Tuesday, April 6, 2021

Buried in Brokenness; Raised in Glory

 

Our bodies are buried in brokenness, but they will be raised in glory.  They are buried in weakness, but they will be raised in strength.  They are buried as natural human bodies, but they will be raised as spiritual bodies. For just as there are natural bodies, there are also spiritual bodies.  The Scriptures tell us, “The first man, Adam, became a living person.”   But the last Adam—that is, Christ—is a life-giving Spirit.  What comes first is the natural body, then the spiritual body comes later.  Adam, the first man, was made from the dust of the earth, while Christ, the second man, came from heaven.  Earthly people are like the earthly man, and heavenly people are like the heavenly man.  Just as we are now like the earthly man, we will someday be like the heavenly man.  What I am saying, dear brothers and sisters, is that our physical bodies cannot inherit the Kingdom of God.  These dying bodies cannot inherit what will last forever.  But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret.  We will not all die, but we will all be transformed!  It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown.  For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever.  And we who are living will also be transformed.  For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies.  Then, when our dying bodies have been transformed into bodies that will never die, this Scripture will be fulfilled:  “Death is swallowed up in victory.  O death, where is your victory?  O death, where is your sting?”  For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power.  But thank God!  He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ.  So, my dear brothers and sisters, be strong and immovable.  Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless.  1 Corinthians 15:43-58

Buried in brokenness; raised in glory, is the essence of redemption and grace.  We, who are broken, both in body and spirit, are dying.  We inhabit flesh that is passing away bit-by-agonizing-bit.  We spend more and more time in hospitals, waiting rooms, and treatment facilities as the years zip by. 

If we think of our bodies as houses, the windows fog over with cataracts, the skin of our houses suffer shingles, corrupted, peeling, and wrinkled.  Our nights and days get confused with insomnia and sleep-walking.  The pain of loneliness, the agony of knee joints scraping bone-on-bone, aching feet, and failing memory are signs that our human housing is crumbling as we frantically-search for a way to have five minutes not worrying abut the doctor’s bill, and wondering how to pay for the undertaker’s services. 

In all that physical and mental anguish, so consistent with 21st century COVID woes, healthcare complications, political posturing, and other cultural shifting sands, we still have not been able to overcome the worst of it – our guilt over that which bought us all this trouble – Adam and Eve’s trip to the forbidden fruit tree.

The evidence of just how advanced is this metastasized endemic of moral human failure, or sin, is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  With the unquestioned God-given answers to our need and solution to our dilemma, we celebrated the first “Good Friday” by nailing our anticipated salvation to crossbeams at Golgotha, the town garbage dump outside of Jerusalem.

But this Gospel also shows us the pattern of God’s love and amazing grace!  See here the pattern of our burial in brokenness and resurrection in glory:

On Good Friday we beat Jesus unrecognizable, mocked him, scourged, and crucified him.  Then we buried him in his brokenness, sealed the tomb, and walked away, imagining that was that!  We thought

We thought it was game-over, story finished; life would again be on our terms.  We thought!  But the tomb of brokenness couldn’t hold the Man of Sorrows.  Three days later the earth trembled, the curtain of separation in the Temple tore in two from the heavens to the earth, and on the earth, graves shook free their inhabitants; death walked in life sprung loose!

Come early Easter Sunrise the Graveyard became a Glory Ground!

Buried in brokenness, Raised in Glory!

The meaning of this is a pattern.  Jesus said we would also have this pattern.  Our bodies also get buried in our human brokenness.  And the song we sang last Sunday is also the song we will sing in just a few minutes, Victory in Jesus. 

The whole pattern of God’s plan for our brokenness, the redemption of our souls, and freedom from our sins, left off being prophecy, and settled forever into history on Easter morning when Jesus came out of the grave.  He broke the chains of sin and made for a new pattern.  Brokenness cannot bury us anymore.

In Paul’s letter to the Corinthian church he reminded them of these facts.  In Jesus’ conquering death and sin there is a new pattern:

·       The nature of who we’ve been gives way to the spiritual of who He is

·       The earthly mind gives way to the mind set on God’s Kingdom

·       Dying gives way to Transformation and we become His image again

·       Sin gives way to Victory, and we are more than conquerors!

I am once-again reminded of the kind of faith we saw in public life in past generations.  On his eightieth birthday, John Quincy Adams was walking slowly along a Boston street.  A friend asked him How is John Quincy Adams today?   The former president replied graciously:

Thank you, John Quincy Adams is well, sir, quite well, I thank you.  But the house in which he lives at present is becoming dilapidated.  It is tottering upon the foundations.  Time and the seasons have nearly destroyed it.  Its roof is fairly-well worn out, its walls are shattered, and it trembles with every wind.  The old tenement is becoming almost uninhabitable, and I think John Quincy Adams will have to move out of it soon; but he himself is quite well, sir, quite well.

This is the kind of faith that understands we will all be buried in our brokenness; these bodies were never meant to be permanent prisons for transformed souls.

So…where do YOU stand…willing to remain in brokenness, and ready to be raised for judgment? 

Or are you willing to stand with Jesus, be healed of the worst of your brokenness, which separates you from God, and someday, when your name is called from above, stand before God with Jesus at your side, and hear from the Father, Well done faithful one…you have fought the good fight, and finished well?

Our Prayer

Father, our hearts are gladdened by the sight of an empty cross and an empty tomb.  Thank you for the gift we can receive of forgiveness and eternal life in Jesus Christ. 

For the glory, honor, and praise to which You alone are worthy, o Lord, we pray in the Name of the Son, cooperating with the Spirit, to honor and exalt the Majesty of the Father.  Let it be so in each of our lives…Amen!

Title Image:  via Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation 



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