Everybody seems to be concerned about their bodies. That’s not a bad thing. Nobody here wants to look bad and there is nothing wrong with spending time in front of the mirror. I hope you all own, and use, a toothbrush and that you take a shower regularly.
The Bible teaches us that our bodies are fearfully and wonderfully made and, if we are Christians, they are temples for the Holy Spirit. God thinks our bodies are very good. So it is right that we should get exercise and eat well, make time to rest properly, get enough sleep, and not subject our bodies to abuse or neglect. It is absolutely right to look after your body. But in our culture, body image has become a bit of an obsession and it is possible to get our proportions out of all proportion.
For example, Julia Roberts said in a recent interview, “I don’t want to change my life. Just my butt.” She’s desperate for symmetrical perfection on an already attractive figure but not interested at all in changing her Hello magazine private life.
Or what about Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger, now 66, who was talking with George Melly on a TV chat show once and describing the creases on his face as “laugh lines”. George Melly just smiled and said, “Nothing’s that funny”!
Many of us, if we’re not paranoid about fat, we’re in denial about aging. Our culture dictates that wrinkles must be removed, grey hair must be tinted, blemishes must be eradicated. We have become used to talking about lipro-suction, breast enhancements, hair transplants, face lifts and nose jobs. I wouldn’t bet money that any more than 20% of Michael Jackson’s face is actually really him.
I prefer the approach of NBA basketball coach Rick Majerus, who doesn’t take himself too seriously. “Everyone’s worried about the economy this year”, he said; “hey! my hairline’s in recession, my waistline’s in inflation and altogether, I’m in depression.”
The truth is all our bodies are getting older, tireder, greyer, wrinklier and maybe even balder every day. Or maybe not. Even if we are all getting older on the outside, the Bible says that those who are recipients of the grace of God are all getting younger on the inside. “We do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.”
We are, by faith, a new creation; new men, new women. So the truth is, in Christ, you're all getting younger every day. Isn't that good news? And if you value your inner life more than your so-called vital statistics, I’ve got good news this morning. So let’s take a look at what God’s word has to say about our bodies.
A Bit of Background
Paul devoted the entire 15th chapter of 1 Corinthians to this matter of what’s in store for our bodies, because thinking clearly about this has a direct impact on the state of our spiritual health. Let’s quickly recap on what the chapter says so far.
You may remember that Paul starts out by saying in v3 that all this is of “first importance”, it’s top priority”. He explains that Jesus himself was very dead once and that he was placed in a tomb, just as the Old Testament had predicted. He was then physically raised from death and was seen alive by about 600 different people on a number of separate occasions. He even says that most of those witnesses were still alive at the time of writing, so you could go and check it out with them if you weren’t convinced. We saw all this a fortnight ago.
Then Paul says that Christ’s resurrection is totally pivotal for the Christian faith. Paul says, in v14-17, that if Christ is not raised, there is nothing left to preach about. There is, in that case, no point in being a Christian, all faith is useless and we’re better off having a wild old time instead of sitting here looking miserable in church. Ladies and gentlemen, if Christ is not raised, then death ends it all and living for the moment is all that matters.
But v20 insists emphatically that Christ has been raised. Christians really are on the right track. It’s all true. And Christ’s victory over the tomb guarantees that death will not have the last word over us either. Jesus was raised from the dead (v1-11). That means we will also be raised (v12-34). Now then, what’s the rest of the chapter about? It’s all about the kind of body we will be given after these ones have decomposed and returned to the pool of elemental matter.
1) What Will Happen to My Body After I Die?
Paul explains that we will all be given new resurrection bodies after we die. The people Paul was writing to imagined that our personalities and feelings, our mind and all our emotions, our “self” (in other words, the soul) would float around in a kind of happy heavenly atmosphere. For them, the body was bad, dirty, something to discard. It would just waste away in the grave, and, frankly they thought, “good riddance”, and that was the end of it.
But the soul, they thought, would never die; on the contrary, it would just get liberated from the body when it stops breathing, like a bird flying free at last out of a rusty old cage. So all talk of bodies after death just gave them the creeps. They couldn’t see beyond the decay, but Paul was imagining a supernatural, indestructible, glorious body.
These days, most people have only a sketchy idea of what the Bible says about life after death. Ask a work colleague what they think and you’ll probably get one of three answers. Some will say, like these Corinthian believers, that our disembodied souls will kind of float around in a conscious state. That’s Greek philosophy. It’s Plato – and has nothing to do with the Bible.
