WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.240 Well, good morning to all of you. 00:00:07.600 --> 00:00:13.280 In case you missed Dan's introduction at the very beginning of the service, we are doing 00:00:13.280 --> 00:00:14.179 something a bit different. 00:00:14.660 --> 00:00:20.219 This morning we are using a funeral liturgy, the funeral liturgy, out of our prayer book 00:00:20.219 --> 00:00:23.460 to structure our time of worship. 00:00:23.600 --> 00:00:27.199 I know that's a bizarre thing to do a week away from Christmas. 00:00:27.839 --> 00:00:30.099 There are some reasons behind it. 00:00:30.660 --> 00:00:37.280 Number one, we're still in the season of Advent, and Advent as a season is distinct from Christmas. 00:00:37.460 --> 00:00:42.039 It's a time when we are meant to reflect on the fact that Jesus came, that He will come 00:00:42.039 --> 00:00:47.200 again, and what we believe about death and life after death as a result of that. 00:00:47.359 --> 00:00:49.719 So this is appropriate for that reason. 00:00:50.399 --> 00:00:55.140 There's also this reality that we don't often acknowledge in the church, probably not nearly 00:00:55.140 --> 00:01:00.600 enough, and that is that the holidays are an extraordinarily hard time for many people. 00:01:01.259 --> 00:01:06.780 The holidays are a time when grief can be particularly poignant and painful. 00:01:06.780 --> 00:01:14.719 It's a time of year when we keenly miss and are aware of the absence of loved ones we may 00:01:14.719 --> 00:01:15.280 have lost. 00:01:16.460 --> 00:01:22.819 I think of people in my family I've lost, and this is the time that I think about them. 00:01:23.700 --> 00:01:29.200 And so this is a way for us to say, you don't always have to be happy during the holidays. 00:01:29.200 --> 00:01:31.100 It's okay to feel grief. 00:01:31.500 --> 00:01:32.480 It's okay to struggle. 00:01:32.600 --> 00:01:38.600 It's okay to grieve loss or infertility or miscarriage or any of the other reasons that 00:01:38.600 --> 00:01:39.460 we might be grieving. 00:01:39.980 --> 00:01:45.240 And in our desire to be an emotionally honest community, we want to create space for grief 00:01:45.240 --> 00:01:48.879 in the midst of the celebration and joy of the holiday season. 00:01:49.020 --> 00:01:51.060 And so this service is a sort of space for that. 00:01:51.060 --> 00:01:56.920 So all through the service, we're inviting you to bring to mind, bring into your heart 00:01:56.920 --> 00:02:03.579 those whom you have lost, those whom you are grieving, and to allow this to be a time 00:02:03.579 --> 00:02:06.100 to really bring that grief into the Lord's presence. 00:02:07.439 --> 00:02:11.740 And then the third reason that we're doing a funeral this morning is that we are in a 00:02:11.740 --> 00:02:15.259 series in the Bible on the theme of embodiment. 00:02:15.259 --> 00:02:21.439 And we've talked about embodiment in various ways over the last few weeks. 00:02:21.560 --> 00:02:24.399 We said first that our bodies are gifts. 00:02:25.479 --> 00:02:29.039 And then we said that our bodies bear God's image. 00:02:30.060 --> 00:02:36.359 And then we said that our bodies are us, that your body's not merely a container that holds 00:02:36.359 --> 00:02:39.419 the real you, that our bodies are us. 00:02:39.419 --> 00:02:46.819 And then last week, we said that our bodies are central to spiritual growth and change, 00:02:47.219 --> 00:02:53.659 that growth happens and discipleship happens not merely through changed belief, but through 00:02:53.659 --> 00:03:01.119 changing our practices, our habits, our rituals, the things that we do over and over and over 00:03:01.119 --> 00:03:02.399 over the course of our lives. 00:03:03.000 --> 00:03:07.939 And so this morning, you know, there would be no series on embodiment would be complete if 00:03:07.939 --> 00:03:12.240 we didn't spend a little time asking, well, what about the future of our bodies? 00:03:13.159 --> 00:03:17.039 What's the ultimate destination of our physical bodies? 00:03:17.699 --> 00:03:24.060 And is there some hope for our bodies as we face the inevitability of death? 00:03:25.139 --> 00:03:28.759 So we're going to break this into three parts this morning as we look at 1 Corinthians chapter 00:03:28.759 --> 00:03:29.280 15. 00:03:29.500 --> 00:03:33.180 We read a selection of it, but we're really going to look at verse 35 through the end of 00:03:33.180 --> 00:03:33.620 the chapter. 00:03:34.199 --> 00:03:37.280 And there's so much here, so I can't wait to dive in. 00:03:37.280 --> 00:03:41.840 We're going to look first at the problem of death and then the promise of resurrection 00:03:41.840 --> 00:03:43.280 and then the proof. 00:03:43.439 --> 00:03:44.020 How do we know? 00:03:44.620 --> 00:03:45.860 How do we know that this is true? 00:03:46.879 --> 00:03:49.539 Let's pray and then we will open God's word. 00:03:52.280 --> 00:03:58.000 Lord, we thank you this morning for being a God who is not only a God of celebration and 00:03:58.000 --> 00:04:04.280 sentimentality, but you're a God who takes our grief seriously because you're a God who 00:04:04.280 --> 00:04:05.479 has borne our grief. 00:04:06.280 --> 00:04:08.259 You're a God who has grieved yourself. 