Can You Imagine? | 1 Corinthians 15:35–49

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SPEAKER_00 0:00

Amen. Amen. Please be seated. Well, good morning and welcome. Glad to see you here. It's good to be back together. My name is Andrew. I'm one of the pastors here at Life. If we haven't met, we'd love to meet you and would love to serve you, as has already been said. And one of the ways that we serve you and contribute to your discipleship, if you're new with us, if you're part of this church family, you know the drill. But if you're new with us, one of the ways we contribute to your discipleship and growth is through the study of God's Word. The Bible's pretty clear that it is from God's Word that we find what we need to be equipped for every good work, to fulfill the life that God has called us to, to live for him as he created us to. And God's word is the instruction, the guidance, it is the help that we need. And so we are studying God's Word today. So if you need a Bible, we give them away for free out at the Connection Center. We want you to grab one. If you have a Bible already, open up with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 15. 1 Corinthians 15 is where we are. And just to catch you up, not going to be able to catch you all the way up because we're several months into this now. But we're we're studying this book of 1 Corinthians, a letter written by a real person named Paul to a real church in a town of Corinth. And these were people who were living in a context that was broken in so many ways, and the brokenness of the culture was creeping into the church. The church was needing to have the gospel come to bear on it and uh and really transform it from something that was broken into something that was beautiful and in a broken situation. So Paul is doing that. He is bringing the truth of God's word, the truth of the gospel into these different arenas of their life. It's as if I said many times he's walking down the hall of their church and he's opening doors and he's saying, Yep, see that right there? The gospel needs to influence that. That's that's not that that needs to that needs to change. And so he's doing that in many different contexts. And he typically starts what he's uh focusing on with a the word now. So if you read the book of 1 Corinthians, anytime you kind of see the word now, it's it's it's kind of he's transitioning from one topic to the next topic. And so at the beginning of chapter 15, it starts with now. And I think what he's trying to do here is he's trying to deal with something that was coming into the church, uh, uh a theology or a broken truth about the resurrection. And so we know scripture teaches us that in the end the the bodies of the believers will be resurrected and given a new body and then uh get brought into uh the eternal kingdom. So that's what he's referring to, but there were people in Corinth who were denying that that was real. They were saying that can't be. And we're gonna see some of that today. And in that, he's beginning to explain the resurrection of Christ, the implications of the resurrection of Christ, uh, the process of what is gonna happen at the resurrection, and today, some of the things that we can anticipate when that resurrection happens. Now, there are phrases that we use in life. One of the phrases that I often use, you can finish it, I'm sure, is this if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Like late night commercials. This product will change your life for just $19.99. This blender can crush anything. This ab machine will give you a six-pack in 10 minutes a day. You don't have to change anything. Eat all the Twinkies you want, but this thing will do it. This pill will fix everything wrong with your life. This knife will cut rocks in half, clean. It'll it'll fillet rocks. And you're sitting there thinking, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. You see something online, free uh or a brand new iPhone for just $79. Free vacation, just pay the small processing fee. They don't tell you gotta sit through a seven-hour timeshare pitch, but you know, free vacation. Guaranteed results, no effort required. Something immediately in you goes, nope, scam. If it's too good, it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Lifetime warranty. Everything's covered except normal use, abnormal use, and any other use, right? Sounds too good to be true, it probably is. It probably is. Listen, that phrase is common. We use it, and we have been hardwired and trained to be skeptical. We are a generation of skeptics. We've learned to question anything that sounds too good to be true, and then we come to the Bible and it tells us what we're gonna study today that God is going to raise your body from the dead, that he is going to transform it, that he is gonna remove weakness and decay, and he is gonna make it fit for something of eternal glory. And if we're honest, we would agree with those in Corinth who said, that sounds too good to be true, so it probably is. But Paul says it's not too good to be true. It is exactly what God has promised to do. So Paul is still defending the doctrine of the resurrection, and in the earlier part of the chapter, he has argued for the fact of the resurrection, especially Christ's resurrection, and the certainty of the believer's resurrection because of our union with Christ. Now, in verse 35 through 49, Paul turns from the question, Will there be a resurrection? to what kind of resurrection body will believers have? In fact, I'm not gonna read it yet, but just look at verse 35. And then I'll read it here in just a second, the rest of it. But but someone will ask, How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come? Skeptics. This isn't an honest question, this is a question of possibility. How can that wrinkled, decaying, decomposing body be resurrected? It