878 1 Cor.15.50-58 We Will All Be Changed
1 Corinthians • Sermon • Submitted
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Two blind pilots were both wearing dark glasses. One is using a guide dog and the other is tapping his way along the aisle with a cane.
Nervous laughter spreads through the cabin, but the men enter the cockpit, the door closes and the engines start up.
The passengers begin glancing nervously around, searching for some sign that this is just a little practical joke. None is forthcoming.
The plane moves faster and faster down the runway and the people sitting in the window seats realise they're headed straight for the water at the edge of the airport. As it begins to look as though the plane will plow into the water, panicked screams fill the cabin.
At that moment, the plane lifts smoothly into the air. The passengers relax and laugh a little sheepishly and soon all retreat into their magazines, secure in the knowledge that the plane is in good hands.
In the cockpit, one of the blind pilots turns to the other and says, 'Ya know, Bob, one of these days, they're gonna scream too late and we're all gonna die.'
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- Well, we all hope for better pilots when we finally get to be able to travel again
- The fact still remains, though, that we are all gonna die at some point
27 And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,
- The Christian, however, is blessed above all because of what will happen at the last trumpet
- For when the trumpet sounds, CHANGE occurs
1. The Necessity for Change
1. The Necessity for Change
- One of the most profound things we understand is that the resurrected body will be of a different kind from the created realm
- This creative realm works by the law of physics & chemistry among others
- They are limiting since the world is not designed to retain its power nor to be imperishable
- There is a term used to describe this phenomena & it’s called “Entropy”
- The created universe is winding down or evening itself out
- Potency, energy, strength eventually will be lost
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- So much for technical stuff, but the fact is that God has created us to exist above & beyond the limitations of the created realm
- This is amazing to ponder
- But don’t be going down the track of the Corinthians who believe that when they die they become a disembodied spirit
- The biblical approach is that we receive a body of a different order
- A body that is superior in every way – it is described as imperishable
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- Just a little comment here on Lazarus – did He experience a resurrected body OR was he just brought back to physical life?
- It seems pretty clear that Lazarus was merely brought back to life
- He received back his mortality & would have died of old age
- Jesus’ resurrection is unique & so will His people’s be at His return
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- Now, receiving a resurrected, imperishable body is the same as inheriting the kingdom of God – “flesh & blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God”
- The blessing of abundant life in resurrected & imperishable glory won’t be for everyone
- As the book of Hebrews, that I quoted earlier, says...
27 And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment,
- Judgement is the work of acquitting or condemning
- We will die but after this comes judgement
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- You have to hang in here with me now
- Judgement - meaning acquittal or condemnation is now but not yet
- We live in this tension – we are saved now, but not yet / we have been judged & acquitted now because of Christ, but not yet
- It’s clearly laid out in the opening verses of chp. 15
1 Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received, in which also you stand, 2 by which also you are saved, if you hold fast the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.
- We can say that we are saved in the now – “by grace you have been saved” says Paul in Ephesians, but you have to continue in the faith
- You must remain in the faith & stand in the faith & hold fast to Gospel truth
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- The Corinthians were warned by Paul in no uncertain terms of the fate of those who ignore God’s will
9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, 10 nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God.
- All of us can lay claim to some of those things – but we have experienced the love & forgiveness of Christ through His death for our sins
3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
- In Christ, there is safety; there is forgiveness; there is relationship with our heavenly Father
- But living in those sins – think covetousness as that would include all of us if we are honest – will disinherit us from the kingdom if we do not repent of them
2. Resurrection Is a Divine Necessity
2. Resurrection Is a Divine Necessity
Q. Are you one for suspense? Some people hate to be informed of the end of a mystery novel or of who done it or who did the act?
- They enjoy the journey of discovery
- Some people thrive on the suspense of who might win the footy & will sit there watching it as it unfolds, screaming or cheering depending on how the team is performing
- I, for one, am not a fan of those nail-biting moments – I just prefer to find out who won & then go & watch it later if I think it might be worthwhile
- Yes, I know, people think “how could you” do that – you miss the best part!
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- The point is here in this section is that there is no suspense for any thrill-seeker
- The mystery is revealed – there is nothing not told to us about the how & what will happen when Jesus returns
- The revealed mystery is that some of us may perhaps, not die
- Jesus may come in our lifetime & we may be changed in that moment
- Changed from perishable to imperishable
- In the twinkling of an eye – in the snap of a finger – poor evolutionists would struggle here – this is certainly an evolution-free zone
- In an instant, there will be transformation
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- If you ask the question of whether you have an immortal soul, the answer is no – that is a Greek view, inherited from the likes of Plato
- The human person dies
- Immortality is associated with a supernatural, resurrected body
- The long line of death & decay brought in by the first Adam will be finally & irrevocably ended by the last Adam
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Q. What do you notice here in v.53?
53 For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality.
- The Israelites when wandering in the desert had clothing that never wore out on them – how did that happen? We have clothing that wears out on us in under 5 yrs, let alone 40.
