WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.940 Welcome to Church of the Advent. Welcome to our Brooklyn Parish. For those of you who are visiting, we're glad that you're here. 00:00:08.640 --> 00:00:18.359 This is an exciting day. We're going to celebrate a baptism, as is traditional, on All Saints Day when we talk about the church as a whole. 00:00:18.359 --> 00:00:30.500 And actually, our focus tonight, or I'm sorry, this morning I wrote this at night, our focus right now is something that actually ties in with baptism. 00:00:31.119 --> 00:00:33.280 And I hope by the end of this you'll see the connection. 00:00:34.259 --> 00:00:40.159 We've been doing a series for a couple of weeks now called Stewardship as Counterculture. 00:00:41.060 --> 00:00:47.579 And it's based on the idea that Christians believe God is the owner of all things. 00:00:47.579 --> 00:00:49.299 Everything belongs to Him. 00:00:50.059 --> 00:00:52.320 And that we are stewards. 00:00:53.100 --> 00:00:59.739 That whatever we have in our lives, those are things that God has entrusted to us to hold in trust. 00:01:00.619 --> 00:01:12.879 And we believe, as we've started to lay out, that the more we live like owners, the more dysfunction and damage and anxiety and harm result. 00:01:12.939 --> 00:01:15.319 Not only in our lives, but in our relationships. 00:01:15.319 --> 00:01:27.199 And conversely, the more we live like stewards, which is a radically countercultural way to live, the more we begin to heal and grow and flourish. 00:01:27.239 --> 00:01:28.259 It liberates us. 00:01:28.879 --> 00:01:30.879 So this is the theme that we've been exploring. 00:01:31.059 --> 00:01:35.879 And last week we looked at what it means to be stewards of creation, the world around us. 00:01:35.879 --> 00:01:39.359 This week, things get much more personal. 00:01:40.239 --> 00:01:43.599 Because we're talking about what it means to be stewards of our bodies. 00:01:44.679 --> 00:01:48.759 That our bodies themselves have been entrusted to us. 00:01:49.679 --> 00:01:56.280 So let me ask you by way of getting started, how do you think about your body? 00:01:56.280 --> 00:01:59.879 What do you think about your body? 00:02:00.799 --> 00:02:04.079 How would you describe your relationship with your body? 00:02:04.420 --> 00:02:06.379 Do you have a healthy relationship with your body? 00:02:07.180 --> 00:02:08.520 How would you know if you didn't? 00:02:09.860 --> 00:02:11.840 What do you feel when you look in the mirror? 00:02:12.920 --> 00:02:18.580 As you were getting ready this morning, what were you thinking as you checked your appearance? 00:02:19.340 --> 00:02:21.300 How do you think about your health? 00:02:21.300 --> 00:02:24.900 How often do you think about these things? 00:02:25.860 --> 00:02:28.939 I've mentioned more than a few times this year that I turned 40. 00:02:29.120 --> 00:02:34.360 And it feels more and more that I'm not getting along with my body as well as we used to get along. 00:02:34.500 --> 00:02:35.960 We used to have a great friendship. 00:02:36.740 --> 00:02:39.020 And now my body seems to be against me. 00:02:39.420 --> 00:02:41.380 And I think that that's only going to continue. 00:02:42.280 --> 00:02:44.360 So we're going to talk about our relationship with our body. 00:02:44.400 --> 00:02:48.120 And what does it mean to be stewards of our physical bodies? 00:02:48.120 --> 00:02:51.580 So we're going to look at all of the passages that we referenced. 00:02:51.759 --> 00:02:54.759 I've said, you know, normally we preach expository sermons. 00:02:54.879 --> 00:02:57.319 We look at one text and we go verse by verse. 00:02:58.060 --> 00:03:01.340 This series is more of a survey series. 00:03:01.539 --> 00:03:02.500 We're doing something a little different. 00:03:02.879 --> 00:03:08.680 We're looking at a lot of texts because we're wanting to show how this is a theme that runs through the entirety of Scripture. 00:03:09.180 --> 00:03:11.480 So we're looking at all of the passages that David just read. 00:03:11.479 --> 00:03:15.959 And I want to show you four things about God and your body. 00:03:16.319 --> 00:03:18.259 Four things about God and your body. 00:03:19.120 --> 00:03:21.419 Number one, God owns your body. 00:03:22.599 --> 00:03:23.659 God owns it. 00:03:23.819 --> 00:03:25.259 Number two, God loves it. 00:03:26.399 --> 00:03:29.859 Number three, God has a purpose for your body and my body. 00:03:30.959 --> 00:03:34.679 And fourthly, God will renew your body. 00:03:35.859 --> 00:03:36.719 He's the owner. 00:03:36.919 --> 00:03:37.519 He loves it. 00:03:37.560 --> 00:03:38.579 He has a purpose for it. 00:03:38.799 --> 00:03:40.019 And he will one day renew it. 00:03:40.020 --> 00:03:41.620 Let's pray as we get started. 00:03:45.900 --> 00:04:02.160 Our Father, as we're gathered in this auditorium and we're coming from so many different places and there are so many potential distractions and, Lord, we know that there's this great miracle that takes place when your people gather around your word. 00:04:02.640 --> 00:04:07.080 And that is that you, in some unfathomable way, speak to us. 00:04:07.939 --> 00:04:09.000 You speak through us. 00:04:09.000 --> 00:04:13.259 You use your word to bring us face to face with your living word, Jesus. 00:04:14.180 --> 00:04:16.839 He is the one we have come to see. 00:04:18.379 --> 00:04:20.019 It is his voice we desire. 00:04:20.600 --> 00:04:22.560 So we pray for that, Lord, by your grace. 