Resurrection

Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and observe those who live according to the example you have in us. For many live as enemies of the cross of Christ; I have often told you of them, and now I tell you even with tears. Their end is destruction; their god is the belly; and their glory is in their shame; their minds are set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will transform our humble bodies that it may be conformed to His glorious body, by the power that also enables him to make all things subject to himself. (Philippians 3:17-21)

The mission of the church is
to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.

As I continue to explore the meaning of the United Methodist Church's mission statement, I move to the idea of our ultimate transformation. I've been talking about becoming like Christ, to be more and more like Jesus. Our journey as disciples of Jesus is one of transformation. Our relationship with Jesus changes us. His character, His qualities, His thinking, and His compassion become ours. We adapt and change to become like the One we worship, serve, and follow.

This journey of following Jesus, that we might become like Him in all things, is aided by grace. Grace is the divine power of love at work in us through the Holy Spirit. God is transforming us from the inside out. Because we have the Spirit, we are spiritual people with our minds set on heaven, not upon earthly things. Grace aids us in being made holy as God is holy. It's called sanctification. The sanctifying work of grace helps us to love as purely as Jesus loves us. 

Our journey of transformation is not simply an earthly journey. The power God exerted when He raised the Lord Jesus from the dead is the same power of grace that is at work in us who believe. (Ephesians 1:19-20) That resurrection power will do its complete work by transforming our bodies, too. Our flesh and blood will be transformed into an eternal spiritual body. 

He will transform our humble bodies
that it may be conformed to His glorious body
Philippians 3:21

The New Testament does not know how to explain the resurrection. The authors struggle to tell us that the risen Lord Jesus is not a ghost. He ate with His disciples after His resurrection. They could see His scars from His torture and crucifixion. Yet, He could suddenly appear to His disciples behind locked doors, like a ghost might. He could walk and talk with them and they not know its Jesus. All we can say is that Jesus has a spiritual body. He's not a tortured soul lost between heaven and hell, trapped on the earth with unfinished business, as some think of ghosts. He is a new creature. He is a new kind of humanity. He is the first fruits of the dead. He is the first man to live in the new age that is coming.

His disciples are marked by the presence of the Holy Spirit. Through the Spirit we have a foretaste of what is to come. The New Testament refers to the Spirit as earnest money, a deposit and a guarantee. God has placed in you something from your future. The Spirit's presence is a guarantee that resurrection from the dead is in your future. Heaven in all of its fabled glory is in your future. Heaven is a place with God beyond our words to explain. Heaven is beyond our minds ability to imagine. But because we have this foretaste of the future in us, through the Spirit, we know inwardly there is something wonderful coming!

Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come. (2nd Corinthians 1:21-22)

Since the evidence we need is dwelling in our hearts, a disciple of Jesus learns to be less frustrated about the troubles of this broken world, and more enamored with the glory of heaven. That is why Paul says set your mind not on the things of earth, but on the things of heaven. (Colossians 3:1-2) No one can easily move forward unless their minds, their eyes, and their hearts are looking forward. The forward direction of the Christian is union with Christ in all manner of things. That union includes our bodies becoming like Jesus' resurrected glory. We will be completely consumed by the new creation. Indeed we are already new creations, through our relationship with Jesus Christ. (2nd Corinthians 5:17)

Paul wrote the Christian disciples in Philippi about pressing forward to receive the prize, the goal of our faith, which is the redemption of our bodies. Redemption means freedom from the failings of our mortal flesh. We are free of our pain, our weakness (physical, mental and spiritual), and our death. Now we are free, but only in part. At the end of our journey, we will be completely free. 

Do not think that we disciples long for death, nor do we glorify death as an escape from this sometimes painful life. The resurrection power of Christ transforms the way we experience life here. We are less flustered, confused, and disoriented by the pains and tragedies of this world in its bondage. (Romans 8:18-21) For our hope is in the new creation coming. We are already part of it. We are already in heaven in the sense that we are in Christ, under the power of His Lordship and love. 

I believe, since God is eternal, all that will be is already a reality for God. God experiences past, present, and future as reality. God is not limited by time and space. Therefore God, who foreknew us before creation itself existed, also knows us as our glorified selves. There's a perfected future me already in heaven with Christ Jesus. When I pray, I get glimpses of that future me that I am becoming. I don't think of me here on earth in earthly glory. I don't think of mansions and luxury and easy living. Those aspirations die with this earth that is dying. No, I think in heavenly terms. I think of light, love, and life everlasting in the embrace of God, and all who have joined their hearts to Him through our savior Jesus Christ. 

Here's a scriptural reference that gives me confidence that we are already perfected in Christ in our future, but as a present reality for God.

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:4-7)

Because we are citizens (residents) of heaven, we live according to the culture of heaven. Our minds are not set on earthly concerns. We do care for the poor, hungry and oppressed. We do tend to the sick and imprisoned. However, we do so as citizens of heaven. We do so empowered by the love and light of our future home with Christ Jesus. No, our hearts are set in that future place and time, and through the Spirit, we enjoy a foretaste.

Who needs transformation? As my flabby aging body reminds me of my future here on earth, O my God, how I need transformation. I need to live like I'm going to live forever. I need to keep my failing mind alive, my weakening flesh strong, and my growing spirit flying ever further into that hoped for future.

May you too know the same hope. For in this hope were were saved.