Apostles' Creed Sermon - 14
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Apostles’ Creed – The Resurrection of the Body
John 20:19-29
1. Introduction – We have three more weeks studying the Apostle’s Creed. This week, we’re studying the resurrection of the body.
a. Next week, and fitting for an Easter Sunday, we’ll be studying the life everlasting, and in 2 weeks we’ll wrap up this series simply by looking at the final word, Amen.
b. The next two weeks are closely tied together. I debated combining these two lines, but both are so important for us to understand they each deserve a week to themselves.
i. This is the present and future hope of the Christian life. We believe that because of Jesus – because of the salvation we can receive through his death and resurrection…
1. We believe that for Christians, life doesn’t actually end at death. In fact, death is this momentary event where life leaves our physical, earthly body and we pass into the presence of God.
c. We believe as Christians that God will renew and remake our bodies; more than that, we believe that God will resurrect our bodies upon the coming of the Lord Jesus…we believe that there is more to life than our present reality.
i. We believe that we will be resurrected and that we will live forever in the presence of God on the new earth.
d. This week, we are looking at the implications of and what it means to believe in the resurrection of the body.
i. This morning we’ll study what this means, what it will look like, and how this is our greatest source of hope as Christians.
2. What we believe in – So what do we mean when we say, “I believe in the resurrection of the body?”
a. What are we affirming? What do we hope for? What do we actually believe in?
b. Well, we can clear some things up by first looking at what we don’t believe in.
c. First, as Christians, we do not believe in the immortality of the soul. Let me flesh that out a bit.
i. Many people confuse the Christian concept of resurrection with the Greek view of immortality.
1. Both views affirm life beyond the grace, but they are radically different ideas.
d. The Greek view rests its hope on the indestructible character of the soul. The ancient Greeks were convinced that one’s true self was the soul and that the death of the body was actually no big deal.
i. Death was seen as a liberation of the soul from its enslavement in the body.
1. To the Greeks – popularly taught by Plato and Socrates, the soul continued to live after death because it has always lived.
a. To the Greeks, the soul existed prior to birth and the soul itself was intrinsically eternal, immaterial and incapable of annihilation.
e. Another group, called the Gnostics, had a similar idea, only the Gnostics viewed the physical world, the body included – as evil and something to be escaped.
i. The Gnostics saw the death of the body as a good thing because at the death the body had to release the soul. They viewed the body as the prison house of the soul.
f. But neither of these is a Christian view. Your soul is a created thing, because we believe that God and God alone is eternal. We believe that the physical world, our bodies included, is good because God declared his creation to be good.
i. Take note that this line of the Creed states, “I believe in the resurrection of the body,” not “the immortality of the soul.”
1. The Bible teaches, and what the Creed affirms, is that on the day Jesus comes back to earth in power, the dead will receive new bodies.
a. The righteous dead will receive new bodies in order to spend everlasting life in the presence of God.
i. And the Bible also teaches that the unrighteous dead will also be resurrected, but they will be sent to eternal punishment. More on that next week.
g. So, what I want to stress for us this morning is as Christians, we are looking forward to and hoping for the redemption of our bodies, not release from them.
i. It is true that upon death our soul departs our body to be with the Lord. But the hope of the Christian faith is this – we don’t live forever in this ethereal state. This is only an interim state.
1. Because we believe that there will be a physical, bodily resurrection on the day of Christ’s return.
2. And instead of hoping to one day be freed from the shackles of our physical bodies, Christians anticipate the resurrection of their body.
h. And I’m really glad that the Bible speaks about the resurrection of the body and not the resuscitation of it.
i. In a few minutes, we’re going to look at Jesus’ resurrected body. When he was resurrected from on Easter Sunday, his body was similar to yet different than his previous body.
