Transcription
[music] [music] Will the Lord be with you?
If you have a Bible, and I hope you or someone around you does, would you turn with me? We are going to be in 1 Corinthians this morning, chapter 15. And we're going looking at verses 35 to 58. So, we're going to actually be finishing chapter 15 this morning. 1 Corinthians chapter 15:es 35- 58. And if you have a bulletin, it actually has that text on there for you with our um fill-in-thelank outline to follow along if you have one.
But what we've been seeing in this series is that Paul is writing this letter to a church in the city of Corenth. And all throughout this letter, what he's doing is he's addressing one issue after the other. And what we find is that that the Corinthians that they have a lot of issues that this is a messed up church. This is not a perfect church by any stretch of the imagination. And so he's been hopefully guiding them to biblical truth by addressing one issue after the other. And if you notice that as he addresses each of these issues, he ultimately has been calling them back to their identity found in Christ. specifically found in the gospel message, the good news of salvation found in Jesus.
And so as we got to chapter 15, we find that this is really the climax of the letter where he has been kind of hinting and pointing back to Christ. He now just goes full out and says this is the message. This is the one thing that will bring biblical unity to the church. This is a divided church. And he says the solution, how do you find true unity? It's you center your entire life around the gospel message. And I've said this before is that the gospel is not a message that should be preached. It is the message that should be preached. If you go to a church and the gospel is not regularly proclaimed, you need to find another church because this is the only message that is the power of God to salvation. This is the good news. This is what Jesus has done for us.
And so what we find in 1 Corinthians 15 is that Paul then specifically explains the gospel in a nutshell for us. And what he says here in verse three is I delivered to you first of all that which I also received that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and that he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. So what he lets us know is the gospel in a nutshell is this. Jesus is the Christ. He died for your sins. You sinned against God. You fall short of the glory of God. He died for your sins. He was your substitute on the cross. He was buried. He literally tangibly was detached from a cross and then put in a cold tomb. And then on the third day, he rose from the dead. He conquered sin and he conquered death. And it was according to the scriptures. meaning that not only was it something he did in history, but all of the prophets had been pointing to that moment. So, you can even check the history and look at what did the prophets say and see how Christ is the fulfillment.
And then even more so, he appeared to numerous eyewitnesses after the resurrection. We have over 500 eyewitnesses who saw the risen Christ. Paul being one of them. And Paul was not a believer before the crucifixion. Actually, Paul was a persecutor of the church. The one who wrote this letter, the one who wrote majority of the New Testament, he hated Christ. He hated the church. The only reason he is proclaiming the gospel message is because he had an encounter with the risen Christ. And so he wants us to be so crystal clear on this fact that this is not just religious faith or fiction. This is historical fact for Paul. Paul gave up a life of being a wealthy Pharisee to suffer persecution, imprisonment, ultimately martyrdom because he believed that Christ died for our sins, was buried, and rose from the dead. And so he says, "This is the message that I come to you first. This is the the the most important thing that I could ever give you as the church. This is your hope of salvation."
And then what he goes on to say is that if Christ is not risen then our hope is feudal. Our faith is feudal. Nothing matters in this life if Christ is not risen. But if Christ is risen it means everything for us. And his resurrection as he points out is actually linked to our resurrection. And so that's what we're going to be looking at this morning in verses 35- 58 is that Paul now unveils the glory that is coming for all those who have trusted in Jesus Christ. And so many times Christians don't really have a biblical worldview of what the end is going to be like. Sometimes we think of ourselves as being these floaty spirits in the clouds, right, with the pearly gates. But that's not our future hope. Our future hope is resurrection. is to be physical, is to be more solid, more weighty than even we are now. See, our hope is resurrection, heaven and earth being reunited, where God will dwell with man forever. That is our hope. And so, that's what we're going to be looking at as he now starts to unpack for us the details of the future resurrection.
Because if you remember the Corinthians, the reason he's pointing this out now is that one, if you don't have the resurrection, you don't have the gospel. If Jesus didn't rise, that's just a Jew that died on a tree. But if he rose, then his message actually carries weight. But he also goes on because these Corinthians were though they believed, many of them believe Jesus rose from the dead, they were doubting whether or not we could rise from the dead. Is it really possible that all of these people that believe in Jesus that they're really going to raise physically from the dead? They were trying to spiritualize it. They were they were they were casting doubt on the gospel message. And so Paul here is explaining now to us how this could be possible.
