Our Bodies and Brokenness

Today's scripture is found in Genesis 3. You can follow along on the screen behind me or in your bulletins.

Starting in verse 1, we read,

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made.

He said to the woman,

Did God really say, You must not eat from any tree in the garden?

The woman said to the serpent,

We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,

but God did say, You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden,

and you must not touch it, or you will die.

You will not certainly die, the serpent said to the woman,

for God knows that when you eat from it, your eyes will be opened,

and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye,

and also desirable for gaining wisdom,

she took some and ate it.

She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked,

so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God

as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day,

and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

But the Lord God called to the man,

Where are you?

He answered,

I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid,

because I was naked, so I hid.

And he said,

Who told you that you were naked?

Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?

The man said,

The woman you put here with me,

She gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.

Then the Lord God said to the woman,

What is this you have done?

The woman said,

The serpent deceived me, and I ate it.

So the Lord God said to the serpent,

Because you have done this,

cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals.

You will crawl on your belly,

and you will eat dust all the days of your life.

And I will put enmity between you and the woman,

and between your offspring and hers.

He will crush your head,

and you will strike his heel.

To the woman he said,

I will make your pains and childbearing very severe.

With painful labor you will give birth to children.

Your desire will be for your husband,

and he will rule over you.

To Adam he said,

Because you listened to your wife,

and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you,

you must not eat from it.

Cursed is the ground because of you.

Through painful toil you will eat fruit from it

all the days of your life.

It will produce thorns and thistles for you.

You will eat the plants of the field.

By the sweat of your brow,

you will eat your food

until you return to the ground.

Since from it you were taken,

for dust you are,

and to dust you will return.

This is God's word.

Great.

Thank you, Soda, for praying.

Jaya, for reading.

Yeah, we're going to look at this passage together.

But if we want God to speak to us,

we should pray.

So why don't we do that first?

Let's pray together.

Our Father, thank you that you speak to us.

Thank you that you tell us the truth.

If you tell us about ourselves,

about the world,

please would we listen.

Thank you that you also give us hope.

Pray that, yeah,

today we would listen to the bad news

and the good news

and come away encouraged by Jesus.

In his name we pray.

Amen.

Great.

So we're doing a series,

and it is about our physical bodies,

as you may know.

If you've been here the past few weeks,

our bodies,

yeah,

we often don't think about them.

We,

yeah,

we just have bodies.

We think they're not important.

Actually,

they are.

So we're having this series on it.

And certainly two weeks ago,

Kevin talked about how our bodies

are fearfully and wonderfully made.

And he encouraged us,

I think,

to give thanks for our bodies,

which I think we don't often do

because we take our bodies for granted.

We don't notice them.

Actually,

when do we notice our body

is when they don't work,

right?

When it hurts.

When you come out of bed

and your foot is hurting

or when you stomp your toe

or when you have a fever

or when you have been working hard

in the office

and you're so tired,

that is when you suddenly notice,

okay,

there's,

my body is struggling.

My body is hurting.

It can,

that's kind of short-term things.

Maybe there's diseases that you,

long-term conditions that you have.

Some things we don't even think about anymore,

right?

So,

I wear contact lenses

and I think I've worn them now

for 33 years

and for 33 years,

every morning,

I put them in

and every evening,

I take them out.

I don't think about it anymore

but actually,

my eyes don't work.

I can see until here

and no further,

right?

My body is broken.

I don't know if you've ever been

to the church office.

There's one desk

that has this really wacky keyboard.

I don't know if you've seen that,

if you've ever been to the office.

Well,

it's my keyboard

because ever since my student days,

I've got repetitive strain injury

and without this keyboard,

I've got all this pain

in my arms

and my hands

and I don't think about

but actually,

yeah,

my body is broken

and these are mild things,

right?

Just contact lenses

and a keyboard.

Some of us,

we have far more,

far worse conditions

that we struggle with.

That is the reality

of our bodies

and they don't seem

as wonderful

as the Bible says,

right,

sometimes?

Well,

that's because we need

to listen to the whole Bible.

The thing is,

the Bible is not

an aesthetic book.

There's a story

and just as our bodies,

yeah,

we are created

and there's still

a lot of goodness

about our bodies.

Actually,

they are broken

and that's the big topic today,

how our bodies are broken,

how we see that

and what we should do

with that

because if we don't know

that our bodies are broken,

you probably wonder,

well,

why does the Bible

is so positive

about our body

when it hurts so much?

