How do you keep fit?
I heard yesterday that someone from our church - who should know better – spent an hour on the lounge room floor recovering because he had worked too hard in the gym!
A number of our men are into bike riding – push bikes that is. And I know a number of you hit the gym.
As I’ve reflected on how to keep fit this is what I have discovered - - calorie counting and exercise are important but the road to health starts much deeper. Real health begins in the soul, and if you want to be fit for life you have to begin by building your spiritual muscle. To do that we must first understand that there are three levels of living and that everyone chooses at which level they will live. What are these three levels of living? Well Paul pointed them out in our reading for today (i.e. 1 Timothy 4:7-8).
Level 1. A LIFE SHAPED BY EVERYTHING AND ANYTHING
At the lowest end of the scale is a life that is shaped by everything and anything.
The apostle Paul said ...
Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales … (1 Timothy 4:7a)
Friends, you know as well as I do that you can’t build a healthy body by eating fairy floss and donuts. If you want to be physically healthy there certain foods and substances that you just have to refuse – there are certain things that you just should never absorb into your body.
Just like an athlete can’t build a healthy body by eating anything and everything in sight, you can’t build spiritual muscle if your life is being shaped by everything and anything.
If you want to grow faster as a Christian and if you want to accomplish more for God, then you have to reject lies; you have to say “adios” to fairy-tales; You have to ditch unhealthy thinking.
I’m not saying you have to check your brain at the door. But we do need to be very discerning about who we listen to and what we take on board as our life principles.
It’s important for us to know the lies of the devil – but it’s quite another thing to allow those lies to influence us.
I have a friend who is a scientist. In his work he often has to handle dangerous substances; hazardous specimens that may carry bacteria or disease; and he has to handle chemicals and poisonous substances. Now, it’s one thing to understand and to handle these things but there’s no way he’s going to allow them to get into his system.
No-one can maintain good physical health unless they monitor what they take into their body – or if they’re reckless about what is absorbed into their body. The same is true for us spiritually. We’ve got to monitor what we take into our mind and perhaps more importantly, what we take into our heart.
In his letter to the Ephesians, the apostle Paul warned Believers not to be ...
[… no longer be] infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming (Ephesians 4:14 NIV).
You see, an organism will grow if it is kept healthy. You will grow if you are spiritually healthy. You will overcome more if you have spiritual muscle. And you will accomplish great things for God if you are spiritually strong and healthy.
And the same is true for your church - for us here at ABC. Only the sound healthy teaching of the Word of God can keep a church healthy, strong and growing.
As we take a look at the churches that are in decline in Australia today it is by-and-large those that have diluted their doctrine in an attempt to make it more palatable to the world – e.g. some churches deny the deity of Jesus Christ; deny miracles; some churches accept immorality among their leaders; churches that deny the resurrection. These are – for the most part – the churches that are dying.
Let’s take the denial of the resurrection of Christ as an example. Believe it or not, some churches teach the lie that the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead was not real. Now this is a serious error – and it’s not a new one either. Paul wrote about it in the New Testament. He said …
If there is no resurrection, there’s no living Christ. And face it – if there’s no resurrection for Christ, everything we’ve told you is smoke and mirrors .…. If all we get out of Christ is a little inspiration for a few short years, we’re a pretty sorry lot. But the truth is that Christ has been raised up, the first of a long legacy of those who are going to leave the cemeteries (1 Corinthians 15:12-20 Msg)
No wonder people are leaving these churches in droves – there’s no hope in them! All they’re getting out of Christ is “a little inspiration for a few short years.” And they have become “a pretty sorry lot.” Growing a church is not about watering down the message to make it more palatable – growing a church is about calling people to rise up to God’s standard – calling people to live great and godly lives.
Being spiritually healthy – whether as a church or as an individual – is not about adjusting God to fit in with our lives, it’s about you and me adjusting our lives to fit in with God however uncomfortable that may be.
