WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:09.439 On December 23rd, 2025, former Senator and University President Ben Sass made a devastating and shocking post on his ex account. 00:00:09.599 --> 00:00:17.920 He wrote, and I quote, last week I was diagnosed with metastasized stage four pancreatic cancer and am gonna die. 00:00:18.399 --> 00:00:21.679 Senator Sass just turned 54 years old. 00:00:21.920 --> 00:00:25.920 His post continued reminding us of the reality that we all face. 00:00:26.079 --> 00:00:29.280 He wrote, advanced pancreatic is nasty stuff. 00:00:29.440 --> 00:00:30.960 It's a death sentence. 00:00:31.280 --> 00:00:34.640 But I already had a death sentence before last week, too. 00:00:34.880 --> 00:00:35.840 We all do. 00:00:36.560 --> 00:00:38.479 That's a sobering statement. 00:00:39.039 --> 00:00:41.600 Well, Ben Sass is known for his political career. 00:00:41.759 --> 00:00:44.240 He's also a fellow believer in Christ. 00:00:44.479 --> 00:00:49.920 And given the gravity of his situation, I've been amazed at his attitude and outlook. 00:00:50.159 --> 00:00:56.560 In a subsequent post, he stated his goal was to redeem the time he had left, which is short. 00:00:56.719 --> 00:01:01.039 And so he's written op-eds and started a podcast. 00:01:01.359 --> 00:01:07.920 In fact, in a recent deeply moving interview with theologian Michael Horton, Sass bluntly described his diagnosis. 00:01:08.079 --> 00:01:16.400 He said, My torso's chock full of tumors, and I'm poisoning myself with chemotherapy, hoping it kills the cancer before me. 00:01:16.959 --> 00:01:18.480 It's heartbreaking. 00:01:18.719 --> 00:01:23.120 And yet in the interview, Sass and Horton found themselves laughing. 00:01:23.519 --> 00:01:24.159 Why? 00:01:25.680 --> 00:01:28.159 They called it gallows humor. 00:01:28.319 --> 00:01:33.920 Now, if you don't know, gallows is a wooden frame used for execution of a person by hanging. 00:01:34.079 --> 00:01:44.079 And they laughed because, as Christians, they understand that while the sting of the diagnosis is real, our victory has already been won on the cross of Christ. 00:01:44.480 --> 00:01:49.439 As Sass said, nothing focuses the mind quite like an impending hanging. 00:01:49.680 --> 00:01:57.040 Cancer has shattered his idols, forcing him to face the reality that we are all on the clock. 00:01:57.519 --> 00:02:00.319 Now, how would you respond if this was you? 00:02:01.200 --> 00:02:06.719 I know, in fact, that some in the audience are or have faced this situation. 00:02:07.120 --> 00:02:09.680 And even if you have it, one day you will. 00:02:09.919 --> 00:02:14.400 It can come out of nowhere because we're all on the clock. 00:02:14.719 --> 00:02:19.840 Now, Sass's story gives us a window into a question our whole series has been asking. 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:22.719 What does God do with the body that suffers? 00:02:22.960 --> 00:02:31.280 And it's timely because today, as you heard Suzanne read, we're going to turn to 1 Corinthians 15, verses 35 to 58. 00:02:31.520 --> 00:02:41.599 1 Corinthians 15, 35 to 58, which is Paul's classic and lengthy treatment on personal eschatology and the nature of the resurrection body. 00:02:41.840 --> 00:02:46.240 The sermon's title is Sown in Weakness, Raised in Power. 00:02:46.560 --> 00:02:51.599 People turn to this passage to answer the question, what happens when we die? 00:02:52.319 --> 00:02:57.919 Now, this is the final week of our series, Upside Down Glory, Disability, and the Kingdom of God. 00:02:58.240 --> 00:03:05.599 If you're just joining us, I encourage you to go back and listen to the previous six messages, and I trust they will be a blessing to you. 00:03:05.840 --> 00:03:10.560 But today's message in Scripture Passage takes that question a step further. 00:03:10.639 --> 00:03:15.759 And I'll just voice it this way: What happens to disability in eternity? 00:03:16.240 --> 00:03:21.039 Now, over the course of the series, we have defined disability this way. 00:03:21.280 --> 00:03:31.759 Disability is the experience of limitation that arises when a person's body, mind, or senses do not function as expected in a fallen world. 00:03:32.080 --> 00:03:42.000 Now, many of us today are living with limitations, whether that's genetic conditions or learning disabilities or mobility issues or pain from a disease, just to name a few. 00:03:42.240 --> 00:03:46.159 Others are caring for someone we love with a disability. 00:03:46.400 --> 00:03:54.000 And if we're Christians and we believe, as Paul writes, the dead will be raised, we should ask, what exactly is raised? 00:03:54.560 --> 00:04:04.400 Now, in his interview, Ben Sass said, the hope of the great physician is that he will heal up every part of our body that is decaying and declining. 