21For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. 22But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose. 23But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better; 24yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake. (Philippians 1:21-24)
16Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? (1 Corinthians 3:16)
Last week I suggested the value of goals for the New Year. At the end of each year I take time to review my goals for that year and set new ones for the coming year. I am committed to allowing the Spirit of God invade seven areas of my life. A church staff member said this week, “Where is the financial?” Add it, friend. This list is not exhaustive.
He was an associate pastor. It was his first funeral. He came to the seasoned minister looking for help. He sat down and told the minister about the upcoming funeral and then paused. The veteran man of God walked over to his filing cabinet, opened the cabinet and looked under “F” for finances, faith, and funerals. He grabbed a manila folder that was chock-full of illustrations, sermons, and poems and placed it on his desk.
Then, looking at the young minister, he pushed it across the table and said, “If there is any thing of value in there, take it and make it yours.”
I have published a brief list of my goals for your notes today. These goals will help you get started. If there is anything of value, take it and make it yours (an expanded list is available upon request).
You Need Goals in these Areas
Intellectual: Cultivate The Art of Thinking Well.
I will read one book every 30 days. Read nightly between 10:30p-11:00p
Relational: We Desperately Need Each Other.
Once a week I will talk to Mike Robertson or Matt Chambers about ministry needs, struggles, and joys.
Emotional: Align Mental Health with Scriptural Compass.
Read about one mental health issue each week from In Pursuit of Happiness by Frank Minirith, MD.
Ministerial: What Makes Your Ministry Quality?
I will believe God for something that only He can bring about (identify specifically).
Spiritual: What Does a Man or Women of God Look Like?
I will follow through with a devotional plan everyday for 2006 (worship, Bible reading, prayer).
Personal: You Are Hard-Wired For Success
Be a published author in 2007
Physical: Don’t Prostitute The Body
I will drink 6 glasses of water/iced tea daily (for every Starbuck’s coffee, add two extra glasses).
Imagine that at the holidays you gave me a new leather briefcase. You wanted to show your love and appreciation for the ministry of the church. Your marriage was saved through counseling. Your kids’ lives were changed on a youth mission trip. You grew in faith as the Word of God was preached each week.
With thanks, I expressed my appreciation by inviting you and your wife over for dinner. As usual, my wife made a knockout meal. The fellowship was encouraging. My kids were well behaved. To your amazement I cleared the table; actually did what I preached from the pulpit by serving my wife.
While clearing the table, I began to dump food and trash into the new leather brief case you gave me. You were shocked! You told me it wasn’t intended to be used as a garbage can. Friend, how often do we do the same thing with our body, using it as a trash receptacle instead of a temple?
For many of you, talking about good health in 2006 grabs you about as much as bald tires on an icy hill. Let’s begin with a text from Philippians. The most personal of Paul’s 13 letters to a church, it’s a thank you note for a generous offering. Paul offers these believers a glimpse of some of his most personal struggles. In chapter one we see him struggling to choose between life and death. (No one wrote as extensively about Heaven, death, and the future as the man from Tarsus). Philippians one offers a relevant application for our text today. Here I see three words that give us blue print for good health in 2006. Good Health
Starts with Commitment,
Stands on Conviction,
Is Steadfast in Consistency.
Most of us fail to realize how wealthy we really are. Our balance sheets include, properties, CD’s, vehicles, and other assets. Most fail to add a line for HEALTH. Do you realize that health equals wealth? What is your health worth to you?
How To Possess Good Health
1. Good health starts with commitment.
For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain (Philippians 1:21).
Your health is a life or death proposition. In the text, Paul reminds us of this tension that exists in all of us. If you are going to possess good health so you can “live for Christ,” there are a number of things you will have to “die to.”
Now, I know that Paul is talking about the tension between living and dying, which is better? The application is still relevant.
By your daily health choices, you choose whether you are going to “live or die.” How many of us are only existing, rather than really living, because we make the mistake of trading temporary temptations for healthy living.
If you are going to make a commitment to healthy living in 2006, you must change the way you think. Trying to change your behavior is a fruitless task. “As a man thinks, so is he,” as the Bible says. Our attitudes determine our actions. It all starts with commitment to a cause.
No commitment to a goal will change your life without a schedule. You must record when you are going to work on that goal. Next, no schedule will succeed without an adjustment in your priorities. Your current ones won’t get it done. Finally, you must discipline yourself. Discipline is the refining fire by which talent becomes ability. So, no goal will be accomplished without a schedule, changed priorities, and discipline.
