Ishmael LaBiosa: Well, happy resurrection day. When I think about that first Easter morning, I can't help but re-contemplate the story. As dawn broke on Easter Sunday morning, the women, Mary Magdalene, the other Mary, Salome, they hurried to the tomb with a thought in their mind. They wanted to finish the burial preparation that was not finished on Good Friday and they had only one main concern in their mind, who would roll the stone away? Suddenly the earth shook, an angel descended, rolled the stone away and the guards were as dead men. The women entered the tomb, frozen in astonishment. And the angel says to them, on this Easter Sunday morning, You seek Jesus of Nazareth who was crucified. He is not here for he is risen. Come see the place where he lay and go quickly tell the disciples the tomb is empty and Christ is risen. And so the church says on this Sunday morning Christ is risen. Indeed. Amen. You know I think. Since I've preached quite a few of these now, Easter messages, I try to listen to the questions that you have, and I try to think about how can I communicate to you the truths of the Bible that you are interested in learning. And I want to think today about why Easter Sunday will be important next Sunday. a month from now and a year from now. The truth is Easter Sunday. There is so much preparation. I can see you enjoyed the doughnuts that were prepared. ⁓ They told me I wouldn't be able to preach over the munching, but ⁓ I don't hear it from up here. I'm in good shape. If you are, carry on. You know, eat them. Eat them all. We don't want them. Don't leave them for the office staff. Take them, please. If they're in the hallway, take them. I do not need vanilla coconut looking at me tomorrow. Okay, I want it gone. My cholesterol is perfect. My blood pressure's in good shape and I don't need the wandering donut to mess that up ⁓ even though I will be raised. ⁓ But ⁓ I'm gonna keep this one for a while, this one until I get the upgraded version. I digress. Nevertheless, you the earliest Christians thought that Easter was so important. that they changed the day of worship, which was no small thing for a group of Jewish people. They said the day of worship that was on Saturday is now moved to Sunday for the reason that Christ is risen. And every single time we meet, we celebrate the risen Jesus. And so this is my big idea today. ⁓ I'm not going to try to... say again that Christ is risen. Nor today, although I could try, I'm not going to try to convince you that Christ is risen. I'm going to merely say to you today that Christians, historic Christianity believes in the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. Jesus went in a tomb in Jerusalem and He came out the other side of the tomb in Jerusalem 2,000 years ago. Now while that truth is mind blowing in and of itself, the implications of that truth are what I want to press in on you today. And here's the simple idea today that Jesus's resurrection is the basis and the reason for our resurrection. That's the simple truth today. It's always nice since we say, happy resurrection Sunday. It'd be nice to know what the word resurrection actually means. The word resurrection actually means to stand again. That's what it means. That's its definition. Now, Jesus is raised. People got that pretty worked out, at least most Christians. But the idea that I will be raised, I think some people are little shaky on that. And the way that I know this is a graveside is not a time to correct anybody's thoughts about the Bible. It's not a good time to bring up things, but I noticed some things happening. And so I've done this so many times. You know, it's, it's sometimes I have to block you people out. Did you know that? Cause if I look at all the non-verbals on your face, I would lose my place. Okay. Because there's a lot going on here, ladies and gentlemen, from my perspective, but it's strange that even when I'm praying, my eyes are closed. I can still feel you people. It's weird. I mean, like, how is this the case? My eyes are closed and I'm talking to Jesus and I can feel this man glaring at me on the right. You know, it's such a strange phenomenon. And I usually get glared at during this prayer. It's weird to get glared at during a prayer. So I put my hand on a casket, usually at Liberty Cemetery, and I say something like this. I say, Dear Heavenly Father, we commit this person's body to the ground and their soul to you. Most people are like, Amen, Amen, Amen. I can feel it. They're not saying it. I say to be absent from the body to be present with the Lord. Amen, Amen, Amen. They're with me right now. I can feel it. But then I say, we await the glorious return of Jesus when you raise this person's body. from the ground in Jesus name. Amen. And I can feel somebody almost say they're coming out of the box. ⁓ And I say you people, I don't say this because it's not the right time, but I want to say you people didn't listen real well on Easter Sunday morning. So listen up today, ladies and gentlemen, okay, because here's this, you want a subtitle of my sermon? You're coming out