Outfitted for Heaven

Passage Introduction

Turn in your copy of Scripture to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. Our text for this morning is going to be 1 Corinthians 15:35-58.

On this day that we put special focus on the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 1 Corinthians 15 is a great chapter of the Bible to focus on, because it is the most extended discussion in the Bible of the importance of resurrection. But the focus of the chapter is not really directly on Christ’s resurrection. Rather, it’s on the implications of Christ’s resurrection for our future. Paul is telling you here that, because Christ has risen from the dead, so also will you be raised from the dead!

Through most of the chapter, Paul’s goal is to prove that, and that’s still largely what he’s doing here at the end of his argument. But he also begins to explore what that resurrection is going to be like. He can’t explain things in great detail, because the full reality of it is truly beyond imagination, but even the limited amount that he is able to say is marvelous! It’s full of comfort and hope, hope that we need as long as we are still waiting for Jesus to come back and finish his work.

So let’s pray that the Holy Spirit would make that hope clear to us through his Word.

Sermon Introduction

“Will he ever wake up? What are the chances he will talk again?”

Allison Bond was asked those questions as a junior resident in an intensive care unit, about a patient who had overdosed, and was now unconscious, and not breathing. And it was the patient’s mother who was asking. And Bond recounts that incident to introduce her readers to what she says has always been her trickiest task as a doctor: balancing realism with hope.

Of course, the extent to which a doctor has to face that problem depends in large part on what sort of medicine he or she practices, but it’s inevitable to some degree for every sort of medicine, because even the best of treatments can fail, and even the most routine of operations can go sideways. So no doctor can truly guarantee the outcome of your treatments, especially in the most serious of cases.

But one of the wonderful things about Jesus is that he is the Great Physician, and he can guarantee results! He has no need to balance hope and realism; with him, it’s all hope! If you trust him to heal you, his treatment is so effective that he can even cure you of death. Resurrection is completely within his power; he proved it by coming back from the dead himself! And what makes this even more amazing is that his cure for death does more than just restore you to your previous state of health before you died; no, he actually gives you a new body!

That is the hope that you in Christ, and it is a hope that you can count on, because he is risen from the dead, in a new and glorified body! And that’s the message of hope that I hope to convey to you today: because Christ has risen from the dead, you have the hope of a new body.

And Paul’s words in this passage show you at least three truths about that hope show you just how great a hope it is!

I. It is guaranteed

First and foremost is the idea that I’ve already started talking about—that this hope of a new body is guaranteed.

As I mentioned before we read our text, Paul’s primary purpose in 1 Corinthians 15 is to prove that there will, in fact, be a future resurrection from the dead, because apparently there were some in the Corinthian church that didn’t believe that. So Paul has been responding to their doubts, especially by appealing to the resurrection of Jesus, and he continues to do that same thing in this passage.

You see that pretty clearly in the first couple of verses here. Paul initially observes that someone might ask (or maybe has already been asking) what kind of body people will have when they are raised from the dead. And to me, without any kind of context, that actually seems like a pretty interesting question. I hear it and I think, “Yeah, you know, I’d like to hear the answer. What will our bodies be like in the resurrection?”

But then Paul turns around and says, “You fool!” And that’s the right way to translate that, by the way. He doesn’t say, “What a foolish question!” No, he calls out the person asking the question! And that’s important, because I don’t actually think that Paul has anything against the question itself. I think it really is a good, worthwhile question. What Paul has a problem with, and what he’s rebuking, is a good question asked in bad faith.

I’m reminded of the first chapter of Luke. The angel Gabriel shows up twice—once to Zechariah to announce the birth of John the Baptist, and once to Mary to announce the birth Jesus. Upon hearing their respective announcements, Zechariah and Mary both ask the same question—how can this be? But Zechariah ends up being rebuked for his unbelief and is unable to speak until John is born and named, while Mary is praised as the one who believed the word that was spoken to her. The only way to make sense of the difference is to understand that there is a right way and a wrong way to ask how God will do something that seems impossible to you. On the one hand, you can ask, assuming that your question has no good answer, and that it really is impossible. That’s what Zechariah did, and it’s people asking this question in that way whom Paul is calling fools.

But you could also ask like Mary, knowing that, because this is a promise from God, your question must indeed have an answer, and whatever that answer is, it must be glorious, and so you want to know the answer, because you want to have more reasons to praise God for his wonderful works! That is to say, you have to ask, with faith, not with doubt!