00:04:08.479 --> 00:04:15.020 You sat by the tomb of your beloved friend Lazarus even as you planned to raise him and 00:04:15.020 --> 00:04:16.339 you wept at Mary's side. 00:04:17.360 --> 00:04:20.079 And so, Lord, we know you're a God who weeps with those who weep. 00:04:20.579 --> 00:04:26.040 And we pray that as we bring our grief to you this morning and as we ask you about our 00:04:26.040 --> 00:04:31.020 future and how we might think about death, we pray that you would speak to us and tell 00:04:31.020 --> 00:04:32.400 us what we each need to hear, Lord. 00:04:32.780 --> 00:04:34.240 We pray this in your Son's holy name. 00:04:34.640 --> 00:04:34.879 Amen. 00:04:36.560 --> 00:04:40.700 So, first of all, we want to say a little bit about the problem of death. 00:04:40.699 --> 00:04:48.120 In verse 55 at the end of the reading that we heard a moment ago, Paul mentions the sting 00:04:48.120 --> 00:04:48.839 of death. 00:04:49.899 --> 00:04:50.920 The sting of death. 00:04:51.819 --> 00:04:54.199 So, what is the sting of death? 00:04:55.240 --> 00:05:01.219 Ernest Becker was a cultural anthropologist who won a Pulitzer for his book, The Denial 00:05:01.219 --> 00:05:03.259 of Death, back in the 1970s. 00:05:03.259 --> 00:05:10.519 And this book made a huge impact because Becker was naming something that people, I think, are 00:05:10.519 --> 00:05:14.519 instinctively aware of, but he was putting words to it. 00:05:15.860 --> 00:05:23.920 In this book, he makes the case that many of our psychological issues, many of our social 00:05:23.920 --> 00:05:29.099 ills stem from the fact that all human beings are caught in a kind of paradox. 00:05:29.100 --> 00:05:37.300 He says, on the one hand, everybody has a sense inside them that they have cosmic significance. 00:05:37.820 --> 00:05:45.840 We, we, he says this, he says, this is the terror to have emerged from nothing, to have 00:05:45.840 --> 00:05:53.060 a name, consciousness of self, deep inner feelings, and excruciating inner yearning for 00:05:53.060 --> 00:05:58.100 life and self-expression, and with all of this, yet to die. 00:05:59.100 --> 00:06:00.840 And he says, it seems like a hoax. 00:06:01.720 --> 00:06:06.240 So, on the one hand, we are self-aware, we have a conscience, we have a sense of our future, 00:06:06.240 --> 00:06:09.439 we have a sense that we mean something, that our lives matter. 00:06:10.900 --> 00:06:15.480 And yet, right alongside that, we know that at some point in the future, we're all going 00:06:15.480 --> 00:06:16.160 to be worm food. 00:06:17.700 --> 00:06:19.620 And it creates this tension. 00:06:19.620 --> 00:06:25.540 How can I be cosmically significant and aware of my own existence, and yet know that one 00:06:25.540 --> 00:06:30.259 day, nobody will be alive on earth who even remembers I ever existed? 00:06:31.180 --> 00:06:32.879 How do we deal with that? 00:06:33.699 --> 00:06:38.740 And what Becker's talking about in his book is really the sting of death. 00:06:39.780 --> 00:06:43.240 You know, this, this is the, the, the thing, we're all haunted. 00:06:43.240 --> 00:06:52.980 We're all haunted by this deep fear and uncertainty about death and what lies on the other side 00:06:52.980 --> 00:06:53.680 of death. 00:06:54.139 --> 00:07:00.879 And, and this sort of fear is always there lurking in the shadows of our daily lives. 00:07:00.879 --> 00:07:07.439 And the sting of death, since we're talking about embodiment, the sting of death actually 00:07:07.439 --> 00:07:11.500 fills us with disdain over our physical bodies. 00:07:12.939 --> 00:07:17.159 Because Becker describes in his book, he says, you know, on the one hand, we're all convinced 00:07:17.159 --> 00:07:24.519 of our own significance, and yet we are, quote, housed in a heart-pumping, breath-gasping 00:07:24.519 --> 00:07:30.319 body, a material fleshly casing that is alien to us in many ways. 00:07:30.319 --> 00:07:36.459 The strangest and most repugnant way being that it aches and bleeds and will decay and 00:07:36.459 --> 00:07:36.879 die. 00:07:37.920 --> 00:07:45.659 Our bodies are constant reminders, especially when we get a little older, constant reminders 00:07:45.659 --> 00:07:53.500 that death is approaching and that there is no vaccine that can ward death off forever. 00:07:54.159 --> 00:07:55.240 It's approaching. 00:07:55.800 --> 00:07:57.680 Every day it gets closer. 00:07:57.680 --> 00:08:04.300 And so as we are embodied creatures, this fills us with disdain because we don't want 00:08:04.300 --> 00:08:06.139 to be reminded of that reality. 00:08:07.439 --> 00:08:12.680 And so people have found many different ways to cope with the sting of death. 00:08:13.040 --> 00:08:17.160 Some people numb themselves to suppress it. 00:08:18.120 --> 00:08:23.680 Becker says, quote, modern man is drinking and drugging himself out of awareness, or he spends 00:08:23.680 --> 00:08:25.800 his time shopping, which is the same thing. 00:08:25.800 --> 00:08:33.600 But the problem with that approach is, the more we numb ourselves to escape the sting of 00:08:33.600 --> 00:08:38.360 death, the more we suppress our ability to really live our lives. 