Jesus Walks on Water

[0:00] Father, you know how we just try to cling to different things to give us some type of a security, some type of a fixed point, something that we can stand on amidst all the changes and all the tensions and all the different ways that we're pulled.

[0:20] Sometimes, Father, it seems like the world is fraying or country is fraying with wars in Ukraine and conflict here at home. And, Father, you know how we seek out things to cling to or stand on to give us some type of security.

[0:35] We ask, Father, that the Holy Spirit would do a gentle but powerful work in our hearts this morning so that we might see you, Father, as our anchor, our hope, that we might be formed by the gospel at a deeper and deeper level of our hearts.

[0:49] So we invite and give you permission, Father, for your word to speak very deeply within us this morning. And we ask this in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen. Please be seated.

[1:04] So I don't know if it's five or six weeks ago now, I got very emotional. Hopefully I'm not going to get very emotional right now at the start of this sermon. And I shared how our strong, healthy seven-year-old German shepherd dog, Rocky, had all of a sudden sort of collapsed.

[1:21] And he was diagnosed with a serious heart condition, which at the time after we had this very difficult conversation about, you know, moving forward.

[1:32] But even surgery would have only added lots of pain to his life in only a handful of months. And the vet, we brought Rocky home to die. And the vet said he might have just hours or he might have two or three weeks.

[1:47] Well, Rocky beat the odds but didn't win the battle. And on Thursday night, he died. And actually, he died in a very...

[1:57] And I thank you, by the way, for all... I know that many of you have prayed. And some of you are thinking, what? Praying about a dog? Anyway, it's that dogs are... Obviously, they're not as important as a human being. But they're important. And they have...

[2:08] They take a place that's hard to sort of explain to people who don't... Haven't had a dog. To sort of explain how they have a big part in the family. And he's always loved the winter.

[2:20] And he spent quite a few hours outside over these last few weeks enjoying the cold. And on Thursday night, he'd been outside for an hour or two. He came in, walked up to where, by coincidence, three of us were standing.

[2:36] He looked at us and he died. In lots of ways, it was a mercy that we didn't have to, of course, make the...

[2:49] Just watch him really suffer and then maybe have to euthanize him or something like that. It's a... In some ways, for those of you who've been praying, it's been a real answer to prayer. That we had those extra time with him and you get to prepare to know that he'll die.

[3:02] So, you know, at some point in time after, you know, an hour or two, about two hours or so after that, this people process and we had to wait for my son to come home because he was out.

[3:15] We... You treat the body gently. Right? You treat him gently. And so we, you know, put a tarp gently underneath him.

[3:27] It's really funny. I don't know if you've ever... Any of you have tried to do something like this, but it's almost when we were trying to move him that you didn't want to hurt him. I mean, of course, he's dead.

[3:37] You can't hurt him. But you treat him very gently and then we carried him outside and put him in the back of Louise's van and he would have been cremated the next day. Now, I mentioned that.

[3:49] It's actually, I think, a very important story for us to think about as we begin to look at the gospel and contrast it with something different. I bet if I was to ask, if we were to be very honest with each other, I would bet that a very large number, maybe even the majority of you, of us, not you, of us, don't like our bodies.

[4:13] Like we're embarrassed by our body, ashamed of our body. Yeah. We don't like our bodies. In fact, not only, you know, me saying this, I mean, most of us don't think about it all the time, but in fact, if over, if you, you know, you had coffee with somebody and said, and they were actually, you got to know them well enough that they said, you know, I really don't like my body when I look at myself.

[4:36] I don't even like to look at myself in the mirror because I just don't like my body. I hate my body. Like that probably wouldn't shock anybody. And in our culture, it's sort of interesting. We seem to either idolize our bodies or hate our bodies.

[4:53] And it's hard to sort of be balanced about having, and as you know, in our culture, not only do we often hate our bodies, we hate our bodies. And some people do things connected to hatred of the body, like cutting themselves.

