1 Corinthians 15:35-49
How
many of you have ever watched a reality show on TV that attempts an extreme
makeover of a person or a house? The end results of surgery or reconstruction
are astonishing. Might I suggest this morning that those dramatic overhauls
are nothing compared to the transformation these old bodies will undergo one
day for Paradise to be regained!
Friend,
I don’t think it has dawned on us the transformation that God has in store
for His children and it is the finishing touch of your redemption!
Now,
I am aware that some of you are tempted to check out pretty early on in this
message because, “Who wants to talk about these things?”
You could care less about what happens to your body, especially after
you’re dead! You’re just hoping to find enough duct tape, bailing wire,
and aspirin to keep the thing running day after day. You are concerned with
other more pressing issues like keeping a marriage going, focusing on your job
or career, raising a family.
I understand. But if you indulge me a bit and hang in here I think you’ll
discover that what Paul said about your future body actually has an impact on
how you deal with the stresses and the crises that confront you on a daily
basis. This subject is more relevant than you realize.
1
Corinthians 15 is the great resurrection chapter in the Bible.
In verses 1-10
Paul argues the FACT of the
resurrection and states the central
claim of the Christian faith: that Christ died and lived to tell us what lies
beyond death’s door. That’s the Easter claim! Jesus Christ died at
the hands of professional executioners, that he was placed in a heavily
guarded tomb, and that three days later Jesus Christ conquered death. Jesus
appeared to hundreds of people, to his friends, to his family, and he appeared
to these people over a 40-day period of time. We call 15:3-5, “The Gospel in
a Nutshell”.
According to Paul, if this claim that Jesus
Christ rose from the dead isn’t true, then the Christian faith crumbles
and Christians are a pathetic group of wishful thinkers who are out of touch
with reality. Yet, according to the evidence presented by Paul, the fact that
Jesus Christ did rise from the grave is overwhelming.
In
verses 12-19, 29-34 he argues the
case that IF there is no
resurrection then there is absolutely no reason to have any hope for tomorrow
or any reason to sacrificially serve Christ in the present. He exhorts these
Christians to “come to [their] senses and stop sinning.”
In
verses 20-28 Paul uses the
resurrection of Christ to describe the order or sequence of the resurrection
in the future.
That
brings us to our main text in 1 Corinthians 15:35-50.
Remember, the focus of this entire chapter is on the
resurrection, beginning with the importance of Jesus Christ’s bodily
resurrection, and branching off from that to our own eventual resurrection and
bodily glorification. Paul employed the metaphor of planting a seed and the
eventual plant that grows from that seed. The seed appears to die when it’s
placed in the ground, yet when the seed is buried in the ground, from that
seed the new life of a plant results. There’s an organic connection between
the seed and the plant, yet their appearance—their form—is very different.
The
Illustration…Remember the Seed
(Verses
36-39)
This image of a seed and a plant makes even more sense
in light of modern physics. We know from the first law of thermodynamics that
physical matter can’t be destroyed, but that it only changes form into
energy. So the physical matter that composes our bodies doesn’t disappear
after we die, it merely changes form. So it doesn’t really matter whether
we’re buried in a graveyard or whether our bodies are cremated, or whether
we’re buried at sea; the physical material that make up our bodies does not
disappear.
Hank Hanegraaff
states, “We see that the blueprints for our glorified bodies are in the
bodies we now possess. While orthodoxy does not dictate that every cell of our
present bodies will be restored in the resurrection, it does require
continuity between our earthly bodies and our heavenly bodies. Just as there
is continuity between our present bodies and the bodies we had at birth –
even though all of our subatomic particles and most of our cells have been
replaced – so too there will be continuity from death to resurrection,
despite the fact that not every particle in our bodies will be restored. In
fact, without continuity, there is no point in even using the word
resurrection.”
Resurrection is
not re-animation of precisely the same materials arranged and related to each
other as when buried. Our current bodies will be resurrected, not replaced. I
think Paul’s illustration of the seed and the plant illuminates the
relationship between our current “tents” and our future “buildings.”
(2 Corinthians 5:1)
The
Improvement…Look at the Fruit
(Verses
42-44)
From a caterpillar to a butterfly, from an acorn to an
oak tree, our future state will be such an improvement. Adrian Rogers was fond
of saying, “When you are discouraged and feel a little blue. Take a look at
an acorn and see what a nut can do.”
Paul tells us that like a seed, our present physical body is perishable;
it’s subject to decay and disintegration. Whether we like it or not, whether
we admit it to ourselves or not, our physical bodies are disintegrating,
winding down each day, gradually limping toward death.
Yet like a seed that’s
placed in the ground, our perishable body will be raised imperishable,
immortal, free from decay and disintegration, just like the resurrected body
of Jesus Christ. Our earthly body wears out because
of decay, corruption, ruin…the heavenly body will never wear out.
Two martyrs, one blind and the other lame, were tied to
the stake. As the flames grew closer and the heat intense, the lame man
shouted to his friend, “Take courage brother! This fire will cure us
both.”