00:08:39.220 --> 00:08:40.919 And so he says that's the trade-off. 00:08:41.799 --> 00:08:47.759 If you numb yourself to suppress your fear of death, you will never actually inhabit your 00:08:47.759 --> 00:08:48.159 life. 00:08:48.480 --> 00:08:50.600 You'll live in a kind of half-life. 00:08:50.600 --> 00:08:52.000 Right? 00:08:52.920 --> 00:08:54.000 So that doesn't work. 00:08:55.100 --> 00:08:58.960 He says that there are many other people who deal with the sting of death by trying to 00:08:58.960 --> 00:09:03.080 make a name for themselves or create some sort of lasting legacy. 00:09:03.259 --> 00:09:04.899 This comes from the foreword of the book. 00:09:05.740 --> 00:09:11.800 We achieve Ersot's immortality by sacrificing ourselves to conquer an empire, to build a temple, 00:09:11.799 --> 00:09:19.159 to write a book, to establish a family, to accumulate a fortune, to further progress and prosperity. 00:09:19.599 --> 00:09:25.339 We want to clean up the world, make it perfect, keep it safe for democracy or communism, purify 00:09:25.339 --> 00:09:32.879 it of the enemies of God, eliminate evil, establish an alabaster city undimmed by human tears, or a 00:09:32.879 --> 00:09:33.899 thousand-year Reich. 00:09:37.840 --> 00:09:47.879 He says much of the evil in the world stems from, is motivated by, this ceaseless striving and competing 00:09:47.879 --> 00:09:55.580 between people to try to build a lasting legacy and achieve some kind of Ersot's immortality. 00:09:55.580 --> 00:10:03.200 More recently, psychologists and self-help gurus have promoted the idea that death is natural. 00:10:03.800 --> 00:10:11.560 The best way we can deal with our death anxiety is to embrace it as a natural part of the natural 00:10:11.560 --> 00:10:17.040 process that has been unfolding in the world for centuries, for millennia. 00:10:17.800 --> 00:10:22.120 And so there's a lot of talk now about just recognizing that this is just part of the cycle 00:10:22.120 --> 00:10:25.659 and that we should be okay with it, we should be at peace with it. 00:10:26.279 --> 00:10:33.120 And that's a nice idea, but I'm convinced that the vast majority of people probably can't quite 00:10:33.120 --> 00:10:33.740 get there. 00:10:33.980 --> 00:10:39.000 And I actually want to know how many of the people who teach that actually believe it when 00:10:39.000 --> 00:10:42.679 it comes to their own death or the death of people they love. 00:10:42.940 --> 00:10:47.399 Because I may be able to get to that point when it comes to my death to reach some sort 00:10:47.399 --> 00:10:49.759 of peace or acceptance that it's going to happen. 00:10:49.759 --> 00:10:57.980 But I'll tell you this, I will never accept the death of one of my children as being natural. 00:10:58.639 --> 00:11:03.039 I will never accept the death of any children as being natural. 00:11:03.740 --> 00:11:05.019 I'll just never get there. 00:11:05.919 --> 00:11:12.379 And so that's a nice idea, but I think fundamentally people sniff it out for what it is, which is 00:11:12.379 --> 00:11:13.779 shallow sentimentality. 00:11:13.779 --> 00:11:19.639 And then finally there are people who deal with the anxiety that they feel over death, 00:11:19.699 --> 00:11:22.159 the sting of death, by turning to technology. 00:11:22.759 --> 00:11:27.279 You know, we've already talked in this series about the transhumanist movement seeking ways 00:11:27.279 --> 00:11:32.899 to prolong life indefinitely or transfer our consciousness to a computer so that we can 00:11:32.899 --> 00:11:33.500 live forever. 00:11:34.459 --> 00:11:39.199 This past week some of you may have read in the news about this new technology called the 00:11:39.200 --> 00:11:41.379 Sarco, right? 00:11:41.440 --> 00:11:47.180 It's a 3D printed death pod that is going to be made available. 00:11:47.320 --> 00:11:49.700 It's being tested out in Switzerland right now. 00:11:49.840 --> 00:11:56.620 I don't want to know the details of what testing something like this means, but it's being tested 00:11:56.620 --> 00:11:57.580 out right now. 00:11:57.580 --> 00:12:04.400 And it's essentially a DIY death pod that will soon be available, according to the hope of 00:12:04.399 --> 00:12:08.939 the founder, for free to anybody who wants to build one for themselves. 00:12:10.220 --> 00:12:15.340 And if you read the articles about the Sarco, it's sort of the next big lifestyle choice, 00:12:16.179 --> 00:12:16.399 right? 00:12:16.439 --> 00:12:23.179 What do you give people who already have everything, who have more of a sense of control over reality 00:12:23.179 --> 00:12:26.620 than any previous generation ever in the history of the world ever? 00:12:27.500 --> 00:12:29.659 What more control can we have? 00:12:29.720 --> 00:12:32.379 Well, we can have control over our own death. 00:12:32.379 --> 00:12:37.939 The ultimate, the ultimate thing that has loomed outside of our control. 00:12:38.379 --> 00:12:43.059 The creator describes this as a, quote, stylish and elegant way to die. 00:12:45.460 --> 00:12:49.259 I think there's a mistaken assumption built into this whole thing. 00:12:50.600 --> 00:12:58.620 It's the assumption that if we can control the experience of dying, that might somehow alleviate 00:12:58.620 --> 00:13:00.039 the fear of death. 