[5:06] And there's a whole range of issues around mutilation and all of that. So we have this weird thing. On one hand, if I had told you that we took Rocky's body and just sort of dragged him by the leg and threw him outside, you'd all go, what?

[5:21] Like, you'd be horrified that I would do something like that. Yet at the same time, we in our culture are very familiar with the fact that we have this, even if we don't always consciously think of it, we either tend to idolize our bodies or we hate and despise our bodies.

[5:37] And in fact, in many religious systems, the sign of holiness is despising and hating the body. That's actually a sign of holiness often in religion. So what's going on?

[5:50] Well, this miracle story, which I said is a story that many, many, many people have hard times with, if we're going to look at it, it's actually a very profound reflection to give us some real wisdom about all of this and a good place to stand.

[6:05] So it'd be a great help to me if you would open your Bibles and turn with me to Mark chapter 6, verses 45 and following. And once again, whether you're online or here, and obviously we're going to have the scripture text on the screen, but it's really a good habit to get to look at your own Bibles.

[6:21] Partly, I want you to all be Bereans to check to see that I'm not cheating on the translation or anything like that, to look around it. And also, it's just a way to help make the text a bit more real to yourselves.

[6:33] But anyway, we all have different ways of handling that. But I encourage you to use your own Bible or the way that you read your Bible. Anyway, here's how the story goes. It goes like this, just to refresh our memory. And actually sort of to delve into the problematic bits and actually see how the things which, in fact, are problems in the text are really windows and mirrors that actually present to us not just a profound vision, but a profound truth about the way the world is and about our bodies.

[7:07] So verse 45, immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he dismissed the crowd. But just in the original language, it's all perfectly good, but in the original language there's a bit of an emphasis.

[7:22] He actually really forces them into the boat. And this miracle, the feeding of the 5,000, as I shared last week, which is what has just happened before this, actually it's the 5,000 men, so it's probably about 10,000.

[7:36] Because it's the only miracle other than the death and resurrection of Jesus that's recorded in all four of the Gospels, you get bits of other pieces of information about the miracle. And you know, in John's thing, only John records that the crowd, realizing the miracle that happened, wants to rise up and have Jesus lead them as an armed force to take back Jerusalem and to vanquish the pagans and vanquish the Romans.

[8:02] And so I guess Jesus must be worried that his disciples are getting caught up in all the crowd and excitement. And he knows that he is the king, and he knows that he will be the king of a kingdom that embraces all the world and that embraces cultures and times apart from him.

[8:22] But the way to that kingship is going to be him dying upon the cross, not leading a popular uprising against Rome. And so I guess he gets rid of his disciples, tells them to go on ahead.

[8:33] He dismisses the crowd, but he compels them. They don't want to go. They're saying, no, no, no, no, Jesus, this is where all the action is, you know, so to speak. We want to stay here. And he said, no, no, no, you got to go. Got to go.

[8:44] Got to go. You got to go. You got to go. Right? Compelled them to get into the boat and to go. And he dismisses the crowd. And then what does he do? Verse 46. And after he had taken leave of them, he went up on the mountain to pray.

[8:58] This is, I think, the third time in Mark's gospel that shows Jesus praying. And just as an aside, right? I mean, this is, I've been thinking about this all week. If Jesus needed to pray, then I really need to pray.

[9:12] If Jesus needed to pray, then I really need to pray. And so do you. But here now we come to the miracle.

[9:22] And actually, the first little bit of the miracle might actually make Jesus feel, seem almost a bit mean. Because if he knows things and he sends them out and there's going to be a story.

[9:33] Why did he do that? Well, anyway, let's look at what happened. Verse 47. And when evening came, the boat was out on the sea, the Sea of Galilee, and Jesus was alone on the land.

[9:44] And he saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them. And just sort of pause there. I know it's still up on the screen. Painfully is a really good word.

[9:57] The original word in the original language is with torment. They were in torment rowing. And if you go all the way through the story, and it's not obvious in the English, you might even forget that they started out to go to Bethsaida.

