Work for a Prize

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.” “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

I Corinthians 15:54-58

 

Motivation is a funny thing. Often it is fleeting and fickle. Some say it is a law of physics – a body at rest tends to stay at rest. Others would say motivation is directly related to how desirable the prize is. In this passage, Paul says our prize is victory.

 

Yet success does not come without labor and sacrifice. The ultimate of which was the life, ministry, death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. But we cannot rest on His laurels.

 

Paul gives us two commands: stand firm and give ourselves fully to the work of the Lord. Be strong, letting nothing move us except the Holy Spirit. Work hard, for our labor is not meaningless. Follow Jesus in holding onto all His teachings about how to live our lives. Put our shoulder to the plow to continue His work in the world.

 

The power of sin will be overcome by the victory we have through Christ. The condemnation of the law is lifted and the grace of the Lord flows like a river over us. We find ourselves humbled and thankful to be a part of this imperishable victory.

The Temporal and the Eternal

But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So it is written: “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man. I declare to you, brothers and sisters, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— 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. For the perishable must clothe itself with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality.                                       I Corinthians 15:35, 42-53

 

Since we were born, we have only known this fallen world where pain, death and decay have the upper hand. For those who are of heaven, this is not the world in which we will experience eternal life.

 

Our bodies will die, but we will be raised into new life in the eternal kingdom of our God. When we are resurrected, we will have an opposite life experience. Life, health and beauty will reign.

 

In this mortal life, most of our attention and energies are expended tending to the care of our natural bodies. Unfortunately, it often seems a hopeless cause as we all eventually face diminishing health and death.

 

How glorious it will be in the day of our resurrection when we will receive our imperishable bodies! Our attention and energies can then focus on the spiritual. It is exciting to think that the spiritual life we have now is but the tip of the iceberg compared to what lies ahead of us. Who knows what God has in store for one who is of heaven?

 

For starters, I think I’ll spend a few decades hearing first-hand testimonies about all God has done in the world over the millennia. Then I want to learn every language so I can praise the Lord in any tongue. Then I think I’ll spend a few years writing songs and books of worship and reflection about the goodness of God. Finally, I want to meet all the animals on the new earth, hold them and tell them how beautiful God made them.

 

Regardless of how we spend our time in eternal life, we’ll never stop basking in the likeness of the life-giving man from heaven.

Kinds of Bodies

How foolish! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies.  When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed, perhaps of wheat or of something else. But God gives it a body as he has determined, and to each kind of seed he gives its own body. Not all flesh is the same: People have one kind of flesh, animals have another, birds another and fish another. There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.                                          I Corinthians 15:36-41

 

There is a scene in the movie Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves  where Morgan Freeman’s character is asked by a little girl why God painted him black. He responded, “Because [God] loves diversity.” The creative genius of our Heavenly Father is beyond our understanding. The vastness and complexity of His creation is more developed than we will ever know. His attention to detail is unmatched.

 

In this passage, Paul scratches the surface of the wonders of God’s creation. He discusses the bafflement that comes when we ponder how God creates life out of death, fits the genetics of large bodies into tiny seeds, and gives even the stars unique attributes and identities. We wonder why He went to such lengths to make every star different or every snowflake its own design. Perhaps it is because He likes it that way. Perhaps it reflects how deeply He cares about every atom and cell. Assuredly, it lends evidence of intelligent design for our planet.

 

How unchanging God is in the consistency of His creation. Apple seeds only produce apple trees. A deer only gives birth to fawns. Only heavenly bodies can create the splendor of other heavenly bodies. We can bend the lines of God’s creation with cross-breeding and hybridization, but God only allows the rules to be bent so far. A hybrid plant cannot reproduce itself, giving only smaller, sterile seeds or producing a plant that flashes back to one of the original varieties. A hybrid animal, such as a mule, cannot produce offspring.

 

Man can manipulate God’s gift of life, but we cannot create life from that which is dead. That power is in God’s hands alone. In fact, He has imbedded it into the very fabric of nature itself so that a seed must die before it can bring forth fruit. Jesus also had to die to give us eternal life.