You Won't Believe Your New Body | CHURCH IN CHAOS | 1 Corinthians 15:35-58

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1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

15, starting at verse 35. But someone will ask,

how are the dead raised? With what kind of body

will they come? How foolish. What you sow does

not come to life unless it dies. When you sow,

you do not plant the body that will be, but just

the seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else.

But God gives it a body as he has determined,

and to each kind of seed he gives its own body.

Not all flesh is the same. People have one kind

of flesh, animals have another, birds another,

and fish another. There are also heavenly bodies,

and there are earthly bodies. But the splendor

of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor

of the earthly bodies is another. The sun has

one kind of splendor, the moon another, and the

stars another, and stars differ from star in

splendor. So will it be with the resurrection

of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable.

It is raised 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.

So it is written, the first man Adam became a

living being. The last Adam, a life -giving spirit.

The spiritual did not come first, but the natural,

and after that the spiritual. The first man was

of the dust of the earth, the second man is of

heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those

who are of the earth. And as is the heavenly

man, so also are those who are of heaven. And

just as we have borne the image of the earthly

man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly

man. I declare to you, brothers and sisters,

that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom

of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

Listen, I tell you a mystery. We will not all

sleep, but we will all be changed, in a flash,

in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.

For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be

raised imperishable, and we will be changed.

For the perishable must clothe itself with the

imperishable and the mortal with immortality.

When the perishable has been clothed with the

imperishable and the mortal with immortality,

then the saying that is written will come true.

Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where,

O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is

your sting? The sting of death is sin. and the

power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God,

he gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus

Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters,

stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give

yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because

you know that your labor in the Lord is not in

vain. Thanks very much, Boaz, and hi everyone.

Great to be with you this afternoon. Do keep

your Bibles open as we trek through the passage

that's just been read, and why don't I pray?

Heavenly Father, we thank you and praise you

that we have your Word, and your Word shares

with us things that we could not even dream of,

and yet they reveal to us hope for the future.

Many of us today are in need of hope. We feel

the breath of fatigue, decay, disappointment,

and even death on our necks. And this passage

is our breath of life to our hearts. So I pray

that over these next few minutes together we

would enjoy hearing our Father speak to us great

words of comfort. Amen. The famous Welsh preacher

Martin Lloyd -Jones once said of this particular

passage that we're reading this afternoon, that

it is one of the great tests of Christian health,

how you emotionally respond to these verses.

No pressure. But the reason that he says that

is because of the tendency for Christians who

should be focused excited about anticipating

The future to come life after death the new promised

creation To find ourselves actually Focused on

the same things as our non Christian neighbors

Those of us who should be anticipating what is

to come can find that our lives, our hopes, our

dreams look no different to the society around

us. And it's not that Christians shouldn't care

about, I don't know, pensions or holidays or

other things like that. It's the issue that Christians

can often care too much about the things of this

world and too little of the world that is to

come. And that's gonna be the theme of our passage

this afternoon. And I do think there's some truth

in this idea that many of us as Christians have

neglected thinking about the new creation and

the implications of it. I find it fascinating

how our non -Christian culture, despite rejecting

so much of Christian theology, is chasing unknowingly

after the very promises that this passage offers.

Paul's climax in chapter 15, we've been trekking

through chapter 15 over the last few weeks. is

not merely, here is the evidence of Jesus' resurrection,

isn't that amazing? Paul's climax to chapter

15 is to assert, because Jesus rose from the

dead, we can be confident that our bodies will

be transformed after death into something glorious.

That's really the climax. Look at me at verses

42 to 44. It's the idea that our culture finds

itself in a very strange place, where our culture

denies the resurrection of Jesus, that is verses

one to 11 of chapter 15, and yet our culture

longs the verses 35 to 58 of chapter 15 is true.

After all, what is it to go to the gym? It is

to wish for a transformed body. What is it to

go to the makeup section of boots or super drugs?

