The Reality of Our Resurrection Bodies (Joe Penner)

Have you ever been promised something in your life, but you

didn't know exactly what it was going to be like and so you were

left wondering or maybe asking questions about it?

Maybe you were waiting for a birthday and joyfully expecting

what you would get. Maybe you were expecting a baby

and, and anticipating what he or she would look like.

And as we come up to Christmas, maybe you've, we're waiting for

Christmas gifts and maybe many of you have bought gifts for

your children and, and they're anticipating what they're going

to get under the tree. You know, they're, they're

grabbing the gifts, they're looking at the boxes, they're

analyzing them, they're shaking them.

They're they're judging what it might be based on the shape and

the size. If any of you guys are like me,

then your wife probably has to be really creative with her

guesses because there's usually not something under the tree

until a few days before Christmas.

But as we pick up in our sermon series in the book of First

Corinthians this morning, we see that sort of anticipation as

Paul is talking about the resurrection to the Corinthians,

he's told them that Christ has risen and we too will rise from

the dead. And so naturally they wondered

what's going to happen? What sort of bodies will we

have? What are they going to look

like? How is all of this going to take

place? And we're going to see Paul's

answer to those questions this morning.

So if you'll turn with me in your Bibles to 1st Corinthians

chapter 15, we'll be in verses 35 through 58.

And just by way of reminder, we've been going through this

book for for over seven months now.

This is a letter that Paul wrote to a church that he started in

the city of Corinth. And he had been there for a

short time and, and after he left the, these people were new

Christians. They still had lots of

questions. And so they sent him letters.

They sent him questions and say, hey, we, we still want to know

about these things. And so his letter to them is a

response to those questions. And so the last few weeks we've

been looking specifically at chapter 15, which talks all

about the resurrection and what the resurrection is going to be

like and the reality of the resurrection, the effects of the

resurrection. And today we're going to see

specifically what our bodies in the resurrection will be like.

We will see the reality of our resurrection bodies.

But before we do that, let's bow for a word of prayer.

Lord, Your hands have made us, and we have been fashioned in

Your image. We have been created so that we

might find our joy and satisfaction in You and bring

You glory through our lives. And so we ask that as we open

Your Word this morning, that You would give us understanding by

the power of Your Spirit working through Your Word, Teach us Your

commandments that we may behold wondrous things in Your law.

Believe them by faith and walk in obedience to them, bringing

glory and honor to your name. In Jesus name we ask, Amen.

We'll be in First Corinthians chapter 15 and it's a bit of a

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

lengthy passage, but I'll read through it all to start and then

we'll begin to go through it. First Corinthians chapter 15,

1 Corinthians 15:35–58

verses 35 through 58. But someone will ask, how are

the dead raised? 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 some

other grain. But God gives it a body as He

has 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 is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon,

and another glory of the stars. For star differs from star in

glory. So it is 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.

It is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body,

there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written.

The first man, Adam, became a living being.

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 1st 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.

I tell you this, brothers, flesh and blood cannot inherit the

Kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the

imperishable. Behold, I tell you a mystery.

We shall not all sleep, but we shall 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

imperishable, and we shall be changed.

For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and

this mortal body must put on immortality.

And when the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal

puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is

written, death is swallowed up in victory.

Oh, death, where is your victory?

Oh, death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and

the power of sin is the law, but thanks be to God who gives us

the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always

abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord

your labour is not in vain. Now as Paul begins this

question, you see that he's addressing or he begins

answering their questions. You see their questions.

How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they

come? And, and this seems natural

because we would all naturally wonder what those things would

be like. What are our bodies going to be

like? How is this all going to happen?

But we see the person that he's addressing is not someone who

has a sincere question and a sincere concern because look at

his response, you foolish person, or more bluntly, you

fool. And so we see that at the

outset, he's addressing specifically people who are

scoffing, skeptics. They're not sincerely trying to

understand how all of these things are going to take place.

They're actually mocking the Christians by saying, well, what

this resurrection, can it really be true?

Well, what is it going to look like?

And so he's addressing them. But, but we also must understand

that there are people who are sincerely asking the question,

which is why he gives all this detail.

