WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.459 You are listening to a message from Southwood Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, Alabama. 00:00:06.960 --> 00:00:10.599 Our passion is to experience and express grace. Join us. 00:00:11.460 --> 00:00:17.000 But as they're going down, I'd like to invite the kids to join me up here on the steps, if you will. 00:00:17.400 --> 00:00:21.059 Kids, y'all come right up here. I want to talk to you for just a couple minutes. 00:00:24.960 --> 00:00:27.100 As you're coming up, just be careful. 00:00:27.100 --> 00:00:32.600 There's a cross up here and there's some Lord's table is set up on those tables. 00:00:32.700 --> 00:00:34.859 So be careful not to knock that over. 00:00:35.039 --> 00:00:38.620 Can y'all just come and find a place on the steps where you can sit? 00:00:42.100 --> 00:00:44.600 All right. Oh, I forgot something. 00:00:52.280 --> 00:00:53.100 Let's see. 00:00:53.100 --> 00:00:56.719 Is anyone up here excited for Easter? 00:00:57.100 --> 00:00:57.420 Yes. 00:00:57.980 --> 00:00:59.000 Yeah, you are. 00:01:00.200 --> 00:01:02.280 You're going to have some fun today celebrating? 00:01:02.939 --> 00:01:03.320 Yeah. 00:01:03.600 --> 00:01:04.900 Is anyone up here hungry? 00:01:05.000 --> 00:01:06.719 Are you getting hungry being in church for a long time? 00:01:06.980 --> 00:01:09.099 I brought my lunch. 00:01:09.359 --> 00:01:11.760 So maybe I've got something I could share with y'all. 00:01:12.659 --> 00:01:13.180 Let's see. 00:01:13.219 --> 00:01:13.799 I got a banana. 00:01:13.920 --> 00:01:14.740 Anybody like bananas? 00:01:15.439 --> 00:01:15.879 Yeah. 00:01:16.040 --> 00:01:17.280 Oh, you want? 00:01:17.420 --> 00:01:17.939 Anybody want? 00:01:18.799 --> 00:01:19.540 I don't like bananas. 00:01:19.540 --> 00:01:19.960 You don't want? 00:01:19.959 --> 00:01:22.859 Oh, it is getting a little moldy, isn't it? 00:01:23.179 --> 00:01:24.039 I don't like it. 00:01:24.439 --> 00:01:24.780 Okay. 00:01:24.859 --> 00:01:27.219 Well, maybe not the banana. 00:01:27.379 --> 00:01:28.419 How about some bread? 00:01:28.479 --> 00:01:29.280 Bread safe, right? 00:01:29.359 --> 00:01:30.599 You want this bread? 00:01:31.159 --> 00:01:31.599 Oh. 00:01:32.079 --> 00:01:32.399 Oh. 00:01:32.400 --> 00:01:35.440 It's kind of white and green and purple and... 00:01:35.440 --> 00:01:37.840 Yeah, it's been growing for a while. 00:01:39.460 --> 00:01:39.900 Sorry. 00:01:40.040 --> 00:01:41.040 You don't want the bread? 00:01:41.420 --> 00:01:41.820 No. 00:01:42.580 --> 00:01:46.840 You know, those things are disgusting, aren't they? 00:01:46.940 --> 00:01:47.180 I know. 00:01:47.240 --> 00:01:48.080 I've got more for later. 00:01:48.380 --> 00:01:48.740 Secret. 00:01:50.420 --> 00:01:52.660 There's a big word for food like that. 00:01:52.760 --> 00:01:54.600 We call it perishable. 00:01:54.760 --> 00:01:55.980 Can you say perishable? 00:01:56.900 --> 00:01:57.340 Perishable. 00:01:57.340 --> 00:01:58.939 You know what perishable means? 00:01:59.120 --> 00:01:59.700 No idea. 00:01:59.980 --> 00:02:01.040 That means if you... 00:02:01.040 --> 00:02:02.659 I'm going to tell you. 00:02:03.939 --> 00:02:08.379 That means if you leave it in a bag like this long enough, it's going to grow mold like 00:02:08.379 --> 00:02:09.960 that and you're not going to want to eat it. 00:02:10.300 --> 00:02:10.599 Okay? 00:02:10.719 --> 00:02:11.740 It's going to be yuck. 00:02:11.980 --> 00:02:14.000 It does not last. 00:02:14.219 --> 00:02:15.560 It goes bad. 00:02:15.939 --> 00:02:18.000 That's what perishable means. 00:02:18.219 --> 00:02:21.599 There are some other foods now that are called non-perishable. 00:02:22.140 --> 00:02:23.800 You know, I found this spam. 00:02:23.800 --> 00:02:28.240 This stuff, it says you can leave it in a bag for three to five years and it will still 00:02:28.240 --> 00:02:30.900 be exactly the same as it was at the beginning. 00:02:31.020 --> 00:02:31.620 Isn't that funny? 00:02:33.719 --> 00:02:36.160 We're not going to eat it this morning, but maybe later. 00:02:36.240 --> 00:02:37.219 We'll have to ask your parents. 00:02:38.420 --> 00:02:40.280 And then what's this? 00:02:41.780 --> 00:02:44.000 A jelly bean. 00:02:44.220 --> 00:02:45.700 You know how long I've had this jelly bean? 00:02:45.960 --> 00:02:46.640 How long? 00:02:46.920 --> 00:02:48.120 77 years. 00:02:48.740 --> 00:02:49.640 It looks... 00:02:49.640 --> 00:02:50.020 Not even that old. 00:02:50.020 --> 00:02:50.960 No, it's not. 00:02:51.000 --> 00:02:52.480 It's not that old. 00:02:52.479 --> 00:02:53.859 But you know what I do sometimes? 00:02:54.000 --> 00:02:55.979 Do you ever find jelly beans in Easter eggs? 00:02:56.539 --> 00:03:02.060 Have you ever opened up an Easter egg from the year before and found a jelly bean in it? 00:03:03.120 --> 00:03:07.379 I get really excited when that happens because you can still eat it, can't you? 00:03:07.959 --> 00:03:13.159 It lasts a little bit longer than my yucky banana that got all moldy, right? 00:03:13.979 --> 00:03:15.120 These last a little... 