February 11, 2006 1 Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-49
But someone may ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. But God gives it a body as he has determined . . . . So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.
The Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes is a very interesting read. Jewish tradition says that it was written in the latter years of Solomon’s life - after he had sowed his seeds and experienced everything there was to experience. You would expect that after having lived such a lavish life that Ecclesiastes would be a book filled with fond experiences of his days gone by. Yet Ecclesiastes presents us with the exact opposite. Here is an old man who looks back at all of his accomplishments and escapades and basically calls them “meaningless.” Listen, for instance - to Ecclesiastes 3:18-21
I also thought, “As for men, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals. Man’s fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; man has no advantage over the animal. Everything is meaningless. All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?”
This almost sounds like unbelief, doesn’t it? He compares man to the animals. When he looks at things from the viewpoint of the world - using only his senses - even with having experienced all this world has to offer - he sees it as hopeless because it doesn’t offer a FUTURE.
The reason I mention this whole thing is because today’s text makes a differentiation between what Paul calls a “natural” body and a “spiritual” body. When you look at humans according to “nature”, they sometimes appear to be not much more than that of a glorified animal. He eats. He drinks. He has sexual relations. He breathes. He dies. What difference is there? When we see monkeys counting to ten and humans drooling and beating their heads due to a malfunction of the brain or an injury thereof, the lines may seem closer together. Science loves to depict the aborigines and native tribes of Africa when they try and link man to ape. We look at those instances and we think with our senses, “hmm, they don’t seem that far off.” Notice also how our human scientists have liked to depict everything that used to be called “sin” and instead refer to it as “natural” actions or a “sickness,” a human genome that has been mutated to be a little different in some way. Therefore, alcoholism, homosexuality, anger, addiction to gambling, and every other problem in our world is blamed on the natural code of the human. Even religion is thought to be “hard wired” into the brain because of a certain sort of layout of the brain. They probably call it the “god gene.” Nature is the reason for everything.
Nature is very real. We have natural abilities and natural tendencies. Some are seemingly good and productive, and some are bad and destructive. Even Paul refers to it in today’s text when he talks about the “natural” body. The excuse today is that if it’s “natural”, if it’s the way I seem to be made, is that the way I should live? It has resulted in a world of people thinking and saying, “if it feels good, do it.” They even bring God into the equation and say, “hey, God made me this way! Who am I to fight against God? Why train a dog to be a cat?” Even we come up with the excuse, “I can’t help it I’m a loudmouth.” As we send our spouse away crying, we excuse our behavior by saying, “hey, that’s just the way I am.” We say of our misbehaving children, “boys will be boys.”
The difference comes in because God has given man a CONSCIENCE - an ability to know in our NATURE basically what is right and wrong. Even the developmentally disabled can often times have a strong sense of right and wrong. The difference comes in because we take into account that God says our very nature has been corrupted through the sin of Adam and Eve. God does not excuse sin just because it’s the “natural way” we are inclined. He doesn’t sit in heaven and say, “I know your family has a weakness for alcohol - so go ahead and get drunk. It’s ok.” He still says, even to a world of people corrupted in their very nature, “the soul who sins is the one who will die.” (Psalm 5:5) In today’s text as well, what does Paul equate the “natural man” with? Paul calls these “natural” things weak, perishable and full of dishonor.
Nonetheless, some people think that the “natural” way is the way to live. In 2 Peter God denounced a judgment on some false teachers who presumed to know God only by their five senses. He said, “these men blaspheme in matters they do not understand. They are like brute beasts, creatures of instinct, born only to be caught and destroyed, and like beasts they too will perish. (2 Pe 2:12) What kind of a theologian is it who studies humans and declares that greed, lust, extra-marital sex, anger, filthy language is all “ok” because it’s just natural? Where does God’s Word say that? God’s Word says if they want to live like beasts and debase themselves to act like creatures of instinct, like beasts they will be caught and destroyed. That’s what will happen when they die or Judgment Day comes. The message to us also is clear. If you want to live like an animal and act like an animal - like a dog or camel in heat, you’re going to die like one too. Here’s the difference however - you will also burn in hell - because you’re human - and whether you’ve had religious training or not - you should know better - and God will hold you accountable. Revelation 1:7, “Look, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him; and all the peoples of the earth will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen.”
