Together for the Gospel (Part 50)

Together for the Gospel Part 50 1 Corinthians 15:35-49 November 15, 2020 Pastor Erik Meyers Yesterday was Richard Johnson's memorial service. And today's sermon text answers a very important question in light of Richard's death. Will he live again? His soul lives now, this very minute, with Christ in paradise. But will he ever live again, like he did on this world? A physical life, in a physical body, on a physical earth? Paul's answer is "yes." The dead will be raised according to the powerful ability and creativity of God, and will be given imperishable, glorious, powerful, spiritual bodies. That is a great hope Christians have, and it's the subject of Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 15:35-49. So let's pray together before we take this on. Open your Bibles to 1 Corinthians 15. If you're using one of the Bibles in the seatback in front of you, you can find today's text on page 904. This entire chapter of first Corinthians deals with the resurrection - that is, the ultimate reunion of a Christian's soul and body for eternal life on the new earth. And the reason Paul devotes an entire chapter to this is because some of the Corinthians denied it. In verse 12 Paul asked "how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?" "How can you deny it, in light of the evidence of Christ's resurrection?" That's one point Paul has made. But I think more importantly Paul has asked "How can you deny the resurrection, in light of how central it is to our eternal hope?" Listen, as Christians, we believe that one day we're going to die. And when we die our body will go into the grave and our soul will go to be with Jesus. Then one day, our bodies will be raised from the dead, made new, and reunited to our souls to live a new, physical life in a new, physical world. So our belief in the resurrection is central to our eternal hope. So Paul gives it an entire chapter here. And it was a tough pill for the Corinthian's to swallow, mainly because of the reigning philosophy of the day, which taught that the immaterial world was good and the material world was evil. In fact, because they viewed the body as a prison, they saw death as a prison-break. So when they heard Paul preach about the resurrection, they pictured the soul being reunited to this prison; reunited to this buried, decaying, corpse, which sounds like a scene from the walking dead and so they had a lot of questions. Paul answers two of those questions in our text today. Here they are, Paul anticipates them in verse 35: But someone will ask, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?" 1. How are the dead raised? (vv36-42a) 2. With what kind of body do they come? (vv42b-49) 1. How are the dead raised? Paul responds in in verse 36: "You foolish person!" Or "You fools!" In other words, what is actually foolish is to reject biblical truth because of the philosophy of the day. The foundation you stand on determines what you think is foolish. If you stand on the Bible, you think the philosophy of the day is foolish. If you stand on philosophy, you think the Bible is foolish. So Paul points out that folly, but then he answers their question in vv36-38: These verses are in response to How are the dead raised? How is that possible? How does that work? Help us wrap our minds around this Paul? Verse 36: What you sow [plant in the ground] does not come to life unless it dies. 37 And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. 38 But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. Did you hear what Paul did? They asked "How are the dead raised? How is that possible?" And Paul said "Well, look at the plants." -Solomon, confronting laziness, said "look at the ants." -Jesus, comforting the anxious, said "look at the birds of the air and the lilies of the field." -The Psalmists, calling us to worship, said "look at the mountains and the sun and the moon and the stars." The world God made is full of metaphors. One of the reasons God made the universe the way he did is to reflect to us His glory. And often, the answers to our questions are, at the very least, hinted at in creation around us. So Paul's response is: Before a little seed becomes a fruitful and beautiful plant, it must first be buried and die. That's a picture of death and resurrection. Like these plants, the dead are raised according to the powerful ability of God. Richard Pratt: The ability of a seed to overcome its burial should be reason enough for everyone to believe that human beings may be resurrected by God's supernatural power... God displays his sovereign ability and desire to raise the dead each time he grows a seed into a plant.[1] Paul goes on, still answering the "how" question. If he just pointed to God's ability, next he points to God's creativity. Verse 39: For not all flesh is the same, [he's moving from plants to "flesh," to living creatures] but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. 40 There are heavenly bodies [now Paul is having us look up] and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. 