00:04:23.040 --> 00:04:23.899 In your son's name. 00:04:24.100 --> 00:04:24.279 Amen. 00:04:26.279 --> 00:04:28.740 So God owns your body. 00:04:28.740 --> 00:04:34.500 Hopefully you feel an appropriate amount of shock and even offense hearing those words. 00:04:35.699 --> 00:04:38.720 We don't talk much about people owning other people's bodies. 00:04:39.340 --> 00:04:41.240 God owns our bodies. 00:04:41.920 --> 00:04:44.280 Luke 20 is a fascinating passage. 00:04:44.439 --> 00:04:47.639 I wish that we could just dive in verse by verse. 00:04:47.639 --> 00:04:53.639 Luke 20 is this encounter between the Pharisees and actually another gospel tells us the Herodians. 00:04:54.019 --> 00:05:00.079 And they come and they try to trap Jesus by asking him this highly politicized question. 00:05:00.199 --> 00:05:04.759 A lot of debate among the Jews about this certain tax that was called a head tax. 00:05:04.819 --> 00:05:08.979 It was a tribute paid simply for the pleasure of being under Caesar. 00:05:08.980 --> 00:05:12.780 And Jesus responds in an amazing way. 00:05:12.840 --> 00:05:14.020 They say, should we pay it or not? 00:05:14.259 --> 00:05:17.080 And either yes or no is going to land Jesus in hot water. 00:05:17.420 --> 00:05:18.620 Jesus says something different. 00:05:19.280 --> 00:05:22.460 He says, show me a denarius, a coin, standard coin. 00:05:23.120 --> 00:05:25.920 Whose likeness and inscription does this denarius have? 00:05:25.960 --> 00:05:29.360 And if you look, there was a picture of Caesar's face on it. 00:05:30.759 --> 00:05:34.860 He says, well, it has Caesar's image on it. 00:05:35.060 --> 00:05:38.080 Therefore, this denarius belongs to Caesar. 00:05:38.079 --> 00:05:47.060 And then he says, but render to God or unto God the things that belong to God. 00:05:47.139 --> 00:05:47.879 So what's he saying? 00:05:48.439 --> 00:05:51.139 Caesar's image is on the coin, so it belongs to Caesar. 00:05:51.579 --> 00:05:54.120 But God's image is on you. 00:05:54.819 --> 00:05:57.339 Therefore, you belong to God. 00:05:58.360 --> 00:06:00.439 He's saying that you belong to God. 00:06:00.579 --> 00:06:05.360 And the point we want to see is that he's not just talking about your heart or your mind. 00:06:06.060 --> 00:06:07.459 He's talking about your body. 00:06:08.079 --> 00:06:13.019 And that's why Paul in Romans chapter 12 says, 00:06:13.279 --> 00:06:16.319 I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, 00:06:16.719 --> 00:06:19.919 to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, 00:06:20.199 --> 00:06:23.300 holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 00:06:23.439 --> 00:06:25.979 He specifically says bodies, 00:06:26.759 --> 00:06:30.360 which, by the way, would have majorly shocked his hearers. 00:06:30.360 --> 00:06:36.439 Worship God by giving him your body. 00:06:37.400 --> 00:06:38.439 All of yourself. 00:06:39.160 --> 00:06:43.740 So all Christian worship, by the way, Romans 12 is one of the core passages on all Christian worship. 00:06:44.740 --> 00:06:49.600 So all of Christian worship begins by offering ourselves fully to God, starting with our bodies. 00:06:49.600 --> 00:06:55.820 So I just want to reflect on that because that simple truth, God is the owner of our bodies. 00:06:55.879 --> 00:06:58.760 He's entitled to our bodies. 00:06:58.759 --> 00:07:02.779 That has massive implications for how we think and live in the world. 00:07:02.779 --> 00:07:05.399 And it's radically countercultural. 00:07:06.139 --> 00:07:10.559 Because in our culture, most people would say, on the right and the left, to some degree, 00:07:11.079 --> 00:07:13.219 my body, my choice. 00:07:14.000 --> 00:07:19.239 I have a right, because I am the owner of my body, to do what I want with my body. 00:07:19.359 --> 00:07:22.299 And no one has a right to tell me any different. 00:07:22.300 --> 00:07:27.879 And the thing we need to understand is that for Christians, 00:07:28.900 --> 00:07:32.240 now you may be here and may not believe this, and may not be a Christian. 00:07:32.319 --> 00:07:32.780 That's great. 00:07:34.319 --> 00:07:37.900 But if you're a Christian, things are not that simple. 00:07:38.819 --> 00:07:40.699 It's simply not that straightforward. 00:07:42.199 --> 00:07:44.860 We see God as the owner of our bodies, 00:07:44.960 --> 00:07:48.720 which means we don't get the final say on what we do with our bodies. 00:07:48.840 --> 00:07:49.360 God does. 00:07:50.220 --> 00:07:51.340 I don't have the final word. 00:07:51.339 --> 00:07:53.639 So we don't say my body, my choice. 00:07:53.739 --> 00:07:56.779 We ultimately say God's body, God's choice. 00:07:58.279 --> 00:07:58.419 Right? 00:07:58.539 --> 00:08:01.859 So when you house sit, and some of you have house sit, 00:08:01.919 --> 00:08:03.179 maybe some of you are doing it right now, 00:08:03.799 --> 00:08:07.699 hopefully, when the owners leave, you take good care of their house. 00:08:09.059 --> 00:08:13.259 And in the same way, when we see God as the owner of our bodies, 00:08:14.259 --> 00:08:19.219 we very much desire to take good care of God's property. 00:08:19.220 --> 00:08:19.660 Right? 00:08:19.660 --> 00:08:23.860 So this is why Christians think or should think about, for instance, 00:08:23.960 --> 00:08:25.100 the language that we use. 00:08:25.840 --> 00:08:28.260 Or what we watch on television. 00:08:28.440 --> 00:08:32.560 Or what content we expose ourselves to on computers. 00:08:32.960 --> 00:08:34.460 Why we think about our health. 