877 1 Cor.15.35-49 The How and What of Resurrection
1 Corinthians • Sermon • Submitted
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· 8 viewsPaul asks 2 questions that deal with the fact that resurrection is inevitable for those in Christ and that it will be a supernatural body that resembles the image of the One they bare.
Notes
Transcript
- In Dickens novel “Our Mutual Friend”, Silas Wegg who has a wooden leg visits the “Articulator of Bones” (A Taxidermist) named Mr. Venus in order to purchase back the bone of his leg that had been amputated some years ago in an English hospital
- He felt incomplete without his body part
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- Victorian England, at this time, had a troubled conscience about being separated from their body parts
- Perhaps, it had something to do with the nature of their culture - to be genteel - but it also had to do with the afterlife
- Ros has read the book & says that it also had to do with going into the afterlife complete with your body parts
- Body parts were in high demand at this time & it seemed that prior to the Anatomy Act of 1832, which gave people more access to body parts, they had quite a problem with resurrectionists (people were robbing graves) and even murdering people for their body parts
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Q. What actually happens in the resurrection of the dead when you don’t have all your body parts when you die?
Q. What if your ship went down & your body is in the depths of the Atlantic Ocean?
Q. What if you were completely incinerated in the Atom Bomb at Hiroshima OR that you were an astronaut on a space walk & your rope broke & you just drifted off into the darkness of space?
Q. What happens to those bodies - those people?
- We ask the scientific questions like how can our bodily parts come back together again if they have been totally annihilated
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- All very unpleasant thoughts, but there are people who have these thoughts and questions
- The good news is that this passage today will give solid answers to these questions & thoughts
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- Well there are two questions that are raised in this passage
Q. How are the dead raised?
Q. With what kind of body do they come?
- These two questions are what are answered in this passage & the second question is dealt with first
1. With What Kind of Body Do They Come
1. With What Kind of Body Do They Come
- The first point he makes here with this question will be answered by the common understanding of all people
- A seed “dies” before it sprouts to life
- We know that you can have drought for years on end & there are seeds in the ground that just seem to sit there year on year until the conditions change & there is rain & all of a sudden, these seeds begin to sprout
- The seeds were “dead” in the sense that they had come off the tree or plant & were just there sitting “dead” in the ground
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- Paul’s point here is that they, many of whom are farmers, should know in fact that seeds only sprout when they die
- Does the dead rise again? Have a look at your own grain & fields!
- These people, in Paul’s – what is called - “diatribe” are called fools
- Even though he is not calling them fools, he is calling his imaginary opponent a fool for not seeing the obvious
- The word fool here means a person without reason – they cannot reason through how this works
- So what you have is evidence that a death occurs & then a new living being – whether plant or otherwise arises
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- Jesus used this same analogy though in a different way
23 And Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25 “He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal. 26 “If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also; if anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.
- Jesus talks here about the necessity of the “death” of a seed but, of course, then sprouts & makes a new plant that brings forth much more fruit as a consequence
- He is talking about His own death but also the death we die as His followers
- Not only are we to die daily to self & sin, but it extends to our literal death in the cause of the Gospel
- Many Christians have gone to their deaths in the cause of the Gospel
- You may not like the implication of what Jesus says, but there is no disputing what He says
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- The second point the apostle makes in respect to this question is to the nature of this new body
- As we know, the Corinthians had a rather negative view of the material or physical body
- They were “spiritual” which was the more important component as far as they were concerned
- It seems that they believed that since they had undergone, through their baptism, a “spiritual resurrection” that they had been changed already
- When they die, the body is discarded & the spiritual just keeps going on – therefore, no bodily resurrection
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- But here’s the thing – anyone who thinks about “what we are going to be like” after the resurrection, needs to come to terms with the purposes of God & His right to make something He has created into anything He likes
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- Do you remember going to the Dentist as a kid – it was a terrible experience for me
- I don’t think the Dentist I had in the 1960’s was a Dentist – more of a butcher
- The amount of nerves he hit was amazing – I think he must have been trying to win a prize for the most nerves he could hit
- Perhaps, he just had a nasty streak & enjoyed watching kids suffer
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- Sounds like I have been psychologically impacted by this Dentist, doesn’t it
- Well, no, but going to the Dentist was always accompanied by the dreaded thought of extreme unpleasantness
