Sown in Weakness, Raised in Power

1 Corinthians 15:35-58 - Riley Boggs

Introduction

I want to start off this morning by telling you the backstory of the song that we just sang, “God Of Every Grace”. I chose this song to sing this morning because I thought it emphasized several of the truths that we see in the passage we are looking at. What I didn’t know is that the writers of this song, the Getty’s, Matt Boswell, and Matt Papa, were reflecting on a particular verse in our passage, verse 58, as they started the writing process. I found the back story on the writers website, and I’d like to read a bit of it for us.

This is what they write…“Sixteen years ago we were invited to sing “In Christ Alone” at the opening of the Dove Awards. We had recently moved to the US, and although we were very honored to participate, our hearts were heavy. My beautiful cousin Lindsay had just passed away from cancer. We were very much singing for our family. I struggled to sing. Earlier that day I remember turning to 1 Corinthians 15 and reading of the hope of the resurrection. I was struck by Paul’s concluding charge: “Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain” (1 Cor 15:58). There are many things we experience in this life that will only find their resolution, their answer, their ultimate comfort when we are home with the Lord. What do we do when we have to continue to walk with the question, with the ache, with the limp? We know the Lord will “work all things to the good of those who love him,” but what if that good is not known in this lifetime? There are some pains I don’t yet know and can’t imagine.

The new hymn “God of Every Grace” began with a melody and some lyrics from our friend Bryan Fowler. The song spoke of walking through struggle with faith. It spoke of God as the God of every grace, calling us to see even our trials as somehow, mysteriously, serving God’s good purposes according to his good plans. It resonated with us. Shortly after the school shooting in Nashville in March 2023, I was sitting outside with my daughters while they were playing, wrestling with this tragedy and the ongoing weight of it. I also pondered the memory of my cousin and the pain her family continues to carry. Many of the ideas and lyrics for this hymn began to form in my head that day. Alongside Bryan and Matt Boswell, we continued to shape the verses and add the chorus over a couple of months. We felt strongly about keeping the lyric directed to the Lord, personal and honest. The line “all your children home together” was a very moving thought for me as a mother—that desire for a family to be all together again. Only in Christ is this possible. We are all tempted at different times to give up, to give in, to let our circumstances steal our hope. This hymn is a prayer for his daily strength, for regular recalling of our hope, for faith to keep following, for rest in the truth that he knows, he sees, he counts the tears. We hope you can sing this prayer with us.”

This song especially means a lot to Shelby and I. Most of you know this, but for Shelby and I have been walking through some very hard days recently. When Shelby told one of friends from Jackson what had happened, she replied and one of the things she said was, “I am praying that the Lord would give you a song to sing during this time.” The Lord answered that prayer with this song. We had to go to the hospital early one morning, it was a Thursday, and I knew that it was going to be an incredibly hard day, and so we just played the songs that I had selected for that Sunday. This was of those songs. With tears, we sang this song, and the Lord used it to comfort us.

Each and every one of you can resonate with this. You’ve felt deep pain. You’ve had the dark cloud of grief linger over you. This world is full of death, ever since the fall of man. It’s everywhere and it’s constant. At times it feels all consuming. At times it is all consuming. And yet, despite all of this, as followers of Christ we can live a life of hope, victory, and joy. That is what I want to lay before you this morning. I want this passage to give you immeasurable hope and joy despite the heavy burdens we carry. I want this passage to be a passage you run to in times of sorrow. 

This passage is the second half of Paul’s discussion about the resurrection of the dead. That is, every person who has died in Christ, when the Lord returns, will be resurrected from the dead and will exist in a new body for an eternity. Last week we saw how by denying that truth, the Corinthians were denying the very fact that Jesus Himself rose. In this passage, Paul lays out what our resurrected body will be like and reminds us of what a glorious day that will be, when the Christ returns again. And so, my hope, and prayer is that you would find immense motivation to press on in the faith, with all the hope and peace that comes from these beautiful truths. With all of that said, let's look at the first point.

1.) Our bodies will be resurrected, but they will be different (vv.35-41)

The question of ‘what kind of body will we have when it is resurrected’, is a fair question. I mean, what will it be like? All we know is the imperfect body we have right now. It has aches and pains, grows weary, and is clearly not eternal. And if that is our only frame of reference for what a body is, it can be a hard to understand what our resurrected body will be like. Will it still be ours? Will it be the same, but better? Will it be entirely different?

Paul starts off, in verse 35, by quoting some potential questions. He says, “But someone will ask, ‘How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?’” And to that, in verse 36, he says, “You foolish person! What you saw does not come to life unless it dies.” Now, he isn’t calling the person who is curious about what their resurrected body will be foolish. I think he is calling the person foolish who asks the questions almost as a “gotcha” question, because they are denying the resurrection of the dead. In other words, they hear Paul say that the resurrection of the dead is real, and so they say in a prodding way, “Okay then Mr. Apostle Paul. Since we’re all going raise from the dead, what kind of body are they going to have?” And now, Paul response makes more sense. He says, you’re talking foolishly and then mentions that what they sow does not come to life unless it dies.

