Over the course of ministry, I meet lots of people. Some, in particular stick out. And one lady, F, stands out. You see, when I’d call to see her, we’d spend a bit of time chatting about her latest ailments. But sooner or later, I knew that she would have some questions waiting for me. F was a thinker. She would think carefully about her faith, then have all these difficult questions to hit me with. Where did God come from? Why did he make us in the first place? Why was he keeping her alive (by this stage in her late 90s)?
One of her favourite topics, though, was heaven. What will it be like? Will we know each other? How can God put us back together again? Will it really last forever? But the question that we came back to what - how will it all work?
Perhaps you’ve thought about those questions yourself. It’s good to think about them, good to ask those questions - and good to search the scriptures to see how they answer those questions. As we come to our reading today, the question comes in verse 35: ‘How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?’
Now that question comes in the middle of the chapter, in the middle of a sustained argument by the apostle Paul. In 1 Cor 15 he’s dealing with the theme of the resurrection - the resurrection of Jesus and what that means for us. And already he’s shown us that Jesus was raised according to the scriptures (and seen by the eyewitnesses); he was raised indeed (because we’d be pitiful if Jesus only gives us hope for this life); he was raised as the firstfruits (we too will be raised with him, when he comes again).
But as Paul teaches all this, he’s aware that there might be a question arising in someone’s mind. Some of the Corinthians didn’t believe in resurrection at all - and so they might have been thinking to themselves, well, how does this all work, then? Will we be like zombies, like some horror movie? How are the dead raised?
Now, when F asked me questions, I wouldn’t have responded in the way Paul does in verse 36. As the introduction to Christianity Explored puts it - there are no silly questions. Yet Paul reckons that this question about the resurrection is foolish. Why does he think that? Well, because the answer is all around us.
Paul takes us to the garden, or the farm, to answer the question. He wants us to think about sowing and reaping. Because the way the world works, the natural order of creation points us to God’s work of re-creation. And in these verses he gives us two simple principles:
Principle 1 - dying brings life. We see this in verse 36. ‘What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.’ To reap a harvest, you first have to sow the seed. If you keep it sitting in the container in the shed, it’ll never grow. It must die to give. It’s only when the seed is buried, planted in the ground, that the seed will die and then spring into new life. Dying brings new life. Sowing leads to growing.
Principle 2 - you don’t sow what eventually grows. Verse 37: ‘When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or something else.’ If you look at a sunflower seed, you wouldn’t imagine that a big tall, colourful sunflower could grow from it. Or think of the phrase - big oaks from little acorns grow. The seed that is sown looks entirely different to the end product, to the thing that grows.
God gives each seed its new body, just as he has determined - whatever is just right for it. Just think how many different types of body there are. Paul gives us some of them in v39 and on. People, animals, birds, fish, all have their own sort of body. There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies - each different, each with its own glory.
Paul is saying that God will give us the right sort of body for the new heavens and the new earth. God has got it all under control. It’ll be just right.
So we have these two principles - dying brings life; and you don’t sow what eventually grows. The way creation works shows us how God will work in our re-creation. So here’s how it will work in our bodies. Here is our great hope.
You see, we’re all getting older. Our bodies are wearing out or giving up. As someone once said, the sign of getting older was that when you bend down to tie your shoelaces, you see what else you could do while you’re down that far. And despite the anti-ageing creams or the ten years younger programmes, we’re still getting older. And perhaps you think to yourself - would I be able to manage eternal life if it’s just perpetually getting older? Could you go another 1000 years in the skin you’re in?
But remember what Paul has shown us from the creation. In verse 42 we see how it applies to our resurrection: ‘The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonour, 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.’
Our earthly bodies are just the seed. When we have a funeral, it’s like a seed being planted. The Moravian church calls its graveyards ‘God’s acre’, God’s field, as they await the harvest, the resurrection.
Just think of that promised transformation. We lay our loved one to rest, perhaps having sat with them for weeks, watching as they go down, as their bodies fail. Even the best of us end up perishable, in dishonour, weakness, and all too aware of the frailty of our natural body. But these bodies will be transformed at the resurrection - raised imperishable, in glory, in power, a spiritual body.
Now, that doesn’t mean that we’re just a spirit, just a ghost. It means that we’ll have a body made alive by the Holy Spirit, empowered by heaven. You see, we won’t spend eternity in a dress on a cloud playing a harp, as some images of heaven would suggest. You won’t become an angel when you die. You’ll be you, raised to new life, in a new resurrection body. We’ll have the same kind of new body that Jesus has already, because he is the firstfruits - the first example of the new resurrection body.
So what was Jesus’ body like? He could appear in locked rooms with the disciples; he could be touched, his wounds inspected; he could walk along; he could cook breakfast for the disciples; he could eat. He’s not Casper - just a friendly ghost. He is raised to new life, real life, in a glorified, imperishable body.
If you remember last week, Paul gave us a comparison between Adam and Christ. In Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. (22). He now continues to compare Adam and Jesus. Look at verse 45: ‘The first man Adam became a living being; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit.’ Adam was given life, but Jesus gives life.
And that makes all the difference. We’re all born in Adam. V47: ‘The first man was of the dust of the earth.’ The life given to Adam is also given to us. But that life is temporary, all too short. And in the life, we bear Adam’s image and likeness. ‘As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth.’
And some day, those words spoken of Adam, will also be spoken over us - earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Our Adam-ness shows that we bear the image of our first father, Adam, the man of the earth.
But Jesus is from heaven. He belongs to a different sphere. And he gives us a different destiny. If we belong to him, then we will be like him. Look at verse 49: ‘And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.’
We are like Adam, we come from dust and return to dust. But as we trust in Christ, we become like him. We will share his risen life. And we will have resurrection bodies like his. This world is not the end. Death does not have the last word. And we will be raised in glory, to be like Jesus, in resurrection bodies like Jesus. That’s a truth to hold on to when we grieve for loved ones, or when we’re faced with our own mortality. Burial is a seed sown, as we wait for the harvest - you and me, personally raised, personally known, but in new bodies, just like Jesus’ own.
My dear friend F died recently. Her frail body finally gave up. But now she sees the Lord, face to face, even as she awaits her resurrection body. And what will it be like?
Look at the world around you - dying brings life, and you don’t sow what eventually grows. We’ll be raised imperishable, in glory, in power, a spiritual body, in the likeness of Jesus Christ himself. So let’s look forward in hope.
This sermon was preached in St Matthew's Church, Richhill on Sunday morning 6th May 2018.
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