final glory
Corinthians: Gifts, Grace, Glory • Sermon • Submitted
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1 cor the end
1 cor the end
1 Cor 15:35-50
35 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” 36 You foolish person! What you sow 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. 39 For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. 40 There are heavenly bodies 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.
42 So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown 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. 45 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.
50 I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
35 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” 36 Fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 And as for what you sow, you do not sow the body that is to be, but a bare seed, 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.
42 So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown 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 physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 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 physical, 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 are those who are of the dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. 49 Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven.
50 What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
Intro
—> I’ve always found time lapses intriguing. Whether it is an arena changing in between events, the lifecycle of a butterfly, a pregnancy, or a fitness journey, time lapses, pictures/videos over time take us on journey’s and help us experience transformations. In our text today the Apostle Paul is trying a final time to help the church in Corinth see the Gospel, the Good News, as truly transformational.
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—> Paul starts out much the way he did last week as we looked at earlier verse in Ch. 15 with a question...
35 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?”
—> This is a question that we get a lot as pastors. “What happens to me after I die?”
“Can I be cremated?”
“What will it be like in heaven?”
There are so many questions about what happens next.
—> Paul answers...
36 Fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 And as for what you sow, you do not sow the body that is to be, but a bare seed, 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. 39 Not all flesh is alike, but there is one flesh for human beings, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. 40 There are both heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one thing, and that of the earthly is another. 41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; indeed, star differs from star in glory.
—> Paul starts with a biology lesson, a little agriculture in 36&37
—> Paul then starts to expand into types of bodies and differentiating between seeds, humans, animals, eventually moving to the stars and the “heavenly bodies”
—> Paul is emphasizing that there are different bodies and different levels of those bodies. Paul is laying the groundwork, the foundation for his real answer that is to come.
42 So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown 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 physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 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 physical, 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 are those who are of the dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. 49 Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven.
50 What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
—> Paul lays out the reality that the bodies that we currently have are broken, they are weak, they are flawed, they are ultimately not going to last and they will be no more. (vrs. 42-44) This is the reality of the physical body.
—> But there is a spiritual body that is made available to us through Christ. This spiritual body is different it is transformed it is not the same old same old but something new something different.
—> Just as the seed that is planted becomes something new and beautiful so too are we.
—> Just as the first Adam was from the dust, imperfect and made for this world. The second Adam-Jesus Christ was from heaven and came to this world to give us the opportunity to be transformed.
—> Jesus was not just born to live like Adam, but was instead born to give a life-giving Spirit to all who call on His name.
—> We ultimately have the choice but it is a choice we must make in this life. A choice we must make with these bodies. Do we accept the transforming Spirit of God that is offered through the redeeming blood of Jesus Christ? Or do we choose the life of our flesh?
—> Because while we will not have these bodies in heaven we live in them now. Our souls are connected to these bodies, we are not disembodied. What we do now matters. We can’t simply say well I’ve given my soul to Christ, so I can live as I want in this body. No friends it doesn’t quite work like that.
—> When we are transformed by Christ, we are transformed body, mind, and spirit.
—> Remember back a few weeks ago when Paul uses the body analogy for the church. This idea of connection, this idea of living our best lives within our christian communities and making sure all people have a place in our communities within the body of Christ matters.
—> Paul closes with this...
50 What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.
—> If we live in these bodies in ways that are broken, shameful, unloving, uncooperative, we live lives that are perishable, flesh and blood lives.
—> Transformation is the order of the day. Not just a future day but this day. If we are waiting for the final resurrection to live lives of transformation we are missing the point.
—> Jesus Christ died and rose from the grave so that we could be transformed here and now so that all may know him and be transformed.
—> Friends today, I ask you to stop waiting for heaven to live into the fullness of Christ. Start embracing the resurrection power of Christ now. Start living into the transforming power of the living God today.