Easter Sermon (1 Cor 15:38)

BUILT TO LAST (1 CORINTHIANS 15:35-58)

During their vacation and while they were visiting Jerusalem, George's mother-in-law died. With death certificates in hand, George went to the American Consulate Office to make arrangements to send the body back to the states for proper burial.

The Consul, after hearing of the death of the mother-in-law told George that the sending of a body back to the States for burial is very, very expensive. It could cost as much as $5,000.00. The Consul continues, in most cases the person responsible for the remains normally decides to bury the body here. This would only cost $150.00. George thinks for some time and answers, "I don't care how much it will cost to send the body back; that's what I want to do."

The Consul, after hearing this, says, "You must have loved your mother-in-law very much considering the difference in price." "No, it's not that," says George. "You see, I know of a case years ago of a person that was buried here in Jerusalem. On the third day he arose from the dead! I just can't take that chance.”

Paul the apostle received a list of questions from the church in Corinth. One of the top considerations on the list provided by the curious Corinthians was the nature of the resurrected body. Not only are 1 Corinthians’ 47 references to the body a record for any book in the Bible, 1 Corinthians 15 has more reference to the resurrection body (vv 35, 37, 38, 38, 40, 40, 44, 44, 44, 44) than any chapter or book in the Bible. Verses 42-44 intrigue me now that I am in the middle age category. What is the nature of the resurrected body? How is it different from the physical body we have? How is the resurrected body superior to the earthly body?

The Resurrected Body is Free From the Restriction on Lifespan
42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable;

I read with interest Internet accounts on how long living creatures live. Let’s start with creepy crawlies. The itsy-bitsy spider lives a short 100 days. The nuclear-surviving cockroach actually lives just up to seven years. The lifespan of an adult American cockroach is between 6-12 months, but the bad news is that a female can produce up to eight hundred cockroaches a year. The average life span of a slithering snake is 15-20 years.

Water creatures differ in lifespan according to their species. The average lifespan for guppies is 3-5 years, but 10-30 years for Goldfish and Koi. The Chinese longevity gui or turtle lives but 25 years; the seal lives longer at 46 years.

Birds, also, differ in life expectancy. Canaries live 7-10 years, doves 10-15 years, parrots 15-20 years, and cockatoos live to a ripe old age of 30-40+ years.

Animals do not necessarily live longer than other creatures. The average lifespan of any dog is 10-12 years. The poodle lives 10-12 years but the small Chihuahua 13 - 15 years. The cat with nine lives has an average lifespan 12-15 years for indoor cats and 2-3 years for outdoor cats. The rat’s is 33 months and a year longer for lab rats.

Earthlive.org documents the age of mammals in years:
Grey Wolf/ Tiger/Leopard/Jaguar - 20
Camel - 25.5
Indian Rhinoceros - 47
Chimpanzee and Orang-utan (the longevity monkeys) - 55+
Indian Elephant - 78
http://www.earthlife.net/mammals/age.html

Man, in contrast, is durable. World Health Organization estimated that people in 24 countries live over 70 years, and half of the WHO member countries live over 60 years. At the other extreme people in 32 countries live less than 40 years. Many of these are countries with major epidemics of HIV/AIDS, among other causes. All the bottom 10 countries were in sub-Saharan Africa, with Ethiopia lowest at 33.5. http://www.who.int/inf-pr-2000/en/pr2000-life.html

The highest average life expectancy in the world is in Okinawa, Japan, at 81.2 years - 86 for women, 75 for men. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/1977733.stm

The latest figure for America is 77.6 years but obesity can reduce a person’s life by 2-5 years (USA TODAY 03/17/2005 “Obesity threatens life expectancy”). Smoking slices a life by 5-6 years on the average.

Psalms 90:10 reads, “The length of our days is seventy years--or eighty, if we have the strength; yet their span is but trouble and sorrow, for they quickly pass, and we fly away.”

1 Corinthians 15 says that the earthly body is corruptible or perishable in NIV (v 42). Perishable is a better translation as it conveys the idea of the brevity of man and the decay of the body found in the Greek word. Corruption has the idea of moral corruption – dishonesty, fraud, vice, but the word “perishable” means the limited lifespan of the body. It’s been said, “Death and taxes are the only two certainties in life.”