00:08:35.000 --> 00:08:37.160 Why we think about what we eat and put into our bodies. 00:08:37.259 --> 00:08:37.420 Right? 00:08:37.419 --> 00:08:41.599 This is not because we're prudes or because we're traditionalists. 00:08:42.679 --> 00:08:46.500 This is because we recognize that we're stewards and not owners. 00:08:47.059 --> 00:08:54.319 We see our eyes and our ears and our tongues and our hands and our feet as God's property. 00:08:54.320 --> 00:08:57.720 Also controversial issues. 00:08:57.920 --> 00:08:57.980 Right? 00:08:58.040 --> 00:08:58.980 Like euthanasia. 00:08:59.800 --> 00:09:00.440 Abortion. 00:09:00.800 --> 00:09:01.440 Sexuality. 00:09:01.900 --> 00:09:02.760 Gender reassignment. 00:09:02.980 --> 00:09:03.620 Prostitution. 00:09:03.900 --> 00:09:04.580 Capital punishment. 00:09:04.720 --> 00:09:05.860 We could just go on and on and on. 00:09:06.040 --> 00:09:13.440 It's amazing how all of these issues are connected around the concept of body. 00:09:13.900 --> 00:09:20.220 And who owns and has the final say on my body and on other people's bodies. 00:09:20.220 --> 00:09:20.660 Right? 00:09:21.879 --> 00:09:28.899 So all Christian thinking needs to flow out of the recognition that God is the owner of our bodies. 00:09:31.399 --> 00:09:37.040 So if you find this hard to accept, and if you do, I don't fault you. 00:09:37.519 --> 00:09:41.800 This is something that runs against the very grain of our society. 00:09:42.420 --> 00:09:45.759 If you find it hard to accept, the good news is God doesn't just own your body, 00:09:46.279 --> 00:09:49.800 but he deeply, passionately loves your body. 00:09:50.220 --> 00:09:53.100 In fact, way more than you do. 00:09:54.980 --> 00:09:58.980 If you think about our relationship with our bodies, for all of our talk as a culture, 00:09:59.519 --> 00:10:05.879 about my body, my choice, we really don't seem to have a very high opinion of our bodies. 00:10:06.500 --> 00:10:11.779 I mean, statistically, 91% of women are very dissatisfied with their bodies. 00:10:13.800 --> 00:10:14.240 91%. 00:10:14.240 --> 00:10:16.480 So at least a few of you in this room. 00:10:16.560 --> 00:10:23.480 And by the way, statistics on men, research is showing that men are more and more and more comparable to women 00:10:23.480 --> 00:10:28.700 in their focus on and dissatisfaction with their body and their body type. 00:10:28.700 --> 00:10:37.320 There are 8 million people with diagnosed eating disorders in our country alone, and that's just diagnosed. 00:10:37.640 --> 00:10:40.500 Who knows how many people are flying under the radar? 00:10:40.759 --> 00:10:42.240 This is women and men. 00:10:42.480 --> 00:10:43.920 One in four college women. 00:10:45.440 --> 00:10:46.820 I mean, that's a huge statistic. 00:10:46.940 --> 00:10:52.520 That shows that there are definitely probably at least a few people in this room for whom that is or has been a struggle. 00:10:52.519 --> 00:10:59.819 Weight loss, the weight loss industry, is a $55 billion industry. 00:11:00.600 --> 00:11:01.960 That is massive. 00:11:03.439 --> 00:11:11.259 And last year, Americans spent $16 billion on cosmetic surgery, which is, by the way, the most we have ever spent. 00:11:12.539 --> 00:11:14.579 So it's not getting better. 00:11:15.840 --> 00:11:17.220 Statistically, it's getting worse. 00:11:18.319 --> 00:11:19.559 We hate our bodies. 00:11:19.879 --> 00:11:22.379 More and more and more, the numbers show that. 00:11:23.000 --> 00:11:26.019 And, of course, advertising makes it much worse. 00:11:26.139 --> 00:11:35.240 You can't go anywhere without seeing highly idealized, Photoshopped images of ideal body types. 00:11:35.740 --> 00:11:40.279 And if you look at ads with women's bodies, a lot of times they're cut up. 00:11:40.620 --> 00:11:42.500 You don't even see the head or the face. 00:11:42.559 --> 00:11:44.740 You just see an isolated body part. 00:11:44.740 --> 00:11:48.980 And we're confronted with these ideal types. 00:11:49.120 --> 00:11:50.039 And we look at those images. 00:11:50.419 --> 00:11:51.720 And then we kind of look at ourselves. 00:11:52.580 --> 00:11:53.259 We look, you know. 00:11:54.299 --> 00:11:59.460 And they're designed to make us unhappy with our bodies so that we will buy whatever product is being sold. 00:11:59.460 --> 00:12:06.040 You know, I'll confess to you that growing up, one of my biggest bodily insecurities was my forehead. 00:12:07.139 --> 00:12:10.480 I was so insecure that I had a tall forehead. 00:12:11.100 --> 00:12:13.980 And my younger brother, who's such a punk, knew this. 00:12:13.980 --> 00:12:19.000 So he would often say things like, you don't have a forehead, you have a five head. 00:12:19.639 --> 00:12:19.779 You know? 00:12:22.500 --> 00:12:23.759 You know, we would go biking. 00:12:24.180 --> 00:12:32.180 And if ever it just so happened that a gnat or a bug would get stuck on my forehead, my brother would collapse in paroxysms of laughter. 00:12:32.320 --> 00:12:32.680 You know? 00:12:32.679 --> 00:12:36.739 You know, about the white wall of death that just came through and killed all the bugs, you know? 00:12:37.259 --> 00:12:40.459 He would joke about that I could sell ad space. 00:12:40.659 --> 00:12:41.799 You know, like your ad here. 00:12:42.139 --> 00:12:43.059 And make a lot of money. 00:12:43.519 --> 00:12:44.279 Such a punk. 00:12:44.519 --> 00:12:47.699 But I had such insecurity about my forehead, right? 00:12:48.599 --> 00:12:51.519 And I think that we all have insecurities about our bodies. 