WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.179 We're in 1 Corinthians chapter 15, and the plan is that we'll finish out chapter 15 this 00:00:06.179 --> 00:00:12.019 ! evening, and I'm preaching away over the next few weeks. We'll do 16 in a few weeks. 00:00:12.019 --> 00:00:17.600 time. Andrew Quay will be doing a series in the evenings in Romans over the next few weeks. 00:00:21.839 --> 00:00:28.240 There are some things in life that no matter how many times we're told or they are explained 00:00:28.239 --> 00:00:38.119 to us, we just don't get it. I just don't get it that massive ships, whether they be huge oil tankers 00:00:38.119 --> 00:00:45.320 or cruise ships, can float. You think about cruise ships. They have water inside them, 00:00:46.060 --> 00:00:54.939 and they still float. I think it's called the Icon of the Seas. It's the biggest cruise ship 00:00:54.939 --> 00:01:04.000 out there in the pantheon of cruise ships. The Icon of the Seas is the biggest. It weighs 250,000 00:01:04.000 --> 00:01:09.120 tons. It's got an amusement park and multiple swimming pools. How on earth does that thing float? 00:01:10.299 --> 00:01:15.519 I just don't get it. You say, oh, well, look, you don't understand the Archimedes principle. What 00:01:15.519 --> 00:01:20.359 the Archimedes principle tells us is that an object floats when the weight of the water it displaces 00:01:20.359 --> 00:01:25.099 equals the total weight of the object. You need to get your head around something called buoyant force 00:01:25.099 --> 00:01:32.359 root, and that's the issue. I understand the words. I know what you're saying, but I still don't get it. 00:01:35.719 --> 00:01:39.379 You can describe the science as much as you like. You can give me the information. You can give me all 00:01:39.379 --> 00:01:45.739 the details, but I still don't get how it is actually possible. Now, it's the same for many people when it 00:01:45.739 --> 00:01:53.079 comes to the Christian faith. Maybe that's you, and you're here this evening. Can I say, if that is you, 00:01:53.839 --> 00:02:00.060 keep bringing your questions, and keep asking them, and keep pursuing answers because there are answers. 00:02:01.419 --> 00:02:05.119 But you're here, and you think to yourself, look, you've told me that God came to earth as a man. 00:02:06.000 --> 00:02:10.039 The God who made heaven and earth became a man and came to the earth that He made. 00:02:10.039 --> 00:02:16.799 He lived a perfect life. Never seen that happen before, and He died under the judgment of God for 00:02:16.799 --> 00:02:21.519 the sins of others. He rose again from the dead three days later. I've been here on Sunday nights. 00:02:21.560 --> 00:02:28.819 I've heard you talking about that. Never seen that happen. I don't understand how that works. 00:02:30.319 --> 00:02:33.819 Yeah, He's now seated at the right hand of God in heaven. You've told me that, and anyone who turns 00:02:33.819 --> 00:02:39.079 from their sins and puts their faith in Him will be forgiven and reconciled to God and will receive 00:02:39.080 --> 00:02:46.940 eternal life on the basis of what He has done, not on the basis of what you do. I understand the words. 00:02:48.240 --> 00:02:52.920 I know what you're saying, but I still don't get it. 00:02:55.060 --> 00:02:58.980 Well, as I say, keep pressing in for answers if that's you. Keep coming, 00:02:59.860 --> 00:03:05.180 because the Lord Jesus tells us that if we genuinely seek Him, He's not hiding, and we will find Him. 00:03:05.180 --> 00:03:11.760 We will come to believe it. The ability to believe those things is something that He gives as a gift. 00:03:13.580 --> 00:03:18.900 So ask Him. I think perhaps, though, the point that is most difficult to grasp 00:03:18.900 --> 00:03:25.780 in all of the story is the idea of resurrection, the idea that we've been looking at over these Sunday 00:03:25.780 --> 00:03:31.939 evenings in chapter 15 that the Apostle Paul has been discussing there. And it isn't, if we're honest, 00:03:31.939 --> 