1. Jesus was resurrected to new life, not resuscitated back to the same old way of living.
a. So I’m glad, and I’m looking forward to a new, perfected and resurrected body.
i. Don’t get me wrong, I like the body God has given to me. This physical body matters to me and it matters to God, so I do my best to take care of it. Although I could be doing more.
i. I’ve had a lot of experiences in this body, but my body has also let me down.
1. It’s prone to sickness. I’ve had cancer. My body has been beat up my chemotherapy. I have veins in my arms that are hard and tight from being poked so often and having poison pumped through them.
a. I’ve been operated on – scars all over the place.
i. If you looked at one of my CT scans, you would see I have surgical clips holding my guts in.
ii. I have the worst environmental allergies of anyone I know. My hair has fallen out. I grind my teeth. I moan and groan involuntarily when I bend over… and I’m only 35.
j. I’m really glad that the Bible teaches and the Creed affirms that it is not simply a resuscitation of the old body to the same old way of living, but there will be a resurrection into a completely different way of living.
k. What does it mean to believe in the resurrection of the body? Well it means that the life everlasting we’ll talk about next week is one that is lived in a body.
i. It means we will not be disembodied spirits for all of eternity. It means that as Christians we look forward to the resurrection, to a whole new way and form of existence that is not simply a resuscitation to the same old.
1. It is the redemption of our failing physical bodies, not an escape from them.
3. What Will it look like? – And the question I’m sure you’ve all thought at some point in your life or even this morning – what will that look like?
a. Maybe other questions you have are, “At what age will I be resurrected? What will I look like?”
i. Will I be recognizable? Will I be able to recognize other people? How can God physically raise someone if their have already returned to dust?
1. Well, we’ll answer some of these questions, other of them – well, they just aren’t that important.
b. What will our bodies be like? Look at 1 Corinthians 15:42-44. Look at what Paul says here about our resurrected bodies. He compares and contrasts our earthly bodies to our resurrected bodies in 4 ways.
c. Paul says one is perishable. One is subject to decay. We get injured, sick; we sprain things, hurt ourselves and cut ourselves.
i. Because of the fallen world we live in, no matter good of a job we do taking care of our bodies – they are failing us – they are perishing.
1. But Paul writes that the resurrected body we receive at Jesus’ return will be imperishable.
a. Not subject to injury, not subject to organ failure. We won’t sprain anything or have aches and pains. No more stress or anxiety or fear.
i. No more heartburn, or cancer or diabetes or dialysis. No more need for medications. Our resurrected bodies will not be subject to decay.
d. Paul goes on – our physical body has dishonor; our new bodies will be glorious.
i. Our earthly bodies are weak, our resurrected bodies will be powerful.
1. Now that doesn’t mean we’ll all be able to bench press 400 pounds – it means, again, that we won’t be subjected to the physical limitations we experience in these bodies.
e. Lastly, Paul writes that one is a natural and physical body, the other is a spiritual body.
i. Now don’t misunderstand this. You aren’t going to be a zombie; you’re not going to be a ghost swooping around haunting people.
1. You won’t be floating around in the air.
a. It will be a physical, bodily resurrection; it will be a fleshly existence, but it will be qualitatively different than anything we have experienced on earth.
4. Jesus’ Body – But the best, and only, example we have of what a resurrected body will be like is what we see of Jesus in his post-resurrection appearances.
a. Paul writes this in Philippians 3. And John writes this in 1 John 3. Amazing verses that tell us that we’ll be just like Jesus upon our resurrection.
b. There are a number of aspects we can determine about resurrected bodies, but none of them with 100% certainty – since even Jesus’ resurrected body was shrouded in mystery.
c. This is what we know about Jesus’ resurrected body – We learn that his appearance changed. He was recognizable – but not always at first. In the garden, Mary thought he was the gardener. The disciples on the road to Emmaus thought he was a stranger. But at some point, the light went on and people recognized that it was Jesus.
i. Jesus walked like a human – albeit apparently, he walked through walls and appeared in rooms with locked doors.
