Standing

11.14.11

1 Corinthians 15.17 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. NIV

Some among the Corinthians had been convinced through cultural pressure, false teaching, or human reasoning that the resurrection of Christ was not true. It happens: someone brings us incredibly good news and when the heat dies down from how good the news is, then second thoughts begin to emerge: was this really what I thought it was? If it is, how come…? Such, is what happened to some in the Corinthian Church. And so Paul addressed it powerfully.

Sometimes, I don’t fully grasp the magnitude of things Paul said – this is one of them: And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. This is a huge statement about where we are in relation to sin. If we are in Christ through His resurrection, then we are apart from sin. If Christ wasn’t raised, then there is no remedy for sin and we are still in them and apart from God. Only part of Jesus death had to do with the removal or remission of sin; the other part has to do with where we are: our standing. This is how big this is: in Christ we have been removed from our standing in sin. Oh, my! That’s big! Sin is the great separator.

If there is one obstacle that stands between man and God, it’s sin. If there is one thing that prevents us from life, it’s death. Sin and death were introduced when Adam and Eve decided to have their own way apart from God. Jesus came to reverse that order through His life, death, and resurrection – His resurrection being the key. People die in their sins.

But since Jesus lived and died and rose again, the whole process of normalcy is changed and the key to it all is belief that Jesus rose again! That changes everything. That turns the natural order on its head. The whole of the Christian faith hinges on that one truth: “…that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures…” (1 Corinthians 15.3,4 NIV) Jesus’ resurrection nullified our standing in sin and our being unacceptable to God in it. Our new standing is in Christ – unless we can’t or won’t believe in Him and what He did for us.

Where most folks get hung up is that they can’t handle the fact that after believing all this, they still sin; therefore what Jesus did for them is somehow impotent. In other words, I still sin therefore something must be wrong because it isn’t working for me. It has to do with standing and that is what nullifies sin. Yes, our sins need to be dealt with, but in Christ and because of what He did, sin no longer identifies us as who we are – Jesus does. And only in Jesus is there remedy for sin and acceptability with God. That’s how important this is! So, to deny the resurrection is to trade life for death; faith for futility.

Knowing who we are and where we stand is vastly important. Knowing that, despite our behavior at times, we are remedied and rescued from the unacceptability of standing in sin is crucial to our spiritual survival and the growth of our faith. Standing stops the voices that say, this can’t be working – just look at your behavior! The one thing we need to do is to look at the Risen Christ and thank Him that despite our behavior from time to time, there is eternal standing through faith in Him and what He has done for us – His resurrection is key!