I BELIEVE --- RESURRECTION LIFE

I Believe --- Resurrection Life

1 Corinthians 15:35-59

“So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.” 1 Corinthians 15:42-44

Well, I hope that you all had a wonderful week. It was my hope and prayer that you took some time during the week to read these wonderful stories of forgiveness proclaimed in the Bible. If you did not have a chance to read, there will be copies of the Scriptures on The Seed of Faith table in the back.

Before we read the Apostles’ Creed, let us pray.

God of creation, You have created us to be in a love relationship with You. Help us to turn our hearts to you this morning so that we can truly experience a resurrection life. Amen

Join with me as we read The Apostles’ Creed.

The Apostles’ Creed

1. I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth;

2. and in Jesus Christ, His only (begotten) Son, our Lord;

3. who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary,

4. suffered under Pontius Pilate; was crucified, dead and buried;

He descended into hell;

5. the third day he rose again from the dead;

6. He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty;

7. from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead.

8. I believe in the Holy Ghost,

9. the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints,

10. the forgiveness of sins,

11. the resurrection of the body,

12. and the life everlasting. Amen.[i]

We need to remember that during a time when a Creed was written, they were written to defeat a false teaching and to proclaim what a person or group believed. When the Apostles’ Creed was written, there were many false teachings. There are many false teachings today. That is why it is important for us to know what we believe and why we believe what we believe. There was a teaching in the early church called Gnosticism. In some ways, the teachings of the Gnostics are still with us today. Gnosticism comes from the Greek word “gnosis” meaning “knowledge.” The Gnostics believed that people were saved through special knowledge. They viewed the physical or material world as evil and corrupt. The Greeks believed that body or flesh was just a prison for the soul and that only the soul was immortal. The early church put line eleven in the Apostles’ Creed in order to proclaim that God is the creator and what God created was good and the body is part of God’s creation. When God created Adam and Eve and breathed life into their lungs, God said that His creation was very good. What God creates is good --- very good! Turn to your neighbor and tell him or her that they are good!

The resurrection of the body is truly a mystery. After Jesus rose from the dead, the disciples on the road to Emmaus did not recognize Him. Mary was told not to hold on to Him

The problem is that we were created very good, but sin separates us from God. Therefore, God sent His one and only begotten Son, Jesus, to suffer under Pontius Pilate, to be crucified, dead and buried. But the Good News, the greatest news of all, is that Jesus rose from the dead; and conquered sin and death forever. Jesus invited the disciples to eat breakfast on the beach. Jesus told Thomas to put his hands in his nail scars and to put his hand into the place where the speared pierced His side. If Jesus had a resurrected body, be certain that you and I will, too. The resurrection of the body is truly a mystery. As I studied this Scripture this week, I read how one early church father by the name of Origen, thought that the resurrection of the body meant the body of Christ the church. The resurrection of the body is a mystery and some of the most profound writings on the resurrection are found here in chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians. If you have your Bible, turn with me to Paul’s words on the resurrection.

Paul begins with the resurrection of Christ, then turns his attention to the resurrection of the dead and, finally, his longest teaching on the resurrection of the body.

I Corinthians 15:1-8; 12-17; 35-59

Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain. 3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance; that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Peter, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.

But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15 More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.

But someone may 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 All flesh is not the same: Men 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 from heaven. 48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven. 50 I declare to you, brothers, 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, 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.”[ii]

RESURRECTION HOPE

A brazen preacher once told their congregation, “Someday every member of this parish will die!” The congregation was stunned, all except one man who laughingly said, “Good thing, I don’t belong to this parish.” Small comfort! Despite medical miracles, the mortality rate remains at precisely 100 percent.[iii]

Death is a fundamental human problem. The truth is that we will all die, but the Good News is that those in Christ will live with resurrected bodies. William Wallace said, “All men die. Not all men really live.” Friends list start living now! Christianity stands out alone among all of the world’s faiths and “isms.” Christianity views death as conquered. To be a Christian is to have a “HOPE” resting on a “FACT” that Jesus rose bodily from the grave and now lives eternally in heaven.

We have this hope in the power of the resurrection. The writer of Hebrews say that this hope is an anchor to our soul. (Hebrews 6:19)

The Apostle Paul tries to explain the mystery of the resurrection by not explaining it. He points to the mystery of a seed and a tree and offers a word picture as an explanation. Of course, I like the idea of the seed …since that is the name of our Church. We have been given resurrection life and hope through the seed of God’s word.

