A Healthy Body
It’s a morning much like any other morning in Riverview, New Brunswick. The sun is just beginning to peek over the eastern sky. Birds are stirring in their nests, reluctantly warming up for their first "good-morning" chorus. A few back doors open just wide enough to let out the family dog for its morning run, and up and down our streets, alarms beep, coffee makers begin to drip and sheets are pulled up over tired eyes in favour of 5 or 10 more minutes of sleep.
But in the middle of this hazy, lazy picture, there’s something else happening. Joggers pull on baggy sweat pants and hooded jackets, swimmers eagerly finish their warm-up exercises and dive into the cool waters of the swimming pool. And members of the walking club bring more activity to the mall at 7 a.m. then a whole day’s worth of busy shoppers. These are the beautiful people. These are the ones who keep fit, look good and stay healthy. These people are committed to a healthy body - and we envy them.
Paul was committed to a healthy body. In Romans, Corinthians, Ephesians and Colossians, Paul uses the metaphor of the physical body to describe the spiritual body of Christ. Because Paul recognized that the Body of Christ - the church - is much the same as our own physical bodies.
Do you remember that little rhyme "The hip bone’s connected to the thigh bone, the thigh bone’s connected to the leg bone"? Well, we’re all connected. As members of the body of Christ we’re all connected in and through Him. But it’s not something that we really notice much. When you looked in the mirror this morning, did you notice - did you check to make sure everything was connected? Or did you kind of take a look at the overall picture and carry on? If you stumbled out of bed this morning though, and stubbed your big toe, or burnt your finger on the morning toast, you instantly became very aware of the connection. And that’s what it’s like in the church body. All around the world, when one member hurts, when one member gets sick, the whole body feels it. At least we should - if our joints are working right. And we should, as members of one body, be constantly striving to keep the whole body, healthy. It’s not an easy task. But if we’re going to make a difference in our world, as men and women within the body of Christ, then we will have to practice good health care.
Probably the most fundamental thing we have to recognize in maintaining a healthy body, is that our members are connected, and every member is important.
1. Every member is important.
I remember several years ago, I broke my left wrist. And I was so thankful it was my left wrist that I had broken, because I’m right-handed. Well, you know it wasn’t very long before I realized the importance of my left hand also. I could write a letter, but the paper wasn’t very steady. I could brush my hair but I couldn’t hold the hair dryer. I could pull on the zipper, but I couldn’t hold my jacket tight to pull the zipper up. I could even brush my teeth, but only after someone else had squeezed the toothpaste onto my brush!
Paul said that God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. He also says that we dare not say, "I don’t need you!" I’m always a little concerned these days when I scan the self-help section of our bookstores. I read titles like, Co-dependent no more, Ten Myths about a Woman’s Confidence, Finding your real self, Fill My Cup, Lord and Secrets of Your Family Tree. And I can’t help but wonder if we’ve become so self-oriented that we’ve forgotten that this whole thing, life, the universe and everything in it - it’s not about us - it’s about God. It’s about our Creator. He’s made us for his glory. And we bring glory to his name by being in community. He made us to be in communion with one another. Did you ever notice the Genesis account of creation. All through the creation account, we’re told God looks over what he has just created and sees that it is good. God made the light, and saw that it was good. God separated the water from the sky to make the land and seas and he saw that it was good. He made the plants and seed-bearing trees and saw that it was good. He saw that the stars and moon set in the great expanse of sky were good. And then he made the birds of the air, the fish and all the creatures that move along the ground - and God saw that it was good. And then God made man and he said, "It is NOT good ... for the man to be alone." So God made Adam a suitable helper and then, only then, did God look over everything he had made and saw that it was very good. Do you see the implications right from the very beginning? God made everything. And it was good. Then God made community - two people together, in his image - and he saw that it was VERY good.
Ladies and gentlemen, we can spend our whole lives reading self-help books. We can become self-sufficient and self-efficient and improve our self-image and our body image and become wired for success, but until we can reach out our hands to one another and say, "Would you help me? I need you." we will never know the joy of truly reflecting the image of God in our world. God made us dependent, on him and on each other. And when we realize our dependence on him, and our dependence on each other - THEN - it will be very good.
Next, if we’re going to maintain a healthy body, we need to understand that we will get sick.
2. We will get sick.
The only people who never get sick, are dead. But, when we start to catch a cold, we don’t panic. Most of us are reasonably healthy. We know that when we start to get sick our bodies will rally its anti-bodies and germ fighting things in order to throw off the enemy. We’re all aware that an occasional illness is one of the problems our bodies must endure. And, as Christ’s body, if we are a living organism, then we can expect occasional setbacks or illnesses. The only church that has no problems is a dead one. It’s normal that a healthy church should, from time to time, have illnesses. At the same time, if that body is healthy, it doesn’t take long to throw the sickness off and resume its normal, vital existence. Part of being alive is getting sick and that’s just as true for the Body of Christ just as it is for the human body.
