(Audio only available for this sermon)
•I Corinthians 15:35-44
•The Wisdom of God
35 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” 36 You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. 38 But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. 39 For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. 40 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. 41 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.
(I Corinthians 15:35-41, ESV)
42 So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. 43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. 44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
(I Corinthians 15:42-44, ESV)
•Main Point
• Paul deals with the question of the kind of body which will be raised
• There are those who believe a resurrected body is absurd
• Paul, however, shows that just as the seed is transformed…so too will our new bodies
Application Points
• The Wisdom of God
• When it comes to the discernment of knowing what, where, who, and why, God is far greater than any other
• There is different flesh for different things
• All things are given their bodies to fit the domain in which they exist
• We see how the seed goes down into the earth to die, but from the death comes life
• It began as a kind of seed
• So it is with us
• The physical world has been tainted by sin
• If humanity had been faithful we would have continued in that paradise forevermore
•
Application Points
• The Wisdom of God (2)
• Yet sin brings its results
• As we age our bodies become frail, our energy diminishes
• This is the world in which we live
• All are left dishonored in the casket
• For the Christian there is future hope
• Just as Christ was raised, so we too will be raised
• This does not mean it will not be a physical body
• It will be physical, but it will not be corrupted
• This is not accomplished by our own hands
• He is the One who gives the different bodies their shape, forms, and what they need in order to survive the habitat He created for them
•
Application Points
• The Wisdom of God (3)
• We will not be entering into the old habitat of sin and death
• Just as we are given the necessary bodies for this habitat, so too will our bodies be transformed to fit the next
• Our bodies are like the seed that goes down into the earth
• But when the time comes the new will sprout forth in glorious day
• Our God is so great and wonderful as to have it all planned
• Though we hate the enemy which is death, we have hop[e that death will be defeated
• All of this is accomplished because of God
• He has shown us His faithfulness, shown us His great wisdom and knowledge
• Let us hate sin which causes so much pain
Application Points
• The Wisdom of God (4)
• Let us cling to Christ
• Not only the hope in this life
• But the fulfillment of this hope at the resurrection of our own bodies
• What will it be like to have a resurrected body?
• It will be human
• Just as the Lord was risen from the tomb, the tomb was empty of His body for His body was raised into everlasting life
• We will continue
• We do not cease to exist, but continue to exist in our own personhood
• We will not be reanimated corpses; the living dead is not for us!
• Instead it is true life
• In forms created by God in His great wisdom
Application Points
• The Gospel of Christ
• Origins
• Fall
• Redemption
• Glorification