00:13:00.039 --> 00:13:04.360 But I think we all know those are two very different things. 00:13:05.459 --> 00:13:11.179 The fear of dying and the experience of death, two very different things. 00:13:11.179 --> 00:13:17.139 So the problem of death is its sting. 00:13:18.399 --> 00:13:19.699 Is its sting. 00:13:20.419 --> 00:13:26.539 That is this deep dread that haunts us, that lurks in the shadows of our lives, that we cannot 00:13:26.539 --> 00:13:29.419 escape no matter how we might try to cope. 00:13:29.500 --> 00:13:30.799 That's the sting of death. 00:13:30.799 --> 00:13:35.339 And I think this is a big deal. 00:13:36.339 --> 00:13:40.819 Because as many psychologists and spiritual leaders and other people have known for a very 00:13:40.819 --> 00:13:47.219 long time, if you cannot face the things that you fear, if you can't face them, they will 00:13:47.219 --> 00:13:48.459 end up controlling you. 00:13:48.879 --> 00:13:54.439 It's the things that we suppress most that most impact our behavior. 00:13:54.440 --> 00:13:59.760 The less aware you are of it, the more of a hold it has on you. 00:14:00.420 --> 00:14:03.900 And so we have to be able to deal with the sting of death somehow. 00:14:04.360 --> 00:14:05.840 None of these other approaches work. 00:14:06.720 --> 00:14:10.100 That's why 1 Corinthians 15 is such an amazing passage. 00:14:10.100 --> 00:14:18.220 Because as we look at this promise of resurrection that is embedded in this passage, in 1 Corinthians 00:14:18.220 --> 00:14:20.920 15, Paul's talking about the gospel. 00:14:21.360 --> 00:14:26.899 And he's talking about this promise that one day our bodies are going to be raised to new 00:14:26.899 --> 00:14:27.500 life again. 00:14:28.519 --> 00:14:30.080 Our physical bodies. 00:14:31.379 --> 00:14:33.560 And believe it or not, he's getting a lot of pushback. 00:14:35.080 --> 00:14:35.279 Right? 00:14:35.279 --> 00:14:39.120 People are saying, verse 35, how are the dead raised? 00:14:40.100 --> 00:14:42.120 With what kind of body do they come? 00:14:43.460 --> 00:14:45.759 Now don't miss the skepticism here. 00:14:45.840 --> 00:14:50.560 It's tempting to think that people who lived centuries ago were far more gullible. 00:14:51.460 --> 00:14:54.019 But that's a form of chronological snobbery. 00:14:54.139 --> 00:14:58.220 In fact, people were every bit as skeptical about the resurrection of the dead 2,000 years 00:14:58.220 --> 00:15:00.320 ago as they are today. 00:15:01.180 --> 00:15:02.980 So people are asking these questions. 00:15:03.060 --> 00:15:04.160 And they're good questions. 00:15:04.279 --> 00:15:06.600 They're saying, how is this kind of thing possible? 00:15:06.600 --> 00:15:11.980 And even if it were possible, what kind of bodies are we going to have? 00:15:12.080 --> 00:15:13.700 So imagine the scenarios. 00:15:14.300 --> 00:15:16.779 You know, what about the body of my grandfather? 00:15:17.420 --> 00:15:19.600 It's been in the ground for a long time. 00:15:19.700 --> 00:15:22.220 It's seriously decomposed by this point. 00:15:22.220 --> 00:15:27.120 Is that body going to come back decomposed like some sort of zombie? 00:15:28.259 --> 00:15:30.340 What about someone who's cremated? 00:15:31.100 --> 00:15:34.620 You know, my aunt whose ashes were scattered into the ocean. 00:15:35.040 --> 00:15:37.180 What kind of body is she going to have? 00:15:37.879 --> 00:15:43.399 Is God going to go around gathering up all of the little molecules and somehow gluing that 00:15:43.399 --> 00:15:44.519 body back together? 00:15:45.840 --> 00:15:46.220 Right? 00:15:46.220 --> 00:15:50.460 What about the fact that our cells are constantly replacing themselves? 00:15:50.840 --> 00:15:55.700 That the cells that your body has now are not the same cells that it had a year ago? 00:15:56.940 --> 00:15:59.740 Is God going to gather up all of the molecules? 00:16:00.080 --> 00:16:02.220 And from what version of my body? 00:16:03.399 --> 00:16:03.800 Right? 00:16:03.860 --> 00:16:04.879 What about children? 00:16:05.860 --> 00:16:09.620 When children die, does that mean that they come back and they are permanently and forever 00:16:09.620 --> 00:16:11.920 children that never grow up? 00:16:12.540 --> 00:16:15.379 What about people who have miscarriages or abortions? 00:16:16.220 --> 00:16:23.000 What kind of bodies will they have if they were only a few cells before their life on 00:16:23.000 --> 00:16:24.200 earth ended? 00:16:24.340 --> 00:16:26.259 What kind of bodies will we have? 00:16:26.440 --> 00:16:28.000 These are actually good questions. 00:16:28.000 --> 00:16:34.980 I can imagine sitting in a room full of adults from this time in our society and people asking 00:16:34.980 --> 00:16:36.440 very similar kinds of questions. 00:16:37.899 --> 00:16:39.379 And here's Paul's answer. 00:16:40.240 --> 00:16:42.139 And I want you to follow the flow of his argument. 00:16:42.139 --> 00:16:47.360 Verses 36 through 38, he first makes this point. 00:16:47.919 --> 00:16:51.699 He says, listen, this is not new territory. 00:16:52.159 --> 00:16:56.340 We've all seen this kind of thing happen in the natural world. 00:16:56.600 --> 00:17:01.139 The cycle of death and resurrection is already written into the rhythms of creation. 