00:04:04.960 --> 00:04:08.000 But what does that mean for somebody with disabilities? 00:04:08.319 --> 00:04:14.800 Does this transformation of the resurrection body eradicate our unique embodied history? 00:04:15.120 --> 00:04:20.000 Will the person who has never walked recognize their legs in eternity? 00:04:20.240 --> 00:04:23.199 Will the person with dementia remember once more? 00:04:23.439 --> 00:04:26.240 Will the scars of our earthly journey be gone? 00:04:26.480 --> 00:04:30.959 Or will they be trophies of grace like the scars on the hands of the risen Christ? 00:04:31.360 --> 00:04:34.639 Now, Ben Sass's attitude and outlook assist here. 00:04:34.879 --> 00:04:39.360 He profoundly said, Death is a link in the chain of salvation. 00:04:39.680 --> 00:04:42.480 Death is a link in the chain of salvation. 00:04:42.639 --> 00:04:47.360 The seed must go into the ground and come out of something new. 00:04:47.839 --> 00:04:51.680 What happens to disability in eternity? 00:04:52.079 --> 00:05:03.759 Now to answer that question, we'll investigate the process of planting and rising in 1 Corinthians 15, where Paul beautifully outlines three actions we should take in response to the question. 00:05:03.839 --> 00:05:07.839 And I'll say them this way: Number one, savor the seed. 00:05:08.079 --> 00:05:10.800 Number two, shake off the dust. 00:05:10.959 --> 00:05:14.480 And number three, listen for the trumpet. 00:05:14.800 --> 00:05:18.720 Because in the end, death will not have the last word. 00:05:19.040 --> 00:05:24.720 And in the future, as Tolkien wrote, everything sad will become untrue. 00:05:25.040 --> 00:05:27.279 So let's pray, and then we'll look at God's word. 00:05:27.600 --> 00:05:29.920 Heavenly Father, thank you so much for today. 00:05:30.160 --> 00:05:31.839 Lord, thank you for the future. 00:05:32.000 --> 00:05:34.079 Thank you for the hope that you give to us. 00:05:34.319 --> 00:05:39.360 Thank you for your word, which points to a bigger vision of this world than we can see. 00:05:39.759 --> 00:05:43.040 Lord, I pray for my friends today who need your ministry. 00:05:43.199 --> 00:05:48.959 Holy Spirit, I pray that you would come and meet us where we are, speak to us, illuminate our hearts. 00:05:49.439 --> 00:05:53.040 And may we leave today, both challenged and changed. 00:05:53.600 --> 00:05:57.120 For your glory, we ask that in Jesus' name. 00:05:57.439 --> 00:05:58.079 Amen. 00:05:58.639 --> 00:05:59.120 Amen. 00:05:59.279 --> 00:06:04.480 So first, to lay the foundation, Paul tells us we have to savor the seed. 00:06:04.560 --> 00:06:12.000 Now, in verses 35 to 41, he uses this powerful and accessible farming analogy to frame his argument. 00:06:12.240 --> 00:06:18.560 But before we examine that, let's back up and remind ourselves of the context since we've not been in 1 Corinthians for some time. 00:06:18.720 --> 00:06:21.759 1 Corinthians 15 is all about the resurrection. 00:06:22.000 --> 00:06:29.360 Paul opens the chapter by attesting to the veracity of Paul, of Christ's resurrection, in verses 1 to 11. 00:06:29.519 --> 00:06:35.439 And then he shifts in verse 12 to confront the Corinthian objections to the resurrection. 00:06:35.759 --> 00:06:38.399 They were not atheists doubting God's power. 00:06:38.560 --> 00:06:41.600 They did all believe in some kind of afterlife. 00:06:41.759 --> 00:06:50.079 But they were influenced by the Greek philosophy of their day, which said this: the physical body is a liability, not an asset. 00:06:50.720 --> 00:06:55.120 The influential philosopher Plato taught that the soul is the real you. 00:06:55.360 --> 00:06:57.120 Your body is a prison. 00:06:57.279 --> 00:07:00.879 And so death is actually liberation from that prison. 00:07:00.959 --> 00:07:06.560 And their question was, why would God want to put us back in that prison through resurrection? 00:07:07.439 --> 00:07:08.800 Does that make sense? 00:07:09.040 --> 00:07:11.839 Now, Paul alludes to this question in verse 35. 00:07:12.000 --> 00:07:13.040 He writes this. 00:07:17.040 --> 00:07:19.439 With what kind of body do they come? 00:07:20.319 --> 00:07:23.759 And the question sounds like honest curiosity, but it's not. 00:07:23.839 --> 00:07:26.240 It's more like skeptical mockery. 00:07:26.480 --> 00:07:31.040 Have you ever shared your Christian belief about the resurrection with an unbelieving friend? 00:07:31.279 --> 00:07:36.879 Have they ever scoffed at that belief and said, oh, that's so silly and unscientific. 00:07:37.519 --> 00:07:39.120 We're all just dust. 00:07:39.759 --> 00:07:44.079 Well, Paul responds sharply and then moves into the seed analogy. 