So in verse 35 it says this. You see some hypothetical questions that these these skeptical Corinthians may be asking Paul. And it says, 'But someone will say, 'How were the dead raised up? And with what body do they come?' See, they're they're they're skeptical. They're they're questioning Paul. They're saying, "How is it possible that we could see someone be raised up from the dead? And if so, what type of body? What what's it going to consist of? What's it going to look like?" That's that's the essentially the question that they're asking. And in response to that question, I think Paul shows us that creation itself points to resurrection. You may have never thought of it like this before, but I hope to show you that when you just look at at God's creation, when you look at the things around you, you're going to see how it all points to resurrection. It all points to the hope that we have in the good news of salvation of Jesus Christ, the hope of the gospel.
Because in verses 36 to 41, Paul actually gives three analogies to point to the fact how creation shows us or gives us glimpses of what the resurrection is going to be like. And what he points from is the agricultural world, the animal kingdom, and the celestial realm. Those are the three things that he uses as analogy. So the first one in verses 36 to 38, what he and I'll read this for us here. says, "Foolish one, what you sow is not made alive unless it dies. And what you sow, you do not sow that body that shall be, but mere grain, perhaps wheat or some other grain, but God gives it a body as he pleases, and to each seed its own body." So once again, this is this is an analogy from the agricultural world. What he's saying is that we all know what it's like when you sew a seed, right? You plant a seed in the ground in the earth and then what we see is that what happens to a seed? It falls, it dies and it decays. But from that death, what happens? New life emerges. You plant a seed and it produces life. It produces a plant, a tree, a crop. See, death brings life. So what he is showing us here is that even on the most basic level, the things that you look at every single day when you walk down the street, you see all these trees, you see the plants, you see grass, you see all of these things. That is evidence of resurrection. You see falling, dying, decaying, and then emerging into new life, transformed. And that's what he's pointing out here in verse 43. He's saying that just like we see the seeds are being sown to the ground and bringing life, so too will it be for our bodies. It says it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. See, he's talking about how our bodies, one day we will fall. We will die. And our bodies will decay. We will be swn into the earth. But just like a seed, it will produce in us something extravagant. So he's showing us here how a seed can lead to new life. And in fact, we even know in Jesus's own ministry, he says something very similar in John 12 24. He says,"Most assuredly I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it produces much grain. See, Jesus is talking about his death and resurrection. But he goes on and says, not only whenever he suffers and dies, will it produce life for himself, but it actually is going to produce much grain. That is there's going to be more life. And that's actually including us in this story. So he's even giving a hint of his resurrection and our resurrection even in John 12. So all of this is meant to show us that when you see a seed fall into the ground, you should be encouraged. Resurrection is coming. When you see a tree, when you see an evergreen tree, vibrant new life is coming. That's what he wants us to see from this analogy.
But he goes on another step and then he says in verse 39 that also, you know, the question is about what type of body will they come in? He says God has already created all different kinds of bodies or flesh. Think about this. We have humans. We have animals like the land dwellers. We have fish and we have birds. They all have different body types. They look different. They function differently. So if you are saying God can create a fish with scales, a bird with feathers, you can create all different types of animals with horns and hooves and you can create us with this anatomical structure and the mind capacity that we have. You don't think that God could create a new type of body? It really seems kind of, you know, it's just kind of foolish to to think about how could we say God can create all of these things. He can create the universe from nothing but he can't create a glorified body. Why would be be so skeptical of this? So he he goes there. So he says a seed falls and dies and brings new life. God has already created all different kinds of flesh, all different kinds of bodies. And then in verses 40 to 41, he then also shows us that each celestial body has its own glory. So he's talking about how like the earth, the sun, the moon, the stars, they all radiate a different amount of light and heat and they're different sizes. So if God can give certain things a certain degree of glory, right? We know the sun is brighter than the moon, really the moon, as we even saw earlier this morning in our study is that the moon reflects the sunlight, right? So the moon only gets its glory because of the sun. But likewise, we know that there are many other stars. And some stars shine brighter than others. And he says, "So likewise, God can give us a new body that will be more radiant, more glorious than even what we possess at this moment." So all of these things are just little examples of how you can see life can emerge from death, how God can create and has created different types of bodies, different types of flesh. And some of these bodies are going to have different levels of glory, of radiance. So he's using all of these analogies just to show you how it's very possible that God can bring resurrection.
