Transformation
1 Corinthians: The Gospel for the Church • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 38:06
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If you have your Bible (and I hope you do), please turn with me to 1 Corinthians 15. And if you’re able and willing, please stand with me for the reading of God’s Holy Word, out of reverence for Him. I Corinthians 15 beginning with verse 35:
35 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” 36 How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. 38 But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. 39 Not all flesh is the same: People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. 40 There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. 41 The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.
42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.
If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. 48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man.
50 I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality. 54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
55 “Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”
56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
May God add His blessing and give understanding to the reading of His Holy Word!
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Like us, you can imagine that there were those among the Corinthians who had some questions about the resurrection and the specifics of it all. It’s not easily grasped.
Paul responds to their questions saying, “How foolish!”
This might seem a little harsh, but I really think Paul’s just asking the Corinthians to stop and think; to think before they speak (or in this case, think a little before they ask).
“Just think about it,” Paul says and then gives them some illustrations from various parts of the natural world to help them understand.
He begins by using plants as an example. Anyone who has planted anything by seed will very quickly understand what Paul’s getting at here.
The seeds in the packet that grandma purchased from the local nursery won’t stay seeds if you sow them; if you place them in dirt, fully buried, in time they will produce something that looks and is very different than the seed that went into the ground.
What appears from a seed that’s been sown is determined by God. And something will appear, if the conditions are right. That seed isn’t just going to lie in the ground and do nothing—though that’s what some people think about death. We die, we’re buried, that’s it. That’s the end.
We know that’s not the case, because God is in charge of all of this. Death is not the end. The grave is not the final stop. In Christ, you will be raised. And you will be you—resurrected, restored, renewed—but you will be you. You will be raised and will have a body suited for resurrection life.
Transformation is necessary
Transformation is necessary
Paul turns to animal life and astronomy to explain the variety he’s speaking about.
We are not all the same. Thankfully, we don’t have flesh like a fish. Very few of us are furry like an animal (and even though some are, we have a different flesh). Much to Ruth Fletcher’s delight, no human I know of is sprouting feathers.
The point: God has created all kinds of bodies. Each one is fit for its environment—the animal for the land, the bird for the air, the fish for the sea. God is the ultimate Creator of bodies. God has created different and specific kinds of bodies that can thrive within a particular environment or natural habitat.
Even though we can’t begin to understand the “how”, we need to understand that God is capable of creating a human body that is different in quality and kind than our present earthly bodies.
Beyond flesh and blood, there are heavenly bodies—sun, moon, and stars—which differ in their splendor. Of course, the sun and the moon are observably different, and stars, though from here, with the naked eye, they seem to all resemble each other, are different from one another in size and shape and splendor. There is variety and diversity among the heavenly bodies.
This then, is the point: God, the Creator, is capable of making for us a resurrected body. “With what kind of body [will the dead be raised]?”
It’s a good question, and one with a very clear answer. It’ll be a different sort of body, a body suited for resurrected life.
The bodies we inhabit here and now are suited for life here and now, a body for life down here. When the dead are raised, we will have a body suited for life in God’s Kingdom.
Verses 42 and 43 get at this: “So it will be with the resurrection of the dead.”
Paul illustrates the principle and then applies it to us. He explains the difference in our bodies. The body we put in the ground will rise to something else, just like a seed does when it’s planted.
In these two verses, Paul shares with us the characteristics of our bodies, pre- and post-resurrection.
The body sown is:
Perishable: we have a very limited shelf life. Written on us, somewhere only God can see, is an expiration date, a date that says when we expire. We are perishable people. I know the world tells us we are invincible and some believe it, or believe that we die and are reincarnated as something else or someone else. I’m related to a guy who believes—actually believes—that with the help of supplements and vitamins, a little superstition and a verse or two of Kumbaya, he will live for 150-200 years. All I could say is, “Nah, man.” That’s not the witness of the Bible. That’s not going to happen. We are perishable, a vapor, only here for a moment. If we’re blessed, we might have 70 or 80 years in this life. We are perishable.