00:03:38.219 just a problem for those looking into Christianity. Because what it means for Christ to be the first 00:03:38.219 --> 00:03:45.219 fruits of a harvest of those who will be raised is something that even those who follow Christ 00:03:45.219 --> 00:03:52.400 aren't altogether clear about. So we can understand, if you look, chapter 15, verse 35, 00:03:52.879 --> 00:03:57.039 Paul introduces a possible Corinthian questioner. But someone will ask, 00:03:57.039 --> 00:04:01.739 How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come? 00:04:04.340 --> 00:04:09.139 Now, it seems that the Corinthians, all the way through this letter, have been engaging with Paul 00:04:09.139 --> 00:04:14.780 in a kind of impertinent way. They're smug in themselves, and they're very accusatory in the way 00:04:14.780 --> 00:04:19.899 that they engage with him. And there's a bit of a sense of that here. Paul is kind of saying, 00:04:20.219 --> 00:04:24.920 No, I'm sure someone will ask, How are the dead raised? What kind of body do they come with? 00:04:24.920 --> 00:04:31.620 And that's why verse 36, he says, They're being foolish. Don't come back again with the kind of 00:04:31.620 --> 00:04:38.160 superior, trying-to-be-clever way of asking the question. But in itself, the question is an 00:04:38.160 --> 00:04:43.900 understandable question, is it not? It is hard to imagine what the resurrection will look and feel 00:04:43.900 --> 00:04:54.200 like. How does this, the physical, become spiritual? How does that happen? Paul talks in verse 47, 00:04:54.199 --> 00:05:01.199 about the natural, earthly body. He talks about a natural body or an earthly body. We can get our 00:05:01.199 --> 00:05:08.279 heads around that because we know it. We experience it. We can feel it. We can touch it. But what does 00:05:08.279 --> 00:05:13.319 the spiritual, what does the heavenly, what's that going to mean? And what does it even, what does it 00:05:13.319 --> 00:05:20.500 mean? Now, it's important, I think, to say that some sense of confusion about this, being able to get to 00:05:20.500 --> 00:05:28.339 the end of ourselves and say, I don't know, actually. That's okay. Verse 51, Paul describes it all as a 00:05:28.339 --> 00:05:35.600 mystery. There are aspects of the future resurrection that we will experience that we won't grasp until we 00:05:35.600 --> 00:05:44.680 get there, and that's okay. But as Paul teases this out, he describes for us two familiar principles that 00:05:44.680 --> 00:05:51.519 help our understanding. They are the principles of change and the principle of difference. And Paul 00:05:51.519 --> 00:05:57.960 shows us how we see them both in creation, in the world around us, and in Christ. So those are the 00:05:57.960 --> 00:06:02.639 two principles he has for us. The first is change. Point number one, change. Someone will ask, how are 00:06:02.639 --> 00:06:08.439 the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come? You foolish person. What you sow does not come to 00:06:08.439 --> 00:06:14.860 life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of 00:06:14.860 --> 00:06:21.420 wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body, as He has chosen, and to each kind of seed, 00:06:21.759 --> 00:06:31.000 its own body. When you have seeds, they look one way. You can see them, you look at them, there's a seed, 00:06:31.420 --> 00:06:37.620 and then you plant them. They go into the ground, the seed dies, and as the plant grows, you have 00:06:37.620 --> 00:06:44.100 something that looks very different come up out of the ground. You had the seed, you put the seed in 00:06:44.100 --> 00:06:50.399 the ground, something else comes up that's very different. How does this happen? Oh, it's all about 00:06:50.399 --> 00:06:56.519 germination, it's about photosynthesis. Yes, I know what you call it, but how do these things happen? Oh, 00:06:56.519 --> 00:07:07.040 well, it's about oxygen and carbon. Yes, but how does it happen? How is it that that changes into that? 00:07:07.040 --> 00:07:13.360 The answer is God does it. Either the world is random, and it's just a complete chance fluke, 00:07:13.520 --> 00:07:21.640 or God does it. God decides how the wheat will grow. God decides what it will look like when it comes up 00:07:21.640 --> 00:07:27.400 out of the ground. There is continuity with the seed. The seed is there, but it changes 00:07:27.399 --> 00:07:31.560 as it is clothed by God with another body. Verse 38. 