00:17:02.120 --> 00:17:03.759 He says, God does this all the time. 00:17:04.240 --> 00:17:05.460 Think of seeds. 00:17:05.460 --> 00:17:11.299 When you, many of them were familiar with agriculture, when you sow seeds, what happens? 00:17:11.440 --> 00:17:14.140 Well, they land on the ground and they die. 00:17:14.700 --> 00:17:15.920 And then what happens? 00:17:16.460 --> 00:17:20.759 New life is raised up out of that dead seed. 00:17:21.400 --> 00:17:26.360 It's the same material, the same molecular substance. 00:17:26.359 --> 00:17:33.339 It's alive, it dies, and then it comes to life again as something new. 00:17:34.959 --> 00:17:40.839 And then he says, you know, essentially, to put it in our modern terms, is it really that 00:17:40.839 --> 00:17:45.339 crazy to think that God could do the same thing with your body that he does with a seed 00:17:45.339 --> 00:17:46.339 every single day? 00:17:46.959 --> 00:17:47.979 Is that really that crazy? 00:17:47.980 --> 00:17:50.980 And then he goes on in 39 to 41. 00:17:51.240 --> 00:17:56.980 He says, you know, we see all the time, God gives different bodies depending on the environment 00:17:56.980 --> 00:17:58.160 they are meant to inhabit. 00:17:58.579 --> 00:17:59.599 Think about animals. 00:17:59.799 --> 00:18:00.480 Think about birds. 00:18:00.640 --> 00:18:01.319 Think about fish. 00:18:01.700 --> 00:18:03.620 Think about the sun and the moon and the stars. 00:18:04.240 --> 00:18:08.579 They all have bodies that correspond to the environment they're meant to dwell in. 00:18:10.160 --> 00:18:16.360 And so, you know, in our language, a fish's body is not meant to live on land, just by design. 00:18:16.359 --> 00:18:22.379 A bird's body is not meant to live underwater by design, right? 00:18:23.000 --> 00:18:26.000 And he essentially says it's the same with your body. 00:18:26.939 --> 00:18:30.719 If you wanted to live in the ocean, if you wanted to live underwater all the time, you 00:18:30.719 --> 00:18:31.740 would need a different body. 00:18:31.839 --> 00:18:33.099 This body is not going to work. 00:18:33.759 --> 00:18:35.240 It's going to be a very short life. 00:18:36.179 --> 00:18:37.299 You're going to need a different body. 00:18:37.639 --> 00:18:39.019 And so, Paul's point is this. 00:18:39.619 --> 00:18:45.079 If you want to live in the age to come, if you want to live in the new creation, you're 00:18:45.079 --> 00:18:45.959 going to need a new body. 00:18:46.819 --> 00:18:52.000 This body is not going to suit the new creation environment. 00:18:52.459 --> 00:18:53.679 So, you need a new body. 00:18:54.139 --> 00:18:58.199 And he says in verses 42 to 44, so it is with the resurrection of the dead. 00:18:58.740 --> 00:19:00.179 What is sown is perishable. 00:19:00.500 --> 00:19:01.979 What is raised is imperishable. 00:19:02.500 --> 00:19:04.059 It is sown in dishonor. 00:19:04.399 --> 00:19:05.719 It is raised in glory. 00:19:06.299 --> 00:19:07.519 It is sown in weakness. 00:19:07.740 --> 00:19:08.919 It is raised in power. 00:19:09.279 --> 00:19:10.799 It is sown a natural body. 00:19:10.799 --> 00:19:12.740 It is raised a spiritual body. 00:19:13.740 --> 00:19:15.960 Now, spiritual here doesn't mean a ghost. 00:19:16.200 --> 00:19:20.220 It's easy to read this and to think that he's saying, you know, you have a physical body 00:19:20.220 --> 00:19:22.660 and then you'll have a pure spiritual ghost body. 00:19:23.059 --> 00:19:24.579 But that's not what he's saying here. 00:19:24.579 --> 00:19:28.519 Natural here means a body for this age. 00:19:29.319 --> 00:19:31.699 Spiritual means a body for the age to come. 00:19:31.700 --> 00:19:38.120 So, I want you to see when it comes to the relationship between this body and the resurrection body, 00:19:38.299 --> 00:19:42.539 there are two themes that emerge when we look at this whole flow of the argument. 00:19:42.640 --> 00:19:45.980 He says, when you think of your resurrection body, here's the two things that you need to 00:19:45.980 --> 00:19:46.440 keep in mind. 00:19:46.440 --> 00:19:47.920 On the one hand, there's going to be continuity. 00:19:49.660 --> 00:19:51.519 And on the other hand, there's going to be transformation. 00:19:53.200 --> 00:19:57.900 On the one hand, there's going to be a molecular consistency between this body that you have right 00:19:57.900 --> 00:19:58.920 now sitting in the pew. 00:20:00.640 --> 00:20:03.860 There's going to be a continuity between that body and your new creation body. 00:20:04.440 --> 00:20:08.980 It's going to be the same substance, but it's going to be transformed. 00:20:10.400 --> 00:20:13.580 Like a seed is transformed into a flower. 00:20:13.579 --> 00:20:16.919 It's going to become something much more glorious. 00:20:17.259 --> 00:20:22.659 And that spiritual body is going to be suited for the new creation where there is no decay 00:20:22.659 --> 00:20:24.179 or disease or suffering or death. 00:20:24.299 --> 00:20:27.659 It's going to be the kind of body that is meant to live in that world. 