September 23, 2025 • 23 mins
Have you ever felt at war with your own body? Perhaps you've tried to escape it through overwork, screen time, or numbing behaviors. Maybe you've obsessed over perfecting it, measuring your worth by fitness levels or appearance. Either way, the message is clear: your body, as it exists right now, isn't enough.
This powerful message challenges that harmful narrative by exploring how God sees our physical existence. Drawing from Genesis, we discover the radical truth that our bodies are created in God's image and declared "very good"—not as temporary shells holding the "real us," but as intentional, valuable parts of our whole being. This truth stands in stark contrast to ancient Gnosticism (which viewed bodies as bad and spirits as good) and modern tendencies to either dismiss or idolize our physical selves.
The incarnation takes this truth even further. When "the Word became flesh," God didn't merely appear human—he fully entered the human experience. Jesus felt hunger, fatigue, and pain. He enjoyed food, friendship, and rest. This wasn't God hovering above our weakness but stepping directly into it. And if God was willing to take on flesh, our bodies must matter deeply.
Discipleship, then, can never be reduced to right beliefs or spiritual practices alone. It must include how we treat our physical selves. Our choices about sleep, food, movement, and rest aren't disconnected from faith—they're opportunities to honor God with our whole being. And ultimately, the resurrection confirms that God's plan isn't to save us from our bodies but to redeem them completely.
What might change if you started seeing your body not as a problem to solve but as part of God's masterpiece? Consider thanking God for your body today, imperfections and all, and ask how you might honor him with your physical life this week. Will you give your whole self to the One who gave His whole self for you?
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
And welcome to our Madison Church online audience.
I'm Stephen.
We live in a world that treatsthe body like a problem.
I think we live in a world thattreats the body like a problem.
What I mean, on the one hand,is we treat our bodies as though
they are something to escape,and so maybe, perhaps, home life
(00:20):
isn't going very well for you.
So you know, I'll just go intowork early, an hour or two or
four, and you know, I got tostay late because I've got this
deadline and it's reallycritical that I hit it and I do
a good job, and so I'm going tostay late an hour or two or four
, and then, pretty soon, we'reworking 12-hour days in the name
(00:44):
of doing a good job at work, sothat we can escape from
whatever's happening at home.
Perhaps that's not an optionfor you, so instead you stay at
home and you numb out and escapeon a screen.
You're scrolling on Instagramover and over and over and over,
and those minutes turn intohours and you don't realize it.
(01:04):
And then you think about all ofthe hours you spent scrolling
this week and you're like it'salmost like an eight-hour shift
or a couple days worth of work.
Or you play the video games andyou're in a different world,
completely different from theone that we live in now, and
it's so immersive.
So there's that on the one hand, and on the other hand, we're
told that the body is somethingto make perfect.
(01:26):
We need to perfect ourselves.
We measure our worth by howbeautiful we are or how in shape
or fit or healthy that we are.
You don't have to look far tosee how kind of fitness culture
has turned into a little bitlike a cult in some cases, not
always.
It's not just about health,it's about identity.
(01:47):
This is who I am.
I'm a gym bro, or whatever thefemale version of that is, but I
go to the gym all the time,once or twice a week.
This is my identity.
It's who I am, and my gym is mycommunity.
These are my people.
It's where I find belonging.
It's even salvation.
These are my people.
It's where I find belonging,it's even salvation.
You say things like if I eatclean, work out hard enough,
(02:08):
track my macros, I'll finally beenough.
Now, this is two sides of thesame message, isn't it Escaping
my body or just going all in onit?
But the message is the same.
It's that your body as it isright now, sitting in this seat
(02:31):
or wherever you're watching orlistening, it's not enough, as
is.
We either need to takesomething away or add to it, and
so, one way or another, we arechasing impossible standards.
Okay, because you're nevergoing to make your body perfect
and you're never going to fullybe able to escape it, and you're
never going to fully be able toescape it.
Some of us, we hide from ourbodies, numbing our pain,
(02:51):
ignoring our limits, until we'reconfronted and have to because
we're burned out or we'redealing with a really bad
addiction that is ruining ourlives.
Others of us obsess and compareourselves to people we don't
know and who, honestly, don'texist outside of a highly
curated and filtered photo onsocial media.
But what do you do and many ofus are here today when your body
(03:16):
isn't enough?
I mean, in both cases, the bodybecomes something to fear.
Fight or fix.
We're either fearful of ourbody.
We need to fix it, something tofight within me.
But what happens when you wakeup sore?
Like I've been playing golfthis weekend and I woke up.
I'm a little sore today.