So that's what

we're going to look at

and yeah,

this chapter,

of course,

is the chapter

that we always go back to.

I think this is

the 11th sermon

at Watermark

that has this chapter

as the reading

because,

you know,

we talk about work.

Well,

you want to understand

why your work is hard?

Come to Genesis 3

and now you want to understand

why your body hurts?

Come to Genesis 3.

This is so foundational,

right?

Because this is the world

we live in

and God made a beautiful,

perfect world.

He put Adam and Eve

in the garden

and they had everything

but then they listened

to the serpent

who told them that,

you know,

God doesn't love you,

God isn't good to you,

why don't you take this fruit

and you don't need him

and they listened

and they took it

and then their relationship

with God was broken

and then,

yeah,

and as a result

everything was broken,

their relationship

with each other.

You hear them blaming

each other

for what happened.

They are hiding

from God

and of course then,

yeah,

the curse.

If you've been here

earlier this year,

we had kind of

the cause

and the effects,

the sin

and the curse.

Well,

we are cursed.

We live in a cursed world.

As you hear,

cursed is the ground

because of you

in pain.

You will eat of it

all the days of your life

or earlier with the woman.

I will surely multiply

your pain

in childbearing.

In pain,

you shall bring forth children.

Pain is a refrain,

right,

for Adam and Eve.

This is life now.

God gave you everything

but you don't want God,

well,

you miss out

on everything else

and it's pain

and ultimately death,

right?

To dust you are,

sorry,

for dust you are

and to dust you shall return.

The world is now broken.

Work is hard.

There's natural disasters.

There's diseases.

There are wild animals.

The world is broken

and that's why,

yeah,

our bodies are broken.

That's why we suffer.

So that's what we're going

to talk about.

We're going to just think

about some of the details

and how we see that

and how we deal with that.

And just to say,

we are whole people.

I mean,

we talk about our bodies

but sometimes it's hard to know

where does your body start

and where does something else begin?

Right?

Like your mind.

Is that your body?

Well,

in some ways,

how I think is affected

by my brain,

right?

And my brain is part of my body.

So even though I might think,

well,

that's my body

and my mind,

actually,

they're connected.

You know,

your desires.

Is that your body

or is that your mind

or your spirit?

And we are whole people

and so,

you know,

they'll be a bit mixed up

but to be honest,

yeah,

we are broken

in all of those.

So,

how do we see

our broken bodies?

Well,

first of all,

I guess,

just like in this chapter,

it starts with sin,

right?

we use our bodies

for sin.

Our bodies

are sinful.

Adam and Eve,

of course,

they use their bodies

to sin.

Last week,

Oscar talked about,

you know,

it's about our hearts

but what we do

with our hearts

get expressed

with our bodies,

right?

If we love God,

we will love him

with our bodies

and the thing is,

if we sin,

we sin with our bodies

and so often,

the Bible talks about sin

as,

yeah,

with your body

and so Romans 6,

you know,

if you're a Christian,

just as you once

presented your members,

your body parts

as slaves to impurity

and to lawlessness

leading to more lawlessness,

so now present your members

as slaves to righteousness.

Your body parts,

you used to use them

for sin,

for impurity,

now use them for God,

right?

That's the idea

but we sin with our bodies.

Sometimes it's very obvious,

sexual sin,

physical violence

and abuse,

that's what you do

with your body

but,

you know,

those unkind words,

they come out of your mouth

and you covet with your eyes,

right?

And you,

it's nasty text

with your thumbs

and,

right?

And you plot revenge

with your brain

and,

right?

It's our bodies

that we use to sin

but it's not just that

our body is kind of neutral

and you can use it

for good and for bad.

Actually,

the way the Bible

talks about our bodies,

it's like there's

this kind of corruption

and when Adam and Eve

sinned,

our bodies became corrupt

and it's like sin

is kind of running

through our bodies

and we just can't do right

even if we try.

Romans 7

is a very classic

and listen to the Apostle Paul

as he talks.

verse 1.

Verse 1.

For I delight

in the law of God

in my inner being

but I see in my members

another law

waging war

against the law

of my mind

and making me captive

to the law of sin

that dwells in my members.

Wretched man that I am,

who will deliver me

from this body of death?

Hey,

you can hear him.

He wants to do good,

he wants to please God

but he,

there's just this sin

inside him

that in his body,

in his members

and how can I get rid

of this body?

It's like the corruption

of sin,

it runs through us.