00:20:30.059 --> 00:20:34.720 Now, I just want you to take a moment and think, you know, if all this is true, 00:20:35.579 --> 00:20:39.379 if there is a promise that is guaranteed for each one of us in this room, 00:20:39.380 --> 00:20:47.220 that your body is going to continue into the new creation and that it's going to be transformed 00:20:47.220 --> 00:20:50.420 so that it can live forever in that new creation world. 00:20:50.780 --> 00:20:53.000 And yet, at the same time, it is going to be this body. 00:20:55.160 --> 00:21:00.100 If all of that is true, then that would completely change the way we think about death. 00:21:01.160 --> 00:21:05.820 Because what this means is there's no longer anything to fear when it comes to death. 00:21:05.819 --> 00:21:07.019 Right? 00:21:07.079 --> 00:21:10.319 On the one hand, this affirms, yes, death does not belong in the world. 00:21:10.439 --> 00:21:12.339 This is not the way God intended things to be. 00:21:12.799 --> 00:21:14.559 It is right for you to be angry at it. 00:21:14.579 --> 00:21:16.419 It's right for us to rage against it. 00:21:18.899 --> 00:21:20.960 But there's no longer any reason to fear it. 00:21:22.099 --> 00:21:22.619 Right? 00:21:22.759 --> 00:21:25.379 God has made death into a kind of doorway. 00:21:26.659 --> 00:21:30.740 It's a passage into a new, more glorious form of existence. 00:21:30.740 --> 00:21:41.140 You know, it's no wonder that many early Christian artists used the butterfly as a symbol in their art of death and resurrection. 00:21:41.900 --> 00:21:43.980 This body is the caterpillar. 00:21:45.099 --> 00:21:48.579 When you die and you're buried, you're simply going into a cocoon. 00:21:49.240 --> 00:21:54.000 And one day you will emerge from that cocoon as something far more glorious. 00:21:54.000 --> 00:22:03.839 Whatever the equivalent of a butterfly body would be, whatever that is, whatever glory that represents for us, that's what we await. 00:22:04.059 --> 00:22:05.019 That's our future. 00:22:05.359 --> 00:22:07.859 And death is the passageway that gets us there. 00:22:08.839 --> 00:22:11.700 So if all of this is true, it changes everything. 00:22:13.240 --> 00:22:13.720 Right? 00:22:13.799 --> 00:22:17.579 It means, by the way, that what we do here and now matters. 00:22:18.440 --> 00:22:20.319 It means that our bodies matter. 00:22:20.420 --> 00:22:22.059 It means that our work matters. 00:22:22.059 --> 00:22:24.940 That's why Paul says at the end of this passage, 00:22:25.339 --> 00:22:35.099 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. 00:22:35.440 --> 00:22:39.279 The things that you do here are going to continue into the new creation. 00:22:39.460 --> 00:22:41.119 This is not empty work. 00:22:41.279 --> 00:22:44.220 You're not building things that are just going to burn up forever. 00:22:45.819 --> 00:22:49.299 We are building and participating in a world that is going to be renewed. 00:22:49.639 --> 00:22:51.440 Much of what we do is going to continue. 00:22:52.059 --> 00:22:55.079 So this changes everything. 00:22:55.079 --> 00:23:03.079 If all of this is true, we can face death with real confidence and hope. 00:23:03.179 --> 00:23:05.240 Not sentimentality that says it's natural. 00:23:05.359 --> 00:23:06.299 It's not natural. 00:23:06.960 --> 00:23:08.259 But we don't have to fear it. 00:23:08.259 --> 00:23:14.759 But this raises the fundamental question of how can Paul be so sure? 00:23:15.579 --> 00:23:16.839 How can Paul be so sure? 00:23:16.980 --> 00:23:18.519 How do we know he's not just blowing smoke? 00:23:20.160 --> 00:23:21.059 What's the proof? 00:23:21.059 --> 00:23:27.359 The proof of all of this is Christmas. 00:23:29.480 --> 00:23:33.579 The proof of all of this is what happened on the first Christmas. 00:23:34.759 --> 00:23:37.799 The Word became flesh. 00:23:37.799 --> 00:23:43.819 The Word could have come in many different ways, any way he wanted. 00:23:43.940 --> 00:23:48.519 He could have been a big bright light in the sky, sort of tearing the sky open. 00:23:49.220 --> 00:23:50.519 You know, I think of Monty Python. 00:23:50.759 --> 00:23:51.740 Have you ever seen Monty Python? 00:23:52.619 --> 00:23:53.700 Search for the Holy Grail. 00:23:53.779 --> 00:23:57.859 When God speaks, he kind of opens the clouds and he puts his little hands on the clouds and he talks. 00:23:58.259 --> 00:23:58.559 Right? 00:23:58.559 --> 00:24:00.779 And, you know, the Word could have done that. 00:24:01.359 --> 00:24:08.159 The Word could have appeared as God has appeared before, as a great pillar of fire or smoke or a thundering voice in a dark thundercloud. 00:24:09.980 --> 00:24:15.500 But the Word became a zygote in a mother's womb. 00:24:17.319 --> 00:24:20.159 A young, marginalized girl. 00:24:20.160 --> 00:24:30.740 The Word became a cell that multiplied into two, that multiplied into four, that multiplied into eight. 00:24:31.620 --> 00:24:37.400 And every step of the way, the Word became a human body. 00:24:39.480 --> 00:24:40.940 Until he was ready to be born. 00:24:42.800 --> 00:24:44.920 That's how the Word entered our world. 00:24:44.920 --> 00:24:51.700 So, if we were to ask Paul, how can we be so sure of what will happen to our bodies after we die? 00:24:52.060 --> 00:24:55.680 His answer would be, because we've seen it happen once before already. 00:24:56.519 --> 00:25:00.160 We know what's going to happen to our bodies because we saw it happen to his body. 00:25:01.400 --> 00:25:01.720 Right? 