[10:13] So they started to go to Bethsaida. But the wind is so strong that they don't end up in Bethsaida. They end up somewhere over here in Gennesaret. Because that's how powerful the wind and the waves was.

[10:23] They're going this way. And it really is strong because it blows them way, way, way, way off course. And they land in a different place. And so they're struggling with them painfully, with torment in the original language.

[10:36] And about the fourth watch of the night, and this is Roman terminology. So somewhere between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m., somewhere in those three hours, that's the fourth watch of the night.

[10:48] And Jesus came to them walking on the sea. He meant to pass by them. Now, this seems really mean. And I'm going to circle around.

[10:59] We're going to talk about it in a moment. But it's a significant part of the text. He meant to pass by them. There they are. The wind's so strong, it's going to blow them sort of backwards into the side.

[11:12] So they want to go across the lake this way. But they end up going across the lake this way. Because that's how powerful the wind is. And he meant to pass by them. But when they saw him, verse 49, walking on the sea, they thought it was a ghost.

[11:29] In the original language, it's phantasm. I don't know. I didn't pronounce it correctly. And it can include anything from a ghost to an evil spirit. And so they thought it was a ghost and cried out, for they all saw him and were terrified.

[11:44] They saw what they thought was a ghost or an evil spirit. But immediately, Jesus spoke to them and said, Take heart. It is I.

[11:55] Do not be afraid. And Jesus got into the boat with them. And the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded. For they did not understand about the loaves.

[12:06] They did not understand about the loaves. But their hearts were hardened. So just a pause there. And let's think about this miracle.

[12:18] So first of all, I think this miracle really happened. But the normal reaction to it is like several types of things.

[12:32] A fundamental one would be this. Like I can think of several people that I've had coffee shop, had conversations with in coffee shops over the years. And I can picture two of them in particular.

[12:43] And they would just, they got to the point where they'd be very blunt with me. And I can just picture either one of them saying, George, you Christians are so gullible.

[12:54] Like this is one of many reasons why I can never be a Christian. George, if this miracle happened, science is impossible. It defies all the laws of nature.

[13:05] And if you actually think something like that happened, then, I mean, George, I don't even know what I can say to you. Because it's just like, it's just a sign of why Christians, you kiss your minds goodbye.

[13:17] You're credulous. And then some of them might even say, and George, and not only are you credulous, but it's even worse because you have double standards. Like just George, be honest with me.

[13:29] If I told you that I saw a newspaper account of somebody walking on the water in some part of the world, would you believe it? And I'm guessing you wouldn't believe it.

[13:39] I mean, if you do believe it, then you really are credulous. But if you don't believe it, then you have a double standard. You don't believe it when it happens somewhere else, but you believe it because it happens to Jesus. Like that's like a double standard.

[13:50] Like what on earth is going on? Now, I've never had this conversation, but I've had conversations with people like this about miracles, and I know that's what they would say to me.

[14:00] They can be very blunt. Sometimes they can be blunt and loud, which gets me red in the face, not because I'm angry, but because I'm embarrassed.

[14:12] The whole restaurant, this is back pre-COVID, they all stop. And you hear the conversation go from ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba to silence, and they all look at me, and I get red in the face and embarrassed. But I guess what I'd say to skeptics and people who have problems with this, I'd say it is because I believe this miracle happened that I would not believe another account.

[14:36] It's precisely because I believe this miracle happened that I wouldn't believe it if I heard a newspaper account of somebody walking on the water.

[14:49] I think that's actually what the text wants us to understand. And so why is it? Well, first of all, we have to notice that this text, everything about this text is emphasizing that the miracle actually happened.

[15:03] That's the first thing, okay? I mean, it's not a way of going that it's just a metaphor. It's, you know, because in some ways, you know, I was thinking about it, this story sounds a little bit like something that Harry Potter could do or that would happen in a Harry Potter novel.

[15:19] And so many people would say, well, it's all right to read Harry Potter. You know, it's fun. But, I mean, George, like real, you know, if you believe this, if believing in Harry Potter is really like those people who play Quidditch on the lawn and actually think they could fly on brooms, like that would be pretty pathetic.

