7UP:
Let’s Get Physical
Romans 12:1
September 28, 2008
This week we are taking a look at the physical area of the seven areas that we are to give up to God (7UP to God). If we are to follow Jesus holistically, that is completely set apart for his use, in a community of holistic people, then we need to surrender to God the physical area of our lives. Basically, what this means is our bodies.
Little Johnny went up to Pastor Hal after the service. “You said that God made our bodies from dust and eventually after we die, they will go back to dust.”
“Yes, I did,” answered Pastor Hal, “I’m glad you were listening.”
“Well, I think you need to come over to our house as soon as you can.”
“Why is that?”
“Well, I need to look under my bed ‘cuz someone is either coming or going.”
As the Tuesday group discussed, we all believe that God thinks our bodies are extremely important to God as well as to us. God is very much concerned about what happens to our bodies. In fact, because we need to remember these 7 areas are really holistic, this means that each of these areas affect the other areas of our lives. Our physical bodies are no different. When you sick or tired physically then this has an effect on your emotions as well as your relationships (social area). These in turn can have an impact on your spiritual connection and your spiritual growth. Life just gets heavy, doesn’t it? The reason we call our concerns burdens.
In turn when things are grand, when you’re “in love,” when circumstances are great, then we feel awesome. There’s exhilaration. There’s joy. You’re glad to people because you just want to share.
And of course these other areas of your life can affect you physically. When your stressed or worried or drained, sometimes we get sick or maybe some of the physical maladies that we suffer from actually get worse.
Not only that but how we treat our bodies and care for our bodies (like our emotional health) can put a limit on our spiritual development. Perhaps this is why God’s Word talks so much about healing and wholeness for our minds, spirits, and bodies. God says to worship him with all of our being including our bodies, which is why we have different forms of worship to engage our entire being and help us love the Lord with all of us, completely/wholly/holistically.
Romans 12:1 says, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual (or reasonable) act of worship.”
Give God your worship. Worship God with everything you have. Worship God with your entire body. Offer this physical area of your life to God for God’s use. We can’t be holistic if we hold back any area including our bodies. Worship God with your entire being. Not just on Sunday but let every moment, let every action, let every breathe, be given over to God for God to use.
And this is difficult and it is a problem at times. You know why? God said that we are living sacrifices, right? He doesn’t want us to be dead and lifeless or mindless puppets. We are to be living sacrifices. But the problem with living sacrifices is that they keep wanting to crawl off the altar.
A brother and sister decided that they wanted to get a hamster. “How about one of those electronic pets?” asked the mother not entirely convinced that they were ready.
“NO!! We want a real hamster. We want one that is living.”
And they bargained and they promised to take care of it. They promised to feed it and make sure it had water and clean its cage. So mom caved and they got a hamster naming it Danny. But just as mom feared, after about a week, the kids forgot about Danny the hamster and it was mom that was taking care of it. After several weeks of warning them that the hamster was their responsibility followed by empty promises, mom had had enough. She called the kids together and said that Danny would have to go.
Surprisingly the kids were not too broken up about it. “Maybe if he wouldn’t eat as much then we could keep him.” “Maybe if he wasn’t so messy…” But mom was firmed and said, “No, it is time to take Danny to his new home.”
Suddenly, the kids were horror struck and they began to wail and cry, “Danny! We thought you said, ‘Daddy.’”
Ok, so our bodies are important to God and it is important to give God control of the physical area of our lives. What does this mean? I think it means that God wants us to take care of our bodies. God wants us to care for our bodies so that we can be totally set apart for his use.
Care for our bodies
So what does this entail? This is where we have to apply it to our context. We have a lot more options and a completely different way of living than Paul or Jesus. But the principles remain the same.
• Balance
The corresponding deadly sin is gluttony which we defined last spring as over-indulgence. It is the sin of excess. We then need to find balance in our physical well-being. This means moderation. Even too much of a good thing can be destructive. Food is good but I think most of us struggle with eating too much, which can mean too often (we don’t necessarily need three large meals a day) instead of eating when we are actually hunger and it can mean eating too large of portions. It can mean eating the wrong things. Some things are not good for some of us. Some things are just bad for us to have too much of. Sometimes it depends on the person too. Refined sugar, bleached flour, processed foods are all possible problems for some people.
