The Church of Eleven22 - Wk 4: Strength

Episode Date: October 27, 2019

We are to be stewards of our bodies and health, not for our own comfort or benefit, but so that we can pour our lives out for the gospel. Obsession with the physical is idolatry. Neglect of the physical is sacrilege.

Amen and amen. How we do the church? Everybody good? Hope so. Hey, if you got your Bibles, we're going to end up in Psalm 139 in 1, Corinthians chapter 6 mostly, but you also need your discipleship God that your campus pastors just told you about. So all you slackers that didn't raise your hand to get it, now you have been outed. I would be you, by the way, if I was at a church. I'm like, I ain't getting nothing. But you need to have this. There's stuff in here for you, and I need you to open it up, and then the very back of it, I need you to grab your commitment card. It looks like this. and just take a sigh of relief.

I'm not going to talk about tithing today, but I want you to know about this card because next week is a really, really, really big, big, big week in the life of our church and, in fact, our whole city. You know what next week is? Georgia, Florida. And so, I mean, the winner of that game is going to play in the SEC championship. So that matters a ton.

But even more importantly, in regards to eternity, our church is going to be, we're going to have commitment Sunday or commitment weekend next weekend. Now, for those of you that are new to us, which is, by the way, about 2,500 people. Since we launched the one initiative last year, we've grown by about 2,500 people. Can you believe it? That's crazy. It's like a megachurch by itself.

So if you've been around and you've been in this series, you know that about a year ago, we took a deep dive into this prayer, which are two verses out of Deuteronomy, chapter 6, verses 4 and 5, says, Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one, and you shall love the Lord your God with all, with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. That's the series we're in right now. And so next week, when we gather together,

a part of what it means to love God with all is that we bring to God our first and our best. That in that video, you heard the word tithe. Tithe is a Bible word that just simply means, not just 10%, but the first. 10% and the tithe belongs to the Lord and that we are to bring our first and our best to God in a response to who God is and what he has done and God is loved. God loved us and God loved us so much that he gave his first and his best to us in Jesus

Christ. Therefore, we return a portion of what God has given to us back to him for the expanse of his kingdom. Now, in fact, if you're new here, you realize we haven't even taken up an office. Did you notice that? I know some of you old Baptist is like, this is my new favorite church, a little shiny hubcap, it never came by, all right? We don't do that.

Part of the reason we try to, we don't even, I don't love to use the word giving because you cannot give to someone what is already theirs. Do you realize that? Like if I let you borrow my truck and then two weeks later you came back and you're like, I have a gift for you. Here's a truck. I'm like, you fool, that's my truck. You can't give me my truck back, all right?

So we just bring to God. We bring back to God, just a portion of what is already. his for the expanse of his kingdom. And so next week, we are going to have the opportunity to ask ourselves once again this question in our own life, what does it look like to love God with all? Is he the one thing that drives everything? And our number one goal is that everyone that is a part of the Church of 1122 would participate.

That includes you at Baker and Union. Your commitment card will look a bit different than everyone else's commitment card just because our situation in life is a bit different, but you will have the opportunity to be committed to the one initiative over the next year. Now, there are over 8,000 of us at 1122 that have already made a commitment. Praise God. So you don't get to skip next week because there's two categories of us that have made commitments. There are some of you, and you know this to be true,

the moment you stepped out in faith last year, the moment you stepped out in radical generosity, the target on your back from the enemy got exponentially bigger, did it not? And you need to be here so that you can hear this word of encouragement to finish strong, that His divine power has given us everything we need to accomplish everything that God has called us to accomplish. There's also, again, like I said, about 2,500 brand new people to the Church of 1122. Or maybe you were here last year and you didn't get the opportunity to write a number that represents your family's generosity. in this one initiative and you next week will get the opportunity to hop on over the next year so you

need to do that and then there's a bunch of us this is a bunch of us that's where gretchen i are and and we wrote down a number last year that seemed crazy in fact when gretchen first said this is what i think the lord is saying for us to write down i thought i had no baby it's a two-year commitment okay not 10 two but we stretched and what felt like a stretch last year it's like yoga pants you know what i mean they just kind of been more comfortable now and so there's a lot of folks got either grows your faith, grows your finances, and God may be calling us to increase. So this is next week. So touch it, touch this card, breathe in it, you know, you need to be near this thing.

