“Now I say this, bretheren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God…”. 1 Cor. 15:50
I was struck by something this morning as I read 1 Corinthians 15. There’s a section in my bible that has a heading, which is the title of this little dity. I know, I know…headings are no more inspired of God than chapters and verses, but it served the purpose of giving me something to call this.
And indeed, the mystery of resurection is being discussed in this portion of scripture. Being well aware of the historical context and the immediate meaning of the verses, I’m also being pulled in a direction that has caused me to see another facet, another more immediate application to the daily life of a believer.
We know all too well about the “now and then” of the kingdom of God. The kingdom is among us and it is also yet to be. The immediate meaning of this portion of scripture that Paul is talking about is the kingdom yet to come, the consumation of all things in God’s perfect order being made manifest in every area of earthly existence. That being said, I also see in this a law for the daily life of a believer in and participant in the now (Eph. 3:10) aspect of the kingdom of God on the earth.
As I began to ponder this a little, I backed up a few verses to see if this idea might pan out a little more in the previous thoughts that Paul expressed. My eyes landed on verse 48: “As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly.”
I found the term “earthy” (G5517) to more immediately mean just that; dirt. It’s derivative (G5522) is a word that means “a heap, i.e. rubbish; loose dirt“. If that’s not an accurate description of our human condition, I don’t know what is. But are we content to stay that way, to live that life? Sometimes we slip back into lazy patterns or just outright sinful patterns that bring the dirt and rubbish right back in and then we wonder why we don’t want to pray, read the word or have any Godly affect on the lost around us. Sometimes it’s not sin but “weights” that hinder us. Take inventory, saints.
So as I sit here, the next thought has to do with salvation, the born again experience if you will, as the crown jewel of the manifestation of the kingdom of God on earth, the regeneration of the human soul from death to life. This is something we’re actually given a mandate to participate in as a co-laborer with Christ through “the foolishness of preaching”. Now let’s stop just a second and ask ourselves: “If I am content to live like a pile of rubbish, a heap of garbage, can I possibly have anything to do with God’s kingdom being expressed on this earth to the result of saved souls?” Well, Paul said NO, in so many words. “Flesh and blood cannot…”. Taken in a perhaps more spiritual application, our sarx cannot inherit the kingdom of God. The sin nature, the disposition of sin and the love of it, cannot and will not inherit any aspect of the kingdom of God, now or ever. I can almost hear Forest Gump reading verse 48 in his own paraphrase: “earthy is as earthy does”. If you’re content to be a big deposit of sin, compromise and rubbish, you’ll live like one. I understand a lot more why Paul would often ask questions like, “Don’t you KNOW what you really are? How can you then live the way you do?” That of course touches on the subject of false conversion, which is why I believe folks don’t understand what they are supposed to be. Without thinking, newborn babies just eat when they’re hungry because they are alive, but I digress.
Verse 49 sheds a little light on this: “And just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.”
What image do you bear?
Again, I realize fully that this is more immediately speaking of a literal resurection of the human body into perfection and incorruptability. I am also seeing a “right now” application of the principles of this verse, i.e., if we are really His then we should bear His image on the earth in the everyday, mundane affairs of this life. Normal, dead life that is full of garbage and dirt should be transformed, resurected if you will, by the Life of the Spirit of God so that when we are seen doing normal things, they are transfigured by the glory of God. This is what I mean by “The Mystery of Resurection”. This is also what causes me to strain with more of God’s strength in me to find the garbage heaps in my life and get rid of the dirt, to put aside the earthy and focus on the heavenly. I have also become more aware that this heavenly thing is sown in “dishonor and raised in glory”. Do we have the stomach for dishonorable things? Can we bear to do things and not be seen or acknowledged? Can we simply do things in life “as unto the Lord” even if we’re not consciously aware even of His manifest approval? This is how Jesus Himself lived and died and served. “The servant is not greater than His Master”. Allow God to “sow” you into situations in life that are less than honorable and then watch Him raise you up in power and display Himself in that circumstance. Allow God to sow you into relationships of this kind and He will demonstrate the phenomena of Resurection in and through the things that have the sting of death (to our flesh) in them. Allow God to sow you into work experiences and among co-workers like this and you will see the same.