It is to desire a transformed body. What is a

diet? What is going to see the doctors? What

is going to see the physio? What is the reason

behind a snooze button on an alarm clock? But

it is an implicit desire that there is a deficit

with our bodies. a desire actually for some transformed

bodies. So let us talk about the promise of new

bodies for believers. For such transformation

requires a realization of four things that we're

gonna work briefly through this afternoon. Number

one, the necessity of death. Death is necessary.

Point two, we're gonna look at God's track record.

Then we're gonna look at Jesus as the example

in point three. And then finally, we're gonna

look at transformation as something that we are

to begin now. So come with me to our first point,

necessary death. Look at me at verses 36 to 38

in your Bibles. Paul argues that there is a necessity

for death. to happen in order for transformation

to follow. And he takes a familiar image for

anyone in Greco -Roman culture of a seed being

planted. Seeds being planted would be symbolic

of death and burial, and then the idea that once

the seed is buried, it springs into life, breaking

through the topsoil. and is being transformed

wondrously into a healthy grain or into a bush

or into a tree. From death comes transformation.

And in other words, Paul is claiming that transformation

that first requires a death is actually built

into the design code of the world. And therefore

he's saying, as humans, we should not be surprised

that if we humans are to follow that same trajectory

of transformation, it must be through death.

But Paul writes this passage precisely because

all of this talk of death, dead, and then transformed

bodies. would have been a surprise to many of

his listeners. For in verse 35, look at verse

35, there's two questions thrown up in verse

35, and they're questions that I think were being

thrown around in the Church of Corinth by the

sneering, skeptical mockings of a group called

the Gnostics. Now these were a popular group

at the time and they were a group that corrupted

Christian communities by teaching that the bodies

Human bodies are the real problem in life human

bodies are ugly smelly Sweaty unreliable meat

puppet things that we should seek to get rid

of as quickly as we possibly can For the Gnostics,

they believed that the hope of life after death

was that we would become not anchored in bodies,

but formless, ethereal, that we would become

this kind of floating effect entity. A little

bit like modern sentiments that say the dead

simply become stardust or some of the Eastern

religious ideas that we become one with nature

after we've died and our bodies are gone and

our consciousness becomes part of the ebb and

flow of the universe. And Paul's response to

such ideas Well, he puts it very starkly in verse

36 in classic poor language and it's difficult

to communicate the strength with which he He

says this feeling here particularly in polite

company. You are polite people. I'm sure So in

the words of I don't know. I was reflecting on

my son Ruben today in in the words of buddy the

elf Let's go there. He effectively called them

Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 cotton -headed ninny

-muggins. Yes, strong language, and huge apologies

to any of you watching online who are offended

by such strong words in a church setting. But

I'm trying to communicate to you how strongly

Paul is against this idea that life after death

has no bodily form. No, no, no, Paul's point

is in the new creation, we have real bodies.

That's what we can look forward to as Christians

after death. We'll come with me to our second

point, God's track record. God's track record.

Look at me at verses 38 to 39. This is where

Paul outlines God's track record for this great

claim of transformation. And here, Paul uses

another set of examples of where he sees this

being coded into the world. And he's basically

saying, look, if you look at the world around

you, you shouldn't be surprised at this great

claim that there will be real physical bodies

after death. And he echoes in verses 38 to 39,

Genesis chapter one. And in Genesis chapter one,

the scripture lists God's good creation in terms

of the different creatures, the different animals,

all of its kind, all of its categories. different

species in different ways. And the point that

Paul's making here by referencing Genesis 1 is

God has a track record of making a variety of

different things with different bodies. Now in

verses 40 to 41, look with me here. Paul moves

the conversation forwards. He's like, okay, so

you've got a God who specializes in making different

bodies, but this God also has a track record

in making objects of different levels of splendor.

In that he says God is the same God who makes

goldfish. and sparrows and is also the God who

is the trademark creator of the sun that burns

at 15 million degrees Celsius and whose splendor

keeps the universe fresh and filled with light

and life. God does both. We're reminded aren't

we that how incredible. our world is by the astronauts

of Artemis II recently. When they looked at the

body of the earth as viewed from the other side

of the moon, they were quoted as saying, amaze,

amaze, amaze. And Paul's point is yes, of course.

