When Paul preached about the resurrection of Jesus, he got into trouble (Acts 24:21). The fact that Jesus, who was crucified, was unmistakably raised from death and given a new body greatly disturbed many people. It disturbed the Pharisees, who did not want to be troubled by Him any more, and the Sadducees who just lived in the moment and believed that death was the end of everything. It disturbed followers of pagan religions because the apostles claimed that Jesus was alive, unlike all their gods. It disturbed the Roman authorities because they believed that Caesar was a god and King Jesus still threatened his supremacy.
 
Some so-called Christians in Corinth were also uncomfortable about the idea of physical resurrection. They liked to live for the moment and did not enjoy the idea of being accountable to the Lord Jesus. That is why they had fallen into so many errors of thinking and behaviour. So Paul explained the logic of their position. If nobody could be raised from death, then Jesus was still dead (despite all the evidence to the contrary) and could not be a living Saviour. They could not have any relationship with Him.
 
Without the resurrection, faith in Jesus Christ is essentially no different to faith in any historical hero, or fictional character. There is no evidence of any life or power. The god-figure will be a point of community focus but not relationship. There may be sacrifice but not forgiveness. There may be a sense of duty to the so-called deity but there is no love from the god. In other words, if Christ was not raised then the preaching, evangelism, church planting, worship and fellowship was a waste of time, and so was their faith.
 
The physical resurrection of Jesus Christ is the key to our relationship with Him. We know He is alive and one day will return in that physical body to receive His people and to judge the earth (1 Corinthians 4:5). Yet among the many distorted gospels, which are no gospel at all (Galatians 1:6-7), is one which claims to like the love of Jesus but does not want to be accountable to Him, and rejects the resurrection. It is the route to yet another hopeless religion. By contrast, telling people about the resurrection is a wonderful way to start a gospel conversation. If death is not the end, we need to prepare for eternity (Matthew 24:44).