Healthy Body 1
They say no matter how well you maintain your body by eating right, exercising, getting enough sleep—that check engine light’s gonna come on in your 50s. And no matter how much kale we eat and carrot juice we drink, none of us are getting out of this alive. If life is a joke then death is the punchline we all saw coming.
Here’s the thing—doing things to make us more healthy isn’t about avoiding death. It’s about making the most out of our life. The stronger we are before that check engine light comes on, the better chance we’re gonna have to take care of it—no one regrets being strong when they have to deal with something hard.
I came across this list of the most obvious things we all need to do if we want to have a healthy body. Things so obvious it’s hard to even pay attention to them:
1. Eat healthy.
2. Get regular exercise.
3. Lose weight if you're overweight.
4. Protect your skin.
5. Practice safe sex.
6. Don't smoke or use tobacco.
7. Limit how much alcohol you drink.
See what I mean? It’s like, “duh!” Who doesn’t know that? And even though we’d probably agree in theory with most of it, we don’t usually care until those jeans get a little too tight, or until our doctor has a “come to Jesus” conversation with us about how we’re gonna go see Jesus sooner than later if we don’t make some changes.
But that’s not the kind of healthy body I’m talking about today.
The thing that struck me when I saw this list is how closely it ties into the book of Ephesians. Ephesians, like the other books by St Paul, is really a letter he wrote to one of the churches he planted. In this one he talks about how the church is the body of Christ—that we’re all like different body parts, working together to be the presence of Jesus in the world—how we ought to work together. He talks about all kinds of practical things that we should and shouldn’t be doing, and I was struck with how being spiritually healthy as the body of Christ lines up with common sense about how to generally have a healthy body. So, I’m gonna walk through some of the big ideas in the book and point out how, if we want to be a healthy growing congregation, a local expression of the body of Christ, then we’re gonna need to pay attention to the things that promote health.
Talking about the church in Ephesians chapter 4, St Paul says this,
“...growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church. He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love. Ephesians 4:15–16
Prayer: Father in heaven, we ask that You would give us spiritual wisdom and insight so that we can grow in our knowledge of You. Open the eyes of our heart so we can understand the hope You have given us in Jesus. AMEN
The Church. So we’re talking about the church—the Body of Christ. First, we probably need to understand what the church is. The world “church” in the Bible is the common Greek word for “assembly” or a “crowd”—Ecclesia. A crowd only exists when it’s gathered around something—once it disperses, it’s not a crowd anymore. There’s a very strong sense that this is true of the church, too. The church only exists as the crowd that is gathered around Christ and His promises. It doesn’t make any sense to say “I’m a Christian but I just do my own thing, I don’t need to go to church, I don’t have any need for other Christians.” It’s just me and Jesus. That’s like saying, “I’ll be part of the crowd but I’ll do it from home because I don’t like crowds.” Don’t make no sense. If you are in Christ, then you are not alone, all the other members of His body are there, too.
In all of St Paul’s letters to the churches, he’s writing to an assembly that is gathered around Christ and His promises—and whenever he uses the word “you,” it’s always second person plural. It’s always “y’all” or “you guys” or “youins” or however they say it where you came from. He’s always talking to a congregation, a crowd—the church is always the people of God in Christ, not an individual person. Individual people are members of the church, but they’re considered “body parts” like hands and feet and arms and legs and all the things that make up a body. If you’re not part of the body then you are dismembered. And that’s gross.
If we want to be a healthy body we have to understand that we are the church when we gather around Christ and His promises. We can’t be the church by ourselves all alone.
BACK TO OUR LIST 1. Eat healthy.
To have a healthy body, we have to eat healthy. We all know that what we eat is closely linked to our health. When it comes to being a spiritually healthy body of Christ, what we eat, when we eat, and who we eat with are very important.
So principle number one, if we want to have a healthy body, we have to eat healthy. We have to eat good food together as a family, at the appointed meal time, instead of junk food by ourselves in front of the TV or fast food while we’re driving in traffic. When the family of God sits down for a family meal, we need to be there. We need to come out of our room, put down the Cheetos, and join them at the table. We set the table every Sunday at 10 am. All family members are expected to be here.
You know the old saying “you are what you eat?” You are the body of Christ. Take, eat, this is my body. Later in the service we will eat and drink together, we’ll receive grace and mercy and forgiveness.
2. Get regular exercise.
The article I read said that exercise can help prevent heart disease, stroke, diabetes, colon cancer along with all the normal benefits like endurance and muscle tone. But regular exercise takes discipline, and discipline is never easy. We get lazy, we procrastinate, we justify blowing it off—and then we get weak and flabby. The alarm goes off in the morning and in our sleepy-time logic we try to convince ourselves that it would be better for us to stay in bed a little longer. Discipline is hard.