He gives all of these answers because there are those who have

that sincere question. And the first thing that we

learned from Paul is that you will receive a new body.

God has given you a body here on earth for this time.

But when we are raised from the dead, we will receive new bodies

specifically for heaven. And so Paul uses examples from

our world about the difference between heavenly and earthly

things, about the difference of flesh and the different glories

of the stars and the moon. And the first thing that you

must do before getting your heavenly body is that your old

body must die. Look in verse 36 to 38, Paul

says 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 some other grain.

But God gives it a body as He has chosen, and to each kind of

seed its own body. And so we are going to receive

new bodies, but our earthly bodies must die first.

And so he uses the example of a seed.

And when you plant a seed in the ground, you're not hoping for a

larger seed. You're actually hoping for a

plant of some sort of some kind that eventually is going to

sprout out of that seed and grow.

But after that happens, the old seed is gone.

And that's what our heavenly bodies will be like.

We sow our natural bodies into the ground, and they become new

heavenly bodies, something far better and far greater than our

earthly bodies. And then your old body must be

replaced with a body uniquely designed for heaven, with its

own glory. And so here he begins to

contrast these different glories in verses 39 through 41.

Not all flesh is the same. There is one kind for humans,

another for animals, another for birds, 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 is one glory of the sun,

another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars.

For star differs from star in glory.

And so using examples from nature, Paul points out that

your your earthly body has its own unique glory, while your

heavenly body will be distinct in and of itself and have its

own glory. And he uses examples from our

world. We think of us as humans have a

certain kind of flesh, a flesh that is different from the

animals which can live outdoors. You know, we can't live in

extreme temperatures, but certain animals can.

And then even those animals, there's birds that have a

different kind of flesh which enables them to fly.

And then there's fish which enable them to live in the sea.

And so all these different kinds of flesh in God's creation show

that they have different types of glory.

And in the same way, even the sun and the moon and the stars

all have differing levels of glory.

And he's using that to contrast our earthly bodies from our

heavenly bodies. God has created our earthly

bodies and they have a certain amount of glory to them.

In Psalm chapter 8, we see this that that the psalmist says,

Psalms 8 · chapter mention

when I look at your heavens, when I look at the stars, I

wonder what is man that you are mindful of him and yet you have

crowned him with glory. There is a glory that comes with

our earthly bodies, but it is unique to this earth.

Our resurrected bodies will have their own uniqueness, their own

glory. And so our old bodies must die

and our we must receive, they must be replaced by our new

bodies. And so that's exactly what Paul

wants us to know. We will receive new bodies in

the resurrection. Now, have you ever wanted to

upgrade your vehicle or get a newer vehicle?

I'm sure that everybody's been in that situation at some point

in your life where you felt it was time to get something

better. Now, maybe you got married and

had kids and needed a larger vehicle, or maybe you just

needed something that was more reliable.

I think all of us have probably been there.

And I, I still remember the very first car I bought with my own

money. It was a 2000 Volkswagen Jetta.

And let me tell you, this was a good car.

I loved this car. The first thing I had to do,

though, before I got this car was I had to let that old

Sunbird go that I'd adopted from my sister at Hunka Junk.

And then I could get my new car. But tell me this car was good.

OK, it was a it was a diesel and so it got excellent fuel

mileage. It had heated seats.

It handled really well in the snow.

But probably one of the coolest features was it had a six CD

changer. Yeah, I'm no longer a peasant.

Along with those people who have to, like, change the CD every

time it's done. No, no, no, no.

I can go for six CDs before I got to change that bad boy.

The only problem was it was in the trunk, which made it a

little bit inconvenient If you're on a road trip, you got

to, like, pull the car over and go to the back and swap with the

CDs. But this was such a good car and

it, but it's funny when you look at it today, you think and you

laugh and you know, there may be people in this room.

We don't even young people in this room.

We don't even know what ACD is. You know, in 20 years from now,

we're going to have technology that looks back on this and

we're going to go, well, that even what we have today is going

to look useless and meaningless. But brothers and sisters, we, we

have the hope that we'll receive resurrected bodies and they'll

never have a need to be upgraded or modified or, or renewed or

made better. But how does this truth affect

the way that we live, that hope and that resurrected body that

has its own glory? This, this new body, how does it

affect us? Now, if the resurrection isn't

true, then that means we don't have the hope of new bodies.

