Read: 1 Corinthians 16:10-24

Now about our brother Apollos: I strongly urged him to go to you with the brothers. He was quite unwilling to go now, but he will go when he has the opportunity. 1 Corinthians 16:12

That is a most remarkable verse, especially in view of the attitude many today have that the apostles were, in a sense, generals in the army of the Lord, sending out people, ordering them here or there, and commanding these younger Christians to go at their beck and call. But you do not find that here. This verse indicates that Paul does not command Apollos at all; he has no authority over him. He urges him, rather. In several places in the New Testament we are reminded by the apostle that he was not lord over anybody else.

Lording it over the brethren is one of the great curses of the church today. Some men assume, for instance, that the office of pastor gives them an authority over other people. But notice that Paul respects the personal freedom of Apollos to be directed of the Lord, even as he himself is. He does not tell Apollos what he has to do, but he says it was not his will to come, and Paul accepts that. Apollos, too, was operating under the direct control of God. This is not only true of leaders, such as Paul and Apollos, it is true of all Christians. Perhaps the clearest word on this was spoken by the Lord himself when he said, For you have one teacher and you are all brothers, (Matthew 23:8). The church must return to that restoration of the sense of being brothers with one another, not in position over one another, but working together. I find Christians everywhere under the authority of men who seem to be dictators — much like Diotrephes, whom John mentions in one of his letters, who loved to have the pre-eminence among them (3 John 1:9). Believers must understand that no pastor has the right to tell them what they can do with their spiritual gifts and no pastor has the right to tell them that you cannot have a meeting in their home and teach the Word of God to whoever will come and listen.

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Read: 1 Corinthians 15:1-4

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: 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

There are three elements of the gospel. First, Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. Isn’t it amazing that he does not mention a word about the whole life of Jesus? That is rather startling, but that is where the gospel begins. He does not even say, Christ died. Ask people today what the gospel is and this is often what they will say, Well, Jesus lived and died. No, that is not the gospel. Everyone believes that Jesus died. Go to any of the modern presentations of the life of Jesus and you will find they all end at the death of Jesus. But there is no good news in that. The good news is Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures . The scriptures tell us that his death accomplished something for us. It changed us, it delivered us, it set us free. That death had great significance in the mind and heart and eyes of God, and that is the good news. As Peter puts it in his words, He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, (1 Peter 2:24 RSV). Or, to use the words of Isaiah, He was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed, (Isaiah 53:5 KJV).

The second element of the gospel is that Jesus not only died for our sins according to the scriptures but he was also buried. Why does Paul include the burial of Jesus? Is it not enough that Jesus died and rose again? The reason for it is that when his disciples came and took the body of Jesus down from the cross, it marked their acceptance of the fact of his death. Did you ever realize how hard it was for them to accept the fact that he died? They did not want to believe it when he himself told them that was what he was going to do. When it happened they went away stunned and unbelieving. But somewhere along the line some realist among them faced up to it and said, We have got to go get his body, and bury him. Joseph of Arimathea came forward and offered a tomb, and with loving hands they took his body down from the tree. They wrapped it in grave clothes, bound it tightly. They embalmed him with spices, and then they placed him in a tomb where he lay for three days and three nights. There is no question that the disciples believed that he was dead. They could never have entertained any idea that he had merely fainted on the cross, or entered into a coma, for they themselves had performed the burial service. That is why Paul adds that here. It marked the acceptance of the disciples that Jesus was truly dead.

Continue reading Ray Stedman – Of First Importance →