“One thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 3:13-14)
So, after our lives have ended, what will come next? At one level it’s apparent that our material ‘waste’ will be reconstituted into something different. In funeral services the words of committal still echo those of Ecclesiastes 3:20… we come from dust, and to dust we shall return, which prompted one child to deduce that somebody was either coming or going under the spare room bed!!
Are you driven by your past, your present or your future? Psychologists talk a lot about this, but it’s not a new idea. The Apostle Paul underwent appalling hardships during his travels, but he pressed on because of the goal that he believed lay in the future. So this morning we’re talking about the next life, reflecting on what it will be like, but also whether the prospect of being with Christ is the driving factor in our lives.
Paul has spent a long time in 1 Corinthians 15 talking about the resurrection of Christ and the resurrection of the dead. If there is no resurrection, then what’s the point of living a godly life? We may as well eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die. So in verses 35-49 he tries to describe the life to come. Ultimately he is describing the indescribable, so it’s not a detailed picture, but he offers some clues about resurrection bodies.
OUR BODIES WILL BE DIFFERENT verses 35-41
Paul makes a parallel with nature, and contrasts the seed with the plant. Unless you’re an expert, you may not be able to differentiate one seed from the next. At first sight who could possibly know that a single acorn could become a mighty oak tree?
But do you ever wonder what you might look like in the next life?
Hopefully I’m going to be different. In this life, I am defined by my skeletal eyes and lack of hair. When I walk down the street wearing a hat and dark glasses, you don’t recognise me. You think, who’s that handsome fella, and then I take them off and you say, Oh, it’s him!!
Jesus, during the 40 days after His resurrection, makes for an interesting study. In some ways He’s still the same … He talks to Mary outside the tomb, he cooks fish by the lake and even eats. Thomas is encouraged to touch his crucifixion wounds. But He’s also different. He passes through locked doors and vanishes when two people recognise Him as He breaks bread with them. He is the same Jesus and yet His body is different. The Gospels are careful with their language, talking about his post-resurrection ‘appearances’, because it’s a resurrection, not a resuscitation. He is no longer there 24 hours-a-day as once had been the case. Now He comes and goes, appearing unpredictably in order to convince His followers that He really is alive.
In verses 39-41 Paul flags up the variety we see in this life, so what might the future hold? I find this world amazing enough. I’m told there are …
- 360+ dog breeds
- 200 types of owl
- 3,000 species of snake
- 45,000 different types of spider
- And we humans are also incredibly diverse
I get the impression that there will be even more texture to life in heaven. Maybe our resurrection bodies will have distinctive new abilities. For a long time our kids used to love films like X-Men where you encounter mutants with amazing powers – Wolverine with his adamantium skeleton, Storm with her ability to control the weather. Wouldn’t that be exciting? No more walking sticks, no more glasses, no more limitations – instead a whole host of improvements, plus the prospect of showing God off to His future creations.
But the strange thing is that we don’t seem to like difference. The history of our human race is about small-minded tribalism and large-scale violence. We seem to prefer people who are like us, rather than broaden our minds by embracing difference. The majority of my church members in East London were of Jamaican origin, and I heard their stories of discrimination, rejection and even violence over many years. They were good people, but they were not well-received when they came here. If you’re not familiar with that, try watching Three little Birds on BBCiPlayer.
We used to have church lunches quite regularly in London. People would bring their favourite national dishes and after the service we would eat each other’s food, acclimatising our palates to an array of amazing flavours. Did you know that the word companion literally means someone you eat bread with? Well, we found food a wonderful way to expand our minds and build bridges with people who were different to us. Maybe eating food together is a stronger way to build fellowship than singing songs together.
Unlike us, God loves difference, and it looks like we’re going to get even more of it in heaven, so we may as well get used to it now.
OUR BODIES WILL BE ENDURING verses 42-44
Years ago somebody said to me that when I reached my mid-50s the decay would start to set in. Not me, I thought, but sure enough, whilst at 50 I still had good muscle tone, by the age of 55 I was on the slide and having to work hard to slow the decline. Life is cruel like that. It takes years for us to stand on our own two feet and take on the world, but then, as we get older, we begin to feel a whole host of chronic pains. I can’t remember the last time my back didn’t hurt.
