Doctrine matters. Everything you do, every decision you make, is a demonstration of something that you believe. Everything about your life can be described in terms of it being an application of some sort of ultimate belief. That’s what doctrine is—an ultimate belief about God and life and the universe in which it is lived. Doctrine matters. And because doctrine matters, those who despise it or belittle the study of it, have no earthly idea what they are talking about. Doctrine affects your life like nothing else. Therefore, it is necessary and right that we think about it.

As we saw last week, the Corinthians had a problem with the doctrine of the resurrection. They didn’t believe their bodies would be resurrected. Consequently their faith was undermined What significant impact might that have on their lives?

To begin with, it left them without any basis for being a Christian. The doctrine of the resurrection (Christ’s as well as ours) is foundational to the Christian faith. And yet we still struggle to believe this doctrine. We still believe that God’s anger against our sin has not yet been satisfied. We still believe that there is some work that needs to be done to satisfy God’s requirements. This leads to our continued efforts to earn God’s love. The belief that you can earn God’s love naturally leads to a kind of self-righteousness. Rejecting Christ’s righteousness and seeking our own is a serious doctrinal error. This is where the Corinthians were headed and it’s where we could be headed too if we don’t take a strong stand on the resurrection.

Even people who are consciously trying to keep from sinning will mess up. This was true for the Corinthians and it’s true for us. When you mess up, it leads you to despair and to a further slide into sin. When you go too far you may convince yourself that there is no coming back. But friends, there IS a way back. You have not gone too far. Paul says, wake up from your drunken stupor. Do not go on sinning. He’s saying there’s a way back. There is still forgiveness. There is more grace and mercy at the cross than you have ever dared to believe.

God isn’t angry with you. He took all the anger he had toward you and laid it on His Son. Christ paid the price of our sin. All of it. It’s our ultimate belief. Believe that and you will know the real power of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.