doesn't make sense, that doesn't seem possible, it doesn't seem likely. Seems too good to be true, so it probably is. And then he says, What kind of body do they do they come? Or a question of nature, what sort of body could come out of the grave? Look at that. So again, these questions may at first sound sincere, but Paul's answer shows that there is likely some skepticism or even some scorn in them, a tone of of mockery. And Corinth, by the way, was influenced by Greek ways of thinking, and in much Greek philosophy, the body was viewed as inferior, a burden, and even a prison for the soul that we will break out of. That's how they viewed it. Bodily resurrection was not attractive to that philosophy and in that time of the world. They might accept immortality of the soul more easily than resurrection of the body. In fact, in Acts chapter 17, verse 32, it says that Paul preached resurrection in Athens and some mocked him. That's a joke. How's that possible? This body's just a prison for the soul, a burden that we bear. And they had a a a skeptical, maybe, maybe rightfully so, because it seems a little bit too good to be true. And you know, that's still true today. Many of us in our culture are comfortable with a vague afterlife. We say we say uh vague things, like, oh, they're in a they're in a better place, and it'll all be good one day, and and and you know, they're they're they're guardianing me and they're watching me, they're here with me right now, and we have all of these like vague philosophies of the afterlife, uh, but nothing concrete, like like bodily resurrection. That that that might be too good to be true. And so the resurrection of the body, though, we need to understand, is not a secondary doctrine. It is the central thought or a central doctrine to Christian hope. Christianity is not just the salvation of the soul from the body, but the redemption of the whole person, including the body. We know what the body looks like in strength, we know what the body looks like in sickness, we know what the body looks like as it ages, and we know what the body looks like when it dies. But what will the body look like in resurrection? Paul is not just proving here in our text that the resurrection is possible, he is explaining what the resurrection will bring for our bodies. So, in his answers to the objections, he is giving us some insight into what the resurrection is for us. And so I'm gonna read it. This is a little bit of a lengthy section. I understand that I'll I'll hurry right along through it, but we're gonna unpack it. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, verse 35 through verse 49. Here's what he says God's word for us today, may they come to bear on our lives. But someone will ask, How are the dead raised? With what kind of excuse me, with what kind of body do they come? You foolish person, what you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as He is chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. There's one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars, for star differs from star in glory. So it is, or so is it, with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, and it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural man, I'm sorry, if there is a natural body, there is a spiritual body. Thus it is written, the first man, Adam, became a living being. The last man, Adam, or the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first, but the natural and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust. The second man is from heaven, 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. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. Now, if you read that just now and you think, What in the world are we talking about right here? You're you're not alone. I did that too this week. I'm like, what are we talking about, Paul? What's going on here? And I think as we study it, as we dive into it, as we get down to kind of the foundation of what is being said here, what Paul is doing is he is answering their objections by giving us some instruction or guidance on what it's going to be like at the resurrection. And so over the top of this sits this big idea that I want you to get today that we're gonna unpack. What God promises to do with believers' bodies at the resurrection exceeds all imagination. It exceeds our imagination. It's one of those, this sounds too good to be true, it must be, or it probably is, kind of statements. And in this writing, he is helping us understand like, no, no, no, no, don't doubt it. Don't question it. There is a future bodily resurrection, there is a future hope for believers, and here's what that's gonna look like. And so from that, I'm gonna call these four guarantees of the resurrection. Four beyond imagination, unable for us to actually fully appreciate, maybe, guarantees of what's gonna happen at the resurrection. And so I'm trying to outline them with those four things. I think they come to the surface as we study it. I'm gonna show them to you from the text this morning. Okay, we ready? You gotta write them down. I got some longer points, so a little bit more words. Here we go. Let's do this. Number one, at the resurrection, number one, my body will be transformed into a new body. My body, if I'm a believer, we'll talk about that in a minute, but if my if I'm a believer, my body will be transformed into a new body. So they were skeptics. And so he bats uh right off the top there with verse 36, you foolish person. And that's a Greek word that spoke of kind of a morally dole in one's perception or unthinking without understanding. Paul's not just saying you're uninformed, he's saying you are thinking about this in a way that is ignoring things that God has revealed. You're ignoring things. It's not that you're not knowing, it's that you're ignoring. You're willingly ignorant