[15:36] But this miracle emphasizes that it's not like Harry Potter, that it actually happened. If you think about it for a second, you know, if you think, well, maybe it was just some type of vision, well, the text already deals with that.

[15:49] The people in the boat aren't expecting Jesus to walk on the water. They actually think they're having a vision. They think they're seeing something like a ghost or some type of apparition. And the other thing about it is that if you know anything about the Gospels, earlier on it sets it up that at least four of the Gospels made their living as fishermen.

[16:08] And they made their living as fishermen on that precise sea. So they understand boats. They understand the sea. They're familiar with it. It's not as if they go to a body of water that they've never been to before and they don't know where the sandbars are or anything like that.

[16:22] No, no, no. This is their home turf. This is how they would have been, their dads would have been fishermen and they would have been in the boat from a very young age and they would have had the repository. Oops.

[16:32] Oh my. I should have had a lid. They would, I'm not going to stop. They should have had a repository. They'd have a repository of all of the knowledge about the lake. And so these are people who understand the water and they would have known that there were no shoals.

[16:47] And even the way the story is described, it doesn't describe it the way it would work if there was like a shoal that Jesus is walking on. Because, you know, how that would work is he's sort of walking on a shoal and they'd bring the boat, they'd have to bring the boat close to him, but they don't bring the boat close to him.

[17:03] He comes to them. And if you were actually on a shoal and the water sort of, you know, even if it's a very, very sudden drop, Jesus would sort of have to unceremoniously jump into the boat, not just sort of walk into the boat.

[17:17] And so it's all set up in such a way that, and on top of that, it's all in the historical language. And as I shared last week, the flow of the story is you go right from a story which is historical, which has Josephus and non-Christian historians have talked about the same types of incidents.

[17:37] You go right from there to the 5,000 to this, and it's all the same historical language. Everything in the story is trying to emphasize that this actually really happened. So, why is this not like a double standard?

[17:55] And how on earth could you believe in science and the laws of nature and still believe in a miracle like this? Well, here's partly what's going on in the text.

[18:13] This is a text about God, the creator of all things, revealing himself to his disciples. If you go back, if you could put the scripture text back up for a second, if you go back up to verse 48.

[18:32] About the fourth watch of the night, he came to them walking on the sea. He meant to pass by them. Now, we tend to read that thinking, oh, he's sort of mean.

[18:43] Like, why would he mean to pass by them? But what it actually says he meant, to pass by them, and the language passed by them is word for word exactly the same as the times in the Old Testament, what we call the Old Testament, our Jewish friends call the T'ak, where there's two times in the Old Testament where God reveals himself, or at least like his back, so to speak, to Moses and to Elijah.

[19:11] And in both of those stories, he passes by them, and he uses the exact same language, that God reveals just the tiniest bit of his glory, his back to them, by passing by them.

[19:25] And that's exactly the language which is used by here. So in other words, Jesus is using this as an opportunity to pass by them, to reveal himself as God to the disciples.

[19:37] And on top of that, the very words that he uses are also words found in places like the Book of Job and other places in what we call the Old Testament and our Jewish friends call the T'ak, where it actually describes God walking on the water.

[19:54] And that's exactly the type of language which is used here. And the other thing is that this particular story is encapsulating a whole range of biblical stories in biblical texts like, you know, the trees clap their hands and, you know, the heavens declare the glory of God and, you know, that all creation praises God and all of this type of language that implies that we can't hear the trees praising God and the mountains praising God and the ocean praising God and the stars praising God.

[20:31] But the Bible says it's that. And it's almost as if... So here we have that Jesus is going to reveal himself as God to his disciples by passing in front of them with his glory.

[20:45] And he uses the thing that only God can do. Only God can walk on the water. And it's almost bringing to fruition and bringing to a highlight and bringing to an image all of this other language about creation serving Christ God and praising God.