of the box. Okay, that is the subtitle. So, so just just don't when I say and we await the glorious resurrection of Jesus Where when you'll raise this person from the grave give me a little amen at the cemetery. It would help me out because You guys make me feel insecure and I don't think I have too much insecurity left to be honest If you have a Bible today, first Corinthians 15 verse 35, it's the clearest text in the New Testament that doesn't talk about Jesus' resurrection, it talks about your resurrection. And it describes for us in rather clear detail, although there's still mystery, no doubt. It describes to us what should we anticipate in regarding the resurrection of our body. It isn't just you who have questions about the resurrection. If you listen to my podcast, 40 days to the New Testament, which ended on Saturday, the Corinthians loved to ask Paul questions. They were loaded with questions. And oftentimes in his letters, he would address one of the questions. He actually addresses two of the questions today right off the top. And they've got all kinds of questions about the resurrection. And guess what the Corinthians couldn't get their head around? They said, I can get it, Paul. I can understand it. if we'll just be soulish for all eternity. But he says, they said to Paul, I can't get with the program that I will be embodied in eternity. And the apostle Paul says, you need to get with the program because Jesus has been raised and you will be raised. First Corinthians 15 verse 35 to 58, my text today, the first big idea is to anticipate our resurrection. We need to understand the nature of our future resurrection body. Notice verse 35, but someone will say, actually, you know what I translate this? Someone has said, because they've asked Paul. How are the dead raised? Question number one. And what kind of body will they have when they come? Question number two. Foolish one. What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And as for what you sow, you are not sowing the future body, but only a seed, perhaps of wheat or another grain. But God gives it a body as he wants and to each of the seeds, its own body. Not all flesh is the same flesh. There is one flesh for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish. There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies. But the splendor of the heavenly bodies is different from that of the earthly ones. There is a splendor of the sun, another of the moon, another of the stars, for stars differ from star in splendor. So it is with the resurrection of the dead. Sown in corruption raised in incorruption. Sown in dishonor raised in glory. Sown in weakness raised in power. Sown a natural body 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 man became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not the first, but the natural, then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth and made of dust. The second man is from heaven. Like the man made of dust, so are those who are made of dust. Like the heavenly man, so are those who are heavenly. And just as we have borne the image of the man made of dust, we will also bear the image of the heavenly man. You say, Rusty, I didn't catch all of that. No problem. That's why I'm here to try to make the complex simple. Two questions, but actually Paul's going to address the second question first. He asked how and he was going to really address that here in a few more verses. But then the second question, what kind of body? Will we have? That's the question on the table. And Paul says, well, let's look around at nature. His first analogy is a natural analogy. He says, like a seed planted into the ground, your body planted into the earth, that from the seed comes fruits, comes something else. And so what we would like to say is that there is continuity between the seed and the fruits, but there is a great deal of discontinuity from the seed to the fruit. Now it's about this time of year, the first few weeks of April, that I have to start wondering whether or not I'm gonna plant a garden. And ⁓ it's a lot of work. And right now is the time to get going, but here's some free advice. Don't get excited about the warm days because in Virginia it can still freeze until the end of the month. So you'll think, ⁓ this is a good time to start planting. No, it will be dead to make the plans. It is not a good time to start planting. It's like an April Fool's joke. You know what I'm saying? It's like April Fool's weather. You got to wait, know. Mother's Day, you're definitely in the clear. May the 1st, you're probably fine. Okay. And... ⁓ I'm a pretty good gardener. I hate to bring that up right now in front of everybody here on Easter Sunday. I've worked hard at it. Weedless, raised beds. I mean, I go as far as worrying about the pH of the soil. That's important. You know, there's a lot of things that go into it. And here's the truth. My cantaloupes are better than your cantaloupes. Okay. I just want to bring that up. That's the only time I'm going to brag. But I mean, when you when you got it, you got it with the