2. Good health stands on convictions.
22But if I am to live on in the flesh, this will mean fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which to choose. (Philippians 1:22)
Paul raises the question, “Am I to go on living in the body, not existing but truly living?” When you truly get the most out of this temple, you begin to really live and honor God. Paul is thinking through and analyzing the value of a life that stays in the game for God.
Hey, let’s be fruitful for Jesus, not just take up space or punch a time clock. Getting some valuable dividends out of this earthly temple is a great motivation and pleasing to God.
How do I do this? More than anything your goals must go deep into your soul and become a conviction. Why? Goals are something you strive for; convictions are something you are willing to die for.
You will not achieve anything great in your life without passion and convictions. Even though my youth is slipping into middle age, I don’t have to live my life with immaturity. I can live it with conviction. It is the convictions of men that help them see past the obstacles to the goal. As Henry Ford said, “Obstacles are those frightening things that become visible when we take our eyes off our goals.”1
A passing interest will never do. A fading dream won’t change a life. Interests and dreams fade because of pain, weather, and circumstances, not convictions! When you possess convictions, no excuse will do!
3. Good health is steadfast in consistency.
23But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better; 24yet to remain on in the flesh is more necessary for your sake. (Philippians 1:23-24)
Paul offers us a glimpse of what happens when we waffle between two choices. Good choices, Paul. The application is still clearly before us. Make a choice. Don’t be torn between the choices before us today - good health or bad health. Choose. What you should choose is to be consistent.
What is the difference between a great exercise/health program and an average exercise/health program? Cost? No! Latest technology? No! Consistency? Yes! Great exercise/health programs are willing to do daily what average programs are only willing to do sporadically. The body always wants to sit and quit.
Emil Zatopek explains this truth this way: “When a person trains once, nothing happens. When a person forces himself to do a thing a hundred or a thousand times, then they have developed in more ways than the physical. Is it running? It doesn’t matter. Am I tired? That doesn’t matter either. Then will power will be no problem.”2
How Do I Pull This Off?
You may feel like an ugly duckling health-wise. I guarantee that each one of these suggestions will help change you into a beautiful swan. You must be serious about your effort to make these insights more than just a goal, a passing fad, or a wish. Only conviction will carry you through pain, inconvenience, and naysayers.
1. Insist on regular physical exercise.
Paul is at the end of his life. Passing the torch to young Timothy is upper-most in his mind. Church planting is a distant memory. In a section that could be entitled, “What to Tell Young Ministers,” Paul includes a verse on the value of exercise.
8For 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 NIV)
Some Christians have used this text as a copout for not exercising. Nice try! Paul’s comments come from the physical exercise capital of the world. What Venice, California is to Gold’s Gym Rome was to exercise. It is here that Paul admonishes Timothy to stay healthy and keep it in perspective. For some this whole exercise and health thing is way over the top. That is not the case though for most of us. We could use some regular cardiovascular work.
Now, if you are like me, exercise produces less of a return the older I get. Never forget, “That which sits begins to atrophy.” You might be saying, “It’s too painful to exercise,” or “I don’t have the time.” In Conduct for Life, missionary Edward Stanley (1826-1893) has something to say about that: “Those who have no time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to make time for illness.”3
The problem is that most of us are doing okay about our health. We are rocking along just fine. Then suddenly, when the years pile up and we begin to break down with illness and injury, it is almost too late to gain the benefit that could have been realized from a preventative program in years of physical training. Have you ever considered that if Satan can’t take you out with pornography, addictions, or anger that he is working to take some of you out at the end of your life with bad health?
The sad testimony is that when we should be our most productive in our 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s, we have little stamina and strength to offer the Savior and His Church.
I don’t care what you do for physical exercise; just do something that benefits your heart and lungs. The more I train and run my lungs are the chief winners every time. Marty Jerome agrees, “Exercise keeps your lungs from aging and losing function. The more the better, but even a half hour a day helps.”4 The same is true for your heart.
Some of you have adopted the Will Rogers approach to exercise: “We can’t all be heroes because someone has to sit on the curb and clap as they go by.”5 As you sit there this year that will be me going by. As Hebrews reminds us, “…let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us”(Hebrews 12:1d NIV)
2. Reduce your caloric intake.
In seminary I took a class on nutrition and health. We had to record our caloric intake and exercise of choice each week. On the first day of class the teacher showed us a plasticized model of what five pounds of fat looked like. It got my attention. Twenty years later I still see that illustration in my mind as consider what I eat.
