way, in every way."



 As I think about what I said to that man on the plane, I'll tell you something. I don't know if I said everything right.



 I've taught in a seminary and I pastor this church, and believe it or not, when I'm in those airplane conversations, I nearly panic every time. You know what? I'm supposed to have all the right answers. I'm supposed to know all the right things to say. I mean, you know, I've got all the qualifications. Instead just makes me more nervous.



 But here's what I remember. What is it that people most need to hear?



 Just the kindergarten stuff.



 Just the things we learn even in vacation Bible school. What even an apostle would say are the matters of first importance.



 Jesus died for our sins according to the Scriptures.



 He was buried. And the third day he arose again according to the Scriptures. And when that's in place, it may not solve everything. But you know what I've discovered? Whether we have seminary educations or theological degrees or whatever it is, if we will say just as people of faith, as those who hold hands together in the sake and cause of the gospel, if we will just say the first things, just the things you know that are so basic,



 that when a heart of love will say to a hurting person, just the first things, just the Bible school things, people listen.



 People in whom the Spirit is working, listen. And something greater and more precious and powerful than us begins to take over.



 Jesus died for my sin according to the Scripture.



 He was buried. And the third day he rose again from the dead.



 And despite all my self-doubt and panic, I actually believe if we will say those things,



 the Spirit will take over and do what needs to be done.



 So let's do something for each other this coming week, okay?



 Let's pray for those who are in vacation Bible school. I mean the kids, but also the teachers and the helpers and the providers. And let's pray that when those key conversations come, that the first things, the most elemental things wouldn't be things we would back away from or be embarrassed about, but just say what we know. Jesus died for my sin.



 And he rose again the victor over them. And if you put your faith in that, your sin is taken away.



 And eternally we are made right with him.



 You don't have to be real smart to say that.



 You just have to treasure it and treasure the young people that God is bringing to us who need to hear it.



 They're the next generation who will take the things that we have delivered unto them and they will share it with another generation. As you have so faithfully done, may we do it again. Because these are the things of first importance. What do you have to say to people?



 Jesus died for my sin according to the scriptures.



 He was buried.



 The third day he rose again from the dead according to the scriptures.



 This is what I believe.



 Jesus loves me. This I know. For the Bible tells me so. Little ones to him belong.



 They are weak.



 But he is strong. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. Yes, Jesus loves me. How do I know?



 The Bible tells me so.