I don't know physically

how that exactly works,

right?

But the truth is

that certainly

every human being

is sinful,

right?

If you have young kids,

you don't have to teach them

to disobey you,

you don't have to teach them

to throw a tantrum,

they can do that naturally.

Why?

Well,

that's who we are.

You need to teach them

to be kind.

You need to teach them

to obey,

right?

That's what we're like.

We're all corrupt.

But,

right?

When will we get rid of sin?

Well,

only,

well,

that's what he says,

who will deliver me

from this body?

It's only when you die

that we no longer sin.

Hopefully,

as you grow in Christ,

you will sin less

but we will struggle

with sin

until we get a new body.

That's the truth.

And so,

we need to know that.

Some of you may be

very aware

you struggle with sin

and you feel

you can't get rid of it.

Yeah,

there's this corruption

in our bodies.

They are broken.

And in other people.

Yeah,

the sweetest little baby

is a corrupt sinner.

You know?

We sometimes don't get that

maybe with adults,

right?

So,

someone looks very good

on the outside

and we think they're also

very good on the inside.

No.

Just because someone

is very beautiful

or very handsome

doesn't mean

they are also perfect.

They are sinners.

What?

We need to know that

about ourselves

and about everyone else.

So,

sin is one big way

that,

yeah,

we're all broken.

A second thing here

that comes

is shame,

right?

There's shame.

So,

you know,

end of chapter 2,

Adam and Eve,

they were,

the man and his wife

were both naked

and they were not ashamed.

Everything was great.

What happens

after they sin?

Well,

3 verse 7.

Then the eyes of both

were opened

and they knew

that they were naked

and they sewed

thick leaves together

and made themselves

loincloths.

And then later

God shows up

and they hide,

right?

They feel ashamed.

They feel ashamed

of their bodies,

right?

They try to cover up.

They know they're not

who they should be.

They're kind of ashamed

of who they are

and so they hide.

And that's a reality,

right?

None of us,

we all feel

like we are not

the people we should be.

We want to hide.

That's why we put on

clothes and other stuff

or we stay away

from people.

We don't open up.

We are ashamed

of who we are

and often ashamed

of our bodies.

And that's a reality.

Now,

sometimes that is,

of course,

right.

I mean,

if you compare yourself

to a holy God,

yeah,

we should be ashamed.

We know the way we live,

the way we've rejected him.

We should be ashamed

and yeah,

if it wasn't for Jesus,

we'd have a huge problem

with God.

But,

of course,

other types of shame

are not right,

right?

Sometimes you feel ashamed

because you don't look

like the supermodel

in the advertisement.

That,

of course,

is a wrong kind of shame,

right?

That's just unrealistic beauty.

That's just not,

you know,

then you don't need

to be ashamed

of who you are.

Don't listen to those things.

We will come back

to that in a moment

as well.

But,

yeah,

sometimes shame is right.

Sometimes we feel ashamed

because of how we look

or whatever

for the wrong reasons.

Yeah,

we,

you know,

maybe your body's changing

or whatever.

But,

yeah,

shame.

It's a reality.

But then,

the big one,

I guess,

how we feel it the most,

suffering,

right?

This is a world

of brokenness

and our bodies

are broken.

This broken world

affects us

and hurts us

and we see that

in so many ways.

Just to say,

when we talk about

suffering,

you know,

the world is broken.

It's not that,

you know,

my suffering

is due to my sin.

Sometimes it is,

right?

If I live an unhealthy life,

then,

yeah,

I will suffer

the consequences.

But,

at the same time,

the whole world is broken

and there's a kind of randomness.

You know,

sometimes there's a really evil person

and they are happy

and healthy.

And then,

here's a little child

suffering unimaginably

who's never done anything wrong,

right?

That is the world we live in.

It's all a bit random.

So,

don't feel,

you know,

I'm suffering.

That's because of something

I've done wrong.

It doesn't work like that.

But,

we all suffer

from this broken world.

What can we talk about?

You know,

lots of words

with a D,

usually.

I mean,

can think of

destitution,

deprivation.

Here's some big ones.

Disease,

right?

Diseases are now in the world

since Adam and Eve

and we,

you know,

sometimes small ones,

sometimes big ones.

But,

we get,

we're confined to bed.

We need to go to hospital.

We need treatment.

Our bodies don't work,

do what they do.

If you're a doctor,

you probably know

there's so many diseases.

Damage,

right?