Here's what he means by this. In order for a plant to grow, a seed must be planted, and it must die. That is, it must give way. It must cease being a seed and become a plant. And he says this because the Corinthians understand this. They plant seeds all the time with the understanding that a seed must be sown and it must die if the plant is to come to life. He says this because that is the reality not only with seeds, but with us. And he explains this analogy in relation to our bodies starting in verse 37. He says, “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”

Whenever you sow a seed, do you expect the plant that emerges from the ground to look like or be like the seed? Of course not. When you sow a seed, you expect something totally different to come out of the ground. Recently Shelby planted some rosemary seeds. I don’t expect rosemary seeds to begin popping out of the ground. I expect something far better, a rosemary plant. It won’t resemble the seed, but it will have come from the seed. The same is true of our bodies, that is what Paul is getting at. The bodies we have now are a like a seed that will be sown. When we die, we are buried, and the body that will be raised at the coming of our Lord will not be like the body that was placed in the ground. It will still be our body, but it will be far better. It will be ours, but it will be different.

He elaborates on a little on how it will be ours, but different in verses 39-41. He says, “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.” In other words, our bodies will be a different kind of body. It won’t be the same. All the things he lists here, humans, animals, birds, fish, the sun, the moon, and the stars. All of them have been made in order to fulfill, or accomplish, a specific purpose. The same is true of our future resurrected body. It will ours, but it will be a body fit for eternity on the New Earth. Now, what kind of body is that? What kind of body is fit for eternity in the presence of our Lord? Paul tells us in verses 42-49 that it will be a body that is far greater than we can imagine.

2.) Our resurrected bodies will be far greater than we can imagine (vv.42-49)

Paul continues on with this sowing analogy, but he makes it more clear as to what is being sown and what will be raised. Look at what he says here. Our bodies are sown perishable, raised imperishable. Sown in dishonor, raised in glory. Sown in weakness, raised in power. What is sown is natural, what is raised is spiritual. In short, our resurrected body will be far better than we can rightly understand right now. This back-and-forth language between what is being sown and what is being raised, hopefully, excites you. We know what it feels like to have a perishable body that has the marks of sin and weakness. Can you imagine what an imperishable body that is glorious and powerful will be like?

Now, what is meant by natural body and spiritual body? Is he saying that our resurrected body won’t be physical, but we will just be like ghost-bodied spirits who float around in the clouds? No, I don’t think that’s it. I think he is point out the difference, again, between the body we have now and the body we will have, and he roots each of them in a person. Look at what he says starting in the second half of verse 44. “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.”

The first Adam was Adam in the garden. And the Bible tells us that every person ever born is “of Adam”, which means that his sin in the garden that brought on the fall, is reflected in us. And that sinfulness is not only seen in our desire and choices, but our bodies as well. So our bodies are natural in that they will pass away, they are from dust, and are in the image of the first Adam. This isn’t speaking of the image of God that all mankind bears, we are talking about our physical bodies reflecting the first Adam.

The Bible also tells us that there is another Adam, the last Adam, and that is Jesus Christ. And when someone places their faith in Christ, they are united with Him, and are now “in Christ”. Right now that reality is seen in that we are no longer slaves to sin and that we are being sanctified, it is not yet seen in our bodies. And that is what Paul is trying to point out here. Our bodies will, when they are raised from the dead, will be made in the likeness of the last Adam. They will spiritual, they will be of heaven, and bear the image of Christ. They will be perfected, like Christ’s perfected body.

And, he says, if there is a natural body, we can be sure that there is a spiritual body coming. We can be confident that we will have a resurrected body and that it will be far greater than we can imagine. It will exceed every expectation you have of it. You will never find it lacking. That is because it will be made like the one who has never lacked, our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Now all of this will happen when Christ returns again. Jesus died, was buried, resurrected from the dead, and then after 40 days, He ascended to sit at the right hand of the Father. And He will remain there, reigning as King, until He decides to return. At that time, the end will come. This can be painted as a terrifying thing that people ought to dread, but if you are in Christ, and you know all know this, it is nothing to fear or dread. Rather, it is something we should long for, and should give us tremendous hope and motivation. Why?

3.) At the end, there will be final and complete triumph over all sin and death (vv.50-57)

Starting in verse 50 Paul continues to describe the change that will take place so that we might be fit for heaven. He says, “I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.” Again, he doesn’t mean that our resurrected bodies won’t be physical, but that they will not be like the perishable bodies of flesh and blood that we have now. They will be imperishable, fit to inherit the kingdom of God. 

Now, think back with me to the seed analogy Paul uses. He said that our bodies are like a seed that must die so that they can be raised, and transformed, into our new heavenly bodies. But, what about believers who are still alive when Jesus returns? I mean, yes, there will be far more Christians who have died than those who are alive, but what about them? Paul tells us that their bodies will also be changed, though they haven’t died. Look, starting in verse 51. “51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality.” When Christ returns, the dead in Christ will be raised and given a new body, and those in Christ who are still alive, in moment, will have their body transformed. From mortal to immortal.