A very peculiar thing happened two thousand years ago, when the God of the heavens - He who filled the heavens and the earth - an all powerful Spirit - decided to come to earth and put some of this nephesh - this flesh on Himself. He walked like us. He talked with us. He ate, drank, got tired, and slept. He had hair, eyes, brains, a heart, even a soul. It must have seemed like a strange thing for the Son of God - the Eternal Spirit to take on flesh - yet Jesus did it. A really interesting thing happened to Jesus - after He was anointed with the Holy Spirit and power at His baptism. He was led out into the desert and tempted for 40 days by the devil - eating neither food nor drink. The devil tempted him by telling him to turn the stones into bread. Do you remember what Jesus said to Satan? “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every Word that comes from the mouth of God.” Think about what He was saying with that statement! He was saying, “there’s more to life than what I can put in my face. That’s not what my life consists of - what feels good to my senses. No, I can live solely on the Word of God.” This statement introduces to a very peculiar man indeed - someone who neither ate nor drank - yet survived! Moses did the same thing on top of Mt. Sinai. (Exodus 34:28) What does this show us? There was more to Jesus than just the nephesh - he was far more than just a man. John 1:14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. This was also seen as Jesus lost his natural body and the rocks came splitting apart and the sky turned dark. This was no mere man.
The message from Paul this morning relates to this same thing, as he also talks about how Christians will also completely have what he calls a “spiritual body.” This body is completely different from the nephesh - in that it is an imperishable, glorious and powerful body. Jesus reflected this kind of power as He was able to live 40 days without food and water. As we live in this decaying body, the question is - “how can WE get that kind of body”, right? You won’t get it by trying to fast in a desert or climb up Mt. Sinai - although others have probably tried. This is a “spiritual” body. Therefore, it is only “natural” that this body would come about through the Holy Spirit. Jesus said this to Nicodemus.
John 3:5-8, “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
John wrote in John 1:12-13, “to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”
In these texts John intimately connected the spiritual body with the gift of the Holy Spirit in baptism - through faith in Jesus. Jesus compared it to being born again - of the Holy Spirit. Just as the Holy Spirit had to create a new life in Mary in order to have life grow in her heart, so the Holy Spirit - through the Word - plants a new life in your soul through baptism. It’s a life that never existed before. It doesn’t grow with food or drink. It grows with the Word - through faith - it’s umbilical cord. This spirit within begins to infect the way you think, feel and act. Instead of being consumed by what your stomach wants or your feet or your sexual parts want, your life now starts revolving around something else - hearing more about Jesus and His love and forgiveness. Finding out more about heaven and God’s providence.
We are Christians. That means that we are very strange creatures indeed. It means that we act kind of schizophrenic at times. Paul described it like this -
Romans 7:18-23 I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members.
If you are a Christian, you definitely know what this struggle is all about. A part of you wants to get revenge on the guy at work who badmouthed you, but a part of you wants to take the high road and talk to him about it personally. A part of you wants to look at that pornography on the Internet, but the other part knows it’s not right. A part of you wants to hold a grudge with even your fellow Christians for something they said, but a part of you wants to forgive them as well. Our natural bodies don’t want to take time out with our children when we come home at night, but the spiritual body within desires otherwise. Oh, the struggles within between the natural and the spiritual.
Paul’s words to the Corinthians help to put everything in perspective, don’t they? He compares the natural body to a seed. What does he say?
What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. But God gives it a body as he has determined . . . . So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.