00:03:15.120 --> 00:03:15.719 But you know what? 00:03:15.719 --> 00:03:19.359 Even a jelly bean, if you wait long enough, it'll go bad too. 00:03:19.360 --> 00:03:23.880 Sometimes we say these things are non-perishable, but they really do. 00:03:24.420 --> 00:03:26.200 All these things go bad eventually. 00:03:26.560 --> 00:03:28.120 People are perishable, right? 00:03:28.280 --> 00:03:29.100 Our bodies. 00:03:29.620 --> 00:03:30.720 Do you ever get sick? 00:03:31.120 --> 00:03:31.560 Yes. 00:03:32.520 --> 00:03:34.260 Have you ever been hurt before? 00:03:34.400 --> 00:03:35.380 Did you get a boo-boo? 00:03:35.540 --> 00:03:35.980 Yes. 00:03:36.140 --> 00:03:36.560 Yes. 00:03:36.760 --> 00:03:37.160 Yes. 00:03:37.159 --> 00:03:37.719 Yes. 00:03:37.719 --> 00:03:37.799 Yes. 00:03:38.120 --> 00:03:43.780 And even sometimes people die, right? 00:03:44.000 --> 00:03:45.199 Yeah, we get bruises. 00:03:45.579 --> 00:03:48.359 We get coughs. 00:03:48.500 --> 00:03:50.919 And even people die, right? 00:03:51.359 --> 00:03:51.840 Mm-hmm. 00:03:51.919 --> 00:03:55.659 And so that's part of the reality of what we live with. 00:03:55.759 --> 00:03:59.479 But on Easter, we talk about somebody else who died. 00:03:59.560 --> 00:04:01.439 Who died the week of the first Easter? 00:04:01.439 --> 00:04:04.340 Jesus died, didn't he? 00:04:04.400 --> 00:04:06.539 On a cross like that one? 00:04:06.560 --> 00:04:08.539 Or maybe like the one out on the grass? 00:04:09.500 --> 00:04:14.639 But on Easter, we celebrate that Jesus is not dead, but he is... 00:04:14.639 --> 00:04:15.439 Alive. 00:04:17.120 --> 00:04:18.240 Jesus is alive. 00:04:18.680 --> 00:04:22.439 You know, that means Jesus is not perishable. 00:04:23.180 --> 00:04:26.079 He is imperishable is the big word for that. 00:04:26.120 --> 00:04:27.620 Can you say imperishable? 00:04:27.620 --> 00:04:29.079 In the dead. 00:04:29.240 --> 00:04:33.019 Jesus rises from the dead and he will never die again. 00:04:33.120 --> 00:04:34.079 Isn't that amazing? 00:04:34.639 --> 00:04:42.220 So if we trust him, Jesus promises that we will live forever and ever with him too, 00:04:42.500 --> 00:04:45.000 even longer than the jelly bean will last. 00:04:45.300 --> 00:04:46.100 We will live forever. 00:04:46.199 --> 00:04:46.939 Can you believe that? 00:04:47.060 --> 00:04:47.519 No. 00:04:47.639 --> 00:04:48.600 No, I know. 00:04:49.060 --> 00:04:52.280 That we will live with him forever. 00:04:52.399 --> 00:04:53.800 You know that song we sang? 00:04:54.220 --> 00:04:55.060 It's from the Bible. 00:04:55.160 --> 00:04:55.680 Did you know that? 00:04:55.680 --> 00:04:57.139 Did you recognize that verse? 00:04:57.620 --> 00:05:04.540 For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in Jesus would 00:05:04.540 --> 00:05:10.899 not perish, not ever perish, but would live forever. 00:05:11.660 --> 00:05:11.939 Right? 00:05:12.100 --> 00:05:12.840 Did you sing that? 00:05:14.100 --> 00:05:17.780 Would have everlasting life. 00:05:18.319 --> 00:05:19.840 Are you all singing it down there now? 00:05:19.939 --> 00:05:20.699 That's really good. 00:05:20.699 --> 00:05:25.620 Jesus came so that we could live with him forever. 00:05:26.139 --> 00:05:27.539 And that is so exciting. 00:05:27.740 --> 00:05:33.399 I'm going to read to us this morning in just a minute from a passage in the Bible that has 00:05:33.399 --> 00:05:38.779 really big words like perishable and imperishable in it. 00:05:38.899 --> 00:05:39.079 Okay? 00:05:39.079 --> 00:05:42.959 But I want you to be able to read it. 00:05:43.259 --> 00:05:45.000 Maybe right now someone who... 00:05:45.539 --> 00:05:45.859 Let's look. 00:05:46.000 --> 00:05:47.500 Let's see if we can put the page number up here. 00:05:48.099 --> 00:05:49.680 That way the people... 00:05:49.680 --> 00:05:51.379 Can we put that page number slide up there? 00:05:52.519 --> 00:05:52.899 Maybe. 00:05:53.139 --> 00:05:53.899 There it goes. 00:05:54.659 --> 00:05:59.799 Maybe somebody who's waiting for you to come back can get it ready for you so that you can 00:05:59.799 --> 00:05:59.979 read. 00:05:59.980 --> 00:06:02.240 Because what is the most important part of every sermon? 00:06:03.520 --> 00:06:04.960 When we read the Bible. 00:06:05.200 --> 00:06:05.379 Okay? 00:06:05.660 --> 00:06:08.860 And so I want you to remember that Jesus is alive. 00:06:09.160 --> 00:06:12.939 And so these really big words that I'm going to read in just a minute, you're going to know 00:06:12.939 --> 00:06:13.500 what they mean. 00:06:14.540 --> 00:06:15.800 Imperishable means what? 00:06:16.660 --> 00:06:18.280 Live forever. 00:06:19.560 --> 00:06:19.920 Okay? 00:06:20.180 --> 00:06:21.960 Thank you all so much for coming up here. 00:06:22.040 --> 00:06:24.939 You can go back to your seats now and have a wonderful Easter. 00:06:26.819 --> 00:06:29.560 Pastor Will, I want my family's trust. 00:06:29.560 --> 00:06:30.860 It's so beautiful. 00:06:33.780 --> 00:06:35.540 They're definitely perishable. 00:06:35.759 --> 00:06:36.100 Eventually. 00:06:47.959 --> 00:06:49.959 Let's make sure we all get back safely. 00:06:54.680 --> 00:06:58.779 I do want us to read together in 1 Corinthians 15. 00:06:59.560 --> 00:07:06.139 It's Paul's letter that highlights the resurrection in this chapter that we're about to read part 00:07:06.139 --> 00:07:06.420 of. 00:07:06.980 --> 00:07:13.100 If you've been here in recent weeks, we've been studying a letter from Peter where he 00:07:13.100 --> 00:07:16.439 uses this word imperishable a lot. 00:07:16.540 --> 00:07:17.759 And it's really important. 