If you want to grow faster and accomplish more for God, if you want to be fit for life, then you have to build some spiritual muscle and you’re just not going to do that at this first level of living; A level that allows in everything and anything - - an undisciplined life.
Paul says in verse 16, that you are to ... “watch your life and doctrine closely.” This first level of living doesn’t do that.
Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers (1 Timothy 4:16 NIV).
Level 2. A LIFE SHAPED BY WHAT IS ONLY TEMPORARY
Let’s move up the scale then. On the next level is the life that is shaped by what is only temporary.
Paul wrote to his young apprentice Timothy ...
… train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, (1 Timothy 4:7b-8a)
This is all about getting our priorities right – it’s about the right balance between the physical and material life – and our spiritual life.
You see, not only does an athlete have to refuse to eat the wrong things, she has to make sure she eats and takes in all the right things too and in a balanced way.
Speaking about balance, yesterday I read about a 28 year old woman in Sacramento who died last week from drinking too much water!
The woman had entered a competition on a radio station and the idea was to see who could drink the most water without having to go to the bathroom. The comp was called, “No Wee for a Wii.” (A Wii is a Nintendo gaming console for your TV).
Apparently this woman drank so much water that it diluted her system to the point that she passed out and later died.
There are a number of documented cases where drinking too much water has been fatal. Most of us don’t have to worry though – many of these cases are marathon runners, drug addicts (on Ecstasy) or idiots taking part in initiation pranks.
Research shows that drinking too much water can eventually cause your brain to swell, stopping it from regulating vital functions such as breathing.
Now water is normally a good thing for us – and it should be, seeing as though 90% of our body is made up of water. But too much of a good thing can be a bad thing right?!
The point I’m trying to make here is this; not only do we have to refuse to take in the wrong things, we have to make sure we take in the right things too and in a balanced way.
You know, balance in the Christian life is so, so important. Sometimes we can get so caught up in the immediacy of this life that we forget that we’re living for eternity.
Sometimes we get so busy with life and concerned about the here and now that we start to cut corners with God. Outwardly we act the part, but inwardly our spiritual life is dead. We’ve taken in so much of the “water of the world” that God has been diluted right out of our system.
Ever feel like that?
My question is, what’s the point in living like that? What’s the point of living with such a diluted faith that each time you rock up to church on a Sunday you feel like you have to put on a face so that people won’t notice?
It’s the whole, “I’m a Christian Sunday but you don’t wanna know me Monday” thing.
How you going with that?
The apostle Peter was never one to mince his words. He wrote about the Christian whose Monday life does not measure up to their Sunday life. He said …
… a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him. 20If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. 21It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. 22Of them the proverbs are true: "A dog returns to its vomit," and, "A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud" (2 Peter 2:19b-22)
Friends, there’s so much in that passage for us.
First, this thing going on between you and God is sacred! Peter says if you dilute that sacred relationship by playing games with the world you will be worse off – in fact it would have been better if you had never known the way to salvation. What he means is, if you weren’t saved then you wouldn’t have to deal with the guilt of breaking God’s heart every-time you got enmeshed in the world.
Next Peter’s says you can’t build spiritual muscle if you keep eating vomit! What does he mean by that? He means this – so long as this world means more to you than Jesus Christ, your Christian walk will never be happy one.
Once you have tasted what it’s like to follow Jesus Christ, every time you return to worldy ways and worldy standards of living, it’s like eating vomit. And you will never grow and you will never accomplish anything much for God by doing that. In fact, as long as this world means more to you than Jesus Christ you will sit idly by and watch as God does marvelous and wonderful things in other people’s lives and through other people’s lives, all the while wondering why it isn’t you!
So long as this world means more to you than obedience to Jesus Christ you will not be much use to God.
Church, you can’t build spiritual muscle if the “water of the world” has diluted God right out of your system.
If you want to grow faster, overcome more and accomplish great things for God then you’ve gotta live for something more than this world.
Level 3. A LIFE SHAPED BY WHAT IS PERMANENT
So let’s take a look at a better way. Let’s go to level three.