The natural body is like a seed that is meant to do one thing - and that is to be buried in the ground and die. That’s what you do with seeds. When you bury the seed, you don’t dig under the soil to look at how it’s doing, or worry about whether it’s decaying or not. All you do are two things - you water the seed and make sure it gets sunlight. Isn’t that interesting! If our natural bodies are like seeds, what is the main concern? That we water them with God’s Word and give them plenty of “Son-light” - right!?! If the natural body is bound to die, why fret over it? With this in mind, Paul actually welcomed it - gladly facing whatever crosses may have come to his body. Just after this text he wrote to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 15:30-32,
As for us, why do we endanger ourselves every hour? I die every day—I mean that, brothers—just as surely as I glory over you in Christ Jesus our Lord. If I fought wild beasts in Ephesus for merely human reasons, what have I gained? If the dead are not raised, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”
Yet Paul realized also that God gave him his natural body to use, just as Jesus’ used His body to die for the sins of the world. He wrote to the Philippians,
Philippians 1:22-23 If I am to go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. Yet what shall I choose? I do not know! I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far;
Why was Paul so ready and willing to give his natural body to death? Because he believed in the resurrection from the dead. He believed what Jesus did with HIS body. After complaining about the problems he was having with his natural self Paul declared, Who will rescue me from this body of death? “Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Ro 7:24) Jesus, with His natural body, allowed the Romans and His fellow Jews to put Him to death. But three days later, Jesus rose. This declared to the world that their sins had been paid for. Jesus also promised, “because I live, you also will live.” The difference in this new life, is seen in what happened with Jesus after the resurrection. He had the same body, yet it was no longer limited by doors and threats. He had the same nail marks, yet they no longer hurt. He walked and talked and even floated into heaven without any problem whatsoever. Jesus promises us the same - through faith in Him. Those who believe that Jesus died for their sins and rose from the dead are promised a repeat performance with their own bodies.
Here’s the kicker. The only way to be resurrected is that you have to die first - just like a seed. There were some people in Corinth who were denying the resurrection - because to them - it wasn’t possible. How could a dead corpse raise? Where would there be enough food for all of them to eat? Who would want to live with a bad back or a bad foot or no brains? They were denying the resurrection because they were only looking at the nature of the body. Paul tells us all today to look to the seed. The plant grows in the nature of the seed. Mustard seeds are super small, yet they grow into huge trees. Just because the seed is small or large, black or white - doesn’t matter. What matters is how God designed it. So if you look at your body and say, “oh, I’m dying. I feel terrible. I’m still struggling with sin. I’m still having a hard time doing what’s right.” Don’t be surprised at that! Your body is just naturally dead. Don’t let it get you down. If you’re dying - live with some hope. Paul promises us, “just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.”
Luther said, “It will be a completely spiritual existence, or life, of the whole person, covering both body and soul. It will issue from the Spirit and will come immediately from or through God, so that we will be illumined by Him and know Him not only with regard to the soul, but our whole body will be pervaded. It will be as clear and as light as the air; it will see and hear sharply to the ends of the world. We will need nothing else for life or the preservation of life. And yet we will have a true body.” Who knows what God has in mind? Maybe the smallest kid will be a huge giant in heaven, while the insignificant servant will have ten servants under him in heaven. What matters is that our bodies and souls will be new and improved - much better than we could ever imagine. All will be glorious, all will be imperishable, and all will be perfect in heaven. What a wonderful promise this is - when through faith we will have a new spiritual body.
Imagine if you had two trainers audition to be your personal trainer. One was an out of shape and overweight lazy slob who looked like he was on death’s row. The other was a model of perfection - a beautiful specimen of a man who just looked like he came straight from heaven. Which of the two would you follow? It wouldn’t be hard to figure out.
We have two different people to follow. We can follow the feel good Adam, who tells us to eat from whatever tree we want to. We can live for the temporal and “natural” things in life - and then die. Or, we can look at this picture through the eyes of faith - and see that the resurrection of Jesus offers a much greater future. His “training program” isn’t very attractive to our natural man. Instead of giving our mouths and bodies food and drink to imbibe on, He gives us His Word and righteousness to spiritually digest. Yet we find out in time that this is where eternal life is found - in the body and blood of Christ. Stick with the Spiritual Man from heaven. Only in Him do we have a resurrection to LIFE. Amen.