00:12:52.059 --> 00:12:54.219 Things that we would be too embarrassed ever to admit. 00:12:54.359 --> 00:12:56.740 But they gnaw at us. 00:12:57.959 --> 00:13:02.399 You know, the truth is, feeling shame and insecurity about our bodies is not a new thing. 00:13:02.399 --> 00:13:05.779 It's not just in the last 10 or 15 years that this has been an issue. 00:13:06.399 --> 00:13:09.059 This really started at creation. 00:13:10.019 --> 00:13:12.340 I mean, this started in Genesis chapter 3. 00:13:12.480 --> 00:13:18.079 It says in verse 7, after they sin, Adam and Eve's eyes are opened. 00:13:18.360 --> 00:13:24.620 And it says, they knew that they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. 00:13:24.620 --> 00:13:30.939 This is the beginning of the shift in our relationship where we are no longer blessedly self-forgetful. 00:13:32.399 --> 00:13:34.340 But we feel shame. 00:13:35.039 --> 00:13:38.600 Instead of assurance, we feel shame about our bodies. 00:13:39.279 --> 00:13:44.399 Instead of loving our bodies the way God does, we use our bodies to get love and approval from other people. 00:13:45.919 --> 00:13:47.199 That's simply the way it works now. 00:13:48.399 --> 00:13:54.059 And so if you look at Psalm 139, that drives home this powerful countercultural truth. 00:13:54.399 --> 00:13:56.120 That God loves your body. 00:13:56.120 --> 00:13:59.060 God loves your body. 00:14:00.259 --> 00:14:02.399 He loves it even if you don't. 00:14:02.480 --> 00:14:03.320 Even if you hate it. 00:14:03.440 --> 00:14:04.320 He loves it. 00:14:05.039 --> 00:14:11.220 Because the psalm says he formed you and knit you together in mysterious ways. 00:14:11.220 --> 00:14:19.460 And that every fiber, every cell, every molecule, every strand of DNA, he placed perfectly, exactly as he would. 00:14:20.500 --> 00:14:30.700 So in God's eyes, every fold, every wrinkle, every blemish, dare I say every roll, God loves and cherishes. 00:14:31.379 --> 00:14:32.600 Because he made it. 00:14:33.399 --> 00:14:33.540 Right? 00:14:33.539 --> 00:14:42.919 He sees these things as being as beautiful as the ocean at sunset, as the flowers in the field. 00:14:43.379 --> 00:14:45.980 Because just like them, he made your body. 00:14:47.039 --> 00:14:49.079 So the implication of this is clear. 00:14:49.719 --> 00:14:51.019 God loves your body. 00:14:51.179 --> 00:14:51.959 So why don't you? 00:14:53.399 --> 00:14:54.199 Why don't I? 00:14:54.500 --> 00:14:58.339 Why do I worry about my forehead and covering it up? 00:14:58.539 --> 00:14:58.919 Why? 00:14:58.919 --> 00:14:59.000 Why? 00:15:00.519 --> 00:15:01.519 Who cares? 00:15:02.879 --> 00:15:03.939 God loves it. 00:15:05.299 --> 00:15:05.439 Right? 00:15:05.519 --> 00:15:12.000 The God who sculpted the Alps and painted the sky and forged the stars considers you to be his masterpiece. 00:15:13.839 --> 00:15:15.059 Who are we to disagree? 00:15:17.059 --> 00:15:17.259 Right? 00:15:17.339 --> 00:15:26.199 Why spend so much time trying to figure out what to wear or doing and redoing makeup or, for some of us, cramming our bodies into Spanx? 00:15:26.200 --> 00:15:33.120 Just so some guy or some girl might give you half a glance. 00:15:34.420 --> 00:15:36.460 Why do we spend so much emotional energy on it? 00:15:37.220 --> 00:15:37.400 Right? 00:15:37.500 --> 00:15:42.600 If we spend even a fraction of the amount of time that we spend worrying about our bodies and what other people think, 00:15:43.540 --> 00:15:45.980 reflecting instead on God's love for our bodies, 00:15:46.920 --> 00:15:48.759 how much would that change us? 00:15:49.240 --> 00:15:51.820 And what we care about and what we let bother us? 00:15:51.820 --> 00:15:57.740 I'm not necessarily saying that getting a tummy tuck is sinful. 00:15:59.200 --> 00:16:05.420 But what I'm saying is that if we loved our bodies the way God does, we wouldn't even want one. 00:16:06.260 --> 00:16:07.220 It wouldn't even matter. 00:16:08.680 --> 00:16:12.600 So God owns our bodies, and good news, he loves our bodies. 00:16:12.720 --> 00:16:15.880 He loves the physicality of our bodies. 00:16:15.879 --> 00:16:18.200 The third point goes along with this. 00:16:18.279 --> 00:16:20.799 God not only loves your body, he has a purpose for your body. 00:16:22.120 --> 00:16:29.299 When he thought about putting human beings into existence, there was a specific reason he gave us the bodies that he gave us. 00:16:30.480 --> 00:16:32.360 So God has a purpose for your body. 00:16:33.399 --> 00:16:38.240 By the way, you know in the Greco-Roman world, if you were to say to the average person, 00:16:38.240 --> 00:16:43.720 I think there's a divine purpose for my body, you would get laughed out of the room. 00:16:44.159 --> 00:16:46.759 That idea was ludicrous in the Greco-Roman world. 00:16:47.360 --> 00:16:50.799 Plato, a dominant thinker in that time, you know what he said about your body? 00:16:51.399 --> 00:16:53.360 He said, your body is a tomb. 00:16:54.580 --> 00:16:55.720 Your body is a tomb. 00:16:56.080 --> 00:16:58.639 And this is the way everybody thought in Jesus' day. 00:16:58.639 --> 00:17:07.839 Our real self, my soul, the substance of who I really am, is trapped inside this stinking corpse. 00:17:09.240 --> 00:17:17.079 And my great hope is to escape this tomb, transcend the physical, and become one with the spiritual. 00:17:18.120 --> 00:17:20.180 This is the way Plato thought and taught. 00:17:20.420 --> 00:17:26.440 So the material world was seen as inferior, even evil, by comparison to the spiritual. 