It's just golf, I use a cart.
(03:37):
How am I sore?
What happens when you wake uptired in the morning, you're
like well, I got nine hours ofsleep, what more could I have
done?
What happens when you look inthe mirror and you notice that
I'm getting older?
I don't look as good as I usedto, when illness and aging
(03:57):
reminds you that your body haslimits, has limits.
Well, god tells a better story,and that is that Jesus didn't
come to save us from ourhumanity, but to redeem humanity
.
Okay, he didn't come to saveyou from the things we're
talking about, he came to redeemthose things.
(04:19):
When we go to Genesis, the veryfirst pages of Genesis, we hear
a radical story about ourbodies, our physical bodies.
God said let us make humanbeings in our image, to be like
us, and they will reign over thefish in the sea, the birds in
the sky, the livestock, all thewild animals on earth and all
(04:41):
the small animals that scurryalong the ground.
And so God created human beingsin his own image, in the image
of God.
He created them, male andfemale.
He created them.
And then God looked over all hehad made and he saw that it was
very good.
So a moment ago I mentioned whatdo we do when our bodies are
(05:03):
something we want to escape ormake perfect.
And we're sitting here andmaybe we're not content with the
shape of our body or the stateof it, but we're told each and
every single one of us we'remade in the image of God, and
that includes the physical body,your physical body, created in
the image of God and, despitewhat you might think, despite
(05:27):
what might have been told to yousaid about you, god declares
you're very good, that as youare, you are created very good.
Your body is not an accident,it's not a mistake, it's not a
temporary shell holding the realyou inside until you pass on
(05:50):
and then you're released.
Your body is part of what Paulcalls God's masterpiece.
You are the crown jewel ofGod's creation.
God intentionally designed us.
We are created as a wholeperson, not just our minds and
not just our souls, but bodiesas well, woven together in God's
(06:15):
image.
And that truth holds for everybody, not just the young, not
just the strong, not just theable-bodied, but every single
body, whether living withdisability, illness or
limitation.
Every body bears God's imageand is declared very good.
(06:40):
In the earliest centuries, oneof the first false teachings the
church had to face was calledGnosticism and I was telling a
buddy about this a couple daysago that we're in a series
called Blurred and we're talkingabout Gnosticism, and he said
that's a tough sell.
I hope you don't advertise itlike that.
And I thought about it and I'mlike you're right and no, we did
advertise it just like that.
But the Gnostics and it isrelevant to us living today the
(07:06):
Gnostics believed that thespirit was good and the body was
bad, and you can see how thattype of thinking is still
prevalent in Christian circles2,000 years later.
This is not a Christian belief,this is a Gnostic belief.
The Gnostics believed thespirit was good, body bad.
Salvation, they said, came byescaping the physical world and
finding some higher, secretknowledge, belief in God.
(07:27):
And while you and I don't callourselves Gnostics, it's that
lie, that kind of creeps intoour theology.
How we see God, how we live outour faith, we see it in the way
that our culture treats ourbody.
On the one side, we dismiss thebody.
It's unimportant, it's what'son the inside that counts.
Well, that's Gnosticism.
On the other side, we obsessover our bodies, making
(07:50):
appearance or performance theultimate measure of worth.
Look how good and spiritual Iam.
I read my Bible every day.
I pray every day.
This is me, and even in church.
Yes, we slip into this thinkingof spiritual stuff.
Yes, there's my body and it'sbad and I got to harness it and
(08:10):
make it do the things that it'ssupposed to do, while at the
same time, we celebratespiritual stuff or what we
perceive.
Prayer, bible study, singing.
This is what really matters,that's the stuff.
And when we do that, we say,well, our bodies don't count.
But the story we read in Genesis, it won't let you believe that
(08:32):
You'd have to completely dismissit.
I'm not here to talk aboutGenesis.
And is the earth 6,000 yearsold or 6 million years old?
That's not the point right now.
The point is in this story weare told we are created in God's
image and he declares it verygood.
And this should change how yousee yourself this morning, even
(08:53):
if your body is ill or tired oryou look in the mirror and you
don't see the person you used tosee or the person that you want
to be.
You're created very good.
But it doesn't just change howyou see yourself.
It ought to change how we seeeach other, because every single
person in here and out there iscreated in that same image of
(09:17):
God.
So before we talk about whatwent wrong or how Christ redeems
us, we need to start byacknowledging the body is a gift
.
It is a very good gift.
Our body is a part of God'sgood creation and that means our
bodies are worth honoring, notignoring.
(09:41):
We go to the New Testament thisisn't just an Old Testament idea
.