Now, there are some people who are "hypochondriacs". They’re always checking their pulse to see if they might be getting sick. They’re terrified of the possibility of an illness and they’re continually stocking up on vitamins and dosing themselves with this or that medicine just in case. If they don’t have a disease, they’ll invent one. And if they feel good and things are going great, they assume something must be wrong. (I can tell, you must know somebody like that!)
There are churches like this, too. We can call them ’legalistic’. Their approach to the Christian life is largely a negative one. They place all sorts of restrictions on their membership. Sometimes members even have to sign a statement of faith where they pledge not to engage in certain activities. And their people become much more aware of what they should not do than what they should. They’re so caught up with not doing that they don’t have time to be. That kind of approach is spiritual hypochondria. And I would even go so far as to say that it’s this kind of approach that robs the Holy Spirit of his work in our lives. These kinds of churches have members that concentrate on the germs rather than on the positive healthy aspect of the body’s functioning.
3. Another thing we must do to maintain a healthy body is to eat the right food.
Paul told the Corinthian church he had to keep giving them milk because they weren’t ready for solid food. And he says they weren’t ready for solid food because they were still worldly.
Charles Colson in his book The Body argues that Christians have sold out to the consumer-oriented individual "feel-good" gospel and ignored the corporate commitment of the Body of Christ. "Why, in the midst of a surge of religious interest and activity, do moral values continue to plummet?" "Why does Christianity fail to make a visible difference in the lives of so many believers?" Ladies and gentlemen, it’s my firm belief this morning that our moral situation and the anaemic Christianity of believers in North America today is because we’re still feeding on just the milk of God’s word.
"One night, a mother fixed a special meal for her family: turkey with mashed potatoes and gravy, corn, green beans, cranberry sauce, and apple pie for dessert. (I know it wasn’t my mother, or there would have been turnip in there for me.) But it was this family’s favourite meal, especially when it came at a time other than Thanksgiving. The aroma filled the house, and as the children came in from playing they could hardly wait for dinner to begin. The last child appeared only a few minutes before dinner time and sat through the meal without eating, even though he especially loved those foods. Why? Because he had filled up on peanut butter sandwiches at a friend’s house. In settling for something good, he had lost his appetite for the best.
Sometimes ... Sometimes I look out at the world and I wonder if I’ve lost my appetite for God’s very best. I wonder if I’m settling for peanut butter sandwiches. I know I’ve said it before, but I think it bears repeating. Good, better, best, never let them rest until good is better, and better is best. Oh the joy of feasting at the rich banqueting table of God’s goodness. Oh the rich reward of coming through the hard lessons of life, knowing Jesus led us all the way. Knowing that we’re just a little more like him, because we’re eating the solid food that he sets before us.
4. We have to exercise, build up muscle, if we are going to maintain a healthy body.
One of the greatest difficulties the church has today is the attempt of weak Christians to tackle difficult situations. No true runner enters a race without spending the greater part of his time getting ready. Great damage can be done, not only to the individual but to the church as a whole, when we enter the competition without being spiritually prepared for the work God has called us to do. Ephesians tells us quite plainly what we have to do.
"Put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints."
Putting on this armour, is exercising our spiritual muscle. Jesus said, "I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven." And Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father." Maintaining a healthy body requires exercising the authority God has given us. We are to be in the world. And the world should be very aware of our presence. We are to speak with wisdom and authority. And we can only do that when we have on the whole armour of God.
5. Finally, if we are to have a healthy church body, we need to rest.
Now that’s not specifically mentioned in this scripture but I don’t think I’m stretching it too far by saying it’s there, underneath of us all having different gifts, different responsibilities, and needing each other. You see, if I let you be you - in your part of the body, and you let me be me, doing my work in the body, then the job gets done and we have time to rest. While Corinthians doesn’t address it specifically, listen to what Hebrews has to say. "There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience. For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow (there’s the body metaphor again); it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight."
It’s clear enough. Rest is important. Even God rests from his labour. Do you remember a song we used to sing years ago? It said, "Let me burn out for thee, dear Lord, live and burn out for thee." Well, I don’t think it was quite the songwriter’s intention but you know, it really doesn’t matter if we burn out or rust out, we’re still out. And either way, we’re of no use to God. Today, is a day of rest. It’s a day for putting aside the cares and labours of this life and focussing on the wonder and majesty of God’s goodness to us. When the disciples came back from their ministry and were reporting their activity to Jesus, they were consumed by the new authority and power they were able to exercise. In their enthusiasm for ministry, they reported to Jesus that they were so busy they didn’t even get a chance to eat. Jesus simply replied, "Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest." Ladies and gentlemen, if we’re going to turn this world upsidedown for Jesus Christ, we have to be healthy. We have to go away with Jesus, by ourselves, to a quiet place, and get some rest.
Jesus said, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