cantaloupes. OK, I don't know what happened. I just went like in 2020 was covid and everybody was like, we need to grow our own food. And I'm thinking we do. OK, so I grew my own food and every I was so super surprised because I thought cantaloupe, they're awful. You know, never had a cantaloupe. I've enjoyed my entire life. And this cantaloupe came up out of the ground and I thought, let's give it a and I put it in the refrigerator and it tasted like ice cream. It was unbelievable. But now I digress. The cantaloupe has seeds inside of it. And just think about how different this is. The seed of the cantaloupe versus the cantaloupe. If you just had that analogy, that's the only analogy you had for your resurrection body, you would think, well, yeah, the seed and the cantaloupe are one and the same, but there's a lot of difference between the seed and the cantaloupe. I actually wouldn't get too fixated on that difference because the Bible's not done yet explaining what it's going to explain. It's in this next leg of explanation that a lot of people get lost of what's going on because the apostle Paul begins to say, well, there's different types of bodies. He said there are birds, there are fish. And then he says, well, there's, there's earth, there's heavenly bodies like the sun and the moon. And then you kind of wonder, well, why are you telling me all of this? And how does this relate to my resurrection body? Let me make it simple for you. Paul is showing that different bodies, listen carefully, are suited for different environments. That's the point. You know, I noticed that the Artemis II took off and went to space. And there's a big thing happening right now. They're saying, you know, maybe by the end of my lifetime, it will be cheap enough. for all of us to travel to space. You heard this? Count me out, okay? Count me out on space, okay? And here's the reason why. My body is not suited for space. You know, I mean, I can't think of anything more horrible than stepping out of the space shuttle for a second in my suit to take a picture of planet Earth and my cord get cut loose and I go drifting out into oblivion and that's my death. I mean, what a horrible way to go, you know? It's, mean, so if any of you want to go to space, I'm not suited for space. Okay, that's the way it goes. Where am I suited? What is this body suited for? You see this horrible rain we're hearing? I'm not suited for this, okay? I am suited, I am suited for beaches and sunshine and palm trees. That's what my, this is what this body suited for and I can get a amen on that. Okay, right. So that's... And so this is the whole point is that your current body, listen carefully, just like a fish's body is suited for water and a bird's body is suited for air and a celestial body is suited for space, your current body is not suited for eternity. That's the point. And that the future body that you get will be suited for eternity. That's the point. Because what's wrong with your current body? Well, it dies. That's the point. That's the problem. It decays and ultimately dies. And Paul says, listen to this. Your current body will be sown imperishable. The perishable seed will go down, but the imperishable fruit is coming up. Do you see? He says it's sown in dishonor. The... Listen, that's not pretty. I wish I hadn't seen it so much. You're sown in dishonor, but you're raised in glory. You're sown in weakness. You're raised in power. You're sown a natural body, one destined to death, and you're raised. Some people get fixated on this. It says spiritual. I know. It says spiritual body. That's what it says. And so it's one animated by the spirit and this new body, while your current body is not suited for eternal life, your future body will be. That's the point is that you're not suited yet for this. But the ultimate analogy and it's really not an analogy it's a reality. The ultimate reality of what your resurrection body will be the apostle Paul says is right now you're a son of Adam but by trusting in Jesus you become a son of God. and that the ultimate prototype of a resurrection body is, wait for it, Jesus. So, if you want to know what your resurrection body will be, you ought to look at Jesus' resurrection body. You say, well, what's that like? I've made some charts. How about this? So, let's notice some charts. First of all, Jesus' body is real and physical. That's why we call it the bodily resurrection of Jesus. When Jesus comes out of the tomb on actually not on Easter Sunday, but the week after Easter, Thomas is still doubting. We call him doubting Thomas. It's a very unfair name for him because all the disciples doubted, not just Thomas. They all had a problem. But nevertheless, when Jesus appears to Thomas, he doesn't go. See, this is the Jesus orb. That's not what he says. He walks, he comes to Thomas and says, look at my hands, is, look at my hands and my feet. It is I, touch and see. And then Jesus says, a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see I have. Well, that's not, that's not a soulish existence. That's Jesus' resurrection body. It's not only