00:07:44.240 --> 00:07:45.439 Look at verse 36. 00:07:45.680 --> 00:07:50.480 You foolish person, what you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 00:07:50.879 --> 00:07:58.879 And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. 00:07:59.600 --> 00:08:03.920 Now, in a biblical sense, a fool is someone who denies God. 00:08:04.079 --> 00:08:06.000 And so Paul's giving a sharp rebuke. 00:08:06.160 --> 00:08:32.159 In fact, theologian Amos Young writes, in the broader context of 1 Corinthians 15, Paul is responding both to those who are incredulous that there will be a resurrection of the dead at all, and to the more spiritually minded of the congregation who anticipate a body less after life, because they associate the body with the impurities of creaturely and fleshly existence. 00:08:32.480 --> 00:08:36.080 So again, body bad, spirit, soul, good. 00:08:36.639 --> 00:08:40.639 Paul now starts to make a case for why the body is good. 00:08:41.039 --> 00:08:45.679 You sow in the Greek is an accessible farming image for the time. 00:08:45.840 --> 00:08:49.360 What you sow does not come to life unless it dies, he said. 00:08:49.519 --> 00:08:52.960 What you sow is not the body that is to be. 00:08:53.120 --> 00:08:54.320 Now, what's he doing? 00:08:54.559 --> 00:08:56.559 Well, let me see if I can illustrate this. 00:08:56.639 --> 00:08:59.120 I brought a little a little prop with me here today. 00:08:59.200 --> 00:08:59.840 I'll submit this. 00:08:59.919 --> 00:09:01.200 Does anybody know what this is? 00:09:01.440 --> 00:09:02.799 It's an acorn, right? 00:09:02.960 --> 00:09:06.559 Now, if you're holding the acorn land, this is actually a pretty big acorn right here. 00:09:06.799 --> 00:09:09.440 It would be even tiny, it's tiny in my hand, right? 00:09:09.519 --> 00:09:12.080 It's a little teeny tiny acorn. 00:09:12.320 --> 00:09:18.639 Now, if you go and plant this acorn in the ground and you give it enough time, do you know what it eventually becomes? 00:09:19.039 --> 00:09:21.519 A massive oak tree. 00:09:21.919 --> 00:09:25.519 But in order for that magnificent, oh, I dropped, I broke the acorn. 00:09:25.600 --> 00:09:26.720 Oh my goodness. 00:09:27.919 --> 00:09:30.240 It's dead already, it's in the ground. 00:09:30.559 --> 00:09:31.519 Alright. 00:09:32.480 --> 00:09:34.000 It eventually becomes an oak tree. 00:09:34.080 --> 00:09:38.480 Now imagine if you had no prior knowledge of what the acorn would become. 00:09:38.720 --> 00:09:43.200 Nothing about this acorn right here tells you what is coming. 00:09:43.360 --> 00:09:49.039 Would you be able to draw that oak tree if you knew nothing about what this acorn was to become? 00:09:49.600 --> 00:09:50.799 Probably not. 00:09:51.519 --> 00:09:55.679 But the creator knows and he sovereignly controls it. 00:09:55.840 --> 00:10:02.320 And so in this analogy, your earthly body is the acorn, and your resurrection body is the oak tree. 00:10:02.639 --> 00:10:05.519 Paul further highlights God's sovereignty in the process. 00:10:05.679 --> 00:10:06.799 Look at verse 38. 00:10:06.960 --> 00:10:13.600 He says, But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. 00:10:14.080 --> 00:10:21.840 For not all flesh is the same, but there's one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, another for fish. 00:10:22.080 --> 00:10:22.399 Right? 00:10:22.480 --> 00:10:25.279 He's saying we all have different, we're all made different ways, right? 00:10:25.360 --> 00:10:29.120 So you're not going to get resurrected as a dog or something. 00:10:30.000 --> 00:10:32.639 But Paul moves from the analogy to the principle here. 00:10:32.720 --> 00:10:35.759 He says, God decides what kind of body you're going to get. 00:10:36.080 --> 00:10:42.799 If you take notice of that word flesh, that's the Greek word sarx, and that's the organizing principle in verse 39. 00:10:42.960 --> 00:10:48.000 Paul is showing there's diversity of fleshly earthly bodies. 00:10:48.320 --> 00:10:54.799 He's chosen what type of resurrection body we will get, and he then expands it to creation. 00:10:55.440 --> 00:11:02.720 And Paul says, if God's created diversity is in earthly creation, why would the resurrection body be any different? 00:11:03.039 --> 00:11:06.080 Our bodies are personalized to us. 00:11:06.559 --> 00:11:12.320 Now, do you see he's making this profound point about the nature of the resurrection body? 00:11:12.559 --> 00:11:14.720 So if you follow his argument, this is what he's saying. 00:11:14.799 --> 00:11:16.720 He says, first, there is a continuity. 00:11:17.279 --> 00:11:20.080 That our body and resurrection body are the same person. 00:11:20.240 --> 00:11:25.440 The oak tree comes from the acorn, each kind of seed its own body. 00:11:25.679 --> 00:11:28.080 Second, there is a discontinuity. 