Sermon Discussion Questions
READ the following excerpts from 1 Corinthians 15: 3-8, 13-20, 50-52, 55-57.
1. Imagine yourself as a follower of Jesus immediately after the Resurrection. You have heard reports that the Apostles have met with the risen Jesus, that they have seen Him, spoken with Him, even touched Him, and there are reports now that hundreds of people have seen Him at the same time. What do you imagine such a person would think of the risen Jesus as being like: a spiritual vision; a ghostly, undefined presence; a man still weak from crucifixion but who hadn’t actually died? How would it have changed you if you saw the risen Jesus, do you think?
2. Look at verses 3-8. Paul describes not only the Resurrection of Jesus but the impact of His Resurrection on others (many of whom would presumably be sharing their personal stories). Does it surprise you that Jesus’s Resurrection wasn’t just a private event? What implications do you think it has for us that it was so publicly shared?
3. Look at verses 13-20. Paul is writing about 25 years after the Resurrection to young Christians in Greece. He moves on from the impact of the Resurrection to its importance theologically. What is his logical reasoning for the necessity of Jesus’ Resurrection to our faith? What would be lost, do you think, if we thought of the Resurrection as merely symbolic or only as a “spiritual” event? Paul says believers are “most to be pitied” if the bodily Resurrection of Jesus did not happen in history, what does this suggest about the importance of the Resurrection to the way we live now?
4. Look at verses 50-52 and 55-57. When are the events that Paul is describing going to happen? What does the nature and apparent change in Jesus’ body after the Resurrection signal about the change that is coming to our bodies at the Resurrection of the Dead? Are you looking forward to this? How does the hope of it change the way you view your life and even your body now?
5. Praise God as a group for His glory revealed at Easter, and for the great and sure promise it holds out to everyone whose hope is in Jesus Christ! “The trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed!”