This morning we come to the last statement of the Apostle's Creed. The creed says that as Christians we believe in the resurrection of the body and life everlasting. The creed began with a statement of belief in the reality of God and our faith in him. It now concludes with our belief that ultimately those who are believers will live forever in the presence of that same God. This last part of the creed presents us with our greatest hope but also with the greatest challenge to our faith.

I have told you before that I am a person who just needs to get to the bottom line. A person in the caring profession, such as mine, will face things on a regular basis that others do not encounter in the same way. Sadness, crisis, problems, pain, suffering and death are just the life events that any minister faces. This is especially true when it comes to the deaths of those that are part of or related to our church family. When you serve those who have lost someone they love to the reality of death and you do that multiple times in the course of a few days or weeks you face the danger of the reality of death losing it's meaning. You can go through the motions and not even know it.

Yet there is one moment in ministering to those who have encountered the reality of death that always makes me remember what this all means. That moment occurs when you are at the cemetery, stand beside a box that bears the form of the person that was loved, look into an empty hole and know that this moment like none other confronts us with the question, "Do I really believe in the resurrection of the body and life everlasting? Do I really believe that this is not the end of this person and the end for all of us? Do I believe this IS just the form of the person who was and that the REAL person lives on in God’s presence? Do I really believe this all matters?" That moment offers us the chance to once again affirm that as Christians we believe that death does not win, that life will become complete and that the promise of Jesus return is my only hope!

Usually death comes because the bodies that God has given to us are used up, worn out and loved to pieces. Some, however, come into the world with incomplete or misshapen bodies. Other times our body, through tragedy, becomes scarred or our parts severed and we are not whole. There are other occasions when outwardly our body may seem well but our heart, brain or another organ doesn't function properly because disease has affected it. There are many things that can affect our body and its function.

Regardless of the cause of our death this body ceases to function and we die. Then, like a worn out toy that is saved as a treasured memory is stored away, so are we. Our bodies are placed in a box and hidden safely in the earth. The truth we confess is that may be where our bodies are kept but that is not where they stay. We believe that because of the Resurrection of Jesus from the dead, one day we will know what it is to be like Him! The wonderful gift of God to us is the promise that our bodies will be resurrected and transformed when Jesus comes the second time.

How does all this happen? That is what I want us to study this morning by hearing how Paul addressed the same questions to those in the church at Corinth.

Paul tells us that you can't have the new you until the old you is removed (v. 35-36). He says,

"But someone may 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" (1 Cor. 15:35-36). Now it's obvious Paul get a little testy but the truth is we have the same questions as they did: "How will the dead be raised? What kind of bodies will they have?" How? What? I mean I can understand this a little bit if I'm in a box in the ground but what about if I became incinerated in a fire? What about those who have been dead so long they are nothing more than fertilizer? Even if it's just my molecules, how will I still be me?

Paul answers that by saying, "Open your eyes! The seed you put in the ground doesn't do what it’s supposed to unless it dies!" It's really obvious when you think about it. A seed that you plant in the ground doesn't become more seed. It becomes a plant or tree of some type. It's still genetically the same but it became new because the old seed died. It may look different as it emerges from the earth but it's the same.

Often when our girls were little Kathy would have a garage sale in October or November. She would put in the sale the old toys of the girls that they no longer played with in order to make room for the new ones that they might receive for Christmas. In the same way when we die God is getting rid of the old me to get me ready for the new me. It can't happen any other way. So it is with our own bodies. We can't have the new one without getting rid of the old one. Yet the new one has an absolute identity with the old one. Who you are is who you are and no one else. Your DNA makes you distinctly you even if all there is of you is DNA. God is able to take what scientists still do not understand and create life. That's what He will do with you and me after we die.

The next thing to see is that you won't understand the new you by looking at what the old was like (v. 37). Paul continues by saying, "When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else." (1 Cor. 15:37) The Corinthians were asking, "What kind of body will we have?" Paul's answer was, "…what you put in the ground is not the plant that will grow but only a dry little seed…" (v. 37). His point is clear: What you put into the ground is not what comes out. You can't understand the beautiful plant that is going to be by staring at the seed nor can you get a glimpse of what you are going to be by studying what you look like now. What we know is that we will be changed.

When you look at an acorn it looks nothing like the oak tree that will one day grow from it. They are related but different as night and day. Somehow, somewhere within us is the pattern of the heavenly person I will become. I'll never realize that by examining more of the seed of the old me. Romans 6:5 says, "Since we have been united with him in his death, we will also be raised as he was." That gives us a clue as to what we will be like: we will have bodies like his resurrection body! What was his body like after his resurrection? Think about this: he could be touched physically but he could pass through matter at will, he knew the same people before he died after he died, he could talk, eat, walk, do normal tasks, he still had the scars from his death, he looked different yet was the same. That’s just a clue of what is waiting for us!