00:07:17.860 --> 00:07:21.100 It's the exact same word used in this chapter. 00:07:21.639 --> 00:07:26.600 He's been using it to say what is imperishable is what is really important. 00:07:26.600 --> 00:07:28.680 It's what really has value. 00:07:28.680 --> 00:07:30.720 It's what really lasts. 00:07:31.020 --> 00:07:32.240 Pay attention to that. 00:07:33.160 --> 00:07:37.140 Let's read God's word together and then we'll talk about it for a few minutes. 00:07:37.260 --> 00:07:40.140 1 Corinthians 15 beginning at verse 50. 00:07:40.520 --> 00:07:45.000 This unfailing truth and hope and life. 00:07:45.220 --> 00:07:47.600 Kids, it's the part you really pay attention to. 00:07:47.600 --> 00:07:52.820 I tell you this, brothers and sisters. 00:07:53.760 --> 00:07:56.540 Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. 00:07:56.939 --> 00:07:59.879 Nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 00:08:00.620 --> 00:08:02.020 Behold, I tell you a mystery. 00:08:02.420 --> 00:08:05.780 We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed. 00:08:05.920 --> 00:08:10.140 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet, for the trumpet will sound 00:08:10.139 --> 00:08:14.180 and the dead will be raised imperishable and we shall be changed. 00:08:15.240 --> 00:08:18.219 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable. 00:08:18.860 --> 00:08:21.599 And this mortal body must put on immortality. 00:08:22.560 --> 00:08:27.240 When the perishable puts on the imperishable and the mortal puts on immortality, 00:08:27.519 --> 00:08:30.159 then shall come to pass the saying that is written, 00:08:30.639 --> 00:08:32.960 death is swallowed up in victory. 00:08:33.340 --> 00:08:34.960 Oh death, where is your victory? 00:08:35.279 --> 00:08:36.879 Oh death, where is your sting? 00:08:36.879 --> 00:08:41.799 The sting of death is sin and the power of sin is the law. 00:08:42.899 --> 00:08:47.460 But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:08:48.700 --> 00:08:53.200 Therefore, my beloved brothers and sisters, be steadfast, immovable, 00:08:53.919 --> 00:08:56.259 always abounding in the work of the Lord, 00:08:56.879 --> 00:09:00.700 knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. 00:09:01.639 --> 00:09:02.440 Will you pray with me? 00:09:02.440 --> 00:09:11.900 God, we acknowledge before you this morning as we come to your word how hard it is to be immovable. 00:09:12.960 --> 00:09:21.020 It is so hard to stand firm and to have hope because it feels like everything around us sometimes is changing. 00:09:22.520 --> 00:09:24.440 Our hearts get fearful. 00:09:26.140 --> 00:09:27.900 Our minds get distracted. 00:09:27.899 --> 00:09:33.539 And so we need this morning, Father, to hear your voice. 00:09:34.419 --> 00:09:36.039 We need to see our Savior. 00:09:36.679 --> 00:09:40.779 We need to be filled with renewed hope by your Spirit. 00:09:41.000 --> 00:09:49.639 So would you speak to us that we might be changed and that we might have the hope of being changed forever. 00:09:50.699 --> 00:09:52.299 We ask it in your name, Jesus. 00:09:53.159 --> 00:09:53.439 Amen. 00:09:53.439 --> 00:09:53.579 Amen. 00:09:53.579 --> 00:09:53.620 Amen. 00:09:57.899 --> 00:10:06.240 You know, it's not just the kids who don't want to eat my moldy bread or rotten banana, is it? 00:10:07.860 --> 00:10:15.740 We adults wish that those were the only perishable things in our world, don't we? 00:10:15.740 --> 00:10:20.379 We long for something that lasts. 00:10:21.379 --> 00:10:29.279 And right in our faces, these past couple of weeks especially, has been the reality of death. 00:10:30.560 --> 00:10:38.580 Tragic events in Nashville, in Huntsville, events that have pushed us, 00:10:38.580 --> 00:10:47.879 just as AC was sharing how when death came into her life, pushing her to wrestle more deeply with this world, 00:10:48.240 --> 00:10:55.940 to struggle perhaps with our own mortality as it's pushed in front of us regularly. 00:10:56.600 --> 00:10:58.360 It's that sting of death. 00:10:59.100 --> 00:11:00.980 And we hate it, don't we? 00:11:00.980 --> 00:11:11.779 We long for life that lasts, for relationships and love that lasts, bodies that last. 00:11:13.139 --> 00:11:17.360 And yet there's this problem that all of us here are faced with. 00:11:18.500 --> 00:11:22.000 We are perishable. 00:11:22.000 --> 00:11:26.340 We're all faced with the reality of death. 00:11:27.440 --> 00:11:34.460 But even before we get to that experience, there's so much decay and brokenness in our lives. 00:11:34.899 --> 00:11:42.879 I was thinking just of the past couple of weeks of those of you just in this group of people that I've talked with 00:11:42.879 --> 00:11:44.519 and what we have shared. 00:11:44.779 --> 00:11:48.399 I've grieved chronic pain with you. 00:11:48.399 --> 00:11:55.500 One guy even saying, I'm just ready for my 1 Corinthians 15 body now. 00:11:56.899 --> 00:11:58.799 We'll see what he means in just a minute. 00:12:00.319 --> 00:12:04.379 I've prayed for minds and bodies battling addiction. 