The body will experience wear and tear, and our brains are as certain to lose cells as our heads to lose hair. The child turns into a youth, the youth into an adult, and the adult into a retiree before becoming an obituary or an epitaph or a memory - all in the blink of an eye, without our permission and right before our eyes. The key word is “in time,” not “if,” but “when.” In time your body and muscles will feel its age, act its age, and shrivel and shrink with age. In time you will feel weaker, walk slower, and be clumsier, duller, and grumpier. In time a rookie, a machine, a youth or a graduate replaces you. The circle of life clears out the aged to make room for the infant. The Chinese say, “The behind waves push the leading waves in a river.” It may be good or right time, wrong time or bad timing, or it could be a long time or no time at all, but it will happen in time, it will strike someday, sooner or later. The cleverest escape artist escapes anything but death.

The resurrected body, on the other hand, is an “imperishable” body. This is purely a Pauline word, not used by other biblical writers; elsewhere it is translated as immortality (Rom 2:7, 2 Tim 1:10) and undying (Eph 6:24). This does not refer to having a superman body with superhuman strength and supernatural abilities; so the word “indestructible” is better. It has nothing to do with steel or strength. It will be a body free from the trap, the threat and the terror of death and dying. Only the resurrected body is ageless, timeless, and changeless.

The Resurrected Body is Free From the Regrets in Life
43 it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory;

It’s been said, “No news is good news” because the papers report the worst or ugly side of human nature daily. Today’s headlines include wars of all kinds, prison scandal, school shootings, serial killings, racism, pornography, prostitution, sex offenders, terrorism, euthanasia, divorce, abortion, adultery, abuse, drugs, steroids, child abductions, DUI, Communism and Capitalism, computer crimes, sex crimes, drug-trafficking crimes, crimes against people, places, and property, crimes against humanity such as genocide, blue-collar or street crimes such as drug problems, gangs, robbery or murder, and non-violent white-collar crimes including fraud, forgery, tax evasion, stock market scams, insider trading, embezzlement, price-fixing, bribes, implicating companies like Enron and people like Martha Stewart in the process.

Crimes are either felonies or misdemeanors. Felonies are the most serious crimes -- murder, manslaughter, arson, rape, etc. Misdemeanors are less serious crimes that carry less than a year’s jail time. Some of the most common misdemeanors college students are charged with are underage drinking or possession of alcohol (also known as MIP), possession of marijuana or drug paraphernalia (for personal use), DUI, use of a false ID, and giving false information to a police officer. The news does not stop because there is a Hannibal, Hitler, and Hulk in all of us.

The word dishonor means disgrace, debased, and discredited; moral dignity is lacking and missing in this life. This dishonor refers to the shame related to personal decisions, personal actions, and personal responsibility. This word is also used exclusively by Paul. Elsewhere he uses this word to describe the “shameful lusts” of homosexual acts (Rom 1:26), the disgrace of men having long hair (1 Cor 11:14), and for precious metals and common material for ignoble uses (Rom. 9:21).

This life is riddled with faults, mistakes, weaknesses, blunders, and miscalculations. There are things we wish we have not done, things we wished we have done, things we wished we have done better, things we wished we have done different, things we wished we have done sooner/faster, things we wished we have done this or that way or our way. Some have made bad decisions, some have made poor choices, and some have made bitter enemies. Some made poor choices when they were young, some when they were rookies, and others when they were adults. We have our faults, flaws, and failures. Some cost them, some cost the innocent and some cost their loved ones.

Paul contrasted the dishonor of the earthly body faces with the glory of the resurrected body. The word glory means dignity, honor, praise, and worship. Paul wisely uses the word glorious to surpass the physical and aesthetic limitation in describing material things. He speaks of glorious in a superlative sense, as unparalleled, unimaginable, unspeakable, unexpected, and unsurpassed. The true resurrected body is stranger than fiction and harder to believe. No language can quite describe the sight and sound, the scene and the situation, the splendor and the spectacle. No local, foreign or earthly language can quite describe this out of the world body and miracle. The mind, the heart, and the senses could never fathom something so glorious. Its radiance cannot be described in terms of light, color, or dimension.

The Resurrected Body is Free From the Ravages of Diseases
it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;

A man goes to his doctor and says, "I don't think my wife's hearing isn't as good as it used to be. What should I do?" The doctor replies, "Try this test to find out for sure. When your wife is in the kitchen doing dishes, stand fifteen feet behind her and ask her a question, if she doesn't respond keep moving closer asking the question until she hears you."

The man goes home and sees his wife preparing dinner. He stands fifteen feet behind her and says, "What's for dinner, honey?" He gets no response, so he moves to ten feet behind her and asks again. Still no response, so he moves to five feet. Still no answer. Finally he stands directly behind her and says, "Honey, what's for dinner?" She replies, "For the fourth time, I SAID CHICKEN!"