Dishonorable: the word Paul uses here is also used to describe a loss of rights as a Roman citizen. To lose these rights would bring dishonor upon a person. Well, in death, for sure, there’s a lack of rights. We can’t, from the grave, do anything about anything; at that point, we have no rights. If our family buries us in this plot, we can’t, from the sealed casket say, “No, I’d rather be there, under that tree.” If you don’t work out those details before your body is placed in the ground, you’re stuck there, sans rights.
Weak: I don’t have to tell most of you about this. Some of you younger people might need this public service announcement because it creeps up on you. Even 10 years ago, I’m not sure I’d have thought anything about my body being weak, or frail, or broken. But I’m now officially “hurt-myself-while-sleeping years old". I wake up and discover have hurt my arm or neck or back, just sleeping. In bed. Our bodies are weak. To most of us, it’s blatantly obvious. Our bodies are frail. They break and breakdown—skin, hair, bones, eyes, ears. Weak.
Natural: That is, we are set up for life down here. This is the only realm in which this body works. This is it. When astronauts head into space, they have to be fitted with spacesuits, lest they die. There is no place this body works except here and now.
“If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.”
We are in Adam—the earthly and frail, weak and human prototype of the entire human race. We are tied to him.
Transformation is necessary
Transformation is necessary
and
Transformation is certain
Transformation is certain
“As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth.” By virtue of being human, we bear the image of our father Adam.
But there’s a 2nd Adam—a heavenly man with a spiritual body (not a ghost, but a body empowered by the Holy Spirit).
48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven.
As is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven.
This is our state in Christ. As those tied to Jesus, we will bear His image.
49 And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man.
So shall we bear the image of the heavenly man.
This is incredible news! This is what we with frail, perishable, weak, natural bodies need to hear! There will be a resurrection, because Jesus is raised, and because Jesus is raised, we who belong to Him will bear the image of the heavenly man!
What do we do with this other than file it away under biblical knowledge? We’re told what to do in the last verse of this chapter. In light of what’s true about the resurrection and the resurrection body:
58 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
Armed with this knowledge and this truth, we are told to stand firm. To be immovable in light of this. And to give ourselves to the work of the Lord.
If this is true—and it is!—then our task is clear. Stand firm. Be Immovable. Do the Lord’s work. Because the perishable body becomes imperishable, the dishonorable becomes glorious, the weak becomes powerful, the natural becomes spiritual. And that’s worth our steadfast devotion, and certainly worth spending our lives to tell others about.
Transformation is necessary and certain
Transformation is necessary and certain
My good friend, John Calvin says this:
“There is nothing more at variance with human reason than this article of faith. For who, but God alone, could persuade us that our bodies, which are now liable to corruption, will, after having rotted away, or after they have been consumed by fire, or torn in pieces by wild beasts, will not merely be restored entirely, but in a greatly better condition. [Is this not] a thing fabulous, nay, most absurd?”
It does sound a bit much. It sounds a little absurd. In fact, in the time I’ve spent in the church (which is coming up pretty quickly on 36 years) I’ve heard shockingly little about ‘the resurrection body’. It’s just not something that we spend much time considering.
And yet, here it is, the conclusion of Paul’s treatise in this great chapter of this letter to the Corinthian church.
Paul’s writing to them because they struggled to believe that the human body was anything but evil. They believed the soul was to escape the clutches of the body, that we must “shuffle off this mortal coil”, fly away, and be free. “I’ll fly away, o glory, I’ll fly away...”
But this is not the biblical understanding. The Biblical teaching is that we will be resurrected bodies, animated by the Holy Spirit, not disembodied ghosts just floating around.
This is the fourth week in a row I’ve spoken about the resurrection. And yet, what is more relevant than to speak about resurrection? I’d argue that nothing is any more relevant than resurrection, because nothing is as universal as death.
“Death and taxes”, as they say, none of us will escape. Death is no respecter of persons. Death comes for the rich and the poor, the educated and the unschooled; it comes for the young and old, the healthy and the sick. It will find each and every one of us.
So the questions posed by our text this morning are far from irrelevant; the questions raised here should interest us immensely. Almost every week I deal with death to some degree or another; that happens when you’re a pastor and also friends with the undertaker.
I’ve lost count how many funerals I’ve officiated in the years I’ve been a pastor; the count is somewhere over 200.
