Our bodies are very important to us. We feed them, care for them, groom them, pamper them and pleasure them. We go to spas and get messages. We are very conscious of our body and its appearance. Most of us have gotten on the scales this past week. We know our blood pressure, our cholesterol count and our triglyceride level. Many of us are on a diet or wish we could discipline ourselves to be on one. An average trip to the grocery store includes lotions, sprays, creams, soaps, perfumes, shaving supplies, mouthwash and make-up — all for our bodies. We love our bodies whether we think we do or not. And then, on our way out of the checkout line we are greeted by magazines showing us people with beautiful bodies and faces. So now we have young girls and women ruining their health and looks with eating disorders like bulimia and anorexia. One of the most beautiful girls in a church I served died from bulimia. Another woman who was related to one of the members of the church got some form of plastic surgery every year. The body is now everything. We bathe them. We adorn them. We tan them. We look at them in the mirror.
We are supposed to take care of our bodies. They are God’s gift to us. But we are not to become preoccupied with them — either with how great they are, or with their imperfections. All of this has led some people, to one degree or another, to stop paying attention to their bodies. They don’t do anything to make themselves attractive. They don’t take care of themselves. Some even stop bathing. Their clothes are unkempt. They don’t care about what they eat. After all, they reason, if I am truly spiritual I won’t care about my appearance.
The ancient Greek philosophers taught that the material world was evil and only the spiritual world was good. It carried over to the dichotomy between body and spirit. The body was evil and the spirit was good. Because of this a heresy sprang up in the early church known as Gnosticism. Gnosticism taught that Jesus did not have a real body, since he was the highest form of spiritual life. They also taught that since the body was evil, it did not matter what a person did with their body, and did not affect their spiritual life. One could love God and visit prostitutes at the same time. Paul specifically wrote against this heresy saying, “Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, ‘The two will become one flesh.’ But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit. Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body” (1 Corinthians 6:15-20)
How do we honor God with our bodies? The first truth that will consider is that you need to recognize that: Your body is a gift of God. Much of our angst about our bodies is what other people think about them. We wish they were different because people have made fun of us, or we have accepted the unrealistic standards with which our culture has inculcated us. We look in the mirror and rehearse all the things that are wrong with us. But what would happen if, instead of disparaging your body, you gave thanks to God for your body — just the way it is? What if you recognized you are exactly the body type that God wanted you to be? What if you gave thanks that your face is the result of his design — and so is every other part of your body? What if you stopped trying to be somebody else and began to thank God for who you are? What if you stopped trying to live up to the world’s standards and began to realize that God has made us all unique, and he finds our uniqueness beautiful? There is no one like you in the world. That nose of yours — just the way he likes it. Those feet — his design. What about those ears — his artistry in order to make you unique.
It was Jesus who said, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?” (Matthew 6:25). As believers, we are not to be so preoccupied with our appearance that we are paralyzed by self-consciousness. Our thoughts are to be on doing good for others rather than focus on ourselves.
There is a story in the Old Testament about Samuel the prophet who went to look for the man God had appointed as king of Israel. God led him to the house of Jesse, the father of David. David was young and not very impressive at the time. But David’s older brother Eliab was tall and good looking. He had a regal air about him. But God said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). If we spent half as much time worrying about the condition of our heart as we do the condition of our hair, we would be so much closer to God, so much more productive and happy. Thank God for the way he made you. Don’t complain to your Creator. The Bible says, “But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’” (Romans 9:20). Your body is God’s gift to you. Thank him for it.
The second truth we want to consider is this: Your body is not to be misused. Americans are famous for going to extremes. We either treat our bodies exceptionally well, or we abuse them. I am very concerned about the trend toward self abuse in our culture. When we lose the biblical perspective, we lose touch with the fact that God has made us and the value he places on our bodies. We abuse our bodies with too much food, too much alcohol, too much tobacco, too much TV or sleep, too much work or exercise. Too much of anything is not good for us. Moderation in all things. When you stop caring about your body, you stop being concerned about God’s purpose for your life. Your body is the tool God has given you in order that you might work for him. If you do things to harm that body, or hasten its death, then you are interfering with what God wants you to do and accomplish in this world.
Do not harm your body. We are not to misuse the body in any way. The Bible says, “Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, but God will do away with both of them. Yet the body is not for immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body” (1 Corinthians 6:13, NAU). When God does not have his rightful place in our lives, we elevate ourselves to God’s place and our bodies take on an inordinate importance. Dallas Willard says, “Not accepting God as God puts us in his place, and leaves us with nothing to trust and worship but our body and it natural powers.” Your body is not to be misused, but to be used for the Lord.
The third truth we need to consider is: Your body is to bring glory to God. You cannot have a heart that is right with God and use your body for sinful purposes. It all goes together. Your body is a part of your spiritual life — for good or ill. You have to give your body to God as well as your heart. Your body was meant to serve God and bring him glory. The Bible says, “In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. 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” (Romans 6:11-13).
Dallas Willard suggests that we literally lie on the floor and formally surrender our bodies to God. It would go something like this: “Lord take my feet and legs. I commit them to following you and not going anywhere I should not go. I commit my sexuality to you, to be used only in the way you have designed, and never for sinful purposes. I will live in faithfulness to you and my spouse. I commit my hands and arms to you so that the things I do will never be used in violence or harm, but be used only for doing good. I commit my tongue to you that it may be used to encourage and bless, never to curse or put down. My mouth I commit to your praise instead of complaints. I commit my eyes to you that they may not be used to fulfill my lusts, but rather to see your beauty in the world. I want them to see the good in others and observe their qualities rather than their faults. I want to give you my hearing, and promise to listen to what is positive and true rather than gossip and attacks on others. I want you to have all of me, and I want all of you.”
