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•I Corinthians 15:45-49
•In what Image?
45 Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. 47 The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. 48 As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.
(I Corinthians 15:45-49, ESV)
•Main Point
• Paul begins to conclude his argument against certain Corinthians who believe there is no resurrection of the dead
• Without the resurrection of the dead all of our belief is in vain
• Paul shows that first must come the man of dust, then the man of heaven
• Just as we bear the image of the man of just
• So too we can bear the image of the Man of heaven by faith in Jesus Christ
Application Points
• In what Image?
• Humanity was meant for great things
• From our hubris humanity chose to be God rather than to trust God
• Like statues once created who come to life and start chiseling away at their features, so we are in our sinfulness
• To bear the image of the man of dust is to experience the ramifications of that image
• It breaks down all of who we are
• What is it to love sin with our hearts, minds, souls, and strength?
•
“10 And he called the people to him and said to them, “Hear and understand: 11 it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.” 12 Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?” 13 He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. 14 Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” 15 But Peter said to him, “Explain the parable to us.” 16 And he said, “Are you also still without understanding? 17 Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? 18 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. 20 These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”
Matthew 15:10-20, ESV
Application Points
• In what Image? (2)
• Jesus reminds all that defilement comes from the broken sinful human heart
• We take what is good and distort it
• In these ways we defile ourselves because of our ways and actions
• Within the Law we understand these actions to be against the will of God
• Not only in the actions such as these, but we also know condoning such actions leads to defilement as well
• “He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous are both alike an abomination to the LORD.” Proverbs 17:15
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Application Points
• In what Image? (3)
• Unfortunately, within our Christian culture and context such things are not far from reality
• Defilement has come not only through the act themselves, but through those who justify such acts
• There has been a rise of those who argue that homosexuality is not condemned in the Scripture
• The word, “Homosexual” is not a Greek and Hebrew word
• Thus they argue it is really against pedophilia and unwanted sexual interactions
• This does not actually work
• The New Testament was written on the understanding found in the Law
• Jesus, in the above quotation, differentiates between adultery and sexual immorality
• Sexual immorality to every Jew in the first century meant Leviticus 18-20
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22 “You shall therefore keep all my statutes and all my rules and do them, that the land where I am bringing you to live may not vomit you out. 23 And you shall not walk in the customs of the nation that I am driving out before you, for they did all these things, and therefore I detested them. 24 But I have said to you, ‘You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess, a land flowing with milk and honey.’ I am the LORD your God, who has separated you from the peoples. 25 You shall therefore separate the clean beast from the unclean, and the unclean bird from the clean. You shall not make yourselves detestable by beast or by bird or by anything with which the ground crawls, which I have set apart for you to hold unclean. 26 You shall be holy to me, for I the LORD am holy and have separated you from the peoples, that you should be mine.”
(Leviticus 20:22-26, ESV)
Application Points
• In what Image? (4)
• But the skeptic will still say that in the Hebrew there is still no word “homosexual.”
• “You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination.” Leviticus 18:22
• “If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall surely be put to death; their blood is upon them.” Leviticus 20:13.
• Clearly what is being described are homosexual acts
• You would never get either pedophilia or unwanted sexual contact from the text itself
• The action itself is considered תּוֹעֵבָה
Application Points
• In what Image? (5)
• If pedophilia was the issue in the text you would expect the word “young man” to be used
• Instead in the Hebrew it is זָכָר which is generic for male
• Despite the fact that the Scripture, the Law itself, condemns any sexual act that we would call “homosexual” we find church after church denying the Scripture
• Because even the visible Church can be duped into thinking the man of the dust is the man of heaven
• Even we can be as deceived as the Corinthians
• In the Corinthians defense, they did not have all the information we have
• One cannot understand why after 2000 years we would begin to err in the most basic teachings
Application Points
• In what Image? (6)
• There is plenty of justification for the man of dust
• One can understand being merciful and gracious to those outside of the congregation
• One cannot understand why a congregation would willfully accept such practices as legitimate
• There are major conflicts happening in our world
• These things happen because we live in a fallen world where sin is dominant
• The man of dust is still prevalent, strong, around us, within us
•According to today’s text it will not always be so
• The struggle of sinner and saint is in our very bones
I'm learning to stand
The more that I fall down
It's the law of inversion
And it's all turned around
And I'm staggered by
The clash inside my soul
So purposed for good
But inclined for evil
It's justice and mercy, the old dichotomies
All along the front lines of my heart in both doubt and belief
The sinner, and the saint, the old arch enemies
All at war in me
All at war in me
I was born depraved
But created for the Divine
With death in my bones
In my heart I turned alive
I'd love for Eden
But I'd kill for Rome
I'm native in a land
That is not my home
It's justice and mercy, the old dichotomies
All along the front line of my heart in both doubt and belief
The sinner, and the saint, the old arch enemies
All at war in me
All at war in me
You are the beginning
And You are the end
Into Your great reversal
I am born again
A beautiful redemption
You leverage even sin
And me, Your final victory
I know You'll win
Into light, from the shadows
Into light, from the grave
Into love, Into love
It's justice and mercy, the old dichotomies
All along the front lines of my heart in both doubt and belief
The sinner, and the saint, the old arch enemies,
All at war in me
All at war in me
Written by: Marc A. Martel, Jason Ronald William Germain
Application Points
• In what Image? (7)
• This describes the situation we are seeing Corinth and ourselves
• We have enough of a responsibility given to us to live for one or the other
• Imagine wearing a suit
• It has become ripped, torn, and dirty
• This is like belonging to the man of dust
• Imagine a robe which his pure white
• It is not a matter of wearing clothes, but our very existence being transformed by the power of Christ beginning now trusting in forever
• Let us seek to bear the image of the man of heaven
• Let us live for Him now and forever
• Let us continue to side with the man of heaven, knowing in Christ we will find righteousness and eternal life forevermore
Application Points
• The Gospel of Christ
• Origins
• Fall
• Redemption
• Glorification