00:17:27.400 --> 00:17:30.160 And I dare say, not much has changed. 00:17:31.120 --> 00:17:36.160 I mean, fast forward a couple of thousand years, and we think basically the same way in our society. 00:17:36.160 --> 00:17:38.779 And this isn't just a right-left thing. 00:17:38.860 --> 00:17:43.720 I think people on the right and the left would agree with Plato, for the most part. 00:17:44.620 --> 00:17:44.759 Right? 00:17:45.000 --> 00:17:53.200 If you look on the right, you have evangelicals who have, for decades, emphasized giving our hearts to God. 00:17:54.360 --> 00:17:55.740 Give your heart to the Lord. 00:17:55.900 --> 00:17:57.860 The Lord is really interested in your heart. 00:17:57.859 --> 00:18:05.599 We've had this vision of heaven that's been popularized in our culture of being this spiritual place. 00:18:05.740 --> 00:18:11.479 And one day I will shuffle off this mortal coil and go and be with the angels in heaven. 00:18:11.539 --> 00:18:16.599 And all these movies that get made about seeing and glimpsing the spiritual reality of heaven 00:18:16.599 --> 00:18:19.500 that completely deny the importance of the body. 00:18:19.500 --> 00:18:19.940 Right? 00:18:21.140 --> 00:18:28.180 And because of the historically low regard for the material and the physical on the right among conservative Christians, 00:18:28.619 --> 00:18:33.099 there's historically been a very repressive, negative view of sexuality. 00:18:34.259 --> 00:18:37.420 So all those things go together on the right. 00:18:37.920 --> 00:18:42.200 The left also has a low opinion of the physical body. 00:18:42.279 --> 00:18:47.700 On the left, you hear people talking about gender identity and marriage as though our bodies are merely impediments. 00:18:47.700 --> 00:18:49.500 They just get in the way. 00:18:49.600 --> 00:18:50.299 They're obstacles. 00:18:50.660 --> 00:18:55.500 My true self, which is inside my body, this tomb, as Plato would say, 00:18:56.019 --> 00:18:58.840 my true self has very little to do with my body. 00:18:58.900 --> 00:19:05.500 And if my body gets in the way, I can rely on science and technology to alter it, to make it fit me better. 00:19:06.519 --> 00:19:11.259 So in short, most people, I think, if I had to summarize this in a word, on the right and the left, 00:19:11.460 --> 00:19:14.860 have a very dismembered view of human beings. 00:19:15.680 --> 00:19:17.340 A dismembered view. 00:19:17.339 --> 00:19:21.259 In other words, we take the body and the self and we chop them in half. 00:19:21.859 --> 00:19:24.199 And here's the body and here's the self. 00:19:24.359 --> 00:19:25.240 And we separate them. 00:19:25.319 --> 00:19:27.980 It's dismembering human beings. 00:19:29.220 --> 00:19:30.939 And you ask, okay, well, what's the big deal? 00:19:31.099 --> 00:19:32.039 Maybe Plato was right. 00:19:32.699 --> 00:19:34.000 Well, let me ask you this question. 00:19:35.859 --> 00:19:37.819 Do you know what trauma does to a person? 00:19:37.819 --> 00:19:46.579 Any of you familiar with especially psychological trauma, especially sexual trauma? 00:19:46.740 --> 00:19:48.379 Do you know what sexual trauma does to a person? 00:19:49.500 --> 00:19:54.639 It results in often some kind of dissociative disorder. 00:19:54.640 --> 00:20:02.300 And a dissociative disorder is by definition a separating of self and body. 00:20:02.299 --> 00:20:13.779 And people who are struggling with dissociative disorders, their therapy involves reconnecting self and body. 00:20:13.779 --> 00:20:19.819 So that instead of feeling as though they're floating outside of their body, passively watching things happen to it, 00:20:19.819 --> 00:20:27.799 they feel that they feel that they feel that they feel that they are in and part of and empowered to have agency in their body. 00:20:27.799 --> 00:20:33.720 So I guess my question is, is it a disorder or not? 00:20:35.940 --> 00:20:41.599 Either separating self and body is a disorder and it's harmful and it's indicative of damage. 00:20:42.819 --> 00:20:44.519 Or it's exactly what we should be doing. 00:20:45.279 --> 00:20:46.700 I don't know how it can be both. 00:20:48.539 --> 00:20:48.659 Right? 00:20:48.740 --> 00:20:54.379 So God offers a breathtakingly beautiful alternative as Paul lays out in 1 Corinthians 6. 00:20:54.380 --> 00:20:59.860 And just to summarize what he says here, a couple of major points that he makes that are radically countercultural. 00:21:00.080 --> 00:21:03.000 First thing he says is, your body doesn't just contain you. 00:21:03.980 --> 00:21:05.000 It is you. 00:21:05.840 --> 00:21:07.420 It's not just your container. 00:21:08.260 --> 00:21:08.980 It's you. 00:21:09.560 --> 00:21:13.420 In verse 15, Paul says our bodies are members of Christ. 00:21:13.540 --> 00:21:16.580 He's not just saying your hearts are members of Christ. 00:21:16.700 --> 00:21:17.720 Your spirits are members. 00:21:17.740 --> 00:21:20.080 Your soul is a member of Christ. 00:21:20.079 --> 00:21:24.720 He's saying your bodies themselves are members of Christ. 00:21:24.859 --> 00:21:29.259 So in Paul's world, you can't separate the bodily and the spiritual. 00:21:29.679 --> 00:21:30.819 You are your body. 00:21:32.299 --> 00:21:35.939 And all of it, all of it is a member of Christ. 00:21:36.879 --> 00:21:40.639 The second thing he says, to summarize 1 Corinthians 6, 00:21:41.859 --> 00:21:44.639 he says Plato was wrong, essentially. 00:21:44.640 --> 00:21:47.040 Your body is not a tomb. 00:21:48.000 --> 00:21:48.780 It's a temple. 