of some things that are on display for you that you can see. It's a prophetic rebuke. Fool is used for people who refuse to reckon with God's reality. Remember Psalm 14, verse 1? The fool says in his heart, There is no God? That's that's this. I'm denying, I'm I'm rejecting obvious things. And so Paul's point is that resurrection is not absurd if you've been paying attention to the world God created. Now, in order to prove that point, he calls on two analogies, two illustrations, good way of speaking and teaching. Look at the first one. He talks about the seed. What you sow, or we would say what you plant, does not come to life unless it dies. So Paul's using an agricultural analogy. The verb sow is planting the seed. Not that a seed literally dies, but that it is put into the ground. In its prior form, it is broken down, and new life emerges. The seed goes into the earth one thing and comes out another thing. So his point is death is not an obstacle to resurrection. Death is the ordained pathway to resurrection, and this is true in nature, and it is true all throughout redemptive history. Down John 12, 24. Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone. But if it dies, it bears much fruit. This is a picture that is used multiple times. So he is saying creation contains analogies that makes resurrection understandable or intelligible. And here's what it is: God has left his resurrection fingerprints all over the world. Everywhere you look in creation, God has built in illustrations of resurrection. Think about that: a bulb that is put in the ground, buried, lost, inactive. But we know that when we put that bulb in the ground, the burial of that bulb is not the end of the story. The garden teaches us that what looks like disappearance may actually just be the preparation needed for that thing to blossom into new life. John Calvin observed on this passage and argues that the visible processes of creation, so think about this: the visible processes of creation should teach us not to think of resurrection as impossible. His point is that God has placed before our eyes examples that actually rebuke unbelief. He said God has already written lessons of resurrection into the natural order if we have eyes to see them. Now look at verse 37. But what you sow is not the body that is to be. That means that what is buried is not in final form. You don't bury the flower, right? You bury the seed. You don't bury the oak tree, you bury the acorn. You don't bury that uh the thing that is sown is is not the same as the thing that will be. So the thing that is planted is connected to what will come, but not in identical form, appearance, or glory. Think about this. This speaks to continuity. It is still wheat that comes from wheat. It's a wheat seed that turns into a wheat stalk. But there's a transformation that takes place. The seed and the plant are not identical in visible form. There is real newness, not detachment, but newness. This means that Paul is rejecting this idea of mere resuscitation. That God's not talking about just raising up by resuscitating a dead body. That's that's what he did with Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha. But you know what happened to Lazarus? He died again one day later. So this was not a resurrection to glorious newness. This was resurrection in the same form. This was just resuscitation. This is not what we're talking about when we talk about future bodily resurrection. But we're also not talking about total replacement. Resurrection is not God discarding the body and giving you something new and unrelated. I think we're gonna be recognizable. I don't think one day in the eternal kingdom I'm gonna walk up to you in my new six foot three body and be like, hey guys, it's Andrew. Yeah, it's me. It's me, Andrew. And you're like, prove it. No, I think there's gonna be a recognizable element to that. So it's not mere resuscitation and it's not total replacement. That's the illustration of the seed that is planted, is the same thing attached, just transformed. Think about what Romans 8 23 says. That we wait eagerly for the day when there will be the redemption of our bodies. Not the new body, but the redemption of and the glorification of and the transformation of our new body. So Christian hope is not an escape from embodiment, it is a hope in a redeemed embodiment. Does that make sense? Like this body is gonna go into the ground, like a seed goes into the ground, and it's going to decompose, it's gonna turn to dust, and God is miraculously in the way that only God has, like he does every single day with every plant that shoots up, is going to from that bring new transformed life. So this body will be transformed. Now look at verse 38. Still talking about the seed, but God gives it. God gives it, God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. God gives it. This is the work of God. This is divine agency, not self-produced, not automatic biological process. When you die, you die, and there's nothing you can do about it. Only a power that is divine can bring you back to life and give you a new body, and it is as he has chosen. So listen, no person understands how to break down a seed to make it into a plant. No person does that. That's something God created in his divinity in nature. So every day we see this at uh take place. And it's as he has chosen to each kind of seed its own body. Each seed receives a body fitting its created identity. So there's identity, its own, but there's transformation. God gives it a body. So what are we saying here? That your resurrection body will not be accidental, it will not be generic, it will be personal, appropriate, designed by God, and suited for his eternal purpose. Just as you see every day when you plant your garden seeds, or when you plant or see uh plants shoot up, that's the picture. Put in the ground, thought