We go to John's gospel, andJohn opens his gospel with this
claim.
It says in the beginning theword already existed, the Word
was with God and the Word wasGod.
He existed in the beginningwith God.
God created everything throughHim and nothing was created
except through Him.
(10:02):
The Word gave life toeverything that was created and
His life brought light toeveryone.
The light shines in thedarkness and the darkness can
never extinguish it.
And so the Word became humanand made His home among us.
He was full of unfailing loveand faithfulness and we have
(10:24):
seen His glory, the glory of theFather's one and only Son.
And this is a radical thing towrite and to say, even 2,000
years ago.
I think it's true today, but2,000 years ago every other
religion or philosophy in theancient world taught that the
divine was distant, so very faraway out there somewhere where
(10:46):
who knows they're untouchableand they're way beyond flesh.
The gods would stay over thereand were down here, and if they
ever did come down here, it wasjust to play games and screw
around with us.
We were entertainment, and it'sin that culture that the gods
are there and we are here, andthe only time they come down is
(11:07):
to mess with us.
To read then John's claim thatGod went from there to here and
it wasn't to mess with us but toredeem us is a powerful shift
in worldview.
John says something that no oneelse had ever dared to say
before, and that was that theeternal God creator, god,
(11:28):
breathes the same air that youand I breathe today.
He ate meals, he walked dustyroads.
He experienced everything itmeant and means to be human.
Tummy aches and headaches andall.
God doesn't just hover aboveour weakness, though.
(11:51):
This wasn't a mirage, anappearance.
Jesus entered into it.
He knows what it's like to betired.
Have you thought about that?
Jesus took naps.
Jesus went to bed.
He felt tired after a long dayof walking.
He knows what it's like to feelhunger.
We read all the time Jesus iseating and sitting at the table.
(12:12):
His body felt weak.
It needed food so he could bestrengthened.
He knows what it's like tocarry stress.
We read about this in theEaster story.
He was so stressed out that hesweat blood.
Jesus knows joy and laughter,grief and pain.
He didn't come to erase thehuman experience, but rather to
(12:37):
redeem it.
Sometimes we act like beingspiritual means leaving humanity
behind.
We become hyper-religious,detached above everyday life.
But if God was willing to takeon a body, then our bodies must
matter at least to some degree.
(12:57):
If Jesus lived fully human,then following him means
embracing humanity, not runningfrom it, and this is good news
for us.
It means that your limits,they're not failures.
They're part of what Jesus cameto restore.
It means our bodies aren'tobstacles but rather vessels
(13:20):
through which God is glorified.
It means that salvation, thesalvation that we have in Jesus,
isn't escape, isn't escape,it's renewal.
(13:40):
The Word became flesh andbecause of that your flesh has
eternal worth.
If creation tells us that thebody is good and the incarnation
shows us that God himself tookon flesh, then discipleship,
following Jesus and becominglike Jesus, can never be reduced
to having the right beliefs,the right thinking or private
spirituality.
Following Jesus is not onlyabout believing.
It isn't about believing theright doctrines, praying the
(14:01):
right prayer, but it's allowingJesus's lordship to transform
every part of our body mind,spirit and body.
The apostle Paul puts itplainly in 1 Corinthians 6.20.
He says God bought you with ahigh price, so you must honor
God with your body.
(14:24):
He doesn't say mind here, hedoesn't say soul or spirit With
your physical body.
That's how comprehensive thegospel is the message of Jesus.
He purchased it all, not justmy thoughts, not just your
Sunday mornings, but our entireembodied life.
This means discipleship toucheson how we eat and drink, how we
(14:50):
rest and work, how we movethroughout our day, how we show
up in relationships.
This isn't being over-spiritual, it's being spiritual and
physical.
It means that our choices aboutsleep, stress, sexuality, diet,
exercise and even posture arenot disconnected from the faith,
(15:12):
and even posture we're notdisconnected from the faith.
They're all opportunities toglorify God or to live divided
lives.
And this freedom that Jesusoffers us this is the freedom
that Jesus offers us.
It's freedom from dividedliving.
Too many of us we struggle withour faith or with the real world
(15:32):
because we're trying to live adisintegrated life.
God wants us to reintegrate, tobring it all together to live a
life and to follow Jesus in away that includes our mind, body
and spirit, in a way thatsubmits our mind, body and
spirit under his lordship and tohis kingdom.
That when we pray, god, letyour will be done, it's not just
(16:00):
the way I think or myspirituality, but also my
physical body as well.
Discipleship means recognizingthat how we treat our bodies is
a part of worship, and it meanslearning to see every ordinary
physical moment perhaps eatingdinner with your family, taking
a walk, going to bed on time.