00:11:28.240 --> 00:11:34.159 That when the acorn goes in the ground, it does not look like that magnificent oak tree that comes out. 00:11:34.399 --> 00:11:36.320 And then third, God is sovereign. 00:11:36.399 --> 00:11:42.320 That massive towering oak tree is the fulfillment of everything hidden inside the acorn. 00:11:42.720 --> 00:11:45.759 It is God who has chosen what the body will be. 00:11:45.919 --> 00:11:51.279 And then finally, in order to fulfill that, death must take place. 00:11:51.360 --> 00:11:53.039 You gotta go in the ground. 00:11:53.519 --> 00:11:57.200 So you savor the seed, but don't disregard it. 00:11:57.519 --> 00:12:04.080 God is doing something in your life right now, and you can't see what you will become, but it's gonna be glorious. 00:12:04.320 --> 00:12:07.120 And that's where he moves in the next few verses. 00:12:07.519 --> 00:12:08.559 Look at verse 40. 00:12:08.799 --> 00:12:12.000 He says, There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies. 00:12:12.159 --> 00:12:17.039 But the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. 00:12:17.200 --> 00:12:25.919 There is one glory of the sun and one glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars, for star differs from star in glory. 00:12:26.720 --> 00:12:28.559 So there's heavenly bodies and there's earthly bodies. 00:12:28.639 --> 00:12:30.639 There's an acorn, there's an oak tree. 00:12:31.120 --> 00:12:36.720 There's a stark difference between earthly and heavenly, but it sets the stage for transformation. 00:12:37.120 --> 00:12:48.240 Now, if you take notice of that word glory, that's the Greek word doxa, and that's the organizing category in verses 40 and 41, marking a significant shift from verse 39. 00:12:48.480 --> 00:13:01.360 Paul said there was diversity of bodies existing on earth, that's the flesh, but but now he talks about cosmic diversity, the sun, the moon, the stars, they all produce light, but not with the same intensity. 00:13:01.600 --> 00:13:07.120 I mean, everybody in the ancient world knew that the noonday sun was brighter than the overnight moon. 00:13:07.200 --> 00:13:13.440 Nobody was trying to get a suntan from the moon overnight, even if it was a full moon. 00:13:13.840 --> 00:13:23.759 Paul's point is that the resurrection does not simply restore the present body, it transforms it into something greater, no longer an acorn but an oak tree. 00:13:24.720 --> 00:13:30.080 And yet, there's an important principle you have to grasp about the nature of the resurrection body. 00:13:30.240 --> 00:13:33.600 There's both continuity and discontinuity. 00:13:33.679 --> 00:13:41.440 And this is what the text pictures that we're not going to receive a generic body, it's going to be a body specific to you. 00:13:42.320 --> 00:13:44.320 Let me give you an illustration. 00:13:44.559 --> 00:13:48.399 If you haven't noticed, I am not incredibly tall. 00:13:48.720 --> 00:13:54.960 And when I was trying to play baseball in high school, I noticed this acutely and desired to be taller. 00:13:55.039 --> 00:14:05.519 And so what I did, literally, I put a little one of these things on my wall in my bedroom without the giraffe, but I put a mark, I put a goal of how tall I wanted to be. 00:14:05.919 --> 00:14:08.799 I was just hoping, God, please just make me make me 5'10. 00:14:08.960 --> 00:14:11.120 Maybe six feet if you're gracious. 00:14:11.519 --> 00:14:14.159 As if it was something that I could achieve. 00:14:15.120 --> 00:14:19.440 Friends, God made me five feet seven inches, and he chose to do that. 00:14:19.759 --> 00:14:23.840 There's nothing about my there's something about my body that's personal. 00:14:24.159 --> 00:14:29.519 And while my body will be transformed in the new heavens and new earth, do I need to be six five? 00:14:29.679 --> 00:14:29.919 Right? 00:14:30.399 --> 00:14:31.919 Why would I desire that? 00:14:32.480 --> 00:14:36.720 See, in the resurrection, we will be recognizable but changed. 00:14:36.960 --> 00:14:38.639 To each seed its own body. 00:14:38.799 --> 00:14:44.000 So savor the seed, live out who God has made you to be, because we all have a story. 00:14:44.240 --> 00:14:46.320 Now, how does this apply to disability? 00:14:46.799 --> 00:14:56.480 Well, Johnny Erickson Tata, who we've mentioned, was has written and spoken with remarkable theological depth about what she expects from the resurrection. 00:14:56.720 --> 00:15:02.559 She does not expect to be fixed in the sense that her wheelchair years are erased as a mistake. 00:15:02.879 --> 00:15:08.000 She expects to be freed and to be more herself than she has ever been. 00:15:08.559 --> 00:15:19.840 And so what strikes Johnny is not that she will have legs, but that she will have a body that perfectly does what she was always designed to do, to glorify God and enjoy him forever. 