The word “weakness” conveys more than the emotional weakness of the person; it talks about the physical breakdown and limitation of the body. It is the common word for sickness (Luke 5:15, John 11:4, Acts 28:9), infirmities (Matt 8:17, Luke 13:12) diseases (Luke 8:2) and illness (Gal 4:13, 1 Tim 5:23) even though Paul occasionally uses it to tell of his emotional weakness (Rom 6:19, Rom 8:26, 1 Cor 2:3, 2 Cor 11:30, 2 Cor 12:5, 2 Cor 12:9). Our body is Murphy’s Law in action: if anything can go wrong, it will.

Five diseases - heart disease (29%), cancers (22.9%), stroke (6.8%), chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (5.1%), and diabetes (3%) - claimed 1.6 million lives or more than two-thirds of all deaths in the United States. Not far behind are flu/pneumonia, Alzheimer disease and kidney disease.

The eight common cancers include lung cancer, colon cancer, and prostate cancer for men, breast cancer, ovarian cancer and uterine cancer for women, melanoma, and leukemia. Diseases do not know when to stop. There are sexually-transmitted disease, cardio-vascular diseases, diseases from animals (such as foot and mouth diseases, bird flu, SARs) or plants or bacteria, food borne illnesses, infectious diseases, genetic diseases, allergic diseases, diseases for every body part, and travel diseases including cholera, diarrhea, hepatitis, mosquito bites, meningitis, tetanus, typhoid fever, yellow fever (“Ten Most Common Travel Diseases” http://www.forbes.com/2003/10/02/cx_cv_1002feat.html).

Paul contrasted the word weakness with the word “power.” Again, power could mean a lot of things in Greek. It could mean physical force, strength or ability, or it could mean mighty or wonderful deed. One thing for sure is that the resurrected body is never at risk. It is not susceptible to bugs, virus, and infections.

The Resurrected Body is Free From the Ruin of Nature
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. 45 So it is written: "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. 46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. 48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.

The natural body can be considered a miracle but it is not faultless, flawless, or foolproof. Fighting carbs, calories and caffeine is a full-time job, a humbling experience, and a thankless task. The latest bad news for overweight people is that a belly size over 34 makes one more susceptible to diabetes. The Buddha waistline now indicates health, not wealth. Losing weight and watching my diet to lessen the stress on my weak knees has been an interesting experience.

I love rice, but not its carbs. Instead of eating two bowls of rice for dinner I eat one, even then a bowl loosely packed with rice, not one tightly packed with half a circle on top of the bowl. My wife confesses to being a rice pot or container who has to have her two bowls! My lunch is down to 4 pieces of bread with peanut butter and jam, a banana, and a granola bar. Coffee is limited to half a tall/small cup per day!

However, my wife has made progress with soda. My wife has been a Coca-cola addict since her college dormitory days, when soda was free. Coke’s biggest invention was its 8 oz. can that came out in 2004! My wife was elated because she only needed a sip of it, but often she drank a whole can so as it won’t go to waste! Even then, the new can has 100 calories. I walk a mile on treadmill to lose a mere 86 calories! She made a concentrated effort to stop drinking soda and succeeded on a good day but she was depressed and listless without it. Being the good husband I am, I often drink half the can to cut half her calories. After 2 years at a fitness club, she could fit in her wedding gown!

The resurrected body is not a physical body but a spiritual body. God meant us for a spiritual relationship, to cultivate a spiritual life, and to pursue spiritual matters. The earthly body is composed of dust, the spiritual man is conformed to Christ. The physical man is shaped by nature, but the spiritual man is subjected to Christ. Earthly substance is dirt cheap and dirt poor. The resurrected body is not made of physical material, bodily fluids, or flesh and blood. The spiritual body will fulfill its full potential of being made in the image of God. It will infallible, perfect, and enviable. We will carry Christ in His full splendor. The word “bear” or phoreo in Greek means carry, from the 2nd half of the name Christopher, or Christ bearer.

Conclusion: The physical body is not a permanent body. Unlike the earthly body, the resurrected body is not subjected to time, burdened by mistakes, marked by diseases, and not limited by matter. Do you know you choose life when you choose Christ? Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die (John 11:25-26). We don’t hope for death, but there is hope in death because of the resurrected body that is splendid, superior, and shameless. It is redeemed by Christ, realized by the Spirit, and reunited with God. So where will you spend eternity? What is your hope beyond this world or life? What is your hope beyond this body or your youth? What is your hope beyond man’s possessions and your power?