What a revolting topic after just coming through holidays. For many it is easy to pawn this one off as a “glandular disorder.” What do you expect me to be a “but a gospel blimp” barely able to get into my hanger? In Christian circles eating is the only sin where we will give you free license. I don’t know how the early church ever made it without coffee and donuts!
In the ministry they always serve you the “last meal,” and man do I love to eat. I think if the Spirit of God weren’t alive in my life, I’d be 300 pounds instead of 183. Oh, how I fight it daily. Nobody is going to have more compassion and sympathy for those of you struggling to keep off the girth.
I think a Christian who is overweight is denying the very power of the gospel that has set them free. If we are going to be spirit controlled, we’ve got to enter into a new arena of self-discipline. What’s it going to take to get your attention? Heart-attack? High blood pressure? Some people can eat you under the table and not even show a pound on the girth, but they may have problems that aren’t visible.
This month our church is doing a series on health. We’ve brought in the experts to tell us what to eat and what to avoid. But let me tell you, broccoli, carrot, and coconut oil shakes for breakfast don’t sound exciting. Soy. Tofu. Lentils. Yuck.
Without making a lot of changes to your diet, unless what you are eating is killing you, nutritionists can help you loose weight by cutting out the bacon and burgers. Add these two disciplines to your eating habits and see miraculous results:
First, consume your calories over three meals based on this ratio: 25% breakfast, 50% lunch and 25% dinner. Your daily activities will burn up calories and help you keep control of your weight. You are really supposed to eat a little bit every three hours. Changing your dinner plates from 12’’ to 9’’ plates, will add 7 years to your life. Think about! Can you afford not to?
Second, add fasting to your eating plan. Fast weekly and do a Daniel fast once a year. From the days in the Garden, God has taught us that the Christian life is about learning to live under limitation. Fasting does more to teach me about “saying no” than any other spiritual habit. In fact, I am convinced it is the greatest resource to resisting temptation. When I can learn to say no to an elementary base need like eating, I can say no in many other areas. Consult a doctor if you are concerned about your health and fasting. As LaFaye Tapper, a staff wife who has studied nutrition, says, “If you fast just three days a week a month, you will add three years to your life.”6
The last point of this message will be presented as a stand alone. It will show up in “Don’t Prostitute Your Body part 2: Institute a Plan to Minimize Stress.” See you soon! Don’t wait to make changes in your health.
Summary Comments
Here I see three words that give us blue print for good health in 2006. Good Health
Starts with Commitment,
Stands on Conviction,
Is Steadfast in Consistency.
Most of us fail to realize how wealthy we really are. Our balance sheets include, properties, CD’s, vehicles, and other assets. Most fail to add a line for HEALTH. Do you realize that health equals wealth? What is your health worth to you?
Surprising Comments
1. The problem is that most of us are doing okay about our health. We are rocking along just fine. Then suddenly, when the years pile up and we begin to break down with illness and injury, it is almost too late to gain the benefits that could have been realized from a preventative program in years of physical training. Have you ever considered that if Satan can’t take you out with pornography, addictions, or anger that he is working to take some of you out at the end of your life with bad health?
The sad testimony is that when we should be our most productive in our 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s, we have little stamina and strength to offer the Savior and His Church
2. What is the difference between a great exercise/health program and an average exercise/health program? Cost? No! Latest technology? No! Consistency? Yes! Great exercise/health programs are willing to do daily what average programs are only willing to do sporadically. The body always wants to sit and quit.
Emil Zatopek explains this truth this way: “When a person trains once, nothing happens. When a person forces himself to do a thing a hundred or a thousand times, then they have developed in more ways than the physical. Is it running? It doesn’t matter. Am I tired? That doesn’t matter, either. Then will power will be no problem.”2
3. As LaFaye Tapper, a staff wife who has studied nutrition ,says, “If you fast just three days a week a month, you will add three years to your life.”6
End Notes
1. Henry Ford. Quotes about racing, training, and stuff like that: Quotes for the Masters: home.hia.no, pg. 6
2. Emil Zatopek. Quotes about racing, training, and stuff like that: Quotes for the Masters: home.hia.no, pg. 2
3. Edward Stanley. Quotes about racing, training, and stuff like that: Quotes for the Masters: home.hia.no, pg. 2
4. Marty Jerome. The Runners Complete Day-By-Day Log and Calendar. Random House: New York, 2006, March 19.
5. Will Rogers. Running Quotes: Vaam-power.com
6. LaFaye Tapper. LaFaye is a staff pastor at Marysville First Assembly who has studied nutrition for over 20 years.