It’s when I’m standing at the cemetery, watching the family grieve, the crowd disperse, the casket lower into the ground that I’m struck with questions similar to these:
“How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will the come?”
We know this much: we’re all gonna die. But we have this hope as an anchor for the soul—the words the angel spoke to the women there by the empty Easter tomb: “He is not here; He is risen, just as He said.”
Death has met the Messiah and has come up short. This is the good news we mortals need to hear.
Paul states in verse 51 that, at the last trumpet, on the Day when Jesus comes and sets the world at rights, we will all be changed—in a flash, in the twinkling of a eye, the snap of a finger—boom! resurrected bodies.
We will be changed at the atomic level—from perishable to imperishable—and this, instantly and radically.
Paul recognizes that many Christians will be alive at the time of Christ’s return. Though these Christians will not be raised from death, they will also be transformed and receive imperishable and immortal bodies.
Transformation is necessary, because the way we are at the moment is inappropriate for God’s new world. This body will not do.
Have you ever been told, “You can’t go in there looking like that!”? We went on one vacation where every restaurant had a pretty specific dress code; I was just bracing myself for someone to look me up and down and decide I didn’t fit the bill. “Excuse me, sir…everything you’re wearing is from Old Navy…that’s not okay…”
“You can’t go in there looking like that!” There are certain clubs and places that won’t admit you unless you are wearing the right thing. Try getting into the clubhouse at Augusta National without a green jacket. It’s not gonna happen.
Transformation is necessary. And transformation is certain.
Transformation is necessary. And transformation is certain.
Transformation is certain. Jesus is going to return. We will be made whole, imperishable, immortal. We will be given a proper body, suited for life in the resurrected world.
54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.”
Death has been defeated, swallowed up, crushed to death by the Victor, Jesus Christ.
The finality of death’s destruction on the day of the resurrection is assured; it’s certain.
We, along with Paul, can even taunt death:
55 “Where, O death, is your victory?
Where, O death, is your sting?”
Even though Paul still lives in the pre-transformation state, remember: he has seen the risen Lord. With a clear vision of what is to be, he mocks the enemy whose doom has been sealed through Christ’s own death and resurrection.
Death’s victory has been overcome by Christ’s victory; and death’s deadly sting has been detoxicated.
Many parents tell stories about playing outside at the park or wherever and watching a bee start flying around their child. At that point, the loving and protective mom or dad will get in between the child and the bee to let the bee sting them so it can’t sting their kid. Once the parent has taken the sting, there’s no harm left.
So it is with death. Death’s stinger has been plucked. Christ took the sting of death so that we wouldn’t have to.
And so death is powerless over the dead. God’s people will be raised and changed—forever transformed—into the likeness of the risen and ever-living Christ Himself.
Victory is ours in Christ! Thanks be to God!
What do we do with this other than file it away under biblical knowledge? We’re told what to do in verse 58, the last verse of this great chapter on resurrection. In light of what’s true about our transformation and about death:
58 Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
Armed with this knowledge and this truth, we are told to stand firm. To be immovable in light of this. And to give ourselves to the work of the Lord.
If this is true—and it is!—then our task is clear. Stand firm. Be immovable. Do the Lord’s work. Because Jesus is raised, we too will be raised. And that means death has no power, death has no victory, death no longer has any sting whatsoever. And that’s worth our steadfast devotion, and certainly worth spending our lives to tell others about.
We stand firm in Christ and because of what He has done. It’s Christ who has defeated death, Christ who has vanquished our foe, Christ who has conquered victoriously.
Let us stand firm, immovable, like a house built on the rock.
Let us stand firm, immovable, like a tree planted by streams of living water.
Let us not be shaken. Let us hold fast to the truth of the resurrection and the implications of the resurrection on our life..
Let us be bold with our Bibles as we proclaim to those around us the nature of death and the certainty of the resurrection in Christ.
What a great message to share: “The Risen Jesus has conquered death. In Him, we are victorious. Death has no hold on us, no power, no sting. Unite yourself to Jesus and live!”
Let us give ourselves fully to the work of the Lord, knowing our labor for Him and in His name is not in vain.