“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, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unworthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.” (1 Cor 15:1-11, ESV)

I asked myself a few questions in light of this text that I think it would be good for any professing follower of Christ to ask:

I’ll close this brief post with a powerful yet brief quote by Edmund Clowney:  “The purpose of your life must be the purpose of Christ’s death.” (HT: Of First Importance)

April 12, 2009: “What Christianity is All About” from Acts 13:13-48

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What is Christianity all about?  True Christianity is about Jesus Christ. On Paul’s first missionary journey, he preached some essential truths about Christianity in the synagogue at Antioch in Pisidia.

A great promise – Jesus comes: Christianity was not invented by man; God himself made and revealed the promise of Jesus Christ, setting his plan in motion even before the foundation of the world.

A great message – Jesus saves: Regardless of whether our sins are of the red-light district or the respectable variety, we need forgiveness. Each one of us is born facing everlasting destruction. But Jesus Christ, in love, bore the righteous wrath of God that we deserve so that we might be clothed in Christ’s righteousness. Then God raised Christ from the dead, verifying his deity and proving God’s full redemptive purpose and plan. All who turn to Christ in repentance and faith are forgiven and begin a life-changing, eternally-satisfying relationship with God.

A great choice – Jesus gathers: As we see in Acts 13:48, Christianity is not about God doing the best he can to save whomever he can, but about God appointing certain people to eternal life and working in their hearts so that they gladly come to him. This doctrine of election should make us a humble people because we can take no credit for our salvation, and a hopeful people because no sinner is so hard that God cannot save him.

A great community – Jesus displayed: In Acts, those who came to Christ openly identified with him through baptism and then committed themselves to the local church. The church is the greatest example of community on earth, where Christ is displayed before an onlooking world as believers are increasingly transformed into his image.

March 29, 2009: “The Wall Falls and Three are Converted” from Acts 9:32 – 11:18

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If the gospel were to continue to advance to all peoples, the wall between the Jews and the Gentiles would have to come down. This wall had biblical basis, as God himself had chosen the Jews as his people and commanded them to live according to laws that would distinguish them from their Gentile neighbors. But the wall had become wider, higher and longer through the addition of extra-biblical and unbiblical rules that God had never intended.

God uses the vision of the sheet falling from heaven with both clean and unclean creatures on it as a means to teach Peter that the gospel was indeed to go to the Gentiles. With good intentions, wanting to protect truth and maintain purity, Peter initially rejects this idea. But just as Peter raised up the paralyzed and the dead in Acts 9, God raises up Peter from the paralysis of prejudice and the deadness of biblical dogmatism, radically reshaping his thinking.

God sends Peter to take the gospel to Cornelius, a Roman centurion. After Cornelius and many other Gentiles are converted, the gift of the Holy Spirit is poured out on them and they speak in tongues, providing visual proof of their full inclusion in Christ.

Perhaps the most astonishing conversion in this passage is the radical change in the thinking of a large institution—the church. Overlooking the fact that God has gloriously saved Cornelius and many other Gentiles, the Jerusalem Jews are angry simply because Peter has associated with uncircumcised men. But when Peter relates the story of the vision, the conversion of the Gentiles, and the giving of the Holy Spirit, the Jews are immediately quieted and begin to glorify God, recognizing God’s intent to break down the wall between the Jews and the Gentiles and continue the advance of the gospel to all peoples.