1 Corinthians 15:50-58- The Immortal Man

The Immortal Man

1 Corinthians 15:50-58

John 3:1-8

I recently watched a movie called “The Immortal man”, out now on Netflix.

It was a movie based on the series “Peaky Blinders”.

Peaky Blinders was a gang from Birmingham (UK) who wore those caps which carried blades in their peaks.

The head of this gang was a man called Tom Shelby.

If you haven’t seen the series Peaky Blinders- you should- it’s good, a bit dark, but good.

It is the reason why many young, middle aged men started wearing these flat caps and long coats again- they wanted to be Tommy Shelby from the Peaky Blinders.

Anyway, after much anticipation of this movie coming out after the series of Peaky Blinders had ended- finally I watched it….  “The immortal man” , I watched it…….

And….I have to say, I was left very disappointed.

The movie never seems to live up to the series…..but I apart from that- I was still left disappointed from this movie- “The immortal man!”

Why?

Spoiler alert- in this movie which is titled “The immortal man”- Tom Shelby dies.

The leader of the gang dies: Tommy Shelby didn’t prove to be immortal after all.

His dead body was put in a gypsy wagon and it went up in smoke:  This immortal man, wasn’t so immortal after all. He was very much mortal.

Just like his brother- Arthur- died, he was mortal, just like his sister- Ada, who also died- I told you it was dark- but she was mortal too.

And as much as we can perform some mental gymnastics and try and say that Tommy Shelby was immortal, as his spirit continued to float in the gypsy smoke, or his spirit lived on in his son, or his memory continues to be immortal, or his legacy continued to be immortal- the fact is Tommy Shelby, like every other person who has ever lived on the face of this earth was mortal- He died.

His body was burnt, from dust and ashes he came, to dust and ashes he went.

Tommy Shelby was just like King Nebuchadnezzar, he live and died,

He was like the apostle Paul, he lived and died,

He was like Julius Caesar- he live and died,

He was like the prophet Mohammed, he lived and died.

Friends, as we once again think upon Jesus this Easter Sunday, I want to remind you of our one great hope once again.

Remind you that the man- Jesus, the God-man Jesus, not only lived and died, but he lived, he died and he came back to life.

Jesus is immortal, because not only is he human but he is also God.

Friends, this Easter Sunday, we are reminded once again, that at the centre of our hope, is the physical resurrection of Jesus.

We are reminded as the apostle Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15:1-4, that just as Jesus died according to the scriptures, and just as Jesus was buried according to the scriptures, three days later Jesus rose from the dead according to the scriptures.

When the women went to the tomb on that Sunday morning to cover the dead body of Jesus with spices…….they couldn’t…… because there was no physical body there, his body had been risen back to life- scars and all.

His resurrection from the dead, wasn’t just some spiritual resurrection, it wasn’t some resurrection of his legacy, or his memory, but his resurrection three days later was a real, physical resurrection.

So real was Jesus’ physical resurrection, that his disciple Thomas was able to put his fingers in the holes in his hands and feet that the nails made in his body during his death. So real was his physical resurrection that Thomas was able to put his hand in the side were the spear had pierced him.

So real was the physical resurrection of Jesus that he was able to eat breakfast with his disciples on the beach after he came back to life. So real was the physical resurrection of Jesus that he was able to share bread with his two disciples at Emmaus.

Friends, the fact is, that Jesus rose from the dead, and this gives us all hope, and why?

Well, look at 1 Corinthians 15:20 with me

But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep

The apostle Paul is saying here, that since Christ has been raised from the dead, we too, those who trust and believe in Christ as our Lord and Saviour, will also be raised back to life. Christ is the first fruit, he was the first one, the one who died and came back to life- and so because he did it, we can be assured that we too, when we fall asleep,   that is when we die, when we die in this life, we too will be raised back to life.

Raised back and be clothed with a new spiritual and physical body.

Paul describes this coming back to life like a seed and a plant.

Our earthly bodies, now are like seeds, and yet when we get to heaven, our new bodies are like the crop, or the flower, or the plant that comes from the seed. Our new bodies will be much more glorious than our bodies now. Our new bodies won’t grow old and die, like our bodies now, but our new bodies will be glorious.

And just like the apple seed which produces an apple tree, our new bodies will resemble something of our old bodies, but they will be much better. When Jesus was transfigured into his glorious body on top of the mountain, he met up with Moses and Elijah. They had their new glorious bodies and yet they were still Moses and Elijah.

You will still be you when you are given a new body, you will just be perfect.

1 Thessalonians 5, it tells us that when we get to heaven, we will still be able to recognise our loved ones who died in Christ, they will just have a much better body.

The apostle Paul describes this changing of our bodies as the perishable putting on the imperishable, or the mortal putting on the immortal.

You see brothers and sisters, because Jesus died and rose again, for the believer, death truly has lost its sting, death has been swallowed up in victory.

Yes, our mortal body still dies, because we have all been stained by sin, but death is not the end, we will be transformed and put on a new immortal body.

Jesus said this, He said,  “I am the resurrection and the life, whoever believes in me, though he die, yet he shall live”

What a wonderful future hope we have in Christ.

And yet friends, this Easter time, I want you to know, that Christianity is not about just waiting for the time that we die, and being changed.

This building is not just God’s waiting room.

NO, friends, that transformation, that change, starts in this life and it starts from God doing a work with in us.

Just look at 1 Corinthians 15:50 with me

I tell you this brothers and sisters, flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable.

When Paul says here, that flesh and blood cannot inherit thew kingdom of God, he doesn’t mean that our new heavenly bodies won’t be physical- they will…..but he is talking about our fallen human state.

He is talking about our physical bodies we have now.

These seeds.

Because sin entered the world through our human representatives Adam and Eve and ever since we have all been stained with sin, it is in our DNA. We are all sinners as Romans 3 tells us. And so now, if we are just left in this state , this sinful state of flesh and blood as Paul describes it here, we cannot enter into God’s kingdom, we cannot enter heaven, we cannot be raised back to life.

So what can we do now?

What can we do to make sure we enter God’s kingdom, to make sure we can put on immortality?

Well, the bible tells us, there is nothing we can do………

No amount of penance, no amount of Good works, no amount of money given to charity..

Just look at this conversation that Jesus had with a Jewish leader called Nicodemus, this is from John chapter 3:1-8

It is a conversation about being part of God’s kingdom.

Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. ² This man came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him.” ³ Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” ⁴ Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” ⁵ Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. ⁶ That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.^[c] 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You^[d] must be born again.’ ⁸ The wind^[e] blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Jesus tells us that if we want to enter the kingdom of God, if we want to go to heaven, we must be born again. We must be born of the spirit, we must be given His Holy Spirit, and God gives his spirit to whomever he pleases, we just have to humbly ask for his Spirit to be birthed in our hearts.

When Jesus gives us his spirit, that imperishable is already at work in our perishable bodies. Our bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit. Yes we should look after them, but with the knowledge that we will get a new body in heaven, as the perishable puts on the imperishable, as the mortal puts on the immortal.

Friends, because Jesus died and rose again, we can be confident that when we die, we will rise again, we can be confident that our bodies will be transformed, and we can also be confident that, that transformation starts now, in the depths of our hearts, by his spirit working in us.

Let us pray.