1 Corinthians 15:12-26
John 12:20-26
May 24, 2015
Pastor Lori Broschat
FROM LIFE TO DEATH AND BACK AGAIN
Historians tell us that Charles DeGaulle was a World War II hero and later president of France.
What the historians do not so often tell us is that Charles DeGaulle and his wife, Evonne, were
the parents of a Down syndrome child, a little girl named Ann. Charles and Evonne would
spend time at the end of every day with their children, making sure to spend some extra time
playing with this very special child, Ann. When they would put her to bed, Evonne would
sometimes say, “Oh, Charles, I have often prayed that she could have been like the other
children. Why was she not like the others?”
When Ann died at a very young age, the DeGaulles had a private graveside funeral service.
When the service was over, everyone left the grave except Evonne. Grief-stricken, she could
not pull herself away from Ann's grave, but stood there sobbing. Charles went back to her
and touched her arm gently. “Come, Evonne,” he said. “Did you not hear the promise of the
resurrection? She is now like the others.”1
We have come to the last statement in the Apostles’ Creed and for some of us it may be the
most difficult to speak with all hopefulness. Never forget that this creed is what we say we
believe, so if we are hesitant about proclaiming the resurrection and the life everlasting we
may have something in common with those early Christians in Corinth. They received from
Paul a detailed lesson on these matters of bodily resurrection and spiritual life.
Paul most emphatically used the smallest of words to make his point, a word that connects
one thought with another and can change the whole tone of an argument. That word is IF.
Do you hear that word as a conditional term, used to indicate that something may or may not
be true or may or may not happen? I think if gets us out of all kinds of situations we don’t
wish to be in. It’s our favorite promise, ranking right up there with maybe.
For the Corinthians, the argument over whether or not the resurrection existed was crucial to
their understanding of faith, so Paul skillfully used the word if to add depth and dimension to
his argument as he unfolded the possibilities one by one. The resurrection is not optional or
marginal, but essential and central to Christian faith. There are negative theological
consequences for rejecting it.
In seven verses Paul showed them and us what the world would look like if the resurrection
were not a sure and certain reality. So if the message that is preached says that Christ has been
raised from the dead, then how can some of you say, “There’s no resurrection of the dead”? If
there’s no resurrection of the dead, then Christ hasn’t been raised either. If Christ hasn’t been
raised, then our preaching is useless and your faith is useless.
You can see the logical conclusion in this argument. No resurrection for Christ means no
resurrection for anyone. If Christ was still in the grave, then each and every disciple and
apostle including Paul had been selling a work of fiction. Their preaching had no merit; their
testimony had no validity. It was useless and the faith it produced was useless as well.
1
http://day1.org/476-so_what_about_the_resurrection
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1 Corinthians 15:12-26
John 12:20-26
May 24, 2015
Pastor Lori Broschat
We are found to be false witnesses about God, because we testified against God that he raised
Christ, when he didn’t raise him if it’s the case that the dead aren’t raised. If the dead aren’t
raised, then Christ hasn’t been raised either. If Christ hasn’t been raised, then your faith is
worthless; you are still in your sins, and what’s more, those who have died in Christ are gone
forever.
What’s more, the question of what became of those who died believing in Christ would be
answered with a great big shrug of the shoulders. Their lives count for nothing; it is as if they
never lived. I realize there are many people today who believe just that. I recently watched a
television interview with a man on death row for murder and other violent crimes. When
asked if he thought he would be going to hell after his execution, he smiled and said, “Well,
there’s nothing after this life, so it won’t matter.”
Frankly, I don’t find that idea comforting. While it may make us uneasy or anxious trying to
earn God’s blessing and keep in His good graces, it’s a whole lot better than going through
life believing there’s nothing at the end. That would be like buying a ticket for a journey you’ll
never take, or worse yet, like those on the Titanic, having a seat on a boat bound for nowhere.
The last use of the word if is the one that creates a great sadness in me because I do believe
it is the mindset of so many people. If we have a hope in Christ only in this life, then we deserve
to be pitied more than anyone else. Who is it that would pity us for this? It would be all those
who believe that life is nothing more than existing for the day, the “you only live once” group
who want to pack into their lives as much as they can before they go.
So why would the Corinthians, and those contemporary people who believe the same, say
there was no resurrection of the body for them? They had a belief in an immortal soul,
separated from the body. Many of us, myself included at one point, may have this same belief.
It’s a belief not so much in a resurrection like Jesus, but rather a disembodied spirit soaring up
to heaven. It’s been reinforced for centuries in film, art, literature, and even preaching.
But let’s think about this reasonably and see where we may have been misinformed. Paul
clearly said if we have a death like His, we will have a resurrection like His. Jesus said often,
including in our gospel today, that we would be where He was. Let’s look at some verses from
Paul and make sure we aren’t reading into them because of the words he used.
In 2 Corinthians 5:8 Paul wrote; We are confident, and we would prefer to leave the body and
to be at home with the Lord. In Philippians 1:23 he said, But I don’t know what I prefer. I’m torn
between the two because I want to leave this life and be with Christ, which is far better. These
are practically the same thought, a crisis of being at home in the body or away and alive with
Christ.