And I would even argue a step further that I think God has embedded resurrection patterns throughout all of creation, even more than what Paul lists here. I don't think Paul is giving an exhaustive list. I think he's just within this letter just giving a few different arguments for this. But think about Psalm 19:1. It says, "The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows his handiwork." I think this is a reminder that when you look at nature, when you look to the heavens, when you have relationship with other rational beings, all of these things are meant to show you that there is a God. You see his handiwork. You see his essence. You see his nature. You see what he is like in so many ways. And I think he also, not only has he shown us what he is like, but I think he shows us what he is doing through creation. And so, just think about this. In Genesis 1:1, the very first verse of the Bible, it says, "In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." The very first verse. What is it saying? that in the beginning, before anything was there was non-existence, God spoke and everything now exists. God created life from nothing. Think about that. Everything that is came from barrenness, spiritual death. If you think of it, there was nothing and God created everything. So the the fact that there is a universe is a is a sign of resurrection. Nothing to life. The creation points to this.
Or even think about the seasons. I know many of us notice it's getting a little bit more chilly this morning. That's a sign that we're moving into a different season, right? We we get into the fall. Ultimately, we get into the winter. And what happens in winter? Most things die, don't they? But we know that spring is on its way. And after spring, we know that summer is near. Jesus says that whenever he returns, we will see the signs. And the signs will point that summer is near. See, he even pulls from the seasons. Every single season of life is actually meant to show you the cycle of life, death, and resurrection. See, all matters of this world are meant for you to see echoes of the resurrection. Think about that. How cool is that? I want you to leave this morning to where you can look at anything in this world and it can be reminding you of the gospel. I want you to be able to think about resurrection, life after death, with everything you see. Whether that's another person you're speaking with, whether you're looking at the stars, when you're looking at the plants, when you see a bird, I want you to think resurrection. all of the time. That's what I think Paul is getting at here, that creation points to the resurrection.
And so, okay, if the resurrection then is true, if creation is literally um embedded with these patterns to to show us the resurrection, then this means that our earthly bodies will be transformed into eternal bodies. And I know so many times we we hear this and we know this, but if we would just let this thought truly sink in, what this means for everybody who is in Christ, our earthly bodies, the body that you have right now will be transformed, transformed, completely changed into an eternal body, an everlasting, glorious body. Every saint, whether you are young, old, regardless of your past, regardless of how wealthy you are, regardless of what your education level is, whatever, regardless of your degree or or your your your occupation, every saint, every person who has trusted in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior has this hope. you will be glorified.
And so look at verses 50 to 52. It says, "Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised, incorruptible, and we shall be changed." He says, "There will be a day where Christ is coming back." And when Christ returns, you're going to hear that last trumpet sound. And when that trumpet sound when it passes, you are going to be transformed in the twinkling of an eye. That means instantaneously you'll be walking down the street and you're going to be glorified. For those who are passed on, they will be raised and glorified. And if you were one of the ones on the earth waiting for that day and you happen to see the Lord coming in power and glory, you're going to be changed in that moment.
And in verses 42 and following, he kind of contrasts for us what it means to be glorified. What does it mean to be changed, to be transformed? And so he gives us a a a kind of a list of earthly bodies, what what earthly bodies are like, and then what our eternal bodies will be like. And what he shows is that our earthly bodies will be corruptible or rather are corruptible, dishonored, weak, and natural. What does it mean to be corruptible? Well, I think many of us are probably really familiar what it means to have a body that's corruptible. It means we have aging, we have aches, we have pains, we have sicknesses, disease. Our bodies, they get weak. We know our bodies are finite. That's what it means to be corruptible. Our bodies can fall apart. Our bodies are dishonored. That is, they carry with it shame. And we know with some of the things that have come with our past, maybe you even have a mark to point to something you did in the past that was foolish. It's dishonored. It's weak. We know our bodies can't do all the things that we hoped they would be. And as you've gotten older, maybe the things that maybe even you could do now are difficult. We have a fragile body, fragile life. And it's natural. We do things by the earth. We do things of the flesh. We are created from dust. So earthly bodies, we see that they are corruptible, dishonored, weak, and natural.