00:07:33.959 --> 00:07:38.479 So it is with the resurrection of the dead. Verse 42, the seed is planted perishable. 00:07:39.039 --> 00:07:44.859 It is changed to the imperishable. It is planted in dishonor. It is changed to glory. It is planted 00:07:44.859 --> 00:07:50.579 weak. It is raised powerful. It is planted as a natural thing. It is raised as a spiritual thing. 00:07:50.579 --> 00:07:57.339 We understand the principle of change from horticulture or agriculture. So when you think 00:07:57.339 --> 00:08:04.139 about what your future resurrection will be like, think of yourself as a seed that is sown into the 00:08:04.139 --> 00:08:12.579 ground, planted in God's garden, and the body that emerges later will have continuity with this one, 00:08:12.579 --> 00:08:21.199 but it will be changed. God will change it. God will grow out of the seed of your body planted into the 00:08:21.199 --> 00:08:30.099 ground the resurrection body that He has chosen. There will be change. Second principle is difference. 00:08:31.979 --> 00:08:40.939 For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, 00:08:40.940 --> 00:08:47.060 and another for fish. There are different kinds of seed, lots of different kinds of plants out there. 00:08:47.120 --> 00:08:51.700 It's no different than God's garden. There are humans, there are animals, there are birds, and there 00:08:51.700 --> 00:08:59.240 are fish. And those different seeds will produce different bodies. And there will be differences between 00:08:59.240 --> 00:09:06.700 us in the resurrection. There won't be one generic person of heaven. In the resurrection, we won't all look 00:09:06.700 --> 00:09:17.400 the same with the generic kind of cookie-cutter resurrection person thing. We'll not all be the 00:09:17.400 --> 00:09:24.660 same. We're not all equal now, and we won't be then either. And each person's glory will be different 00:09:24.660 --> 00:09:29.379 according to their kind. Look at verse 40. There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of 00:09:29.379 --> 00:09:34.180 the heavenly is of one kind, the glory of the earthly is of another. There is one glory of the sun, 00:09:34.179 --> 00:09:41.219 another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars. For star differs from star in glory. 00:09:44.639 --> 00:09:50.479 When I was a boy, we went on a school trip. It was a very exotic school trip. We went to London, 00:09:51.199 --> 00:09:56.659 and we did lots of cool things. I went to the Tower of London, went to the Greenwich Observatory, 00:09:56.939 --> 00:10:02.659 and we saw singing in the rain in the London Palladium, and it actually rained in the theater. 00:10:02.659 --> 00:10:08.000 If you're a wee boy from Belfast, that's pretty amazing, I can tell you. And it was. And we had 00:10:08.000 --> 00:10:14.079 to write. We got back to school. We had to write an essay about the trip, and we had to talk about 00:10:14.079 --> 00:10:19.860 what we thought about it all and explain what our experience was like. And I listed the various 00:10:19.860 --> 00:10:26.240 things that we had done, and I said, and we went to the Greenwich Observatory, and it was great, 00:10:26.480 --> 00:10:30.100 and we went to singing in the rain, and it was amazing, and we went, and it was brilliant, 00:10:30.100 --> 00:10:37.600 and all this kind of stuff. And I read the essay to my dad before I turned it in, and he said, 00:10:37.879 --> 00:10:45.600 he went like this, ah, very boring. You need to describe things properly, Reuben. 00:10:47.180 --> 00:10:50.100 I said, well, singing in the rain. He said, what was it like? I said, oh, it was great. 