In its current condition our body is in a state of dishonor. But when it’s raised from the grave, like a seed
that’s sprouted into a plant, our bodies will be raised in glory. “Not
only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan
inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our
bodies.” (Roman 8:23)
The earthly body knows embarrassment and all kinds of
sinful desires…the heavenly body will know glory.
Do you know what the grave really is? It is a dressing
room for glory! Imagine a pile of rags transported to a mill where they are
changed into a beautiful piece of stationery. Or, visualize a lump of ugly
coal becoming a valuable diamond for they are of the same substance.
Our bodies in their current condition are in a state of
weakness, which points to our
physical limitations. Are you in the same physical shape you were ten years
ago? Amazingly our spirit and soul can grow stronger—our minds in education,
our emotions in maturity, and our spirits in Christian growth— yet, our
bodies are moving in the opposite direction. They’re getting tired, growing
weaker every day. Yet, like a seed after it’s planted, our bodies will be
raised in power.
The earthly
body is limited and weak held captive by the forces of the world such as
disease and aging but the heavenly body will know power and strength.
Oh friend, the last time you saw your loved one they
were housed in a body of weakness. The next time you see them they will be
sporting a body of power. Is that not awesome!
So our bodies in our present condition are natural
bodies, bodies that might be fitted for life in this world of time and space,
but bodies that aren’t fit for life in heaven with God. But when that seed
is planted and sprouts into a plant, when our bodies are raised from the dead,
they will be spiritual bodies, bodies that are fit for eternity, bodies that
are fully obedient and empowered by God’s Holy Spirit.
Notice that Paul referred to our future home as “a body”, not
just a spirit but a body. It is spiritual body, a body that’s been
sufficiently changed, so it’s fit for life with God in heaven.
The earthly body is anchored to nature…the heavenly
body is spiritual, anchored to eternity.
Image…An
Extreme Makeover
(Verse 47-49)
We will be changed to be like Christ! (Verse 49)
In these verses Paul changed the analogy. He accepted
the fact that Adam was an historical
figure, but his correlation refers to the “archetypal human.” Underlying
this is the notion of “corporate personality” wherein everything is
present in the first human that has come out in subsequent humanity. Adam
stands for humanity in general.
Paul clearly
stated that the earthly Adam came first and then came the heavenly Adam, Jesus
Christ. This progression is obvious and a fact of history.
The first Adam
failed while the second Adam fulfilled God’s plan and became God’s agent
of redemption. The first Adam displeased God because of unrighteousness while
the second Adam was a pleasure to God because of His righteousness. In fact,
the Father was so pleased with the Son that He determined to populate heaven
with sons and daughters just like Jesus! This divine intention is the ultimate
goal of redemption: justification
(redemption of man’s spirit), sanctification
(redemption of the mind, will and emotions) and glorification (redemption of the body).
Paul’s statement in verse 49, “just as we have borne the image of the
earthly one”, enables him to arrive at the main point. “Image” is a very
rich term, but here it means, “to have the same sort of body as.” All of
us are born with the “body of Adam” with all its limitations. The phrase,
“We shall also bear the image of the heavenly one” speaks of the
glorified, resurrected body that will resemble that of Christ’s resurrected
body. It will be as real as Christ’s body, but real as defined in eternal
terms, not earthly ones.
The point that
Paul seems to be making in this passage is that the resurrection body
completes the work of redemption and transforms us into the image of our
Savior.
Paul employed
the Christian doctrine of the “two realms”, the earthly and the heavenly,
the material and the spiritual, the temporal and the eternal, to properly
expose the divine revelation about the resurrection of the body. There have
always been two dimensions to reality; the strictly earthly and the invisible
heavenly. Those two dimensions were fused together in Jesus when the Word
became flesh. Indeed, He made the divine visible through the human, the
earthly. He was equally at home in both dimensions.
Through His
life, death and resurrection Jesus moves us from the image of the earthly Adam
into the image of “the heavenly man”.
When some of
you signed on with Jesus, became a Christian, your mindset was stuck in the
present. You believed that He would improve your life, quiet the restlessness
in your heart and give you a new direction...and, you were right!
However, that is only a part of what Jesus has to offer. I want to help you
come to the understanding that followers of Jesus are designed to become like
Him…Christlike, even to the point
of having a renewed body! This destiny is coded in your spiritual DNA.
Conclusion
The promise of Christ to His followers is this: He will transform our
bodies. We will experience a Total
Body Makeover and this sure future translated into a present hope.
Listen to this prayer delivered by a woman named
Macrina, a Christian who established on of the first Christian communities for
women in the 4th century:
“O Lord, you
have freed us from the fear of death. You have made the end of life here the
beginning of a true life for us. You give rest to our bodies in sleep, and you
awaken us again with the last trumpet. The dust from which you have fashioned
us with your hands you give back to the dust of the earth for safe keeping,
and you who have relinquished it will recall it after reshaping with
incorruptibility and grace our moral and graceless substance...”
This promise of a change, yet more than a change, a total
transformation is the basis of our hope. From the present condition like a
seed into the full fruit, enables us to endure affliction in our lives. Even
though it’s painful and difficult, even though we are perishable, our bodies
are lowly, even though our bodies are growing weak and tired, we can endure
these things because of God’s promise that this is just the seed, that a Total Makeover is coming.