00:21:50.300 --> 00:21:56.420 You see the radical difference in how you would live if you thought of your body as a temple rather than as a tomb? 00:21:58.440 --> 00:22:02.180 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you? 00:22:03.240 --> 00:22:05.000 Why did God create bodies? 00:22:05.680 --> 00:22:07.080 Because God wanted a temple. 00:22:08.759 --> 00:22:09.700 And this is it. 00:22:10.580 --> 00:22:12.680 And your body is a temple. 00:22:12.680 --> 00:22:17.940 Our bodies, in other words, Paul is saying, our bodies are inherently spiritual. 00:22:19.039 --> 00:22:22.779 And whatever we do with them is inherently spiritual. 00:22:23.259 --> 00:22:26.120 So he's dealing with an issue of temple prostitution. 00:22:26.259 --> 00:22:30.400 Somebody maybe who has married and has kids is going down to the local temple, 00:22:30.700 --> 00:22:33.980 sleeping with a temple cult prostitute, and then coming back home to his wife and kids. 00:22:35.480 --> 00:22:37.860 And might very well say, what's the problem with that? 00:22:37.900 --> 00:22:39.120 It's just my religious prerogative. 00:22:40.279 --> 00:22:41.940 Paul says, I'll tell you what's wrong with it. 00:22:42.680 --> 00:22:50.420 When you do that, because your body is a temple, and Christ and the presence of the Trinitarian God dwells within your body. 00:22:51.120 --> 00:22:55.279 When you do that with your body, you're uniting Christ with that prostitute. 00:22:55.980 --> 00:22:56.940 It's unavoidable. 00:22:57.600 --> 00:22:58.460 You can't do it. 00:23:00.019 --> 00:23:03.220 So you may not agree, but I just want you to understand. 00:23:03.220 --> 00:23:05.059 I want to give one example. 00:23:06.079 --> 00:23:10.920 We can't talk about this without at least addressing some of the Christian thinking on sex and gender and marriage. 00:23:11.480 --> 00:23:14.279 And I know that this is very controversial. 00:23:14.980 --> 00:23:16.059 And you may not agree. 00:23:16.360 --> 00:23:18.259 And that's fully your prerogative. 00:23:18.339 --> 00:23:19.380 That's totally fine. 00:23:19.380 --> 00:23:23.200 But I at least want you to understand Christian thinking on this. 00:23:23.320 --> 00:23:28.880 Because I want you to see that it's not just traditionalism or bigotry or ignorance. 00:23:29.440 --> 00:23:36.200 There's actually a force of argument here if we believe that our bodies are inherently spiritual. 00:23:37.360 --> 00:23:39.580 If they are, in other words, sacramental. 00:23:40.160 --> 00:23:41.100 You know what a sacrament is? 00:23:41.099 --> 00:23:47.859 A sacrament is something that is physical that points to a deeper spiritual reality. 00:23:48.019 --> 00:23:48.579 They're joined. 00:23:49.459 --> 00:23:52.000 And that's what Paul is essentially saying about our bodies. 00:23:52.159 --> 00:23:54.399 They are sacramental objects. 00:23:54.699 --> 00:23:57.240 The body is a sacramental object. 00:23:58.539 --> 00:24:04.099 So it has everything to do, all of our thinking on sex and gender and all of those controversial issues, 00:24:04.480 --> 00:24:08.439 all of this is rooted in the idea of our bodies being sacramental. 00:24:08.440 --> 00:24:14.539 So we look at a man and a woman who are binary opposites. 00:24:15.259 --> 00:24:23.980 And when you see a man and a woman as binary opposites, others, coming together, being joined in sexual union within the covenant of marriage, 00:24:24.279 --> 00:24:32.320 that's about much more than desire or companionship or love or commitment or even childbearing. 00:24:32.720 --> 00:24:34.080 I mean, those are good reasons. 00:24:34.079 --> 00:24:39.139 But below those, there is a sacramental reality that is unfolding. 00:24:39.819 --> 00:24:41.879 Marital sex is, in other words, a sacrament. 00:24:42.699 --> 00:24:48.539 And as I just said, it points to a deeper, greater, more central spiritual reality. 00:24:48.639 --> 00:24:51.099 In fact, I think it's the greatest promise in Scripture. 00:24:52.659 --> 00:24:55.579 Marriage sacramentally points to the greatest promise in Scripture. 00:24:55.579 --> 00:25:03.039 And that is this, that one day, the heavens and the earth, the ultimate binary opposites, 00:25:03.539 --> 00:25:09.480 that have been separated since day two of creation, when God put a firmament between them. 00:25:10.119 --> 00:25:14.139 By the way, it's the only day in creation that God doesn't pronounce good. 00:25:16.199 --> 00:25:16.699 Day two. 00:25:17.240 --> 00:25:18.960 Heavens and the earth, separate, not good. 00:25:18.960 --> 00:25:22.539 Because the goal is that one day they would come together. 00:25:24.860 --> 00:25:29.160 And so all marriage points to this greater, deeper union. 00:25:30.500 --> 00:25:36.539 Ephesians 5, Paul says, when you look at a marriage, you're actually looking at a picture of Christ and his church. 00:25:37.720 --> 00:25:42.640 One day, Christ, the ultimate groom, the church, the ultimate bride, will come together. 00:25:42.819 --> 00:25:45.559 And do you know where their great wedding celebration will happen? 00:25:46.200 --> 00:25:47.680 It will happen in the new Jerusalem. 00:25:47.680 --> 00:25:54.900 And there will be finally the celebration of the great and true marriage, not between human beings, 00:25:55.700 --> 00:25:59.500 but between the heavens and the earth, that will come together as one. 00:25:59.840 --> 00:26:00.960 No longer separate. 00:26:01.380 --> 00:26:03.539 No longer spread apart from one another. 