[21:01] And it's almost as if for a brief moment Jesus allows the ocean and the sea to do what it longs to do which is to praise him.

[21:12] And it's almost as if he's allowing the sea to all of a sudden become just where he's walking a place that will hold him up and bear him up and praise him in such a way as he walks upon the sea because only God can walk upon the sea.

[21:24] You see, here's the difference between... This is why it's not doing anything that undermines science.

[21:37] God is not under or bound by the laws of nature. God is not under or bound by the laws of nature.

[21:51] And what the Bible reveals is this. is the one who made the laws of nature is the same one who sustains the laws of nature.

[22:05] And only he can suspend the laws of nature for a short time to reveal himself. See, it's a very, very different thing.

[22:17] He's created the laws. He's created all things so all of the laws of nature are his creation. They don't bind him. He's created them. And all of creation is sustained by him so he sustains the law of nature.

[22:30] And it's only the one who has made the laws and sustained the law that can, in a sense, pause one or two laws for a very brief instant to reveal that he, in fact, is God coming to visit his creation.

[22:47] You see, there's lots of tales in the Hindu and Buddhist tradition that if you become very, very, very holy, you can levitate.

[23:07] You see, if that's true, then the laws of nature really don't work. And in fact, actually, those tales are really trying to paint a picture of something which is very, very completely the opposite of what the Bible is trying to do.

[23:21] Because in those systems of thought, the idea is that ultimately, the idea of matter and the world are ultimately an illusion. And that what you need to do is you need to develop your own spirit and mind and God consciousness.

[23:36] And if you develop that, usually in ways by treating your body really, really, really terribly, that if you do that and ascend and ascend and ascend into the power of your mind, that then you can do whatever you want.

[23:48] Those of you who've seen the movie The Matrix, The Matrix presents, in a sense, the heart of that Buddhist Hindu worldview. That at the end of the movie, when all of a sudden Neo finally sees through and pierces the reality to realize that it's just a machine and it's just code and all of a sudden he can just take the lines of code and he can do with them whatever he wants and he can do whatever he wants because he's pierced the veil and to see that none of it's real and that all there is is his mind and he can do things and in a world like The Matrix, you couldn't have anything like science because ultimately the world is just an illusion and the enlightened mind can just do whatever it wants.

[24:31] But this particular text is communicating to us as all of the biblical worldview is that the world is a creation of a good, is a good, was originally a good creation that human beings are made to have bodies to in a sense be an embodied soul or another way to look at it would be an ensouled body and that that's how God created us to be, to be a unity and a harmony of the soul and the body to be one and God designed us to do that and it's, it's not an illusion to think that a sunset is beautiful and it's not a matter of trying to pierce through things to see because there's been some profound tragedy by which we believe the created world has come to exist.

[25:25] If you could put up the first point, this is the same point that I shared last week and it's very significant that this miracle happens just after the feeding of the 5,000.

[25:44] I'll say the point and then I'll explain it. The strong hand of love that made the world is the same strong hand of love that sustains the world is the same strong hand of love that was nailed to the cross to redeem his fallen world and it's the same strong hand of love that will beckon and welcome his redeemed children into the new heaven and the new earth.

[26:12] See, the, the, the, if you look at these two miracles in the context of this one story of the gospel, one of the things we looked at last week with the feeding of the 5,000 is in the feeding of the 5,000 you see that Jesus is revealed as God, that it's, that the creator has come and dwelt amongst his creation and we, you, you, you have this, this understanding from the Bible that God created all things out of nothing in a sense that by his hand he created all things out of nothing and, and you also see that even though after we sinned and fell that there was this, this promise that the same God who created all things will now, even now, sustain a world that, that human beings have brought evil into it and dissolution into it and, and, and we have this sense that, that, that when the world is functioning properly that there's this, the compassion of the bounty that we understand that a garden that produces lots of tomatoes and zucchini and, and flowers is, is the way things should be and, and, and one that brings nothing whatsoever is, is, is, is the way that the, that we just realize and, and, and understand that that's not right and so we see in the miracle last week we see of the, the, this, we have to sort of take it by faith that God made all things out of nothing but when you read that story you're actually seeing

