The entire reason Jesus came to this earth is summed up in our text today:
1 Corinthians 15:1-4 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the Scriptures:
That’s it.
Christ came to fulfill the Scriptures and be born, die, and rise again. Some modern-day Christians try to teach that we should stop saying, “the Bible says,” and that we should “unhitch” ourselves from the Old Testament, but that kind of theology is different from the Apostle Paul’s.
His faith was in the resurrection of Jesus, of course…
But it was the fulfillment of Scriptures that the early Christians latched onto! Notice, “according to the Scriptures” is repeated in this creed. They weren’t unhitching their faith from the Scriptures… they were rooting their faith in what the Scriptures said about their Messiah.
As we go into the Christmas season, let’s remember what it’s all about. Let’s be like Paul. Everywhere you go, somehow, in your own words try to say what he said, “I declare unto you the gospel…”
That’s what Christmas is about.
–Pastor Ryan