Especially spiritual discipline. We’ve got the entire world, flesh and the devil trying to keep us asleep, in the dark, spiritually weak and flabby.
What do you think it means to exercise our faith? What does it look like for Christians to put their big boy pants on? To stop acting like babies? St Paul says in chapter 4:16 that when we grow in every way more and more like the true body of Christ,
“Then we will no longer be immature like children. We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth.”
What regular exercise do you think might help us to do that? Come to unity in our faith and knowledge of Jesus? What could we possibly do that would help us get stronger in those things? I don’t know, maybe pay attention to God’s Word, especially when we gather as the church? Maybe even write down some notes? Do whatever we got to do to actually remember what’s being taught in the sermon. Get out of bed a little earlier so we can make it to Sunday school at 9am? How about this, make sure the rest of our family is at church on time so they can stop being tossed and blown around by every crazy idea that the devil throws at them.
Look, I know, we’re all busy, but we’re only truly the church when we gather around God’s Word. We have to make it a priority. The devil doesn’t want you here. The decline in making worship a priority is directly linked to how our culture is spinning out of control.
Church only happens for about an hour a week. Then, the other 167 hours we’re bombarded with every demonic lie, every marketing gimmick, every hateful distortion. We sit and passively soak up demonic propaganda in the name of relaxing and entertainment for hours and hours and hours. We send our kids to school and force them to be exposed to some of the worst ideas of our culture—all in the name of learning and knowledge. I’m all for education, and I’m a big fan of entertainment, but how can we expect to grow in our faith and knowledge of the Lord if we spend almost all our time ignoring Him and basking in lies?
As the body of Christ, we are not going to be healthy if we don’t have spiritual discipline. We need to know God’s Word. We need to pray. We need to gather when the church gathers for worship—we are not honoring God or our brothers and sisters if we don’t.
If we want to be a healthy body we have to have regular exercise. We have to actually do the things we know we should be doing.
Which also means we need to stop doing the things we shouldn’t be doing.
3. Lose weight if you're overweight.
Whatever your favorite sins are, you need to understand that they’re about as good for you as all that Halloween candy you ate when no one was looking. I guarantee habitual sin rots your character worse than sugar rots your teeth. The weight of shame and guilt is heavier than all that extra weight you carry around. St Paul says,
“Don’t be fooled by those who try to excuse these sins, for the anger of God will fall on all who disobey him.” Ephesians5:6–7
I don’t think we talk about sin enough anymore—most people these days don’t even believe it exists. You mention “sin” and they roll their eyes. We’re hesitant to talk about sin, probably because some people in the church got a little abusive about it in the past. We don’t want to be abusive about it but it still needs to be said—stop doing the things you know are sin. We’re all sinners, we all have different things we need to work on. There’s grace and forgiveness—but guys, we need to be working on it. You’re not gonna be perfect, your kids aren’t gonna be perfect, your spouse isn’t gonna be perfect—so don’t be elbowing the person next to you—I’m talking to you. I’m pretty sure you got plenty of sin you need to be dealing with.
St Paul said the same thing to the Ephesians in chapter 4:25-32, He tells them to stop telling lies, to not
“sin by letting anger control you.”
That anger gives a foothold to the devil. To quit stealing. To not use foul or abusive language, meaning say things that are good and helpful—encouraging to each other. He says to get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior—to stop sinning. But he says the main way we break God’s heart isn’t just by being sinners, it’s how we treat people when they sin against us. Listen to how he ends this section,
“Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.”
In other words, If we want to be a healthy body we have to stop living like unbelievers.
4. Protect your skin.
Number four, protect your skin. Because like St Paul said, “always use sunscreen.” Just kidding but—really, you can’t be too careful. No, Ephesians doesn’t say anything about the dangers of exposing our skin to the sun’s radiation but it does have quite a bit to say about the dangers of exposing our skin to each other outside the marriage bed. It’s one of the main ways we live like unbelievers.
5. Practice safe sex. …
Conventional wisdom is to practice safe sex. Which usually is all about sexually transmitted diseases and condoms and whatnot—but that’s not safe enough. There’s no such thing as safe sex outside the proper commitment of holy matrimony. Shouldn’t be no hanky panky til the wedding vows are spoken. No huggy, no kissy until there’s a wedding ring.
