04.05.2015 Easter - 1 Cor. 15 - What will our Resurrected Bodies be Like?

Easter 2015 from Grace Summit on Vimeo.

One of my favorite writers says that Easter is to be celebrated like a great celebration – that we should “Pop the champagne corks” for breakfast! – But since you have to drive to church, maybe just the fizzy grape juice!

Lord, we thank You so much for this day, and this opportunity to remember and to hear this wonderful story – and even as we sang, the glory of You bursting forth on that glorious day! To think what must have been going through Mary’s mind – what emotion would have overwhelmed her! May our hearts be overwhelmed with joy - May we learn to celebrate, knowing that the victory has been won – guilt and death and sin have been dealt a final blow – and we can look forward to living with You forever. Encourage us from Your Word.

1 Cor. 15: 15 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 [a]the word which I preached to you, unless you believed in vain.3 For I delivered to you [b]as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. 6 After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen asleep; 7 then He appeared to [c]James, then to all the apostles; 8 and last of all, as [d]to one untimely born, He appeared to me also. 9 For I am the least of the apostles, [e]and not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and His grace toward me did not prove vain; but I labored even more than all of them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me. 11 Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

Paul starts with the bullet points of the gospel story:

1) Christ died for our sins

2) He was buried

3) He was raised

4) He appeared.

When we think of the gospel, what normally comes to mind is the ‘gospel presentation’. Decades ago, Billy wrote a gospel presentation – - The Plan of Salvation - since then, there have been many - 4 spiritual laws, do you know for certain, the bridge. Each of these gives a 5-10 minute presentation of what people need to know in order to begin a relationship with Jesus Christ.

These go like this –

1) God loves you and has a plan for your life.

2) We are sinners and we are separated from God. When humans sinned, that relationship with God was broken.

3) Christ died on the cross to pay for those sins that we might be forgiven – to bridge the gap between us and God.

4) If we put our faith in Christ, our relationship with God is restored and we can go to heaven.

This is critical to begin a relationship with Christ. Unless we come to that point, we have not yet begun! That must come first – the receiving of Christ and believing that He died on the cross for our sins.

But we see from Paul – the gospel must have an effect on our lives to transform us and overpower us – it is not just to have Easter eggs – especially colored ones… - We were with our 20 month old grandson this week – and boy was he enthralled with the colored eggs!

But that presentation we have heard – focuses on point 1 –

Paul goes into great detail about what the resurrection means – and he elaborates on the burial – and that is critical in Paul’s understanding of the gospel – and then – His appearance – Paul explains in 5 verses explaining the apologetics of the appearance – hundreds of witnesses – and solid historical evidence that what took place at Easter really happened.

In order to really understand Corinthians, we have to go back to the beginning. We are entering into the middle of the conversation – and Paul is responding to all that has happened – and in verse 12, we have one of those hints as to what was happening there…

12 Now if Christ is preached, that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; 14 and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain.

They must have believed that all material stuff was evil and that when people die, there is no physical resurrection – but for Paul, the resurrection is a bodily resurrection – and we will not get rid of evil because of that. But Paul is saying – if you don’t believe in a bodily resurrection – nothing else will make sense. And this has carried over until today. When people think of heaven – they think of us being on clouds somewhere – floating around – like ghosts or spirits… - but we don’t want to be in THAT heaven, because the one Paul describes for us is so much more glorious!

But look at verse 13

13 But if there is no (bodily) resurrection of the dead, not even Christ has been raised; 14 and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain (futile) , your faith also is vain (empty).

It is vain and empty – and even further:

17 and if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 19 If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.

For Paul, the crux of it all is the resurrection – and yes, we needed Christ to die for our sins – and we tend to stop there. We don’t emphasize what THEY emphasized – they focused on the resurrection – and that is why the burial is so important – because Jesus’ body was raised – a BODY came out of the tomb – the body has come back to life. The dead body of Jesus was raised.

N.T.Wright has said: “Bodily resurrection is not just one odd bit of that hope. It is the element that gives shape and meaning to the rest of the story of God's ultimate purposes. If we squeeze it to the margins, as many have done by implication, or indeed, if we leave it out altogether, as some have done quite explicitly, we don't just lose an extra feature, like buying a car that happens not to have electrically operated mirrors. We lose the central engine, which drives it and gives every other component its reason for working. When we talk with biblical precision about the resurrection, we discover an excellent foundation for lively and creative Christian work in the present world—not, as some suppose, for an escapist or quietist piety.”

Romans 8: 23 And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.

These bodies that we live in now are going to be redeemed – they will be changed –

1 Cor. 15: 20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who are asleep. 21 For since by a man came death, by a man also came the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, after that those who are Christ’s at His coming, 24 then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to the God and Father, when He has abolished all rule and all authority and power.