00:15:20.080 --> 00:15:27.039 And so that wheelchair-formed character, the dependence and the empathy and the depth is part of who she is. 00:15:27.600 --> 00:15:31.360 Resurrection doesn't wipe that out, it glorifies it. 00:15:31.759 --> 00:15:33.360 And that's exactly Paul's point. 00:15:33.519 --> 00:15:35.360 To each seed its own body. 00:15:35.679 --> 00:15:41.279 Johnny's resurrection body will be hers, not a generic replacement, but Johnny glorified. 00:15:41.759 --> 00:15:42.720 There's continuity. 00:15:42.799 --> 00:15:44.320 You're going to be recognizable. 00:15:44.639 --> 00:15:47.120 But you will be transformed. 00:15:47.519 --> 00:15:50.480 You'll be raised in power. 00:15:50.879 --> 00:15:54.080 You will, secondly, shake off the dust. 00:15:54.480 --> 00:15:56.000 Shake off the dust. 00:15:56.159 --> 00:15:58.080 Sown in weakness, raised in power. 00:15:58.399 --> 00:16:00.879 Now we may be recognizable, but we will be different. 00:16:01.039 --> 00:16:01.840 In what way? 00:16:02.080 --> 00:16:04.720 What is the nature of the resurrection body? 00:16:04.960 --> 00:16:10.559 Well, Paul answers that question with four contrasts in verses 42 to 44. 00:16:10.799 --> 00:16:11.840 He writes this. 00:16:12.480 --> 00:16:15.840 So it is with the resurrection of the dead. 00:16:16.080 --> 00:16:19.679 What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. 00:16:19.919 --> 00:16:22.000 It is sown in dishonor, it's raised in glory. 00:16:22.159 --> 00:16:24.480 It's sown in weakness, it's raised in power. 00:16:24.720 --> 00:16:28.240 It's sown a natural body, it's raised a spiritual body. 00:16:28.399 --> 00:16:31.440 There's a natural body, but there's also a spiritual body. 00:16:31.679 --> 00:16:36.879 Now, if you notice that connector in verse 42, so it is with the resurrection of the dead. 00:16:40.720 --> 00:16:45.120 Now he launches into these four contrast examples of how it applies. 00:16:45.360 --> 00:16:46.159 Let's look at each. 00:16:46.399 --> 00:16:49.519 First, perishable versus imperishable. 00:16:49.759 --> 00:16:53.919 Or other translations will say corruption and incorruption. 00:16:54.240 --> 00:17:01.039 Our present earthly body is perishable in that it decays, it ages, it suffers, it breaks down. 00:17:01.440 --> 00:17:06.640 In fact, we're all to some extent feeling the effects of the perishable body to some degree. 00:17:06.880 --> 00:17:07.359 Amen? 00:17:07.599 --> 00:17:07.839 Right? 00:17:08.000 --> 00:17:13.039 Those touched by disabilities or disease feel this perishing more acutely at times. 00:17:13.359 --> 00:17:15.920 This is the nature of life after the fall. 00:17:16.079 --> 00:17:18.559 What is sown is perishable. 00:17:19.039 --> 00:17:24.799 But our great hope is that one day our body will be raised imperishable, uncorruptible. 00:17:25.039 --> 00:17:30.480 The present process of death and decay will not touch us anymore in the resurrection. 00:17:31.119 --> 00:17:33.519 Second, dishonor versus glory. 00:17:33.599 --> 00:17:41.119 Now that's the Greek word atimia, which refers to social shame and low status, being treated without value. 00:17:41.359 --> 00:17:47.359 And as we've spoken about, those with disabilities can feel shame and lack of value at times in this life. 00:17:47.680 --> 00:17:50.720 But the hope of the resurrection body is one of glory. 00:17:51.039 --> 00:17:55.839 All the dishonor and pity and exclusion of this world will be reversed. 00:17:56.799 --> 00:17:59.680 This contrast gets at the heart of this series. 00:18:00.160 --> 00:18:02.720 People with disabilities are often dishonored. 00:18:02.880 --> 00:18:10.480 We've raised questions throughout the series about dignity, about the body, about personhood, about who counts and who belongs. 00:18:10.640 --> 00:18:12.960 And those aren't just Sunday morning questions. 00:18:13.200 --> 00:18:18.640 They're being debated in hospitals and courtrooms and university classrooms. 00:18:18.880 --> 00:18:20.720 What does it mean to be a person? 00:18:21.039 --> 00:18:22.240 Who deserves protection? 00:18:22.400 --> 00:18:23.759 Who gets counted? 00:18:24.079 --> 00:18:30.960 Well, on March 7th, as we've mentioned, we are hosting a special underground session with ethicist and author Jason Thacker. 00:18:31.119 --> 00:18:33.359 I encourage you to take out your phones and sign up. 00:18:33.440 --> 00:18:34.559 We need to know who's coming. 00:18:34.640 --> 00:18:36.559 I need to know how much barbecue to have for you. 00:18:36.720 --> 00:18:37.680 It's going to be a good night. 00:18:37.839 --> 00:18:39.119 Dinners at 5. 