A0398_Spiritual Fitness
Date: 17th August 2008 (Sunday AM) Ref: A0398
Place: Kambah P.S.
Title: Spiritual Fitness
Text: & 1 Corinthians 9:24-27
Illust: Unless you have been living in a cave the past 2 weeks, you would be aware that the Olympics are currently underway in Beijing. – I am not actively following it, but can’t help hear it on the radio – Newspaper – TV in the lunchroom at work. – TV’s in coffee shops all across the country. – Photos & images of athletes. – Struck me these people are in the peak of physical fitness. – One thing you will not see. – Body fat. Trim, cut, powerful physiques. No people carrying excess weight on an Olympic podium. Thinking about this, how many Christians carrying excess weight. Not physically flabby, but spiritual flabbiness – A bit of excess carnality. Not as spiritually fit as we should be.
I. Junk Food World
A. Fast Food
i. No matter where you go, wherever you are, fast food is not far away. Food courts, McDonalds, KFC, Pizza, Food dispensers – stacked with chocolates & Chips. – Go overseas – find fast food outlets. – Another name for fast food – ‘junk food’
ii. We live in an age where ‘junk food’ is quick & easy to obtain, satisfies the sweet or savoury tooth when you get an attack of the munchies
iii. Spiritual junk food is just as readily available. – Music, books, magazines, Internet, Computer games, TV, Movies, diversions, distractions. – Feel good, feel like you have achieved something, that you have had a great time, that you have relaxed, chilled out. – Spiritual junk food
B. Putting on Weight
i. There is another name that I realised as I typed this message – typed fast & got the letters in wrong order. – “fats” food. – Truth in this; junk food makes you fat. – People that eat a lot of junk food are going to put on weight. – Get fat. ~ Bible has a term – Flesh
Romans 8:8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (NKJV)
ii. The spiritual parallel is that as you indulge in carnal, fleshly pursuits you are going to get spiritually fat. Spiritually flabby. – Not in the will of God. – Putting on weight.
Romans 8:6-7 6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. (NKJV)
Manuel Uribe Garza a 43-year-old man from Monterrey, Mexico, is one of the heaviest people in medical history. After reaching a peak weight of around 597 kg (1,316 lbs, 94 stone) and being unable to leave his bed since 2001.
Why is he so big?
Breakfast: 20 eggs, beans, 9 tortillas stuffed with cheese and meat, two bowls of taco salad
Lunch: Half a chicken, 4 meat and cheese tortillas, salad, fizzy drinks, pasta, bread.
Dinner: 3-4 eggs with hamburger, beans, 3-4 cheese and meat tortillas, bread, or pasta, fizzy drinks, coffee, milk, 3 quarts ice cream, pineapple.
Galatians 6:8 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. (NKJV)
iii. Large overweight people have a presence; they have sown to their flesh. By contrast an athlete puts on muscle mass, effective, powerful & also has a presence. – Ever met a supremely fit person. – You can tell, they have a presence about them. –Spiritually fit people have an anointing presence; they have sown to the Spirit.
Galatians 5:16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. (NKJV)
II. Discipline
A. Life of Discipline
i. What is it that Olympic athletes have that most people don’t have? – Discipline – Personal discipline. – They lead a life of discipline. Not just to get up & train, swim, run, weights, exercise program. – more than that. Extends to where they go, how they spend their time. And what they eat.
TWO memorable things happened to Stephenie Rice one day this week…. she won her third Olympic gold medal and she ate a chocolate. For a while it was hard to tell which she enjoyed most. It was only a tiny chocolate, but she nibbled it around the edges first before slowly eating the soft centre, prolonging it like she might have done a few years ago after school when her mum said she could have one - but just one. Pure bliss. "I am loving this - I haven't had a chocolate for three months," she said just after her last swim and final press conference on Thursday. "Wait 'til I get to the village tonight. I love ice cream and I haven't had that for months either." To become an Olympic gold medallist, Rice said no to chocolates and ice creams and big nights out, … To win gold, she had to do what she had to do.
ii. & vs. 27 ~ Convicted listening to one of the guys at work talking about he gets up at 5:00 to go for his run. – Disciplined. – I am thinking I struggle to get up at 6:00 to pray. – To be fit you need to be disciplined
iii. To be spiritually fit you need to by spiritually disciplined. – To pray, read the word. – Not just a random thing but a call to be disciplined. – Set a time to pray. Set a min number of chapters you will read per day before putting your head on the pillow. Track it. Be disciplined.
B. Life of Denial
i. Interesting also is that more than just discipline to do the things they must, there is also an element of discipline in living a life of denial. – Practicing self denial. Make a decision not to indulge in those things that are going to hamper performance. Not necessarily evil / wrong but not helpful.
Romans 13:14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts. (NKJV)
ii. Sometimes, we can spend time in activities that aren’t in & of themselves sinful. But neither are they spiritually edifying. – Might be nothing wrong with reading a good novel, playing a game, taking a break. The question though is what does your spirit need?
Romans 8:5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. (NKJV)
iii. What is your spiritual fitness level? Do you need to deny yourself some spiritual junk food, a feeding of the carnal nature & focus on getting fit? & vs. 25a
Galatians 5:24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. (NKJV)
III. Gold
A. Compete Well
i. There was quite a bit of press yesterday over the fact that Leisel Jones only won silver in the 200m breaststroke. – Really quite ridiculous she competed well and has won an Olympic silver medal. Most of those criticising & most of us would be lucky to survive 200m of breaststroke, let alone compete at that level. – Just to get to the race, to even be able to compete you have to be fit.
ii. So to, we are involved in a race. ~ Paul compares the Christian life to the races in the ancient Olympic games where the prize was the Kotinos. An olive branch intertwined to form a circle - & vs. 24-25.
iii. If we are going to compete in the race of life well, we need to evaluate our state of fitness, not physical, but spiritual. Are you carrying a bit too much excess weight, carnality, flesh. What do you look like spiritually?
B. Claim the Prize
2 Timothy 2:5 And also if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. (NKJV)
i. The truth is that we are competing for a prize that is far more valuable and longer lasting than any Kotinos or even Olympic Gold medal
Robert de Castella, after 10 - 15 years of running, had a lot of memorabilia. – Then came the Jan ’03 bushfires: Only the charred remains of medals and melted-down cups and trophies remained from his illustrious marathon career. "Unfortunately, I had a beautiful sort of display room in my office with cabinets and sort of glass things stacked with trophies and photos and certificates and all that sort of stuff and obviously that's all gone," he said. "Really it's pretty much a pile of junk at the moment.” “we scoured through some of the ashes this morning and found a few charred remnants of medals and things but certainly all of the certificates and photos and press clippings have well and truly gone.”
& vs. 25b An imperishable crown, one that cannot be destroyed. Awarded by the King of Kings. – An eternal reward
2 Timothy 4:8 Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing. (NKJV)
ii. Think about how much discipline & denial these athletes submit themselves to & all for a temporal reward. How much more should we be disciplined & lead a life of denial when we have a priceless eternal reward to claim. - We need to be spiritually fit, Go on a weight loss program, get rid of that carnality / flesh. – Spiritually fit.
1 Timothy 4:8 For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. (NKJV)
iii. Stephanie Rice has a world of sponsorship opportunities opening up. Her single minded focus has led to some jokes that she lives in her own little bubble of focus – her ‘rice bubble’ – Ultimately what drives the discipline & the denial is they have their eyes on the prize. – Focus your eyes on the eternal prize.
Philippians 3:13-14 13 Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, 14 I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (NKJV)