Sermon Tone Analysis

Who here is concerned with their body image?

Let me ask the question in a different way, who here brushed their teeth or their hair, or did anything whatsoever to better their appearance from when they woke up this morning?

We all care about our body image to some degree which is not in itself a bad thing, what we must be careful of however is that we are not letting the world dictate our perspective on how are bodies should be defined and what they should be used for.

That is, we are not to let the world shape the way we think and that includes our perspectives on our body and how it is used.

How we view our body, determines how we treat it and what we do with it and therefore it is important that we have a body image that is Biblically based.

Romans 12.2

Body image - "an intellectual or idealized image of what one's body is or should be like."

How we perceive of our body determines what we will do with it. .

How we approach our body image determines how we will apply that image.

As Christians we recognize every good and perfect gift is from God, and so we seek to be good stewards of the things that God has given us whether that be the time that we have or the possessions that we’ve been blessed with.

An area of stewardship in which we might be lacking, is the area of bodies.

It seems that there was a dualistic approach of the Corinthian brethren.

What we do with our bodies is not important to God.

In Paul explicates a Biblical body image and he does so within the matrix of the sexual relationship which is the body’s most intimate and powerful form of expression which when twisted and abused also happens to be the body’s most debased from of perversion.

When I’m hungry I eat, when

If you’ve got an itch you scratch it, if you’ve got a void you fill it, if you’ve got a desire you satisfy it.

After all, the body is meant to fulfill my desires.

This is of course, to reduce us down to nothing more than

It seems that there was a dualistic approach of the Corinthian brethren.

What we do with our bodies is not important to God and therefore we can use them for whatever purposes we want.

After it is going to be destroyed anyways.

your body is not like the temporal things like the stomach and food which are going to be destroyed.

Your body matters to God because He has made it to serve His purposes both in this life and in the life to come.

Our body is not our own but belongs to God, it has been joined with

Our body which were made by God, sustained by God, for God’s purposes, joined to God through Christ, a dwelling place for God in the Spirit, and a monument to God’s glory must not then be taken and joined to another through an improper sexual relationship.

To do so would be to sin against our body in a way not quite like any other.

“Christian worship does not consist of what is practiced at sacred sites, at sacred times, and with sacred acts.…

It is the offering of bodily existence in the otherwise profane sphere.”

In contrast to the Biblical body image we just discussed the world’s body image cries out: “My body is meant to gratify and fulfill me and my pleasures, whatever they might be.

If my flesh desires something I have the right to satisfy that desire.

After all, it is my body, I can do with it what I want.

My body is the ultimate means of self-expression, it is a blank canvas on which to write.

If I don’t like something about it, I change it.

I sculpt an image that I can identify with, one that I can flaunt and show off to the world.

My body is a temple, yes, but it is a temple for the worship and celebration of me and my own glory.”

As we seek to apply a biblical body image we are going to move in two general directions.

Christian worship does not consist of what is practiced at sacred sites, at sacred times, and with sacred acts.…

It is the offering of bodily existence in the otherwise profane sphere

CHRYSOSTOM: How is the body to become a sacrifice?

Let the eye look on no evil thing, and it has already become a sacrifice.

Let the tongue say nothing filthy, and it has become an offering.13

Let your hand do nothing evil, and it has become a whole burnt offering.

But even this is not enough, for we must have good works also.15

The hand must do alms, the mouth must bless those who curse it, and the ears must find time to listen p 296 to the reading of Scripture.

Sacrifice allows of no unclean thing.

It is the first fruits of all other actions

Is the way that I’m using my body fulfilling God’s purpose for my life?

Am I using my time in this earthly vessel to further God’s kingdom and to edify God’s people or has my body become … seek after my own self will.

Every aspect of my life whether great or small, every function of my body whether significant or mundane is be to the honor and glory of God.

We need to say something I feel about the intimate relationship a lot of us have with food.

Let me begin by saying that there is nothing wrong with enjoying our food.

suggests as much.

But for many of us food serves a cathartic purpose.

It lifts our spirits when we’re down, is an expression of our joy when we’re happy, it is a tool to burry our sorrows as we shovel down food when we’re sad, when we’re idle or bored it fills the void both literally and figuratively, it something to hide behind when we’re afraid.

If we are not careful, food can become like any other drug, addiction, or indulgence.

Often this relationship is unhealthy.

We need to remember what Paul said in

1 Corinthians 6.12

I used to be a human garbage disposal.

I was often given to over indulgence.

I was unwittingly the person described in .

My god had become my belly and ironically, Sunday’s were the worst.

If we went out to eat during the week growing up it was typically on Sundays afternoons and if I had my druthers, we were eating Mexican food.

“Christian worship does not consist of what is practiced at sacred sites, at sacred times, and with sacred acts.…

It is the offering of bodily existence in the otherwise profane sphere.”

I usually had a basket of chips all to myself which was often emptied and refilled several times over.

I’d order the 3 cheese enchiladas even though the lunch portion only came with two.

I’d have my sister order the large quesadillas, knowing that she would only eat half of them and I could eat the rest.

If my mom left any rice and beans on her plate, you could be sure I’d eat it.

There was a lack of self-control, an over indulgence in something because it suited my appetite, a dependence on something other than God and in none of that was God glorified.

Maybe you identify with that in some capacity.

For you maybe its sweets, maybe its fast food, maybe its

Stewardship

As Christians we recognize every good and perfect gift is from God, and so we seek to be good stewards of the things that God has given us whether that be the time that we have or the possessions that we’ve been blessed with.

An area of stewardship in which we might be lacking, is the area of bodies.

John: If I could give you a pill that would make you healthier, reduce stress, depression and anxiety, make you more alert in the moment, give you more energy to do the things you wanted to do, and allow you to live a long and full life would you take?

Even if we don't like taking pills, we're all taking that pill because ultimately we all want those things.

But then we look at our lives and the choices we make and the habits we develop often run counter to those desires and so we need to say a few things about how we treat our bodies.

Before I go any further I want to stress that we do live in a corrupt and fallen world and as such there are diseases and circumstances that are out of our control.

I get that, I had a heart attack at 23, which the doctors determined was largely due to poor genetics.

Having said that, there are lifestyle changes that I can make to help prevent that from happening again.

Among U.S. adults, more than 90 percent of type 2 diabetes, 80 percent of CAD, 70 percent of stroke, and 70 percent of colon cancer are potentially preventable by a combination of nonsmoking, avoidance of overweight, moderate physical activity, healthy diet, and moderate alcohol consumption (Willett 2002).

Bottom line: majority of diseases are lifestyle related and largely preventable.

That is to say nothing of arthritis, gout, and the other aches and pains we often deal with that are either caused by or worsened because of the lifestyle choices we’ve made.

Now let's relate that to our purpose and mission in Christ:

It is not my intention to legislate what we can and can't eat, how much we should eat, what we should weigh, or how much body fat percentage we should have.

I'll let men like John and Jimmy offer their suggestions in those areas.

But I do want to raise some questions.

Does my mood, energy level, health or bodily ailments prevent me from being able to worship and attend other functions with my brothers and sisters in Christ on a fairly regular basis and being fully engaged when I do?

Is my ability to witness to Christ hurt or hindered by those very same things?

Is my ability to live a long life in service to my God in jeopardy because of the lifestyle choices I'm making today?