You fool! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. Sermons I. THE CREATOR, WHO APPOINTS THE DEATH OF THE SEED AS PREPARATORY TO THE LIFE OF THE PLANT, MAY APPOINT THE DEATH OF THE EARTHLY BODY AS THE PREPARATION FOR THE LIFE OF THE HEAVENLY BODY. The analogy is sometimes misunderstood, and it is supposed that, according to Paul, the dead body of the man is really the seed of the resurrection body. This is not the case. But the apostle is evidently reasoning as did our Lord when he said, "Except a corn of wheat," etc. The death of the seed followed by the life of the plant is a figure of the death of the Saviour followed by the prevalence of his doctrine, and the vast extent of his personal, mediatorial influence. And so here, we are reminded that God's ways are not as our ways, that it pleases him to bring life out of death, and that he is able to make death the step towards a new and higher life. II. THE CREATOR, WHO GIVES TO EVERY SEED A BODY OF ITS OWN, CAN PROVIDE THE GLORIFIED SPIRIT WITH A VESTURE AS SUITABLE TO THE HIGHER STATE AS OUR EARTHLY ORGANISM IS SUITABLE TO THE PRESENT LIFE, There is a great disparity between the grain of corn and the plant of wheat when green in spring or golden in harvest time; a greater disparity still between the acorn and the giant oak of the forest. One seed gives life to a fragrant, radiant, delicate flower; another to a rich and luscious fruit; another to a lordly tree. One seed is more adapted to a temperate climate, another to the tropics; one grows best upon the mountain slope, another in the sheltered vale. The resources of Omniscience and Omnipotence are strikingly apparent in the prodigality, diversity, and adaptation of vegetable life. Such considerations are a rebuke to our incredulity, which arises from an undue conceit of our own wisdom, and a lack of just humility. We may ask, "How are the dead raised? and with what body do they come?" All nature supplies the answer, inasmuch as it tells us that the Creator and Lord of all is never at a loss for means to execute his purposes and to fulfil his promises. When the time comes for this body to be laid aside, to be taken down, there shall be provided for the glorified and happy spirit "a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." - T.
Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die. I. JUSTLY SEVERE. "Thou fool." Because —1. It is opposed to God and Divine truth. 2. Is based in ignorance and self-conceit. II. SEVERELY JUST. Because — 1. It ignores the analogy between natural facts, and the higher purposes of God. 2. Cannot realise anything beyond the domain of natural sense. 3. Denies everything it cannot realise. (J. Lyth, D.D.) The text may be applied to —I. THE FACTS OF NATURE as here. II. THE EVENTS OF HISTORY. 1. In general. Note the fate of empires. They are born, grow, decay, die or are killed, and out of their ruins, phoenix like, the new emerge: evolution succeeds revolution. So with the dynasties who rule these empires. 2. In particular rulers and statesmen die to give birth to their successors. Moses dies, but Joshua rises. John must decrease that Christ must increase. Saul holds the mantle of martyred Stephen and then wears it. III. THE PHENOMENA OF PROVIDENCE. "The old order changeth, giving birth to new," etc. "Our little systems have their day," etc. Each age has its own mission, and having accomplished it, it dies only, however, to hand on the results of its mission which are embodied in the work of the next. IV. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE CHURCH. This is marked by a series of burials and resurrections, beginning with the burial and resurrection of its great Head. "The blood of the martyrs was the seed of the Church." What was more completely dead than Christendom before the reformers awoke it into life! What was deader than religion in England before the great evangelists of the last century aroused it into activity! What are revivals but resurrections of dead churches? V. THE PROGRESS OF THE SOUL. True manhood is ever mounting on its dead self to nobler things. This is true — 1. Mentally. What intellectual revolutions a thoughtful man passes through! How dead are the dreams of childhood, the ideals of youth, the purposes of later years! How opinions, principles, beliefs change, and how necessary for the mind's growth that they should! 