00:10:50.740 --> 00:10:55.840 He said, that's about amount. That's a quantity. Oh, it was brilliant. That's about brightness. 00:10:55.840 --> 00:11:02.620 I tried a few others. They were no good. He said, it brought you delight. Singing in the rain was 00:11:02.620 --> 00:11:09.100 delightful. Okay, wrote that in. Mocked mercilessly by my friends at school, because that's not the 00:11:09.100 --> 00:11:14.820 kind of language that they used. Anyway, when we talked about the observatory, I ran through the 00:11:14.820 --> 00:11:20.980 same kinds of words. Stars were really far away. The sky was this and that and the other, and we 00:11:20.980 --> 00:11:26.680 cycled through these same words, and we settled then on glorious. That was the word that I was to use. 00:11:26.759 --> 00:11:35.480 The night sky was glorious. That is the right word, isn't it? When you look at the sun, you go outside, 00:11:35.480 --> 00:11:42.220 and you say, what a glorious day. It's the same with the moon. When it's full in the night sky, 00:11:42.220 --> 00:11:49.960 you look up and you say, wow, because it's glorious. If you can find a clear night somewhere 00:11:49.960 --> 00:11:55.220 in this country, certainly you need to travel for a while. If you stare up at the stars, 00:11:55.540 --> 00:11:59.500 if you can see on a clear night in the countryside somewhere, it takes your breath away. 00:12:02.660 --> 00:12:06.700 Now, every single one of those stars is glorious, but they aren't the same, 00:12:06.700 --> 00:12:18.600 and their glory is seen in different ways. When your time has come and your earthly body is sewn into 00:12:18.600 --> 00:12:25.180 the ground, the imperishable, glorified, powerful spiritual body that is raised will be different 00:12:25.180 --> 00:12:33.340 from the bodies of others, but it will be no less glorious than theirs. You will have a glorious 00:12:33.340 --> 00:12:39.440 resurrection body. So will the person beside you, and it will be different, but they will be no less 00:12:39.440 --> 00:12:45.139 glorious. We possess a kind of glory now, we're told. Remember back in chapter 11, man is the image 00:12:45.139 --> 00:12:52.240 and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man. But those glories will be different in the transformed 00:12:52.240 --> 00:12:58.740 resurrection, as different as the difference we see now between the sun and the stars. That's what 00:12:58.740 --> 00:13:04.960 Paul is saying. Different from what we have now, and different from everyone else's resurrection 00:13:04.960 --> 00:13:12.639 bodies as well. Difference and change. These are the principles that shape how we must think about 00:13:12.639 --> 00:13:17.060 our future resurrection. And Paul brings them together in what he says next. Look at verse 42. 00:13:20.659 --> 00:13:25.460 With the resurrection of the dead, what is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. 00:13:25.460 --> 00:13:30.019 It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. 00:13:30.780 --> 00:13:38.820 It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. Your body is planted into the ground to sprout 00:13:38.820 --> 00:13:44.300 and grow, to change and to be different. It is sown, as one commentator has said, it is sown perishable, 00:13:44.379 --> 00:13:49.639 but raised with much greater glory, the glory of the imperishable. The body is dishonorable now, 00:13:49.759 --> 00:13:54.720 lacking the glory it will have. It is weak now, lacking the strength it will have. And so it will be 00:13:54.720 --> 00:14:05.040 raised in power. Your body will be sown as a body that is fit for the natural world. It has raised a 00:14:05.040 --> 00:14:13.120 body that is fit for glory. So Paul is pointing us to these principles in creation, but he also points 00:14:13.120 --> 00:14:19.340 us to Christ to emphasize the point further. Again, look at verse 44. If there is a natural body, 00:14:19.340 --> 00:14:25.019 there is also a spiritual body, thus it is written, the first