So often,

we get damaged,

you know,

because you get hurt

by things,

by accidents,

you're cutting food

and you cut yourself,

you stomp your toe.

Bigger damage,

right?

Accidents

that can really

disable you

for the rest of your life

or something like that.

Mental damage as well.

I don't know,

does that fall under our body?

So many of us,

we have scars from,

you know,

people,

what people have said to us.

Things that have happened to us

that have just

led to trauma

and experiences

and then we have this damage

kind of in our mind

that,

yeah,

affects the way we live,

that we,

stops us functioning

as we want to.

That kind of brokenness,

damage.

Here's a big one,

defects.

That's what we struggle with,

right?

Because so often,

diseases can be treated

and damage,

you know,

yeah,

you go to the hospital,

you get a cast

and,

but defects.

Some people are just born

with something wrong with them.

Now,

legs that are not the same length.

Someone who is blind.

People who are infertile.

Infertile,

right?

That can happen.

Less fingers

than you should.

DNA,

that means you are very prone

to depression

or Alzheimer's

and you're just born with it

and it's there

for the rest of your life.

Sometimes it can be treated,

often it can't.

Life-threatening allergies,

right?

We are broken,

we are defective

and because it's

for the rest of your life

that can be so hard

to deal with,

right?

The brokenness

or if you have it

in loved ones,

if you have a child

that you really need

to care for

because of,

yeah,

there's a defect

and,

yeah,

it's not a nice word

but that's the truth,

right?

Right?

And just to say,

of course,

I'm talking about

real defects,

right?

Really,

your body isn't working.

Again,

sometimes people,

they compare themselves

with social media

and think,

oh,

my body is defective,

right?

It's,

parts of my body

are the wrong shape

and the wrong size

and the wrong color.

That's not a defect.

You know,

God has made billions

of human beings

and we're all different

and that's just part

of the wonderful variety,

right?

So often,

there's nothing wrong

with your body.

I'm talking about

real defects,

right?

That your body

really doesn't work,

that it's really not

as a human should be

but those are not defects.

Think of anorexia.

You know,

a girl who is very thin

but she thinks she's fat

and she hurts her body

more to just lose weight.

It's her brain that's wrong.

It's nothing wrong

with her body.

Well,

nothing wrong

with the rest of her body

if that makes sense

but,

yeah,

defects,

right?

And then,

of course,

what else?

Decay.

This is when you're

a bit older like me.

You start growing old.

You lose your hair.

Your hair turns gray.

You lose your muscle.

You start forgetting things.

You lose your mind.

We all get old.

Yeah,

some of you are really feeling that.

You can't do

what you used to do.

You try to play sports

and you get hurt

and injured

and then it takes ages

to heal

because you're just getting old.

Why?

Because,

well,

it leads to the last D of death

and one day

we will all die.

Our body will fully,

finally stop working

and God is the God of life

and when we reject him,

we have death

and the death rate

has never changed.

It's still 100%.

No matter what we have tried to do,

no matter how much technology

we have,

we will all die.

Our loved ones die,

right?

That's something we really feel

and some of us are very aware

that the death is hanging over us.

That is the ultimate brokenness

when our bodies will ultimately fail.

So yeah,

that is our,

the brokenness of this world,

the brokenness of our bodies

and I don't know how you feel.

My guess is you will feel depressed,

right?

Because this is depressing.

This is the world we live in

and it's,

yeah,

and if you,

if this is all there is,

if you just,

you're going to decay and die,

isn't that a horrible prospect?

Now,

how do we deal with this?

Well,

in some way,

we shouldn't complain.

We're sinners.

This is a broken world

and it's better than we deserve.

But here's a few things.

First of all,

we can have faith.

We can trust God

in the suffering and brokenness

of this world

and of our bodies.

We can have faith.

We can trust.

What would that,

well,

what do I mean?

Well,

even this,

in our brokenness,

you know,

if you're a Christian,

God is your father,

right?

He is in control of everything.

He shapes you.

He forms you.

He knows what's going on

and he,

he has a purpose

in what's happening.

So,

the brokenness

that you experience,

God promises

he's using that.

And so,

like we see in James,

you know,

trials lead to steadfastness.

We can trust him in that.

A big example,

of course,

is the Apostle Paul,

right?

He had a problem.

2 Corinthians 12.

And so,

to keep me

from becoming conceited

because of the surpassing

greatness of the revelations,

a thorn was given me

in the flesh,

a messenger of Satan

to harass me,

to keep me

from becoming conceited.