- The Lord sovereignly caused the clothes to never wear out
- Just as He made manna come down from the sky every night
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- There is a divine must here
- The future age is incorruptible – it cannot wear out or weaken
- When you go out to a formal dinner, you must "put on” the right clothing
- No one wears togs to a debutante ball, do they?
- You must of necessity "put on” PPE if you are a front line worker dealing with Covid patients
- There are no options presented here – it is exclusively a “must put on”
- The whole notion of this perishable putting on the imperishable certainly smacks of putting on clothing as a metaphor for the resurrected body
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- Of course, the clothing metaphor is alive in the NT
- Jesus told a parable about a man who entered a wedding feast without the clothing that had been given to the guests by the King & he was ejected into the outer darkness where there is weeping & gnashing of teeth – he was not wearing the proper clothing
- Paul. in Galatians, tells those who had been baptised into Christ, that they have been clothed with Christ
- Christ is the proper clothing that will last forever & is the only form of acceptable “clothing” that will move a person from the natural to the supernatural
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- Interestingly, the apostle puts this divine change in the “must” category
- There are no options given
- You can’t chose to stay “flesh & blood” – just have a renewed human body, like Lazarus as you will keep “decaying”
- You don’t have the option to come back as a cow or a grasshopper
- I can’t imagine why you’d want to – but Hinduism believes that if you have been good in this life, you may come back in a higher form, but on the other hand, if you haven’t been good then you might come back in a lower form like a rat
- Actually, in India, they will not kill rats for the very reason that some of them might be a relative or ancestor – I’m serious!
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- The point here is that the resurrection from the dead is a divine necessity
- The age to come is a supernatural age, therefore, you must be equipped to fit in with a supernatural age
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Q. It’s kinda scary, isn’t it pondering what will happen to us when we die or if Jesus comes before we die?
- If you were a baby in a womb & all you knew was darkness & being cramped, you couldn’t ever begin to imagine the world that you have never seen to which you are about to be born into
- To an extent, it is like this with us – as Paul says regarding the end
12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.
- Likewise, he says…
6 Therefore, being always of good courage, and knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord— 7 for we walk by faith, not by sight— 8 we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body and to be at home with the Lord. 9 Therefore we also have as our ambition, whether at home or absent, to be pleasing to Him.
- Notice he says that we “walk by faith, not by sight”
- The natural must give way to the supernatural
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- The apostle also says that the end – when Jesus returns – will take place at the last trumpet
- In Jewish apocalyptic writing, in Ezekiel, Joel & Zechariah for example, we see the trumpet as an indicator of a battle that the Lord would fight
1 Blow a trumpet in Zion, And sound an alarm on My holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, For the day of the Lord is coming; Surely it is near,
- The last trumpet, Paul says, is the signal of the last battle that Jesus would fight
- This last trumpet signals, not only the return of the King, but of the end
3. Death Is Swallowed Up in Victory
3. Death Is Swallowed Up in Victory
- The thing we fear most, whether we consciously acknowledge it or not, is death
14 Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.
- People don’t approach God because they consider their situation as hopeless
- How could God ever want to accept someone like me – they would have this in the back of their minds
- Death makes them feel like the only thing to live for is the moment – the present – eat, drink & be merry, for tomorrow we die
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- Sin has the world captive & they know that they cannot get themselves into the right place with God to have any hope of transcending death – sin is real & it is stifling!
- Here, you see the rationalisation of Hinduism at work where the form in which you are reincarnated is determined by whether you were good or bad
- Whether you come back as an Eagle or a Rat
- The old father Christmas jingle, “Santa Claus is coming to town” comes into play here too
“He knows if you've been bad or good, So be good for goodness sake!
O! You better watch out! You better not cry, Better not pout, I'm telling you why, Santa Claus is coming to town”
- It might have been a handy tool of manipulation to get unruly kids to behave a bit better so that Santa Claus will give some presents, but it has no take or understanding of grace
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- A person without Christ does indeed have something to fear
- They know that they fall short of the glory of God
- Death is the end for them & a life with God seems fatally doomed
- But for the Christian, it is a constant stream of hope here, hope there
- There is nothing uncertain about the fate of those who trust in Christ & who walk with Christ
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- I take a great deal of comfort from seeing the way the disciples responded to Jesus
- John lent on His chest to quietly ask Him a question
- Peter through off his outer garment & jumped into the water & swam to the shoreline because he saw Jesus on the beach
- He might have only out-swam the boat by a matter of seconds, but any second away from Jesus was just too long
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Q. I ask you, how could a condemning God have those responses to Jesus if they thought that He was out to get them, or to wish them harm or to quickly judge them?