man, Adam, became a living being, 00:14:25.180 --> 00:14:30.379 the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first, 00:14:30.440 --> 00:14:34.160 but the natural and then the spiritual. The first man was from heaven, a man of dust. 00:14:34.560 --> 00:14:41.720 The second man is from heaven, as was the man of dust, so also are those who are of dust. 00:14:41.720 --> 00:14:48.139 And as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of 00:14:48.139 --> 00:14:54.320 the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. We're back again with the two 00:14:54.320 --> 00:14:59.440 great covenant heads of history. And Paul is saying the difference between them here isn't that one had 00:14:59.440 --> 00:15:05.100 a body and the other didn't, but that their bodies were animated in different ways. The first man, 00:15:05.200 --> 00:15:10.560 Adam, had a body that was animated by a living soul. The second Adam had a body that was animated by 00:15:10.559 --> 00:15:16.519 the Holy Spirit. The first Adam had a spirit, but his appetites and desires controlled him. 00:15:17.119 --> 00:15:20.500 The second Adam had appetites and desires, but he was controlled by the Spirit. 00:15:21.959 --> 00:15:28.359 The first kind of body is natural, earthly, of the dust, mortal, verse 53. The second is spiritual, 00:15:28.719 --> 00:15:37.639 of heaven, immortal. So in Christ we see both change and difference. He is sown in flesh and raised in 00:15:37.639 --> 00:15:41.559 glory. Like the seed, there is continuity. When he showed himself, do you remember, to his disciples, 00:15:41.879 --> 00:15:46.179 he had the holes in his hands, he had the hole in his side from his earthly experience, 00:15:46.379 --> 00:15:52.620 but he is radiant, and he can move around in ways that a regular mortal body cannot. 00:15:53.399 --> 00:16:00.480 He is changed. And then it follows, and that change he is also different. The glory of the 00:16:00.480 --> 00:16:06.639 earthly body is now immortal, spiritual, heavenly. Continuity, but complete transformation. 00:16:09.019 --> 00:16:10.420 This is what we look forward to. 00:16:13.519 --> 00:16:21.360 Remember that the risen Christ is the first fruits of the harvest of those who are raised. 00:16:21.360 --> 00:16:28.899 We're all born in Adam, all of us, every single one, covenantally joined to him. And if we remain in 00:16:28.899 --> 00:16:35.399 him, we simply follow him into the grave. Dust returns to dust. But if we put our faith in Jesus 00:16:35.399 --> 00:16:41.840 Christ, the man of heaven, we follow him as the harvest follows the first fruits into resurrection 00:16:41.840 --> 00:16:47.940 glory. We undergo the same transformation. There will be continuity. Somehow we will be recognizable. 00:16:47.940 --> 00:16:54.240 I kind of picture it a bit like, you know, when you haven't seen somebody, maybe somebody from your 00:16:54.240 --> 00:16:59.860 school days, and all that time has passed, and you bump into them, and you think, there's something 00:16:59.860 --> 00:17:05.279 I recognize in the eyes or something, I don't know, something like that. Because there is continuity. 00:17:05.920 --> 00:17:12.980 The resurrection, you, will still be you. We've been formed and shaped by our earthly experiences. 00:17:12.980 --> 00:17:18.420 But we will be completely changed and totally different. 00:17:22.259 --> 00:17:28.579 Change and difference. We see it in creation, and we see it in Christ. The picture is kind of coming 00:17:28.579 --> 00:17:33.740 together, but we need to think, how does this apply? Paul turns then, verse 50, to press it home. 00:17:34.099 --> 00:17:38.920 I tell you this, brothers, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable 00:17:38.920 --> 00:17:43.820 inherit the imperishable. Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all 00:17:43.820 --> 00:17:49.120 be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, 00:17:49.380 --> 00:17:55.400 and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. When he talks here about flesh and 00:17:55.400 --> 00:17:59.740 blood, he doesn't mean just those things that are physical. He's not just referring to the physical. 