- - - - - - -
Scripture references are from the New Living Translation.
- - - - - - -
I saw a noteworthy bumper sticker on a car Thursday afternoon. Actually the car I saw had about six unusual bumper stickers – but the one that grabbed by attention had the words BORN AGAIN in a fairly good size font. And then below it at about half the size were the words AND AGAIN AND AGAIN...
BORN AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN – a not so subtle creedal reference to belief in reincarnation – the Eastern idea that the true essence of a person resides in his or her spirit and that the body we carry around is really just incidental to who we are. And indeed our spirits will get new bodies because after we die our spirits will be re-incarnated or recycled into some other body.
And the type of body you get depends on your karma. If you have been a good and decent person you will come back with a better bod. But if you’ve been nasty – sucking more out of life than you’ve given – your karma is such that you’ll have a less prestigious body the next time around. Perhaps you’ll be a snail in my garden.
By the way, according to recent polls by both the Georges – George Gallup and George Barna – about 30% of all Americans believe in reincarnation.
Gallup also found that 20% of all self-described born-again / Evangelical Christians say that they believe in reincarnation. This, of course, makes absolutely no sense whatever because the idea of reincarnation is antithetical or contrary to the gospel – and that which the church has believed throughout the ages.
We have a much higher view of the human body than what you find in Eastern thinking or even what you might find in the ancient Greek way of thinking. Greeks didn’t believe in reincarnation but they believed that the essence of a person is spirit and that the more quickly you divorce yourself from the physical material realm the better off you are.
The incursion of these twisted views of the human body provides the backdrop for the Apostle Paul’s words here in 1 Corinthians 15.
A couple of weeks ago, when we were looking at the first half of this chapter, Pastor Dan suggested that perhaps the Corinthian Christians had adopted a Gnostic world view – that is, an extreme form of Greek thinking which really devalues the body.
Indeed, if it wasn’t Gnosticism it was something along those lines was a definite problem in Corinth and Paul is writing to straighten these guys out.
So we come to our passage this morning, 1 Corinthians 15:35-58, mindful that we’re stepping into the middle of an argument over the value of bodies.
For the sake of simplicity (and this is not the simplest passage in the Bible) I have summarized Paul’s thoughts here under the heading 4 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT YOUR NEW BODY.
Now, I am aware that some of you are going to check out pretty early on. Wow – some of you are slipping off right now. I can se it happening right before my very eyes!
You could care less about what happens to your body – especially after you’re dead! You’re just hoping to find enough duct tape, bailing wire, and aspirin to keep the thing running now.
Some of us are consumed with other pressing issues – keeping a marriage going, finding a job, staying out of debtor’s prison.
I understand. But if you indulge me a bit and hang in here I think you’ll see that what Paul says about your future body actually has an impact on how you deal with the stresses and the crises that confront you now.
So here it is – #1 – WE LOOK FORWARD TO A RENEWED BODY.
On the message guide I highlighted verse 44 – but really this whole line of thought starts at verse 35. Turn there if you have a Bible with you.
“But someone may ask, ‘How will the dead be raised? What kind of bodies will they have?’”
This is a bit of a rhetorical question. Here’s the “Boydston not-quite literal translation”. “Some of you might be scoffing at the idea that bodies have long term importance (as just spelled out in the first half of the chapter). ‘Really, now,’ you say, ‘if the dead are raised what kind of bodies will they have? Aren’t they going to stink beyond anything that deodorant can cover. And they’re going to look as ugly as well, you know what. Partially decayed faces. Detached bones. You get the point. Why would you want to mess with a physical resurrection? What kind of body would you end up with?’” – My rendering of verse 35.
“What a foolish question!” says the Apostle Paul in verse 36. Don’t believe it when your teacher says that there is no such thing as a dumb question. This is a dumb question, says Paul.
“When you put a seed into the ground, it doesn’t grow into a plant unless it dies first.” Yeah...that’s a no-brainer.
Verse 37, “And what you put in the ground is not the plant that will grow, but only a dry little seed of wheat or whatever it is you are planting. Then God gives it a new body — just the kind he wants it to have.”
That is, if seeds get a new body when they die – do you think that perhaps people will get new bodies, too? It makes sense because there are different kinds of bodies out there.