At the top of the scale there is the life that is shaped by what is permanent. Paul writes ...
For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come (1 Timothy 4:8).
Church, the only way to build spiritual muscle is to ensure that your life is being shaped by what is permanent.
Now you may have to lose some earthly-minded things in order to follow Christ and to “train in godliness.” But if you’re following Christ you will never be a loser. Oh sure, in the eyes of this world you may have to give up some things that are considered desirable – but these things are only temporary.
Jesus said ...
"I tell you the truth, ... no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age ... and in the age to come, eternal life (Mark 10:29-30).
God’s promise is that you will never be a loser if you’re following Jesus. He says that ... “godliness has value for all things” (v8) God’s promise is about what is permanent. He says, the “promise [is] for both the present life and the life to come (v8).”
What is God’s promise? First his promise to you is for “this present life.” There are so many advantages to living a godly life in the here and now. Living a godly life is ...
*A simplified life (Focus – what to say yes to and what to say no to. Level one living says yes to everything)
*A transcendent life (Because you will be strong and able to rise above)
*An important life (Living for what really matters)
*A model life (a life that is an example to others)
*An honorable and therefore a peaceful life (free of guilt and shame)
*A big life (Not a trivial one)
And perhaps most importantly it is a ....
*A life that is useful to God - There are some people that God won’t use. Some people have diluted their lives so much that they are of little use to God. People in this boat struggle to hear God and his instructions because his voice is being drowned out by everything else they have taken in.
Friends, it so important to our church that you be a fit and strong follower of Jesus.
A fit and healthy athlete is an asset to his team because he performs better; is chosen above others; is inspirational to watch and be around; he reduces his risk of injury and when he is injured he heals faster.
Get the picture when it comes to you and your walk with God?
Spiritually fit followers of Christ are an asset to their family, to their church and to their community; they perform better; they are chosen above others; they are inspirational to watch and to be around; they reduces their risk of injury (i.e. attacks from the evil one are less effective), and when they are injured they heal faster.
Church, the only way to build spiritual muscle is to ensure that your life is being shaped by what is permanent.
WHAT NOW?
Sadly we can fluctuate between these levels of living.
Sometimes we allow our decisions and directions – our plans and goals - to be influenced by just everything and anything. That’s when life starts to get complicated and people start to get hurt – including ourselves.
Sometimes we allow our lives to be driven by what is temporary - things that are trivial and insignificant. Oh they might be good things – but in the grander scheme of things they are minor. Life at this level is good, but ultimately we are squandering the opportunity to live a great life. This level of living dilutes God right out of your system.
And anyone can live at either of these two levels and all of us at some-time-or-another has, to some extent, lived at both of these levels. And we probably will slip back there again from time to time because we’re only human.
But here’s the thing … only Believers can live at level three. Only Believers are living for what is permanent – things that will outlast this world. Only Believers are living God’s life of promise.
And so if you want to live at level three – a life of eternal significance - you start by inviting Jesus into your heart. He’s gotta start in your heart because there’s no use just changing behaviour if we are not changed in our core first.
Perhaps today is the day for you to do that; to invite Jesus into your heart for the very first time.
Or perhaps today you realize that the water of the world is beginning to dilute God right out of your system. You need to invite Jesus to take over again.
PRAYER:
Invitation: Lord I want to live at level three – a life of eternal significance. A life lived for what is permanent. A life that is lived for things that will outlast it – a life of consequence. So I ask you to come and live in my heart today. Please show me how to live this life.
Perhaps you need to re-commit your life to God afresh today. Pray with me …
Re-commitment: Lord refresh my heart. I feel so full of the world that I am no use to you. Please change that. Help me to begin living for what is permanent again. Help me to live for your kingdom and not the kingdom of this world.
Lord, build spiritual muscle in our church. Make us strong for you. Start at our core, make us new - - keep us true - - and close to you.
Amen.
[Series and Sermon titles - Brian Mavis, Outreach magazine]
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