Paul is giving us a pattern – an order of how this works –

Christ FIRST has been raised from the dead. When the first fruit comes out – like a tomato – the rest of the fruit will also be tomatoes. When we see Christ raised – we can know that we will be like that.

1 Cor. 15: 35 But someone will say, “How are the dead raised? And with what kind of body do they come?” 36 You fool! That which you sow does not come to life unless it dies; 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 [k]something else. 38 But God gives it a body just as He wished, and to each of the seeds a body of its own.

This resurrected body will not look like the problems of THESE BODIES will it?

Fool! Paul says to me asking that question…

The body is like a kernel of corn – or wheat – or something else –

When we die – the kernel becomes a new body – when it grows up – the difference in the two bodies is amazing –

An acorn becomes an oak tree! There is an enormous difference! These bodies will be like that at the resurrection!

1 Cor. 15:39 All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one flesh of men, and another flesh of beasts, and another flesh of birds, and another of fish. 40 There are also heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one, and the glory of the earthly is another. 41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory. 42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown a perishable body, it is raised an imperishable body;

These bodies are flawed, broken, corrupted, filled with sickness and sin – but the new resurrected body will have none of that.

What would it be like to live this life in a body that has no flaws? To never have a sore neck or back or allergies or stress, mental problems – What would it be like to live that way, ALWAYS – with no anxiety, no fear, no pain, no sorrow?! That is what we have to look forward to! And we get to live it all in these immortal, imperishable bodies that He is going to give us.

1 John 3: 2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is.

When He appears – what will it be like in heaven? It will be like being like Jesus. Jesus has a body right now – after the resurrection – what did Mary do? She grabbed him! And what did He say? Let go of me! There was something there to hold!

He appears to the disciples – touch My hands and feet – and then He eats fish… and they didn’t see the fish swimming around in there like in cartoons – He was real.

When we put our trust in Christ, we have this new life in Christ.

Colossians says this life is hidden in Christ.

2 Cor. Says we see dimly – it is hard to tell what this new life is all about – because we still live in these bodies that are decaying and being corrupted. We can become somewhat like Jesus – we can learn to love better – to be more patient – to dimly experience it… but guess what – when you get your new body that is imperishable – you will be able to do it fully – you will be able to love completely like Christ did. Everything will change

1 Cor. 15: 49 Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly. 50 Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

We will bear His image fully. We will not be Adam and Eve 2.2 – we will be a new creation – the resurrected body will be so glorious.

CS Lewis – if you could see the person next to you in their resurrected state, you would be tempted to worship them!

1 Cor. 15: 51 Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised [r]imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For this [s]perishable must put on [t]the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; 57 but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.


All of this is going to happen because of what we read about and sang about Friday night – because of what Jesus did on the cross.

1 Cor. 15: 58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord.

Because of the bodily resurrection of Christ – and because our bodies will be raised to immortality – here is his point – what we do in these bodies now really matters. All that we do with these bodies will go on for eternity – because these bodies, transformed – will go on into eternity – so ALWAYS ABOUND – give yourself fully to the work of the Lord – because this very body will be transformed – and everything you do in this body will go on – and every aspect of work in the Lord will go forward.

1) Making disciples – leading people to faith in Christ – sharing with them the gospel presentation so that they can participate in these new bodies – we think, they will get out of hell – and that is true – but the positive side – this person will have a glorious new body – unflawed – who would not want that for everyone?! This Great Commission is part of the Easter story – go and tell the disciples – go and tell!

2) This calls us to Christ-like transformation in our lives. If these bodies will be raised to immortality – because of that – God is calling us to abound and transform our lives into the image of Christ – giving ourselves to overcoming the sins and addictions – those things that hold us down – because when we are transformed here – it will matter there – it will be rewarded there! That might be the best motivation to overcome something! This body that I am abusing is going to go on for eternity – so maybe, just maybe, it is a good idea to stop, to be transformed to be rid of some of these destructive things.

3) Learn to abound in the ministries of mercy, compassion and justice.

Whenever I was hungry, thirsty, in prison, you fed, gave me to drink, visited me….

What we do in these bodies matter in all eternity.

4) This calls us to love and get our relationships right. The resurrection says – because what we do will go on for eternity – there is no longer time for bitterness, impatience, attitudes of superiority – we need to get relationships right – to do what it takes – being willing to humble ourselves – to apologize – to correct things – to change who we are - because what we do in these bodies matters for all eternity.

Lord, we look forward – totally – that someday we will shed this brokenness, this sickness, these injuries, pains, sorrows – and they will be gone forever – and what a life we will live for all eternity – thank You – in Your name we pray – Amen!