And Paul so harshly rebukes the doubting questioner here, because he wants you to know that it’s especially important for you to know that the hope of resurrection, the hope of a new body, is a guaranteed hope. You must be absolutely certain of that! No doubting can be tolerated on this point especially, because all your hope hinges on this! Because to harbor doubts here, is not just to have doubts about your future. As Paul has made clear earlier in the chapter, it’s to doubt Christ’s own resurrection, and since that’s the culmination of everything he did, it’s doubt to all of Christ’s work, and it’s to doubt that Jesus really is the Savior and God that he claimed to be! To doubt the resurrection of the dead is to doubt everything!

So I ask you: do you believe that the dead will be raised? Raised with their bodies, just as Christ was raised with his body? Do you really, firmly believe that with all your heart? There is no salvation from sin and death apart from it, and whatever salvation you might imagine without it is so … hollow. It’s not a real hope. so I hope that you do believe this, and I hope that you return over and over this this fundamental truth of Scripture, and that you build your life upon this hope of a new body, because it is guaranteed.

II. It is beautiful.

The second great truth about this hope from this passage is that it is a beautiful hope. The hope of a new body is truly beautiful, because it is a body fit for heaven!

Paul begins to show you this when he emphasizes that the resurrection body really will be a new body. You see, in our day, the main objection to the idea of resurrection is that it’s just impossible, unscientific. Which of course only makes sense if you assume that we live in a closed-off universe with no God who can intervene to override the ordinary laws of nature. That's an assumption that science can’t actually prove.

But to the Greek mind, it wasn’t so much that resurrection was unscientific as it was that resurrection was undesirable. And in our day, when we keep trying to cheat death with all our medical advances, that probably sounds really strange, but just think about the body you have right now—do you really want that body back after you die? I promise I’m not trying to insult anybody, because every body is filled with weakness and vulnerability. It reaches a peak and then immediately begins to decline. And even if you take away the aging and the sickness, your body just has so many needs and limitations. It’s really not that hard to see how the Greeks came to the conclusion that resurrection would be like sending your soul back to prison!

But all that assumes that the resurrected body is the same as the body that died. But Paul is here to tell you that’s not the case at all—the body that will be raised will truly be a new body!

Of course, it’s important to be clear that I don’t mean “new” as in, “a totally different body with no connection to your old body.” That wouldn’t really be a resurrection, would it? That wouldn’t be the graves opening up and surrendering their dead, as in Jesus’s resurrection. And that’s the kind of resurrection that is promised.

No, what I mean when I say new, and what Paul is talking about, is total transformation. That's where his analogy of the seed comes in. He talks about the seed "dying"—don't get hung up on the scientific details, it's a metaphor--and springing to life, not as a renewed seed, but as a plant. What arises from the ground is not the same thing that went in, but there is continuity! The plant comes from the seed, but it is completely transformed! Paul could also have spoken of a caterpillar that enters its chrysalis and then seems almost to have died, but then emerges from the chrysalis, not as a new-and-improved caterpillar, but as something very different—a butterfly! And so also, when you emerge from the grave, you will still be you, but you will be completely transformed.

And then Paul goes to another analogy. The doubters are assuming that flesh is flesh, and it’s all the same, but again, nature tells you that’s not true! Even different kinds of animals have different sorts of bodies, and different sorts of heavenly bodies have varying degrees of glory. So you can be raised in a different sort of body than you have now, with a far greater glory than you currently have!

Now, if Paul left it there, it would be easy to let your imagination run wild in trying to figure it what that transformation will be like, so he goes on to tell you what he means, and this is where things really get good!

Starting in verse 42, your body will be “sown in corruption, raised in incorruption.” Your body now is characterized by corruption—that is, by sin and all its consequences. Sin has touched every aspect of who you are; it has affected you body and soul. But when you are raised from the dead, you will be characterized by incorruption, and even incorruptibility—no trace left of sin or the marks of sin!

Now, death itself is the primary mark of sin on the body, so when Paul says further down that mortality will be replaced with immortality, he’s actually making a very similar point.

Then what he says in verse 43 very much flows from the transformation from corruption to incorruption: “sown in dishonor, raised in glory; sown in weakness, raised in power.” Dishonor and weakness characterize your body now, because of sin, but in your resurrection body, you will instead be clothed in glory and power!

And finally, what Paul says in verse 44 is really a summary of his point: “sown a natural body, raised a spiritual body.” When he says spiritual, he doesn’t mean “non-physical.” We’re still talking about a body of flesh, else Paul wouldn’t have bothered making a point about different kinds of flesh. Besides, a non-fleshy body wouldn’t really be a body at all. No, Paul is summarizing the sort of transformation by telling you that your current body is one fit for the needs of this life, and one animated and controlled by what is natural. But the body in which you will be raised will be one animated and controlled by the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, and it will be a body suited to the needs of spiritual life—that is, in that body, you will truly be outfitted for heaven!