00:18:40.079 --> 00:18:42.319 The session starts at 5.30. 00:18:42.480 --> 00:18:44.480 His topic is and who is a person? 00:18:44.720 --> 00:18:47.200 Human dignity in an inhuman age. 00:18:47.440 --> 00:18:52.240 Jason will help us engage the bioethics debates our culture is having. 00:18:52.400 --> 00:19:01.039 Questions about the beginning of life and the end of life, the inherent worth of every human being, regardless of age, ability, and discrimination or circumstance. 00:19:01.279 --> 00:19:04.960 That's the same conviction we've been diving into throughout this series. 00:19:05.039 --> 00:19:07.519 And so again, please register on the website. 00:19:07.680 --> 00:19:09.680 We hope that you will come to that. 00:19:10.000 --> 00:19:12.799 Third, weakness versus power. 00:19:13.039 --> 00:19:15.680 And that brings us back to the first week of our series. 00:19:15.839 --> 00:19:18.880 That the Greek word for weakness is Athenea. 00:19:19.039 --> 00:19:23.039 It's the same word Paul used in 1 Corinthians 12, 9. 00:19:23.200 --> 00:19:26.160 My power is made perfect in weakness. 00:19:26.720 --> 00:19:33.759 Weakness, as I mentioned earlier in the series, was a word that would have encompassed all types of disabilities. 00:19:34.000 --> 00:19:37.839 Now, in the resurrection, God's power will be seen. 00:19:38.079 --> 00:19:46.319 Someone who needed help navigating this world, you will be raised in power, the power of the one who created you. 00:19:46.720 --> 00:19:50.079 And then fourth, the natural body and the spiritual body. 00:19:50.319 --> 00:19:52.960 Now this contrast is often misunderstood. 00:19:53.200 --> 00:19:56.160 Paul's not talking about the material and the immaterial. 00:19:56.319 --> 00:19:59.200 He's referring to what animates the present body. 00:19:59.440 --> 00:20:06.400 While the resurrection body is still a physical body, it will be governed completely by the spirit rather than the flesh. 00:20:06.480 --> 00:20:08.559 That sin nature gone. 00:20:09.359 --> 00:20:12.559 Now let me return for a moment to our key question. 00:20:12.799 --> 00:20:16.240 What does disability look like in eternity? 00:20:16.799 --> 00:20:23.039 Will disabilities still be present in the resurrection body, or does God remove them entirely? 00:20:23.440 --> 00:20:31.839 And that's a question worth carefully considering because how we answer it says something about how we view people with disabilities right now. 00:20:32.400 --> 00:20:36.319 On the question, two main positions have been offered. 00:20:36.480 --> 00:20:51.039 Some scholars suggest that our personal identities will be preserved, but our suffering will be removed, pointing to Jesus' remaining scars in John 20 as evidence that marks of our earthly journey carry forward. 00:20:51.279 --> 00:20:57.440 Others, and this is where I land, argue that the text points towards something more complete. 00:20:57.759 --> 00:21:03.599 That all disability will be transformed, just as Isaiah described in chapter 35. 00:21:03.759 --> 00:21:08.400 Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, the ears of the deaf unstopped. 00:21:08.559 --> 00:21:14.240 Then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy. 00:21:14.960 --> 00:21:16.480 And I think that's literal. 00:21:16.720 --> 00:21:19.599 That the blind will see, the lame will leap. 00:21:19.839 --> 00:21:21.839 It's not poetry, it's promise. 00:21:22.160 --> 00:21:27.920 Paul says in Philippians 3 that our lowly body will be transformed to be like his glorious body. 00:21:28.160 --> 00:21:29.680 There's a progression there. 00:21:30.000 --> 00:21:32.880 And so the resurrection body, yes, will be continuous. 00:21:33.200 --> 00:21:40.960 You will be you, recognizable, the person God's been shaping all your life, but it will be transformed, sown in weakness, raised in power. 00:21:41.440 --> 00:21:46.240 And here's what I want you to hear very clearly Transformation is not erasure. 00:21:46.559 --> 00:21:49.519 The disability will be gone, but the person will not. 00:21:49.839 --> 00:21:56.400 The years of dependence that deepens somebody's faith that goes with them, but glorified. 00:21:56.799 --> 00:21:59.519 The empathy forged through decades of suffering that goes. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:01.759 With them, glorified. 00:22:02.160 --> 00:22:09.359 The character shaped by limitation, the patience, the trust, the refusal to take a single good day for granted. 00:22:09.599 --> 00:22:10.960 God does not throw that away. 00:22:11.119 --> 00:22:12.400 He perfects it. 00:22:12.720 --> 00:22:24.559 So think about it this way: when the acorn becomes the oak tree, the acorn is gone, but everything the acorn was is now fully expressed in something magnificent. 