00:12:06.100 --> 00:12:11.019 You're enduring the darkness of depression, some of you. 00:12:13.139 --> 00:12:18.139 The sadness of miscarriage at one end of life. 00:12:18.399 --> 00:12:23.819 Of dementia and prolonged loss at the other end of life. 00:12:25.579 --> 00:12:28.659 Just the general grief of aging. 00:12:29.600 --> 00:12:36.159 Of aches and pains and broken bones and bodies just wearing down, right? 00:12:37.179 --> 00:12:41.399 Just as bananas rot, bodies decay. 00:12:42.039 --> 00:12:43.519 Relationships shatter. 00:12:43.699 --> 00:12:45.299 Death intrudes. 00:12:45.299 --> 00:12:56.379 I don't know how you feel it personally this morning, but all of us are faced with this problematic and painful reality that we are perishable. 00:12:56.379 --> 00:13:01.000 And it's problematic because we feel this sense. 00:13:01.080 --> 00:13:02.919 I know you feel the ache of this. 00:13:03.179 --> 00:13:06.779 We feel the sense that we shouldn't be perishable. 00:13:07.840 --> 00:13:10.480 We weren't made to be perishable. 00:13:10.679 --> 00:13:11.899 We try to avoid it. 00:13:12.139 --> 00:13:14.240 We fight desperately against it. 00:13:14.480 --> 00:13:16.159 We want to last. 00:13:16.159 --> 00:13:21.219 Perishable is not the way we were supposed to be. 00:13:23.500 --> 00:13:26.659 You know, God sees the same problem too. 00:13:27.219 --> 00:13:33.399 This passage opens by clarifying the problem of our condition. 00:13:33.799 --> 00:13:34.879 Look at verse 50. 00:13:34.879 --> 00:13:40.139 Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. 00:13:40.620 --> 00:13:43.980 Nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 00:13:44.980 --> 00:13:46.740 There is something that lasts. 00:13:46.899 --> 00:13:48.139 The kingdom of God. 00:13:48.379 --> 00:13:49.659 The imperishable. 00:13:50.860 --> 00:13:52.120 But problem. 00:13:53.019 --> 00:13:54.419 You and I can't be there. 00:13:54.419 --> 00:13:58.860 Not with our perishable bodies. 00:14:00.360 --> 00:14:08.039 Death and decay and crying and tears are not welcome in God's good home. 00:14:08.139 --> 00:14:10.479 Man, that so encourages me. 00:14:10.539 --> 00:14:11.519 I hope it does you. 00:14:12.120 --> 00:14:15.659 To know that God's not okay with those things. 00:14:15.659 --> 00:14:19.659 That He longs for things to last the way that I do too. 00:14:20.919 --> 00:14:22.299 Isn't that good to know? 00:14:22.299 --> 00:14:27.079 That gives me some light in the darkness many days. 00:14:29.299 --> 00:14:39.399 But it also highlights the fact that I, as I am now, don't belong there in God's home. 00:14:39.539 --> 00:14:41.479 Not as we are, we don't. 00:14:41.919 --> 00:14:45.139 It highlights that we have to be changed. 00:14:45.759 --> 00:14:50.979 That the nature of eternity, of heaven, of an ongoing personal existence, 00:14:50.980 --> 00:14:58.639 like we long for, is such that we have to be radically changed if we're going to be a part of it. 00:15:00.039 --> 00:15:03.060 There has to be change if we're going to be there. 00:15:04.620 --> 00:15:07.340 And I think about that reality and I feel my own body. 00:15:08.420 --> 00:15:10.080 And I look at the world around me and I think, 00:15:10.360 --> 00:15:11.200 all right, change. 00:15:11.560 --> 00:15:13.800 Yeah, I could do with some change. 00:15:13.860 --> 00:15:14.700 I'd sign up for that. 00:15:14.759 --> 00:15:15.500 Where do we start? 00:15:15.820 --> 00:15:16.800 What does that look like? 00:15:16.799 --> 00:15:20.279 Well, some people will tell you these days not to bother with that. 00:15:20.839 --> 00:15:23.039 That there's no hope beyond this world. 00:15:23.099 --> 00:15:25.939 That this world itself is all perishing anyway. 00:15:26.899 --> 00:15:29.399 It's on its way to being burned up and forgotten. 00:15:30.659 --> 00:15:34.639 To quote some scientists expressing this increasingly common view, 00:15:34.639 --> 00:15:40.759 the ever-expanding sun transformed into a red giant will engulf the planet, 00:15:41.100 --> 00:15:43.559 melting away any evidence that ever existed, 00:15:43.899 --> 00:15:48.139 and sending molecules and atoms that once were earth floating off into space. 00:15:48.679 --> 00:15:49.399 The end. 00:15:50.899 --> 00:15:52.000 So don't worry, right? 00:15:53.899 --> 00:15:58.600 Just accept that you and everything else are perishing. 00:15:59.319 --> 00:16:00.899 Just embrace it. 00:16:01.220 --> 00:16:02.860 After all, nothing lasts anyway. 00:16:02.860 --> 00:16:04.159 History will all be forgotten. 00:16:04.480 --> 00:16:05.580 All of these things will happen, 00:16:05.680 --> 00:16:07.360 but none of us will exist to realize it. 00:16:07.480 --> 00:16:08.460 So just don't worry. 00:16:10.779 --> 00:16:16.740 Y'all, my heart, honestly, not just my hopeful heart, 00:16:16.980 --> 00:16:21.800 but my grieving, hurting heart longs for something more, 00:16:21.919 --> 00:16:24.840 tells me that there's something more than that. 00:16:25.879 --> 00:16:29.779 So when God says there's something that lasts, 00:16:29.899 --> 00:16:31.519 I'm listening, I'm in. 00:16:31.600 --> 00:16:32.620 Tell me what that looks like. 00:16:32.620 --> 00:16:36.000 If there's any chance that we could last, 00:16:36.460 --> 00:16:37.820 I want to know it. 00:16:38.000 --> 00:16:40.100 I want to know what that would be like. 00:16:40.399 --> 00:16:44.440 What would have to change for me to be a part of that, 00:16:44.500 --> 00:16:46.779 of something that really lasts? 