00:25:01.779 --> 00:25:04.060 We saw Jesus born. 00:25:04.660 --> 00:25:05.880 We saw him grow up. 00:25:05.960 --> 00:25:07.460 We saw him alive. 00:25:07.680 --> 00:25:12.420 We saw him working a job as a carpenter. 00:25:12.420 --> 00:25:15.420 We saw him in his public ministry. 00:25:15.680 --> 00:25:17.620 Just a few years of public ministry. 00:25:17.759 --> 00:25:20.200 We saw him crucified and tortured. 00:25:20.700 --> 00:25:23.000 We saw him dead on the ground. 00:25:23.200 --> 00:25:25.300 We saw him buried in a tomb. 00:25:25.500 --> 00:25:27.460 And then we saw him rise again. 00:25:28.800 --> 00:25:29.640 And guess what? 00:25:30.200 --> 00:25:31.460 He still had a body. 00:25:32.420 --> 00:25:33.880 We saw him eat fish. 00:25:34.220 --> 00:25:36.100 We saw him drink water and wine. 00:25:36.099 --> 00:25:44.000 We saw him do things that, you know, as he drank and ate before his crucifixion. 00:25:44.099 --> 00:25:47.039 He ate and drank after his crucifixion. 00:25:47.099 --> 00:25:50.139 We saw him do things that you need a body to do. 00:25:51.579 --> 00:25:53.419 I don't think he drank wine, but he drank water. 00:25:55.000 --> 00:25:57.879 We saw him do things that you have to have a body to do. 00:25:58.159 --> 00:25:59.699 Now, it was a different body. 00:26:01.059 --> 00:26:01.459 Right? 00:26:01.460 --> 00:26:05.740 It's interesting in the resurrection accounts, you know, Mary doesn't recognize him. 00:26:05.799 --> 00:26:08.039 She thinks he must be the gardener. 00:26:09.380 --> 00:26:11.220 You know, Mary knew him very well. 00:26:11.500 --> 00:26:12.360 She didn't recognize him. 00:26:12.680 --> 00:26:14.500 The disciples are out fishing after his resurrection. 00:26:14.620 --> 00:26:14.920 They see him. 00:26:14.960 --> 00:26:16.279 They don't immediately recognize him. 00:26:16.420 --> 00:26:18.160 So there's something different about his body. 00:26:19.160 --> 00:26:21.140 He can sort of come and go at will. 00:26:21.340 --> 00:26:22.220 This is a different body. 00:26:24.059 --> 00:26:26.140 They saw this body ascend to heaven. 00:26:26.220 --> 00:26:28.799 It's the kind of body that can exist in the heavenly realm. 00:26:28.799 --> 00:26:31.960 It's a different, more glorified kind of body, but it's a body nonetheless. 00:26:33.980 --> 00:26:37.000 And what you see in Jesus' body is continuity and transformation. 00:26:37.299 --> 00:26:39.359 It is still him, but it's a different body. 00:26:39.680 --> 00:26:42.359 There's something more about his body. 00:26:43.460 --> 00:26:49.399 And in verses 45 to 49, Paul says, listen, don't make the mistake of thinking this is just Jesus. 00:26:51.079 --> 00:26:55.659 Jesus, because the word became flesh, because the word became an embryo, 00:26:55.660 --> 00:27:01.720 Paul says that Jesus represents a new prototype human being. 00:27:02.259 --> 00:27:04.100 There's a new prototype that has entered the world. 00:27:05.080 --> 00:27:10.420 There's the first prototype, Adam, what he calls the man of dust. 00:27:11.700 --> 00:27:14.660 Adam was made from the dust, and when he disobeyed God, 00:27:14.960 --> 00:27:19.759 he was condemned to return to the dust and all of his descendants with him. 00:27:19.759 --> 00:27:24.160 From dust you have come, and to dust you shall return. 00:27:25.599 --> 00:27:28.240 But he says Jesus is the second Adam. 00:27:28.339 --> 00:27:29.960 He says this is the last Adam. 00:27:30.059 --> 00:27:34.160 There's a new prototype of what it means to be a human being, the man of heaven. 00:27:35.079 --> 00:27:38.640 And Jesus shows us what all human beings were created to be, 00:27:39.539 --> 00:27:43.980 and all of his people, all of the people in him and connected to him, 00:27:44.660 --> 00:27:48.799 will not share Adam's condemned future, to go back to the dust. 00:27:48.799 --> 00:27:53.720 Everybody who is in this new prototype human will share in his future. 00:27:54.279 --> 00:27:58.419 They will be raised in a body that has continuity and yet has been transformed. 00:27:59.940 --> 00:28:02.980 And so the point of this passage is that when you become a Christian, 00:28:03.259 --> 00:28:05.680 you're not merely adopting a new belief system. 00:28:05.899 --> 00:28:08.940 And, you know, this is a new concept for me as well. 00:28:09.200 --> 00:28:10.819 I've been a Christian close to 20 years. 00:28:11.180 --> 00:28:13.079 This is a new concept for me to think about. 00:28:13.659 --> 00:28:16.279 You're not just adopting a new belief system. 00:28:16.279 --> 00:28:20.079 At the moment that you come to faith in Jesus, 00:28:20.359 --> 00:28:25.460 you are transferred from one humanity to another humanity. 00:28:25.839 --> 00:28:32.339 You're transferred from the humanity of the man of dust to the humanity of the man of heaven. 00:28:33.579 --> 00:28:39.259 And that means that your body will one day be raised just as Jesus' body was raised. 00:28:39.259 --> 00:28:41.920 He says in verse 49, 00:28:42.200 --> 00:28:44.839 just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, 00:28:44.960 --> 00:28:48.599 we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven. 00:28:48.680 --> 00:28:49.779 We're going to be like him. 00:28:52.339 --> 00:28:57.200 So the good news in the midst of the grief of a funeral service a week before Christmas is this. 00:28:58.559 --> 00:29:01.940 Christmas takes the sting out of death. 