Three times,

I pleaded with the Lord

about this,

that it should leave me.

But he said,

he said to me,

my grace is sufficient

for you,

for my power

is made perfect

in weakness.

I don't know

what it was,

but some kind of,

something physical,

right?

A thorn in the flesh.

Something that he

struggled with.

The great Apostle Paul

is not,

he didn't have

perfect health,

no,

he had something

and it really annoyed him.

But,

you know,

God gave that to him

for a reason.

I mean,

it was a messenger

of Satan,

right?

In some ways,

God didn't cause it.

It's caused by

other causes,

but God was in control.

And God gave it

for a good reason,

hey,

to stop you becoming proud,

to keep you humble.

And Paul learned

to accept that,

that hey,

yeah,

I suffer with this,

but I can trust God

with it.

And so,

I don't know

what you are facing.

We can trust God

with it,

that hey,

God is using this.

And even though

it's hard,

I know God

is with me in this

and he's got a purpose.

It's not always easy,

it can take time.

Sometimes it's not even

easy to know

what to do.

I mean,

clearly Paul prayed

that he would take it,

that God would take it away.

That's a good thing to do.

It's not just that

he just accepted it.

I mean,

and if you're sick,

it's good to go

to the doctor,

right?

And if your leg is broken,

please go to hospital.

That's not a bad thing.

But sometimes it's really hard

to know what to do.

Infertility.

What do you do?

Do you just accept

that you don't,

that you know,

that you can't have children?

Do you adopt?

Do you seek fertility treatment?

They're all legitimate options

open for Christians?

You know,

trusting God.

What does it look like

in those cases?

It's actually

very difficult.

I mean,

you know,

as you get older,

you need to work

on your health,

but how much,

right?

You don't want to become

a gym rat,

you know,

but at the same time,

it's good to be healthy

and work on your heart

and your,

right?

Those kind of things.

Actually,

there's a lot of wisdom

that you actually need

how to deal with this.

But the basic idea,

hey,

I know I'm broken,

but God is in control

of my brokenness

and I can trust him in this.

That's the big message.

We can have faith.

And of course,

we should have love,

right?

We should care

care for each other.

If we know

that we're all broken

in so many ways,

so many ways

that we,

sometimes we can't see

in people,

but we know

we are scarred

and damaged

and there's things

going on.

Well,

it should give us

compassion,

first of all,

right?

We should be gentle

and patient

and gracious

with people

because

we're all broken.

And sometimes

as a pastor,

there's,

you know,

people,

and you know,

this is what God says,

go and do it.

That's my instinct.

Just go and do it.

But actually,

you know,

people have experienced things.

People have struggles.

People have mental health.

People have things going on

in their life

that means they're broken.

They're struggling.

I should be gentle

and patient with people.

We can be gentle

and patient with each other.

Maybe in your CG,

you know,

people aren't doing

what you want them to do

or something.

Hey,

let's understand each other.

Let's have compassion

and be gracious

and gentle.

Practical help as well,

right?

It's not just

our attitude.

If people are broken,

we should help each other.

And it's great to hear

of someone in hospital

when their CG

kind of jumps into action

and takes care of them.

That's wonderful to see.

Sometimes,

as a church,

we're really good at that.

I mean,

it's a lot easier

when it's short term,

though.

How about long term?

Maybe if you're,

you know,

I saw that prayed.

If you're caring

for elderly relatives

and it's just every day,

every week,

caring,

every,

all this practical help

that can be so tough

and hard.

And you love this person,

you want to help them,

but it's draining

and,

yeah.

But love is a beautiful thing

in that case.

But it could be

all kinds of things,

right?

Not just that kind

of practical help.

Maybe someone

with same-sex attraction

and it means

they will never marry

someone they're attracted to.

They're going to be lonely.

And so,

inviting them

and hanging out with them

for the rest of their life,

that can be a long thing.

But it's a good thing to do.

It's how we can love each other,

practically.

But finally,

beyond faith and love,

I mean,

if this is all,

if it's just,

yeah,

we love each other,

but we still die,

it's nothing.

No,

there is hope.

Yeah?

As Christians,

we have hope.

Of course,

if,

you know,

if this world is all there is

and we're just going to decay

and die,

that's hopeless.

But as Christians,

no,

there is hope.

Right?

We know there is more.

I mean,

back in this chapter,

all the way at the beginning

of the Bible,

there is,

there is hope.

Things went wrong

with the serpent.

