1 Corinthians 15.50-58
When I used to play football, I’d often come home covered in mud & sweat. Hair all over the place. Jersey half tucked in, socks rolled down with shin pads still visible. It wasn’t a pretty sight, I am the first to recognise that. Whenever I came home my parents would tell me that I needed to shower immediately. “You can’t go out for food looking and smelling like that.” Apparently.
So I would do exactly that. Wash, change into smart attire. De-scruff myself until I was presentable enough to head out for food with the family.
There is an inherent problem. An issue that needs fixing. An issue with our “flesh and blood”. Our bodies. Put quite simply, our bodies are perishable. They will decay and ultimately they will die. But God is creating a new world, in Jesus, in which perishing, decaying and death have no say. That is a brief summary of this long chapter!
Lets move through the passage. Paul has a mystery to speak of. “We will not all die” before this triumphant day when God draws back the curtains and unveils his new masterpiece. BUT! We ALL will be changed. All of us who know and love our Saviour, have repented of the wrongs we have done and have the HOLY Spirit placed as a seal in our lives, guaranteeing our salvation. TRANSFORMATION AWAITS US!
Transformation is necessary. In fact, if we call to mind this inherent sin which infects us all, transformation is therefore vital if we are to enter God’s new world.
The analogy I began with is not a great comparison of the change that Paul is referring to as he is speaking of the transformation of the inner reality of who and what we are. But it is true that our corruptible, decaying bodies must change if we are to enter the promised sanctuary that God is creating anew for us.
Paul conveys this exact thought when he writes to the church in Philippi. In chapter 3:20-21 he says:
“But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.”
What an amazing thought. A body like our Saviours is what awaits us.
“Thanks be to God! HE gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”
This all happens in a “twinkling of an eye, in a flash, at the last trumpet”. As that trumpet blast echoes triumphantly across the cosmos creation will meet its intended goal, the enemies of sin and death will be defeated. The story of creator God’s victory over all of the forces of chaos and destruction will be a sudden and glorious reality. What a hope and what a God.
Paul however, finishes this passage in a peculiar place. Surely his outro should be: “PRAISE BE. HALLELUJAH!” Or, is verse 57 not the ultimate ending point? Or even he could reiterate the future hope which he has just spoken of? Did Paul just get side-tracked and write verse 58 without thinking? Well, no. Verse 58 is key to understanding the here and now in which Paul alludes to. You see, the truth of the resurrection of the dead and the transformation of the living is not just a truth statement concerning future hope. It is a PRESENT truth of what we are and what we do. We cannot separate our future hope from our present responsibility. What an encouragement and challenge that our faithful obedience and service to God and His people at the present will last, will matter and will stand for eternity.
In closing, N. T. Wright says the following:
“How God will take our prayer, our art, our love, our writing, our political action, our music, our honesty, our daily work, our pastoral care, our teaching, our whole selves – How God will take this and weave its varied strands into the glorious tapestry of His new creation, we can at present have no idea. That he will do so is part of the truth of the resurrection, and perhaps one of the most comforting parts of all.”
N. T. Wright, Paul for Everyone: 1 Corinthians
Friends, how amazing is this? Let us continue to serve our God in the here and now in light of the triumphant future hope that awaits us.
Father, thank you that you have set in our hearts the incredible hope of eternal communion with you. May our lives reflect your wonderful Son more and more each day that we live. Encourage us all this day. In Jesus’ name,
Amen.