Secondly, some will talk about reincarnation; that we reappear in a different form at some future point on this earth. That’s Hindu or New-Age thinking and has nothing to do with the Bible either. Thirdly, atheists believe that there is absolutely nothing at all after death. They say, “Why write, “Rest in peace” on gravestones? Dead people do not rest, they decompose. That is all.”
So someone in Corinth says in v35, “Hang on: Everyone knows that corpses decay and disappear. So if we’re not talking about the actual physical skin and bones, flesh and blood, old body making a reappearance – what are we talking about?”
Paul replies, in v36, “How foolish”! meaning, “Category error.” And he goes on to give quite a long explanation with numerous illustrations. He makes comparisons with seeds and birds and flesh and fish and stars. And dust and heaven and falling asleep exhausted and waking up renewed and changed. You know what it’s like trying to spell something out to somebody with a mental block don’t you?
Most of us understand the basic principles of golf. Well, suppose you had to explain golf to someone who had never seen it before. They might find it strange. “Why are they trying to punish that ball by hitting it with that stick?” So you explain, “They’re not. They are trying to drive it. They want to put the little white ball in the hole way over there.” “Oh. Well, let’s just walk over and drop the ball in by hand. It would be easier.” “Well,” you say, “nobody wants to do it the easy way. In fact, we pay an expert lots of money to make sure the ground around the hole is especially tricky. See the woods over there, and the rough grass and the pond and those sand bunkers? These are all places where the little white ball can get stuck or lost.”
“Oh, now I see!” says our friend. “If it takes a long time to put the ball in the hole, everyone is happy.” So you shake your head. “No, no, no; if it takes a long time to put the ball in the hole, someone usually gets angry. See that man over there, throwing his clubs around and cursing? He’s upset because he just hit his ball into the pond for the third time!” So our friend asks, “Well, why does he bother to play golf at all, if it only makes him annoyed?” To which you reply, “He comes here twice a week to play so he can relax!”
This is the sort of category misunderstanding Paul is trying to address. So, from v37 to v52 he attempts to explain the unexplainable so that the unimaginative can imagine it. Human beings have no categories in their minds to fully grasp all this.
All these images (seeds, birds, flesh, fish, stars, dust, falling asleep and waking up) are examples of a different quality of existence. Just as an oak tree is totally unrecognisable from the acorn it grows from, which may be hundreds of times smaller, and completely different in shape, so we will be transformed beyond anything we could imagine. And yet, the genetic make-up of a seed, its DNA, is identical to the plant it becomes. It’s totally the same thing only completely different.
Jesus, after he was raised, was the same Jesus - but different. People knew it was him and yet, curiously, there was something about him, so that people hesitated to go near him and, in fact, didn’t always recognise him at first.
Let me show you a photo of one of someone you might know. Who’s this? It’s today’s service leader, John Belmont! Or rather it’s not! Since our body cells are dying and being replaced all the time, every seven years or so, our bodies complete a process of total transformation. That picture was taken about 15-20 years ago. Every atom of John Belmont has completely changed twice or three times since that time. Yet it’s still John. You can see it is.
Here’s another picture. You’ll probably have more trouble with this one because the picture quality isn’t great. It’s Terry Doyle. If you can’t see the resemblance, it was over 100 years ago! Once I knew it was Terry, I could just about pick out one or two features.
What about this one? That’s Kathie Lambert, 26 years ago. You can tell it’s her I think, though she’s changed a lot – and is, I hasten to add, even lovelier now than she was then.
And here’s the last one. That’s this morning’s preacher when he was three years old. What a difference 25 years makes… Note the unconventional dog collar… Didn’t comb his hair then and doesn’t need to now...
So, that’s a little detour to say that we will be different, but it will still be us. I believe the Bible indicates that we will be more or less recognisable. There are things we don’t fully understand about the resurrection body. How old will we look? Will those who have died in childhood be childlike or mature? Jesus still had holes in his hands and feet. Will our scars show? Will we care? We don’t know, we can only guess. What we do know is spelled out for us in v42-44.