But one day,

yeah,

God says in verse 15,

to the serpent,

I'll put enmity between you

and the woman,

between your offspring

and her offspring,

he shall bruise your head.

Right?

It's like,

humanity was mastered

by the serpent,

but now,

someone is going to step

on the serpent.

Right?

He masters the serpent.

He deals with the problem.

The problem of sin

will be dealt with.

Later in the chapter,

God provides clothing.

He deals with their shame.

It's like,

the things that are wrong,

the brokenness,

God will deal with it.

And as we read on

in the whole Bible,

yeah,

God will deal with

all our sin and suffering.

He'll make this new world

that we've been singing about.

The new creation.

It's going to be wonderful.

And so,

we should have hope.

As,

yeah,

Romans 8.23

is such a great verse.

This is the Christian attitude.

Not only the creation,

but we ourselves,

who have the first fruits

of the Spirit,

groan inwardly

as we wait eagerly

for adoption as sons,

the redemption of our bodies.

In a chapter about

the brokenness of the world,

we groan.

Right?

We want to get out of it

and we wait eagerly

for the time

that our bodies

are set free.

That is,

Christians,

what we do.

So,

we need to look forward.

My wife still remembers

that when I was,

when my kids were young,

I would always,

whenever they grazed

their knee

or they had pain,

I always would say,

yeah, yeah,

this is a world of pain,

but Jesus is making

a world without pain

later.

Just giving them

a biblical framework.

But it's true, right?

If you know that,

it changes everything.

If this is all we have,

it's so depressing.

But if there is hope,

you know,

if one day

there will be

no more suffering,

no hurt,

nor pain,

as we just sang,

then it's okay.

We can go through it.

We just need to know

that there's an end,

right?

I don't know

if you remember COVID.

The worst thing

about COVID

was just,

it was never ending.

You never knew

when it would be over.

But if you know

something will be over,

you can endure it.

Yeah?

Yes,

we will all die,

but there is

a resurrection waiting.

As someone said,

death is not

a full stop

in your life.

It's a comma

for something

that comes later.

In two weeks,

I'm going to preach on it.

The resurrection,

I'm already looking forward

to it.

Right?

We need hope.

And so,

yeah,

don't look back.

You know,

don't look,

oh,

when I was young,

I could do all these things.

Don't look around.

Look forward.

Look forward

to the resurrection

that's coming.

There is hope.

There is an end.

And so,

we can trust God

in the meantime

with our brokenness.

And how can we know that?

Will God really have us back?

Yes,

he will.

How do we know that?

Well,

in a moment,

we're going to have

the Lord's Supper.

Look at the broken body

of Jesus.

You want to deal

with your broken body?

Look at the broken body

of Jesus.

Because

how would we get out of it

when we deserve punishment?

Well,

God himself

would take that punishment

on himself.

He would take

the brokenness

of our bodies.

He would

have a broken body

in our place

so we can be

redeemed.

Of course,

God didn't have a body,

right?

He's a spirit,

which is why

Jesus,

he took on a body.

And we see that

Hebrews 2

puts it so

wonderfully

that

since therefore

the children

us share

in flesh and blood,

he himself

likewise

partook of the same things

that through death

he might destroy

the one

who has the power

of death,

that is the devil.

And Jesus

took on flesh and blood

so that

through his death

he could destroy

the devil.

As it says

in Genesis 3,

the one who would

bruise the serpent,

his heel would be bruised.

He would suffer

in the process.

But a suffering

is for us.

And that is what

Jesus did.

He got a body,

he lived our life

and then

well,

he hung on the cross.

First of all,

so much shame,

right?

Hanging up naked

for everyone to see.

So much shame.

Well,

to deal with our shame.

And then all the pain

and all the damage

and the death

that we deserve

he took on himself

so that we

can be set free.

Of course,

it means you can go

to Jesus now.

He knows about suffering.

He knows about pain.

He understands that

because he went through it.

You can always come to him.

But his suffering

was so much more,

right?

It was in our place.

It saved us.

So look at Jesus'

broken body.

See his love for you

and know that

there will be an end

to our suffering,

our brokenness.

So later,

when you take

the Lord's Supper,

yeah,

take it in like that,

right?

Jesus,

thank you for,

yeah,

I have a broken body.

I need your broken body.

I need you to die for me.

Thank you that you did that.

Thank you

that I can be free.

Please raise me

from the dead.

Let's take it

in that way.

Okay.