2. Spiritually. From the moment when a man passes from death to life to the moment the mortal puts on immortality moral growth consists of a perpetual dying to sin that righteousness may live. (J. W. Burn.) And... thou sowest not that body that shall be 1. Christianity does not teach us to despise even the mortal body. We are taught that Christ Himself — "without whom was not anything made that was made" — formed man of the dust of the earth. The body, therefore, is a sacred thing; the very handiwork of Christ, though sadly marred and spoiled. By His incarnation a new sacredness has been added to it. God was made flesh, and dwelt among us. The instrument whose strings could be made to express the harmonies of a Divine perfection, cannot be too feeble for the lowlier music of the holiness proper to humanity.2. Although we are taught to expect that this mortal body must be transfigured before our feet can stand on the pavement of the city of God, yet how wonderful a thing it is even now! I do not refer to the marvels of its mere physical structure, the miracles of skill which the anatomist delights to celebrate. I refer to the relationship which exists between every part of your physical nature and your thoughts, your affections, your conscience and your will. It is the necessary servant, and sometimes the imperial master of an immortal nature which sprang direct from God, and is still capable of intercourse with Him. Take the eye, and dissect it as skilfully as you please; but for that the soul would be a stranger to the splendid pageantry of nature, and to the more affecting beauty which irradiates the faces that we love. And, what is, if possible, more wonderful still, the body is gradually moulded and transformed by the energy or feebleness, the purity or the wickedness of the soul within. The inward kindness makes the eye gentle — the inward fury makes it burn with a terrible fire. The very lines of the face are gradually determined by the thoughts which occupy the most secret sanctuary of the soul, and the passions by which the depths of the heart are agitated. 3. But yet, mighty as are the susceptibilities of our physical being, it is not yet equal to the high claims of its spiritual alliance. We are hindered and enfeebled by it continually. Hardly have we plunged into our work before fatigue compels us to lay it aside; hardly has the day begun before the night returns, and with it the necessity of sleep. By the most trifling physical accidents the very mightiest are made powerless. No brilliance of genius, no heroism of moral nature can wholly defy the tyranny of weakness and suffering. The richest wisdom, the noblest moral energy, may all be made nearly useless by physical infirmity, and must at last be driven away from the world altogether by physical death. 4. Let us be thankful that we sow "not that body that shall be." "Bare grain" is cast into the ground, but after a few months the hidden life reappears in the slender and graceful stalk, and the richly laden ear. So shall it be in the resurrection of the just. The body will rise again; but, thank God, not the same body (ver. 34). As yet we cannot imagine the nature or the results of that transforming process which our "flesh and blood "must undergo before they can inherit the "kingdom of God"; but the unsuspected capabilities of human nature, even on its inferior side, have already been most wonderfully illustrated in the resurrection of Christ, and His enthronement at God's right hand. He reigns not as God merely, but as man. His entire nature has been received into glory. The body in which He endured the feebleness, and suffering, which made up His earthly history, He wears still. Think, then, of the vast and tremendous duties to which the Redeemer of man has been appointed. And yet, in the discharge of the duties of His high government, His brain knows no weariness, His strength no exhaustion. A few hours of public teaching, when He was on earth, made it necessary that He should lay His head on a pillow and seek repose, though the night was dark, and the winds were loud, and the billows rough. But there is no danger now when the tempest is raging. of finding Him asleep. And our vile bodies are to be made like to His glorious body. (R. W. Dale, D.D.) I. CHANGE OF FORM — thou sowest not, etc.II. IDENTITY OF BODY — to every seed his own body. III. IDENTITY OF SPECIES — wheat cannot produce tares or tares wheat — neither can the sinner be raised a glorified saint nor the saint a reprobate sinner. IV. DIFFERENCE IN THE DEGREE OF DEVELOPMENT IN THE SAME SPECIES — one stalk of wheat is more fairly developed than another, "God giveth," etc. — so also in the resurrection of the dead. (J. Lyth, D.D.) But bare grain During the last week we have had a second edition of our summer, which seemed almost gone — a second edition, abridged, condensed into a few days, but charming, because unexpected. No wonder the poor Indian, with untutored mind, lonely in his narrow