So, you can pray for me today. I have to crucify my flesh and put up a new ceiling fan for my wife. I don’t want to (LOL), but she needs to see a manifestation of this thing I’m talking about. What a hypocrite I’d be if I didn’t follow up on it with a living demonstration of it. Oh, and I have to fix the water line into our fridge. These two things just hit me as I sat here; God’s calling me to account for what He’s shown me in His Word and I thought I’d share that with you. I just happened about 5 seconds ago and it hurt my poor little delicate self….*snickering*…
But I’m glad He did it. Far be it from me that I should have God share something with me, share it with you and then just ignore the greatest opportunity to be an expression of it in my own home to my sweet darling wife.
God bless you, hope this has some benefit to you today,
mark jr.
p.s. I do have a new name for my blog (don’t leak it Mary) and I’ll be getting that going soon. I need to get a picture in the header for it. It’s cool!!!
16 responses so far ↓
Mary B. // November 15, 2008 at 10:47 pm |
Mark Jr. and readers,
I don’t know about you all but the economic crisis we are in sure has served to burn off alot of dross in my life. It’s strange-like overnight I got such a burden to support missions overseas and I I just want to help those who are suffering around the world in the name of Christ. The uncertainty of our economy I believe is God’s hand in bringing many to himself.
“Allow God to “sow” you into situations in life that are less than honorable and then watch Him raise you up in power and display Himself in that circumstance. Allow God to sow you into relationships of this kind and He will demonstrate the phenomena of Resurection in and through the things that have the sting of death (to our flesh) in them. Allow God to sow you into work experiences and among co-workers like this and you will see the same.”
I would really like to hear of examples of how God did this in your life, Mark, or in the lives of any other readers here.
God Bless-
iseeitdifferently // November 17, 2008 at 12:35 am |
Just on a side note, there are a couple of guys who I listen to on finance. One is Dave Ramsey ( http://www.daveramsey.com) and Danny Fontana ( http://www.1220wdyt.com). They are level headed and not sensationalistic about all this. Listen to them as much as you can.
As far as being sown into circumstances like the ones I eluded to, the two main things that come to mind are a little too personal to talk about openly. I wish I could…the testimony is awesome, but it involves information about other people that they really don’t want to be made public knowledge.
Of course I can recall my recent history of Jen’s (my wife) episodes that scared us all, Marky’s seizures that landed him in the E.R. and children’s hospital and then Jen having to have a C-section despite all our efforts toward natural childbirth. All of these circumstances were rough, but something of God’s power and comfort came into us in a way beyond description and it produced deeper levels of trust in Him. These were indeed dark and death-like days, but resurection glory was present in it and brought us out of our proverbial graves.
Bless His holy Name,
mark jr.
mbaker // November 17, 2008 at 2:58 am |
You know this resurrection post is a good reminder to all of us, that the gospel IS about a resurrected life both here and in heaven. Jesus resurrected the promise of eternal life and fellowship with God for those who had sinned against Him. Before that the world remained under the death sentence of what Adam and Eve did. And only the very righteous made it. Don’t know about you guys, but I would never have made the grade if that were still the case. I wonder if we ever really get that part of it as Christians, I mean really GET how much God’s grace has really been conferred upon on all of us by resurrecting us from being dead in our sins.
So glad you’re back!
Brandon // November 17, 2008 at 6:35 am |
“Don’t you KNOW what you really are? How can you then live the way you do?”
Who am I… Really.
cheryl U. // November 17, 2008 at 7:12 am |
Hi Mark,
I’m glad you’re back too. You mentioned over at TGC that you might post an update on the things you have been through. I did pray for you guys and whatever more you would like to pass on, I would appreciate hearing. I am so glad to hear of God’s comfort in that time and your increased trust in him It sounds like things have setteled down in your world? I am glad.
MARY B // November 18, 2008 at 1:59 am |
mbaker,
thank you for reminding us that we don’t have to make the grade. Jesus did fit or us.
Makes me think of the Hym “I love To Hear The Story”
bpurtle7 // November 20, 2008 at 3:48 am |
Wonderful insights for true living here, Mark. May we become a truly resurrectional people!
