What Happens to Our Body?
Dr. Larry Thorson
Scripture:
I Corinthians 15:12-19
12 But if it is preached that Christ has been raised from the
dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 13 If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even
Christ has been raised. 14 And if Christ has not been
raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. 15
More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have
testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise
him if in fact the dead are not raised. 16 For if the
dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. 17
And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your
sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in
Christ are lost. 19 If only for this life we have hope
in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all others.
Today’s New International Version Copyright © 2001,
2005 by International
Bible Society
Life after death. What happens to our body when we die? I am often asked that question. Maybe you would say that you don’t spend
time every day wondering about death and what follows. You may say you’re too busy with the demands
of this life to worry about the next one. But whatever it is that we are trying to
accomplish day after day has more to do with our view of death than we may
realize.
When the Bible says from dust we came
and to dust we return it’s not very flattering. As a result much of what our busy, daily
routines are about is the search to find more significance to our lives than a
journey from dust to dust. Some of us try to accumulate enough wealth to leave
a legacy behind for our children. Others try to create a legacy by what they
build or achieve during their fleeting years. Still others aren’t thinking
about a legacy at all. They are just knocking themselves out to do a memorable
job with life, at least in the hearts of those who will miss them when they’re
gone. But all of that is a way of saying, “I’m not just dust! My life has
significance to it that will outlive me!” And that’s the search for
immortality.
When Paul wrote his letter to the
Corinthians, the people he was writing had been steeped in the belief that the
soul lives forever. The body, they believed, was not important. In fact, it
wasn’t even real in their eyes because it could die. What was really real to
them was the soul, which was immortal. While the body was weak, earthly, and
mortal, the soul would live forever. This belief had even made its way into the
church in the form of a heresy that would later be called Gnosticism.
Some Christian Gnostics were advocating that the
church forget about the bodily concerns of this life, including helping the
sick and the poor. What’s important, they claimed, is to nurture the spiritual
life of the immortal soul.
As surprising as this may be to some of
you, there is nothing in the Bible that teaches the immortality of the soul. Because
the point of everything the Bible teaches about the next life is to help us
live faithfully in this life. To care
for the body is to care for the soul.
At the time and place Paul wrote this
letter, the people were living self-indulgent lives. They had abandoned their standards of right
and wrong. Even the Jewish ruling class,
the Sadducees, who did not believe in the resurrection of the dead, had
abandoned the Ten Commandments. But all of them believed that the soul would
live forever.
Every time in history that a society
loses its ability to be virtuous, a strong belief in the immortality of the
soul arises. It is as if to say, “It
doesn’t matter how I live – whether I take care of the poor, live ethically, or
give my life over to a worthwhile and eternal mission – because the only thing
that matters is that my soul is going to be okay. They know the salvation
formula. It’s as if they have fire insurance for their soul.
The AARP did a study recently of their
constituents, those 50 and over and what they believed about eternal life.[1] They found that people 50 and over generally agree
with the statement “I believe in life after death” (73%). Women are a lot more likely to believe in an
afterlife (80 percent) than men (64 percent). Two thirds of those who believe
also said their confidence in a life after death had increased as they got
older.
It’s even harder talking to the younger
generation in this post modern era when heaven for many is whatever you make it
to be. Getting to heaven is whatever
path you choose to take.
As Paul continues, he goes on to claim
that after death, those who participate in the life of Christ on this earth will
also participate in his resurrection. “Now
if Christ is proclaimed risen from the dead, how can some of you say there is
no resurrection from the dead? . . . If Christ has not been raised from the
dead,
then your faith is
futile.” This
means that Christian hope is based on Jesus Christ who lived, and died, and was
raised from the dead. If we live with him, we die with him, and are risen with
him.
Beyond
that, the Bible doesn’t say much about the resurrection of the body.
It is amazing how important this
doctrine is to our faith, and yet it is not explained in the Bible. Does the
resurrection happen immediately upon death? Does it occur at the end of time?
Or does the space-time continuum of heaven differ from earth so that the dead
are raised immediately when Christ returns? Will we recognize our loved ones in
heaven? Will our personalities persevere? And what exactly does this
resurrection of a body that’s returned to dust look like? The Bible doesn’t say.
By its silence, the Bible seems to be claiming
that that’s not the point of heaven. The point is to take bodily life on earth
very, very seriously.
“He is not here.” So many times I have
stood beside a wife or a husband, or a son or a daughter, right after a loved
one has died. Do you know what they always say? “He is not here.” As they look
at that dead body, they just know the life is gone, and the person is gone.
That’s because he or she has been raised from the
dead.
What is their life like now? We don’t
know. What we know is they were given life here by the grace of God, this life
was sustained here only by grace, they did die, and by grace were raised by
God. Now they are in the Father’s hands, which is a very good place to be. And
the Bible seems to believe that is all we
need
to know in order to live virtuously in this mortal life – under heaven.
So we don’t have to waste time trying to be our
own savior. There is not a saint in
heaven who is there because they were good enough. They’re there because by
grace, God raised
them
from the dead. That’s freeing.
You may be asked this week what happens to the
body when we die. We don’t know. What we do know is that our life goes on
beyond the life span of the body. Life
is eternal. But sin separated us from
God. Jesus was resurrected from the dead
and those who believe in him will also be resurrected in God’s perfect
timing.
Heaven proclaims that the end of your story is
already written, and by the grace of God, it ends wonderfully. There’s not a
thing you can do to make it end any better. Since the ending is already
written, that gives you all the freedom in heaven and on earth to live today as
if it is eternally important, and as if today is all you have – which it is. I like what Mark Twain said "Let us
endeavor to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be
sorry."
So quit worrying about cremation or
embalming. That’s not important. If it was important the Bible would have said
which way to go. Just make your decision
and stick with it. You’ll be resurrected
with or without that blame body if you believe in Jesus.
Quit worrying about whether Muslims, Jews or pygmies
in
What the Bible says we need to be concerned with
is not the
Then when you get a chance to talk to a pygmy you
don’t have to be concerned about converting him just loving him with the love
Jesus showed you and he too can meet Jesus.
That’s what we need to be concerned with.
This sermon was adapted from
a sermon written and delivered by Dr. M. Craig Barnes at the Shadyside
Presbyterian Church in