00:22:24.880 --> 00:22:31.039 The disability was the acorn's shell, the person inside it is the oak tree God always intended. 00:22:31.519 --> 00:22:34.480 So when I think about my son, will Josiah be healed? 00:22:34.720 --> 00:22:35.359 Yes. 00:22:35.920 --> 00:22:41.119 Will he still be Josiah, joyful and present, excited about the people around him? 00:22:41.440 --> 00:22:42.640 Absolutely. 00:22:42.880 --> 00:22:45.039 More himself than he's ever been. 00:22:45.519 --> 00:22:48.480 Not a contradiction, but resurrection. 00:22:49.039 --> 00:22:50.720 Which raises the deeper question. 00:22:50.880 --> 00:22:55.200 If disability does not define us in eternity, what does? 00:22:55.440 --> 00:22:59.200 What is the foundation of who we are both now and forever? 00:22:59.519 --> 00:23:03.279 Now, Paul's been alluding to this answer the whole chapter. 00:23:03.519 --> 00:23:10.559 And what he's saying, he's about to say, is this our identity is not ultimately found in our disabling circumstances. 00:23:10.799 --> 00:23:17.359 Our limitations, our diagnosis, our suffering, our identity is found primarily in whose image we bear. 00:23:17.599 --> 00:23:19.279 The Lord Jesus Christ. 00:23:19.599 --> 00:23:22.400 And here is where Paul makes a stunning move. 00:23:22.559 --> 00:23:27.200 He takes us all the way back to the beginning and then points us forward to something better. 00:23:27.279 --> 00:23:28.640 Now, verse 45. 00:23:29.119 --> 00:23:34.079 He says, Thus it is written, the first man Adam became a living being. 00:23:34.319 --> 00:23:35.440 That's creation. 00:23:35.839 --> 00:23:38.960 The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 00:23:39.599 --> 00:23:45.200 But it is not the spiritual that is first, but the natural and then the spiritual. 00:23:51.680 --> 00:24:01.119 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 00:24:01.359 --> 00:24:07.359 Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. 00:24:07.759 --> 00:24:10.079 What's the argument Paul's making? 00:24:10.400 --> 00:24:16.799 Well, he's showing us what comes first, and then he's pointing us toward the promise of redemption. 00:24:17.119 --> 00:24:22.079 So first there was Adam, our ancestor, the first living, breathing human. 00:24:22.240 --> 00:24:24.960 He was the natural man, the man of dust. 00:24:25.359 --> 00:24:26.799 We came from him. 00:24:27.039 --> 00:24:30.480 All of us in this room are people of the dust. 00:24:30.799 --> 00:24:37.359 In fact, every person on this planet is a person of dust, born in the image of God, like Adam. 00:24:38.079 --> 00:24:41.279 But you know the dust eventually disintegrates. 00:24:41.519 --> 00:24:54.160 And the dust that Paul is describing here has a connection with Genesis 2, but it's describing the entire weight of the fallen embodiment, the limitation and the decay and the curse that touches all of us. 00:24:54.559 --> 00:24:58.240 Do you want to be covered in dust for the rest of your life? 00:24:59.599 --> 00:25:01.279 Some of thank you, no. 00:25:01.759 --> 00:25:02.400 Amen. 00:25:03.920 --> 00:25:07.920 Some of you know my oldest daughter, Jenna, and she's a sweetheart. 00:25:08.160 --> 00:25:12.480 She loves people, she loves Jesus, she loves to help take care of her brother. 00:25:12.799 --> 00:25:17.519 We found out a number of years ago that she has some allergies, one of which is to dust mites. 00:25:17.680 --> 00:25:20.160 Actually, a rather severe allergy to dust mites. 00:25:20.240 --> 00:25:25.119 So the allergist told us to get rid of all the stuffed animals in the house to help with this. 00:25:25.359 --> 00:25:29.519 And we said, Have you met a six-year-old girl who does not love stuffed animals? 00:25:29.920 --> 00:25:31.519 It's not happening. 00:25:32.640 --> 00:25:37.839 But when there's too much dust, her nose will get stuffed up and it's hard to breathe. 00:25:38.079 --> 00:25:42.000 And one day I think she'll appreciate it when the dust is gone. 00:25:42.319 --> 00:25:43.599 And it will be. 00:25:44.240 --> 00:25:47.519 So this verse traces the narrative arc of the Bible. 00:25:47.680 --> 00:25:51.359 At creation, God made us in his image. 00:25:51.920 --> 00:25:56.000 Adam being the first, but then Adam and Eve rebelled and fell. 00:25:56.160 --> 00:25:57.359 The fall came in the world. 00:25:57.440 --> 00:26:05.440 They introduced the dust, decay and disease and disability and death, entered the world through sin. 00:26:06.160 --> 00:26:08.720 But that's not how it's supposed to be. 00:26:09.279 --> 00:26:20.640 Paul tells us that God, in his grace and mercy, sent a second Adam, a last Adam, a better Adam to bring redemption to this world. 00:26:20.880 --> 00:26:25.839 That he possesses the life-giving, dust-eradicating power of the Spirit. 