If God can create, bodies of this weight and

glory, such as the celestial bodies of our solar

system, how much more can he fulfill the promise

to give you a remarkable, wondrous physical body

after death when you're raised? Let me put it

like this. If you are someone here today or watching

online who studies any of the sciences or your

field of work or research allows you to gaze

deeply in detail at the marvels of the world

and the universe and yet it doesn't lead you

to have a sense of wondrous anticipation and

excitement at the type of new body that God will

give you when he raises you from the dead, then

you are literally missing one of the best parts

of your job. It's a little bit like being invited

to eat at a Michelin star restaurant, but because

you're focusing too much on studying the menu,

you forget to eat. And that's why Paul with relish

in verse 42 says, so will it be with the resurrection

of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable.

It is raised imperishable. Now it's hard to get

our heads around that, isn't it? It's very difficult

to actually. Get our minds. What does it mean

for that future? Hope of Imperishable bodies

will allow me to try and make this a little bit

more concrete for us this afternoon Let me ask

you this personal question Don't put your hands

up. It'd be awkward How many of you struggle

to look at a mirror How many of you struggle

to look at your reflection in the mirror? How

many of you have to kind of gird yourself to

kind of look into a mirror each morning before

you gaze at your reflection in horror and dismay.

I mean, the older I get, the more I find full

-length mirrors become kind of greater objects

of torture. Do you find the same thing? Paul

seems to be suggesting, get this, Paul seems

to be suggesting that in the new creation, you

will catch a glimpse of yourself in a mirror

and without any sense of delusion or inflated

ego, you will feel a sense of marvel and wonder

that will roll over you like a wave. Much like

looking at your reflection in a mirror and having

that same sense when you are looking over a mountain

view or looking over an ocean sunset. Can you

imagine a situation where you could look at your

own reflection in the mirror, and that be your

experience? Such splendor? No. No, I don't suppose

you can, can you? But I bet you long for it,

don't you? I bet you would long for that. Now,

don't hear me wrong. The splendor of our new

physical bodies won't be that we look actually

like suns or stars in a celestial sense. Rather,

the splendour of our new bodies will be physical

minds and physical bodies that actually reach

their full potential. Just as an oak tree is

of fuller splendour than the tiny acorn from

which it first came. So shall we be. You see,

whereas in this world, the hindrances of illness

and decay and aging and death itself, in the

new world to come, those things will be cast

off like shackles in every sense and for the

very first time, physically, intellectually,

creatively and emotionally, we will thrive. We

will be of full potential. We will run. Joanie

Erickson -Tarder is a Christian who became quadriplegic

due to a diving accident in her childhood. She

puts it well when she says this. I still can

hardly believe it. I with shriveled bent fingers.

Atrophied muscles, gnarled knees, and no feeling

from the shoulders down will one day have a new

body, light, bright, and clothed in righteousness,

powerful and dazzling. Can you imagine the hope

this gives to someone with spinal cord injuries

like me? Or of someone who is cerebral palsied,

brain injured, or who has multiple sclerosis?

Imagine the hope this gives to someone who is

manic depressive. No other religion, no other

philosophy promises new bodies, hearts and minds.

Only the gospel of Christ do hurting people find

such incredible hope. But perhaps my favorite

attempt. to capture this splendor of our new

resurrected bodies is the great writer C .S.

Lewis. He says this. It is a serious thing to

live in a society of possible gods and goddesses,

to remember that the dullest, most uninteresting

person you can talk to may one day be a creature

which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly

tempted to worship. Isn't that good news for

those of us who find ourselves dull? How many

of you right now are really struggling not to

look at the person next to you? But this is wonderful,

isn't it? This is wonderful promises from 1 Corinthians

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

chapter 15. Well, come with me to our third point.

Jesus is the example. Look at me at verses 45

to 49 and Paul's point here is Jesus is the example

of transformation and that's really significant

because the idea of transformation could just

fire our brains in all sorts of very crazy directions,

but if Jesus is actually the model of what our

future resurrected bodies will be like then actually

that makes all of this Very concrete. So let

me give a quick correction to old men like me

who are quietly hoping our resurrected bodies

look like George Clooney or something like that.

