Date: 5 April 2026

AFFIRMATION OF FAITH – EASTER CREED

P:​Do you believe in God who brings life out of death?

C: ​We believe in God
who raised Jesus from the grave
and who still brings new life
into a weary world.

P:​Do you believe in Jesus Christ?

C: We believe in Jesus Christ,
crucified and risen,
who walks with us even now
in gardens of grief and hope.

P: ​Do you believe in the Holy Spirit?

C:​We believe in the Spirit
who breathes resurrection life
into the church
and sends us into the world.

Amen.

Scripture Reading: 1 Corinthians 15:12–29

Focus: Christ is Risen – The Beginning of God’s New Creation

Do We Really Believe in the Resurrection?

Not just that Jesus Christ rose from the dead two thousand years ago, but that we too will one day be raised?

This was the exact question troubling the early church in Corinth. Many believed in Christ, yet they struggled to grasp the bodily resurrection of the dead. Apostle Paul responds with one of the most stark statements in the New Testament: if Christ has not been raised, our faith is futile.

Everything stands or falls with the resurrection.

Yet Paul does not argue as a detached philosopher. He writes as an eyewitness who personally encountered the risen Christ. Therefore, he proclaims with absolute confidence:

“Christ has indeed been raised from the dead.” — 1 Corinthians 15:20

The Firstfruits of a New Creation

To help us understand, Paul draws on an image from agriculture: Christ as the firstfruits of the harvest.

In Israel, the first sheaf brought in was never the entire harvest—it was the sacred promise that much more was on its way. Christ’s resurrection is not an isolated, one-time miracle. It is the inauguration of God’s dynamic new creation.

Winter & Spring: 

Think of the very first blossoms appearing while winter still lingers. The air is cold, the trees look bare, and frost can still bite. Yet those few flowers signal an undeniable shift: spring has begun.

The Cosmic Shift:

As theologian N.T. Wright notes, Easter is “the first moment of the new world.” Through Adam, humanity entered a story dominated by death. Through Christ, God’s future of everlasting life has already broken into our present.

Jesus is the first blossom of God’s new creation. His empty tomb declares that the long winter of human death will not last forever.

The Last Enemy Defeated

Scripture does not pretend that death is natural or standard. Paul calls death “the last enemy.”

Death tears families apart, silences voices we treasure, and leaves deep wounds. Yet Easter proclaims that death will never get the final word. Christ’s resurrection marks the definitive turning point of its defeat.

We still walk through a world filled with grief, brokenness, and funerals, but the final outcome has already been decided

.

How Easter Changes Today

Because the resurrection is real, the way we live right now is transformed.

Nothing done in love for Christ is wasted:

● The simple meal prepared for someone in need

● The quiet hours spent sitting with a grieving friend

● The courageous act of extending forgiveness

None of these are lost to time. As Paul writes at the close of this chapter: “Your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”

Living in the Easter Hope

Easter calls us to step forward in bold trust:

● Trust that God is actively at work in our world today.

● Trust that His new creation has already begun in us.

● Trust that He will one day bring His whole creation to full completion.

For over two thousand years, believers across the globe have declared this central truth:

Christ is risen!

He is risen indeed!

Because He lives, we walk forward in the unshakable hope that death will never have the final word. Amen.