It's a struggle.
For me, it means that thesethings are a chance to honor the
(16:22):
one who gave his life for us inthe first place.
And so, as we go on this weekyou leave here and you go to
work or you go home you do thethings that you have to do this
week, from the time we leavehere to the time that we come
back next week let's payattention to the way that we
treat our bodies, and not withguilt oh, I shouldn't have done
(16:43):
that.
Now I'm ashamed and not withcomparison I did really good
this week and y'all didn't butwith gratitude, god, thank you.
My body gets hungry and the joythat it is to eat something
really good that I really like,and the strength I feel.
God, thank you that when I goto sleep I wake up the next
morning rested, my thoughts alittle bit more organized.
(17:07):
God, thank you for this.
We assume things sometimes ifwe're not careful.
That being spiritual means well, I've got to pray and read my
Bible and, yes, it includes that.
But it also includes how muchwe sleep or don't sleep, what we
eat, how the rest of our bodyfeels.
Paul reminds us in Romans 12,give your bodies, your physical
(17:32):
bodies, to God because of all hehas done for you.
Let them be a living and holysacrifice, the kind he finds
acceptable.
This is truly the way toworship him.
So let's practice MadisonChurch an embodied faith.
Begin by thanking God for yourbody.
I know that might soundelementary, simple and easy, but
(17:56):
I also bet a lot of us don't dothat or haven't done it.
It's a great first step.
God, thank you for this body.
Imperfections and allDifficulties and challenges and
all, but after you, thank Godfor your body.
Perhaps the next question, amore challenging question,
something to ask God to pray andreflect on, is how can I honor
(18:19):
you with my physical life thisweek.
Maybe that looks like gettingenough rest this week, instead
of staying up late and thengoing through the day the next
day on fumes.
Maybe it means slowing down andenjoying meals with gratitude
rather than rushing through them.
Maybe it's just moving yourbody, not out of shame but out
(18:41):
of stewardship and joy.
Maybe it's resisting the trapof comparison, remembering that
your worth isn't in how youmeasure up, but who God says
that you are.
These practices are notself-help.
It's not self-improvement, it'snot image management.
I'm not trying to help you findanother 20,000 followers on
(19:04):
Instagram because you're so cool.
This is about worship and it'sabout treating our bodies as the
gift that they are.
You are saying, god, I trustyou with all of me, not just my
thoughts and not just my prayers, but all of me, because
following Jesus is neverdisembodied.
It's about offering every partof our lives words, thoughts,
(19:27):
choices, body back to the onewho gave himself all of those
things to us.
The story doesn't end with Jesustaking on flesh or even dying
in the flesh.
Yes, that's how the story goes.
Jesus took on flesh, he died.
But the story reaches itsclimax in a bodily resurrection,
a physical body resurrection.
(19:49):
It was on that third day thatJesus rose again bodily from the
grave, not as a spirit and notas a ghost, although that is
what some of the early discipleswho saw him thought he must be
a ghost.
No, he was really there,physical, glorified body.
He ate fish with his disciples,he let Thomas touch his scars
(20:13):
and, as the theologian NT Wrightreminds us, the resurrection is
not an escape from the materialworld, a redemption of it.
Jesus' bodily, physicalresurrection reminds us that the
future is not an escape fromthe body but a renewal of it.
And that changes everything.
(20:34):
Because if God created ourbodies as good and Jesus
redeemed humanity by steppinginto it, then the resurrection
confirms it forever.
No one can take that away fromyou.
Our bodies matter, not just nowbut for eternity.
Our hope as Christians is notto leave the world behind,
(20:54):
floating off as some disembodiedsoul.
Our hope is in a new creation,and that's the picture that
Revelation poses for us, posesfor us, shows heaven coming to
earth.
Not us escaping earth forheaven, but God coming back to
(21:15):
us, the promise that God willraise us in renewed and
resurrected bodies fit for aneternal kingdom.
And that promise is not aboutbecoming someone else or fitting
into our world's idea ofperfection.
It's about being made wholeagain.
And for those who live everyday with pain or limitation or
(21:38):
disability, whether those thingsare seen or unseen, the
resurrection means God will noterase who you are, but rather
complete who you are, body andspirit in his presence.
And if that's the future, thenhow we live today in our bodies
(21:59):
matters Our acts of care,stewardship, gratitude and
embodied worship.
It's not wasted, gratitude andembodied worship.
It's not wasted.
They are rehearsals for aresurrected life with a
resurrected King.
Every time you honor God withyour body, you are participating
in the story he is writing fromcreation to new creation.