We're wrong. We're wrong. Let me explain why.

In this passage, Paul re -echoes. from verses

20 to 22 that Ralph covered previously. The idea

that we were once in Adam and that leads to decay

and death and now as believers in the Lord Jesus

Christ, it means that as we are in Christ, just

as Christ is transformed and given a body that

will never perish, we too, who are following

now in Christ, will be given a new body, a body

that will be transformed from death. to a body

that will always only experience eternal life.

And in verse 49, this is Paul's point, he says

this, and just as we have borne the image of

the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of

the heavenly man. And what we see from Christ

as our example of resurrected bodies is that

the Lord Jesus and this is crucial, was recognized.

If you read the gospels after the resurrection,

he was recognized as having the same face as

before his death. His new body looked like his

former body. It could do remarkable, remarkable

things. It could pass through locked doors. It

was a very different body, but there was no sense.

that when Jesus returned to life, he returned

with a body that could have made the front page

of Men's Health magazine. And wasn't the sense

of it, was it? In fact, some people have been

very troubled by passages like John chapter 20,

John 20 · chapter mention

where the risen Jesus shows Thomas. his nail

wounds in his hand, and the wound in his side

where it was pierced with a spear. And some people

will freak out at that, go, aren't I supposed

to be resurrected with a body that's absolutely

perfect? But let me ask you this. Is it that

we find the body of the risen Jesus, even with

the marks? of nails in his hands and a spear

in his side. Do we find the risen body of Jesus

repulsive? Do we find it morbidly grotesque because

of those things? Is the body of Jesus ruined

by these markers of Good Friday for the Christian?

No. Actually for us as believers who understand

their significance, they represent those markers

of his former body. Well, they're now cast with

an absolute new beauty, aren't they? Now listen,

even if we allow Jesus's wounds to be exceptional

for the purpose of proving to Thomas that he

really is Jesus and he's really alive again,

it's not a jump. to say that there is something

about our new bodies that casts a new beauty,

a new beauty on perhaps things about ourselves

that we currently hate. I don't know, but perhaps

in the light of our resurrection, Let's say your

hair, that perhaps you hate your hair. It's not

like other people's, it's an absolute nightmare.

Perhaps in your new body, your hair will be seen

as it was intended by God to be seen. Have you

thought about that? Or let me take your nose.

Perhaps you hate your nose and you would be tempted,

had you the money to get it adjusted. Perhaps.

I don't know, but perhaps in the light of our

new bodies, it enables us to say with every surprised

sincerity, ah, that's what God had planned when

he gave me that nose. It's wonderful. Those of

us who are here this afternoon who wish we were

taller or Perhaps our arms less gangly or our

legs less leggy or our complexion was better

or our eyes were bluer. When you look in a mirror

and you despise and hate and criticize your looks,

your body, your image, Christian, be very careful.

Because one day you will meet the artist face

to face and you will stand in the perfect true

light that he always intended you to be seen

in. And in that moment, wouldn't it be awkward

if you had a nose job? No. You get the point.

We'll come with me to our final point. Begin

now. Look at me at verses 50 to 58. Begin your

transformation now is basically what Paul's saying.

And in verses 51 to 52, he spotlights the moment

of Christ's return and that great future moment

when all believers will receive their new bodies.

And then that draws Paul to the great climax

of chapter 15, a quote from Hosea chapter 13

Hosea 13:14

verse 14, a phrase that draws together the whole

chapter, oh death, where is your sting? And his

point being, if there is no sting of death, it

now means that the kingdom of God has arrived.

But I want us to land on verse 58 because Paul

finishes with some very specific applications.

Always give yourselves fully to the work of the

Lord because you know that your labor in the

Lord is not in vain. Let me summarize a little

bit where we're up to before we dive into this

bit. We've looked at the hope that Christians

have for the grieving and that is life after

death. And we've looked at the hope for the sick

and the broken. That is, we get new imperishable

bodies. And the hope for the millions whose homes

are burnt as rubble. Well, the promise is a new

creation where there's no more sin or death.

