July 27, 2010, 1 Corinthians 15

Key Verse:

"There are bodies in the heavens and there are bodies on earth. The glory of the heavenly bodies is different from the beauty of the earthly bodies."

(1 Cor 15:40)


Central Truth:

Our resurrected bodies will never decay.

YOU CAN HAVE A HEAVENLY BODY . . .

This chapter explains the concept of the resurrected body. Its an interesting explanation. Today lots of us spend time (exercise), money (make up, hair spray, clothes, etc) and effort (diets) on our earthly bodies. We are driven by a society that puts lots of emphasis on earthly bodies. But, what does the scripture say about that? Verse 42-44: "It is the same way for the resurrection of the dead. Our earthly bodies, which die and decay, will be different when they are resurrected, for they will never die. Our bodies now disappoint us, but when they are raised, they will be full of glory. They are weak now, but when they are raised, they will be full of power. They are natural human bodies now, but when they are raised, they will be spiritual bodies. For just as there are natural bodies, so also there are spiritual bodies."

Every human has a earthly body like Adam's, but if we know Christ, our heavenly bodies will be like His. That's pretty awesome. I think about all the people we know whose life (whether it was short or long) was hampered by their earthly bodies. My nephew, Zach Morton, died at 18 years old in 2003. He was born with a rare heart condition and remained very small for his age his entire life. He was hampered by his earthly body. He could not do sports or other endurance type activities. However, the praise is that today he has a Christ-like heavenly body. He can run, play and carry on and not get tired. That is exciting. There are many others we know that were hindered by their earthly body, but because they were Christ followers, they also are now free of that body and have a heavenly body too. That's exciting.

God does call us to take care of our earthly bodies; don't get me wrong. But, the better news is found in verse 52, "For when the trumpet sounds, the Christians who have died will be raised with transformed bodies." There is Hope!!!