(22:22):
And so let me leave you withthis challenge.
And so let me leave you withthis challenge Will you give
your whole self mind, body,spirit to the one who gave his
whole self for you?
Will you live an integratedlife, refusing to divide the
spiritual from the physical,choosing instead to honor God in
(22:43):
every ordinary embodied moment?
As we come to the communiontable, as we do every week at
Madison Church, this is the mostphysical reminder of the gospel
.
You have a bread and juice,something we can taste,
something we can touch, eatingand drinking.
It's here at the table, thecommunion table, that Jesus
(23:06):
invites us to remember that hisbody was broken and that his
blood was poured out not torescue us from our humanity but
to redeem our humanity.
And so, as you hold the breadand you hold the cup in your
hands, remember those words.
The word became flesh, he lived, he died, he rose again, and
(23:30):
one day so will we.
And welcome to our Madison Church online audience.
I'm Stephen.
We live in a world that treatsthe body like a problem.
I think we live in a world thattreats the body like a problem.
What I mean, on the one hand,is we treat our bodies as though
they are something to escape,and so maybe, perhaps, home life
(00:20):
isn't going very well for you.
So you know, I'll just go intowork early, an hour or two or
four, and you know, I got tostay late because I've got this
deadline and it's reallycritical that I hit it and I do
a good job, and so I'm going tostay late an hour or two or four
, and then, pretty soon, we'reworking 12-hour days in the name
(00:44):
of doing a good job at work, sothat we can escape from
whatever's happening at home.
Perhaps that's not an optionfor you, so instead you stay at
home and you numb out and escapeon a screen.
You're scrolling on Instagramover and over and over and over,
and those minutes turn intohours and you don't realize it.
(01:04):
And then you think about all ofthe hours you spent scrolling
this week and you're like it'salmost like an eight-hour shift
or a couple days worth of work.
Or you play the video games andyou're in a different world,
completely different from theone that we live in now, and
it's so immersive.
So there's that on the one hand, and on the other hand, we're
told that the body is somethingto make perfect.
(01:26):
We need to perfect ourselves.
We measure our worth by howbeautiful we are or how in shape
or fit or healthy that we are.
You don't have to look far tosee how kind of fitness culture
has turned into a little bitlike a cult in some cases, not
always.
It's not just about health,it's about identity.
(01:47):
This is who I am.
I'm a gym bro, or whatever thefemale version of that is, but I
go to the gym all the time,once or twice a week.
This is my identity.
It's who I am, and my gym is mycommunity.
These are my people.
It's where I find belonging.
It's even salvation.
These are my people.
It's where I find belonging,it's even salvation.
You say things like if I eatclean, work out hard enough,
(02:08):
track my macros, I'll finally beenough.
Now, this is two sides of thesame message, isn't it Escaping
my body or just going all in onit?
But the message is the same.
It's that your body as it isright now, sitting in this seat
(02:31):
or wherever you're watching orlistening, it's not enough, as
is.
We either need to takesomething away or add to it, and
so, one way or another, we arechasing impossible standards.
Okay, because you're nevergoing to make your body perfect
and you're never going to fullybe able to escape it, and you're
never going to fully be able toescape it.
Some of us, we hide from ourbodies, numbing our pain,
(02:51):
ignoring our limits, until we'reconfronted and have to because
we're burned out or we'redealing with a really bad
addiction that is ruining ourlives.
Others of us obsess and compareourselves to people we don't
know and who, honestly, don'texist outside of a highly
curated and filtered photo onsocial media.
But what do you do and many ofus are here today when your body
(03:16):
isn't enough?
I mean, in both cases, the bodybecomes something to fear.
Fight or fix.
We're either fearful of ourbody.
We need to fix it, something tofight within me.
But what happens when you wakeup sore?
Like I've been playing golfthis weekend and I woke up.
I'm a little sore today.
It's just golf, I use a cart.
(03:37):
How am I sore?
What happens when you wake uptired in the morning, you're
like well, I got nine hours ofsleep, what more could I have
done?
What happens when you look inthe mirror and you notice that
I'm getting older?
I don't look as good as I usedto, when illness and aging
(03:57):
reminds you that your body haslimits, has limits.
Well, god tells a better story,and that is that Jesus didn't
come to save us from ourhumanity, but to redeem humanity
.
Okay, he didn't come to saveyou from the things we're
talking about, he came to redeemthose things.
(04:19):
When we go to Genesis, the veryfirst pages of Genesis, we hear
a radical story about ourbodies, our physical bodies.
