Physical Health: A Biblical Perspective

How amazing is that? When we have given our hearts to Jesus, we are given the Holy Spirit to live inside of us. And He guides us into being the people God wants us to be and confirms God’s love for us!

It is His gift to us all because He loves us! He loves you kids!

Have a great day!

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Intro

Researchers suggest that only 9% of Americans that make resolutions complete them. In fact, research goes on to show that 23% of people quit their resolution by the end of the first week, and 43% quit by the end of January.

Every year, physical health related goals are number one, followed by mental health and financial health type of goals.

Forbes slide

Among Christians - Lifeway Research for 2021

New Series: "Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise: God's Plan for Well-Being in 2024"

Explore God's holistic plan for our well-being by delving into the key areas of physical, mental, financial, spiritual, and social health, uncovering the biblical principles that guide us towards a balanced and fulfilling life.

Physical Health: A Biblical Perspective

January is the highest month for gym memberships.

Most of us want to live long and prosper. Have long healthy lives.

Sciences tells us of the many benefits of taking care of pur physical health.

Exercise Benefits Slide

Improved cognition, better mental health, better physical health, and usually leads to a more full and enjoyable life span.

The Bible’s Definition

Definition: An ascetic mortification of the flesh and denial of personal gratification to which some sects of the Jews, especially the Essenes, attached importance.

Physical Exercise — noun. the activity of exerting your muscles in various ways to keep fit.

EXERCISE The Bible speaks only briefly of physical exercise. First Timothy 4:8 recognizes the value of bodily training but subordinates it to the greater value of godliness. Because the human body was created by God, it is incumbent on people to care for their bodies. This is particularly true for Christians whose bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:19), which are to be presented to God as living sacrifices (Rom. 12:1). Using the imagery of a runner, the Apostle Paul speaks of the need to pommel and subdue his body in order to qualify it for life’s race (1 Cor. 9:24–26).

Paul H. Wright

1 Corinthians 9:24–27 ESV

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

We’re all running a race! Truth is we don’t know the distance or trials of the race.

Who usually wins the prize in a race? The one that’s most prepared, and has counted the cost.

This is why resolutions and goals fail for many of us. We’re not prepared nor have we counted the cost.

Cost includes the time, energy, effort, and sacrifices wining the race requires.

Quitting Resolutions

Often with resolutions, we fail when we give up.

We quit the race.

It was harder than we thought.

The Results didn’t come fast enough.

Quitting Jesus

We get “saved” but then when things don’t go as we planned, we give up. We quit.

Practical Advice for Overcoming the Temptations to Quit

Self control in all things.

1 Corinthians 9:24–27 “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.”

Exercise Self Control

Flesh will give you excuses

Tired, weary, procrastination

Running Aimlessly

To not run aimlessly means to be intentional. - Keep the target before you

Put it on the calendar

Goal setting - SMART Goals

Specific - Measurable - Achievable - Relevant - Time-bound

Beating the Air

I do not box as one beating the air.

No resistance

Improvement always has resistance!

- Increasing the weight, the distance, the investment

Discipline

You’re not going to reach your goal without discipline.

Habits

Intentional

I keep my body under control.

Setting the Example

Paul takes responsibility

1 Corinthians 9:27 ESV

But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

Paul knew the importance of setting the example.

Others were looking at him.

He didn’t want to be a hypocrite. Wanting others to live in self control while he himself did not.

Personal Experience

Fitness trainer that is weak, or morbidly obese.

Hypocritical preachers

He was speaking of mainly his work in Christ, being purchased by Christ so he was now not his own.

Paul understood we’ve been grafted into the Body…purchased by grace…therefore...

Romans 12:1 ESV

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

The “therefore” always points back to something prior, and in this case Romans 11 which speaks of the grafting in by God’s grace of each of us believers.

So all of our being, our bodies as well, are to be sacrifices to the Lord in obedience and stewardship.

The Temple of God

1 Corinthians 6:19–20 ESV

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

Tying to the Temple adornments.

Worshiping God of the Temple, not the Temple itself!

The relationship of us getting fit for health, obedience, and stewardship, not vanity or self-worship.

Food Matters

Our fitness regimens are one thing, and a lot of that is external.

But we have to be careful to also focus on what we put into our bodies.

Calorie goals, whole foods, limit the fast and sugary foods.

Gluttony

And don’t be gluttonous when eating. For gluttony is a sin.

Proverbs 23:20–21 ESV

Be not among drunkards or among gluttonous eaters of meat, for the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty, and slumber will clothe them with rags.

Easton’s Bible Dictionary Glutton

Prov. 23:21, the word means debauchees or wasters of their own body.

Stewardship and self-control. Mastery over the flesh.

The Fall

All sin is a giving into the flesh’s desire instead of exercising control over it.

Eve gave into the desires of the flesh instead of using self control and being obedient to the Lord.

Genesis 3:6 (ESV)

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.

A Proper Perspective

First things First

When it comes to fitness and health, and all of these resolutions and goals we will be addressing in this series, I want to make sure we understand that in all of this we need to be sure we have a proper perspective.

Eric Henry Liddell (/ˈlɪdəl/; 16 January 1902 – 21 February 1945) was a Scottish athlete who played athletics and rugby union who later served as a Christian missionary. He was born in Qing China to Scottish missionary parents. He attended boarding school near London, spending time when possible with his family in Edinburgh, and afterwards attended the University of Edinburgh.

At the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris, Liddell refused to run in the heats for his favoured 100 metres because they were held on a Sunday. Instead he competed in the 400 metres held on a weekday, a race that he won. He returned to China in 1925 to serve as a missionary teacher. Aside from two furloughs in Scotland, he remained in China until his death in a Japanese civilian internment camp in 1945.

Liddell's Olympic training and racing, and the religious convictions that influenced him, are depicted in the Oscar-winning 1981 film Chariots of Fire.

Liddell was a man who ran with conviction (physical) with some restrictions that it did not impact his faith.

There is only so much time in a day and we have to chose and to prioritize the time God has alloted for us.

1 Timothy 4:7–8 ESV

Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness; for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.

Paul reminds Timothy, bodily training is good, but first things first…Godliness is of more value.

Spiritual Health and Practices

In upcoming weeks.

Don’t abandon your first love brothers and sisters in Christ.

Our relationship with the Lord is of utmost importance, and should lead us to be good stewards of all that He has given us, including our bodies.

1 Corinthians 6:19–20 ESV

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

What we do with our bodies matters. So be good, holy, and righteous with it, for the glory of God.

300 Sermon Illustrations from Charles Spurgeon Exercise Your Spirit like an Athlete (Hebrews 12:11)

We know that those who strive for the mastery keep under their body in order that they may come prepared in the day of contest. So must the Christian use his afflictions, exercise himself by them to the keeping down of the flesh to the conquest of his evil desires, that he may be as strong as if his flesh were iron and his muscles hardened steel.

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