LAST SUNDAY'S SERMON NOTES
Read Peter's preaching notes....
Every Sunday “the rez of the body:” say it, do you mean it?
even know what it means?
start w/ X: always good place to start
when we celebrate his rez, acknowledge belief in bodily rez
Jesus didn’t just come back as a spirit or something
actually, physically present: ate food, people could touch
but at same time, something different about
able to appear in locked rooms, not always recognized (Mary Mag, Emmaus)
when ascended, ascended physically to heaven
easier to understand w/ ancient cosmology: heaven dome over earth
apparently some people still believed in 20th c
or, some people believed that some people believed
Khrushchev: “Gagarin flew into space and didn’t see God:” BTW Gargarin Xn
Suspect most of us believe, as I do, that heaven not physical place
at least, physical place in this universe: entirely other realm of existence
when Jesus ascended, entered into this other realm of existence
From very beginning, some Xns uncomfortable w/ idea that Jesus has or had body
Docetists: only appeared to be physical, actually only spirit
Gnostic: physical world bad, need to be freed from
real head-scratcher to consider Jesus still has body
puzzlement about us, too: what does it mean to say believe bodies will be rez’d?
JW answer: heaven exactly like earth, only perfect: no sin, disease, suffering, warfare
easy way out of difficult quandary, but not what Bible teaches
raises whole bunch of problems of its own: how old, eg?
What’s the big deal? if such a problematic belief, why even have it?
why not just say that after die become pure spirit, as Gnostics would like
go to sp realm of heaven to be w/ purely sp. Jesus?
why not say heaven simply ideal version of earth, as JW say?
Two reasons why big deal
1. Our rez connected to Jesus’s rez
earlier in ch: “If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain”
to deny that we will be rez’d in body is to deny X’s rez: cornerstone of our faith
2. Not really us w/out body: body part of what makes us who we are
as said couple weeks ago: we do not have a body, we are a body
impossible to be “you” w/out body, anymore than could be you w/out soul, mind
everything that makes you who are you will be you in new life
1 Cor 15 best place in Bible to learn about rez body
helpful, but still mystery
Paul offers metaphor of seed and plant like wheat
seed you plant doesn’t look anything like wheat that grows from it
hard oval kernel becomes green leafy plant that bears harvest
our bodies same thing: body we have now like the seed planted in ground
rez body completely different, just as plant is different from seed it came from
John 12:24-25: “Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.”
bodies we have now, life we now live in this world will come to end
must die in order to be reborn, discover new life
new body to come completely different: only find it when lose earthly body
Perhaps that’s why Paul’s words so confusing
talking about what is beyond our understanding
v 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body
we have sense what spirit it, we have sense what body is
but what in the world is a sp body? sounds like oxymoron
like liquid air or hot snow
why Paul calls us foolish: applying standards of this life to life to come
trying to imagine grain of wheat turning into giant grain, not plant
ultimately fall into mystery: believe w/out fully wrapping mind around
Possible hint in Gr words Paul uses in 1 Cor σαρχ vs σωμα: flesh vs body
synonymous to us: our body is our flesh: Paul hints at something different
elsewhere in Paul’s writing, σαρχ/flesh = sinful fallen human nature
here, it is the flesh that perishes, but σωμα /body continues
when speaks of rez body, calls it σωμα not σαρχ
hint/implication: whatever is sinful, fallen, broken about us will fall away
in rez, will have body w/out flesh, σωμα w/out σαρχ, ie sinful nature
rez body means we will be who we really are w/out stain of sin or shortcoming
image of God in each of us will blaze forth, instead of have to squint sometimes to see
Earliest history of Eng people written in 731 by monk known as Venerable Bede
in it, tells story of conversion of King Edwin of Northumbria hundred yrs before
Roman monk Paul presented gospel, Edwin asked counsellors what they thought
It seems to me, O king, that this present life on earth, in comparison to the time that is unknown to us, is as if you were sitting at your dinner tables with your noblemen, warmed in the hall, and it rained and it snowed and it hailed; and one sparrow came from outside and quickly flew through the hall in through one door and out through the other. During the time that he was inside, he was not touched by the storm of the winter. But that is the blink of an eye, but he immediately goes into winter again. So then this life of men appears for a short amount of time; what came before or what follows after, we do not know. Therefore, if this new lore brings anything more certain, it is worthy of that that we follow it.”
even know what it means?