A different kind of plant grows from each kind of seed. Verse 39 “And just as there are different kinds of seeds and plants, so also there are different kinds of flesh — whether of humans, animals, birds, or fish. There are bodies in the heavens, and there are bodies on earth. The glory of the heavenly bodies is different from the beauty of the earthly bodies. The sun has one kind of glory, while the moon and stars each have another kind. And even the stars differ from each other in their beauty and brightness.”
Now, catch his point – “It is the same way for the resurrection of the dead. Our earthly bodies, which die and decay, will be different when they are resurrected, for they will never die. Our bodies now disappoint us, but when they are raised, they will be
full of glory. They are weak now, but when they are raised, they will be full of power. They are natural human bodies now, but when they are raised, they will be spiritual bodies. For just as there are natural bodies, so also there are spiritual bodies.”
And as Paul says this you can see the Corinthians cringing – “a spiritual body?”
How can you have a spiritual body? That’s an oxymoron – a contradiction.
In their way of thinking the spirit and the body are so completely different that they can’t have anything to do with each other.
And in their thinking the spirit is far superior to the body. So you want to get to the point in your life where you shed your body or grow indifferent to it so that the focus of your life is on the spirit.
But here is Paul saying, just when you thought you were rid of that casing, flying high as some kind of spirit or angel or whatever you might think, it comes back at you (not a reincarnation but your body). You’re not done with your body when you die – no, not at all. Sure it get’s buried like a seed – but it’s going to be raised in a renewed form – a spiritual form.
Mind you, this is terrible news for all these guys who have been banking on their spiritual experiences which supposedly rendered their bodies as irrelevant. Suddenly they are once again having to deal with the reality of having a body. And if that were not enough – it’s some kind of hybrid spiritual-physical body.
This is crazy talk to these poor Corinthians. That is, until you begin to really examine what this looks like and what it means.
Which brings us to the second point – THESE NEW BODIES WILL BE LIKE JESUS’ BODY.
Now, this is starting to sound good – because we’re into Jesus. And we want to be like him. Well, we’re going to be more like him than we can imagine.
Follow with me, starting at verse 45 – “The Scriptures tell us, ‘The first man, Adam, became a living person.’ But the last Adam—that is, Christ—is a life-giving Spirit. What came first was the natural body, then the spiritual body comes later. Adam, the first man, was made from the dust of the earth, while Christ, the second man, came from heaven. Every human being has an earthly body just like Adam’s, but our heavenly bodies will be just like Christ’s. Just as we are now like Adam, the man of the earth, so we will someday be like Christ, the man from heaven.”
And it appears that Paul is thinking of Jesus’ resurrected body - which was a real body. In his post-resurrected appearances he had a real physical appearance.
The resurrected Jesus could be touched. He ate food. He even had scars from his crucifixion. There was some continuity from the old body to the new. Now, to what extent that carries over isn’t clear.
But the point is that these new-transformed-bodies will be like Jesus’ body. For he is the one who trailblazed the way for us – dying and then rising. It makes sense that when we rise from death – we will be like him. AND THIS IS GOOD NEWS!
Who do you most want to be like?
When you signed on with Jesus you signed on not only so that you could improve your life – quiet the restlessness in your heart – take a new direction...
That was perhaps a part of it. But if you have genuinely been converted to Jesus you signed on to become his follower – to walk in his footsteps and to become like him, to become Christlike.
Ephesians 4:15 – “Instead, we will hold to the truth in love, becoming more and more in every way like Christ...”
In every way, even after death, we continue on to become Christlike – even to the point of having a renewed body.
And that’s not all. There’s more good news in here.
#3 THESE NEW TRANSFORMED BODIES, UNLIKE OUR CURRENT PERISHABLE MODELS, WILL LIVE FOREVER.
Verse 50 – “What I am saying, dear brothers and sisters, is that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. These perishable bodies of ours are not able to live forever.”
This is really a good thing, when you think about it. You don’t want to live forever with a deteriorating body – with poor eye sight – poor hearing – a wheel chair.
You need a new and improved model that can go the extra miles!
Verse 51 – “But let me tell you a wonderful secret God has revealed to us. Not all of us will die, but we will all be transformed.”
Even more literally, and I’ve seen this verse posted in many a church nursery, “Not all of us will sleep but we will all be changed.”
Sleep, of course, is the euphemistic expression for death.