- I fail to see how they could have responded in the way they did to Jesus having been with Him for at least 3 yrs, & still had no inhibitions toward adorning Him, loving Him & coming near to Him
- It seems the problem may be entirely from our side of the equation
- It’s sin that corrupts & absolute sin corrupts absolutely
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- Paul, in this passage, does a beautiful job of mocking “death”
Q. Do you recall the confidence of David as he faced the monstrous man, Goliath?
Q. Do you recall the confidence of Elijah as he faced the hostile prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel?
- David says to Goliath...
46 “This day the Lord will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, 47 and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the Lord’s and He will give you into our hands.”
- Your sword is no better than a tooth pick in the sight of my God, he says
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- Or Elijah who mocks the prophets of Baal
27 It came about at noon, that Elijah mocked them and said, “Call out with a loud voice, for he is a god; either he is occupied or gone aside, or is on a journey, or perhaps he is asleep and needs to be awakened.”
- Mockery can only be done from a position of confident victory
- To mock & yet be on the losing side would turn the mockery back on yourself
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- Paul mocks death – take this death you useless weak & pathetic excuse for a curse
- Where is your sting? Where is your victory?
- You know he can only do this from the place of victory – not his victory, but the victory of our Lord Jesus Christ
- Jesus died for our sins – He nailed the law & all its decrees to the cross so that they died with Him
13 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, 14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him.
- “Death is dead, Christ has conquered” is a line from the Getty’s song, “See, what a Morning”
- But there is more here too
- He has disarmed the demonic rulers & authorities who used our sins against us to keep us from God
- They have no standing either morally or legally – sin has been dealt with by the sacrificial death of our Lord & Saviour
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O death where is your victory?
O death where is your sting?
- Death has been robbed of its power – it is now powerless before the Christian – it cannot hold us in its grip!
When I was a kid, I’d run around in bare feet. In Qld., this time of year, the clover would be out over the lawns & with the clover were the bees. I’ve lost count of how many stings my sisters & I got from running over the clover & to then feel this painful sting under the ball of your foot.
Like all kids, we call mum to pull the stinger out but in the meantime its still pumping in the poison.
- Death had a stinger but through the death & resurrection of Jesus, it has been removed
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- Just a note here on v.56
- The sting of death is sin & the power of sin is the law
- I mentioned before that the law no longer is ruler over God’s people
- It has been nailed to the cross
- The law is the good will of God, but the law on its own becomes a tyrant
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- The law cannot help you keep its rules anymore than a speed sign can help you slow down – its just a sign
- But a speed sign often tells you loud & clear that you are a transgressor – you violate the rule
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- If you take away speed signs, you cannot violate any rules so you don’t feel condemned
- Of course, you feel condemned when the standard is set before you
- When the standard is set before you, you know clearly that you violate it & hence feel condemned
- This is what Paul means by “the power of sin is the Law”
- Sin reveals itself when the standard is set & a person then consciously violates the standard
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- The law is based on 2 principles – love of God & love of neighbour
- Jesus says that the whole law is summed up in these 2 commands
- If you love, you want to travel at a sensible speed that will allow you to drive safely to not cause any harm
- In taking away the tyranny of living under law, Christ has freed us from its power & condemnation
- Instead of living by the letter of the law, we live by His love that He has placed in us
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- It doesn’t mean we are lawless – a criticism from the Jews against Paul’s teaching that Christians are not under the law’s rule – it just means that we live under the “law or love of Christ”
- The law is still good – it gives us training in righteousness
- We may not have speed signs or laws against speeding, but it doesn’t mean that you can’t be mindful of the dangers of speeding nor mindful of the hurt you may cause others by speeding
- Through love, you may well drive slower than the law commands
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- So we need to understand that death is not simply the result of decay in the normal human experience, but the result of a deadly stinger called sin – but the stinger has been pulled of its power by Christ’s death & resurrection
- Jesus died to set us free from sin as the song “Glorious Day” says, “He carried my sins far away”
4 and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”
4. The Ultimate Reason to Stay Immovable
4. The Ultimate Reason to Stay Immovable
- It should be quite clear to us all from what we have seen today, that we should remain steadfast & immovable in our faith
- That we can abound in the work of the Lord because none of our labours in the Lord can be lost – nothing we do for the Lord will be in vain – they will follow us into eternity
- The hope for our future – our victory over sin & death – is based on & secured by the victory of Jesus over sin & death
Q. Can we recommend Jesus to the world? You’d have to be nuts not to!
“I recommend to you Jesus Christ, the unchanging One. I recommend to you God's answer to your questions, God's solution to your problems, God's life for your dying soul, God's cleansing for your sin-cursed spirit, God's rest for your restless mind, and God's resurrection for your dying body. Our advocate above, I recommend Him to you. You will find Him to be all He ever was – the very same Jesus.”
― A.W. Tozer, The Attributes of God: Deeper into the Father's Heart
Questions:
1. We “live by faith not by sight”! What do you find most difficult about living by faith in a modern world & how have you answered that in your heart?
2. It has been said by comedians, “I don’t fear dying, just the manner in which I die”. Share some of the things about death that you wrestle with.