Resurrected Body, Yes, Ours

When Jesus died, He rose from the dead, not in spirit, but in body, His body. He left the tomb, all of Him, not just part of Him. He appeared to Mary Magdalene and she knew Him. He appeared to the disciples and they recognized Him. Thomas saw Christ, and touched the scars in His hands and in His side and knew it was Jesus.

“¹⁶Jesus said to her, ‘Mary.’ She turned and said to him in Aramaic, ‘Rabboni!’ (which means Teacher).” – John 20:16 (ESV)

“²⁷Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side. Do not disbelieve, but believe.’ ²⁸Thomas answered him, ‘My Lord and my God!’” – John 20:27-28 (ESV)

Jesus is our example. He showed us how to live and what happens when we pass from this world. We He was resurrected with His body and so will we. We will follow the example of Christ in our resurrection with our bodies only better than we knew before.

It is true, Jesus resurrected with His body and we will also. But, just as Jesus was, we will also be recognized in that body. When Christ comes again, we will be reunited with our bodies from this world. That body will be in the image as we were created by God. Any defects that we had in this world will be gone, recognized, but gone. Randy Alcorn gives a good analogy of an upgrade to describe our resurrected bodies. “It’s like the new upgrade of my word processing software…I knew that for the most part it would be like the old program, only better.” The good thing is that our new upgraded bodies may have “some new features (though no glitches or programming errors).”

We will get our bodies back. We will be recognized as ourselves. We will be better off than we were in this world. We will follow the example of Christ in His resurrection.

What is your view of resurrected body? Are you of the idea that you somehow get a new body? Reading scripture, think about the example of Christ and His body at resurrection. Knowing He is our example, what would your body look like resurrected?

Righteous do Good and Suffer

What, do good and suffer. Yes, as a follower of Christ we are to do good. As a result we are not going to necessarily be in line with the society or world around us and for that we will suffer.

“¹⁷For it is better to suffer for doing good, if that should be God’s will, than for doing evil. ¹⁸For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,” – 1 Peter 3:17 – 18 (ESV)

Jesus came to this world and was filled with and did good, as we know, He did not sin. He came for you and for me. He was the righteous one and yet He suffered greatly for you and for me. He died, even when He did not have to, for you and for me. And think about it, He was continually doing good and yet the world around Him persecuted Him.

In looking into this world, I see a lot going on. I see those that are doing what is put out as being good, only to find out that it was completely self-serving. Now, I do not claim to know the hearts of those doing the work, it could be that they were just naive in their thinking and actions. Then there are those who do the work of the LORD, regardless of the consequences. I think of those looking to provide support in North Carolina and being turned away as they did not “follow the protocols”. Those people are not looking for any recognition, only looking to help and yet the suffering for doing good is present.

I have to remember the example of Christ. I have to be the example of Christ. I have to be and do good. I have to know that it will not always be easy and know that I will be persecuted for it, suffer for it, and not fit in always, but it is the example that Christ left for me and it is the example that I have to leave for others.

What is your approach to doing good? Are you looking to get something out of it? What if you went into the good knowing that you will suffer for it and you were to press on anyway, demonstrating the example of Christ?

Be Unaware of Righteousness

This morning I was brought to the passage in Matthew titled “The Final Judgment”. Where this is not new to me in my reading, I was reminded of the idea that our righteous actions are not even recognized by us.

You see, our task is to spread the gospel and be the example of Christ. I am not instructed to call attention to my actions. I am not instructed to even let anyone know my motives. I am instructed to to the work of and for Christ and His people. The righteous will do the work of Christ and not even realize that they have been righteous.

“³⁷Then the righteous will answer him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? ³⁸And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? ³⁹And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’” – Matthew 25:37-39 (ESV)

Here Jesus is letting the people know that the righteous will inherit the Kingdom of God and the others will be cast into the eternal fire. He is giving all the reasons for their denotation as righteous or not. He has told them as to what is counted as righteous, providing food, drink, clothing, and visitation. And the people ask when they did or did not provide for Him as indicated. Jesus lets them know that when the action is taken or not taken to anyone, then it is taken or not taken to Him.

“¹Let brotherly love continue. ²Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” – Hebrews 13:1-2 (ESV)

We never know who we are engaging with in this world. In the above verse from Hebrews, the writer points out that we are to just be the example of Christ to all as we may be engaging with an angel sent by God. Again, we find that we are to just be good and spread the gospel and do the work of Christ.

We may be unaware of those we are interacting with and therefore we are to just do the work. When we are doing the work of Christ, we are doing the righteous work we have been assigned, not for selfish gain, but out of love for one another. We will likely be unaware of the righteousness of our actions and know them as only being the example of Christ’s love in the interaction.

It is not important to be aware of righteousness, it is only important to do the work of Christ. Remember that only He can declare us righteous and he will not do so if our heart is rooted actions due to selfish gain. He will declare us righteous when we take actions out of love and obedience to Him.

What actions are you taking that may be declared righteous? Are you taking those actions to be declared righteous? What if you just did the work of Christ as an example of Him and were unaware of the actions or you being declared righteous?