That, by the way, should tell you that when Paul says in verse 50 that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, that is because corruption cannot inherit incorruption, but flesh and blood that has been freed from corruption will indeed be fit for that heavenly kingdom!

Brothers and sisters, do you see how beautiful is this hope of a new body? Do you see how wonderful that new life must be? Freed from every trace of sin—no more temptation! No more intrusive sinful thoughts! No more desire for anything contrary to God’s will and law! No more greed or pride or lust or envy!

Freed from every mark of sin upon your body—no more dying or watching your loved ones die! No more illness—no cancer or diabetes, no chronic illness, not even the common cold! No more pain, physical or emotional! And no more of the fear of death, or sickness, or pain that controls so much of your life!

Freed from the effects of sin upon your mind and your emotions—no more crippling anxiety! No more dark depression! No more doubts about God and his precious promises!

Freed from dishonor—no more feeling ashamed of your body, or anything about your body!

Freed from all weakness—mental weakness or physical weakness, weakness of age, weakness of disability, weakness of vulnerability!

Everything that makes life in this world so hard, all of it will be gone when you are finally and fully outfitted for heaven!

Of course, knowing that doesn’t suddenly make this life easy. But it does tell you that there is hope, and that hope is guaranteed and beautiful, and that helps to change the way you look at your present sufferings. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:17–18, “For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory. So we do not focus on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

Let the hard things of this life remind you to turn your eyes to the next, to the return of Christ and the resurrection that he will bring, to that beautiful hope of the new body that he is preparing for you, and that is preparing you for!

III. It is glorious.

But not all has yet been said—remember, I said three great truths about this hope of a new body! It’s guaranteed, it’s beautiful, and it’s also glorious.

Honestly, I could have used “glorious” for the previous point, but I saved it for now on purpose, because I don’t just mean “glorious” as in “really super great.” I’m using that word because of a particular point that Paul makes in verses 45-49. Now, I know those verses seem a bit strange, and the wording is a bit confusing, but really, what Paul is trying to say is pretty simple.

The body that you have now, with all its corruption and weakness, is the body that you have inherited from Adam, the first father of all humanity. Remember that God formed Adam from the dust of the earth, and then breathed life into him. But because Adam sinned, he could never rise above the dust from which he was made. Because he sinned, he instead had to returned to the dust. And the resurrection-doubters that Paul is responding to are only focused on this body of dust that you have from Adam.

But that means that they are forgetting that Christ is not just another dust-man. He existed as God before he ever took on a body. He is not just a pile of dust that received the breath of life; he is the source of that life, the giver of the Holy Spirit, that Spirit that gives new life to your body of dust, and he can raise it above the dust! And when he does, then just as in your natural body you are like Adam, so in your new body you will be like Christ! Like Christ, not just in your soul, but in your body!

And if that’s still not making a whole lot of sense to you, I think Paul makes much the same point in a much simpler way in Philippians 3:21, “He will transform the body of our humble condition into the likeness of his glorious body.”

Do you understand why I wanted to save the idea of a glorious hope until now? It’s because the glory of that hope of a new body, is the very glory of Christ, that he shares with you if you are one of his. Your new body will be modeled after the glorious body of the God-man. Your new body will be like the body of Christ that was raised in great power and victory, like the body of the one who now sits in heaven at God’s right hand! It will be a body, fit not just for heaven, but fit to be in the very presence of God!

You know, really, I can’t communicate all that that will mean for you … because I don’t know. It’s beyond what I can imagine. You cannot fathom the depths of all that it must mean for your new body to be like the glorious body of Jesus Christ. By I know for myself, if my body is going to be like Christ’s body, if my body is going to have even the smallest shred of the glory of Christ’s glory, then I count that the highest privilege I can imagine. To be like my Savior and my God … nothing better. And I can’t wait to to see what that means in all its fullness, to experience that hope, and to feel that glory, forever!

Conclusion

Already have begun to say something about what all of this means for your life here and now.

But nothing quite like the way Paul ends it!

1 Corinthians 15:51–58 “Listen, I am telling you a mystery: We will not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed. For this corruptible body must be clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body must be clothed with immortality. When this corruptible body is clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body is clothed with immortality, then the saying that is written will take place: Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, death, is your victory? Where, death, is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the Lord’s work, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.”

Such an exultant note! This glorious hope is, first and foremost, something to celebrate. Death itself has been swallowed up in victory!

As you celebrate, take courage, especially in the face of death! And if you need not fear death, what do you have left to fear?

Endure! Be steadfast and immovable!

And be zealous, always excelling in the Lord’s work, because you know your labor is not in vain!

But this hope is only yours, if you believe in Jesus Christ.

Let’s pray!