Thank you, Dr. Mohler, for that kind introduction. It is a joy to work with you at ETS as well as the seminary. Thank you for my colleagues and students for coming out. Let's pray. Lord, you are the speaking God, so may your Holy Spirit speak through me as I speak. Will you illumine your word so we may rightly understand it? and may you soften our hearts so that we may properly receive it. In Jesus' name, amen. My title this morning is The Body of Christ, a Tryptic Presentation. Holy Week is arguably one of the most significant periods in the church's annual calendar. And though it may not be customary for our churches to take special liturgical notice of this Holy Week, the events celebrated during it are certainly worthy of our consideration. For this observance, my sermon will unfold the theme of the body of Christ as a triptych presentation. A triptych is an artistic form rather than painting a subject with three aspects on one large canvas, it paints the three aspects on three separate panels. Being then hinged together, the three panels portray an interconnectedness of the three aspects of the one theme. So my theme is the body of Christ and the three panels are the incarnation of the eternal Son of God, the institution of the Lord's Supper, and the inauguration of the church. Okay, already some of you are thinking, it's just a typical alliterated three-point Baptist sermon. But humor me, please. and give me a little liturgical and artistic love. Tryptic panel one, the first or left panel, the body of Christ, the incarnation of the Son of God. It is through the incarnate Son, Christ's body on the cross, that we are saved. Without this first panel, there is no Holy Week. There is no Passover feast. There is no Lord's Supper. There is no Garden of Gethsemane. There is no passion suffering. There is no crucifixion on the cross. There is no atoning sacrifice. There is no penal substitution. There is no divine work of salvation without this first panel, without the incarnation of the eternal Son of God. Scriptural affirmations include John 1, 1 and 14, Philippians 2, 5 to 8, and some passages in the letter to the Hebrews. The eternal, that is, in the beginning word, was. Specifically, at the time of creation, an allusion to Genesis 1, 1, in the beginning of the created universe. The eternal in the beginning word was already and forever existent. Moreover, the eternal word was with, in eternal relation to, and thus distinct from God, and the eternal word was himself fully, in every way, God. Two thousand years ago, this word became flesh and dwelt among us. The eternal word, became the incarnate Word. He took on the fullness of human nature. He became the God-man. The Word became enfleshed, embodied, emplaced in what we call the land of Israel. And those who met this incarnate Word beheld His glory as the only Son of the Father. that is the word in eternal relation to God, was the only generated, the only begotten son of the Father. He became the God-man through the incarnation. This is he of whom Paul writes in Philippians 2. Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, that is fully God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped. but emptied himself by taking on the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of man, and being found in human form, that is, a fully embodied man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient, even to the point of death. This was incarnation, not by way of subtraction, the suspension or disposal of certain divine attributes like omnipresence, omniscience, omnipotence, and eternality. Rather, it was incarnation by way of addition, the taking on of a fully human nature, a human mind, human emotions, a human will, human motivations, human purposing, a human body. By such incarnation, the Eternal Son became the God-Man. He did this earth-shattering incarnation so as to rescue fallen earth dwellers who consist of flesh and blood, Hebrews 2. Since the children, human beings, you and me, 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 deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham." Parenthesis. If the son had intended to save angels, he would have taken on angelic nature. But this angelic rescue was not the divine will." Therefore, the son had to be made like his brothers and sisters in every respect so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God to make propitiation for the sins of the people. the incarnation was necessary so that the eternal son could become our high priest and provide an atoning sacrifice for our sins. The same author writes later in Hebrews 10, consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me. In burnt offerings, in sin offerings, you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, behold, I come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book." The covenantal change is striking. It's radical. Gone is the offering of animal sacrifices according to the old covenant and its law. That structure is replaced once and for all by the one new covenant, the sacrifice offered by the embodied Son, Christ, according to the Father's will, as Hebrews continues. And by that will, we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Christ once for all. There is no holy week. and its associated events, there is no atoning sacrifice, there is no divine work of salvation without the incarnation of the Son of God, our first panel, the panel on our left. Still, this first panel is not the only panel. It is hinged to the second. So, tryptic panel two, the second or middle panel, the body of Christ, the institution of the Lord's Supper. It is by his body in the Lord's Supper that we are sanctified and sustained. Leading up to Christ's sacrificial offering were many important events during Holy Week. But our second, our middle panel, highlights the institution of the Lord's Supper. This took place in a large upper room at a Passover feast on Maundy Thursday, so called because on that day, following his washing of the disciples' feet, Jesus gave his mandatum, or new commandment, that we love one another. Scriptural affirmations include the endings of the synoptic Gospels. I cite Matthew 26, 26 to 28. Now as Jesus and his disciples were eating, Jesus took bread and after blessing it, broke it and gave it to his disciples saying, take, eat. This is my body. And he took a cup and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them saying, drink of it all of you. For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins." Clearly, and opposing the Roman Catholic view of the Eucharist and its doctrine of transubstantiation, we don't take Jesus' expression, this is my body, to be an identity statement. Rather, we understand that it is symbolizing something. It's pointing to a reality beyond itself. So when we celebrate the Lord's Supper, and as one loaf of bread is torn in two, that action vividly portrays the broken body of Christ, that which was given for our salvation. From a memorialist perspective, this action of breaking the loaf of bread prompts us to remember what Christ has done, according to Jesus' words of institution in Luke. This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me. Viewing the breaking of the bread, We remember that Christ's body was broken for us and for our salvation. We rightly remember the broken body of Christ. Moreover, Paul rehearses in 1 Corinthians 10, 16 to 17, the cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ, the bread that we break? Is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of one bread." Focusing on the one element, the action of breaking the bread during the Lord's