"I believe...." we just said.
We believe - together. We said it together.
- In God the Father.
- In Jesus His Son.
- In the Holy Spirit.

We acknowledge and believe the great work that the Lord has done and continues to do in this world and among His people. We believe in what He will still yet do.

That's what binds us together. No matter all the other factors in this community - and there are many:
- income level, nationality, occupation, age, personality, likes/dislikes
No matter all these things, we are joined together by what we believe..... the faith that fills our hearts.

According to outer appearance, we're really a diverse bunch that shouldn't be together, and doesn't have much in common.
But inside we know it's different.
Faith binds us.

Faith......
The Bible defines faith as "in this way: "being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. (Heb 11.1)

Faith.....
Sometimes it is an easy thing to have, to exercise, to live by. But at other times..... Well, at other times our faith is pushed, strained to the limit. For what we confess seems scarcely possible; incomprehensible.
True? Of course!
Important? Hey - central!
Just, well, sometimes.......
..... sometimes it's a bit hard to keep hold of.

Take one of the lines from the Apostles' Creed - "I believe in.....
......the resurrection of the body.

We say it here in the comfort of this place and time.
We say it when we stand by the cold reality of an open grave.
One of those real, central - but tough - elements of the Christian faith.
What do we mean by that compact, loaded statement?
How important is it for our faith, for our life?
I believe in the resurrection of the body.

To put it sort of bluntly............
.........So what?

To give us something substantial on which to base those thoughts, let's read together from the word of God --

Let's also read together from the confessions of the Church --

"I believe in the resurrection of the body." I believe that there will be a day in the future when I will join my great-grandparents to stand shoulder to shoulder with Martin Luther and Constantine and Jeremiah. Bones and muscle tissue long since decomposed will have been restored, hearts beating, lungs breathing. Again.

"I believe in the resurrection of the body." For contemporary people, who have seen scientific marvels, it seems almost too much. Yet, deep inside we know, somehow we just know, that they reflect a deep truth,
a basic element of cosmic reality.

We say these words because they are a teaching of scripture. And scripture, we believe, is the totally reliable Word of God. Period. Everything else may come and go, but here's where we draw the line in the sand. We're counting on, building on, leaning on - this.
1 Cor 15.22 "For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.. Christ, the firstfruits, then when he comes, those who belong to him."

On the basis of texts like this we take a deep breath, reach out in faith, and believe the unimaginable.
"I believe in the resurrection of the body."
Let me start by clearing out some scrub, some notions that are popular in contemporary society but that have no basis in God's Word and no place nailed to the inside of our hearts. Three items I want to consider with you.
 
 

First - there are some folk around, fair number of them actually, who believe that there will be reincarnation. After this life you will get another crack at it - somewhere, as someone or something. Your life now is probably not your first time round the track, either. A lot of your present quirks and foibles are the results of traumas or circumstances from previous existences.
Which is why there are some Mental Health professionals around who claim to specialize in dealing with traumas of a previous lifetime. And they have plenty of clients who put a lot of stock in their guidance.

But we had better be very clear, and we must be very clear with our children and all we talk to that reincarnation is NOT,
absolutely not what the bible means by the resurrection of the body.

Listen to what the book of Hebrews has to say: (9.27)
"...man is destined to die once, and after that to face the judgement..."

One life,
one death,
one judgement.

That's item one. Item two concerns those who believe that after death the body will crumble to dust but the soul will continue to live forever in an eternity separated from the body.
They say things like "You will become one with the cosmic mind; your soul will attain the state of nirvana; you will become one with brahman (meaning that you will enter an eternal zone that is not death but sort of an eternal subconscious, a permanent buzz, out of it but not gone, floating in an eternal dream world, that sort of thing).

If you don't rub shoulders with such people, others in your family or some of your friends will. Be aware of such spiritual ideas. And be aware that as Christians who place full stock in scripture, such ideas are firmly put to the side.

That said, it saddens me greatly that for some strange reason there are a lot of Christians who talk as though the death of the body and the eternal existence of the soul is indeed the final state of affairs. In spite of evidence to the contrary.

Which is the third erroneous view about eternal life.
We often talk about the future of Christian believers as consisting of going to heaven when they die. And if we are to go by the majority of discussions, books, and sermons, that is where it ends. Sitting on a fluffy cloud, somewhere beyond the pearly gates, strumming a harp -
- you know the caricature that is often presented.

Once we hit heaven we are at the final destination. We have arrived. We are the way we will be for eternity.