[27:26] Jesus making something out of nothing and what he makes out of nothing is bread to eat and so what you get this sense of is that every time we have a harvest and there's lots of tomatoes and lots of zucchinis and lots of cilantro and lots of potatoes and, and we enjoy all of that bounty and, and, and we see that the same strong hand of love that created the world is the one that, that gives you that food and we see it all enacted in the miracle of the 5,000 and then at the end of the story we're going to see that exact same strong, strong hand of love nailed to the cross to redeem fallen humanity and in between that we see this particular story and for a very, very brief moment not only do we see God revealed because only God can walk on the water we also get a brief moment a sense of what the new heaven and the new earth will be that in the new heaven and the new earth there will be a relationship of us to the created world well this just gives a bit of a hint of it you know the Bible says that when we see Jesus we will be like him and there's still water there's still waves he still has a body but he walks on it and it's a very, very brief glimpse of the future the strong hand of love that made the world is the same strong hand of love that sustains the world is the same strong hand of love that was nailed to the cross to redeem his fallen world and is the same strong hand of love that will beckon and welcome his redeemed children into the new heaven and the new earth you see this is part of what why as you enter into the Christian faith there's a very there's at a very deep level as it starts to form you there's a beauty and a coherence about it that is found nowhere else not in Buddhism or Hinduism with all due respect not in Islam with all due respect not in the different secular and other speculative philosophies of the west or the east you will not find them and even you know with all due respect even in Canada we live with incoherences like how did things you know things came to be by chance and then by the strong eating the weak but how do you go from saying everything that exists comes about by chance and by the strong eating the weak therefore love one another well that doesn't make any sense like that doesn't make any sense that's incoherent and how is it that we we believe that we're all going to go to a better place when we die and that place that we're going to go to which is better when we die is some type of either a spiritual place where we sort of become all part of nature but if we're all going to automatically go to a better place when we die therefore love one another well one moment how does that make any like how does that make any sense like that doesn't make any sense and on one hand if our bodies are just a result of the fact that of an evolutionary process that begins with chance and the strong eating the weak that means like our bodies are just a result of chance and somehow we just we had hungrier bigger forebears that eight weaker forebears that were the that's that's my heritage but if I'm going to just go to a place which is ultimately my destiny is to be completely and utterly disembodied and just either floating in some place with that's just pure spirit or somehow mingled with it then okay well what does that say about how I live or treat my body but there's this very very very deep coherence in the Christian faith that the strong hand of love made the world and the strong hand of love made human beings to bear the image of God and to have an inherent dignity and worth and value like he

[31:51] God chose to create human beings and God the same strong hand of love is the is the strong hand of love that sustains all things and and the same strong hand of love is the one that redeems all things and the same strong hand of love is the one that's going to bring us to the new heaven and the new earth and so there's this very very deep coherence we were made in God's image we were made to have communion and fellowship with him he sustains us even when we're rebels he deals with all that separates us from you from God so that we could be made right with God and at the end that same strong hand of love is going to welcome us to be with him forever and if God if Jesus is revealed as God when he feeds the 5,000 he's revealed as God when he walks on the water you see that's the only possible way that you and I can have any type of hope because it's only if it's God who dies on the cross as a sacrifice that that sacrifice can possibly count for every human being that receives it

[33:00] I mean if it's just me I don't I mean the other day it would just be me dying for me maybe I could die as a sacrifice for my family or my grandkids or you or something like that let the terrorists let them all go take me instead but people puzzle over how it is that one man's death could cover for them all these years later and the same death could cover for people in Singapore and people in Rwanda and people in France and people in Russia and how that one death could cover well that can only happen if it's God who dies on the cross and that's what the Bible is revealing with these powerful stories and just sort of in closing the final point if you could put it up that would be wonderful and this is where we start to begin to have an image or a hope to try to steer away between idolizing our bodies or tormenting and denying and hurting our bodies in Christ your destiny is to be resurrected body and soul and to dwell in the new heaven and earth with Christ in his kingdom that's your destiny

