1 Corinthians 15:35-58

We want things to last. What is precious to us, what is special, shouldn’t wear out. We want it to last. There are some things disposable, like tooth brushes and paper plates. But we don’t really care about disposable things. They are meant to be used, and then thrown out.

But not family keepsakes. A couple of years ago, we converted all of my grandparents and parents slides into digital pictures on the computer. We made copies of the pictures so if one copy got lost, we would have another one. Those pictures are priceless. We couldn’t just throw the slides away. Even after we had put the pictures on the computer, we still didn’t want to throw away the slides. They meant something to us. They were special. Not disposable.

And nothing is more precious, nothing is more special, nothing has more meaning to us, than us. Our selves. Our beings. Our persons. We want ourselves to last, because we like ourselves. We love ourselves, at least we’re supposed to. I don’t mean in a proud, arrogant way, where we love ourselves more than everybody else. I mean that what is important to us is important to us. We value our values. We want to be ourselves.

If ourselves aren’t going to last, if we are temporary, if we are disposable, then why try? Why do anything? Have as much fun as you can in as short a period of time as possible, because it’s all going to come to an end anyway, right? If we, our persons, come to an end, then what’s the point?

But for the last two weeks, we’ve been celebrating the message of 1 Corinthians 15, that Jesus has been raised, that we have already been raised with Him, that we enjoy the power and victory of the resurrection. But there’s more. I mean, if we live, with bodies and spirits, here on earth, and we know this existence, we’ve gotten used to having bodies and spirits, what is heaven going to be like? It’s hard to imagine ourselves without bodies. We are bodies. We’re spirits, but we have bodies. Will we have bodies? What will that body be like? We know that heaven is supposed to be good, but we’ve gotten these images in our heads about floating on clouds playing on harps, singing songs for a billion years. And for some of us, this doesn’t sound so hot. If our bodies are not our bodies, if our selves are not ourselves, if we are not us, how good is heaven going to be?

That’s the question Paul brings up in verse 35. Paul has been arguing throughout this chapter with people who don’t believe that Jesus rose, and don’t believe that they will rise, either. They think that this is all there is. Paul has been proving to them that there has to be a resurrection, or there is no hope. So, Paul brings ups this question in verse 35:

It’s a question from someone who is doubting the resurrection, but we actually have this question. We believe in the resurrection, but we’d really like to know. What kind of body will we have? Will we be young or old? Will I have graying temples, with a receding hair line? Or will I look like when I was twenty? Will we look like ourselves? Or will we look different? What kind of body will we have?

A Paul responds pretty directly. Verse 36:

He says to the people arguing. How foolish to think that we won’t have bodies. But then Paul turns into a pastor. He begins to reassure those who are doubting, those with questions, and he begins to give us some answer to this question. He won’t answer all our questions, but he’ll point us in the right direction. He begins with an example from farming:

The seed has to go in the ground before it becomes a plant. The seed has to be buried, before it sprouts to life. First, we die. Then we live.

And the plant that sprouts doesn’t look very much like the seed that was sown. Verse 37:

Some of you have been getting ready to plant this week, getting the planter ready for when it’s dry enough. But what you’re putting in the ground looks very different from what will come out of the ground. Soybeans are soybeans. Corn is corn. That seed is the same genetic material as that stalk. But what it looks like grown is very different from what it looked like in the ground.

There are two different bodies for corn, the seed and the stalk. Paul goes on with a bunch of examples of things having different bodies, but his point comes down to verse 42:

We will be us, but different, like a seed of corn is still corn when it grows, just different. We’re the same, but we’ll be so, so different.

Paul uses the terms natural and spiritual, but don’t think physical and spiritual. Verse 44:

We are made of spirit and body, but right now, this is a natural body. God made our bodies wonderful, but compared to what we’re going to be, this is as small, as ordinary, as common as a seed.