Joni Eareckson Tada, who was made a quadriplegic in a diving accident in 1967 writes in her book Heaven, "Somewhere in my broken, paralyzed body is the seed of what I shall become. The paralysis makes what I am to become all the more grand when you contrast atrophied, useless legs against splendorous resurrected legs. I'm convinced if there are mirrors in heaven (and why not?), the image I'll see will be unmistakably 'Joni,' although a much better, brighter 'Joni.' So much so, that it's not worth comparing. There's no way I can comprehend it all because I'm just an 'acorn' when it comes to understanding heaven. But I'll tell you this: Whatever my little acorn shape becomes, in all its power and honor, I'm ready for it…I will bear the likeness of Jesus, the man from heaven. Like His, mine will be an actual, literal body perfectly suited for earth and heaven". (Heaven, p. 39)

Paul tells us that if you liked the old you, you will love the new you! (v. 42-44) He says, "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." (1 Cor. 15:42-44)

One of the Reality TV shows that is very popular is Extreme Makeover. The theme of the show is that people who dislike some part of their body for whatever reason get the chance to be "made over". A recent newsmagazine followed up with some of those who had had this done and discovered that the makeover didn’t always solve their problems. Some looked better for a while but then stuff sort of came undone. Others were so attractive that family and friends became jealous. It turned out for some of those who had an extreme makeover that it simply wasn’t the problem solver they thought it could be. However, when it comes to our new body, that won't happen. We may like or not like the body we have now but we will be thrilled with the new one! Paul points out in verses 42-44 the problems of our old body and the powerful qualities of our new one to come:

There are a lot of people who long for a new body. My walks through the hospital this week reminded me of that. A wife struggles to simply breathe while her husband struggles simply to walk. Still someone else fights the effects of a stroke. One loses the battle with disease that robbed their mind long before they stopped living. A tiny unborn child’s heart stops before their lungs ever breathed oxygen. Another person clings to every ounce of life hoping against all odds that the chemicals flowing through their veins will stop the disease that is stealing their life. Many others would give anything for just one day without pain.

My body is going to wear completely out. I like the one I've got but I can't wait for the come to come!

One last thing that Paul tells us about this new body we will have is that where the old one could never go the new one will! (v. 50-53) "I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed-- in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable and the mortal with immortality." (1 Cor. 15:50-53)

In some of the most powerful language ever Paul tells us that what we are now isn't ready for heaven. We've got to have a body that will last and be ready for heaven. That will happen when Jesus comes again. I am ready enough for earth but I am not ready enough for heaven. I need to be transformed.

The Velveteen Rabbit is Margery Williams' marvelous story about a boy who was given a stuffed velveteen rabbit. In nursery the rabbit makes friends with The Skin Horse who has been so loved by the boy there's not much left. The Skin Horse and the Rabbit had this conversation: "'What is REAL?' asked the Rabbit one day. 'Real isn't how you are made,' said the Skin Horse. 'It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.'

'Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,' he asked, 'or bit by bit?' 'It doesn't happen all at once,' said the Skin Horse. 'You become. It takes a long time. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand.' 'The Boy's Uncle made me Real,' he said. 'That was a great many years ago; but once you are Real you can't become unreal again. It lasts for always.'"

As the boy grew he continued to love playing and sleeping with the Rabbit. Gradually the Rabbit began to show the signs of wear. On one occasion the boy got scarlet fever and it was decided to remove all the stuffed animals that might be infected. The Rabbit, along with others, was placed in a sack and left out behind a shed. As the Rabbit realized he was alone and would never see the boy again he began to cry. A beautiful fairy appeared and held the little Rabbit close in her arms and flew to a place where real Rabbits were dancing in the woods.

"And she kissed the little Rabbit again and put him down on the grass. 'Run and play, little Rabbit!' she said. But the little Rabbit sat quite still for a moment and never moved. For when he saw all the wild rabbits dancing around him he suddenly remembered about his hind legs, and he didn't want them to see that he was made all in one piece. He did not know that when the Fairy kissed him that last time she had changed him altogether. And he might have sat there a long time, too shy to move, if just then something hadn't tickled his nose, and before he thought what he was doing he lifted his hind toe to scratch it.

"And he found that he actually had hind legs! Instead of dingy velveteen he had brown fur, soft and shiny, his ears twitched by themselves, and his whiskers were so long that they brushed the grass. He gave one leap and the joy of using those hind legs was so great that he went springing about the turf on them, jumping sideways and whirling round as the others did, and he grew so excited that when at last he did stop to look for the Fairy she had gone. He was a Real Rabbit at last, at home with the other rabbits."

I debated quite a lot before using that story because I kept asking myself, "Do I need a story about a bunny when I’m talking about death? Where is the gospel? Does this message end with triumph or with a whimper?" Yet as I read and reread that story it describes what is waiting for me. All that I am now can’t experience all that God wants to give me. There is a REALITY that is waiting for me that I don’t even realize I need. When I die the very ultimate part of me will be with Jesus, in his presence. But that’s not the end. Someday this body of mine will be transformed not by the kiss of a fairy but by the power of the voice of Jesus Christ. When that happens I will discover at last what I was created to be. I will at last be REAL and that REALITY will last forever!

We don't need to be afraid. Instead we need to celebrate—celebrate that there will be a new you! When He comes I'll get to become the Real me! The next time you pass by a cemetery or go to a funeral and you see the body in the box—remember, that's where the Christians are till they can become Real!

Our journey through the creed ends with "Amen". Amen is the word for "truly" or "absolutely" or better "YES!" It means we look back on all these words and say, "I believe-Yes!" There is what holds my life together. My very life begins with God and ends with the confession that I will live forever in his presence not because of anything I have done but because of what has been done for me through the grace of God found in Jesus Christ. The question is for each of us is "Does the creed say what YOU believe?" Not what you know in your head but what you believe in your heart? If it does then when are you going to put your heart where your head is? When are you going to believe? At the very beginning we said that what you believe determines what you believe about yourself. The time has come to ask, "Do you believe?" One time Jesus told a very close friend of his whose brother had died, "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" (John 11:25-26, NIV). Now he asks you the same question!

Sunday, March 7, 2004

Dr. Bruce Tippit, Pastor

First Baptist Church

Jonesboro, Arkansas

btippit@fbcjonesboro.org