Tim Keller is a pastor, writer and teacher of a church in New York. Keller tells the following story about the power of Christ's resurrection: “A minister was in Italy, and there he saw the grave of a man who had died centuries before who was an unbeliever and completely against Christianity, but a little afraid of it too. So, the man had a huge stone slab put over his grave so he would not have to be raised from the dead in case there is a resurrection from the dead. He had insignias put all over the slab saying, "I do not want to be raised from the dead. I don't believe in it." Evidently, when he was buried, an acorn must have fallen into the grave. So, a hundred years later the acorn had grown up through the grave and split that slab and was now a tall, towering, oak tree. The minister looked at it and asked, "If an acorn, which has power of biological life in it, can split a slab of that magnitude, what can the acorn of God's resurrection power do in a person's life?"[iv]

Friends, here is the Good News of the resurrection. Here is the hope we have in the resurrection. The minute we decide to receive Jesus as Savior and Lord, the power of the Holy Spirit comes into your life. This power of the Holy Spirit coming to take up residence in our heart is just like the power of the resurrection—the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. One scholar likes to say that we now have some of Jesus’ DNA in us and we are related. We have this hope of the resurrection.

Stop for moment to think of the things you see as immovable slabs in your life—your bitterness, your insecurity, your fears, your self-doubts, your hurts, your regrets, your past, and even your future. Those things can all be split and rolled away. The more you know Jesus, the more you grow into the power and the HOPE of the resurrection.

RESURRECTION LIFE

I know that we don’t have time today to plumb the depths of all these passage on the resurrection. I would encourage you go home this week and read and reread chapter 15 of 1 Corinthians. Get a journal or write in your Bible--allow the Holy Spirit, who is your teacher, to teach you all things.

I would like to share for just a few moments on verses 42-44 and look at what Paul is trying to say. “So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.” (1 Corinthians 15:42-44)

I like the words that Paul uses to contrast the physical life with the resurrected life.

Perishable vs imperishable!

Dishonor vs glory!

Weakness vs power!

Natural vs spiritual!

Perishable means that our mortal bodies a subject to corruption, decay, sickness, illness and even death. But our resurrected bodies will not be subject to any of these maladies or conditions.

Dishonor means a state of disgrace, shame and sin. The resurrected body will be raised in “doxa” glory! No more sin and shame. No more condemnation. No more disgrace.

Weakness! The Greek word means to be in want of strength, feebleness, illness, incapacity and timidity. When we come to our resurrection we will have power instead of timidity ---no fear … we will have power! Natural bodies! Wow! This old body will be replaced with a body fully filled by the Holy Spirit.

SO WHAT?

I have been asking you since Easter what the resurrection means to you. I have asked if you would like to share your response. Some of you have shared. I believe the early church gained their strength and power by sharing their hope and life in the power of the resurrection of Jesus. This past week, I sent out a text to a lot of people and told them I was preaching on this passage and asked them what they believed and thought about the resurrection.

Here are few of the responses … “I believe with all that is in me that Christ died for my sin and rose from the dead and to not accept this would be total loss. This loss will reach beyond the grave to eternity. I am going to trust in the Lord with all my heart.”

“The crucifixion is God’s grace to us and the resurrection is the exclamation point. I am reminded that the communion service was the celebration of the resurrection with joy and happiness as proof of the promise.”

My good friend of mine was in a tragic accident that took his wife. My dear friend has had multiple surgeries after the accident so that he can walk with a cane. My friend shared his hope in the resurrection by saying, “Well simply on a personal note without the resurrection I am stuck with this body being the best I will ever have. That is depressing. Yes, I look forward to the resurrection because of being home physically with the Lord, but truthfully I also look forward to getting a new body free of all the pains of this world.”

The perishable will put on imperishability, this body that is swallowed up with shame and sin will be raised in glory, this body that is weak and broken will be given new power, this natural decaying, dying body will be given life and life abundantly.

So, what does the resurrection of Christ and your resurrection mean to you? For the early disciples who stood up and proclaimed the Apostles’ Creed, many did so at the expense of life.

Let us pray…..

The Seed Christian Fellowship

Rancho Cucamonga, California 91701

www.theseedchristianfellowship.com

August 18, 2019

Pastor Dave Peters

[i] Historic Creeds and Confessions. (1997). (electronic ed.). Oak Harbor: Lexham Press.

[ii] The Holy Bible: New International Version. (1984). (1 Co 15:35–58). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

[iii] Jones, G. C. (1986). 1000 illustrations for preaching and teaching (p. 101). Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers.

[iv] www.thepreachingtoday.com