00:17:59.740 --> 00:18:06.100 He isn't saying that humanity can't inherit the kingdom because we're material beings. He draws 00:18:06.099 --> 00:18:13.099 the parallel with perishable. His point is that the body that we have now belongs to the natural 00:18:13.099 --> 00:18:18.159 earthly order, and that, therefore, cannot inherit the kingdom because it doesn't belong there. It 00:18:18.159 --> 00:18:24.539 isn't fit for glory. So we are clothed with the imperishable, which is fit for glory. 00:18:26.759 --> 00:18:33.199 There will be no perishing in glory, so we need a body that is fit for there. And when the last 00:18:33.200 --> 00:18:38.539 trumpet sounds, those who are still alive will be changed, and those who have died will be changed. 00:18:38.539 --> 00:18:43.880 On resurrection morning, as we saw last week, all things will be subject to Christ, and the trumpet 00:18:43.880 --> 00:18:49.920 blasts, dead bodies will be clothed with the imperishable, and dying bodies will put on the 00:18:49.920 --> 00:18:56.180 imperishable. Dead bodies will put on immortality, and dying bodies will put on immortality. And then 00:18:56.180 --> 00:19:01.799 another sound. Look at verse 53, or verse 54 and verse 55. There'll be another sound at that point that 00:19:01.799 --> 00:19:07.220 will ring out across the cosmos, and it will be the sound of the glorified saints belting out the 00:19:07.220 --> 00:19:18.440 victory song of death's full and final destruction. We heard about it this morning. In these earthly 00:19:18.440 --> 00:19:27.159 bodies that we possess, time is against us. Our physical decline is inevitable. It's that dustiness that 00:19:27.160 --> 00:19:33.080 Paul was talking about this morning. You can look after yourself, should look after yourself. You can 00:19:33.080 --> 00:19:39.279 biohack as much as you like. You can optimize for longevity, all that kind of language. But all that 00:19:39.279 --> 00:19:45.019 does is improve the quality of time that you have left. There is no diet or exercise or life hack that 00:19:45.019 --> 00:19:54.680 can reverse or even slow down time by a single minute. So doesn't what Paul is talking about here 00:19:54.680 --> 00:20:04.440 make you long for this new and changed and different imperishable body, a body that doesn't creak or 00:20:04.440 --> 00:20:12.240 break or wear out. My father died 30 years ago this year, and I have to remind myself of that every time 00:20:12.240 --> 00:20:17.160 I look at photographs from our summer holidays because he seems to be in the pictures beside my children. 00:20:17.160 --> 00:20:25.240 And sometimes I'll be in the bathroom and I'll see him looking through the window and discover it's not a 00:20:25.240 --> 00:20:33.800 window, it's a mirror. That's my gray hair and my old face looking back at me. And then there's the 00:20:33.800 --> 00:20:40.200 length of time that it takes me to stand up straight in the morning. Do you feel that? I walk down the 00:20:40.200 --> 00:20:49.640 stairs and my ankles are stiff and my back is sore. My body is aching. I long for a body that is no longer 00:20:49.640 --> 00:20:59.160 hampered by my weaknesses, and I'm sure you do as well. Above all though, even more than that, don't you long 00:20:59.160 --> 00:21:07.720 for a heart that doesn't desire to sin? A heart that doesn't give in to temptation? 00:21:09.320 --> 00:21:16.120 Flesh that isn't just done with the physical weaknesses, but also with the moral failures. 