God said let us make humanbeings in our image, to be like
us, and they will reign over thefish in the sea, the birds in
the sky, the livestock, all thewild animals on earth and all
(04:41):
the small animals that scurryalong the ground.
And so God created human beingsin his own image, in the image
of God.
He created them, male andfemale.
He created them.
And then God looked over all hehad made and he saw that it was
very good.
So a moment ago I mentioned whatdo we do when our bodies are
(05:03):
something we want to escape ormake perfect.
And we're sitting here andmaybe we're not content with the
shape of our body or the stateof it, but we're told each and
every single one of us we'remade in the image of God, and
that includes the physical body,your physical body, created in
the image of God and, despitewhat you might think, despite
(05:27):
what might have been told to yousaid about you, god declares
you're very good, that as youare, you are created very good.
Your body is not an accident,it's not a mistake, it's not a
temporary shell holding the realyou inside until you pass on
(05:50):
and then you're released.
Your body is part of what Paulcalls God's masterpiece.
You are the crown jewel ofGod's creation.
God intentionally designed us.
We are created as a wholeperson, not just our minds and
not just our souls, but bodiesas well, woven together in God's
(06:15):
image.
And that truth holds for everybody, not just the young, not
just the strong, not just theable-bodied, but every single
body, whether living withdisability, illness or
limitation.
Every body bears God's imageand is declared very good.
(06:40):
In the earliest centuries, oneof the first false teachings the
church had to face was calledGnosticism and I was telling a
buddy about this a couple daysago that we're in a series
called Blurred and we're talkingabout Gnosticism, and he said
that's a tough sell.
I hope you don't advertise itlike that.
And I thought about it and I'mlike you're right and no, we did
advertise it just like that.
But the Gnostics and it isrelevant to us living today the
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Gnostics believed that thespirit was good and the body was
bad, and you can see how thattype of thinking is still
prevalent in Christian circles2,000 years later.
This is not a Christian belief,this is a Gnostic belief.
The Gnostics believed thespirit was good, body bad.
Salvation, they said, came byescaping the physical world and
finding some higher, secretknowledge, belief in God.
(07:27):
And while you and I don't callourselves Gnostics, it's that
lie, that kind of creeps intoour theology.
How we see God, how we live outour faith, we see it in the way
that our culture treats ourbody.
On the one side, we dismiss thebody.
It's unimportant, it's what'son the inside that counts.
Well, that's Gnosticism.
On the other side, we obsessover our bodies, making
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appearance or performance theultimate measure of worth.
Look how good and spiritual Iam.
I read my Bible every day.
I pray every day.
This is me, and even in church.
Yes, we slip into this thinkingof spiritual stuff.
Yes, there's my body and it'sbad and I got to harness it and
(08:10):
make it do the things that it'ssupposed to do, while at the
same time, we celebratespiritual stuff or what we
perceive.
Prayer, bible study, singing.
This is what really matters,that's the stuff.
And when we do that, we say,well, our bodies don't count.
But the story we read in Genesis, it won't let you believe that
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You'd have to completely dismissit.
I'm not here to talk aboutGenesis.
And is the earth 6,000 yearsold or 6 million years old?
That's not the point right now.
The point is in this story weare told we are created in God's
image and he declares it verygood.
And this should change how yousee yourself this morning, even
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if your body is ill or tired oryou look in the mirror and you
don't see the person you used tosee or the person that you want
to be.
You're created very good.
But it doesn't just change howyou see yourself.
It ought to change how we seeeach other, because every single
person in here and out there iscreated in that same image of
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God.
So before we talk about whatwent wrong or how Christ redeems
us, we need to start byacknowledging the body is a gift
.
It is a very good gift.
Our body is a part of God'sgood creation and that means our
bodies are worth honoring, notignoring.
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We go to the New Testament thisisn't just an Old Testament idea
.
We go to John's gospel, andJohn opens his gospel with this
claim.
It says in the beginning theword already existed, the Word
was with God and the Word wasGod.
He existed in the beginningwith God.
God created everything throughHim and nothing was created
except through Him.
(10:02):
The Word gave life toeverything that was created and
His life brought light toeveryone.
The light shines in thedarkness and the darkness can
never extinguish it.
And so the Word became humanand made His home among us.
He was full of unfailing loveand faithfulness and we have
(10:24):
seen His glory, the glory of theFather's one and only Son.
And this is a radical thing towrite and to say, even 2,000
years ago.
I think it's true today, but2,000 years ago every other
religion or philosophy in theancient world taught that the
divine was distant, so very faraway out there somewhere where
(10:46):
who knows they're untouchableand they're way beyond flesh.