thought, feeling after God, if haply he might find Him, dreamed that he saw in the haze illumined sky of October some glimpse of the happy hunting-fields where his fathers roamed. Work-people in Europe, besides their regular wages, expect some little extra gift, which they call, in Italian, buono-mano. And they seem to take more pleasure in their buono-mano than in their regular wages. These warm days in September are Nature's buono-mano. God has left this margin of the unexpected, the casual, around all the majestic machinery of law, in order to give us the joy of feeling the gift, to give Himself the joy of being loved as the Giver. Let us be thankful that there are some surprises in the world, some things which elude mathematics, some Indian summer days which come when no one has predicted them, to warm the heart through and through; because being unlooked for, they seem more like a direct gift from God. This return of summer in the form of Indian summer has suggested to me the subject of returning events, of recurrence in human affairs, of the circular and spiral movement in history and life. Things come back, but when they come back they are seldom exactly what they were before. Summer returns as Indian summer; history is always repeating itself, but on a higher plane. The difference between two men, one having Christian faith and the other not having it, is this: both commit the same faults, and repeat the same experience, but the one repeats it always high up. He has more faith, more hope, more love to God and man. Thus he takes the past with him, as precious seed of a better future. His youth departs, with its golden summer days, but returns again an Indian summer with mellower warmth, and a more enchanting peace. The Christian army marches ever to the east, with the dawn shining on its white shields of expectation. But just in proportion as this faith is wanting, life goes round and round, in a mere mill-horse circle of routine. If we look only at this, life grows very tiresome. The despair of the Book of Ecclesiastes comes over us, and we say, "What profit has a man of all his labour that he takes under the sun?" For all "things return, according to their circuit." But the New Testament teaches another lesson than the Book of Ecclesiastes. It is a proof of the Divine origin of these gospels and epistles — that they are full, through and through, of the spirit of hope. Throughout they cry to us: "The life we sow to-day is seed of something better to come to-morrow. We do not plant that which is to be, but only its seed. Our present life, which we are leading now, compared to that which is to come to us, is only as naked seed is to the green and graceful plant which springs from it." The Old World of Pagan religion and philosophy was very much ennuyed. It expected nothing, it had little hope left in its heart. Now, the new life of Christianity consisted very much in giving hope to the world. As when a glacier pours its enormous river of ice through Alpine ravines, descending into the valleys, it wastes away imperceptibly, and turns to moist vapours, filling the valley with masses of foliage — so this glacier of despair melted in the warm breath of the new Christian life. The letters of Paul and Peter are full of expectation of Christ's coming to reign on earth. That great expectation of Christ's coming was the seed that the New Testament planted in civilisation; and it has borne its fruits in all human progress. The one thing needful, the only essential in Christianity, is to have Christ formed within us, the hope of glory; hope of glory here, in all forms of growing goodness, generosity, honour; and of glory, honour, immortality hereafter. Christ Himself was the seed planted in Palestine, which has come up in Christianity in that new body which pleased God. When in the world Jesus worked outward, physical miracles. He works miracles still, but in a new way. "The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the deaf hear, the dead are raised," but not now by a mere touch or word. We have blind asylums, and deaf and dumb asylums, and sanitary associations. These all proceed from the Christian spirit of humanity, and so come from the seed which Christ's miracles planted. Those miracles were bare grain, to which God gave the body which pleased Him. Visitors to Rome, looking out from its lofty walls over the Campagna, see with delight the long line of arches which cross the plain, converging towards the city from the distant mountains. They are the remains of the ancient aqueducts, which formerly brought supplies of water to the immense population of ancient Rome. Visitors to Chicago are carried down to see a