It sometimes feels like we peak far too early and then we drift into a long, meandering demise. We accumulate so much experience and wisdom and responsibility, but then young people see us oldies as dinosaurs, out of touch with the real world. Their world doesn’t involve cash or the BBC or even Facebook now, and they look at you blankly when you talk in feet and inches rather than centimetres. Oscar Wilde had a point when he wrote that there are only two important things in life – youth and beauty.
But, says Paul, the future is mind-blowing. Ageing and decay will be history, for our new bodies will be powerful and beautiful and immortal.
Just in passing, Christians debate whether it will be a level playing field in the next life. 1 Corinthians 3:10-15 could suggest that those who have lived faithfully and served diligently will be rewarded with more (perhaps bodies with greater capacity), but the text isn’t explicit, and that debate can wait for another time.
EMBRACING THE FUTURE verses 45-49
Paul suggests a logical development. The physical first, then the spiritual. The first Adam became a living being, the second Adam (Jesus) a life-giving spirit. Our origins are limited, but our destiny is beyond our imagining! Our focus can either be on the familiar now, or on what’s yet to be, on what is temporary or on what is permanent.
Now it can be hard to work this out. We are physical beings, after all. We all need to eat and drink, to sleep, to wash our bodies and our clothes. If we have children, we have to attend to their needs. We can’t drop out of this life. But what we can do is embrace the way of life that Jesus taught us – love, kindness, gentleness, patience, helping others to experience God’s love.
But a word of caution! Sometimes following Jesus means challenging evil and pushing for change in this present life, and thank God for those people who did and who still do.
In the early 1800s only 11% of adult males had the vote, and the government feared that the revolution in France might trigger one in England. In 1817 the government turned down a petition from 750,000 working-class people calling for better representation in parliament, and then, in August 1819, 60,000 gathered in St. Peter’s Field (Manchester) to protest publicly. The local magistrates over-reacted and sent in both the local yeomanry and the 15th Hussars. 15 people died and over 600 were injured and, recalling the Battle of Waterloo 4 years earlier, a local paper dubbed it the Peterloo Massacre. The government’s outrageous response was to tighten the laws against political gatherings!
What doesn’t get remembered from that period is that in 1818 the government gave money for 50 new Anglican churches to be built. Many of those new churches still stand today. But many feel that the reason the government funded church buildings was that they saw us Christians as a safe pair of hands. We preached about future joy and were rarely a voice for change in the present
Anyway, this contrast between Adam and Jesus is a theme Paul regularly returns to, whether it’s Romans 5 or Philippians 2. There are two gardens:
- In Eden, Adam, told by the serpent that eating the fruit would make him a god, gladly succumbed to the temptation.
- In Gethsemane, Jesus, tempted to bypass the way of the cross, resisted resolutely with sweat like great drops of blood.
So I wonder how much difference any of this will make to me or any of us? A glorious future awaits, but right now we are called to take up our cross, knowing that a better day is coming. Will we choose to be shaped by the glorious destiny that Paul has described? Will we invest in the temporary things that we see now or in the permanent reality of what is yet to come?
The story is told of a missionary couple returning to the US after a lifetime of Christian service in Africa. It was early in the 20th Century, and the then US president, Theodore Roosevelt, was returning on the same ship from a few weeks of big game hunting. He was the focus of attention throughout the voyage and was greeted by a huge crowd as he disembarked. By contrast, the arrival of the two missionaries went unnoticed. They found lodgings for the night, but the disgruntled husband complained to his wife: the president received a rapturous welcome when he got home, and he had only been shooting animals! We have been serving the Lord. His wife advised him to go and pray while she prepared food. When he returned his face had brightened. He had heard God’s reassuring voice: you’re not home yet!
I guess that’s the Christian life in a nutshell.
This world is not my home, I’m just a-passing through
There may not be accolades in this life, but ultimately we look forward to being at home, in the eternal presence of the Jesus to whom we owe our salvation. And so, as we often finish our services, I say to you, Go in peace to love and serve the Lord, and you say to me … in the name of Christ, Amen.
St. George's Church Ramsgate 