Day 19 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 | Are You Trying to Earn What Christ Paid For? | Rooted & Ready Series
I used to think the Gospel was mainly about rules to follow and a moral code to live by. Try harder. Do better. Measure up. And honestly? That kind of faith was exhausting—and fragile. Everything changed when I finally understood the rule of first importance.
In this Rooted & Ready video, I explain why the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus isn’t just part of the Christian message—it’s the foundation. Before obedience. Before effort. Before discipline. We can’t put the cart before the horse by choosing obedience before identity.
Using everyday illustrations—building a house, receipts, and foundations—I show:
• Why moral effort without the Gospel always leads to pressure
• How Christ’s finished work becomes the receipt that your debt is fully paid
• Why performance-driven faith can never produce lasting peace
• How resting in what’s been done changes how you live
If you were building a house, you wouldn’t start with the windows and mirrors. You’d start with the foundation. That’s exactly what the Gospel gives us.
“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.”
— 1 Corinthians 15:3–4 (ESV)
Questions for personal reflection:
When have you treated following Jesus more like a checklist of rules than a response to what He has already done for you?
How does understanding the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus as the foundation of your faith change the way you view obedience?
In what ways have you experienced pressure or exhaustion from a performance-driven faith, and how might resting in Christ’s finished work bring freedom?
What would it look like in your daily life to build from identity in Christ first rather than striving to measure up?
1 Corinthians 15:3-4 memory verse video
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