to be dead, or maybe left under the ground, thinking what's gonna happen here, and then miraculously, a few minutes later, a few hours later, a few days later, a few weeks later, there's grass or green that starts sprouting up. It's the miracle of creation that every time you see, you should think that's what it's gonna be like when I rise again one day, through the power of God. So, Anthony Thistleton makes the point well. He says, Paul is not describing an annihilation of identity, but transformation into an eschatologically appropriate form. The resurrection body is not gonna be less personal than the present body, but more fully what God intended human life to be. I like what Andrew Wilson said. Check out this guy's quotes here. This is great. My future body is to my current body what an oak tree is to an acorn. Identifiably the same, but greater to an unimaginable degree. I mean unimaginable, quite literally. There is no way you could look at an acorn and imagine what an oak tree was like unless you had previously seen one, and it will be the same with the resurrection. So you're like, well, okay, what's that gonna be like? I don't know, I've never seen an I've never seen an oak tree like this. I've never seen a resurrected body. There's evidences of it in Christ's resurrection, and we can study that and get a feel for what that was like. They recognized him, but there was something altogether different about him. So, in the first point, Paul answers the skeptic by saying, You already know enough from creation to stop mocking the possibility of resurrection. The body that is buried is not the final form of the believer. God himself will transform what is sown in weakness into what is ordained for glory. The grave does not erase the body, it is the place where God plants it and begins its transformation or from which transformation happens. See that you see the picture, the illustration. So, what do we what do we apply from point number one? A couple quick thoughts. First, don't judge your future by your present condition. What you see now is not what you will one day be. Your weakness is not your end, your limitations are not final, your body as it is now is not the finished product that God will one day make from it. Stop evaluating God's plan by what you currently see. Stop judging whether or not God is capable of making us fit for glory based upon the brokenness we see in our world around us. Second, don't fear death is the end. It's the pathway God uses. Paul doesn't avoid death, he just redeems it, he reframes it. Death is not an interruption, it's falling asleep, as is said multiple times. It is being planted in the ground. Death is not defeat. It will one day be defeated. Death is like sowing. And then I would just say, lastly, trust God's design even when you don't understand the process. I don't know that I can understand. How, how to explain to me how this little seed planted in the ground with a little bit of water turns into that. I don't know. I can't explain that. That is something that is privy to the creator who designed it that way. But if he can design it there, he certainly has given us an impression or an imprint of what one day will be ours. Amen? Alright. So the seed shows us that God can transform what is sown, but he doesn't stop there. Number two is this in the resurrection, my body will be fitted for a new kind of existence. Now, Paul broadens the argument and introduces a second analogy. He broadens it from seeds to bodies. Look at verse 39. For not all flesh is the same. So not all flesh is just a bodily form or organism. It's not talking about sinful flesh like Paul would sometimes use it. He's just saying, even now, in the present created order, bodies differ according to their sphere and function. There's one body or kind of flesh for humans. We have a certain kind of flesh and body, certain cells and elements that make up our body, and there's certain kind for birds. You're not like a bird, you're different than a bird. Amen. You know that? Like you can't just grow wings and fly home. You're not a bird. You're human. That's a different body. It's a different biology, it's a different anatomy. You're not a you're not a fish. Fish bodies are suited for water. Bird bodies are suited to the air. Animals are suited for the land. Human bodies are suited for human life. Listen, you and I cannot decide that we are done with real estate taxes and we're going to move to a mile offshore and live underwater. Because after all, life's always better down where it's wetter, under the sea. Right? Little mermaid, come on. Listen, we can't do that. Why? Because you are not fitted with a fish body. You are human. My daughter Ava was notorious as a little girl for imagining herself to be animals. And it would go on for hours. For hours. She would be in the backyard leaping around like a frog or a cat. She's trying to talk to animals. And listen, I just had to say to her one day, listen, you are human. Be a human. And that's what he's talking about. What is he saying? That God has already created different embodiments appropriate to different forms of life and contexts of life. So why should it seem impossible that he would give resurrected saints a body appropriate to the age to come? He's already shown us he's capable of that. Bodies are not meaningless shells, bodies are divinely designed instruments of life in a given order. That's why Christians have been known in history to be people who don't despise the body. We take care of the body, we honor the body, we protect the body, we protect life because we recognize the body is not this prison of the soul and burden that we bear. The body matters because God made it. Christ took one, Christ redeemed us in it, and Christ will raise it. Then in verse 40, notice how he follows up. There are heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies. Don't