But on the flip side, what we have a hope for is these glorious eternal bodies. and they will be incorruptible, glorious, powerful, and spiritual. What does it mean to be incorruptible? Well, if if corruptible means to age, right, to decay, to to fall apart, what incorruptible means is that it's perfect. What does it mean? What would it be like if your body would never age? If your body would never hurt, ache. I'm talking to those people that are there some out here that have that back pain really bothers them really limits their mobility. Maybe it's hard to sleep at night. Are there people out there that just get serious migraines and sometimes it will last for days on end? Are there some people here that have had an ongoing health issue? Are there some people you know that might have cancer right now? Incorruptible means all of that is gone forever. Your body will be perfect. It will never feel pain or suffering ever again. No cancer, no sickness, no aches, no sorrow. Incorruptible means perfect, glorious. It means that we will be honored with this new body that we will actually emit radiance. I think of when Moses spent time with the Lord on the Mount Si, he came back and it says that his face was glowing. I think that we will literally have a body that will be glorious, that will radiate the glory of God. Our bodies will be honored. They will be glorious and powerful. Your body that that is limited right now in space and time that you feel the limitations of being finite. You will feel what it's like to be infinite. It's truly amazing to think about what that would be like to to be able to do anything physically to to not have these limitations that we have here on the earth. And then finally, spiritual. And it's it's important not to be uh to misread that and think that we're going to be spirit. Spiritual here is meant to be spiritually empowered. That is that we are finally able for our bodies to be completely given over to the Holy Spirit. Where the Holy Spirit now guides us in everything we do. It always will give honor to the Lord. No longer will we be dwelling or dealing with with the flesh and and our sinful proclivities, but we will be fully surrendered to Christ. And so that is what we have to to hope for. The contrast between earthly and the eternal.
And if that's not clear enough, it says earlier in the text, it says that Jesus is the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. We read that last week. He is the first fruits. That is the the the first type of quality what we will be like physically resurrected. It's what he was. And so we look to Jesus and what we find is his resurrection is the blueprint for ours. That should amaze you to think about what did Jesus do when he was raised. Well, he was physical once again, not spirit. He could eat and drink. He could be touched, but he also could pass through walls. They had the door shut and locked, it says in one appearance, and that he appears in the room. So, he's physical, but he can pass through walls. We also see that he can teleport. We see that he can ascend. He can fly. Sometimes we don't even think about what this is really like. Jesus was a physical being that was able to do these things, but he also had the wounds. Now, I don't think this is a teaching here that we all are going to keep our scars, but what I think it does remind us is that we're keeping the same body. This is not a God forsakes your old body and gives you a new body. What he does is he renovates, he redeems, he restores, he transforms your old body and you keep your same identity. You were still always going to be who you are. You don't lose yourself in being glorified, but rather you are redeemed. you were restored to the greatest possible being that you could be as an individual. And I just think about it for a moment when I think about all of the examples of the Old Testament of great feats that someone has done. Think about the wisdom of Solomon. Think of the strength of Samson. Think of the speed of Elijah. Think about all of these different examples, these different stories. You will be wiser than Solomon. You will be stronger than Samson. You will be faster than Elijah. You will do so much more than all of these stories. Why? Because you will be like Christ. Christ is greater than than Solomon, Samson, than Elijah. He is greater than all of them. So, I'm so glad that it says you will not be made like Solomon one day. We will be like Christ. 1 John 3:2 it says, "Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when he is revealed, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. When you see Christ, you will be made like him. You will be glorious. You will be perfect. You will be strong. You will be everything that God has ever hoped for you. And this isn't just wishful thinking, by the way. This is the gospel. This is why we can come here. This is why we come here every week to worship. Because God has made this a reality for us. The gospel is saying that our story is dust to glory. That's what he's showing us here in this passage. He says that you were made from the dust. And if you were left to your own devices with your own sin, you would be dust. Everything in this universe would be dust eventually. We would all be gone. Because of the grace of God, we have glory to hope for. We have a true hope. And in Romans 8:18, Paul says, "For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us." I can't even hope to explain to you how great our future is. I can try to give you, you know, a comparing contrast. I can tell you about the Old Testament stories. I can say you're going to be like Jesus. But until you just fully understand that that it is beyond our comprehension what is to come for you for every saint to be like Christ to be like the divine we will be glorified changed forever. If you really just would sit with this thought, it will transform everything that our earthly bodies will be transformed into eternal glorious bodies.
