YOUR Resurrection
A. BACKGROUND... So much of Christian faith hinges on the resurrection – Jesus’, ours, and everybody else’s. Aside from that, Jesus is a wonderful fellow, inspiring teacher, even a miracle worker. With the resurrection, Jesus stands alone. Our loftiest descriptions of him as “Son of God” and Messiah” and our loftiest hopes for our eternal life become real. St. Paul’s job was to establish churches based on this hope, this reality, and to encourage them in their faith. 1Corintians 15 is Paul’s most detailed argument for the reality of resurrection.
C. SUMMARY. Paul is writing to a church in Corinth, Greece, that was struggling to believe fully in resurrection. He tells them the Christian message is twofold: Jesus died on the cross to eliminate our sins AND was raised from the dead as proof that it can happen. Paul cites the many people who literally saw Jesus alive: But if all this is false, wishful thinking, mass hysteria, or fake news then people who have put faith in Christ for this world and the next “are to be pitied more than all people” (vs. 19). Paul compares Jesus with Adam. Adam’s life and sin led to death. Jesus, the new man, defeats death (vs. 26). With today’s scripture, Paul turns to agriculture as an analogy for resurrection. A farmer puts a seed into the ground (death and burial). Seeds, kernels, pods, roots, etc. They look like one thing, often hard, small, lifeless. But then, see what emerges (resurrection!) Flowers, trees, fruit, vegetable, all full of life, and with a new and exciting appearance.
D. KEY POINTS
1. “THE LAST ENEMY TO BE DESTROYED IS DEATH”, verse 26. Nothing truer has ever been said, that death is our final enemy. Certainly, there are noble lives that end at a ripe old age after a lifetime of accomplishment and joy. Even those deaths leave an emptiness and sorrow. Most deaths fall short of such nobility. They come too soon, unexpected, unfair, hopes and plans unfulfilled, loved ones left broken-hearted in the truest sense of the word. Death ends the life we loved, whether ours or another’s. To declare that Christ “destroys the last enemy, death” is to offer the greatest gift possible.
2. It works for me; does it work for you? I’m referring to Paul’s comparison of the life cycle of a seed to the resurrection of the body. Comparing burial to plating or sowing, he says we are planted/buried (or cremated) in our “perishable... weak... natural... earthly body” (vs. 40-44). That’s our corpse, ashes, remains. But when we are resurrected it is with a “spiritual body... raised in honor and power... imperishable” (vs 40-44). We are a new creation. “Just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man (descendants of Adam), so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven” (Jesus, vs. 49). In other words, in this life we have an imperfect body that ultimately fails us. In heaven we are perfected.
3. COMFORTING or DISTURBING? The details of a Biblical life in heaven are skimpy. We are told it is spectacular, amazing, and worth every sacrifice to get there. You don’t want to miss it. It has been left to creative human minds to conjure up specifics – from Dante to Hollywood films to religious art. For me, the most powerful promises are that we will know and be known; and there are “no more tears”. The sorrows of this life are wiped away. The loves of this life endure to perfection. Some have suggested, helpfully, that it is our soul, our personality, or innateness that is resurrected. Not our height, weight, or hairstyle.