And that means, well, we, we can just live however we want in

this life because it doesn't matter, right?

That Paul argues that earlier in the chapter.

But if the resurrection is true, if Jesus really did rise from

the dead, then that means he was, He is the Son of God.

That means the message of the Kingdom that he proclaimed was

true. And the way that you live not

only matters, but it means everything.

And if we truly believe in the resurrection, that we'll receive

new, heavenly, eternal bodies, then we should live by faith,

seeking God's Kingdom first. That hope, that promise, should

enable us to live this life with that eternity in perspective.

We don't need to be concerned about doing everything in our

power to preserve our earthly human lives, because we have the

hope and the faith that we'll receive new bodies that will

never die. And since we have that promise,

we can willingly give our lives for the glory of God here on

this earth, trusting that God is something better in store for

us. The next thing that Paul teaches

us is that you will receive a superior body.

Not only will you receive a new body, but it will be far

superior. Your heavenly body is going to

be much better than your earthly body.

It's not just a minor tweak, a minor update.

It's not a little bit of an upgrade.

It's a complete overhaul and so Paul uses this example in it and

he shows that this heavenly body is going to be superior to the

earthly body in every way. First, your body will be

spiritual. Look at verses 42 through 44.

He contrasts the fleshly body and the heavenly body.

So it is with the resurrection of the dead, verse 42.

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. It is raised a spiritual body.

If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.

And so he's contrasting. Here's, here's the natural body

that you have now and here's how different it will be in the

future when it's a spiritual body.

Look how much better it is. The earthly body is perishable.

It can die, it can break, it can have disease.

But your spiritual body will be imperishable, never to die,

never to suffer again. Your earthly body is weak.

How often do we yield to the temptation and the power of sin

in our lives? But your spiritual body will be

powerful, and you will be free from the power of sin.

Your earthly body is natural, and it's vulnerable to the

effects of our fallen world. But your spiritual body is

spiritual. Never again to struggle with the

things of this world. Your body will be superior

because it will be spiritual, but it is also superior because

your body will be like Jesus. Look at verses 45 through 49.

Thus it is written, The first man, Adam, became a living

being, 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 1st man was from the earth a

man of dust. A 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. So here Paul shows us that here,

while you're on earth, you're like Adam.

He was created from the dust of the earth, and everyone who

comes after him is like him. Adam is a a sort of prototype of

all earthly mankind. We all come from him and are

made from the dust of the earth. But then he points forward to

Christ. Last week Pastor Jake talked

about Christ as the firstfruits having been raised from the

dead. He's the one who goes before us,

and now he is the prototype of all of us in our resurrected

bodies, our resurrected state. And though Jesus did become a

man having flesh and blood, he was not from the dust of the

earth. He was fully God, and he came

from heaven. And we will be like him.

And so here he contrasted in the same way that we are like Adam

here on earth. Our spiritual bodies will be

like Jesus. And many of you are familiar

with Super Mario Brothers. This is one of the best selling

video games of all time. And you know the game and you've

played it. And, and the goal of the game is

to get across Mushroom Kingdom to save Princess who has been

captured by Bowser. But it's not an easy journey.

There are many obstacles, many enemies along the way.

There are Goombas and Koopa Troopas and piranha plants are

bottomless pits and and lava. And you have to be careful to

navigate all of these hazards to be able to get to the end to

save the Princess before the time runs out.

But there's one special item, one power up that helps you to

succeed the star. I don't know.

Did you guess that, Danny? Is that what you were guessing?

When you get the star, for a limited period of time, you have

a superior body and your your natural body, it was what that

was used to be subject to all the enemies in the game.

You used to die if you ran into them no longer.

Now you are invincible for this certain period of time.

I mean, there are certain things that you can still fall into the

the pits and the lava, but most of your enemies, you're

invincible. You can run through, but you

have to be careful because if there's a limited time where

you're invincible and then it runs out.

So you have to, you have to be careful how far you go.