The gods would stay over thereand were down here, and if they
ever did come down here, it wasjust to play games and screw
around with us.
We were entertainment, and it'sin that culture that the gods
are there and we are here, andthe only time they come down is
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to mess with us.
To read then John's claim thatGod went from there to here and
it wasn't to mess with us but toredeem us is a powerful shift
in worldview.
John says something that no oneelse had ever dared to say
before, and that was that theeternal God creator, god,
(11:28):
breathes the same air that youand I breathe today.
He ate meals, he walked dustyroads.
He experienced everything itmeant and means to be human.
Tummy aches and headaches andall.
God doesn't just hover aboveour weakness, though.
(11:51):
This wasn't a mirage, anappearance.
Jesus entered into it.
He knows what it's like to betired.
Have you thought about that?
Jesus took naps.
Jesus went to bed.
He felt tired after a long dayof walking.
He knows what it's like to feelhunger.
We read all the time Jesus iseating and sitting at the table.
(12:12):
His body felt weak.
It needed food so he could bestrengthened.
He knows what it's like tocarry stress.
We read about this in theEaster story.
He was so stressed out that hesweat blood.
Jesus knows joy and laughter,grief and pain.
He didn't come to erase thehuman experience, but rather to
(12:37):
redeem it.
Sometimes we act like beingspiritual means leaving humanity
behind.
We become hyper-religious,detached above everyday life.
But if God was willing to takeon a body, then our bodies must
matter at least to some degree.
(12:57):
If Jesus lived fully human,then following him means
embracing humanity, not runningfrom it, and this is good news
for us.
It means that your limits,they're not failures.
They're part of what Jesus cameto restore.
It means our bodies aren'tobstacles but rather vessels
(13:20):
through which God is glorified.
It means that salvation, thesalvation that we have in Jesus,
isn't escape, isn't escape,it's renewal.
(13:40):
The Word became flesh andbecause of that your flesh has
eternal worth.
If creation tells us that thebody is good and the incarnation
shows us that God himself tookon flesh, then discipleship,
following Jesus and becominglike Jesus, can never be reduced
to having the right beliefs,the right thinking or private
spirituality.
Following Jesus is not onlyabout believing.
It isn't about believing theright doctrines, praying the
(14:01):
right prayer, but it's allowingJesus's lordship to transform
every part of our body mind,spirit and body.
The apostle Paul puts itplainly in 1 Corinthians 6.20.
He says God bought you with ahigh price, so you must honor
God with your body.
(14:24):
He doesn't say mind here, hedoesn't say soul or spirit With
your physical body.
That's how comprehensive thegospel is the message of Jesus.
He purchased it all, not justmy thoughts, not just your
Sunday mornings, but our entireembodied life.
This means discipleship toucheson how we eat and drink, how we
(14:50):
rest and work, how we movethroughout our day, how we show
up in relationships.
This isn't being over-spiritual, it's being spiritual and
physical.
It means that our choices aboutsleep, stress, sexuality, diet,
exercise and even posture arenot disconnected from the faith,
(15:12):
and even posture we're notdisconnected from the faith.
They're all opportunities toglorify God or to live divided
lives.
And this freedom that Jesusoffers us this is the freedom
that Jesus offers us.
It's freedom from dividedliving.
Too many of us we struggle withour faith or with the real world
(15:32):
because we're trying to live adisintegrated life.
God wants us to reintegrate, tobring it all together to live a
life and to follow Jesus in away that includes our mind, body
and spirit, in a way thatsubmits our mind, body and
spirit under his lordship and tohis kingdom.
That when we pray, god, letyour will be done, it's not just
(16:00):
the way I think or myspirituality, but also my
physical body as well.
Discipleship means recognizingthat how we treat our bodies is
a part of worship, and it meanslearning to see every ordinary
physical moment perhaps eatingdinner with your family, taking
a walk, going to bed on time.
It's a struggle.
For me, it means that thesethings are a chance to honor the
(16:22):
one who gave his life for us inthe first place.
And so, as we go on this weekyou leave here and you go to
work or you go home you do thethings that you have to do this
week, from the time we leavehere to the time that we come
back next week let's payattention to the way that we
treat our bodies, and not withguilt oh, I shouldn't have done
(16:43):
that.
Now I'm ashamed and not withcomparison I did really good
this week and y'all didn't butwith gratitude, god, thank you.
My body gets hungry and the joythat it is to eat something
really good that I really like,and the strength I feel.
God, thank you that when I goto sleep I wake up the next
morning rested, my thoughts alittle bit more organized.
(17:07):
God, thank you for this.