We need to find balance. And I don’t want to spend too much time here because I think we addressed adequately on gluttony (which you can find on our website). But…
• Abstain
There are certain things, behaviors and habits and actions, that God says can put a huge barrier in your life that affects your worship as well as your relationships.
I am just going to support this with a scripture from Romans 6:13, “Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.”
• Guard
There are things that we may become aware of that we simply need to watch and guard against. While we may not be able to avoid them completely, we may need to keep a watch to make sure that they cause problems in other areas such as our emotional health, our relationships or our spiritual walk.
For example, medications can have some unintended emotional side effects. Whether they are necessary prescribed meds or maybe just cold medicine, they can altar your mood sometimes without even us realizing it. For me, certain allergy and OTC cold meds have the effect of lowering my tolerance and increased irritability. I get cranky and snippety (or worse) and not even realize that I am acting this way. I’ve asked Kendra to watch out for this, which bless her heart is dangerous because the last thing someone who is cranky may want to hear is that they are cranky.
Here is a tool for you that has helped loads of people: H.A.L.T.
H – hungry
A – angry
L – lonely
T – tired
Are you hungry, angry, lonely, tired? If one or more of these conditions exist (two of which are physical—hungry and tired—with lonely being possibly solved by a physical change of location), then you might want to pay attention to these red flags.
• Nurture
There are a whole bunch of things here. Let me just list off a few. Proper diet and nutrition. I think God wants us to take care of our bodies by what we eat. There is definitely some nutritional wisdom in some of the food laws found in the Old Testament.
Exercise is another. I think you know what I’m talking about. I think I know what I’m talking about. And honestly, I could do better here.
Worship and prayer. Yes, worship and prayer is good for our bodies. Think of all the different physical positions that are found in the bible: standing, kneeling, arms upraised, head upraised, bowing, dancing, laying prostrate, clapping. In fact, there are two big disciplines designed to help us in learning balance and moderation: fasting and vigils. Vigils are depriving oneself of sleep in order to pray deep into the night. Of course too much of these can be harmful.
How about simply touch and presence? Touch is a powerful way to care for our bodies. And not just touch but being in the presence of others is a very powerful expression of love and care and comfort especially when someone is sick or physically hurt.
This then leads to serving others as a way to care for your body and nurture it. Not only is the physical presence and proximity good for us but Emory University has shown that when we help others without thought of reward or return, our brains release dopamine and endorphins that literally, physically makes us feel good. These chemicals give us pleasure and stimulate healing and other positive effects in our bodies.
• Anointing
One specific act of worship deals with the symbol for the physical area: anointing. The symbol is oil (not crude oil but olive or anointing oil). Oil is used throughout God’s Word as a physical act of worship and a sign of God’s presence upon the body of the person being anointed. Sometimes anointing was done for healing. Other times anointing consecrated a person or an object to be used in worship. Other times it was a sign of a special calling or a special act of service to God and the people as in a king or leader. Other times as in the woman with the alabaster jar poured out on Jesus, it was simply a sign of love and care for the body of that person. Oil mixed with herbs and spices was medicinal. And it was expensive.
God cares for us—every part of us. He wants us to be whole—complete. This includes a physical well-being. Instead of a story I want to show you a video about a special act—a physical act—that was done for another person. It shows us what it is like to follow Jesus as father and son.
http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=8cf08faca5dd9ea45513
Jesus physically died on the cross. It wasn’t pretend. It wasn’t just a story. It was real. And just as real, he rose with a resurrection body—incorruptible by death. I want to give anyone the opportunity to be anointed and prayed for. It could be for healing of a physical ailment for you or someone else even. It could be for reconciliation. It could be for strength. It could be so that you could forgive. It could be done as a sign of committing your entire body to God’s use. It could be done just so you can let God have control of something that you’ve been carrying far too long. We’ll have some music and I invite you to come, pray, and be anointed.