Supper is koinonia, a fellowship in, a communion with, a participation in the body of Christ which was broken for us. Beyond, but not in contradiction to the memorialist view, the spiritual presence view highlights our participation in Christ as we celebrate together the Lord's Supper. The breaking of the bread and our eating of it is communion with the redeeming Jesus Christ and his salvific benefits. Christ the Savior is present, not physically, not sacramentally, not merely memorially, but spiritually so that we fellowship with him. We become thankful recipients of his blessing, nourishment, sanctification, and sustaining presence. Now, depending on our view of the Lord's Supper and our church's practice of this ordinance, we may be more or less enthusiastic about it and thankful for it. But given that communion is not a mere human invention or ecclesial convention, the Lord's Supper is properly seen as a necessary right, R-I-T-E, a necessary right of the church, the ongoing celebration of being in communion with Jesus Christ. Since it is indeed necessary, There is no Holy Week and its associated events. There is no atoning sacrifice vividly portrayed in the breaking of the bread. There is no fullness of sanctification and sustaining operation without the institution of the Lord's Supper, which is the second, the middle panel of our triptych. So the first panel and the second panel are rightly hinged together. And yet there is another panel, tryptic panel three, the third or the right panel, the body of Christ, the inauguration of the church. It is into Christ's body that we are incorporated. Let's return to 1 Corinthians 10, 16 to 17, at least part of it. The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. When we celebrate together this ordinance, not only are we participants in the broken body of Christ powerfully portrayed for us in the Lord's Supper, We are also participants in one another, which is the third aspect of the body of Christ. We are participants in one another as the one body of Jesus Christ, the church. Note Paul's presentation. One loaf of bread, many members partake of, eat together that one loaf. The many are one body. In other words, the unity of the church is vividly pictured and powerfully fostered during the celebration of the Lord's Supper by Christ's body, the church. Scriptural affirmations of the body of Christ in this third sense include Acts, Ephesians, and 1 Corinthians. According to the narrative of Acts 2, on the day of Pentecost, 50 days after the events of Holy Week, the Father and the Son poured out the Holy Spirit. And the entity that emerged from that outpouring was the church, the inauguration of the church, the body of Christ according to our third aspect of the triptych. the inauguration of the church took place on that world-altering day. Ephesians 1, 19 to 23 attaches the church as body to Christ as its head. Paul rehearses God the Father's immeasurably great, mightily powerful work in raising the incarnate Son and elevating Him to His right hand of authority and power above all and everything that has been created. The exalted Son is lifted up, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age, but also in the one to come. And the Father gave the Son as cosmic head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him, who fills all in all. This divine act, the Father's act of exalting His incarnate Son, inaugurated the church, the body of Christ. He is the head of the body, the one possessing all authority and power, the Lord of the church, which submits faithfully and obediently to Him. The church is His body. which, according to 1 Corinthians 12, does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body, that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body, that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. This vision means that all parts of the body, all men and all women, regardless of status, position, and ability, are equally members, equally valuable, equally worthy of honor and respect, equally endowed with and necessary for the gifts they exercise, and much, much, much more. Paul continues his presentation of this united and flourishing body in Ephesians 4. To the church, the victorious Christ gave gifts, specifically gifted persons, the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints, all the members of the body, for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ. The purpose, the telos of such ministry is envisioned in this way, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Through actualizing this purpose, this telos, the church avoids disaster so that we may no longer be children tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. As for the parts of the body, both Christ its head and its members, There's a dual dimensionality at work. Speaking the truth in love, Paul continues, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. Christ the head operates in ways that are in accordance with his divine nature. He makes the body grow as only he can. We, the members of the body, operate in ways in accordance with our human nature. We grow up in every way. We are united together as we are equipped to be. We work properly, we lovingly build up the body, work that we and only we can do, always by the foundational work of Christ. So without Holy Week and its many events, the incarnate Son of God facing the Garden of Gethsemane, the passion, suffering, the crucifixion on the cross, atoning sacrifice, penal substitution, there is no inauguration of the body of Christ that is the church. The first panel, the second panel, and the third panel are properly hinged together. Panel one on the left, the incarnation of the Son of God, through which he took on a body according to the will of the Father so as to be crucified and accomplish our salvation. According to Romans 8, 29, it was eternally the divine purpose that the Son of God would become the firstborn, the preeminent one among many brothers and sisters, that is, the body of Christ, the church. Panel 2. the middle panel, the institution of the Lord's Supper, which was oriented to the existence of the body of Christ that is the church, which would regularly celebrate this ordinance. The broken loaf of bread powerfully portrays the broken body of Christ and by our participation in it, we are sustained by the incarnate Son's presence and furthered in our sanctification and unity. Panel three, the inauguration of the church, which is the body of the exalted Christ, who is its head. All those who have experienced salvation, who are brothers and sisters of the firstborn Son of God incarnate, we are united together as parts of his body and as such regularly celebrate the Lord's Supper. Three panels hinged together present in triptych fashion the theme of the body of Christ. A few questions for your consideration. Are you thankful for the incarnation of the Son of God? His taking on of the fullness of human nature just like yours so that he could accomplish your salvation? Are you thankful as you celebrate together the Lord's Supper together with other members of your church? that Christ and His saving benefits offers you nourishment, furthers your sanctification, sustains you, and vividly portrays and enhances the unity of your church? Are you thankful that you have been incorporated as parts of the body of Christ, the church, and you are equally members, equally valuable, equally worthy of honor and respect, and equally gifted and equipped to serve others? Pray with me. What do we have, Lord, that we have not received? We are thankful recipients of the body of Christ in its many splendid ways. Amen.