00:26:04.019 --> 00:26:07.140 The spiritual and the physical, the heavenly and the earthly will all be one. 00:26:07.240 --> 00:26:09.759 That is the hope of the Christian faith in the new Jerusalem. 00:26:10.380 --> 00:26:13.320 So this is why, by the way, Jesus, when he's asked about marriage, says, 00:26:13.580 --> 00:26:16.299 there will no longer be marriage in the new creation. 00:26:16.299 --> 00:26:16.940 In the new Jerusalem. 00:26:17.019 --> 00:26:17.259 Why? 00:26:17.259 --> 00:26:21.140 Because marriage was only here to point to that one great marriage. 00:26:21.480 --> 00:26:22.440 The only one that matters. 00:26:23.339 --> 00:26:25.680 The heavens and the earth coming together as one. 00:26:25.680 --> 00:26:32.799 So for Christians, if we believe that, and that's the central and great hope of the gospel, 00:26:33.480 --> 00:26:40.320 when we look at something like sex or marriage, if we want to have any consistency in our thinking, 00:26:40.480 --> 00:26:48.860 we can't get around the fact that any distortion of that, either redefining marriage or premarital sex or extramarital affairs or any of those things, 00:26:48.859 --> 00:26:54.039 those are actual distortions of a sacramental reality in our faith. 00:26:54.039 --> 00:26:59.220 It would be as though I would take the bread and the wine and just pour them out on the ground. 00:26:59.220 --> 00:27:02.220 And it's deeply painful. 00:27:02.220 --> 00:27:04.220 It has nothing to do with being traditionalist. 00:27:04.220 --> 00:27:06.339 Having traditional family values. 00:27:06.339 --> 00:27:07.480 Traditional family values. 00:27:07.959 --> 00:27:10.000 A lot of things about Christianity that fly in the face of those. 00:27:10.599 --> 00:27:11.519 As I said last week, we're not... 00:27:11.519 --> 00:27:14.740 If you were here last week, you would think that we were a left-leaning church. 00:27:14.799 --> 00:27:15.899 We talk about environmental care. 00:27:16.299 --> 00:27:19.539 If you're here and this is your first time in Advent, you may think, oh, this is a conservative church. 00:27:19.539 --> 00:27:25.319 But what we said last week is that we follow Jesus, and that takes us across all kinds of political divides. 00:27:25.740 --> 00:27:28.240 Jesus does not make a good Republican or Democrat. 00:27:28.839 --> 00:27:30.299 He doesn't fit our categories. 00:27:31.980 --> 00:27:34.119 So God has a purpose for your body. 00:27:34.420 --> 00:27:38.700 I hope you understand the beauty of that, even if the politics of it are challenging. 00:27:39.879 --> 00:27:44.960 That God created you to be a sacramental temple of his presence in the world. 00:27:45.240 --> 00:27:49.279 You couldn't get further from a tomb if you tried. 00:27:50.420 --> 00:27:51.680 So God owns your body. 00:27:51.839 --> 00:27:53.119 He loves your body. 00:27:53.240 --> 00:27:55.399 He has a purpose in mind for your body. 00:27:55.879 --> 00:27:58.339 And lastly, God will renew your body. 00:27:59.279 --> 00:28:02.639 God will renew this body that is sitting in this chair right now. 00:28:02.720 --> 00:28:03.799 God's going to renew that body. 00:28:04.519 --> 00:28:05.440 He's going to make it all new. 00:28:06.879 --> 00:28:10.240 Life in a fallen world is hard on our bodies. 00:28:11.379 --> 00:28:12.819 It's hard on our bodies. 00:28:13.960 --> 00:28:17.460 First, there's the reality of entropy and decay. 00:28:17.460 --> 00:28:24.759 You know, as I said, as I get older, the more I feel that my body is turning against me. 00:28:25.160 --> 00:28:26.819 It doesn't do what I want it to do. 00:28:27.799 --> 00:28:29.660 It doesn't act the way I want it to act. 00:28:29.720 --> 00:28:31.160 It doesn't feel the way I want it to feel. 00:28:32.100 --> 00:28:33.319 We don't get along that well. 00:28:33.319 --> 00:28:47.939 And along with decay and age, you have to face the reality of sickness and death and disabilities and disorders where either our body or parts of our body don't work the way they should. 00:28:48.000 --> 00:28:48.899 They stop working. 00:28:49.019 --> 00:28:50.399 They don't function the way they should. 00:28:50.400 --> 00:28:53.340 That's one category. 00:28:53.500 --> 00:28:56.060 Then there's also the things that we do to our bodies. 00:28:57.540 --> 00:28:57.900 Right? 00:28:59.240 --> 00:29:06.080 Some of you know that I have a tattoo on my lower back, right above my belt line. 00:29:07.240 --> 00:29:08.380 I'm not going to show it to you. 00:29:10.240 --> 00:29:12.120 Only members get to see the tattoo. 00:29:13.200 --> 00:29:14.040 It's like a benefit. 00:29:14.780 --> 00:29:14.920 No. 00:29:15.300 --> 00:29:15.820 It's not true. 00:29:15.860 --> 00:29:16.700 I'm not going to show it to you. 00:29:19.100 --> 00:29:20.200 Safe to say I regret it. 00:29:20.400 --> 00:29:21.259 For many, many reasons. 00:29:22.480 --> 00:29:30.640 And I hope that when my body is renewed, that tattoo removal process will be cheaper than it is here. 00:29:32.120 --> 00:29:35.280 And it will be more permanent and lasting as though it never happened. 00:29:37.300 --> 00:29:40.680 All joking aside, there are lots of things that we do to our bodies. 00:29:40.800 --> 00:29:43.100 There are choices that we make that we later regret. 00:29:44.220 --> 00:29:48.920 Things that we do to our bodies that we would give anything to be able to undo. 00:29:48.920 --> 00:29:50.700 And yet they're realities that we have to live with. 00:29:52.220 --> 00:29:55.539 Third category, the most painful things that have been done to our bodies. 