real and physical, it's the same body. You say, well, how do you know it's the same body? Jesus says, look at my hands, look at my side. This was done to me in a crucifixion. He says that the wounds of Jesus are no longer ⁓ emblems of defeat. The wounds of Jesus now healed are badges of victory. It's the same body. Jesus is touchable. When Jesus comes out of the tomb, Mary runs up to Jesus and gives him a bear hug, to which Pastor Ishmael would be thrilled about that. Pastor Ishmael loves to be hugged, okay? Pastor Ishmael does not, okay? ⁓ Just for the record. If you're enough to be my grandmother or my dad, you can hug me, the rest of you, God bless you. Here's my hand, okay? But nevertheless, Jesus got hugged on Easter Sunday morning and I guess I'll make an exception on Easter Sunday morning since Jesus got hugged on Easter I could be too but nevertheless Jesus is hugged and and Jesus has to tell Mary don't don't cling to me I'm gonna send to my father They they follow Jesus's feet and grab his feet They could touch him Jesus appears in the region of the Galilee in the gospel of John he eats fish off of the sea of I've been off of the Sea of Galilee. I've eaten fish off the Sea of Galilee. And Jesus did it in a resurrection body. And yet Jesus is different. The reason that He's different is that He's clearly seems to be not normally, He doesn't appear to be limited by normal rules. He's glorified. It seems that He could appear and disappear. I've got the next part of this chart, so just flip it for me. ⁓ He is recognizable. That's an interesting, ⁓ in the Gospel of John, to show that Jesus, there's continuity and discontinuity. In the Gospel of John, this very interesting phrase comes up. It says, none of them dared to ask him, was it the Lord? For they knew it was the Lord. It's like he's got an extra shine on him. They're like, what's going on here with Jesus? It's clearly him, but something is a bit different. And then Jesus appears. He just appears in a locked room, almost like he can move about. I was talking to John Colwell. He's taking a trip, a local trip with to Savannah. and ⁓ all of a sudden, since yesterday, he told me that I've been craving shrimp and grits, something terrible. It's really ridiculous because I'm thinking, man, like Southern cuisine. And I thought, well, who in the world has time to drive to Savannah? Wouldn't it be nice in a glorified, resurrected body to go Savannah. Boom, shrimp and grits, appomattox, I'm back, you know? It seems to be what Jesus is doing. ⁓ I'm just reading the Bible, people. I'm doing the best I can up here. I'm trying, but I mean, this is what the Bible says. So, it seems to be different. And here's the biggest thing. Jesus is risen to never die again. You know, here's the deal. You will be you for all eternity. I want to say this one other thing where the discontinuity, you say, well, what's going to be different? All the bad stuff is gone. mean, that's it. Listen, you're you're you're you're sown in dishonor. You're sown in weakness. You're sown in perishability. But the the things that are gone are the things you won't go on anyway. And the things that remain are the very things that you want to be true about you. I'll tell you, this is not just... ⁓ As a pastor. ⁓ I see a lot of pain, feel like. And there's some pain that I feel like I can minister to with God's help and that pain abates and there's other pain that I minister to and it doesn't abate. doesn't abate at all. I mean, when every doctor has done everything to the person in the bed and they are still dying, it's awful. When someone has come to me or someone has come to someone else who ⁓ can give wise counsel and they have sat and they have listened and they have done everything they can and the person is still just struggling. And those are some of the most hopeless moments for me. Okay? And do know what the resurrection of Jesus says? That one day all people in Christ will be whole in every way. There is no place of brokenness. Physical brokenness, emotional brokenness, spiritual brokenness that at one day will not be perfectly transformed. Sometimes, I look at that person in the hospital bed and I look at that person across my office and when I'm struggling with feelings of hopelessness, I say, God, show me this person transformed. That's the future. God will heal up us in every way, not in some ethereal way that we can't understand. He will fully embody us. in a very solid way. And that's what happens with Jesus. And that's what happens with you. And that is not just a nice truth from a long way ago. That's a present reality that changes the way you think about this moment. Now we've got the, to some degree you say, you say, Rusty, help me figure, summarize that for me. Okay, good. your resurrection body will be like Jesus' resurrection body. Check. Okay, you got that? So that's the what kind of body. Now let's answer the second big question. When? When's all this going to happen? Paul says, well, I'll tell you. Here's the second big idea. To anticipate our resurrection, we need to know the moments when we receive