00:16:48.139 --> 00:16:49.460 Paul has good news. 00:16:50.240 --> 00:16:51.580 Verse 51, he says, 00:16:51.580 --> 00:17:00.740 Behold, we shall be changed instantaneously. 00:17:00.740 --> 00:17:04.240 The dead raised imperishable. 00:17:04.360 --> 00:17:06.600 We shall be changed. 00:17:07.360 --> 00:17:13.840 This, friends, is the wonder of becoming imperishable. 00:17:13.960 --> 00:17:14.799 Kids, you remember that word? 00:17:15.960 --> 00:17:16.640 Imperishable. 00:17:16.640 --> 00:17:20.020 It's part of the promise of Easter. 00:17:20.019 --> 00:17:22.460 It's the reason that a bodily, 00:17:22.599 --> 00:17:24.660 not merely a spiritual resurrection, 00:17:24.859 --> 00:17:27.900 is so vital and hopeful that one day, 00:17:28.039 --> 00:17:30.619 all who are united to Jesus by faith 00:17:30.619 --> 00:17:33.700 will have resurrected bodies like our Savior. 00:17:34.339 --> 00:17:36.539 He will transform our lowly bodies 00:17:36.539 --> 00:17:40.980 to be like his glorious body, Philippians 3 says. 00:17:40.980 --> 00:17:45.460 We don't know everything that means for our bodies 00:17:45.460 --> 00:17:48.819 beyond that, the promised glorious transformation 00:17:48.819 --> 00:17:51.980 from perishable to imperishable. 00:17:52.500 --> 00:17:55.259 But just think about the resurrected Jesus for a second. 00:17:56.779 --> 00:17:58.900 There were things still the same about his body. 00:17:58.980 --> 00:18:00.200 It was still Jesus. 00:18:00.920 --> 00:18:02.059 They recognized him. 00:18:03.500 --> 00:18:04.380 He ate. 00:18:05.880 --> 00:18:06.759 He talked. 00:18:06.759 --> 00:18:12.259 The wounds from the cross and his hands inside 00:18:12.259 --> 00:18:14.480 were witnessed and felt. 00:18:14.839 --> 00:18:15.559 It was Jesus. 00:18:16.140 --> 00:18:17.460 On the other hand, 00:18:18.640 --> 00:18:20.079 he was changed. 00:18:20.879 --> 00:18:24.319 He started doing things like passing through locked doors 00:18:24.319 --> 00:18:27.859 and showing up unannounced sometimes. 00:18:29.319 --> 00:18:31.900 Sometimes recognizing Jesus took a moment, 00:18:32.220 --> 00:18:34.220 even for people who knew him and loved him really well. 00:18:34.220 --> 00:18:39.140 Our passage has already talked about our resurrected bodies. 00:18:39.500 --> 00:18:42.380 Look at verse 42 with me for just a minute. 00:18:42.460 --> 00:18:45.620 I just want us to marvel at the wonder of this. 00:18:46.000 --> 00:18:48.519 They will change how? 00:18:49.140 --> 00:18:50.980 What are some of the things we learned? 00:18:51.039 --> 00:18:55.480 They will change from perishable to imperishable. 00:18:56.640 --> 00:18:59.519 That means no more failing eyes. 00:19:01.180 --> 00:19:03.740 No more confused minds. 00:19:04.220 --> 00:19:07.460 No more disability. 00:19:08.460 --> 00:19:10.940 No more sickness. 00:19:12.319 --> 00:19:14.559 No more pain. 00:19:15.900 --> 00:19:20.000 In fact, when you think about your body, 00:19:20.579 --> 00:19:23.500 when you look at your body, 00:19:23.500 --> 00:19:28.759 there will be no more shame at all associated with it. 00:19:28.779 --> 00:19:31.759 Can you imagine that experience? 00:19:32.759 --> 00:19:33.559 Imperishable. 00:19:34.220 --> 00:19:40.039 They'll change from dishonor to glory. 00:19:40.319 --> 00:19:40.960 Radiant. 00:19:41.660 --> 00:19:42.140 Hopeful. 00:19:42.319 --> 00:19:42.960 Vibrant. 00:19:43.640 --> 00:19:45.960 From weakness to power. 00:19:46.559 --> 00:19:48.500 Our bodies will have energy, 00:19:49.019 --> 00:19:51.559 capacity beyond what you know. 00:19:51.680 --> 00:19:54.860 That durability that we all need more of now. 00:19:54.859 --> 00:20:00.779 They'll change from natural to spiritual. 00:20:00.779 --> 00:20:09.059 This may be the most amazing change of all because how is it, if it's a body, how is it spiritual? 00:20:09.480 --> 00:20:10.660 Does that, how does that even work? 00:20:10.920 --> 00:20:15.559 Do you know how we sometimes say the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak? 00:20:15.779 --> 00:20:16.619 You said that before? 00:20:17.720 --> 00:20:23.299 It would have been like Jesus' disciples in the garden when he asks them to pray and they want to pray with him. 00:20:23.299 --> 00:20:25.299 The spirit is willing but what happens? 00:20:26.419 --> 00:20:27.720 They fall asleep. 00:20:28.240 --> 00:20:29.819 You ever fallen asleep praying? 00:20:30.759 --> 00:20:33.099 You're in good company, right? 00:20:33.099 --> 00:20:38.159 They wanted to pray with Jesus but they were tired. 00:20:39.219 --> 00:20:41.459 Their bodies were failing. 00:20:41.839 --> 00:20:45.059 Our natural bodies grow weary, don't they? 00:20:46.119 --> 00:20:47.639 And lustful. 00:20:48.819 --> 00:20:50.099 And greedy. 00:20:51.480 --> 00:20:52.839 And lazy. 00:20:53.839 --> 00:20:55.259 And distracted. 