We assume things sometimes ifwe're not careful.
That being spiritual means well, I've got to pray and read my
Bible and, yes, it includes that.
But it also includes how muchwe sleep or don't sleep, what we
eat, how the rest of our bodyfeels.
Paul reminds us in Romans 12,give your bodies, your physical
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bodies, to God because of all hehas done for you.
Let them be a living and holysacrifice, the kind he finds
acceptable.
This is truly the way toworship him.
So let's practice MadisonChurch an embodied faith.
Begin by thanking God for yourbody.
I know that might soundelementary, simple and easy, but
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I also bet a lot of us don't dothat or haven't done it.
It's a great first step.
God, thank you for this body.
Imperfections and allDifficulties and challenges and
all, but after you, thank Godfor your body.
Perhaps the next question, amore challenging question,
something to ask God to pray andreflect on, is how can I honor
(18:19):
you with my physical life thisweek.
Maybe that looks like gettingenough rest this week, instead
of staying up late and thengoing through the day the next
day on fumes.
Maybe it means slowing down andenjoying meals with gratitude
rather than rushing through them.
Maybe it's just moving yourbody, not out of shame but out
(18:41):
of stewardship and joy.
Maybe it's resisting the trapof comparison, remembering that
your worth isn't in how youmeasure up, but who God says
that you are.
These practices are notself-help.
It's not self-improvement, it'snot image management.
I'm not trying to help you findanother 20,000 followers on
(19:04):
Instagram because you're so cool.
This is about worship and it'sabout treating our bodies as the
gift that they are.
You are saying, god, I trustyou with all of me, not just my
thoughts and not just my prayers, but all of me, because
following Jesus is neverdisembodied.
It's about offering every partof our lives words, thoughts,
(19:27):
choices, body back to the onewho gave himself all of those
things to us.
The story doesn't end with Jesustaking on flesh or even dying
in the flesh.
Yes, that's how the story goes.
Jesus took on flesh, he died.
But the story reaches itsclimax in a bodily resurrection,
a physical body resurrection.
(19:49):
It was on that third day thatJesus rose again bodily from the
grave, not as a spirit and notas a ghost, although that is
what some of the early discipleswho saw him thought he must be
a ghost.
No, he was really there,physical, glorified body.
He ate fish with his disciples,he let Thomas touch his scars
(20:13):
and, as the theologian NT Wrightreminds us, the resurrection is
not an escape from the materialworld, a redemption of it.
Jesus' bodily, physicalresurrection reminds us that the
future is not an escape fromthe body but a renewal of it.
And that changes everything.
(20:34):
Because if God created ourbodies as good and Jesus
redeemed humanity by steppinginto it, then the resurrection
confirms it forever.
No one can take that away fromyou.
Our bodies matter, not just nowbut for eternity.
Our hope as Christians is notto leave the world behind,
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floating off as some disembodiedsoul.
Our hope is in a new creation,and that's the picture that
Revelation poses for us, posesfor us, shows heaven coming to
earth.
Not us escaping earth forheaven, but God coming back to
(21:15):
us, the promise that God willraise us in renewed and
resurrected bodies fit for aneternal kingdom.
And that promise is not aboutbecoming someone else or fitting
into our world's idea ofperfection.
It's about being made wholeagain.
And for those who live everyday with pain or limitation or
(21:38):
disability, whether those thingsare seen or unseen, the
resurrection means God will noterase who you are, but rather
complete who you are, body andspirit in his presence.
And if that's the future, thenhow we live today in our bodies
(21:59):
matters Our acts of care,stewardship, gratitude and
embodied worship.
It's not wasted, gratitude andembodied worship.
It's not wasted.
They are rehearsals for aresurrected life with a
resurrected King.
Every time you honor God withyour body, you are participating
in the story he is writing fromcreation to new creation.
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And so let me leave you withthis challenge.
And so let me leave you withthis challenge Will you give
your whole self mind, body,spirit to the one who gave his
whole self for you?
Will you live an integratedlife, refusing to divide the
spiritual from the physical,choosing instead to honor God in
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every ordinary embodied moment?
As we come to the communiontable, as we do every week at
Madison Church, this is the mostphysical reminder of the gospel
.
You have a bread and juice,something we can taste,
something we can touch, eatingand drinking.
It's here at the table, thecommunion table, that Jesus
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invites us to remember that hisbody was broken and that his
blood was poured out not torescue us from our humanity but
to redeem our humanity.
And so, as you hold the breadand you hold the cup in your
hands, remember those words.
The word became flesh, he lived, he died, he rose again, and
(23:30):
one day so will we.
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