Q. What tooth was he going to target?
Q. What nerve was he going to hit?
- It was unnerving & disturbing
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- For these Corinthians, just because they dread the thought of possessing another body & on the day of resurrection, what kind of body it will be, it is God who will have the final say
38 But God gives it a body just as He wished, and to each of the seeds a body of its own.
- The same, of course, is true in the giving of spiritual gifts
11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills.
- They just couldn’t accept that some gifting that God gives were mundane – oh to receive the gifts of helps or giving – boring, unrewarding & no one notices
- Nevertheless, God rewards us all on the basis of our faithfulness to Him in what WE DO with what He has given us – not on the gift itself
- I might suggest that the person with a less upfront & obvious gift stands to gain more reward than the one who is already rewarded with personal praise & accolades due to his or her prominent role
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- So too, Paul says, God will fashion a body just as He wills
- We see that He has done this with all of creation
- But we will not know what kind of body we will have until it happens
37 and that which you sow, you do not sow the body which is to be, but a bare grain, perhaps of wheat or of something else.
- Here, he is referring to the resurrected body – we don’t know yet as to what it will be like, but we do know that it will be different to the “seed” of this natural body
21 who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.
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- As we look into creation, we see that there are different bodies all over the earth
- Birds have feathers - & chickens – our grandkids run chickens on their farm & these chickens are a feathery bunch indeed
- You guys who fish will recognise that fish have different bodies from the land animals & the bird population
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- Talking about bodies allows Paul to talk about the larger bodies like the Sun, Moon & Stars
- They are all “bodies” as such & that God in His providence has made them just as they are to be
- The variety in God’s world is amazing & we are not short of that variety
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- But even though we do not know what kind of body we will have at the resurrection, we do know some of the most important characteristics of this resurrected body
- At this point, I think it will be handy to read vs. 42-44
42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body; 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.
- We are seeing massive contrasts here between the 2 orders of existence – the natural & the supernatural
- The supernatural has a body – it is not a disembodied spirit
- When he talks about “spiritual body” what you must think of is the meaning of spirit in respect to life
63 “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.
2 The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.
- The Spirit of God is God in His mighty creative power
- When we talk about a “spiritual body” we are talking about a spiritually empowered body
- A body that so transcends the existence of the natural body that it becomes a matter of chalk & cheese
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- But what of this “if there is a natural body, then there is a spiritual body”
Q. Why must there be a spiritual /supernatural body?
- Well it’s because of what he has just explained
- A seed that dies transforms into a new body & new existence
- Also, God has created earthly bodies & heavenly bodies
- The earthly bodies correspond to the earthly man – the man made of dust
- The heavenly bodies correspond to the heavenly man who is of a different glory altogether
- These things are so because this is the way God has made them
- One in this way, another in that way
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- In respect to our resurrection, it will be from weakness, to power
7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power will be of God and not from ourselves;
- Paul here expresses the weakness of the mortal men of the earth
- The treasure is the Gospel that is carried around in fragile containers made of clay (earthen vessels) – like clay pots – drop them & see how you go (Paul is that Gospel container – weak & can be damaged)
- This transformation is not from a natural body to a disembodied spirit, but from one type of body that is perishable & in weakness & dishonour to another type of body which is raised imperishable, in glory and in power
- It’s chalk & cheese - & one of the things we do not think about is that this body does not have a weakness to sin – you won’t sin because the body cannot be compromised - isn’t that a joy!
