From Seed to Glory
Notes
Transcript
When I was a kid, I had to plant a seed for some sort of VBS craft. Every kid got a styrofoam cup, some dirt, and a seed. I have no idea what the overall purpose was for the craft. But, hey, I was excited to plant that seed. I took the styrofoam cup home. Proudly placed it on our front stoop. And promptly dug up the seed to see if it had grown. I think I dug that seed up 10 times that day, and 15 times the next.
Needless to say, that seed did not grow.
Fast forward thirty years, we are finally planting a garden at our house. We start the seed inside, and every day, I see little hands approaching the little seed cups, itching to dig up the seed and see if it is growing. Thankfully, my kids are smarter than I was and listened to reason.
Scientifically, for a seed to grow, it must be left in the ground long enough to be remade. A seed is planted, and it grows into something else, something newer, greater, but still uniquely tied to what it was.
Scripture tells us this is what the resurrection is like.
But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. Not all flesh is the same: People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.
So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.
If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man.
What will our resurrected bodies be like? Beyond imagination. Let us pray.
1. What Is
1. What Is
Before we can discuss what will be, we must discuss what is. What are our current bodies like?
They are different from what will be.
Paul writes:
When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. Not all flesh is the same: People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.
What we have now is different from what will be, just like a plant is different than the seed. The DNA is the same, but the plant is gloriously different. All the potential that is kept in that ugly little seed bursts forth in beauty.
Our current bodies are
A. Perishable
A. Perishable
Perishable.
So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable;
This body that we are in starts to decay from the moment of birth. Yes, the body is growing, but it is fighting decay.
N.T. Wright wrote:
‘flesh and blood’ is a way of referring to ordinary, corruptible, decaying human existence. It does not simply mean, as it has so often been taken to mean, ‘physical humanity’ in the normal modern sense, but ‘the present physical humanity (as opposed to the future one), which is subject to decay and death’
N. T. Wright
All of us experience this decay through sickness, arthritis, auto-immune disorders, blindness, loss of hearing. When I stand up, I feel my knees clicking and popping, and I’m still young. Brook had to get bifocals.
One day, the decay catches up with us, and we die. Our body is placed into the ground and becomes consumed. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.
Though we try to stop it, and famous people try to throw money at it. We are perishable.
B. Dishonor
B. Dishonor
We are full of dishonor.
it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;
We are people who are full of shame, without honor.
We believe in what is called total depravity. That means every single part of us, body and soul, is marred by sin. There is no part of us that is free from the effect of the fall.
We see it in birth defects and chemical imbalances, but we also see it in how we turn normal bodily functions into evil acts. We turn that which God designed for his glory into base, revolting acts.
Every sin that we do, we bare in our bodies.
If we truly understood what we have done with our bodies, we would hang our head in shame. How we have destroyed the temple of God.
Within the heart of every addict is a sense of shame—shame because of feeling unlovable, unworthy, and unwanted—shame resulting from repeated failure.
June Hunt
We would be like the prostitute in the shadows, feeling like we do not deserve to be in polite society because of what we have done.
The Psalmist describes this:
I live in disgrace all day long,
and my face is covered with shame
This dishonor colors how we view ourselves. How we define our identity.
We are full of dishonor. Full of shame.
C. Weakness
C. Weakness
We are full of weakness.
it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;
We cannot function as we wish. Our bodies are weak. We could talk about physical weakness, which some of us experience more than others. but it is so much more than that: We are spiritually weak.
I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.
For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?
We are weak. We are physically and spiritual incapable of resisting sin.
We are physically and spiritually incapable of doing good.
All of us have become like one who is unclean,
and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags;
we all shrivel up like a leaf,
and like the wind our sins sweep us away.
Why, because our weakness to sin colors everything. Even the good that we try to do is because of the sin that we want to do.
We are weak.
I know my pet sin. And I know the conditions that will cause me to jump completely in, without looking back. So, I keep myself far from it.
D. Natural Body
D. Natural Body
We are in a natural body.
it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.
If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
We are made of this earth, confined to this earth, limited by this earth.
Paul speaks of our natural state previously in this letter:
The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.
Because we are natural, not spiritual, we cannot understand the things of God, by ourselves. And we are content with that. In fact, sometimes we prefer it and escape conversations that remind us of spiritual realities.
… it is characteristic of the natural man to keep himself so busy with unimportant trifles that he is able to avoid the settling of the most important matters relating to life and existence.12
A. W. Tozer
We think that our schedules are more important than God. We think that our reasoning is better than God. We think that our morality and our rules and our timelines are better than God.
We are natural.
E. Image of Man
E. Image of Man
We are in the image of man. Adam.
So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man.
Picture him. Standing there in the Garden, surrounded by everything good and beautiful. And he looks around him and decides, instead of being content to follow God in perfection, to go his own way. To follow his own desires. To forge his own path. So, he eats the fruit, destroys his relationship with his wife, his relationship with creation, his relationship with God.
He was kicked out of the Garden of Eden, doomed, if left to himself, to pain and misery in this life and destruction in the next.
And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.” So the Lord God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.