think Mormon theology here. Don't think that. Or there's the celestial and the terrestrial. That's a false teaching. All he's talking about here is that there are celestial bodies like planets and stars and moons, and there are terrestrial bodies like humans and animals and fish. Paul is comparing different orders or realms of created existence, and he says they each have a glory about them. Have you ever just stopped to think about life? Looking at other humans and think, that is incredible. Where did you come from? And then looking at animals and thinking, look at that thing. It is amazing. Walk around the zoo one day and just think that alligator, that elephant, or that rhinoceros, that thing is impressive. And then just think about looking through a telescope at the planets and think that's a big ball floating long way away. I was gonna try to throw a number out there and it was gonna be wrong altogether. Miles away, pretty far. Just floating up there, and stars, balls of gas, they all have a glory about them, a a splendor and a radiance, distinct, perfectly fit for the context in which they abide. Earthly things have their beauty, uh heavenly things have their own beauty, and it's not just talking about bright, it's talking about fitting and excellence and order that that God has given things the perfect attributes for it to thrive in a context. And just because this little brain doesn't have the ability to wrap around how God would make this body fit for glory, doesn't mean that it's not gonna happen. And that is on display for us all over the place. Look at verse 41. There's one glory of the sun. Listen, I thought about taking I'm already gonna be tight. I thought about taking time to just talk about the majesty of the sun or the majesty of the universe or the solar system that we are in. But he says there's a glory of the sun. Just think about that. And there's a glory of the moon, and there's a glory of the stars, for star differs from star in glory. Stars have different levels of glory and different functions. He's continuing the same argument. Even among heavenly bodies, there's diversity. The sun has a radiance, the moon has radiance, stars have radiance. God delights in ordered diversity. Difference is not a problem for God, it's part of his creative wisdom. This means that the idea of a resurrected body that differs from our present body, but is perfectly fit for what he is preparing for us in eternity should not sound strange. God has already displayed his masterful plan. Creation is full of examples of differing embodiments and differing levels of glory. Leon Morris speaks here and says in substance that Paul is demonstrating from nature the enormous range of possibilities available to the creator. The God who fills creation with endless varieties of glory is not limited in what he can prepare for his people. Listen, this is this is the reality of what creation is declaring for us. God possesses the power to give a body the ability to function perfectly in the context he calls it to. So to doubt that God can take this broken body, this decaying flesh, and turn it into something fit for eternal glory is to be ignorant of what God puts on display for us every day and every evening and all throughout of uh our create his creation. We often judge reality by what is best suited for this age youth, strength, beauty, capability, and when that fades into sickness and weakness and frailty and ultimately decay, we cannot fathom how that body can be capable of the glory of eternity. But Paul is saying there is another order coming, and it will require another kind of bodily glory, and he will fit us for that, like he has so regularly. In fact, let me show you Philippians 3:20 and 21. Here's what Paul says there our citizenship is in heaven, not on earth, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. What is the power that is going to do this? The power that created everything and subjects all things to himself. That is the power that we celebrate. That is what we are recognizing today as we live in this world. God is displaying this for us. Consider this passage, 2 Corinthians 5, 1 through 5. Here's how he says it. I'd encourage you to jot this down and engage with it later. I don't have time to unpack it all the way, but Paul says, For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling. If indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent we groan, being burdened, not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. This mortal will be clothed in immortality. He then, Revelation 21 tells us, will wipe away every tear from our eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning or crying or pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. So Paul's argument is simple and profound. God has already shown in creation that different environments call for different kinds of bodies and different kinds of glory, and that God has designed different bodies with different kinds of glory and perfectly fit them for their different contexts, and He willed for them to exist in, so the resurrection body will be perfectly fit for the eternal world that God is preparing for those who are His. So stop expecting this body to fully satisfy your eternal longings. Your body is designed for this world. Why do we feel out of place? Why do we feel like something's incomplete? Because you're not made only for this world. If you expect this life to feel like heaven, you will always be disappointed. And here's what I would say let your dissatisfaction point your eyes forward to that day rather than to point your eyes downward in dismay or frustration. When you're going through frustration and difficulty, remember that there's coming a day when those will be no more. Don't fall into despair, fall into a future hope that awaits you. That's what we're