You need to be praying, God, what are you calling us to do next week? Because the real preacher at the Church of 1122 is the Holy Spirit. And you don't have to do, don't do what I'm telling you to do. You do what he is telling you to do. That's next week. Now, every single time did I've ever heard anybody teach on students? stewardship. The idea of stewardship is that everything is God's, that we really have nothing, that we are managers or stewards of all that God has given us. And the way that we steward, whatever God has given us, is a reflection of our relationship with Him.

And the three categories I've always heard is this, that you've got to think about time, talent, and treasure. You ever heard that before? Like, it's not just about how much money you're bringing back to the Lord, but it's also about your time, Like, are you serving in his kingdom? It's also about your talents. Like, God has given you certain gifts and talents, and the singers should sing, and the leaders should lead, and the preachers to preach, and we should all serve. And, in fact, yesterday at all of our campuses, we had a big thank you to our serve staff because they have been serving so faithfully in their time and their talents. And then also, we bring to him our treasure.

But I'm ready to add, like, one more tea to the situation here. because what I hope happens in the life of our church is not that we respond in generosity to a sermon, but that we live generously in response to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Those are different things. And the one area that I think has been neglected in church for a long, long time is this. I think it's time that we add what does it look like to be a good steward of the temple in regards to God. So it's not just time, it's not just talent, it's not just treasure, but it's also this physical body that we have been given of the Lord.

Are we stewarding that well? And what made me think about this is this shama that we're swimming around in. In Mark chapter 12, we've talked about this every week for the last four weeks. A lawyer comes up to Jesus. He says, what's the most important commandment in the whole old covenant? And Jesus responds this way, he quotes the shema. Here all Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart.

We talked about that the first week, about our relationships with one another. And you shall love the Lord of your God with all of your soul. Pastor Britt, did a great job walking us through that two weeks ago. And you shall love the Lord of your God with all your mind. This is where we were last week. Remember, do not be conformed to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. You've got to identify the lies of the enemy. You've got to take off the old, and you've got to replace it with the truth of the Word of God.

And then Jesus continues, and love the love the Lord. Lord your God with all of your strength, with all of your physical being. And so what does it look like for us to love God with our strength, with our physical being? You see, in reality, when Jesus is teaching on the Shema, essentially what he's trying to teach us is that the life of integrity means that we do not live compartmentalized lives. In fact, in the first century, if you would go to Jesus, a rabbi who knew and spoke Hebrew and you were to say, Jesus, tell me about your spiritual life. There is no Hebrew word for spiritual. He would say, my spiritual life is going great. I woke up this morning and I had some breakfast. I read Torah. I went on a walk. I cast out a demon. I visited a

friend. All of that together would be mixed in to the one and only life that we have that should be given to the one true God. In fact, there's only one verse about Jesus from age. 12 to 30 when he begins his public ministry. There's one verse in the whole Bible, and it's Luke 252. It says, and Jesus grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man. In other words, the one verse about Jesus in his preteen years, his teenage years, his 20s, and into his 30s, is that Jesus lived out the shaman, that he loved the Lord His God with all, with all is heart, soul, mind, and strength. So, we're going to talk about what does it look like to love God with your body.

Now, the question that you need to ask is this, does God even care? I mean, does God even care? Because if you grew up in church, especially a Baptist church, you know, how many of you know that in the twinkling of an eye one day, our bodies, our mortal flesh is going to be taken off and we are going to be transformed into a glorified spiritual body. Can I get an amen? That's the over 40 crowd right there, folks. They're like, praise God.

That burst means much more to me than it used to mean to me. I mean, I woke up this morning. I'm not even making this up. My neck hurts so bad right now. And you know what I did last night? I switched pillows. That's it. I used a different pillow last night,

and I wake up needing an Advil smoothie to preach today. That's just a fact. And how many of you know in heaven there are no Advil smoothies? That just as Christ has been resurrected from the grave, he's the proto-toco of the dead, the prototype of what resurrection looks like. And so we are going to be like him. I don't know what it fully means. Nobody does.