00:20:55.259 --> 00:20:57.720 You know what that feels like? 00:20:59.160 --> 00:21:02.339 That happens so easily to our bodies now, doesn't it? 00:21:03.720 --> 00:21:12.799 Not to our spiritual bodies which will stay right in step with our renewed longings for God's design, 00:21:12.940 --> 00:21:14.500 for everything good. 00:21:14.660 --> 00:21:20.519 Everything good that crosses your mind and your heart, your body will eagerly support. 00:21:20.619 --> 00:21:21.400 Can you believe that? 00:21:21.400 --> 00:21:23.480 What would that experience be like? 00:21:23.480 --> 00:21:26.099 And they will be imperishable. 00:21:26.700 --> 00:21:29.620 These wonderful changes will never fade. 00:21:29.700 --> 00:21:32.640 It's really hard to wrap your mind around, isn't it? 00:21:33.640 --> 00:21:34.539 But it's true. 00:21:35.140 --> 00:21:40.220 As real as the bodily resurrection of Jesus first attested by the women, 00:21:40.599 --> 00:21:42.900 then eyewitnessed by the hundreds. 00:21:45.380 --> 00:21:48.500 See, only when our bodies are transformed like this, 00:21:48.500 --> 00:21:57.940 only then will it be true that death is swallowed up in victory once and for all. 00:21:57.940 --> 00:22:02.059 Only then can we safely taunt death. 00:22:03.720 --> 00:22:08.920 Today we still face that three-headed monster that this passage talks about, don't we? 00:22:08.920 --> 00:22:10.539 Death. 00:22:10.539 --> 00:22:10.620 Death. 00:22:11.140 --> 00:22:13.640 A state we can't avoid. 00:22:14.140 --> 00:22:14.620 Sin. 00:22:15.140 --> 00:22:17.560 A stain we can't remove. 00:22:17.860 --> 00:22:18.539 The law. 00:22:19.380 --> 00:22:21.820 A standard we can't meet. 00:22:22.400 --> 00:22:23.519 Oh, no! 00:22:24.380 --> 00:22:25.840 We're stuck! 00:22:26.360 --> 00:22:27.400 There's a problem. 00:22:27.539 --> 00:22:29.380 We don't know how to deal with this. 00:22:29.380 --> 00:22:32.520 As much as we might want to change our current condition, 00:22:32.680 --> 00:22:36.600 as deeply as we long to put on the imperishable, 00:22:36.880 --> 00:22:39.440 we simply aren't able to master the monster, 00:22:39.800 --> 00:22:41.400 to measure up to the law, 00:22:41.660 --> 00:22:43.180 to deal with sin, 00:22:43.540 --> 00:22:44.740 to avoid death. 00:22:45.120 --> 00:22:46.800 We can't manage it. 00:22:48.680 --> 00:22:52.920 How will we finally be able to last? 00:22:52.920 --> 00:22:59.019 How can the perishable ever become imperishable? 00:23:00.759 --> 00:23:04.240 It's been a really important question people have asked for a long time. 00:23:04.759 --> 00:23:10.200 Mankind has for a long, long time been seeking out answers to that question. 00:23:10.400 --> 00:23:14.700 Centuries ago, it was the fountain of youth that we searched for. 00:23:16.019 --> 00:23:20.420 More recently, we've invested in cryogenics, right? 00:23:20.420 --> 00:23:23.660 You can be frozen and then hopefully one day, 00:23:23.840 --> 00:23:26.840 decades into the future, when technology improves, 00:23:27.019 --> 00:23:29.259 you can be awakened to further life. 00:23:29.560 --> 00:23:30.759 There's one way to hope. 00:23:34.700 --> 00:23:40.019 Perhaps we settle for chasing after living on through our kids 00:23:40.019 --> 00:23:43.140 or our fans who think we're wonderful 00:23:43.140 --> 00:23:46.400 and that's what living on will be like. 00:23:48.019 --> 00:23:49.740 God says you don't have to settle. 00:23:50.420 --> 00:23:52.620 For figurative life. 00:23:52.980 --> 00:23:58.620 There is one way for the perishable truly to become imperishable 00:23:58.620 --> 00:24:00.960 and you don't even have to deep freeze your body. 00:24:01.820 --> 00:24:02.940 It's simpler than that. 00:24:03.940 --> 00:24:08.480 The imperishable became perishable 00:24:08.480 --> 00:24:13.420 to make the perishable become imperishable. 00:24:14.160 --> 00:24:15.060 Let me say that again. 00:24:15.060 --> 00:24:19.400 The imperishable, Jesus, became perishable. 00:24:19.400 --> 00:24:27.280 He went to the cross to make perishable people like us become imperishable. 00:24:27.360 --> 00:24:28.840 That's verse 57. 00:24:29.180 --> 00:24:30.780 The simplicity of this good news. 00:24:31.120 --> 00:24:33.800 How does this change happen in us? 00:24:34.460 --> 00:24:40.400 Thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 00:24:40.400 --> 00:24:44.160 Y'all, this is the one and only hope of biblical Christianity. 00:24:44.340 --> 00:24:46.519 I offer it to you in the name of Jesus. 00:24:47.240 --> 00:24:54.519 Jesus masters the three-headed monster that we couldn't master for us. 00:24:54.519 --> 00:24:59.700 In his perfectly obedient life, he meets the law's standard. 00:25:00.500 --> 00:25:05.819 He always does his father's will from the heart, loving even his enemies. 00:25:07.220 --> 00:25:15.559 In his undeserved death on the cross, he removes the stain of sin by taking that shameful curse upon himself. 00:25:16.099 --> 00:25:19.400 Kids, do you know how a honeybee loses its stinger? 00:25:19.400 --> 00:25:21.240 Have you heard this before? 00:25:21.700 --> 00:25:24.019 How is it that a honeybee can't sting anymore? 00:25:24.360 --> 00:25:31.060 You know, when a honeybee stings someone, the stinger gets stuck in them, right? 00:25:31.220 --> 00:25:36.360 And so the honeybee dies, doesn't have its stinger anymore. 