- Because you believe, love the Lord & are faithful to Him now in this weak corruptible body, you will have no problem hanging in there with God in the new body of power
2. How Are the Dead Raised
2. How Are the Dead Raised
- We come now to his second question which is of interest to us as well because it touches on the “science” of resurrection
- Sorry, but there will be no science that could rise to the level of God’s work – we would be like monkey’s messing about in a lab & we all know how that would go don’t we
- Think about it – our God created our brains – we know surface stuff about the brain compared with a complete knowledge of the brain & how it functions
45 So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living soul.” The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
- Here is the contrast between a fire cracker and a nuclear bomb
- As great as it was for all of us to be created – that is nothing compared with what is coming
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- God breathed into Adam, the breath or spirit of life & the man became animated - a living soul or living being
- So you have Jesus who dies on the cross & gave up His spirit or the breath of life
30 Therefore when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” And He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.
- The breath of life OR the spirit of life that was breathed into Adam is what made him alive
- When Jesus dies, He breathes His last & gives up His spirit or life
- Jesus came to the world in the likeness of Adam – He was made man
- Php. 2 perfectly encapsulates this thought here
6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.
- Here is Jesus coming as a man, born of a woman, born under the law…
4 But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, 5 so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
- Jesus came in the likeness of Man but then, from death, God raises Him to resurrected life
- This is a miracle of God who is not bound by the limitations of this created universe
- God can work in any way He sees fit
- He raises Jesus from the dead to be the Lord of life
9 For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
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- There is a huge difference between Adam & Christ
- Adam was merely “life-receiving” – the breathe of life was breathed into him, whereas Christ has become “life-giving”
- The order in God’s plan is that the earthly comes first, then the heavenly
Q. Have you ever noticed anyone who was born into heavenly glory without being born into Adam?
- So too in God’s order, we were born in the likeness of Adam
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- But we all know that creation was established but then had to be rescued or redeemed
- God sent Jesus to rescue the world from its alienation from God
- He was raised from the dead & ascended back to God
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- What we have now is a contrast between 2 existences
- One of the earthly & one of the heavenly
- Remember, we are not contrasting locations
- We are not contrasting earth as a place & heaven as a place
- The contrast is between the natural & the supernatural
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- When God created the heavens & the earth, he created a material world
- God formed matter – He made the world with rules that governs the physics of the whole universe
- God Himself, however, is outside the natural or created order
- When a person asks “who made God” that is assuming that God is a part of this creation
- This creation is set by the rules of physics which assumes that every effect has a cause
- But God is outside the laws of the created universe which means that He is not subject to NOR bound by the things we are subject to
- In other words, “who created God” is outside the limits of our ability & understanding
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- In the Scriptures, we see that there are 2 ages that have been established by God
- What is called “this age” – which Paul in Gal. 1:4 describes as evil...
4 who gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of our God and Father,
- Then, there is the “age to come”
21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.
- It is not only Paul who spoke of this future age – Jesus did too
29 Jesus said, “Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or farms, for My sake and for the gospel’s sake, 30 but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in the age to come, eternal life.
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- We are contrasting the ages here in this passage today
- There is the earthly man & the heavenly man
46 However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual. 47 The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven.
- One is life-receiving, the other life-giving
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- As we come to the end of this message, the real challenge is to deal with Paul’s remaining statement
48 As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly. 49 Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly.
- It is a fact that we bear the image of Adam – the earthy & we also die
- The Christian has come into Christ & bears the image of the heavenly
- That has happened now, but the fulfilment of Christ’s mission is not yet
- Such blessings await the people of God at the return of Christ when He will raise to life all His people who have died in Him & He will transform into resurrected life, all those who are still alive at His coming
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- The question is whether we bear the image of the heavenly now?
Q. Are we “in Christ” – are we modelling His life?
- The problem for the Corinthians is that they held to a one stage salvation
- When they die, the body is discarded & the spiritual just keeps going on – therefore, no bodily resurrection
- But believers are said to share both kinds of existence, that of Adam through their humanity & that of Christ through their resurrection
- What a great blessing to look forward to & all the more reason to stay strong in our faith & the hope we have & to serve God faithfully until Jesus comes
Questions:
1. After you die, would it concern you if you were cremated? If so, why?
2. When resurrected, what will you be glad to say goodbye to?