saying. Okay? That's number two. Number three, are you still good? We good? A lot to chew on here. Does it feel like you're chewing, you're trying to talk with a mouthful? Me too. Like you just got all kinds of stuff in there. Let's let's talk some more. Number three, in the resurrection, number three, my body. Now he's gonna get some details. Let's go. My body will be raised with new qualities of glory. So he just used two analogies to show us the seed goes into the ground and looks like it's dead, but it rises again and reaches a whole new level of glory. And God is able to do that as is displayed in all of creation, where he fits different things with different levels of glory for different contexts. Now, what's it gonna be like for us? Okay, here we go. He stops using analogies and now he states the matter directly. Verse 42 so is it with the resurrection from the dead. So is it. Paul applies the preceding analogies and is now going to apply the analogies to this reality of resurrection. If we are going to get a new body and it to be fit for a new existence, what is that gonna be like? And he uses the word sown. So he pictures your body being laid to rest in a grave, wherever that might be, like a seed that is placed in the ground. And if God then can create bodies suited for different realms, then what will the resurrection be like? Paul answers that and he gives us four contrasts. Verse 42 what is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. What is sown is perishable. The Greek word suggests decay, corruption, ruin, deterioration. Did you know that your body is in a process of decaying right now? Your body is in the process of dying and being deteriorated. It is perishing. The gradual decay of organic matter is what he's talking about here. Think spoiled milk or decomposing body. The body ages, it weakens, it breaks down, and eventually dies. And when it is sown, it is sown as a perishing flesh. But when it is raised, it is raised imperishable. This means no longer subject to corruption or decay or death. This speaks of an unending existence of that which is not capable of corruption, not longer lasting, not just healthier, incorruptible. He's not like, I'm gonna raise you up and let you live another hundred years and run marathons, and then you're gonna die again. No, this is incorruptible. This is non-decaying, this is a body that never breaks down. We will never die, as it says of Christ in Romans 6 9, that there will he will never die again. Death no longer has dominion over him because he was raised imperishable. And at every funeral, we are reminded of perishability. Every ache, every diagnosis, every wrinkle and limitation testifies that the present body is not permanent. No matter how much surgery you have, no matter how healthy you eat or how much you exercise, your body is decaying and corrupting and perishing. Paul does not deny this reality, but he answers it with hope. He says, You in this life are perishing, in that life you are imperishable. Verse 43, it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. Sown in dishonor. The word means humiliation, shame, lowliness, or the absence of splendor, no dignity. The body is laid out, the flesh is laid out on a mortician's table, fully naked and cut open and embalmed. It's lost all dignity, it's lost all honor, it's dishonorable, it's now decaying, it no longer looks beautiful, it no longer has attraction to it. That's what he's describing. This is what sin has done to your body. God didn't create it this way, sin did this, but when we are raised, we will be sown in dishonor, but raised in glory. This is the word doxa. Splendor, radiance, honor, manifested, excellence, renown, a thing that is beautiful, impressive, and worthy of praise. This is Philippians 1.21 or 3.21 when it said he will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body. That is this body that's starting to wrinkle and wind down, and it's a little slower than it used to be, and it one day we'll lose all honor and be laid in a grave. This is what he's talking about. We'll be raised to something altogether glorious. John MacArthur said this is the resurrection of the body that will be humanity as God designed it, without the ruin of the fall. 43, it is sown in weakness, but it is raised in power, sown in weakness. That's a word that means frailty, lack of energy, lack of strength, feebleness, incapacity. The body's tired, it gets sick, it breaks, it cannot sustain itself, it's vulnerable in every way. You can't play with your kids like you used to. Angela and I found ourselves going out to eat on a date at six o'clock the other day and decided we're just gonna go straight home because I'm tired already. Let's go. That's what we're talking about. Don't we see that every day? Weakness, every day. This is what this body is, that's what this flesh is, that's how it's going to be laid in the grave. But in resurrection, it's gonna have power, dunamas, or energy and capacity and full capacity to live the life that God intended for us to live without fatigue, without failure, without frailty. You ever drive these um go-karts at like the mini Grand Prix and they have governors on them? Like, what a horrible, wicked thing to invent, a governor on an engine, right? I want that thing to go full blast, full capacity, stop stalling out whenever I'm about to pass that guy. I had him beat, right? Governors are the worst. Governors are what we have built into our fallen flesh. There's a there's a in an energy level, there's a sickness level, there's a there's a capacity that's hindered in our fallen nature, but in that day we will have full capacity to live as God intends us to live in the resurrection. Verse 44, it is sown a natural body, but it is raised a spiritual body. This is one of the most misunderstood lines in the passage. Sown a natural body is just this idea