We have physical bodies, but yet we can pass through walls and we eat fish. All of those things are true. And so does God even care about our physical bodies? Well, according to the Shema, the answer is yes. Now, according to some American statistics here, It seems that as Americans, we're a little obsessed about our bodies. That if you add up all the different cosmetic situations going on in America last year, did you know there's cosmetic procedures, there's cosmetic surgical procedures,

there's cosmetic minimally invasive procedures, and there's cosmetic reconstructive procedures? I don't know all the differences. Would you like to explain? Do you? Okay. All right. So, but if you add them.

all up, we spent about 16.5 billion with a B dollars was spent on cosmetic procedures last year. Now, listen, man, no judgment. I'm not, because I know some of you are like, oh, can you tell? Can you tell? I don't know. It depends. You might want to check your, like, Facebook history and delete some of those. Now, then we can tell, but it's all right. I'm just telling you, we spend a lot of, we spend a lot of money on this. We're not we, you do. I didn't spend no money on this. Somebody asked me one time, Recently, you ever think about dyeing your beard? You ever think about punching yourself in the face? Why would you ask me something like that?

First of all, this is your fault. I had not one gray hair before I planted this church. I've named these after each of you. That's what I've done. You get two of them, all right? That's just how it goes. And why in the world would I want to emulate a generation that nobody looks up to, okay? Praise God for the gray.

No problem here, all right? Some of it turns gray, some of it turns loose. That's the two options I got going on with my hair situation. No problem. Now again, man, again, I'm not beating you up, all right? If you've been down this road, no problem, man. If you've got a little fold money in your pocket and you want to, you know, try to age gracefully, God bless you. You know, if the house needs painting, paint in the house.

I have no judgment. I'm just telling you, we spent $16.5 billion. We spent $18 billion on makeup and skin care. And Americans spend $30 billion a year. on gym memberships. Now, if you add this up, this is about $20 billion a year that Americans spend on their physical self more than we give to charity. So it seems like, based on those statistics, we should be doing great. And yet, physically speaking, America ain't doing great.

The number one drug sold or heartburn and antidepressants. an estimated 160 million Americans are either obese or overweight. Nearly three quarters of American men and more than 60% of women are obese or overweight. When you look at obesity alone, there are more obese adults living in America today, 78 million, than in any other country in the world. That heart disease is the number one killer. For the first time in about 100 years, the life expectancy of Americans is going down. and deaths of despair, which includes suicide, cirrhosis of the liver, and drug overdose are increasing.

And then you would think, if you looked at those kind of statistics, you would think the church would be leading the way. You see, because we believe that we are image bearers of God, so you would think if you looked at the church, things would be way, way better. Well, it's not. If you go to church a bunch, we tend to be slightly less depressed, so that's good. but we're more likely to be overweight, especially if you're Baptist. I love to pick on the Baptist more than any other group of people on the planet, but it's just true. These are facts.

If you're Baptist, you're likely to have a higher cholesterol and to be fatter. Those are facts. My speculation, you can't drink bourbon, so you get all hopped up on sweet tea, ice cream, and fried chicken. That's just my, you know, put gravy on everything with salad. So maybe our. So maybe our bodies are telling us that he is not the one thing that drives everything. Now, before I really start meddling all in your business,

because everybody should be equally offended here by the end of the hour, all right? And if you're not, come see me, and I'll just say something personal about your appearance. So I do want to say one thing parenthetically, all right? We live in a broken world. When sin enter the world, everything was true. twisted from cells to weather systems. So there are many, many, many of you that have medical issues and thyroid thing, and that is not what we're talking about.

Chemicals aren't firing right, okay? That is not what I'm talking about. Stewardship is just doing the best with what God has given you. That's what we're talking about. So if you have a tendency to feel defensive in this, then you should pay attention to what you're defending. In other words, if the yoga pants fit, wear them. That's what I'm saying.

We are just talking about what are we doing to love God with our bodies. And it could be that we find ourselves in this situation because for 40 years we've been teaching our kids in schools that we are nothing but highly evolved accidental clump of cells. So no wonder we don't take care of it. Now the real story, the real truth, if you go to Psalm 139, Psalm 139. In your discipleship guide, I put the entire Psalm because I would love for you to read this and get to know Psalm 139 in an intimate way.

Because what you'll find out in Psalm 139 is this, is that God intimately knows you, and then here's the good news, and still loves you. He doesn't just love the Sunday version of you in your best, because you look great, church. But he knows you. He knows your thoughts. He knows your attitudes.

He knows your actions. He knows your perspectives. He knows everything about you. He knows you better than you know you, and yet he still loves you like crazy. And the idea here is I believe if we could change our perspective on our physical body, then that and only that is when we will be able to change our patterns of behavior in such a way that we could glorify God with the physical body that he's given us. And so I'm going to pick it up in verse 13. The Bible says this, for you formed my inward parts.

You knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works. My soul knows it very well. Let me just stop right there. I've told you this a million times. Every night when I tuck Reagan Capri into bed, we pray this out loud. We've done it every night that I've tucked her in.

And she prays it. At this one, I say, let's pray. And then she just starts. Dear God, I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. I know that full well. The reason we do this is because my little girl, and all of us are growing up in this world that lies to her.

One of these stupid little teenage boys has come sniffing around my house is going to lie to her or the media lies to her. Going to tell her unless you're beautiful, you're not lovable, and beauty isn't even reality anymore. It's computer generated. And when people start lying to her, I want her to go, that doesn't smell right because she has been bathing in the truth of the Word of God her whole life.

She is fearfully and wonderfully made. God's works are wonderful. She's one of those works. and that she would know that very well, that her soul would know that. It goes on to say, my frame was not hidden from you when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth, that your eyes saw my unformed substance. In your book were written every one of them the days that were formed for me when as yet there was none of them. A few ideas about this.

Number one is that the Bible says that God formed me, nitted, me and intricately wove me together, not just spoken into existence. See, if you go back to Genesis 1 and 2 in the creation account, God, just to display his glory, because he does what he wants, when he wants with who he wants, and he just decides to just create stuff to display his glory. And the Bible says he just speaks, and there's heavens and earth,

and he just speaks, and the lights turn on, and he just speaks, and there's stars and moon and sun, and he just speaks and there's an ocean and land, and then he just speaks, and there's fish, and there's animals. But when it comes to his image bearers, he doesn't just speak us into creation. He knits us. He weaves us.

It's intricate and it's intimate. The Bible says that God gathers the dust of the earth together and breathe the breath of life into Adam, and then he becomes a living being. Paul will say it this way in Ephesians chapter 2. He'll say that we are not saved by works. We are saved by grace through faith and not by our own doing. So we got nothing to brag about.

And yet we are God's workmanship saved to do good works. And that word workmanship in Greek, it means like a work of art. It means a masterpiece. It means that God came up with the idea of you and God don't make junk. A couple weeks ago, we're at the Louvre man. I saw the Mona Lisa. Biggest letdown of my life. Sitting love that thing.

It's just some lady. All right. But you see all of these amazing paintings and sculptors, and none of them are the same. And in a similar way, God, in his infinite wisdom, came up with the idea that is you. And he put you together exactly the way he wanted you to be. and one of the most God glorifying things you could do is be the you that God created when he came up with the idea of you. You're not an accident. You're not junk.

Also, we see here in Psalm 139 that life begins in the womb. There are no accidental children. There are a ton of accidental parents. There are no accidental children. There are no, according to the God of the universe, there are no unplanned babies. They may be a surprise to our plans, but there are no unplanned babies. In fact, in fact, if you look through the genealogy of Jesus himself in the book of Matthew, there are four women in Jesus' genealogy, and all four of them are super shady.

They are. In fact, one is a prostitute, and one is an adulterous, Bathsheba. And how about this? God uses what we would call unplanned pregnancies to be the means by which God brings about Jesus Christ, the Savior. According to Psalm 139, listen, life begins at conception. And abortion every single time is the taking of a life fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of God. I am not trying to be political, just biblical. Now, here's the thing.

One of our closest partners here at the Church of 1122 is First Coast Women's Services. We support them in an incredible way. We support what they do. And so as a church, we must stand up for the rights of the unborn. We must, we must, we must. But I want to say something. Amen. And listen, man, let me just tell you something.

With our 1122 crowd, I could get us riled up about what most of us already leave anyway that's not the point all right let me say something to you based on based on the people that jesus brings here you know why we grow so much you make much of jesus he draws men and women unto itself that's our that's our secret and so we're a movement for all people to discover a deep in a relationship with jesus christ and i know at all of our campuses there are lots and lots and lots of women and you have had an abortion this is your past okay let me remind you of something therefore now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. None.

And when Jesus died on the cross, that counted for you. When his blood was shed on the cross, it was to make all things new. So in the kingdom, nobody walks with a limp or a swagger. That's not how it works. And so his grace is sufficient for you. But if that is you, then please let us get you help. First Coast Women's Services has some Bible study, classes where you could be with some other women who have gone through this to help you

grieve and help you heal and help you move forward with God's plans for your life and that your past would not define you only Jesus gets to tell you who you are and so let us help you get connected also if you ever find yourself in in this place where you think where you think ending your pregnancy is your best option listen I've never walked in your shoes I have no idea what it must feel like to be in that place where you think that's the best option. But please, please, please, please let your church help. Please just have enough grace to raise your hand and say, this is not what I was planning, and I don't know what to do.