our future resurrection body. Verse 50 says, brothers, I tell you this. flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God and corruption cannot inherit incorruption. Listen, I am telling you a mystery. We will not all fall asleep, but we will all be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet for the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised incorruptible and we will be changed. So notice once again, Paul says you're not suited. Flesh and blood, meaning a body that dies, is not suited for an incorruptible existence. So you need a transformation. And when will your resurrection happen? The Bible says it will happen at the Lord's return. The Lord's return has not yet happened. And Paul says, give you a mystery. By the way, mystery in the New Testament means a previously undisclosed fact. And here's the undisclosed fact, which is good news. Not everybody is going to die because some will still be alive when the Lord returns. He says, I tell you this. says some, so they, you know, I hear older people say, not looking for the undertaker. I'm looking for the upper taker. Well, that's Paul's basically saying such a thing. Now this begins to muddy the water. You say, okay, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. you're thinking, you go, well, I know people who've died in Christ. And if Christ has not, Christ has not yet come, so they are not yet raised. Okay, good. So now I have another chart. If you're confused on this, listen to the last Easter sermon. I talked about this at last Easter. So nevertheless, there is a time, this is Orthodox Christian teaching, there is a time between our death and our future resurrection. Okay? And this time between our current reality and our future resurrection, this middle time is sometimes called an intermediate period, sometimes called the intermediate state. Here's the way this goes. Christianity has affirmed from time immemorial that we possess a body and a soul, that we are not mere bodies and brains, that we possess an immaterial aspect to ourself, and that we can continue to exist even with the death of the body. And so the Bible says this time period to be absent from the body, that's when I die, is to be present with the Lord. So there's, so at death, I will be with the Lord, but it appears in a disembodied way. Now some people argue, well maybe God gives you a temporary body. Well maybe he does, but the Bible doesn't seem to make that very plain. Furthermore, when there's a thief on the cross, there's two thieves on the cross, but one thief on the cross says on Good Friday, Lord remember me when you come into your kingdom and guess what Jesus is. Today you will be with me in paradise. So there's all of these Well, there's not all of these texts. There's a handful of biblical verses that begin to describe this time between my death and my future resurrection. This is all the Bible wants to say, that you will be kept in God's hands. You will be in the presence of Jesus, maybe disembodied, maybe with a temporary body. I don't know. The Bible doesn't say as much as I want to about this. but that your future resurrection happens at the Lord's return and that the time after death for the Christian, okay, is better than your current existence. But when the Lord returns, the resurrection existence is even better than the previous. You listen, there's a lot of good stuff coming for you people, you know, that's the way it is. Because life isn't bad now to be absent from the bodies to be present with the Lord, but when the Lord returns, I will be raised, which means I will stand again. And I will then have a body like Jesus has a body. Actually, if you can bear it, if you can bear it, that not only is God going to raise our bodies, Romans 8 and the book of Revelation says God's going to redeem his world and we will live out an embodied existence on God's new world. eternally. I actually ended my 40 days on the New Testament podcast when people tell me, ⁓ I can't imagine what eternity would be like. I like to turn that right on its head and say, I think you can precisely imagine it. It's the life that you want. You want a life free from sin. You want a world of justice. You want a world of peace. You want your head and heart to get together. You want your body not to break. And God says it's on the way. You say, Rusty, that's just wishful thinking. ⁓ it certainly is wishful thinking. But it's wishful thinking rooted in the historical person of Jesus who went in the grave and came out the other side. And since he is raised, I will be raised. That's not wishful thinking. It came from the mouth of Jesus, the most interesting person in human history. And at the end of his life, how does he end it? He says, I give you one more sermon. No, I go in the grave, come out the other side and say, if when you go in the grave, you come out the other side. And if that's the message of Jesus of Nazareth, that's a real hope that's rooted in a whole lot more than wishful thinking. And so all I want to say is Paul says, well, if all that's true, we ought to have a little praise