A Family Gospel Devotional from 1 Corinthians 15

Holy week has commenced and Resurrection Sunday draws near. And, if you read blogs, my guess is that you also use other forms of social media and are probably drowning in Easter activities via Pinterest, Facebook, etc.

I mean did you know you can even make a tomb out of a donut and an Oreo? Yeah, neither did I until everyone posted it on Pinterest.

These activities bring fun and joy, but if you only do one Easter activity with your family this year, I challenge you to make it a gospel devotional based on 1 Corinthians 15.

Preparation: Get your family Bible and read 1 Corinthians 15:1–8, 53–58 out loud as a family.

Time Length: This could be done in one day (maybe Good Friday or another time over Easter weekend) or you could read it in two segments (the first two talking points on the first day & the third talking point on the second day).

Talking Points:

The Gospel: Ask your children if they know what the word gospel means. Literally, it refers to “good news.” Each of the 4 gospel accounts is prefaced by the phrase “the gospel according to…” (Matthew, Mark, Luke, & John), and the accounts tell us about the good news of Jesus.

The four key verbs of verses 3–5: The apostle Paul takes the good news about Christ and simplifies it to how this good news brings salvation in his epistle to the Corinthian church.

Tell your children to listen carefully as you reread verses 3–5, and then ask them to identify the 4 main verbs of Paul’s gospel definition—died (v. 3; “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures”), buried (v. 4; “he was buried”), raised (v. 4; “that he was raised on the third day according to the scriptures”), and appeared (v. 5; “he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve”).

When we talk about salvation, the apostle Paul tells a simple definition of the gospel by which we are saved: Christ died for our sins and rose from the dead.

Our hope: As you read verses 53–58, talk briefly about our hope and victory in Christ. Because Christ died and rose again, he conquered death and sin. Those of us who trust in him for our salvation our likewise conquerors.