SCRIPTURE: 1 Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-50
TEXT: THEME: The essence of who we are passes from this life into the imperishable. INTRODUCTION Paul began his letter to the church in Corinth about how diverse the members of the church are compared to Judaism; He also described the variety of ways we all have a part in the church and the gifts of God’s Spirit that enable us to do different things. We need to recognize and appreciate each other, treating everyone with respect. Being loving is the key for the church to participate in the continuing mission of God. God is building upon the spiritual heritage of the past. A key component to this is to live as resurrected people. This shifts our focus off of the cross and on to the resurrection. When our focus is on the cross, we are concerned about our salvation. We are balancing our sin with forgiveness to keep us in God’s good graces and merit eternal life. Sometimes it causes those who live their faith this way to feel righteous in what they do over how other have come to live their faith. I had lunch with a friend who ate only Kosher foods. He took pride in how he followed those dietary rules of the Bible and boasted that if Jesus were to come again and were on Maui that his house would be the only place that Jesus could eat properly prepared foods. So, what if God’s good grace was more abundant and generously distributed than we imagined and even covered all of the foods that we eat. Imagine Jesus’ death on the cross, sacrificial, but not as a sacrifice to settle our sin debt with God, because there is no such thing, but as a consequence of not forgoing love for us, that spurs him on to teach, heal, proclaim and minister, instead of Self-preservation. And that the focal point of the resurrection is the key for our living as Christians. The Architects of this sanctuary had this in mind as the central figure of the stained-glass windows point to the risen Christ at the empty tomb. The original cross of this building was 2 1/2 feet tall, before it was replaced in the 70’s with an 8-foot cross. With this, we continue with what Paul has to say about living as people of the resurrection, instead of people who are trying to save their lives through forgiveness paid for on the cross. SCRIPTURE “How does the resurrection take place?” A legitimate question. But when we don’t know the science behind it, we hate questions we don’t have answers for. So, what do when we are asked such a question? We make the inquisitor the problem. There may not be any stupid questions, but Paul calls those who pose such a question “Fools!” It has something to do with when we die and the perishable being raised imperishable. This is God’s doing. Last week I used the illustration of the caterpillar and the butterfly. I cannot explain to you what happens in the chrysalis other than telling you that the caterpillar creates this around itself (again I don’t know how it does this) and a transformation takes place while in there, for a butterfly to emerge. Paul uses the illustration of the seed to explain the resurrection. A plant produces a flower that yields a seed. Contained in that seed is all of the DNA instructions, its assignments, its genetic information, its programing, its essence, its spirit, its soul to be buried in the ground and germinate into a new body of its own. The essence, spirit and soul in our perishable body is buried and resurrected and our essence, spirit and soul inherit an imperishable, heavenly, powerful body. This is what God does. This is how we get butterflies and how seeds grow into plants. APPLICATION Our spirit breeches earth and heaven, alive in these bodies and in resurrected ones in heaven. Our souls breech our humanity into resurrection. Our personalities breach the physical body into our heavenly bodies. How does our focus on the resurrection change the way we live today? We live with a new reality that Jesus initiates through his own resurrection, that our spirits pass through these amazing bodies, when they are unable to keep on living and our essence continue in bodies raised in glory. Death is not a finality but has become a departure. Our essence, spirit, personality, persona, humor, soul is planted and alive in a heavenly body. What is a soul? I don’t know how to explain what a soul is, except in this way. Our copyright permission is given through a company called CCLI, you can select a song, and if you don’t know what it sounds like, there is a feature that plays the melody line, technically accurate in pitch and timing but robotic, as if played on a toy piano. It lacks soul, feeling, passion and an interpretation of the music. It is our soul that brings music to life and makes our life a unique expression. This part of us, is given a new body when the one we are wearing reaches its limit. Other Parts of our spirit are humor, compassion, caring, kindness and are lived in relationship with each other and God. These are lived now and don’t go away in the resurrection. God has these characteristics, why shouldn’t we expect our selves to, in God’s glory? We don’t have to wait until we die to begin to be transformed by the resurrection. The nature of our resurrected life is in relationship. We can do the work of reconciliation now, we can engage in the work of justice, equality, and human rights as we move from being self-centered towards loving others. Respect, appreciation, love, healing, caring, sharing and stewardship are practices in this life transformed by Jesus love in the resurrection. The work of liberation, freedom, evolving society, and building better communities is the work of resurrected people living their lives now. We create, imagine, work, play and worship together. CONCLUSION When we focus on the cross our scope is very narrow if it is only for the payment of our sins. But when we see the love of Christ that leads up to such a tragic event, then we see our inspirations for living transformed lives in the resurrection. In doing the research for this sermon I read an interview by Walter Brueggeman and a blog post by Marcus Borg. They both traced their words for compassion or mercy from the Hebrew word that means womb. Being nurtured in the loving, life giving womb of a mother we are transformed to live resurrected lives, giving oneself away for the sake of neighbors.
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