It is never too late to do this, even if you have abused your body, or used it for sinful purposes in the past. It is always a day of new beginnings with God. The Bible says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come ” (2 Corinthians 5:17). We can always begin again and make a new start. We can do that as we remember the scripture that says, “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20, NKJV).
We are to use our bodies to bring glory to God, but how do we do that? We live lives of faithful obedience. We use our bodies to do good, not evil. We do not participate in sin. We understand that our bodies, as well as our souls, belong to God. We speak his words. We work with our hands to do his will. We use our feet to take us where he wants us to go. We use our eyes to look for ways that God can use us in the lives of others as we observe their needs. We use our ears to listen to those who need a friend. We recognize that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, so we treat them well and do not abuse them. We understand that God has given us our senses and has built pleasure into the universe as well as into our bodies. We thank him for that, but we do not live as though pleasure was the goal of life.
C. S. Lewis, in his book The Screwtape Letters, gives a humorous and satirical look at the devil and his attempts to lure people into hell. In the book, Screwtape, a demon who has worked his way up in the bureaucracy of hell, writes letters of advice to his young nephew named Wormwood who has just graduated from Tempters’ Training College. In one letter, Screwtape explains hell’s views of pleasure: “Never forget that when we are dealing with any pleasure in its healthy and normal and satisfying form, we are, in a sense, on the Enemy’s ground. I know we have won many a soul through pleasure. All the same, it is His invention, not ours. He made the pleasures: all our research so far has not enabled us to produce one. All we can do is to encourage the humans to take the pleasures which our Enemy has produced, at times, or in ways , or in degrees, which He has forbidden. Hence we always try to work away from the natural condition of any pleasure to that in which it is least natural, least reminiscent of its Maker, and least pleasurable. An ever-increasing craving for an ever-diminishing pleasure is the formula. It is more certain; and it’s better style. To get the man’s soul and give him nothing in return — that is what really gladdens our Father [the devil’s] heart.”
Pleasure is a gift from God, and it is wonderful when it is used in the way God designed it, but when you live for pleasure, you are worshiping God’s gift instead of God. If you always give in to them, they will control you. Pleasure must never be the goal, otherwise you will be their servant, instead of them serving you. What happens is that we try to fulfill spiritual hungers by satisfying bodily desires. The Bible says, “Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness” (Romans 6:19).
Understand that in spite of what our culture says, you can live, and live well, even if you are denied some pleasure in life. Even if some need of yours is not met, you can live a fulfilling life. We will not die if we are deprived in some way. It may be that you have to tighten your belt and discipline yourself, but you will be a better and stronger person. What you do with your body affects your spirit, and your spirit affects your body. Both must belong to God. You must worship God with your spirit and your body. That is why it is good to engage your body as you worship. We lift our heads and sometimes our hands. We clap. We move. We are worshiping holistically. Our body is engaged.
Max Lucado, in his book The Applause of Heaven, tells the story of the Roman emperor Charlemagne: “An interesting story surrounds the burial of this famous king. Legend has it that he asked to be entombed sitting upright in his throne. He asked that his crown be placed on his head and his scepter in his hand. He requested that the royal cape be draped around his shoulders and an open book be placed on his lap. That was A.D. 814. Nearly two hundred years later, Emperor Othello determined to see if the burial request had been carried out. He allegedly sent a team of men to open the tomb and make a report. They found the body just as Charlemagne had requested. Only now, nearly two centuries later, the scene was gruesome. The crown was tilted, the mantle moth-eaten, the body disfigured. But open on the skeletal thighs was the book Charlemagne had requested — the Bible. One bony finger pointed to Matthew 16:26: ‘What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?’”
When your life is over, and your body is in its grave awaiting the resurrection, you will want to know that you used your body to bring glory to God, not yourself. Nothing else will matter then. You will want to know that you have not only served God with your mind and loved him with your heart, but that you have served him with your body as well. You will want to be sure that you have served God with everything he has given you: body, soul and spirit.
The Bible says, “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it” (1 Thessalonians 5:23-24).
Rodney J. Buchanan
March 6, 2003
Mulberry St. UMC
Mt. Vernon, OH
www.MulberryUMC.org
Rod.Buchanan@MulberryUMC.org
A Crucified Body
Questions for April 6, 2003
1. Do Christians you know separate their love for God and what they do with their bodies into two separate worlds? How does this happen?
2. Dallas Willard says, “Not accepting God as God puts us in his place, and leaves us with nothing to trust and worship but our body and its natural powers.” How does this play out in our culture which worships the self rather than God?
3. Read Genesis 1:27. How should we view our bodies?
4. Read 1 Peter 3:3-4. What does God value in a person?
5. Read Romans 9:20. Why is it important to thank God for our body type, face and appearance, regardless of what it may be?
6. Read 1 Samuel 16:7. In light of this verse, what should be of primary importance in our lives?
7. What was your reaction of Dallas Willard’s suggestion of intentionally and literally dedicating our bodies to God? What would keep someone from doing this?
8. Why is it important to understand that your body is a part of the sanctifying process of the Holy Spirit?
9. How can a Christian have his/her body glorify God?