We die with perishable bodies; they go downhill, die, then decay. We will rise with imperishable - indestructible ones. All the indignities of our present bodies will be history; the dishonour of our aged, tired and wrinkly frames will be replaced, says v43, with glory. The handicaps, the limitations, the weaknesses the sickness and the vulnerability will also be a thing of the past when we rise on the day of judgement with powerful, glorious and spiritual, supernatural bodies.
2) Why Will I Need a New Body?
That’s what this passage teaches us. Our earthly bodies are only a dull, limited prototype of what they will be like in eternity. Why will we need new bodies? So we can feast and enjoy God’s brilliant presence for ever without that pleasure and glory and happiness and delight ever fading through ill health or weariness. That’s what it says in v50. “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God”.
In other words, it’s no good if a magnificent, indestructible, unshakable kingdom has subjects going round moaning about ingrown toenails and being allergic to milk and honey! And what’s the point in having a great banquet in heaven if half the guests decline to eat because they’re worried about getting flabby hips or a double chin!
To the human eye, caterpillars are just hairy worms. But at just the right time in its life the caterpillar goes grey and hangs upside down on a branch and weaves a cocoon. It looks like it is dying and creating its own coffin. But inside the cocoon, the caterpillar is undergoing transformation. It uses the same atoms as it had as a caterpillar, rearranges them, recycles them, in order to emerge, rise, if you like, as a majestic butterfly, no longer crawling but flying! Its environment is not longer limited to the earth. It can now travel in the heavens. The same is true of us when we die. Our bodies will be transformed, using the same stuff, into a body equipped to exist on a different level. Just exactly what we will be, look like and how we will be composed has not yet been fully revealed.
That’s a bit like what Paul is saying in v51-52. Our present bodies are fitted only for the time we have here. We’re going to need to be kitted out for eternity.
Everyone will need a new body, whether they are believers or not, in order to live in heaven... or in hell, which the Bible describes as everlasting loss, suffering, torment and regret. In April 1860, Charles Spurgeon spoke on this passage saying, “The eyes that are full of lust will one day be full of horror; the ear with which you listen to lascivious conversation must listen to sullen moans and hollow groans... of tortured ghosts... (You will have) the power to agonize, power to suffer, power to die and yet to live uncrushed by the stern foot of death”.
I take no delight in quoting that, but it would be a neglect of duty if I did not say that Christ will surely come again to judge the living and the dead, the righteous and the unrighteous. And as Jesus himself said, talking about the last judgment, “Some will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life”.
So our new bodies will be able to overflow with unspeakable joy, never again limited by aches and pains. But the awful flip side is that they will also be able to suffer the agony of regret, eternally away from God, and never to be put out of their misery.
3) How Should These Truths Shape My Life Now?
To finish, I want to ask the following question; how should these truths about the bodies we’re going to have tomorrow shape our lives today?
Given what I have just said about heaven and hell, my answer will be obvious. If you have never been a Christian, or if you have fallen away, you are at a fork in the road. You must decide whether to continue on the path you are on, which, Jesus said, leads ultimately to destruction, or to take the alternative road, which leads to heaven. Oh, what a reckless gamble ignore Christ’s words and end your days on the wrong path, from where there is no way back.
But if you reject sin, abandon unbelief and turn to Christ, you will already be on the new path. And Jesus has promised to never let go of anybody who comes to him. So I am inviting you to do that today if you need to. I do not pretend it will always be an easy route. But I am sure you will never regret your decision to take that path.
How should this teaching affect those of us who are already Christians? Is it just information? Did Paul write these things so we can say to ourselves, “Oh right, that’s what it’s going to be like when we die?” Is it just an interesting curiosity? The answer is that glimpse into the resurrection doesn’t just inform us about the future, it empowers us in the present.
That’s why Paul finishes the passage with v58. Notice he doesn’t say, “Therefore, remember all this because it’s rather fascinating”. He says, “Therefore, stand firm. Keep going. What you’re doing for the Lord is not a waste of time”.
Ending
If the resurrection is a big fairy story, our faith is futile, says v14. But no. Big issues of how we spend our time, and where we spend our eternity, hang on all this. So press on. Don’t go back now. Always stand firm. Your work in the Lord’s service, your praying, your encouragement of fellow believers, your stand against evil, your love for others, the tears you shed, the faith you share, the temptations you resist, are not in vain.
For as surely as you use your body to serve the Lord in the time available you have, he is preparing for you a body able to enjoy him forever in the eternity to come.
Sermon preached at All Saints' Preston on Tees, 26th April 2009
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