These are wonderful promises. They should fill

our hearts with joy. But as you think about that

great future, It sounds like it would take an

enormous amount of effort to qualify for such

a future as that, doesn't it? What type of effort

would you need to get to qualify, to get a ticket

for that type of future? If we were Muslims,

to qualify for the equivalent future hope? would

require a near perfect performance of the pillars

of Islam. If we were Buddhists, our expectations

could be lifetimes worth of refinement through

reincarnation to get anywhere close to this.

If we were Catholics, how many centuries would

we have to go through the very fires of purgatory

in order to qualify for this? And even those

religions' futures are nothing compared with

the Christian hope of the new creation that is

to come. So as we draw to the end of this letter,

what would it take for the dysfunctional church

in Corinth to qualify for this great future?

Because surely, as we've seen from chapters one

to 15, the Corinthian church, they feel like

the type of people who should be back of the

queue, shouldn't they, when it comes to tickets

to a creation like this? Well, the twist of the

passage is right there. Verses 56, 57. It's all

a gift. It's given to us by God. The victory

is given. It is a gift, it is grace, that it

is an undeserved gift for undeserving people.

How do you qualify for it? You repent of your

sin. You accept the risen Lord Jesus as your

King. That's the qualification, that is grace.

And all of these promises of chapter 15 are now

yours. This is outrageous, this is scandalous

generosity that is at the very heart of the gospel.

You see whilst the atheist Despairs of their

short life and the religious devote themselves

to every effort trying to qualify to get a ticket

for the next life The Christian is told Go pack

your bags because your future is secure Or actually

we better to say now Christian go plant. What

do I mean? Well the work of the Lord as it's

phrased here or labor in the Lord as it's phrased

in our passage Given the continuity between this

world and the world that is to come Like a gardener

in the winter who anticipates the coming summer

Christian You are to plant in your life and in

your community good things now that will grow

to their full potential in the new creation to

come. In other words, let me ask you this. What

is it that you do right now that is a fruit of

your trust in Jesus, but you can very, very easily

feel discouraged about? What is it that you do

right now as a response to Jesus? that sometimes

you just find yourself kind of going, oh, what's

the point? What's the point? Well, Paul's application

is because there is a continuity between this

world and the world to come. And that which is

an acorn in this world will become a tree in

the next. Paul's application in this final verse

of chapter 15 is simply keep. Going. Those of

you who keep exercising the gift of hospitality

to others, wonderful, but no one ever invites

you around. Keep going. Those of you who are

at City Church for any length of time and you're

welcoming hundreds if not thousands of people

into the church, wonderful, but no one ever seems

to see you. Keep going. Those of you who are

parents and you are tearing your hair out and

it is all you can do to raise your children Do

you know something of the Lord Jesus and not

to lose your absolute wick with them? keep going

For those of you who constantly take the risk

of inviting your friends to alpha, but they never

say yes keep going For those of you who are determined

to plant in your life sexual purity, gratefulness,

resilience, healthy prayer life, healthy devotional

life, faithfulness in marriage, good healthy

boundaries at work, but it's so hard. Keep going.

I can't pretend I know what those. Trees of these

seeds will look like in the new creation to come

but the one who rose from the dead and Gifts

you a better future than you could have ever

imagined or longed for in this world He looks

at you today And he says keep going because what

is coming is worth it for your labor now is not

in vain. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we come

before you and ask that you would cast our vision.

to that great future that is to come, that new

creation where we will meet you with real bodies

face to face and you will wipe every tear from

our eyes. Father, for those of us who are struggling

and feeling on the edge of despair and giving

up, I pray that as we look at this promised and

guaranteed future hope, we would hear Paul's

exhortation to keep going. and that we would.

Father, I pray that as we look through the lens

of a world that drags us down and seems to be

broken in every level and makes us despair and

say, what is the point? I pray that you would

take our glance to the hope of heaven, the new

creation that is to come. and that we would know

in the depth of our heart and deepest affections

to follow Christ no matter what is absolutely

worth it. Amen.