00:25:36.840 --> 00:25:38.440 That's what Jesus did. 00:25:38.640 --> 00:25:42.540 The sting of death is sin, the Bible says. 00:25:42.539 --> 00:25:50.539 And Jesus on the cross takes our sin on himself and receives the sting of death. 00:25:50.680 --> 00:25:56.779 And it stays in him, if you will, so that death no longer has any sting. 00:25:56.899 --> 00:25:59.240 Jesus removes that sting. 00:25:59.359 --> 00:26:01.240 This is the death of death. 00:26:01.579 --> 00:26:06.819 It loses its sting because Jesus mastered the monster we couldn't deal with. 00:26:07.220 --> 00:26:11.399 And then on Easter, his glorious resurrection, right? 00:26:11.400 --> 00:26:13.500 He rises from the grave. 00:26:13.660 --> 00:26:20.460 He avoids the bonds of death, bursting them, rising never more to die, defeating death once 00:26:20.460 --> 00:26:21.519 and for all. 00:26:21.660 --> 00:26:24.040 It has no more sting. 00:26:24.200 --> 00:26:28.660 Jesus mastered all three heads of that monster that we couldn't. 00:26:28.900 --> 00:26:34.940 The standard that we couldn't meet, the stain that we couldn't remove, and the state we couldn't 00:26:34.940 --> 00:26:35.460 avoid. 00:26:35.800 --> 00:26:40.680 He achieved the victory over all of them, and now he shares it with us. 00:26:40.680 --> 00:26:46.220 He invites us to enter in, and he gives us victory because he has conquered. 00:26:46.700 --> 00:26:48.980 Because he lives, what? 00:26:49.900 --> 00:26:50.460 What are they saying? 00:26:50.720 --> 00:26:52.380 All fear is gone. 00:26:53.019 --> 00:26:53.380 Why? 00:26:53.500 --> 00:26:55.680 Because I just pretend there's nothing bad out there anymore? 00:26:56.180 --> 00:26:56.759 No more fear? 00:26:56.820 --> 00:26:57.220 I won't fear? 00:26:57.279 --> 00:26:57.660 I won't fear? 00:26:58.519 --> 00:27:03.140 No, because I know he holds the future. 00:27:03.140 --> 00:27:09.200 So whatever might come, and however dark it may be, my best days are always ahead of me 00:27:09.200 --> 00:27:13.700 because I trust the one who lives forever and has conquered all the evil that will come 00:27:13.700 --> 00:27:14.259 against me. 00:27:14.259 --> 00:27:17.740 I want you to hear me clearly. 00:27:17.740 --> 00:27:27.400 If you trust Jesus, but you're hurting in the face of death right now, I think that's many 00:27:27.400 --> 00:27:28.059 of us. 00:27:28.059 --> 00:27:36.480 One day, you will taunt death. 00:27:37.819 --> 00:27:42.240 Not today this way, but one day you can mock death. 00:27:42.460 --> 00:27:43.980 Death, where is your victory? 00:27:44.799 --> 00:27:47.059 Death, where is your sting? 00:27:47.059 --> 00:27:54.440 You will taunt death like the little boy who has fallen again on the ground, beaten and 00:27:54.440 --> 00:28:05.879 bloodied time and again by the bully until his big brother shows up and chases the bully 00:28:05.879 --> 00:28:11.720 off once and for more, and you'll get up and say, yeah, and never come back. 00:28:11.720 --> 00:28:17.140 You didn't chase him away. 00:28:18.819 --> 00:28:27.000 Your older brother came and standing with you gives you victory. 00:28:27.620 --> 00:28:33.900 You can taunt death with impunity and it can't touch you ever again. 00:28:33.900 --> 00:28:44.900 If you trust yourself to Jesus, you don't have to find the fountain of youth to battle your 00:28:44.900 --> 00:28:50.880 whole life to stay young or healthy or figure out how to perfect cryogenic freezing. 00:28:51.060 --> 00:28:53.100 You can stop stressing on that. 00:28:54.100 --> 00:28:57.000 You will be changed instantly. 00:28:57.000 --> 00:29:04.220 Just like that, remade forever by the God who made you at first, imperishable. 00:29:04.539 --> 00:29:06.099 Oh, we long for that. 00:29:06.160 --> 00:29:11.700 Don't you want to be made and experience what it's like to be imperishable? 00:29:13.740 --> 00:29:14.960 We're not there yet. 00:29:14.960 --> 00:29:23.579 The only way for us to become imperishable is to trust the one who perished in our place, 00:29:23.900 --> 00:29:30.279 lives with us forever, transforms us into his image so that we are made new and fit to be 00:29:30.279 --> 00:29:32.360 with him for eternity. 00:29:32.960 --> 00:29:37.380 Won't you trust Jesus today to do that for you? 00:29:37.380 --> 00:29:53.120 Then, if you will trust Jesus, though you feel like a rotting banana today, as painfully perishable 00:29:53.120 --> 00:29:58.180 as they come, you will be imperishable. 00:29:58.840 --> 00:30:04.980 Like the gospel, the word of God, like the precious blood of Jesus, like your inheritance, 00:30:04.980 --> 00:30:10.960 God himself, you, your renewed body, imperishable. 00:30:11.160 --> 00:30:15.500 Now, that is a hope worth holding on to and sharing with others. 00:30:15.819 --> 00:30:21.680 The imperishable became perishable, that whoever believes in him, today, you don't have to go 00:30:21.680 --> 00:30:27.920 do anything else, that whoever believes in him would not perish but live imperishable. 00:30:27.920 --> 00:30:32.380 The imperishable became perishable. 00:30:33.700 --> 00:30:37.980 To make the perishable become imperishable. 00:30:38.300 --> 00:30:47.759 That is the unimaginable and undeserved reality that God wants you to remember today, to celebrate 00:30:47.759 --> 00:30:49.560 at this table. 