of it being uh uh uh earthly body belonging to the present order, characterized by life in Adam in this fallen age. A natural body is a body fit for this earth. So when it is buried, it is placed in the ground as a body fit only for that which is earthly in this life, but it will be raised a spiritual body. It won't be raised just a spirit, it will have a body. It's an oxymoron to say we'll be raised as spirit, but not a body, because he calls it a spiritual body. So it doesn't mean that it's immaterial or like a ghost. It doesn't mean that. It means that on that day when Christ returns, our body will be raised and fully governed, empowered, and suited to the realm and power of the Holy Spirit. It will be raised as a body fully empowered, perfectly fit for a heavenly kingdom in which we will abide forever. So it's not physical versus non-physical, it's present age versus spirit filled age to come. It's adamic life versus resurrection life. It's weak and mortal versus spirit governed and glorious. The resurrection body is still a body. It is just a body, not less embodied, it is more perfectly embodied, filled with the spirit, fit for the kingdom that he is establishing for all of eternity. In fact, Romans 8 11 says this if the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through the spirit who dwells in you. That's what this is talking about. That's what we're talking about here. So not a body without substance, but a body fully ruled by the Spirit. Tom Schreiner said it this way. Let me show you this and we'll we'll finish it up. But what Paul means by a spiritual body is a body empowered and animated by the Holy Spirit. The body is physical, but in contrast to one's earthly body, it lives in a whole new realm. For now it is a body enlivened by the Holy Spirit. So the resurrection body will not simply be a repaired version of you, it will be a body no longer marked by decay, no longer marked by humiliation, no longer marked by frailty, but transformed in glory, power, and a spirit-governed life. That's what is waiting. So the earthly natural body is perishing, corrupting, dishonorable, and it is weak. The heavenly spiritual body is imperishable, incorruptible, glorious, and power. What is now subject to decay will then be saturated with glory. I actually had this vision of how this was gonna go with you, and I thought you were gonna enjoy that a whole lot more than you just did. Like I was like, they're gonna probably, amen, this one. I'm gonna have to shh shush them a little bit right there. Because I see all of your aging wrinkled bodies. I've played some sports with some of you. I know how it goes, I've I've seen, I know how your body's feeling, because I'm feeling the same thing. I know it. And so when we feel all of that, and when we feel about all of the decay and all of the frustration and all of the weakness, and we think that one day there is, it sounds too good to be true, but one day this body's gonna put on a new body. It's gonna come from this seed that's laid in the ground, and when it's laid in the ground, it is dishonorable, it is decaying and perishable and weak, but it's gonna rise like a mighty oak, and it's gonna have a new form, and it's gonna be glorious and honorable and powerful and energized, filled with the Spirit, and perfectly fit for eternal glory. Amen, church. There we go. That's what we're hoped for. That's why we have hope. So the body ravaged by disease, the body worn down by years, the body broken in pain, it's not gonna stay that way. It's falling asleep only one day to be raised to eternal glory. All right, I got number four, and I'm like completely out of time. So let me get through this. Let's get here. Verses 45 and 49. In the resurrection. It's okay because we've already tread some of this ground, but this is it. My body will be shaped by a new representative head. Now look at what he says, verse 45. He says, Thus it is written. The first man, Adam, became a living being. He's quoting Genesis 2.7. All he's saying there is that Adam received life. Adam was animated by God. He was only a creature. Adam was only a creature, but then he says, the last Adam became a life giving spirit. That means that Christ, in his resurrection, does not mean that Christ ceased to have a body or become only a spirit. It means that Christ, as the risen Lord, is the source and giver of resurrection life through the Holy Spirit. Adam receives life, Christ gives life. Adam began the old humanity. Christ begins the new humanity. This is Adam could pass only the life that he possessed and was given. And that life was mortal life. But Christ can pass to his descendants resurrection life, newness of life, because he was brought back to life. Verse 46, but it is not spiritual that is first, but the natural. You want a spirit first. You want a spirit baby. You were born natural first, then the spiritual. This is an observation and a theological pattern. First comes the natural order, then comes the spiritual order. First comes adamic existence, then comes resurrection existence. This is what he's talking about. Now look at verse 47. He says, The first man was from the earth, a man of dust. Remember in Genesis 2? The Lord formed the man of the dust from the ground, breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. And then after the fall, he says, For you are dust, and to dust you shall return. So you all inherited the dust DNA of your father Adam. We all did. But the second is from heaven. Verse 48, as the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust. So you who are of Adam have a body who is ultimately decaying and corrupting back to death and turning back into dust. And as the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. So if you are of Jesus, if you belong to Jesus, dust is not your end, heaven is your end. That's what he's talking about. Now look at