00:26:26.000 --> 00:26:28.400 He's the man of heaven, Jesus Christ. 00:26:28.720 --> 00:26:36.319 He took on the flesh of humanity, he lived a sinless life, he died a brutal death on the cross, and then like the acorn, he died. 00:26:36.640 --> 00:26:41.359 He rose again as the first fruits, Paul tells us, of the new creation. 00:26:41.519 --> 00:26:52.720 And when we surrender to him, when our hearts are regenerated, when we follow him, we are guaranteed that one day we'll not we'll shake off the dust and we'll be made in the image of the man of heaven. 00:26:53.279 --> 00:26:55.920 One day he will fully restore the world. 00:26:58.720 --> 00:27:01.759 That one day we're gonna shake off the dust. 00:27:02.160 --> 00:27:09.759 No more allergies, no more death, no more pain, no more suffering because we're gonna be in his presence. 00:27:10.480 --> 00:27:15.680 And our identity is not found in the dust, it's found in Christ. 00:27:18.160 --> 00:27:22.720 Now we're about two-thirds of the way through the message, so let's let's have a little bit of fun right now. 00:27:23.359 --> 00:27:25.119 We're about to get to the good part of the passage. 00:27:25.200 --> 00:27:26.480 So I want you to do three things. 00:27:26.559 --> 00:27:28.880 First, if you're able, I need you to stand up right now. 00:27:29.039 --> 00:27:36.960 Uh stand up if you can, and uh I want you to turn to your neighbor and say to them, one day I'm gonna shake off the dust. 00:27:39.440 --> 00:27:45.119 Turn to your other neighbor and tell them one day I'm gonna shake off the dust. 00:27:47.599 --> 00:27:51.119 All right, number three, number three, now, now the fun. 00:27:51.279 --> 00:27:53.519 I want you to show them how to shake off the dust. 00:27:53.599 --> 00:27:54.079 All right, ready? 00:27:54.160 --> 00:27:54.880 Shake off the dust. 00:27:55.039 --> 00:27:55.759 Shake off the dust. 00:27:55.839 --> 00:27:56.240 There you go. 00:27:56.400 --> 00:27:57.440 Good, good, good. 00:27:58.160 --> 00:27:59.359 All right, good. 00:27:59.839 --> 00:28:01.119 Now you can sit back down. 00:28:01.279 --> 00:28:02.079 Thank you. 00:28:03.759 --> 00:28:09.759 Church, you have to savor the seed, but you also have to shake off the dust. 00:28:10.160 --> 00:28:21.119 1 Corinthians 15, 42 to 49 tells us the resurrection body will be physical and personal and transformed and governed by Christ. 00:28:21.680 --> 00:28:26.160 The resurrection body transcends present categories. 00:28:26.720 --> 00:28:35.200 Now, this particular topic has been personal for me as I've shared throughout the series about our journey with our son Josiah. 00:28:35.519 --> 00:28:38.400 I've um, and I hope that's been special for somebody. 00:28:38.559 --> 00:28:42.559 I've often wondered, will I recognize my son in eternity? 00:28:43.200 --> 00:28:45.200 Will he be the same Josiah? 00:28:45.519 --> 00:28:48.319 Now, Josiah has a lot of excitement about life. 00:28:48.480 --> 00:28:49.680 Some of you may have met him. 00:28:49.839 --> 00:28:58.079 Just this week, my wife sent me a video of him at school where he learned how to jump off and get two feet off the ground for the first time. 00:28:58.480 --> 00:29:01.599 He gets excited about things I take for granted. 00:29:02.000 --> 00:29:03.680 We have a slide in our basement. 00:29:03.920 --> 00:29:04.640 This is his new thing. 00:29:04.720 --> 00:29:10.079 All he wants to do is just go down the slide, down the slide, down the slide, over and over and over again. 00:29:10.319 --> 00:29:15.279 I take him out to the store now, and he starts to say hi to everybody really loudly. 00:29:15.599 --> 00:29:18.079 Hi! People get taken off guard. 00:29:18.160 --> 00:29:20.480 Uh-oh, okay, there's somebody there. 00:29:20.960 --> 00:29:23.599 Started grabbing people yesterday, had to pull them back. 00:29:24.720 --> 00:29:30.559 Now, in our lives, we have simultaneously had pain and joy. 00:29:31.200 --> 00:29:35.119 And as hard as it's been, I would not trade it for the world. 00:29:35.519 --> 00:29:51.440 And it's in the new creation where I picture Josiah going down the slide, seeing Jesus, and laughing and clapping, yay! But most important, he will bear the image of the man of heaven. 00:29:51.920 --> 00:29:53.359 He will be like Christ. 00:29:55.119 --> 00:30:02.079 And Revelation 21 tells us what the new creation that these resurrection bodies will inhabit. 00:30:02.240 --> 00:30:03.599 What will it be like? 00:30:03.920 --> 00:30:05.200 Revelation 21. 00:30:05.279 --> 00:30:10.880 And after I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. 00:30:11.440 --> 00:30:14.000 He will dwell with them, and they will be his people. 00:30:14.319 --> 00:30:16.720