Or maybe you think the sexual revolution of the 60s was a blessing to our culture. A good thing. Maybe you think the sexual revolution was actually something new. There was nothing new about it. It’s the oldest lie and cheapest trick the devil’s got. Sex without commitment—shacking up, hooking up. Sex without love—pornography. Sex without rules or boundaries or meaning. The promise of sex without any strings attached is like a shiny fishing lure—there is most certainly a deadly string attached. Those who bite are gonna find an empty meal and be pulled closer to their destruction.
How many broken dysfunctional aspects of our culture can be traced directly to damage done by sexual sin? A lot. These things have no place in the church. If you are engaged in sexual sin, please stop. It is a cancer in the body of Christ. It will only lead you into darkness and ruin your life.
God has a much more beautiful life in mind for you. And if you’re already pretending to be married but you skipped the wedding part—come talk to me, let’s fix that. Whatever reasons you’re telling yourself for living in sin, they’re not good reasons.
And I know, everyone’s doing it. Every TV show, every movie, every person we know—sex before marriage and outside of marriage is the new normal. It’s as common and expected as trying on shoes before you buy them or test driving a new car. Listen, our culture is wrong. It’s taking the devil’s bait—hook, line and sinker. It’s nothing new. It’s not enlightened and modern. It’s the same lie the Ephesians were buying. In chapter 4:17-24 St Paul said this—he would say the same thing to us, “With the Lord’s authority I say this: Live no longer as the Gentiles (unbelievers) do, for they are hopelessly confused. Their minds are full of darkness; they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against him. They have no sense of shame. They live for lustful pleasure and eagerly practice every kind of impurity. But that isn’t what you learned about Christ. (You know better. You know you do.) Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy.”
If we want to be a healthy body we have to start living the way Jesus told us to.
6. Don't smoke or use tobacco.
And everyone knows Jesus said don’t smoke or use tobacco. Unless you like it, then all He asks is that you don’t do it around me. It’s probably not good for you and I think it’s gross, but somebody’s gotta keep Philip Morris in business, right? You be you.
Seriously though, take it easy, moderation in all things. Even moderation. Ha.
7. Limit how much alcohol you drink.
Which brings us to lucky number seven—limit how much alcohol you drink. A lot of churches would be like, “Christians aren’t supposed to smoke. Christians aren't’ supposed to drink.” Whatever. I’m not interested in adding extra rules to what God has told us. The Bible doesn’t tell us not to drink—it tells us not to be drunk. People are like, “That’s why I don’t drink at all, better to be on the safe side.” But that’s not what He said either. God says He gave wine to make the heart merry, which means we have to drink enough for it to do its job, but not so much that we can’t do our job. God wants us to be happy—I don’t know why so many religious people can’t seem to understand that. Jesus made a whole bunch of wine out of water at a wedding feast and gave it to people when they had already been partying hard. He told us to drink wine as part of our worship service. Wine, beer, strong drink—these are all highly favored blessings that God has given His people. But like all good things, they come with a warning label. St Paul puts it this way in Ephesians 5:18,
“Do not get drunk with wine. That leads to wild living. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit.”
Clearly, our culture has a problem with excessive drinking. Homer Simpson said, “Alcohol, the cause of and solution to all of life’s problems.” But the problem actually starts when we go to the bottle as our first reaction to stress. Instead of our first thought being to go to the Lord, we go to the liquor cabinet or the refrigerator. Instead of acting like a person who trusts in God, instead of acting like a person who believes in God, we act like everyone else—all the unbelievers.
That’s really what the book of Ephesians is all about. Stop acting like unbelievers. He calls them Gentiles, but it means the same thing. They weren’t acting like people who had truly been called out of darkness and shown the amazing love and kindness of God. They weren’t acting like people who knew who God is. People who had been chosen to be the presence of God in the world. The body of Christ. They weren’t doing the things that a healthy body should be doing.
Ephesians 1:3-11. This is the most important thing, If we want to be a healthy body we have to trust in God’s grace. Listen up, this is the most important thing I’m gonna say today, it’s the part the devil definitely doesn’t want you to hear. This is the Gospel:
We’re only a member of Christ’s body because He chose us. He took us in. He gave you every spiritual blessing by uniting you with Christ. Even before God created the world, He loved you and chose you in Christ to be His holy and faithful people. Because of Jesus and the cross and the resurrection—God looks at you and sees no faults. As part of His original design in creating the universe, He saw you and wanted you to be adopted into His family. He set you free from slavery to the world, the flesh and the devil. You are free by the blood of Jesus Christ. He has promised you the inheritance of a true heir—life everlasting and honor as His beloved child.
Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen. Ephesians 3:20–21