Tuesday, June 10, 2008


Bearing the likeness of the man from heaven.

1 cor 15:35-58

The whole of chapter 15 in Paul’s first letter to the church in Corinth is devoted to the question of what happens when we die. In this last post we ask: What is the resurrection of the dead? What sort of bodies will we have? This is a summary from a talk from our Sunday Gathering which can be downloaded here or from iTunes.
Some of the people, like today, have said: Look Paul, don’t be an idiot, dead people don’t rise.

And Paul has responded by saying that the resurrection of the dead is central to what it means to be a follower of Jesus. The whole gospel, this ‘good news’ is based around the fact that the tomb was empty. The empty tomb demonstrated that in the words of Paul, “Death has lost it’s sting”. Death itself had been defeated. And the sign of Jesus victory on the cross was the empty tomb. Paul states that without the resurrection, Christianity is meaningless.

What will our resurrected bodies be like?

We spend £500m on cosmetic surgery each year in UK, that’s the same as France, Germany, Italy and Spain put together. We are so desperately unhappy with our bodies that we will pay vast amounts to have them improved. But our bodies will be improved. But not just that they will be renewed and transformed.

The hope of Christians is the future resurrection, it’s the redemption of our bodies and the renewal of heaven and earth. Those who claim to follow Jesus believe that Resurrection is not just something that will happen in the future. It has happened already. It happened on the planet we call Earth and it happened to a man we call Jesus. Because the resurrection happened within our own world, it’s implications and effects will be felt in our own world here and now.

In Jesus, heaven invaded earth. God’s kingdom broke into our own space and time. God’s revolution of love began the overthrow of corruption and evil. What happened to Jesus will happen to us.

You killed the author of life, but God raised him from the dead. We are witnesses of this. 
Acts 3:15
 
1-2 So if you're serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don't shuffle along, eyes to the 
ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that's where the action is. See things from his perspective.
3-4Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life—even though invisible to spectators—is with Christ in God. He is your life. When Christ (your real life, remember) shows up again on this earth, you'll show up, too—the real you, the glorious you. 
Col 3:1-4 The Message

Our resurrected bodies become animated by God’s spirit. Just as the Holy Spirit raised Jesus from the dead. The Holy Spirit lives in us. The giver of life fills us and equips us. It’s like we have a new fuel in us that not only makes us run better but also maintains the whole body. Energized by the spirit of God.

So what?

We will have new bodies in the future, but what about now. Eternal life starts now. Something of the future has broken into the present. God’s reality, His kingdom has arrived into the now. Your present bodily life is not valueless just because it will die. God will raise your body to new life. There will be a new creation. What you do with you body in the present matters, because God has a great future in store for it. To quote Maximus Decimus Meridius;

“What we do in life, echoes in eternity”

Paul states that the resurrection of the dead has now started. One man has risen from the dead. A man who died is now living and he is Lord of the World and we bear his likeness. We are to be like him in our character and our actions.

God’s future for humanity has broken into the present through the resurrection of Jesus. Gods future salvation is happening now all around us. There are signs of the kingdom happening all around you, day by day. Throughout Jesus ministry he brought salvation into peoples lives. The Kingdom was breaking in and rescuing people. These were acts of healing and rescue that Jesus started and his followers continued as recorded in the book of Acts. We act like him. Where we work, in our homes, at the shops. We act like him.

We are saved to be the people God wants us to be. To act in his character to the world around us. We are blessed to bless others. We are saved to save others. We are transformed to transform others.

Not in vain…
What you are doing for the wider world as a follower of Jesus is not in vain. It’s not empty. Your faith is not empty.

Every act of love, gratitude and kindness;
every work of art or music inspired by the love of God and delight in the beauty of his creation;
every minute spent teaching a disabled child to read or to walk; every act of care and nurture, of comfort and support, for one’s fellow human beings, and for that matter one’s fellow non-human creatures;
and of course every prayer, all Spirit-led teaching,every deed which spreads the gospel, builds up the church, embraces and embodies holiness rather than corruption, and makes the name of Jesus honoured in the world – all of this will find its way, through the resurrecting power of God, into the new creation which God will one day make.

Bishop Tom Wright

When Jesus left the tomb on the first Easter he launched a revolution that his followers would take up. On that first Easter, God initiated his new creation breaking into the present from the future.The man who would not die is now Lord of the whole world. And the author and giver of life now calls the people who he has rescued from an oppressive regime to fight against the systems of oppression with weapons of peace, love, mercy and grace.

For further reading check out Tom Wright's: Surprised by Hope.

2 comments:

steven hamilton said...

nick - i am really loving these posts on resurrection...i picked up nt wright's book surprised by hope and 'hope' to read it late this summer!

thanks for posting and stimulating my faith...

peace

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