“The Part That Matters”

“The Part That Matters”

I Corinthians 15:1-11

February 5^th and 8^th, 2004

Saint Paul United Methodist Church

Rev. John A. Fleming

I like the story that a preacher tells of a time when he moved to a new appointment, at a new church. This was the second church that he pastored. Well, that is not altogether true. In his first church, he was an associate pastor and most of the pastoral duties fell on the senior minister. So, this was his first chance to really pastor. He was only two or three years out of seminary and now he had his own church.

This pastor tells that he was at the church on the Saturday before his first Sunday. He was still in the process of unpacking boxes and making his office the way that he wanted it to be. He tells that there were boxes all over the place. Luckily he had written his first sermon for his new church a couple of weeks ago and so it was ready. It was a hot and muggy June morning, this Saturday. He tells that he was dressed comfortably in a pair of jeans, a t-shirt, and his favorite pair of tennis shoes. His new office was nice, but small. One of the walls was lined with bookshelves and he was beginning to fill the vacant spaces of it. On a shorter wall, there was a navy, leather couch with end tables on each side of it. On one of those tables, the preacher had put his coffee pot and when he arrived at the church, that Saturday morning, he had brewed ten cups. He knew that he would be there most of the day. Just in front of one of the remaining walls of his new office was his desk and office chair. The preacher tells that he was in the middle of unpacking one of the boxes of books when a voice behind him startled him. It said, “You must be the new preacher.” He knew that there could be some confusion. After all, he did not look the part. He was young, still wet behind the ears. He was wearing jeans and a t–shirt instead of a suit and tie. The preacher stood up, turned around, extended his hand, smiled and said, “Yes, I know that I do not look much like a pastor, but I am him.” The visitor’s name was Ian. He extended his hand, and introduced himself to the new preacher in town. Ian had a serious look on his face. He was the kind of guy that you know was looking for some kind of an answer for his life. His eyes were dark and thoughtful. The preacher asked him to come into his new cluttered office. He made a space on the navy couch and poured both of them a cup of coffee. Ian quickly said, “You need to know that I am not a member of your church. I don’t intend to be. You don’t need to try to recruit me.” The preacher nodded his head. He was not sure why Ian was there. He did not know if he was trying to be a good neighbor or if there was something on his mind. The preacher soon learned that it was the latter of those two things. Ian said, “I have a burning question that I have been trying to get answered for some time. I am hoping that you can answer it.” The preacher was confident. After all, he had a recent degree in theology. His bookshelves would soon be lined with wonderful books written by powerful authors. Ian continued, “Tell me, preacher, I just want to know what counts. Don’t give me any theological jargon. I have a degree in that. Get to the heart of it, okay? I want to know what counts.”

The new preacher heard a little bit of Ian’s story. He had grown up in the church. His parents had taken him from day one. He had been so involved in his church and had even gone to seminary. Ian told that he took all of the classes in theology and in the languages and an exegesis class or two, but that he quit. He said, “Something just did not click in my mind. I know that it is in here somewhere, or at least I hope that it is.” The preacher tells that he looked up from his cup of coffee and his eyes met Ian’s eyes. Ian said again, “What really matters? What counts? Tell me. Skip the periphery. Go to the essence. Tell me the part that matters.” The part that matters. The preacher tells that he looked over at Ian for what seemed like an eternity. He says that his question hung in the air for the longest time. The preacher thought about what he could have said. He could have told Ian about the church. He could have told him what he really believes about God, or called out the words to the Twenty-Third Psalm. But all of those things seemed so small. You see, Ian wanted the meat. Stop and listen to his question for a minute. Can you hear it? Can you feel his frustration? He said, “Give me what matters!” What does matter, friends? In our Bibles of over a thousand pages, what really matters? Among the do’s and the don’ts and the should and the should nots, what is crucial and essential? Maybe you have wrestled with the question yourself. Maybe there has been a dry season in your life, a time when your prayers felt empty. Maybe there has been a time when you just went through the motions and wondered if there was more. Is this all that there is? Sunday attendance. Pretty songs. Faithful giving. Golden crosses. Suits or jeans. Big choirs. Contemporary bands. Leather Bibles. Now do not get me wrong. These things are nice and wonderful, but where is the heart of it?

The preacher tells that he was so young. He stirred his coffee and watched as Ian stirred his. He admitted that he did not have an answer. He confessed that all of his verses of memorized scripture seemed inadequate and all of his canned responses seemed timid. But the preacher who tells this story says that now that he is older, and a seasoned pastor, he know what he should have said to Ian. In fact, he wishes that he had another shot at Ian’s question. If he was still sitting on the couch, the preacher would have used these words from Paul to the Corinthian Church: “For I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures.” You did not miss those two important words, did you, friends? The letters make up the words, first importance. Read on to the other things that Paul says, “...and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.

