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November 7, 2021 Gale Seibert All Saints Text

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Thanks so much, Pastor Gale

All Saints’ 2021 Sermon- 1 Corinthians 15:35-58

         What happens when a person dies? That is a question that gnaws at our thoughts, esp. when a loved one dies. Today we have celebrated the lives of people we have loved, enjoyed knowing and will miss. The Bible verses we are going to look at today, answers our question, “What happens when a Christian dies?” and gives us great hope for the future. Let these verses encourage you and calm any concerns you might have about what happens when a Christian dies.  

35. But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” 36. Fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37. And as for what you sow, you do not sow the body that is to be, but a bare seed, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. 38. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. 39. Not all flesh is alike, but there is one flesh for human beings, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. 40. There are both heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one thing, and that of the earthly is another. 41. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; indeed, star differs from star in glory. 42. So it is with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. 43. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. 44. It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body. 45. Thus it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46. But it is not the spiritual that is first, but the physical, and then the spiritual. 47. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. 48. As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. 49. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven. 50. What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51. Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed, 52. in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 

53. For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54. When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” 55. “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” 56. The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 

57. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 

58. Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

Take a few moments and let’s tease out what Paul is saying to us today.

35. But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” 36. Fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.

         Paul begins his discussion about how Christians are raised to life with an ear catching remark: Fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 

         Now that he has our attention. Paul begins discussing resurrection using illustrations with which people of all ages in all times can identify: plant and animal illustrations. Listen to Paul’s plant illustration as he helps us understand that “What we sow does not come to life unless it dies!”

37. And as for what you sow, you do not sow the body that is to be, but a bare seed, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. 38. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. 

         Truly seeds do have different types of bodies: some are narrow with points at each end and some seeds are flat and oval; other seeds are round and bright red, like pomegranate seeds while other seeds like grass seeds have very little color, God, who created all things, gave each seed a body as he chose. THEN gave seeds a purpose. We know a seed’s purpose! A seed is planted to bring new crops and new seeds into existence, right? So, the seed as it is dies, transforms into a new plant if it has enough sunlight, water and is planted in the right kind of soil. When I first read this, I marveled because I had never thought of the seed dying, but truly it dies as a seed and is resurrected to new life, transformed into a new plant. That is what happens when Christians die and are resurrected: their physical body die and then when Jesus returns their bodies are resurrected and transformed into new bodies like the one Jesus had after he was raised from the dead.  

         Do you remember how Jesus described his resurrected body? On the night he was raised from the dead he showed his disciples his scared hands and feet, yet somehow he looked a little different for his disciples wondered if he was a ghost. Jesus pointed out that he wasn’t a ghost because his body is now flesh and bones. A ghost’s body doesn’t have flesh and bones. Also Jesus’ body could be felt by his disciples and Jesus could eat and digest food with his glorified, resurrected body.  

Getting a new glorified body like Jesus’ will be terrific won’t it? But let’s return to today’s Bible verses where Paul talks about his second illustration about bodies: animal bodies, bodies of flesh:     

39. Not all flesh is alike, but there is one flesh for human beings, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. 

         Science wants us to believe that our bodies are ordinary animal flesh. When we think about it, we know our bodies are extraordinary! Our bodies and our blood are unlike animal, bird or fish bodies and cannot be intermixed.  

         So far we have read how Paul began his discussion of resurrected bodies by talking about the uniqueness of plant and animal bodies, how they have to die to be transformed. Next Paul turned to heavenly bodies, that is the sun, moon, stars and planets, etc. Paul said,

40. There are both heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is one thing, and that of the earthly is another. 41. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; indeed, star differs from star in glory. 

         So Paul argues that God created things with specific bodies, each crafted by God to have a particular purpose in glorifying God. Now Paul moved to the point of this discussion about the resurrection of dead, human bodies, brought to life, by the power of God!

         Paul continues his discussion with these words:

42. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable. 

43. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. 

         It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. 

44. It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual body. 

45. .  .“The first man, Adam, became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.  

47. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. 48. As was the man of dust, so are those who are of the dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are those who are of heaven. 

49. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we will also bear the image of the man of heaven.

Paul finishes with these words: 

50. What I am saying, brothers and sisters, is this: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. This is important: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God and the perishable cannot inherit the imperishable. We cannot have a resurrected, glorified body if we think that we will get to heaven by our good works.  

         We must be transformed to totally inherit our spiritual inheritance for which we Christians have been yearning, praying and asking for our whole lives! 

         When our physical bodies die, our spirits are released to rise up to heaven and our physical bodies wait to be resurrected. When Jesus returns in the eastern sky, When the last trumpet sounds, When our bodies are raised from the dead and transformed into glorified bodies, we will join Jesus Christ and begin our forever lives!  AMEN!  Hear how Paul describes what I just said  . . .

51. Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed, 52. in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53. For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54. When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” 55. “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” 

56. The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 

57. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 

58. Therefore, my beloved, be steadfast, immovable, always excelling in the work of the Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

         The Spirits of our loved ones, whose lives we celebrated today, if they knew Jesus as their Lord and Savior, are alive today with Jesus and their bodies rest, waiting to be resurrected and transformed! 

         We invite them to join us in Spirit as we celebrate Holy Communion today!  

Due to technical difficulties the recording of the Easter Sunrise Service was not recorded.

November 29, 2015  Christmas program (No audio available)