41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory. So he moves on from plants and says "look at people and animals and birds and fish and the sun and the moon and all the stars." And then in verse 42: So is it with the resurrection of the dead. Here's what Paul is saying: Look at the creativity of God. Everything God has created has been perfectly fit for its environment, (whether on earth below or in the heavens above) and God will provide his people with bodies perfect for the new kingdom. So Paul doesn't explain the science of it. He doesn't get into the mechanics of how a soul is reunited to a body. He probably didn't know. Rather, he points the Corinthians to all the other "impossible" things God has done. So to summarize Paul's answer to our question "How are the dead raised?" The dead shall be raised according to the powerful ability and creativity of God. That answers the first question, at least as far as Paul is able or willing to answer it. The second question is With what kind of body do they come? Or the way it typically gets asked today: 2. What kind of body will we have in heaven? That is a question I can remember having when I was little kid, and it was not answered satisfactorily until I was in my twenties. In fact, I'm going to tell you a secret this morning. When I was a kid, I didn't want to go to heaven, and the reason I didn't want to go to heaven is because it sounded like a boring and terrible place. I think my theology of heaven was shaped by 80's movies and TV shows like Highway to Heaven, All Dogs go to Heaven, the Heavenly Kid, and Touched by an Angel. Well, good news, that's not how heaven is depicted in the Bible. In fact, a better way to ask the question "What kind of body will we have in heaven?" is "What kind of body will we have on the new earth?" Let's read Paul's answer, beginning in verse 42: What is sown [buried, body put in grave] is perishable; what is raised is 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. Okay, let's get into this, and we'll bring in a few other scriptures as well. We will be reunited with our same bodies, recognizable to ourselves and others, but with different qualities. And Paul says four things about our forever bodies. 1. This body is perishable. My new body will be imperishable. This body is subject to decay. It ages. It's fragile. It's perishable. My new body will be imperishable. 2. This body is sown in dishonor. My new body will be raised in glory. This refers to appearance. This body requires a lot of work to look its best. This body, ever since Adam and Eve in the garden, has felt ashamed and has been hiding. My new body will be raised in glory. 3. This body is sown in weakness. My new body will be raised in power. This body needs help lifting a table, wears glasses, and is terrible at remembering things. My new body will have the strength of a bear, the eyes of an eagle, and the memory of an elephant. 4. This body is a natural body. My new body will be a spiritual body. This summarizes what Paul has been saying. This body is a natural body. It is made from dirt and will be dirt again. My new body will be a spiritual body. It will be an immortal body. So, we will have these bodies, but these bodies will be changed. That is what Philippians 3:20-21 says: But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. 1 John 3:2 says something very similar - we will be like him. Jesus is the prototype (v20). We can read John 20-21 and follow the resurrected Jesus around and learn something of what our bodies may be like. His family and friends recognized him. Also, Richard Pratt writes: Christ's appearances in his resurrected body demonstrated that he continued to be physical and material, but this physicality had special characteristics. For example, he was able to appear suddenly (Luke 24:36), even in rooms with locked doors (John 20:19, 26), and to vanish just as quickly (Luke 24:31). At the same time, however, he was able to break bread (Luke 24:30), to eat fish (Luke 24:42-43), and to cook and distribute food (John 21:9, 13). Moreover, people were able to touch him (John 20:27).[2] Next, in vv45-49, Paul does his best to explain the origin of these new spiritual bodies: Thus it is written, "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. 47 The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. The first Adam, the first man, was created by God from dust. He was made a living being and he became a source of human life. The second Adam, Jesus, did not come from the earth, but from heaven. He is not merely a living being, He is a life-giving Spirit. Are you of Adam? Yes, you all are. Are you of Christ? Well if you are, then on the last day your body will be raised according to the powerful ability and creativity of God, and you will be given imperishable, glorious, powerful, spiritual bodies. Conclusion In conclusion - One day, like a seed, you will be buried. You'll return to the earth What will come of you? The answer to that question depends on whether or not you are in Christ. Do you believe the gospel? If yes, then your best life will not be now, but later. If you don't believe the gospel, then I would call you to believe today. To entrust yourself to Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, to begin to live for Him and not yourself, and to find a new brother or sister in Christ and tell them what has happened to you. [1] Richard L. Pratt Jr, I & II Corinthians, vol. 7, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000), 268. [2] Richard L. Pratt Jr, I & II Corinthians, vol. 7, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000), 269.