chorus here about it. Don't you think? He anticipates these final words. The final words of human history are not, a lot of people, really do think with all the stuff that's going on and all the chaos, I think a lot of people think human history is gonna end in a whimper. Like, ooh. Like we're gonna, ooh. That's the way some of you people act, like, ⁓ it's bad, getting worse. ⁓ You know how human history is going to end? ⁓ death, where is your sting? ⁓ grave, where is your victory? But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. That's how human history ends. And that's a whole lot different. That's why a hopeless Christian doesn't understand the heart of Jesus when he says, do you understand what I came to do? and will return to do. Notice this third and final point. To anticipate our resurrection, we need to celebrate what our future resurrection means for our lives today. Verse 53, because this corruptible must be clothed with incorruptibility and this mortal must be clothed with immortality. Now, when this corruptible is clothed with incorruptibility and this mortal is clothed with immortality, then the saying that is written will take place. Death. has been swallowed up in victory. ⁓ death, where is your sting? ⁓ death, ⁓ death, where is your victory? ⁓ death, where is your sting? Now the sting of death is sin and the power of sin is in the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my dear brothers, if all of this is true, you shouldn't walk out of here, you should run out of here. Running to do the Lord's work until resurrection day, until your death day or the Lord's return day. Therefore, my dear brothers, be steadfast, unouvelable, always excelling in the Lord's work, knowing that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." You say, does it matter what I do? Does it matter how I work with Christ for love and justice and truth in the world? Is this all just going to go up and smoke? You know what Jesus says? No. I'm going to finish the job. And when I go into the grave, is that the end? No. And so the resurrection of Jesus should not call us to sit idly by. The resurrection of Jesus should call us to excel in the work of the Lord, knowing that our work will not just be plowed over in the sands of time, but King Jesus will bring us up out of the grave and finish the job. You say, Rusty, that's a lot to take in. Yeah, it is. That's a Christian hope. You say, Rusty, how can I? That sounds good. And you're right, Jesus is the one who did it Jesus is the one who said it. How am I to experience this? You know, here's the message of Christianity. You can't, but God did. It's a very humbling thing. You can't be smart enough. You can't do enough. Actually, you can't even be religious enough to kind of get in God's good graces. That's not the way it works. The way it works is you come to God and say, I have nothing. I bring you a feeble body. I bring you a broken soul. Here I am. And God sees you in that moment. not to condemn you, but to forgive you. And says, if you will trust in me, I will pay your death and I'll give you life. If you're here today and you're not a Christian, you've never done that. That's what it means to be a Christian. Christian is not like some label you put on a certain group of people. Christians are people who've trusted in Jesus. So if you're here today and there's never been a time or a place where you say, God, I turn from sin and self and by faith, I trust in Jesus and his death and resurrection from me. You can do that right now where you you said. You don't need me. You don't need Pastor Ishmael. You can do it right there. You can say, God, I admit I'm a sinner and God, by faith, I trust in Jesus. And the Bible says if you do that, you're saved. You say, well, that was quick. Well, it wasn't quick for Jesus. He just happened to give you a whole lot of stuff there for free. And so if you want to receive that today, you need prayer. Pastor Ishmael and I will be here. By the way, there's plenty of people in this room can pray for you. But if you don't know that you know that you're a Christian, why walk out of this service today lost? When Jesus came to find you and he's found you today and he's just saying, won't you trust me? Won't you believe in me? Won't you turn from sin and self? It is my heart's cry today that you trust in Jesus on this Easter Sunday. This altar is open. If you need to make a decision, we're here to help with it. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you. We thank you for the hope of Jesus, the hope of the resurrection. God, we claim the truth today. Since Jesus died and rose again in the same way through Jesus, you will raise those to new life. And so God, we walk out of this room today with a world that's full of problems and yet there's an empty tomb. And God, we know that that which happened on Easter Sunday morning is just the beginning of what you're ultimately going to do. And so may you fill our hearts with hope for the person who doesn't know you today. May they come today and get a real and true and living hope. In Jesus' amen.