Why Jesus Needed a Body

00:00:05.000 | Why did Jesus need a body?

00:00:08.000 | It's such a foundational question, but it's also one we typically don't dwell on, except maybe around Christmas.

00:00:14.000 | It's a question we need to dwell on. We need to linger here for a moment.

00:00:18.000 | In 1995, John Piper expanded on this question at the end of a sermon on Ephesians 4, 32-5, 2.

00:00:26.000 | Here's what he said in explaining why Jesus needed a body.

00:00:31.000 | Now turn your attention for just one last minute or two away from the life to the sacrifice.

00:00:39.000 | The sacrifice, the costliness of this life being laid down.

00:00:44.000 | You know, one of the differences between the 19-year-old boy and Jesus is that in order for Jesus to suffer and die,

00:00:51.000 | he had to plan it way ahead of time, because as the logos who existed before creation, he couldn't die.

00:01:00.000 | Immortal. He didn't have any body. He could not die.

00:01:04.000 | And yet he wanted to die for you.

00:01:08.000 | So he planned the whole thing by clothing himself with a body so that he could get hungry and get weary and get sore feet.

00:01:19.000 | The incarnation is the preparation of nerve endings for the nail.

00:01:26.000 | That's what the incarnation is.

00:01:28.000 | The incarnation is the preparation of a brow for thorns to press through.

00:01:37.000 | He needed to have a broad back so that there was a place for the whip.

00:01:43.000 | He needed to have feet so that there was a place for spike.

00:01:47.000 | He needed to have a side so that there was a place for the sword to go in.

00:01:53.000 | He needed cheeks, fleshy cheeks, so that Judas would have a place to kiss,

00:01:58.000 | and there would be a place for the spit to run down that the soldiers put on him.

00:02:04.000 | He needed a brain and a spinal column with no vinegar and no gall

00:02:13.000 | so that the exquisiteness of the pain could be fully felt.

00:02:20.000 | I just plead with you.

00:02:22.000 | When you're reading the Bible and you read water toy texts like "He loved you and gave himself for you,"

00:02:36.000 | you wouldn't go too fast over it.

00:02:39.000 | You would linger, linger, linger, and plead with him that your eyes would be open.

00:02:46.000 | Let me close with a question.

00:02:48.000 | Can you, will you now take this personally for yourself?

00:02:56.000 | You know what Satan wants to do right now?

00:02:58.000 | He has not been able to stop me this morning from describing to you the love of Christ and its depth.

00:03:05.000 | What he could do right now, maybe, is in a subtly, even spiritual way,

00:03:13.000 | get into your brain and cause you to put that picture that I've just tried to paint for you,

00:03:20.000 | of the love of Christ for you, on your coffee table like a big glossy book of canyons.

00:03:27.000 | Called "Canyons." "U.S. Canyons."

00:03:30.000 | And you flip through the book and you go, "Oh, I've got those wonderful canyons."

00:03:33.000 | And then you walk away to the kitchen and you murmur and you act unlovingly and your voice is unkind.

00:03:41.000 | Here we are standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon this morning.

00:03:44.000 | We've seen some of it.

00:03:46.000 | We need wings now. We need wings.

00:03:48.000 | We don't want photographs.

00:03:49.000 | We don't want to say, "The love of Christ is great."

00:03:53.000 | There it is! There it is! It's on the screen!

00:03:55.000 | And we say, "Wow!"

00:03:57.000 | We do a worship thing on it and we do a teaching thing on it.

00:04:03.000 | And it's still on the screen!

00:04:05.000 | It's in the book!

00:04:07.000 | And Satan would be...

00:04:09.000 | If that's what he's got to settle for, admiring Jesus from a distance,

00:04:13.000 | and having no root, no involvement, no hang gliding,

00:04:20.000 | in and through the Grand Canyon,

00:04:23.000 | he would be satisfied.

00:04:25.000 | So I'm going to close with a testimony from the Apostle Paul,

00:04:28.000 | and just pray with you as we close that it would become true for you.

00:04:32.000 | Galatians 2.20.

00:04:35.000 | I remember back in 1966,

00:04:38.000 | when I got mononucleosis and was in the hospital for three weeks.

00:04:42.000 | And Chaplain Welch came in, and as he was leaving, the first time,

00:04:45.000 | he turned and looked over his shoulder and said, "John, what's your favorite Bible verse?"

00:04:50.000 | And I hadn't thought about what my favorite Bible verse was.

00:04:54.000 | And out of my mouth came Galatians 2.20.

00:04:57.000 | I am crucified with Christ.

00:04:59.000 | It is no longer I who live, but Christ who now lives in me.

00:05:03.000 | And the life that I now live in the flesh,

00:05:06.000 | nitty-gritty daily life that everybody has to live,

00:05:09.000 | the life that I now live in the flesh,

00:05:11.000 | I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me.

00:05:20.000 | Would you take that, please?

00:05:22.000 | Take that personal pronoun.

00:05:24.000 | Don't say "you." Don't say "us."

00:05:26.000 | Those are true.

00:05:28.000 | Would you say "me?"

00:05:30.000 | The life that I now live,

00:05:32.000 | I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me

00:05:38.000 | and gave himself for me.

00:05:42.000 | That's the love that I want you to send your roots down into.

00:05:46.000 | It will make a great difference in our church, in your life, in your family.

00:05:51.000 | I would do that, I pray it.

00:05:52.000 | All the people said, "Amen."

00:05:54.000 | Yes, amen.

00:05:55.000 | That clip was from John Piper's March 26, 1995 sermon titled,

00:06:00.000 | "The Depth of Christ's Love, Its Cost."

00:06:03.000 | And it was sent in to us by Wes Vitito in Louisville, Kentucky.

00:06:07.000 | Thank you, Wes, for the clip.

00:06:09.000 | You can find the full message at DesiringGod.org, of course.

00:06:12.000 | On Wednesdays, we dip into the archive and pull out a classic clip for the podcast.

00:06:16.000 | I welcome your suggestions.

00:06:17.000 | If you have a favorite clip from a John Piper sermon, old or recent,

00:06:20.000 | email us the name of the sermon and the time stamp of when and where the clip occurs in the audio.

00:06:26.000 | And email it to me at AskPastorJohn@DesiringGod.org.

00:06:30.000 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke.

00:06:31.000 | We'll see you tomorrow on the Ask Pastor John podcast with author and longtime pastor, John Piper.

00:06:36.000 | (end)

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