1. He had a fleshly body. He could be touched. Jesus was still Jesus – but he was differently.
a. And here’s something to take into consideration. Even though he was in a resurrected state, he still had scars; he still had the identifying marks from his crucifixion.
d. Often, I’ve heard people say, “I can’t wait to receive a new body so I can get rid of the aches and pains and all of these scars.”
i. But I want you to consider something this morning. How many of you have scars? I’m talking physical scars, a nasty cut or from surgery? We aren’t going to have show and tell or anything like this, please just a show of hands.
e. I’ve got some scars. I actually did bring pictures. This was after one of my surgeries. I’ve got another one around the left side of my neck. Now, do I wish these would go away??? Sure, but I’ve actually grown quite fond of them.
i. They are physical reminders of what I’ve been through. In a way, they are identifying marks.
1. So, I think that just like Jesus, we will also bear the marks of our earthly bodies on our resurrected bodies.
a. We read it earlier, Jesus said, “Look at my wounds.” He said to Thomas, “Go ahead and put your hand in here.”
f. We will be conscious in the resurrection, we will have our memories, we will eat at the marriage feast of the Lamb, we will walk down the streets of gold, raise our voices in praise to God.
i. And we’ll bear the physical marks of our earthly journey.
1. Our resurrected experience will be similar, yet completely different than our present experience.
g. Understand this, God saves the whole person – body and soul. Our immortality is not sentimentality “Oh, she lives on our hearts.” The resurrection and life everlasting we profess isn’t this weird bodiless existence in a distant heaven.
i. It is a bodily existence – where we become more real, more solid, and more fit for what is to come.
5. Hope – Next week we’re going to look at the conclusion of this line and we’ll answer the question, what but today, happens when we die?
a. But today, I want to leave you with good news. I want to leave you with hope. I know for some of you the shock of a loved one’s passing is still fresh, but hearing about the resurrection of the body should fill us with hope and joy.
i. One of the greatest privileges I have as your pastor is walking with you through the valley of the shadow of death.
1. One thing I’ve noticed in these times walking with you and your loved ones is that death isn’t pretty.
a. It’s not like you see in the movies; it’s ugly, unnatural and painful.
b. It brings separation and often the last pictures we have of loved ones aren’t really all that memorable.
i. But here’s the hope, for them, and for us. Death doesn’t have the final day. Decay, pain, suffering, separation – isn’t the end.
c. How we see our loved ones at the end, isn’t the way we will see them in the future. They aren’t going to be that way for eternity. In the twinkling of an eye – we will all be transformed.
i. At the end of 1 Corinthians 15, after Paul speaks about Jesus’ resurrection, after he speaks about the resurrection of the body, Paul taunts death. “Where’s your victory? Where’s your sting?
1. And don’t get me wrong, death is painful, losing a loved one hurts and should be mourned over.
a. But what Paul speaks about is the ultimate hope. Death claims victims, but in eternity, death has no say because it is already defeated.
d. And that is really our ultimate hope as believers. One day, either when we die or Jesus comes back, death will no longer have a hold on us.
i. Fear, pain, anxiety, illness – gone.
1. And we’re not resuscitated back to the same old way of living, but we are resurrected to a brand-new way of living and praising and experiencing God.
a. We’ll receive bodies that won’t experience what these bodies experience.
i. No more Tylenol or Advil. No more Zantac for heartburn. No more essential oils.
1. It’s over – all that is gone.
e. Next week we are going to flesh out a little more about what will happen at the resurrection – at the return of Jesus.
i. And next week, fitting for an Easter Sunday celebration – we are going to give ourselves a glimpse of what life everlasting will look like. It’s going to be crazy good.
6. Conclusion – I believe in the resurrection of the body – again remember this is a literal and physical resurrection.
a. Not a resuscitation, not immortality of the soul – but the receiving of a new body, still bearing the marks of the old.
i. And it will be molded and fashioned after Jesus’ resurrected body – and the glorious hope we have that on that day, and for the rest of eternity, we will finally be like him!