Gnosticism and the Resurrection

 

   Pastor Fred continues the series of the Second Advent and the hope and expectation of Christ return as King. One of the main passages that Pastor Fred preached on is 1 Corinthians 15 and the resurrection of the body. There are many different things we can expound on, but here are a few things that caught my eye. 

  The first one is how the Apostle Paul and the writers of the Gospels responded to this idea of Gnosticism. He of the ideas of Gnosticism makes life and Christianity a head game and that our bodies don’t really matter. It’s that we can do whatever we want as long as either no one gets hurt and or everyone gives consent to said action. This thought allows us to dwell in sin and to make it acceptable. Whether it is and addiction to pornography, food or any other activity, we can say as long as we are not hurting others, anything is fair game. The truth of it is, not only are we hurting ourselves when we do those things, but we are putting up barriers with other people and it changes our relationship with them. There are countless studies out there proving that a pornography addiction ruins marriages or at least puts a strain on them. This next idea is primarily for guys. When you struggle with porn, it will change how you look at woman, especially it will change the relationship with your wife and kids, especially if you have daughters. We can’t see people in what can they do for us and what kind of distorted personal gratification we can get when we give into these desires. 

  My second observation is that we can’t grow and be fruitful unless we get planted. Before a seed gets planted, it dies first. I think what Jesus had in mind is the idea that in order to grow, we must die to ourselves and to our desires and to put on what God has designed for us. So what are those attitudes and actions that we carry and live out that we need to put away and let die? To be blunt, there are some things that will keep coming back because we keep on feeding it and we won’t let die. Or what are those things that need to be killed. 

  My final observation is this, our bodies are a good thing. Not only did God call creation good, but Jesus came in, resurrected and is coming back in human form. I don’t know exactly what our resurrected bodies will look like, but we will have them. I know that when we get then, we won’t have a need for doctors, lab work or hospital stays. This is why we should care for them, because God gave them to us and we are to take care of what He gives us. The Apostle Paul tells us that we are the Temple of the Holy Spirit. Just as we take care of our holy spaces, should we do the same with our bodies?  I hope everyone has a great week

Grace and Peace

Tom Boustead