00:30:49.559 --> 00:30:58.940 See, knowing how hard it would be for us to feel his love, to believe promises like this 00:30:58.940 --> 00:31:04.359 at times because of the noisy world we're in, because of our perishable bodies that would 00:31:04.359 --> 00:31:13.480 struggle to believe, he gave us this meal and he invites us to join him at this table forever. 00:31:13.480 --> 00:31:16.240 To remember his death. 00:31:17.400 --> 00:31:23.880 He perished so that we eternally would never perish. 00:31:24.680 --> 00:31:31.920 He is changing us so that we can share this meal with him, not just today and a little taste 00:31:31.920 --> 00:31:36.220 of it, but forever with him. 00:31:36.319 --> 00:31:42.339 This morning is a foretaste of eternity where Jesus, our Savior, promises he's waiting to eat 00:31:42.339 --> 00:31:45.039 and drink with us in his Father's kingdom. 00:31:45.599 --> 00:31:54.119 And in the meantime, he meets with us by his Spirit to comfort us, to strengthen us for the world 00:31:54.119 --> 00:31:55.519 in which we live now. 00:31:57.720 --> 00:32:04.879 Knowing that he would be leaving them soon, Jesus sat with his disciples at the Last Supper 00:32:04.880 --> 00:32:15.160 and he took bread and he broke it and he gave it to them as I, ministering in his name, give this bread to you. 00:32:15.540 --> 00:32:20.620 And he said, take, eat, this is my body broken for you. 00:32:21.140 --> 00:32:23.060 Do this in remembrance of me. 00:32:24.000 --> 00:32:29.760 And the same way, after supper, he took the cup and he said, this cup is the new covenant in my blood 00:32:29.759 --> 00:32:32.599 which is shed for many for the forgiveness of sins. 00:32:32.940 --> 00:32:37.920 Drink from it, all of you, because without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. 00:32:38.759 --> 00:32:47.099 But as often as you eat the bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. 00:32:48.099 --> 00:32:49.339 Not your own death. 00:32:50.879 --> 00:32:53.279 You're going to have life forever. 00:32:53.279 --> 00:32:58.319 But you proclaim that your hope is in his death until that day. 00:32:58.440 --> 00:33:05.740 We see at this table the body and blood of Jesus, our Savior, given for us that we would be united to him, 00:33:05.879 --> 00:33:13.779 not only in his death, but especially today in his resurrection to imperishable life with him. 00:33:14.599 --> 00:33:22.940 We come as broken sinners to the Savior who through his broken body heals us once and for all. 00:33:23.279 --> 00:33:27.579 If that's not your understanding of what's going on here, 00:33:27.799 --> 00:33:33.759 if your story is not one of hope in Christ alone for your salvation, 00:33:34.339 --> 00:33:35.899 we're really glad you're here. 00:33:36.720 --> 00:33:40.740 We would invite you not to receive these elements this morning, 00:33:40.899 --> 00:33:44.539 but rather to receive Jesus himself. 00:33:45.319 --> 00:33:46.619 To trust in him. 00:33:46.619 --> 00:33:54.739 As we celebrate this sacrament, we would still invite you to come up to the tables with us if you would like. 00:33:55.239 --> 00:33:56.699 To pray with us. 00:33:56.759 --> 00:33:57.879 We'd love to pray with you. 00:33:58.279 --> 00:33:59.899 Or to observe what's going on. 00:33:59.979 --> 00:34:03.639 You're also welcome to stay right where you are, and that's no problem at all. 00:34:03.640 --> 00:34:10.019 But even more than that, I'd urge you to consider Jesus. 00:34:11.559 --> 00:34:12.539 Consider eternity. 00:34:13.519 --> 00:34:15.900 Consider the longings of your heart. 00:34:16.519 --> 00:34:23.119 Consider if your existence and the things you feel match with what your heart longs for. 00:34:23.460 --> 00:34:29.640 Consider the invitation of Jesus to come to him and to find forgiveness and hope 00:34:29.639 --> 00:34:35.859 and an offer to change you forever into what you long to be. 00:34:38.000 --> 00:34:39.799 This is indeed the Lord's table. 00:34:40.500 --> 00:34:41.599 It's not Southwoods. 00:34:41.659 --> 00:34:43.199 It's not the Presbyterian churches. 00:34:43.199 --> 00:34:47.719 So if you trust Jesus, if you are united to him by faith, 00:34:47.899 --> 00:34:54.279 he invites you to come and eat and drink and celebrate the eternal hope that you have, 00:34:54.919 --> 00:34:59.579 eating food that will never spoil and will always satisfy. 00:35:00.039 --> 00:35:01.259 Let's pray and we'll come together. 00:35:02.439 --> 00:35:05.019 Jesus, thank you for what you have provided us here. 00:35:05.019 --> 00:35:11.400 A meal that continues to remind us that you give us eternal hope. 00:35:12.539 --> 00:35:18.259 That we get to celebrate both your death and your resurrected life today is such a joy. 00:35:18.420 --> 00:35:21.719 So through very common elements, bread and juice, 00:35:22.619 --> 00:35:26.219 would you do something very uncommon in our hearts? 00:35:26.440 --> 00:35:28.400 Would you grow faith? 00:35:30.159 --> 00:35:32.519 Would you bring healing where we're grieving? 00:35:32.519 --> 00:35:36.900 Would you give us boldness where there's fear? 00:35:38.360 --> 00:35:42.920 Would you help us to trust you and rejoice in you today and every day? 00:35:43.980 --> 00:35:46.659 Do that work by your spirit, we ask in Jesus' name. 00:35:47.400 --> 00:35:47.659 Amen.