Verse 52, “It will happen in a moment, in the blinking of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, the Christians who have died will be raised with transformed bodies. And then we who are living will be transformed so that we will never die. For our perishable earthly bodies must be transformed into heavenly bodies that will never die. When this happens—when our perishable earthly bodies have been transformed into heavenly bodies that will never die—then at last the Scriptures will come true: (Isaiah 25, Hosea 13)
I love this part! Let’s get out the brass band and march all over the graves as the Moravians do in their Easter sunrise service.
“Death is swallowed up in victory.
O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?
For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power.”
#4 – THIS SURE FUTURE TRANSLATES INTO A PRESENT HOPE.
You think that your life is the pits because you’re having problems. You think everything is hopeless.
But wait! There is something out there, not too far out, for our time here is short – 50, 60, 70 years – a little less – a little more – really a relatively short time – and you’re out of here.
But it’s kind of like when you’re getting ready to go on vacation in Hawaii. You can put up with a lot of garbage in the week before vacation because you know that soon you’re going to a better place.
And the hope of that future gives you the edge that you need to make it through the chaos of cleaning your desk up, arranging for yard care, packing your bags, dealing with clueless customers – HOPE sustains.
And here we have three key thoughts on how this hope is manifest – verse 57, “How we thank God, who gives us victory over sin and death through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
That is – hope creates thankfulness.
We know that we aren’t hopeless cases so we’re thankful for the way that God provides. We haven’t yet realized the full impact of what God is doing – but we’ve seen enough to become thankful. If you are really trusting Christ your life is going to be characterized by a spirit of thankfulness. You’re not going to be a whiner. You’re not going to be groveling down there is the pit with Eyore.
And then there is also a level of RESOLVE. Verse 58 – “So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and steady, always enthusiastic about the Lord’s work.”
That is, you’re not going to give in to the attitude of defeat. Things may be falling apart around you but you are not a defeatist, for you have seen the future.
And then thirdly CONFIDENCE. This sure future translates into a present hope manifest in thankfulness, resolve, and CONFIDENCE.
Verse 58 – “...for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.”
This verse is really meaningful to me and very reassuring.
Some of you know that before we came here we spent six great years in Texas starting a church in the Dallas area. We really enjoyed it. But it was hard. It was an extremely transient area – and most of the leadership of our new church moved away in the first couple of years after we started. Eventually, after we moved to Turlock, that church folded.
We poured heart and soul into that for six years. And at the end what was there to show for it? Sometimes I feel a little cheated. But then I look at this verse – “...for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.”
“Your labor in the Lord is never in vain.”
You take a transient to dinner and he doesn’t really thank you – and he just disappears into the night.
You pour your life into your kids – doing all the right things – and they still turn out rotten – an embarrassment.
You work hard to start a Bible study group so you can invite your non-believing neighbors – but no one shows up.
Hey – listen to this “...for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.”
Nothing done for God goes to waste.
You may not see how it all fits or works – but you know that there is a future – a future renewed body – and everything you do here, regardless of results, leads you on into that future.
So take heart. Move forward to what is ultimately ours through the work of Christ Jesus.
In the Fourth Century there was a lovely young woman named Macrina. She was the sister of two of the greatest teachers the church has known – Basil of Caesarea and Gregory of Nyssa.
She was, at the age of 13, engaged to be married to a wonderful man – not an uncommon age for time. But before the marriage could take place her fiancé died. Macrina decided that God must have something else for her to do and she established one of the earliest Christian communities just for women – kind of a precursor to a nunnery. Macrina was very studious and a great woman of prayer and wisdom.
On her death bed she said a prayer that was so profound, one of her brothers, who was attending to her, wrote it down. And I share it with you this morning because it is the prayer of a person who clearly understands and grasps what the Apostle Paul has been saying in 1 Corinthians 15. Listen as I read it; then we’ll have a moment of silence and I would invite you to quietly pray and perhaps even chew on this prayer yourself in the moment of silence.
I’ve reproduced the prayer on the bottom of the message guide. Listen. “O Lord, you have freed us from the fear of death. You have made the end of life here the beginning of a true life for us. You give rest to our bodies in sleep, and you awaken us again with the last trumpet. The dust from which you have fashioned us with your hands you give back to the dust of the earth for safe keeping, and you who have relinquished it will recall it after reshaping with incorruptibility and grace our moral and graceless substance...”
Let’s pray...