Oh, please understand me right! This view is not all wrong, and is in another league entirely from the first two beliefs.
It IS correct to say that we are "taken immediately after this life to Christ." WE believe that. We just spoke those very words when we recited the Catechism a few moments ago.

We know that to be true, first of all, because of what Jesus said to the convict on the cross. As they hung there everyone knew that he and the two other convicts hanging there with him were about to die.

In a few hours their bodies would be pulled off the crosses and placed in graves where the process of decomposition would begin. But Jesus turned to one of the criminals, one who has said "I believe in you and your message," Jesus turned to him and says "today you will be with me in paradise." (Lk 23.43).

Other bible passages reaffirm this truth of the faith:
In Philippians 1.23 Paul shares a struggle he is working through with his readers: What is better, to stay in the body on earth, or to leave the earth and be with Christ?
He says the same in 2 Cor 5.8 where he says that he would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

The point is clear. There IS life immediately after death.
For believers, it is life with Jesus Christ.

BUT THERE IS MORE!
Let's not make the mistake of leaving it there! Ever.
Never may we say that arrival in heaven is the end of the road.

Heaven, to be very honest, could be compared to a halfway house. It is the hotel room where we stay while construction on our eternal mansion is completed.
We still look forward, and the saints who are in heaven look forward, and Jesus Christ himself looks forward to the day when creation will be restored to perfect beauty..... including bodies being restored to the soul.

There's an important teaching tied into all this; a teaching about the creation of humanity.
In the opening chapters of scripture, Genesis 2.7 we read how God created the first human beings. There was a body into which was breathed the breath of life and that unit of living body became man and woman.

Both the body and the soul inside the body are important.
Neither may be ignored or considered less important than the other.

Between Genesis and Revelation we read the story of struggle and brokenness and sin. Part of that brokenness is that bodies grow weak and old and eventually stop working. That is death.
We also read that souls are taken at the end of earthly body life and are brought to heaven. That separation of body and soul is UNNATURAL.
Soul and body belong together!

Therefore we always look for the last chapter. We look forward to Rev. 22 when the body and soul will be reunited like God initially created them and meant them to be - together forever.

In the resurrection day we shall be ourselves, body and soul, the whole person in perfect unity, living together with God and ourselves and the world. What God joined together in creation, what death tears apart, that God will bring together again in a final and everlasting reunion.
 
 
 

Have you ever wondered what that body will be?
Paul compares it in 1 Cor 15.35ff to the difference between a seed and a plant.
The body that is sown is perishable
it is raised imperishable;
It is sown in dishonour,
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.

When you plant a tiny, rather plain looking acorn in the ground you have no idea of the magnificent oak tree that will push its way out of the moist ground in the future. Oh, it is the same life form as the acorn. It has the same DNA code. But it is much more elaborate. Much more beautiful.

Look at Jesus. The disciples recognized him. They saw the scars in His hands. He ate with them. Yet there was a tremendous change, a difference we can hardly imagine. Space was no obstacle (Jn 24.51). Doors were no barrier (Jn 20.26).

That is how we shall be for, says the Bible, "when he appears, we shall be like him..." (1 Jn 3.2). Philippians 3.21 says that Jesus "will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body."

Things that are a hindrance now to our serving God will then be removed. "Every valley will be lifted up and every mountain and hill made low. The rough ground shall become level and the rugged places a plain." (Is 40.4)
How good will it be? Says the apostle Paul, "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him." (1 Cor 2.9)
It is paradise restored. The tree of life is present. Healing will have been brought to the nations (Rev 22.2).

No longer is there the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil meant for the testing of humanity. That's because Jesus has undergone the great testing and has come through victorious. The devil tempted him, his faith was pushed to the limit, but he remained true to God in heaven.

There is now awaiting the believer an eternity of serving God in creation
right here
on a re-created, a new earth - a real earth
with gloriously remade bodies - real bodies
working, exploring, designing, creating, building, caring, growing,
doing all for God and his glory.

No longer will there be the opposition of the devil.
No longer will there be the blocks of drought and famine, of hatred and jealousy, of poverty, of sickness and separation.
All that will be gone.

Scarcely believable, isn't it! But that is the Word of God. It is His secure and certain promise.

For you and I who have given our lives to Jesus Christ, who love him with all our heart, seeking from him the washing by his blood that cleanses us from all our sins, and seeking from him the presence of the Holy Spirit to renew and sanctify our lives for us, this is our future.

This is our inheritance.

And THIS we believe.