Was Paul contradicting himself? Did he believe in a soul going to heaven? He certainly didn’t
change his mind on the subject or he wouldn’t have argued so strongly on today’s topic. What
Jesus said was that we follow Him, as in go where He goes, after death. That’s what He meant
by the reference to the seed dying in the ground. That’s what He meant by returning to take
us to where He is.
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1 Corinthians 15:12-26
John 12:20-26
May 24, 2015
Pastor Lori Broschat
So what’s the belief about the resurrection? When will it happen? What will happen to us?
How will it look? Granted, we can only speculate about much of it, but those who knew and
saw Jesus were not talking to a ghost. He had physicality, He had substance. He was also
glorified.
Your resurrection body will be imperishable, not subject to decay. It will be glorious. It will
be powerful. It is called a spiritual body, which brings together two words into one phrase –
body and spirit. It is not merely a spiritual existence, but a bodily existence constantly
empowered through His spiritual life.
Eugene Peterson said, “Resurrection gives spiritual formation its energy and character. . .
Jesus’ followers live resurrection-formed lives, not by watching him or imitating him or being
influenced by him, but by being raised with him. It’s formation-by-resurrection.”
We may get a bit caught up in how we will be resurrected, we might get really stuck on what
happens, and we can’t really know when. We do have the testimony of those who saw the
risen Christ, including Paul, to whom He appeared last. Let’s not get bogged down looking
for details, but instead let’s use the testimony of Scripture to add structure to our belief.
There are several passages in the New Testament, not least in the words of Jesus himself, that
speak of God’s future blessings in terms of reward. Many Christians find this uncomfortable.
We have been taught that we are justified by faith, not works, and somehow, the very idea of
being a Christian for what we will get out of it is distasteful. But the image of reward in the
New Testament doesn’t work like that. It isn’t a matter of calculation, of doing a difficult job
in order to be paid a wage. It is much more like working at a friendship or a marriage in order
to enjoy the other person’s company more fully.
The way in which Paul ends this chapter is not to tell us to sit back and wait. Instead he says,
“Therefore, my beloved ones, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the
Lord, because you know that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” The point of the resurrection
is that the present bodily life is not valueless just because it will die. God will raise it to new life.
What you do with your body in the present matters because God has a great future in store
for it.2
But the great thing is we don’t have to wait to experience resurrection. Just as the kingdom
of God exists here on earth in the life of believers who have experienced the grace of God
through the love of Christ and the power of the Spirit, so too has the resurrection life begun
even before we die. Because Christ is risen and we belong to Him, we share in the mission of
the church the resurrection has unleashed.
Jesus intentionally referred to Himself as the Resurrection and the Life. The end of our creed
is perhaps the best part as far as we are concerned. It might be what we are most concerned
with, or worried about, or even doubtful of. Jesus promised us eternal life that we should
never perish. To perish is not to die, it is to be separated from God for eternity. Our promise
is much greater than living forever. In modern medicine attempts are being made to ensure
2
Wright, N.T., Surprised by Hope, pg. 161, 192-193
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1 Corinthians 15:12-26
John 12:20-26
May 24, 2015
Pastor Lori Broschat
we can live a bodily life forever into the next century. We can print body parts in 3D printers
and replace organs like parts in an automobile engine. I don’t imagine that’s what Christ had
in mind when He promised eternal life.
His promise is you will never die, meaning not that you will escape death, but that death will
prove to be a trivial episode, a transition to fullness of life. Death is still an enemy, but it is a
defeated enemy. It belongs to the former, sinful world we will leave behind.
Paul said it best when he stated, “It is not I who live, but Christ who lives in me.” Christ is not
dead, He is alive and He is living in the body of believers in the world who represent His church
and His mission. The church is Christ existing as community.
This eternal life we receive is not of our own doing. It is a gift of God. In an encyclopedia
definition, eternal life is God’s own life, burning brightly not only with his vitality, but with his
own character. God’s life alone is able to break the grip of death on humanity. God’s life alone
can provide a basis for a warm personal relationship with the Lord. God’s life alone can lift
humanity to the destiny for which we were originally intended.3
Eternal life may be endless, but its quality and character are different than that life lived in the
earthly body. It will not be tedious or boring, but filled with meaning beyond anything we
have ever experienced. John said when Christ appears we will be like Him, which is not to say
we become gods. We will always be created beings, totally dependent on His life for our
existence. We will be like Him in the sense that we share more and more of His holiness,
purity, and joy.4
Eternal life remains a mystery we will one day see revealed. For now, rest assured that as you
declare your belief in both the resurrection of the body, your body, and the life everlasting,
your life, both are promises of God, who cannot be false to us and will never leave us.
I’ll close with this wistful yet meaningful quote from author Phillip Yancey, “All the beauty and
joy we meet on earth represent only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a
tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited.”
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4
Richards, Lawrence O., editor, Encyclopedia of Bible Words, pg. 412
Tennent, Timothy C., This We Believe! Meditations on the Apostles’ Creed, pg. 104
4