But brothers and sisters, this is not the case with our

heavenly bodies. It, it is not a a temporal thing

that only lasts for a limited period of time.

Your resurrection body is not going to run out.

It's not going to need to be replaced by something better.

Our heavenly bodies will be complete and final.

They will be perfect just like Jesus's body, superior to our

earthly bodies in every way. In first John chapter 3, John

1 John 3 · chapter mention

says see what kind of love the Father has given us, that we

should be called children of God.

And so we are. The reason why the world does

not know us is that it did not know Him.

Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not

yet appeared. But we know that when he

appears, we shall be like him because we shall see Him as He

is. As followers of Christ, we live

here on the earth and and while we live here, we look like

everyone else. It's not obvious to the world

that we're different from them. They don't recognize that we are

children of God. We have earthly bodies.

But when Christ appears and we receive our new spiritual bodies

that look like his, they will see that we are truly the

children of God. And John continues and says,

everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.

Our hope is in a risen Savior, that one day we will have

superior bodies like His. And in light of this, brothers

and sisters, we should strive for purity.

We should strive for holiness because Jesus is pure.

If you want to look like Jesus in heaven, you must look like

Jesus on earth. And if you truly love Jesus, if

you truly want to honor him and receive a body, a superior body

like his, don't just sit on the sidelines waiting for that day

to come. Strive for holiness and purity

in your life, seeking to be like Jesus here on earth.

The next thing that we learn about the resurrection is that

you will receive an imperishable body.

You will receive a new body which will be superior because

it will be imperishable. And you're going to need a new

body because Paul says in verse 50, I tell you this brother's

flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, nor does the

perishable inherit the imperishable.

Your earthly body is perishable. It's going to die and and it

can't go into eternity. And so you're going to need a

new imperishable body. But not to worry because you

will be changed through Jesus. Look at verses 51 through 53.

Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we

shall 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 imperishable, and we shall be

changed. For this perishable body must

put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on

immortality. And so Paul here tells the

Corinthians that that not everyone is going to die.

Some people are going to be alive when Christ returns.

But that doesn't matter. It doesn't matter whether you're

dead or alive, because in that moment, every one of us will be

changed and transformed into the image of Christ and receive our

new imperishable bodies that cannot decay and that cannot

die. And this is going to happen in

in the twinkling of an eye. It's right that Paul uses the

eye as an illustration because your eye is the fastest moving

part of your body. It can turn and focus on

something in less than 100th of a second.

And So what Paul is saying is when that day comes, when the

dead are raised, when when we meet the Lord in the clouds,

we'll be transformed in the blink of an eye.

It's going to happen faster than you can even see.

And you will receive your imperishable body and you will

be victorious through Jesus. Verse verses 4554 through 57

says when, when this happens, when the perishable puts on the

imperishable and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come

to pass. The saying that is written,

death is swallowed up in victory.

Oh death, where is your victory? Oh death, where is your sting?

The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord

Jesus Christ, When you receive your imperishable body, you will

be victorious through Christ. And Paul here quotes Isaiah and

the prophet Isaiah and the prophet Hosea.

And in this way, he sort of, he sort of uses their words as a

taunt against death. Once we are victorious through

Christ, what power does death have anymore?

It's gone. Why does death have power?

It has power because of sin, Sin produced by the law of God.

God's law shows us that we are all sinners who have fallen

short of God's holy standard, and therefore we are deserving

of death, since we will have to stand before God, our righteous

judge. And so we fear death.

Death has power and dominion over us because of our sin.

But thanks be to God, Jesus died in our place.

He was buried and rose again on the third day so that all who

believe in him are forgiven, are victorious and will be given

imperishable bodies never to die again.

Charles Spurgeon said, I will not fear thee death.

Why should I? Thou lookest like a dragon, but

thy sting is gone. Thy teeth are broken.

O old lion, wherefore should I fear thee?

I know Thou art no more able to destroy me, but Thou art sent as

a messenger to conduct me to the Golden Gate, wherein I shall

enter and see my Savior's unveiled face forever.

Praise be to God, we no longer have to fear death, for it is

the doorway into Christ's presence.