00:21:18.279 --> 00:21:19.240 That's what I want. 00:21:21.640 --> 00:21:28.360 And that's what we receive. That's what we will get at the resurrection. Total transformation as our 00:21:28.359 --> 00:21:37.559 dustiness is changed into glory. What a future. That's what you have to look forward to if you're 00:21:37.559 --> 00:21:43.159 in Christ. The next time you feel, oh, or you do that thing where you start talking to yourself, 00:21:43.159 --> 00:21:47.719 I've noticed that get, the older you get, you start narrating your, I think I'm going to get up out of 00:21:47.719 --> 00:21:52.279 my seat here, right? I think I'm going to. When you catch yourself doing that thing to yourself, 00:21:52.279 --> 00:22:01.799 all of that's on the clock. One day I'm going to be done with it all. Ah, oh, one day it's going to pass. 00:22:01.799 --> 00:22:08.519 And that desire to sin, that time when you give in again, one day I'm going to be free from all of that. 00:22:08.519 --> 00:22:21.960 But it isn't just something that we look forward to. Because, you know, all future realities actually 00:22:21.960 --> 00:22:26.200 reach back into the present in some way. The clearest example is children at Christmas. 00:22:27.079 --> 00:22:31.879 Christmas isn't until December the 25th, but it's about mid-October when they start getting excited 00:22:31.880 --> 00:22:39.080 about it. Because that future reality is conditioning their present behavior. Well, 00:22:39.080 --> 00:22:44.920 so it is with resurrection glory. The future that we are looking forward to reaches back into the 00:22:44.920 --> 00:22:51.800 present in all kinds of ways. What lies ahead for us? The life of faith in many ways is us lifting our 00:22:51.800 --> 00:22:57.800 heads, looking to that future and allowing that reality to reach back and change how we live now. 00:22:57.799 --> 00:23:05.559 And I want to say it should reframe the way we think about two things in particular. The first is our 00:23:05.559 --> 00:23:15.079 weakness and the second is our purpose. How does this reframe our weakness? Well, we are flesh and blood 00:23:15.079 --> 00:23:22.759 and flesh and blood can be crushed. And so much of what our culture is all about is either denying that 00:23:23.319 --> 00:23:29.640 or trying to do something about it, somehow securing ourselves from the inevitable reality that we can 00:23:29.640 --> 00:23:39.960 be crushed because we are flesh and blood. Because of what lies ahead in the future, our crushability is okay 00:23:42.039 --> 00:23:48.440 because we have a glorious, uncrushable future. If there's no resurrection, weakness is something to be 00:23:48.440 --> 00:23:59.080 feared, ignored, or conquered. But that's not the case. In fact, that future is the antidote to weakness 00:23:59.080 --> 00:24:05.320 in its greatest expression, namely death. If you know that death has lost its sting, 00:24:07.559 --> 00:24:15.000 our present weakness is okay because that future is going to transform everything. Nothing injects 00:24:15.000 --> 00:24:21.319 courage like knowing that the worst anyone can do to you is the very means by which you will win. 00:24:25.000 --> 00:24:32.279 Now, that's not just motivational team talk kind of stuff. The tomb is empty. Death's sting is removed. 00:24:32.279 --> 00:24:40.440 Your physical death will bring the transformation you most long for. All of that future that you long for, 00:24:40.440 --> 00:24:47.720 the worst anyone can do to you. They could kill you for the sake of Christ. All that does is usher in glory. 00:24:48.839 --> 00:24:55.079 Why does the one who sits enthroned in heaven laugh? Psalm 2. Why does he laugh? Because when God's enemies 00:24:55.079 --> 00:25:03.079 did their worst, they were doing something really significant, they were doing something really 00:25:03.079 --> 00:25:08.759 significant, and they were. They were bringing about their own death, their own destruction, and the 00:25:08.759 --> 00:25:18.919 victory of God's Son, and therefore the victory for all of His people. Just as God accomplished His 00:25:18.920 --> 00:25:26.120 greatest victory through the death of His Son, it's just the same for you if you are in Christ. And that 00:25:26.120 --> 00:25:31.960 completely changes the way we view our weakness. So, whatever, let me say, whatever your faithfulness 00:25:31.960 --> 00:25:39.720 to Christ costs you now, whatever you go without for the sake of obedience now, oh, everybody else has it, 00:25:40.759 --> 00:25:46.519 but to have it would mean in some way to disobey Christ. You can let it go, however painful that might be. 00:25:49.080 --> 00:25:52.759 Because of the future. Whatever He keeps from you now, 00:25:54.920 --> 00:26:01.240 none of these things can touch your future wealth, because you're going to win. The resurrection 00:26:01.240 --> 00:26:09.320 reframes our weakness. It also reframes our purpose in life. This is how Paul applies this whole chapter. 