tunnel running two miles under the lake, which brings pure water in inexhaustible supplies to that new-born metropolis of the prairies. The methods differ, the water is the same. Forms change, but the needs of men remain. So the soul of man needs always to drink the same living water of faith and hope. The water is the same, whether it is drawn up from Jacob's spring, or brought through a Roman aqueduct, or spouts from an artesian well, or is pumped up through a Chicago tunnel. So, if we have love to God and man, and have faith in the great and blessed future, if we believe good stronger than evil, and life more permanent than death, it is no matter by what Jewish or Roman aqueduct or modern creed that pure water comes. God gives it the body which has pleased Him, and to every seed its own body.(James Freeman Clarke.) But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased Him, and to every seed his own body I. NATURAL LIFE PREECEDES SPIRITUAL LIFE — in the sinner.II. NATURAL LIFE IS COMBINED WITH SPIRITUAL LIFE — in the believer. III. SPIRITUAL LIFE IS CONSUMMATED IN THE GLORIFIED NATURAL LIFE — in the risen saint, yet the man loses nothing essential to his identity. (J. Lyth, D.D.) All flesh is not the same flesh I. IN THE VISIBLE CREATION.1. Variety of living forms. 2. Adaptation to different spheres. 3. Degrees of glory and beauty. II. IN THE RESURRECTION. 1. The same body yet wonderfully changed. 2. Adapted to heaven and hell. 3. Differing in glory. (J. Lyth, D.D.) I. ALL FLESH IS NOT THE SAME FLESH.1. Man differs from a beast in the very constitution of his flesh, blood, nervous system — as also other genera of animal life. 2. Modification is possible, but change is a pure assumption unsustained by facts, and contradicted by revelation. II. MUCH LESS IS ALL SPIRIT THE SAME SPIRIT. 1. The spirit of the beast goeth downward. 2. The spirit of man returns to God. III. THE FOLLY OF SUCH ASSUMPTIONS IS MANIFEST — they contradict. 1. Fact. 2. Reason. 3. Eternal and infallible truth. 4. And incur a terrible responsibility. (J. Lyth, D.D.) I. IN ITS TISSUES. Though its elements be substantially the same, the variety of flesh proves the possibility (ver. 39), the Word of God asserts its certainty (ver. 50).II. IN ITS ADAPTATIONS — to a new and heavenly sphere — there are bodies celestial and terrestrial. III. IN ITS APPEARANCE — all glorious — yet one glory of the sun, etc. The first shall be last, etc. (J. Lyth, D.D.) People Adam, Cephas, Corinthians, James, Paul, PeterPlaces Corinth, EphesusTopics Alive, Death, Die, Dies, Except, Fool, Foolish, Necessary, Order, Quickened, Seed, Sow, Sowest, Thyself, Undergo, Unless, Unwise, VivifiedOutline 1. By Christ's resurrection,12. he proves the necessity of our resurrection, 16. against all such as deny the resurrection of the body. 21. The fruit, 35. and the manner thereof; 51. and of the resurrection of those who shall be found alive at the last day. Dictionary of Bible Themes 1 Corinthians 15:36 4510 sowing and reaping Library The Image of the Earthly and the HeavenlyEversley, Easter Day, 1871. 1 Cor. xv. 49. "As we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." This season of Easter is the most joyful of all the year. It is the most comfortable time, in the true old sense of that word; for it is the season which ought to comfort us most--that is, it gives us strength; strength to live like men, and strength to die like men, when our time comes. Strength to live like men. Strength to fight against the temptation which … Charles Kingsley—All Saints' Day and Other Sermons Third Sunday after Easter Second Sermon. Fourth Sunday after Easter Fifth Sunday after Easter Eleventh Sunday after Trinity Paul's Witness to Christ's Resurrection. Small Duties and the Great Hope The Christian and the Scientific Estimate of Sin Outward and Inward Morality April the Sixth First-Hand Knowledge of Christ April the Seventh if Christ were Dead! Sudden Conversions. Paul's Estimate of Himself The Unity of Apostolic Teaching The Certainty and Joy of the Resurrection Remaining and Falling Asleep The Death of Death The Power of the Resurrection On the Atonement. Victory Over Death. Thoughts on the Last Battle "Alas for Us, if Thou Wert All, and Nought Beyond, O Earth" A Leap Year Sermon * Resurgam 28TH DAY. A Joyful Resurrection. Links 1 Corinthians 15:36 NIV1 Corinthians 15:36 NLT 1 Corinthians 15:36 ESV 1 Corinthians 15:36 NASB 1 Corinthians 15:36 KJV 1 Corinthians 15:36 Bible Apps 1 Corinthians 15:36 Parallel 1 Corinthians 15:36 Biblia Paralela 1 Corinthians 15:36 Chinese Bible 1 Corinthians 15:36 French Bible 1 Corinthians 15:36 German Bible 1 Corinthians 15:36 Commentaries Bible Hub |