Yoshua // November 20, 2008 at 3:52 am |
Ditto!!
Brandon // November 20, 2008 at 7:56 am |
how he sought me, and he bought me..
with his redeeming blood…
iseeitdifferently // November 20, 2008 at 11:16 am |
I suddenly saw a need to clarify a statement I made in this little article.
I made reference to being sown into relationships. I am not AT ALL suggesting that you date or marry non-believers so you can see resurection glory. No, I mean friendships, work relationships, relationships with bosses, etc. “Do not be unequally yoked”…
mark jr.
Bill Fawcett // November 21, 2008 at 5:48 pm |
Yeah we get it – the seed, sown into the ground, must die.
sclough // November 24, 2008 at 5:36 pm |
I love the tension between verse 48 and 49. In vs 48, we are those who are (past tense) of heaven. In verse 49 we are those who are going to be of heaven (future tense). I believe most of us have failed to understand this dichotomy because of our practical theology (i.e. not necessarily the creed we adhere to but the way we live). In our redemption, our spirit is brought into eternal life (present tense) and yet we await final resurrection like Paul says here for the rest of our man to be brought into the benefits of the resurrection. So our spirit enjoys the benefits of Christ’s resurrection now, but our body does not (I personally believe this has huge implications for some fringe Dominion theology teaching).
One thing I’ve been considering lately (and this is a big thing and scary to put on a blog because there are theological implications to my thoughts!) is how far our spirit can grow in this life and in this age in likeness to Christ.
I’m wondering if our spirit man may actually be capable of growing far more than we think in this life and if, in eternity, we won’t find ourselves very much as spiritual as we were in this life. I believe we often have an idea that at the trumpet we will somehow catapult into spiritual maturity, but Paul’s focus seems to be that the body of man will be redeemed in that moment, but that the spirit is already redeemed (I’m including comments in his other letters, not just this passage). With Paul’s focus in mind, it makes sense that physical exercise is of little value because my physical self is still marked by sin and is going to be replaced anyway, however spiritual exercise holds much value because we might just find that our spiritual life at the trumpet is not catapulted to another level but is still at the point of growth it was at the moment the trumpet sounded. (One practical question to deal with on this topic is how much does the fallen body affect the ability of the redeemed spirit to demonstrate God’s life through us in this age.)
Hopefully you can hear my heart in this. This is just something that Lord is quickening in me and I haven’t gotten my arms around it completely yet, so please don’t brand me as a “sinless perfection” heretic just yet :^). Believe me I understand the historical tension among the saints on this issue and the bitter divisions it has caused in times past….
walsh7 // November 26, 2008 at 9:10 pm |
what up winkie juice?
iseeitdifferently // November 26, 2008 at 11:22 pm |
Okay folks…don’t get grossed out or think wrong thoughts…
…this is an inside joke. Actually it’s the name of a tonic named after Winkie Pratney.
It’s a cold kicker; by cold I mean the nasty virus.
It’s unfiltered apple cider vinegar, horseradish root, ginger root, raw garlic, habanero pepper and white onions. You let it ferment for about 1 month, then you strain it through a cheese cloth or something like that. Then, if you feel “the junk” in your throat and nose, just down about a shot glass of this stuff. It burns like hell fire and takes your breathe away for about 5-10 seconds, literally. BUT, it really sent my cold running away, yapping like a scolded dog with its tail between its legs.
So, when my buddy Walsh up here says, “what up winkie juice?”, you know it’s not nasty or some inappropriate comment. Winkie Pratney carries this stuff with him everywhere and now all of FIRE church is running after it…or at least the students are.
So there you go. Go make yourself some Winkie Tonic…the new name I now give to it.
mark jr.
Bill Fawcett // December 14, 2008 at 11:58 pm |
2 r’s Mark.
Resurrection.
or in the greek
αναγέν νηση
-Alf
Bill Fawcett // December 14, 2008 at 11:59 pm |
“unfiltered apple cider vinegar, horseradish root, ginger root, raw garlic, habanero pepper and white onions”
That explains a lot about Winkie Pratney.
.