This body came from Adam. This DNA, this flesh came down through the family tree beginning all the way back with Adam and Eve. This body looks in some basic way like Adam and Eve, with the same basic form. It’s a good body, but it’s as ordinary as a corn seed.

The next body comes from the next Adam. The spiritual body comes from the spiritual Adam. Verse 45:

Just like, in some way, we look like Adam and Eve, so, we will look like Jesus when we are risen from the dead. Verse 48:

And this is where we start to get some information about what we’re going to look like, when we see what Jesus looked like after He came back from the dead. Our bodies right now are like Jesus’ body, before He died. Our bodies, when we are risen will be like Jesus’ body, after He rose.

Before He died and before He rose, He got tired, just like we do. When He got tired, He got cranky. He was limited in what His body could do, how long it could function without food and water and sleep. He was also limited by the laws of physics. Gravity held Him to the ground, just like us. When His hand came into contact with something solid, His hand stopped. His was a normal, every day body.

But look at Jesus after He came back to life. First, He was recognizable, but not at first. He was Jesus, but He was different. Mary doesn’t recognize Him at first when she sees Him in the garden. She thinks He’s the gardener. And then, all of a sudden, she recognizes Him. The disciples on the road to Emmaus don’t know Him at first, and then their eyes were opened. It’s His body, and yet He’s different.

And His body acts different. He’s able to walk through locked doors and visit His disciples. His body doesn’t answer to the laws of physics that we know right now, that says you can’t walk through wood. He appears, and then He disappears, something we can’t do right now. He was different after the resurrection.

And yet, He was the same. His hands and feet and the side of His body were scarred from the crucifixion. Thomas could touch the scars and be reassured that He really was Jesus. He ate and drank with His disciples, at least four times, after He came back to life. He had a mouth and hands and legs and feet. His body was a physical body. Different, yet the same. Similar, but changed.

And we will be changed in the same way, with Jesus as our model. Philippians 3:20 tells us:

There’s a lot we don’t know about what our bodies will look like, but we know some things. Just like Jesus, we’ll be recognizable, but a little confusing. We will be us, yet different. Similar, but changed. We will have bodies, probably eating like Jesus, with hands and feet and hair.

But so much more, as different as a plant is from its seed. We can’t imagine what we will be. If we could see ourselves, what we will look like with raised bodies, it would take our breath away. We wouldn’t be able to look at ourselves, we will be so powerful, so filled with glory.

That day is coming. Listen. Verse 51:

Changed from perishable to imperishable. From mortal to immortality. From dead and dying to alive and living. From weak and stumbling and doubting and fearing and sinning, to strong and confident and fearless and pure.

This is our life. We spend a time, a short time, perishable and mortal. We spend most of our lives, our eternal lives, we spend most of them strong and unshakeable. There is coming a day, the day when Jesus comes, or the day when we die, when we will see this incredible change. And on that day, verse 54:

Sometimes, it’s interesting to daydream about heaven, to think about what life will be like after our resurrection. We can imagine and talk about this and share our ideas. But our transformation is more than just interesting. We have a ways to go, yet. We’re not yet home. We still have to fight the temptations of lust. We still have to work to control our tempers. We still lose interest in God. We still don’t love our neighbors. We’re still weak.

But this truth, our change, the transformation that is coming, that keeps us going. We will keep trying, because we’re going to win. We will keep resisting, because we’ll come out on top. We’ll live through the weakness, because we’re going to be strong. We’ll hang in there through the doubts, because one day, there won’t be any doubts. We’ll suffer through the losses, because we’re guaranteed the victory. Verse 57:

You’re going to make it, and you’re going to be strong. You’re going to make it. Therefore, verse 58:

We have everything to gain, and nothing to lose. We can afford to talk, frequently and clearly about our Savior. It’s okay to speak, often, that Jesus died and rose again. It’s okay to suffer for the gospel, to lose friendships and jobs, and even our lives. In the end, we get it all back. In the end, we’re raised up, better than ever.