start w/ X: always good place to start
when we celebrate his rez, acknowledge belief in bodily rez
Jesus didn’t just come back as a spirit or something
actually, physically present: ate food, people could touch
but at same time, something different about
able to appear in locked rooms, not always recognized (Mary Mag, Emmaus)
when ascended, ascended physically to heaven
easier to understand w/ ancient cosmology: heaven dome over earth
apparently some people still believed in 20th c
or, some people believed that some people believed
Khrushchev: “Gagarin flew into space and didn’t see God:” BTW Gargarin Xn
Suspect most of us believe, as I do, that heaven not physical place
at least, physical place in this universe: entirely other realm of existence
when Jesus ascended, entered into this other realm of existence
From very beginning, some Xns uncomfortable w/ idea that Jesus has or had body
Docetists: only appeared to be physical, actually only spirit
Gnostic: physical world bad, need to be freed from
real head-scratcher to consider Jesus still has body
puzzlement about us, too: what does it mean to say believe bodies will be rez’d?
JW answer: heaven exactly like earth, only perfect: no sin, disease, suffering, warfare
easy way out of difficult quandary, but not what Bible teaches
raises whole bunch of problems of its own: how old, eg?
What’s the big deal? if such a problematic belief, why even have it?
why not just say that after die become pure spirit, as Gnostics would like
go to sp realm of heaven to be w/ purely sp. Jesus?
why not say heaven simply ideal version of earth, as JW say?
Two reasons why big deal
1. Our rez connected to Jesus’s rez
earlier in ch: “If there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain and your faith has been in vain”
to deny that we will be rez’d in body is to deny X’s rez: cornerstone of our faith
2. Not really us w/out body: body part of what makes us who we are
as said couple weeks ago: we do not have a body, we are a body
impossible to be “you” w/out body, anymore than could be you w/out soul, mind
everything that makes you who are you will be you in new life
1 Cor 15 best place in Bible to learn about rez body
helpful, but still mystery
Paul offers metaphor of seed and plant like wheat
seed you plant doesn’t look anything like wheat that grows from it
hard oval kernel becomes green leafy plant that bears harvest
our bodies same thing: body we have now like the seed planted in ground
rez body completely different, just as plant is different from seed it came from
John 12:24-25: “Unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.”
bodies we have now, life we now live in this world will come to end
must die in order to be reborn, discover new life
new body to come completely different: only find it when lose earthly body
Perhaps that’s why Paul’s words so confusing
talking about what is beyond our understanding
v 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body
we have sense what spirit it, we have sense what body is
but what in the world is a sp body? sounds like oxymoron
like liquid air or hot snow
why Paul calls us foolish: applying standards of this life to life to come
trying to imagine grain of wheat turning into giant grain, not plant
ultimately fall into mystery: believe w/out fully wrapping mind around
Possible hint in Gr words Paul uses in 1 Cor σαρχ vs σωμα: flesh vs body
synonymous to us: our body is our flesh: Paul hints at something different
elsewhere in Paul’s writing, σαρχ/flesh = sinful fallen human nature
here, it is the flesh that perishes, but σωμα /body continues
when speaks of rez body, calls it σωμα not σαρχ
hint/implication: whatever is sinful, fallen, broken about us will fall away
in rez, will have body w/out flesh, σωμα w/out σαρχ, ie sinful nature
rez body means we will be who we really are w/out stain of sin or shortcoming
image of God in each of us will blaze forth, instead of have to squint sometimes to see
Earliest history of Eng people written in 731 by monk known as Venerable Bede
in it, tells story of conversion of King Edwin of Northumbria hundred yrs before
Roman monk Paul presented gospel, Edwin asked counsellors what they thought
It seems to me, O king, that this present life on earth, in comparison to the time that is unknown to us, is as if you were sitting at your dinner tables with your noblemen, warmed in the hall, and it rained and it snowed and it hailed; and one sparrow came from outside and quickly flew through the hall in through one door and out through the other. During the time that he was inside, he was not touched by the storm of the winter. But that is the blink of an eye, but he immediately goes into winter again. So then this life of men appears for a short amount of time; what came before or what follows after, we do not know. Therefore, if this new lore brings anything more certain, it is worthy of that that we follow it.”
Old Union Presbyterian Church | 200 Union Church Road, Mars, PA 16046
724-538-8672 | OldUnionChurch@gmail.com
724-538-8672 | OldUnionChurch@gmail.com