[34:21] I mean that's one of the things this miracle shows if we are going to be like Christ when we see him and we see that Jesus had this body that walks on water and the water is real but he walks on water we're not eventually going to just be disembodied minds or nowadays disembodied emotions somehow existing in some other plane with no body and no connection to this world that's not your destiny in Christ your destiny in Christ is resurrected body and soul and you're going to dwell in a new heaven and a new earth you're going to dwell with Christ and you're going to dwell with him in his kingdom and the ability to do that isn't because you kept a really really good lent it's not because you really really really really were good at subjugating your body or starving your body or doing anything like that it's all because of what he did for us on the cross and it's fine

[35:40] I mean obviously I mean I'm not happy with my body I have dimples where it's not cute you know bulges and sags and all that type of stuff and it doesn't mean you have to idolize your body or love your body there's a different way there's a different path your body is important and the story ends with Jesus healing and as you get as you're gripped by the gospel the part of the body is that the gospel will teach us not to idolize our bodies as if they're somehow you know I know of one person who wanted euthanasia because she could no longer I'm not making this up she could no longer put on her makeup and do her hair and she couldn't bear not looking beautiful because she had been a beautiful woman or thought she was and idolized her body and her looks all her life and to begin to lose that it's not even worth living but that's such a trap isn't it and so narcissistic how do you love others if you have to idolize your body and worship it and have your body worshipped by others and it's as if like she's almost as if in this story she encapsulates the problem with the modern world if she can't idolize her body she wants her body killed killed and in the midst of this the gospel just provides this picture of sanity your body your body's good treat it well befriend it some of you have been blessed with really good bodies some of us have been blessed but not with having good bodies and if you live long enough everybody gets wrinkles where dimples where it's not cute or attractive but the option isn't it's always a matter of the body's a gift you're you are you are meant to be embodied your destiny is to be healed healed healed in Christ and so love your body care for it don't despise it it's not a sign of holiness to treat it terribly it's not a sign of wisdom to mutilate it castrate it disfigure it there's a better place to get your identity and that identity is in

[38:23] Christ why yeah yeah you're you're terrible I thought you're far worse than you could ever imagine but Jesus knew that when he died for you on the cross and you're far more loved and far more precious than even the greatest narcissist could ever imagine about themselves because Jesus loved you so much that he died for you and when he's finished saving you you will have a new body and a new soul but you're still you in the new heaven and the new earth for all eternity please stand let's bow our heads in prayer father we thank you for the hope of glory and we thank you father that the hope of glory isn't something that takes us away from the world and that our bodies matter and that other people that they don't matter or that the creation doesn't matter father we give you thanks and praise that you are the same God who created all things you are the

[39:25] God the same one the same God who sustains all things you are the same God who through the death of your son redeemed not just human beings but will eventually redeem the entire created order and you are the same God who will make the new heaven and the new earth and you have redeemed us to be your children and your friends by adoption and grace to live in this world to be gripped by the gospel to serve you and to bring you glory and father we ask that you would so grip us with these profound truths so that we would be ones father who care for the creation in a very very deep way that we do not despise it or just treat it as plastic or just treat it as garbage to do with as we wish that we don't also idolize it or make it into a God but that we just see it for what it is something which you have designed for us to inhabit in such a way that people's needs are met and the creation is honored and that there's a flourishing of human and created life and we give you thanks and praise that you have called us father to a destiny which is ours in Christ where we will have resurrected bodies and souls and a new heaven and a new earth and we ask father that you would so grip us with the gospel and have it form us that father we can learn how to live with our bodies except in those things that are falling apart and aren't good and accepting those things that do work good and and and just accepting father who we are in Christ taking steps to improve but take accepting who we are content father learning to be content to wait for that glorious day when we have those new bodies and we live with you and see you face to face we ask this in the name of

[41:09] Jesus your son and our savior amen