00:29:56.640 --> 00:29:59.539 Things that we have experienced and endured. 00:30:01.240 --> 00:30:01.600 You know? 00:30:02.279 --> 00:30:03.060 Physical trauma. 00:30:03.880 --> 00:30:04.400 Sexual trauma. 00:30:04.400 --> 00:30:09.300 Some memories don't just reside in the mind. 00:30:11.460 --> 00:30:13.920 Some memories are actually stored in our bodies. 00:30:15.680 --> 00:30:16.600 You feel them. 00:30:18.440 --> 00:30:19.740 You feel the reality. 00:30:20.780 --> 00:30:22.720 The ongoing presence of trauma in you. 00:30:22.720 --> 00:30:28.539 You know, the mind and the body, again, are much more connected than we in the West like to think. 00:30:28.600 --> 00:30:33.279 Actually, Eastern thinkers are a little closer to the truth than many of us are on this point. 00:30:34.720 --> 00:30:40.900 And I think we can carry scars, and many of them invisible, for years and years and years and years and years. 00:30:41.019 --> 00:30:41.420 Decades. 00:30:42.460 --> 00:30:44.240 These invisible wounds that we carry around. 00:30:44.360 --> 00:30:46.120 These felt bodily memories. 00:30:46.119 --> 00:30:52.739 So it makes you wonder, what hope is there in the face of decay and all that's been done to our bodies? 00:30:52.879 --> 00:30:54.859 What hope is there for our bodies? 00:30:54.959 --> 00:30:59.779 Well, science and technology and medicine, those can alleviate some of the suffering. 00:31:00.019 --> 00:31:02.319 But for many of the things that I just listed, there are no cures. 00:31:03.579 --> 00:31:07.319 You can get a tattoo removed, but some of these invisible scars you can't get removed. 00:31:07.879 --> 00:31:08.799 They're just with you. 00:31:08.799 --> 00:31:15.500 Other religions? 00:31:16.500 --> 00:31:17.399 Other philosophies? 00:31:18.079 --> 00:31:20.779 They say that our bodies are merely impediments. 00:31:21.879 --> 00:31:23.740 Maybe even that our bodies are evil. 00:31:24.559 --> 00:31:28.019 That we need to escape our bodies through meditation or spiritual salvation. 00:31:29.299 --> 00:31:33.919 So no hope for our bodies in those traditions. 00:31:35.139 --> 00:31:36.359 Only the Christian faith. 00:31:36.359 --> 00:31:42.019 As far as I've found, only the Christian faith offers real tangible hope for our bodies. 00:31:42.099 --> 00:31:46.859 Because only the Christian faith says what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6.14. 00:31:47.179 --> 00:31:52.679 He says, God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power. 00:31:53.559 --> 00:31:56.419 So he's saying Jesus didn't just come to save your soul. 00:31:56.639 --> 00:31:59.099 He came actually to save your body. 00:31:59.859 --> 00:32:02.059 He came to save your body and to renew it. 00:32:02.859 --> 00:32:04.939 And you see this in Jesus' entire ministry. 00:32:04.940 --> 00:32:07.880 Jesus took on flesh and bone. 00:32:07.960 --> 00:32:09.400 He took on a physical body. 00:32:10.299 --> 00:32:13.620 And when he was crucified, he suffered in his physical body. 00:32:14.019 --> 00:32:17.519 And then when he rose from death, he rose in his physical body. 00:32:18.120 --> 00:32:22.539 And Paul is saying the same thing that happened to him in his physical body will happen to us. 00:32:22.759 --> 00:32:25.500 We will be resurrected in our physical bodies. 00:32:26.420 --> 00:32:28.100 God will raise us up by his power. 00:32:28.099 --> 00:32:30.899 Only then our bodies will be perfect. 00:32:31.059 --> 00:32:32.019 No more decay. 00:32:32.279 --> 00:32:33.279 No more disease. 00:32:33.599 --> 00:32:37.099 No more invisible scars haunting us. 00:32:37.899 --> 00:32:38.000 Right? 00:32:38.079 --> 00:32:39.379 Whatever wounds we carry. 00:32:39.500 --> 00:32:40.199 Whatever pain. 00:32:40.699 --> 00:32:41.480 Whatever trauma. 00:32:42.159 --> 00:32:43.059 Whatever we've endured. 00:32:43.159 --> 00:32:46.139 The Bible says that every tear will be wiped away. 00:32:46.140 --> 00:32:50.600 All of that will be completely cleansed. 00:32:51.980 --> 00:32:54.400 And you and I will be completely renewed. 00:32:55.780 --> 00:32:57.120 We will be pristine. 00:32:57.960 --> 00:33:00.840 We will be whole in a way that we can't taste here. 00:33:02.480 --> 00:33:05.720 So God loves your body more than you do. 00:33:06.720 --> 00:33:08.820 God has a purpose for your body. 00:33:08.920 --> 00:33:10.880 It is greater than anything that you'll hear here. 00:33:10.880 --> 00:33:15.680 And God will one day renew your body and make it perfect and whole. 00:33:17.000 --> 00:33:22.280 So in light of these truths, you can trust God to be the owner of your body. 00:33:23.140 --> 00:33:26.740 And to love it more and to treat it better than you ever could. 00:33:28.200 --> 00:33:30.760 In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 00:33:31.300 --> 00:33:31.520 Amen. 00:33:32.460 --> 00:33:38.920 Lord, we pray that as we talk about very intimate, maybe even painful realities, 00:33:38.920 --> 00:33:42.560 even as memories may surface at this prompting, 00:33:43.259 --> 00:33:50.900 that the comfort of you as the redeemer and as the healer of our physical selves, 00:33:51.019 --> 00:33:52.940 that you would give us this comfort now. 00:33:53.460 --> 00:33:57.960 That as we partake in the physical sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Supper, 00:33:58.120 --> 00:34:03.240 so you would minister physically to us and give us a bodily sense of your comforting presence. 00:34:03.800 --> 00:34:05.340 We pray this in your Son's holy name. 00:34:05.620 --> 00:34:05.800 Amen.