00:29:02.779 --> 00:29:05.259 Christmas resolves the paradox. 00:29:05.259 --> 00:29:09.799 Christmas says, on the one hand, you're right. 00:29:10.559 --> 00:29:13.640 You are cosmically significant. 00:29:14.259 --> 00:29:15.900 You weren't made for the dust. 00:29:16.039 --> 00:29:17.619 You were made for the stars. 00:29:17.839 --> 00:29:19.339 You were made for eternity. 00:29:19.519 --> 00:29:21.519 That voice in you that cries out, 00:29:22.059 --> 00:29:24.019 it's true. 00:29:25.440 --> 00:29:27.119 And yet it says, on the other hand, 00:29:27.779 --> 00:29:30.180 our future is not to be worm food. 00:29:30.180 --> 00:29:33.180 Our future is eternity. 00:29:34.000 --> 00:29:36.120 Death was not part of the plan. 00:29:36.400 --> 00:29:39.279 Death is part of a fallen world of dust. 00:29:40.120 --> 00:29:44.519 Our future is eternity with bodies that are no longer subject to decay. 00:29:44.519 --> 00:29:50.279 So for all of us who are grieving this morning, 00:29:51.639 --> 00:29:53.200 grieving loved ones you've lost, 00:29:53.339 --> 00:29:54.220 grieving infertility, 00:29:54.379 --> 00:29:55.220 grieving miscarriage, 00:29:55.359 --> 00:29:56.619 grieving broken relationships, 00:29:56.879 --> 00:29:57.900 grieving COVID, 00:29:58.200 --> 00:30:01.359 grieving the ongoing uncertainty and existential dread 00:30:01.359 --> 00:30:03.599 that comes with an unending pandemic. 00:30:04.960 --> 00:30:06.299 Whatever you may be grieving, 00:30:06.500 --> 00:30:07.660 grieving the disaster, 00:30:07.799 --> 00:30:09.240 the tragedy of Kentucky, 00:30:09.579 --> 00:30:11.700 whatever you may be grieving this morning, 00:30:11.700 --> 00:30:16.360 we know even as we grieve 00:30:16.360 --> 00:30:21.539 that as we celebrate Christmas in a few days, 00:30:22.440 --> 00:30:24.160 as we celebrate Christmas, 00:30:24.319 --> 00:30:28.140 we are proclaiming Christ's victory over death 00:30:28.140 --> 00:30:30.059 because the Word became flesh 00:30:30.059 --> 00:30:32.240 and offers us a new way to be human. 00:30:34.059 --> 00:30:37.539 I want to end with this wonderful sonnet from John Donne, 00:30:37.660 --> 00:30:38.720 Death Be Not Proud. 00:30:38.720 --> 00:30:46.460 This is a dialogue between a believer and death itself. 00:30:47.980 --> 00:30:49.539 Death, be not proud, 00:30:50.339 --> 00:30:52.779 though some have called thee mighty and dreadful, 00:30:52.880 --> 00:30:53.940 for thou art not so. 00:30:55.259 --> 00:30:57.579 For those whom thou thinkst thou dost overthrow, 00:30:57.740 --> 00:30:59.259 die not, poor death, 00:31:00.400 --> 00:31:01.880 nor yet canst thou kill me. 00:31:02.860 --> 00:31:05.160 From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be, 00:31:05.259 --> 00:31:07.539 much pleasure then from thee much more must flow, 00:31:07.539 --> 00:31:10.940 and soonest our best men with thee do go. 00:31:12.059 --> 00:31:14.659 Rest of their bones and souls delivery. 00:31:15.960 --> 00:31:17.639 Thou art slave to fate, 00:31:17.980 --> 00:31:20.579 chance, kings, and desperate men, 00:31:20.940 --> 00:31:23.339 and dust with poison, war, and sickness dwell, 00:31:23.779 --> 00:31:26.200 and poppier charms can make us sleep as well, 00:31:26.779 --> 00:31:28.940 and better than thy stroke. 00:31:30.079 --> 00:31:31.659 Why swellst thou then? 00:31:31.660 --> 00:31:34.720 One short sleep past, 00:31:35.560 --> 00:31:37.040 we wake eternally, 00:31:38.040 --> 00:31:40.300 and death shall be no more. 00:31:41.420 --> 00:31:43.820 Death, thou shalt die. 00:31:47.820 --> 00:31:48.560 Let's pray. 00:31:51.720 --> 00:31:53.900 Lord, we thank you for your Word, 00:31:53.900 --> 00:31:56.680 and we thank you that it gives us 00:31:56.680 --> 00:32:00.160 the only thing that could really offer hope 00:32:00.160 --> 00:32:01.080 in the face of death, 00:32:01.220 --> 00:32:03.900 which is the promise, 00:32:04.540 --> 00:32:05.560 the sure promise, 00:32:06.180 --> 00:32:08.200 that death has been defeated. 00:32:09.860 --> 00:32:12.780 That the thing we know in our souls is wrong 00:32:12.780 --> 00:32:15.980 has been condemned and defeated. 00:32:15.980 --> 00:32:19.880 Lord, I pray that you would comfort those who mourn. 00:32:20.339 --> 00:32:21.980 I pray that you would weep with those who weep. 00:32:22.799 --> 00:32:25.039 But I pray even as we continue in our prayer, 00:32:25.259 --> 00:32:25.880 in our singing, 00:32:26.759 --> 00:32:28.180 even as we come to your table, 00:32:28.740 --> 00:32:30.420 you would press into our hearts 00:32:30.420 --> 00:32:31.460 that resurrection hope. 00:32:32.440 --> 00:32:34.640 Lord, that we would see this for what it is, 00:32:35.099 --> 00:32:36.460 merely a doorway, a gateway, 00:32:36.680 --> 00:32:38.579 into a new, more glorious form of existence 00:32:38.579 --> 00:32:41.299 that we see prefigured 00:32:41.299 --> 00:32:42.960 in your resurrected Son, Jesus Christ. 00:32:42.960 --> 00:32:44.980 And it's in his name that we pray. 00:32:45.340 --> 00:32:45.600 Amen.