
1 Corinthians 15:35-49
35 But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” 36 You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, 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 For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. 40 There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. 41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory.
42 So is it 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 natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural 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 natural, 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 also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.
Notes
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Sermon Recap
Spend a few minutes reading 1 Corinthians 15:35-49 and recapping the sermon.
- The Big Idea in this week’s message is: At the resurrection, believiers in Jesus Christ will be perfected in his likeness.
- Paul is responding to a letter written by the corinthians and quotes two of their questions in verse 35: “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?”.
- He first answers with an illustration from agriculture and an illustration from the heavens.
- According to Tom Regan in the first service, “Humans are bananas”. (We are currently embodied in a perishable body). But the resurrection body we receive from God will be imperishable.
- Paul then develops his illustration by answering the question of what kind of body: our resurrection bodies will be different in four ways: Imperishable (rather than perishable), Glorious (rather than subject to the shame of decay), powerful (rather than weak), and spiritual (rather than natural - which is not to say “unphysical” - they will be more than physical).
- Our resurrection bodies will be like Jesus’s resurrection body - not only in physical nature, but also in spiritual, moral, and the communicable attributes of God.
- Anyone who remains identified with Adam will remain in Adam and perish apart from relationship with God and life in him.
- But anyone who identifies with Jesus Christ through faith (believing allegiance), will share in his life both now and as resurrected humans in the New Creation.
- Anyone who wants to identify with Jesus Christ can start that relationship and share in his life, starting right now, by turning away from their former life In Adam and turning towards a life of faith in Jesus.
Sermon Discussion Questions
As you reflect on the passage and the sermon, remember to think in terms of knowing, feeling, and doing: What is revealed to be true, what you feel about that truth (desires/affections), and how you respond to it (behavior) individually and corporately.
- The previous section of this passage talks about the facts of the resurrection and now Paul turns to the relevance of the resurrection. Spend some time reflecting on the relevance of Jesus’s resurrection and our future hope of resurrection to your life.
- Spend some time reflecting on the relevance of the resurrection for your neighborhood, city, and culture.
- Scripture consistently depicts the future resurrection as a paradigm for how we live now. What are the implications of the resurrection for how you relate to your body today?
- What are the implications of the resurrection for your relationships with/to: Your neighbor? Your co-worker? The Creation? Posessions? Financial Resources? Your sin? Your virtue?
- How can this community (Your Generosity Group) grow in our witness to the reality of New Creation?
- Who in your life needs to hear the good news about Jesus, His Kingdom, and The Resurrection?
- According to Thom Rainer in The Unchurched Nextdoor, Eighty-two percent of the unchurched are at least somewhat likely to attend church if invited, yet ninety-eight percent of churchgoers have not invited an unchurched person to attend with them in the past year. Who in your sphere of influence can you invite to attend Easter service with you? Will you invite them?
- Spend some time praying for boldness to share your Jesus stories with people in your life and the conversations and invitations that will come out of the above.