The part that matters, these words, make up our scripture lesson for this morning and they come to us by way of Paul’s letter to the church at Corinth. This is our third week in First Corinthians. In our last two sermons, you heard me tell of the particulars of the church and the issues that swirled inside of it. It is a church where the Spirit is doing a wonderful and powerful thing. This Spirit, God’s spirit, was giving some the ability to teach and others the ability to preach. It was giving some the ability to lead and others the ability to speak in tongues. Sometimes we forget to celebrate the good things that were happening in the church in Corinth. You have heard me say that these past couple of sermons. Because, along with what the Spirit was doing, there were some problems and issues. You will know this, all of these issues could be settled with good advice and a spirit of cooperation. I have talked about these issues and so I won’t do that this morning, but they ranged from the biggest one, the one concerning spiritual gifts, to the one concerning whether or not to eat meat that had been sacrificed to idols. The question there was whether or not the Christians could eat such meat.

So there were celebrations for the Corinthian Church, the good things that were happening there. And there were some issues and some problems. We have looked at these things for two weeks. But there was something else in Corinth. There were also burning questions. You might say one that one of the questions that burned deep in the heart of these Christians was what would happen to their loved ones who had died and who had been buried, while still waiting for the return of Christ. That is the main issue at stake in this fifteenth chapter of First Corinthians. It would be safe to say that our eleven verses are introductory words to what Paul will say a little later in this chapter. It is easy to divide these verses into three parts. In the first couple of verses, Paul’s intention is to reaffirm his kinship with them. He probably needed to do that. He had spoken harshly with them for a chapter or two. In these verses, Paul wants to remind them of what they have in common, the good news of Jesus Christ. After doing that, he reminded them, exactly, what this good news is. I read a commentary or two this week to get ready for this morning. Both of them believe that his words: “...that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, and that he was buried, and that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the twelve...” were some form of a saying, a Christian tradition, a memory saying, that the church would have known. They are kind of like the words that we know and say from our communion liturgy. Somewhere in the middle of it, we say that we proclaim the mystery of faith, that Christ died, was risen, and will come again. In the middle of all that, Paul is saying a very important thing when he claims twice that these things were done in accordance with the scriptures. This reference had to do with the long relationship of God with his people. A God who never gave up on his people, who forgave their weaknesses and their rebellions and their failures and their sins. A God who kept coming back to love them in spite of all these shortcomings. Listen to the three verbs that Paul uses to describe the most important thing. Christ died. That is first. Second, he was buried. Third, he was raised on the third day. And now he will spend the last part of our lesson talking about the resurrection appearances of Jesus.

Now I do not know if you realize this or not, but defining what an apostle is, is a tricky thing, but it is also significant for Paul. You know about the disciples. Originally there were twelve of them. We are, in a sense, disciples, too. But an apostle, well, that is another thing. You see, an apostle, by definition, is one who actually saw, with their own eyes, the risen Christ. Paul mentions who is in that number. He speaks of Cephas, or as we might better know him, Simon Peter. He speaks of the twelve, and his brother, James. And then he includes himself in that number. This is tricky, because Jesus died long before Paul lived. He defines himself this way, because of what happened on the Road to Damascus. While he was on his way to persecute more Christians, he saw the risen Christ and it changed his life. I do not mind telling you that the last part of this lessons sounds just like Paul. He wants to make sure that the Corinthians know what he saw and how his life was changed. But listen to his words, because I think that they are important for us. He says, “Last of all, as one untimely born, he appeared to me.” And then he speaks of God’s grace.

Well, what should we do with these words this morning? How can they speak to us? Let me offer a couple of different things for us. Both, I think, are important. But the first is the part that matters. Let’s go back to our opening story about Ian. I think that if he were in my office this morning, I would tell him about the drama of that windy, spring day and what happened on the hill. The Bible speaks of many great and wonderful things. It talks about what our relationship with God ought to be like. It speaks of how we are to treat one another and pursue righteousness. It speaks of the necessity of prayer and the power of forgiveness. It speaks of living as ones who are prepared to be with Jesus. I know all that. You know all of that. John the Baptizer, the Bible tells us, baptized for the forgiveness of sins and the living of a right life. We know all of that. But the most important word in all of the Bible is not about right living. The