00:26:09.720 --> 00:26:18.360 So, go to verse 58. Verse 58, he said, all of this, change, difference, renewed bodies, 00:26:18.359 --> 00:26:24.199 glorious future. Death will be done away with once and for all. Verse 58, therefore, 00:26:25.959 --> 00:26:32.279 in light of all that I've just said, you should be steadfast and immovable and always abounding in the 00:26:32.279 --> 00:26:37.879 work of the Lord. He's saying you can be strong, hold your ground, keep being faithful in the work 00:26:37.880 --> 00:26:45.240 that God has given you to do, even when others don't value it, because your labor in the Lord is not in 00:26:45.240 --> 00:26:52.680 vain. Remember from last week, Christ is reigning now. He's reigning from the heavens as we gather here. 00:26:52.680 --> 00:26:59.799 He's at the Father's right hand. He is superintending all of the details of history. 00:27:02.680 --> 00:27:07.799 He's bringing the whole earth under His rule. How is He doing that? He's doing that through the 00:27:07.799 --> 00:27:11.320 faithfulness of His church in everything that He has given us to do. 00:27:11.319 --> 00:27:17.079 Now, this isn't just referring, the work of the Lord here is not just referring to evangelism or to 00:27:17.079 --> 00:27:22.119 Christian ministry. That's part of it. It is written, remember, to regular Christians who are 00:27:22.119 --> 00:27:27.799 tempted to feel like their faithfulness to Christ isn't worth it. Their sacrifices for Jesus are for 00:27:27.799 --> 00:27:34.279 nothing because there's no future resurrection. But Paul's whole argument is that the future 00:27:34.279 --> 00:27:40.279 resurrection imbues everything that the Christian does with meaning. There is continuity, so like the 00:27:40.279 --> 00:27:47.160 Lord Jesus, our earthly experience is shaping the person we will be in glory. So what has He given 00:27:47.160 --> 00:27:56.920 you to do? At home, in the office, in your street, with your wider family, with that difficult person, 00:27:57.799 --> 00:28:01.000 with that need that He has brought across your path that you can meet? 00:28:01.000 --> 00:28:12.039 When we take the name of Christ, we do what He has put in front of us in His name. And however small 00:28:12.039 --> 00:28:18.599 and insignificant, however hard and unpleasant, Paul reminds you here that your faithfulness in those 00:28:18.599 --> 00:28:27.719 things is not in vain. Your labors as a Christian, in obedience to Christ, those are not going to burn 00:28:27.719 --> 00:28:32.919 up at the end. The wood and hay and stubble of unfaithful ministries will burn, chapter 3, 00:28:32.919 --> 00:28:37.240 but your work that is done in the Lord, in the name of Christ, it will last forever. 00:28:37.240 --> 00:28:45.640 Can you see how that changes your purpose? Can you see how that future reality that we look forward to, 00:28:45.960 --> 00:28:51.079 the change, the difference, the fact that death is going to be done away with, the fact that 00:28:51.079 --> 00:28:56.120 in Christ our future is absolutely secure, can you see how that reaches back and transforms your purpose? 00:28:57.319 --> 00:29:02.359 Whatever the Lord has put in front of you to do, you can do it in the name of Christ and know that it 00:29:02.359 --> 00:29:10.599 is significant. Well, if the mystery of this, the change and the difference, if that continues to 00:29:10.599 --> 00:29:18.519 perplex you, hold on to that reality. The future is glorious, it's promised to you, and so today is 00:29:18.519 --> 00:29:21.079 worthwhile. Let's pray.