We are in his image. That is our story. That is our destiny. Kept from eternal life, forced to an eternal death.
That is what is: We are perishable, dishonorable, weak, natural, the image of man.
2. What Will Be
2. What Will Be
What will be?
Well, what happens to a dry, dead seed when it is buried. It comes alive and changes.
So it will be in the resurrection. We will be given a new body, related to our own, yet alive and different.
This body is essential for experiencing the life to come. There is no such thing as an eternally disembodied state. We were made for physical bodies and we will have one for eternity.
This new body will only be ours when Christ comes again to lead us into eternity. We will never arrive at a new body in this life. We must die first or be raptured.
This new body will be better than anything that we currently experience or imagine.
Let’s talk about this new body. It will be:
A. Imperishable
A. Imperishable
Imperishable.
So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable;
We have such a hard time imagining what eternity will be like. We were created to live forever. In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve had access to that tree of life, by which they could be imperishable.
One day, we will have access to that tree again.
Revelation and Genesis are book ends to Scripture, showing that what was at the beginning of time will be again.
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
Imperishable. No more sickness. Death. We’ll leave our glasses, hearing aids, and walkers behind. No more pain. Aches. Can you imagine it?
B. Glory
B. Glory
Not only will our bodies be imperishable, but they will be filled with glory.
it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;
Glory. The same word that is used of God himself.
But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.
Our bodies will be raised in glory.
Before, we were filled with dishonor, the shame causing us to look down, realizing that we are not worthy of the creator of the universe.
But in the resurrection, all that dishonor will be done away with. All that shame will be in the past, burned up with the elements.
In the place of the shame, we will be reflecting the amazing glory of God.
When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
A splendor. A radiance. An honor that truly should only be given to God. But, in his grace, he allows us to taste.
Oh, if that weren’t enough.
C. Power
C. Power
The body is raised in power.
it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power;
Again, a reflection of our Savior and our God:
regarding his Son, who as to his earthly life was a descendant of David, and who through the Spirit of holiness was appointed the Son of God in power by his resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord.
That same resurrection power will be ours. Oh, we get to taste it, a little here and a little there.
But, that taste just makes us yearn for the fulness.
I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
One day, in the resurrection, this body of sin and death will be done away this. The weaknesses of my flesh will be abolished.
In that day, there will be no more sin. No more temptation to sin. I won’t fight against desires anymore. I won’t stand knowing that if I move a finger I will fall.
I won’t have to worry about the devil and his schemes.
One day, I will be raised in power, leaving the weakness of my flesh behind.
D. Spiritual
D. Spiritual
In that day, my natural man will be taken off and I will be translated into the spiritual man.
it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.
If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body.
We think about Jesus’ body after the resurrection. How he was able to enter rooms even though the door was locked. How he was able to eat, but he didn’t need to.
That’s cool. But, there is more to this spiritual body. It is a physical body, but it is spiritual. It is of the spirit. It is caused by and filled by the spirit. Completely.
We will have full, complete communion with God, which then translates to communion with each other.
We will understand, and be able to spend eternity completely knowing and glorying in the God who created us. No division. No separation. Uninterrupted fellowship with God and each other.
No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.
Can you imagine it?
All this, because
Image of Christ
Image of Christ
We will be in the image of Christ.
We read it before, but I want it to sink in:
So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man.
Just as we have borne the image of Adam. In the exact same way, we will bear the image of Christ.
So, picture him. In his sinless glory. In his righteousness. His perfection. Picture his goodness and his love.
Picture him standing next to the Father and the Father saying: This is my beloved son, whom I love. In him I am well pleased.
We will bear the image of Christ. Welcomed into eternity as beloved sons and daughters, known as completely righteous. Not because what we have done, but because of Christ alone. To him be glory and honor forever and ever amen.
We will shed the dry husk which is the seed, the image of man. It won’t define us anymore. It will be gone. Obliterated.
And in its place:
A body, which is imperishable, glorious, powerful, spiritual, in the image of Christ himself.
That’s what will be.
3. What Is
3. What Is
Let’s talk about what is again.
This promised resurrection body is only for those who are in Christ.
Scripture is clear: Eternal life is only for those who have placed their faith in Jesus alone. If your faith is in anything or anyone else, eternal life is not for you. You will die in the image of Adam and spend eternity apart from God. That’s the clear teaching of Scripture.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
So, turn to him. Stop trusting in your works. Stop trusting in a religion. Turn to Jesus.
If you have, if you are his, praise the Lord! You have hope. You have a wonderful future.
Live like it.
We can’t use the excuse: Oh, I haven’t been resurrected yet. So, I’m going to live according to my sinful flesh. No, may it never be. We have a taste of Christ. We have a taste of eternity right now. We better share it.
In the sharing and the living according to eternity, remembering the amazing resurrection which is to come, we will go through hard times in life. We will go through struggles and temptations. We will feel like we were pushed through a meat grinder. And we pray “Father, I yearn for you. Just take me now.”
But, we will still be here. At the end of the day, what will we say, knowing the future that is to come. “Hallelujah. Praise be to my God.” Because he has a gift that is mine and one day I will fully possess. I hope you will too. What a glorious day that will be.