And if this is true, then we see verses 54 to 58 what the reality is then for death. And what we find here is that when we are changed, when we are transformed, we can say that death is defeated. That is why we say the gospel is good news. Jesus defeated death. And it's so important that we hear this because the ultimate question that all of us as humans have to ask is does death have the final say. Once again, if Jesus is not risen, if God does not exist, all you have to face at the end is death. Everyone you love, everything you care about ultimately will fall and fade away. It will be forgotten. Death is the end apart from Christ. And so you think about your life. If Christ is not risen, once again, I've used this analogy. You can spend time thinking about your job, finances, relationships, trying to do good here on the earth, but all that is is just reorganizing the deck chairs on the Titanic. I mean, yeah, you can make a nice row, you can stack the chairs, you can do whatever you want, but ultimately, you know, it's all going down. It will all be destroyed. Those chairs are not staying on the deck once the water consumes. Same thing with life. If Jesus is not risen. If death is not defeated, then everything in this life is is pointless. It's meaningless.
But if Christ is risen once again, then everything changes. Anything is possible. And that's what he shows us here in verse 54 and following. It says, "So when this corruptible has put on incorruption, and this mortal has put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory." Oh, death, where is your sting? Oh, Hades, where is your victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Death has lost its sting. You see Jesus, he has taken the doom out of death. He has taken the gloom out of the grave because Christ is our victory. He is our victory. And it's so important that you hear this because in Christ, the grave that was once a period has now become a comma. The grave has lost its power in Christ. But it's so important that you hear this. It's only in Christ that this is possible. Apart from Christ, you face death. You face eternal torment and suffering. There is no hope for those who are outside of Christ. No diet, no workout plan, no lifestyle habits can save. Only Jesus Christ, only he is the one who has lived a perfect life, died on the cross for your sins, rose from the dead, conquering sin and death. He is the only one. And so you must trust in him as Lord and Savior. And if you do that with a sincere heart, the gospel says this hope is for you. You not only are justified, will you be sanctified but one day glorified. That is our hope in Jesus Christ.
And Jesus says this in John 11:es 25-26. He says, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Don't you love that? That is what Jesus taught. That is what he came to do for you and for me. Jesus conquered death. He killed death is what Jesus did for us so that we would be glorified forever in his kingdom. Experiencing the the greatest joy, the greatest peace you can possibly imagine. Once again, any good thing on this earth, it is a glimpse of what God is like. It is a glimpse, a taste of what Jesus truly is. So anything good in this life is nothing to be compared to the glory that is to come with him. And it's a reality for all those in Christ right now if you trust in him. And so that's why Jesus says in Matthew 16:18, I will build my church and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. Death cannot conquer the church. The church has overcome the grave in Jesus Christ. And so I want you today to live in victory. The battle is already won. You don't have to try to fight to gain victory. Christ has already given you victory. I want you to live from victory. Live in the victory that Christ has already won for you.
Because in verse 58, what it says here, "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." He says, "You've already won. Thanks be to God that we have victory in our Lord Jesus Christ." And so that means that everything you do in this life, when you are serving the Lord, when you are trusting in God, it's not in vain. You don't waste any time in this world now because of Christ's victory. Everything has meaning, has weight. It carries significance because of Christ. Because of his victory. Now when you go to work, when you get out of bed, when you love those around you, when you share the gospel message, it carries eternal significance. Everything matters because of Christ's resurrection. And so I want you to live in that victory. And I want you to labor knowing that your labors are not in vain. Everything matters because of Christ defeating death. And so God's final word over his creation, God's final word over his church, over the saints, it's not death, it's glory. That's the final word. Death does not have the final say. The final word is glory. The grave has lost its grip. Death, its sting, and life now will triumph forever. If you believe that, that is going to radically transform everything. If this is true, this means that nothing else compares. That glory is coming. Glory is promised to all those who trust in the risen Savior. And I pray if that is you that you have never done that, I pray today is the day that you will trust in him for salvation and that you will be glorified. that you will be changed with all of us on the day when the trumpet sounds and Christ returns.