Through Christ you will be changed and transformed into an

imperishable body, and you will have victory over death through

Christ. This is the hope that led

Abraham and Sarah to trusting and believing in God.

We remember the story God called Abraham and he went out and the

amazing thing about Abraham's obedience is he had no idea

where he was going. Likewise with Sarah, God

promised that Sarah that she would have a son and though she

was beyond the years of childbearing, she believed that

God who promised would be faithful.

She believed in him and later gave birth to Isaac.

And the writer of Hebrews tells us that these all died in faith,

not having received the things promised, but having seen them

and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they

were strangers and exiles on the earth.

For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a

homeland. If they had been thinking of

that land from which they had gone out, they would have had

opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a

better country. That is a heavenly 1 Therefore

God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared

for them a city. And though Abraham and Nisarah

didn't see the fulfillment of all of the promises of God, they

believed him. They took him at his word.

They knew that there was something better than the earth,

a heavenly city that was waiting for them, a heavenly city whose

designer and builder was God. And their life reflected their

faith in God. Brothers and sisters, that the

confidence that we have is the same as theirs, that we have

hope beyond the grave. After we die, we will receive

imperishable bodies, and we will be ushered in to the presence of

Christ our Savior. We believe that Jesus is the

Messiah, the one who came into the world to save all who would

trust in Him and to give them hope through faith in Him.

One day you will rise from the dead.

You'll be given a new, superior, imperishable body, and you'll

never have to fear or worry about death again.

You will never have to struggle with temptation or weakness

again. You will never have to deal with

trials and suffering again. We will all be changed through

Christ, victorious over death, victorious over our enemies,

forever to live in the glorious presence of our Lord and Savior.

What is our response to such wonderful promises?

Brothers and sisters, look at how Paul closes this section in

verse 485858. Therefore, my beloved brothers,

be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the

Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

All of these promises that we have, they teach us to be

persistent. They teach us to not give up.

They teach us to work hard for the Lord all the time.

Why? Because all of these things are

not meaningless. They're not empty.

They're not in vain. They are producing something in

us, an eternal weight of glory that we will get from our hope.

Far too often, brothers and sisters, we are guilty of

dedicating too much of our time, too much of our resources and

our talents to the things of this world.

Let's be committed to building God's Kingdom, strengthening His

church, making His name great, sharing the good news of the

gospel, knowing that it's not meaningless, but of eternal

value. And all of this, all of this

victory that we have won is because of Christ who laid down

his life for us. And this morning we have the

privilege of sharing together in the Lord's Supper as we remember

his sacrifice that he made for us.

At this time. I'm going to call the deacons

forward. Once, as Jesus was teaching, he

said in John chapter 10, For this reason the Father loves me

John 10 · chapter mention

because I lay down my life, that I may take it up again.

No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.

I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it

up again. This charge I have received from

my Father. Jesus willingly lay down His

life. He died as the sacrifice for

sin, but He did that knowing that He had the authority to

take his life up again. And through faith in Him we are

forgiven. We have been saved from the

penalty of sin. We are being saved from the

power of sin, and we will be saved from the presence of sin.

And so we follow our Savior with the hope that we will receive

our new imperishable bodies. And so in just a moment, the

deacons are going to pass out the bread which represents

Jesus's body broken for us, the juice which represents Jesus's

blood poured out for us. And they're going to pass these

trays down the aisle, and there will be two cups stacked

together. The, the cup on the bottom has

the bread in it and the cup on top has the juice.

And so if you have been baptized on the confession of your faith

that Jesus is your Lord and Savior, if you are in good

standing with the Lord, we invite you to take the elements,

the bread and the juice and to wait quietly as, as we wait for

Isaac to pray and, and to read a scripture, and they will partake

together. But if you are not baptized, if

you are not in good standing with God, then we ask that you

simply allow the bread and the juice to pass by and that you do

not participate. Let's pray.

Lord, we thank you for the body and blood of Christ our Lord,

broken and poured out for us. We thank you for this body of

believers and the unity that we have in Christ.

We pray that you would strengthen and unify us through

your spirit as we celebrate Christ's sacrifice for us.

In Jesus name we pray, Amen.