At this time, when Christ returns, and the dead in Christ are being raised, and those still alive in Christ are being transformed; when all of this is happening, the final and complete destruction of death will take place. Death will be done away with. And, then Paul says, the saying out of Isaiah 25:8 shall come to pass, which says, “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”

Death will be swallowed up. It will be done away with, forever. There will never be another terminal diagnosis, no more hospice. You’ll never receive another heart-wrenching phone call. Never wait anxiously for the results to come back. No more tragic headlines, grieving hearts, or incomplete families. Death will be no more. It will have been defeated, once and for all. The victory will be so evident and real, that the text almost taunts death itself. Death, where is your victory? I don’t see it anymore. Where is your sting? I can’t feel it, it’s gone.  

And then Paul tells us exactly why death will be swallowed up and why the sting will be no more in verses 56-57. “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Here’s what he is saying here. The sting of death is sin, because sin is what caused death. Death only came as a result of fall and knowing that makes death hurt all the more. This isn’t how things are supposed to be. And, the law, that is God’s standard, continually shows us that we are sinful people. We continually fall short and fail, over and over again. The power of sin is seen because of the law. But, what else? Thanks be to God because Christ has given us victory over it all. Jesus came, lived a sinless life, and fulfilled the law. He was the perfect law keeper and the spotless lamb who was sacrificed. Now, as those who have been united with Christ, we will be judged not by our works, but by Christ’s work. We will be seen as law keepers who are sinless. And though that reality may not feel true in your life now, on the day of the Lord’s coming, it will. On that day our Savior will come for us and we will be made like Him, entirely. Till that day, we continue on, as Paul has laid out in verse 58.

4.) Until the end, we press on, knowing that our labor is not in vain (v.58)

When we read and think about the how wonderful our eternity will be, it is right that we long for it. Some long for it more than others because they feel the weight of death and sin more presently. But the reality is that all of us have to wait for that day, and we don’t know how long. We only know that the Lord will come at the right time. Until then, we have been called to wait well. And waiting well doesn’t mean that we wait like we do in the doctor’s office. We sit, look at our phone, check the time, look around, and then repeat this 50 times. Maybe an occasional glance at someone, hoping they feel pity on us and call us back. That isn’t how we are supposed to wait for the return of Christ.

Our waiting is working. It is a laboring and pressing on. It’s a call to be steadfast and immovable. A call to obey Christ to the uttermost. Living out this call, the call of a Christian life, is not an easy one, but it is one that is completely worth it. Notice how Paul flips the phrase he used at the beginning of this chapter. In verse 2 of chapter 15 he said that if you deny the resurrection, you are believing in vain. Now look at what he says. If you believe in the resurrected Christ, no labor is in vain.

No labor is in vain. The things you do in this life are not in vain. I said this last week, but I think this text points us in the same direction. The sacrifices you are voluntarily making in this life for the sake of Christ, they are not in vain. None of them. Let me just point a few in our church this morning. Shelby, Wade, Alyssa, Dru, Grace, and Laura, all your time preparing and practicing, to lead us in musical worship each Sunday is not in vain, it never will be. Cheryl and Christa, your labors for the children in this church are not in vain, it is a noble and worthwhile task, every second of it. I could go through every name here and speak of how your labors are worthwhile. 

So, each and every one of you, hear me say this. Your prayers, your encouragements, your hospitality, your giving, your being here, all of it is not in vain. It is worth it. But not even that, it goes even further, beyond the walls of this church. Your marriages are worth the fight, your children are worth the time, the hours that you work each day to provide for your  family are worth it, they aren’t in vain. That is the beauty of the Christian life. It is purpose-filled, from top to bottom. We deny ourselves, take up our cross daily, and live a life that mirrors our Savior Himself, and every moment of it is full of purpose.

Our world is broken. It is stained by sin and overwhelmed by death. At times, it can overwhelm us. It feels heavy and all-consuming. And yet, we have been called to press on. I hope this text encourages you to do just that. Press on to resurrection day, where we will taunt death because it’s power will be no more. Until then, cling to these truths and do bold things for the sake of the Gospel. Rest in Christ, knowing that He will complete the work that He began in you. Jesus defeated death, and now since we are united with Him, we have a glorious future ahead of us. Keep going until that day, when the Lord calls you from the grave and gives you a resurrected body, or He transforms you in a moment, and death will be no more. 

I want to read us a passage out of Isaiah 65 this morning so that the beautiful picture of that day will be clearer in our minds. Starting in verse 17, “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. 18 But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness. 19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people; no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress. 20 No more shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days, for the young man shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed. 21 They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 22 They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. 23 They shall not labor in vain or bear children for calamity, for they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the Lord, and their descendants with them. 24 Before they call I will answer; while they are yet speaking I will hear. 25 The wolf and the lamb shall graze together; the lion shall eat straw like the ox, and dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain,” says the Lord. I long for that day. Until then, let’s press on in faithfulness.