I took my first adult funeral service today. James died last Tuesday morning, after a rapid decline in his health over the weekend. He was 28 years old. He left behind his wife Sarah and a host of family and friends. This is the text of the sermon I preached. Both Sarah and James left me in no doubt of what they wanted me to say!

Audio download available here http://www.christchurchbalham.org.uk/ccb/sermons.php

A few days ago when Sarah and I were talking she said this, ‘I want you to explain why James’ death is not the worst thing that ever happened and in many ways why it’s the best thing that’s ever happened’.

Is that not an extraordinary thing for a wife to say? Of course, James would have said the same thing. And on hearing those words we might assume that this was an unhappy marriage! But those of us who knew them well know that simply isn’t the case. There’s was a marriage in which the parts complemented the whole to greater effect. But is it not a surprising thing for a wife to say, a wife who adored her husband, a man she’d known since they were three, a wife who his mourns his departure and grieves the ‘neverness’ of their future life together?

So what could convince someone in the midst of the anguish of grief to say such a thing? Resuurection hope. It’s the hope of the resurrection, where the meaning of the word ‘hope’ is defined by the Bible and not by the dictionary. ‘Hope’ in Christian vocabulary means not ‘wishful thinking’ but ‘certain confidence’, the certain confidence that on the basis of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead that life does not end in the grave.

But that’s an idea that’s met by scepticism in our own age. Many find the idea of our bodily resurrection hard to accept. And they are not alone. Since that seems to have been the issue that dominated the passage Steven read to us earlier. Look at (35).

35 But someone may ask, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?"

Some were saying that the idea that a dead body could live again is ridiculous. They were denying that there was a physical, bodily resurrection for believers beyond the grave. It may be that some of us here may feel the force of that argument. But Paul responded in no uncertain terms.

36 How foolish!

And to establish the claim that our existence does not end in the grave Paul mentions three things about our bodies in what is a breathtaking section.

1. our bodies will be transformed (36-44)

In these verses the Apostle Paul demonstrates from the world around us that God has a track record of producing and transforming bodies.

In verses (36-38) Paul gives us a lesson in gardening.

What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. 37 When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. 38 But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body.

A seed must die before it emerges transformed as a plant. What we put into the ground is not the plant but the seed. It’s the same seed that arises out of the ground but it’s transformed with a new body. But God gives the seed a new kind of body ideally suited to its environment and purpose.

In verses (39-41) Paul takes us to the zoo, the aquarium and the planetarium.

39 All flesh is not the same: Men have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. 40 There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendour of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendour of the earthly bodies is another. 41 The sun has one kind of splendour, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendour.

Not all bodies are identical. God has clothed animals, birds and fish with different kinds of bodies. He has also created heavenly bodies with a splendour and brilliance that sets them apart from earthly bodies. Paul’s point is that it’s ridiculous to think that God can’t transform us for heaven. God has a CV with ’body manufacture’ as an area of expertise. Whether it’s land, sea, air or space God doesn’t struggle to make bodies designed for that environment.

And so in (42-44) Paul invites us to consider the implications for the resurrection of human bodies.

42 So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; 43 it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; 44 it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.

In the same way that seeds perish in the ground, our bodies will eventually wear out and die. But they will rise up out of the ground transformed. Our decaying, sinful, vulnerable and impotent bodies will be transformed into indestructible, glorious, powerful and everlasting bodies. 

In the 2 ½ years of James’ illness his physical capabilities slowly deteriorated. Increasingly he found himself unable to do the things that he wanted to do. Suffering further humiliating debilitation was one of the things he feared most from a protracted period of palliative care. In answer to his prayers God mercifully rescued him from that. Medical problems are not his issue any more. But it’s not simply that they’ve gone away it’s better than that. Wonderfully his ailing body will be completely transformed.

2. our bodies will be heavenly (44-49)

In this section Paul argued that since there is an earthly body for this earth so too must there be a heavenly body for heaven.

If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. 45 So it is written: "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit.

Paul teaches that there are two progenitors or originators for humanity. There’s the first Adam and the last Adam. Christian men and women can claim descent from both.

From the first Adam we gain natural human life.

Quoting from Genesis 2 Paul recalled the creation of the first man to enjoy relationship with God. God gave Adam an earthly body constituted from the chemical elements found in the ground. He was a man made from dust and sustained by God’s breath of life.

From the last Adam we gain supernatural resurrection life.

When he was raised from the dead, the second Adam, Jesus Christ received a different kind of body. In his resurrection appearances Jesus manifested a more glorious human existence. He not only has the breath of human life but he is able to give spiritual sustenance to those who believe in him. However, historically the first natural Adam preceded the last supernatural Adam.

46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven. 48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the man from heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man, so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.

Adam came before Christ and in the same way our natural existence must come before our supernatural existence. Put another way we must assume the appearance of the first Adam before we assume the appearance of the last Adam.

Of course this is not automatic. If we’re to share the hope of the resurrection body we need to be in Christ every bit as much as we’re in Adam. And to be in Christ is to be united to him by faith. Our deliberate identification with him is brought about by entrusting our past, our present and our future into his hands. This was James’ settled conviction. It never wavered even as he stared death in the face. And because of that faith he will enjoy a new existence.

3. our bodies will be imperishable (50-57)

In this section Paul explained that the resurrection body is necessary because perishable flesh and blood cannot survive in the eternal kingdom of God.

50 I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable

Because the perishable cannot inherit the imperishable we will be changed (51-53)

51 Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 52 in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.

The transformation of believers will occur when Christ returns. It will happen instantaneously. Those alive at the time of his return will be changed. Those who are asleep in death, present with Christ but not yet in bodily form, will also be changed. In less time than it takes to blink all of Christ’s people will be clothed by God with imperishable immortal bodies.

Clothed in immortality we can taunt death (54-55)

54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory." (Isaiah 25) 55 "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" (Hosea 3)

When Christ returns Christians will be able to take those Old Testament quotations to our lips and mock the threat of death. The reason for that taunting will be that death will be rendered impotent (56&57)

56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Sin, our refusal to let God direct our lives, is like a deadly sting that causes death. The law, the expression of God’s will for us, provokes our sinful disobedience. That deadly combination appears invincible. But death has been defeated not by us but by another who shares the spoils of his victory. In his death in our place, suffering the punishment for our sin and in his resurrection from the dead, guaranteeing our eternal life, Jesus Christ has rendered death impotent. Death was not the last word in Jesus’ biography nor will it be in ours.

We have not seen the last of James Meagher! Our relationship with him has not ended. It is merely interrupted. And painful though we find that interruption we await a future time when raised to life with him we will share in the victory achieved by our saviour Jesus Christ.

Conclusion

The conclusion comes in (58).

58 Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain.

In the face of the unsettling cynicism of their sceptical friends they were to remain unshaken in their commitment to the resurrection. There will always be those who try to persuade us that there’s no existence beyond the grave. The evidence says otherwise. James believed that.

But they were also to remain unyielding in their dedication to gospel work because it lasts into eternity. James was a man who remained a faithful servant of Christ and his gospel to the moment of his death. Not even sickness could prevent him from participating in church life as best as he was able.

When a grieving widow says, ‘this is not the worst thing that ever happened and in many ways why it’s the best thing that’s ever happened’ it is not wishful thinking. It’s a conclusion drawn from a conviction about the resurrection of the dead. And that transforms grief. We grieve, of course we do, because we miss him. And we grieve not for him but for ourselves. But our grief is not without that certain hope to sustain us. Let’s pray.