verse 49. Just as we have been born the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. So who's your representative? If your representative is Adam, then you're gonna have all of the qualities of Adam's life, which was decaying, even though he lived 900 years, it still was in a slow process of decay. And even though he lived a life of productivity, and especially after Christ's working redemption, there was that there was still decay, there was still weakness, there was still ultimately a return to dust. That's what you inherited. But in Christ, we will be raised again. Not front, not not not left in the dust, but raised again to newness of life in Christ. So in Christ, cancer doesn't get the last word, aging doesn't get the last word, disability doesn't get the last word, the grave doesn't get the last word, Christ does. So Paul is telling the Corinthian church, listen, let's summarize this up together. He's telling the Corinthian church and us not to think too small about the resurrection. It's been said that Christians get too so heavenly minded they're no earthly good. And that's not true. That's not true. That's a bad statement. That's a bad statement. Don't listen to that. The reality is that we're too earthly minded. That we're no earthly good. Heavenly mindedness, setting our hope on the future, believing in texts like these about the future bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ and our bodies from the brokenness and from the death into glory is the hope that strives us, that drives us to endurance and purity and holiness and mission. And so the God who made creation full of patterns of death and life, full of the varieties of bodies and glories, is fully able to raise his people like he has shown us on display throughout history. We're sitting in a theater watching the incredibly beautiful divine design of God. Listen, this is one of the reasons why I think the enemy wants to attack creation. Because built into creation is all of the beauties of the nature and glory of God on display and future hope for followers of Jesus Christ. And when we doubt creation and we believe some form of evolution, we begin to remove the divine creative design from the glory we see every day, and we start to dole the patterns and illustrations that give us hope for what lies ahead of us. All of it will happen because of those who are in Christ, those who belong finally to Christ will ultimately be raised to newness of life. So the body will be transformed into a new body. The body will be fitted for a new kind of existence. The body will be raised with new qualities of glory, and the body will be shaped by a new representative head. I've got three quick truth to life questions for you that are going to tie this all together and summarize it for us. You ready? Let's put this together. Number one, am I ready for the resurrection? You say, How do I get ready? What work do I need to do? Give me a list. Here's what you do to get ready for the resurrection. You repent and believe in Jesus Christ and be born again and let him now be the one you belong to. That's it. Trust Christ as your Savior. Turn from Adam to Christ. Repent from your brokenness to his hope, his death, his sacrifice, his substitutionary death. Believe on Christ, and that fits you, makes you ready for the day when the power of God will be poured out upon your body, and all of those things will be true of you. Resurrection will be awesome. Resurrection isn't a thing to fear. It's a thing when you belong to Christ to anticipate full of hope. That's number one. Number two, where does my life least reflect my future hope? Where does my life least reflect my future hope? Where do I live most like this world is all there is? Where do I live for the pleasures and satisfying elements and covetousness of this world? Where am I not living in light of or with the eternal future resurrection in perspective? Where does my life least reflect my future hope? Where is it? Write it down. Is it in your work ethic? You're a hard worker, but you're working as if this is it. Is it in your lust and your sin? Is it in your pursuit of enjoyment and hobbies and fulfillment in this life? Listen, that is not a reflection of future hope. That's a reflection that you think all of your hope rests right here. That's number two. Number three, how does the future promise affect my present mission? The certainty of resurrection should create urgency to call others to Christ. It should help us to live on mission, to invite others into the kingdom, to help others be ready for the resurrection, the future hope that is those who belong to Christ. So, how does the future promise affect my present mission? Okay? What God promises to do with believers' bodies at the resurrection exceeds all imagination. Amen, church? Alright. Let's pray. Father, there is a uh an element to this passage that is overwhelming, not just in kind of the length of Paul's argument, but just in kind of the ability to understand what lies ahead of us. It's beyond imagination. Hard to get our head wrapped around it. But man, I'm thankful for it. God, I'm thankful for these passages. We have hope because we belong to Christ through faith. I know that. So passages like these are sources of hope and and and motivation to live, not out of a not out of a fearful obligation, but out of a hopeful anticipation. Help us with that, Father. If somebody in this room doesn't belong to Christ and the fear of a future resurrection is rightfully terrifying, I pray that today they would repent and believe on Jesus Christ so that the elements of the resurrection can be true of them, that they can be full of the hope that leads them to purity and motivation for living. I pray that you'd help us with that, Father. We love you. Thankful for this time that we have in your word. We pray this all in Jesus' name. Amen.