We can help get you surrounded by some people that can help you. Listen, at the Church of 1122, we are pro-life all the way through, not just anti-abortion. Those are two different things, I hope you understand. We will help you, and I don't even know what we're getting into, but we're getting all in. You understand? If you ever find yourself in that kind of place, the worst thing you could do is be isolated and trying to make these decisions out here by yourself. The enemy will take you out. And here's the thing. You just have no idea what God may use you for. Last week, two weeks ago, I was with Tim Tebow and his team. He asked me to come in and do some leadership stuff with his team and his mom was there. And they were about to go speak at this pro-life event. And they just reminded me of, she reminded me of their story that when she got pregnant, that the doctors told her there's a complication there, there's a problem there, they thought that it wasn't going to be a viable pregnancy.

In fact, you know, this is 30 years ago, and they thought it might be a tumor. That tumor turned out to be Tim Tebow. His brother Robbie called him tumor for like first five years of his life. So I'm just telling you, you have no idea that this thing that looks like a problem could win the highestman be a problem for me and my bulldogs, but you just have no idea what hangs in the balance. And the deal here is that every life, every life matters to God. Another thing we see in Psalm 139 is this, your life matters to God. You are not an accident. That God purposed you, God planned you, God knit you together on purpose, and all of your days have been purposed and

planned by God. And God came up with this idea of a thing that he was going to do on the planet. And in order to accomplish that thing, he created you to be a part of his plan to accomplish that thing. That's what a big deal you are. And that includes your physical self. It includes your physical self. You see, you matter. And matter matters. And your matter matters. Now just a throwback to the last week, by the way, if you struggle with body image, stuff. Like if you stare in the mirror and you hate what is looking back to you, that is a lie from the pit of hell. Comparison kills. Comparison kills. You are God's workmanship and you should probably memorize these verses so that you claim the truth of the word of God. And over time, not necessarily overnight, but over time, hopefully your feelings will line up with the truth of the Word of God that you are fearfully and wonderfully made, that his works are wonderful and that you would know that full well. Now while every human being is an image bearer of God

and every human being on the planet deserves to be treated justly and fairly and rightly we are not all children of God. You hear this all the time. Everybody's a child of God. I know what you mean, but what you actually mean is everybody's an image bearer of God. You should work for Hallmark because it's not true, all right?

You see, because being a child is different. being a child of someone means that someone is your parent. So all of us are creations of God, but to be a child of God means something different. 1 John 3.1 says this, oh, what manner of the love? The Father has lavished upon us that we would be called children of God. That if you've ever come to the place in your life where you believed or trusted that when Jesus died on the cross, somehow that counted for you, that's the moment you went from just a creation of God, to a child of God. And in that very moment, a whole bunch of stuff happened.

When you surrendered to Jesus, God's love was lavished upon you. Your sin was forgiven. Your future was trained. You were adopted into the family of God as a firstborn son. That matters a lot in the first century because only the firstborn got the full inheritance. And so you are a co-air with Jesus and the moment you surrender to Jesus, the Holy Spirit of God moved inside of you. This is why Romans 8-1 is so, so important. So important. You see, the enemy constantly tries to condemn us and wants you to look at your past and look at your habits and look at your sins and look at the times you stumble and fall and says, you're condemned.

You are unfit for use. And through the gospel of Jesus Christ, God says, no, no, no, no. you're not unfit for use. In fact, I'm going to move in, by the blood of Jesus, I'm going to move into you, the Holy Spirit, and God's permanent address here on this planet is you. This is what Paul talks about in 1 Corinthians, chapter 6. It's a really big deal.

In 1 Corinthians chapter 6, I'm going to pick it up in verse 19, but I've got to give you just a little bit of context here. It may not make sense. And I can't teach it too much, you'll get totally distracted and miss the whole point. Because in Corinth, all these people grew up like pagans, believing all this crazy stuff.

And then the gospel comes into Corinth, and these pagans believe in Jesus. And they believed in this bifurcated life. They believe that, like, my body's just flesh. My body's just my body. My body's just temporary. So I can do whatever I want to with my body because I've given my heart to Jesus.

I've given my soul to Jesus. And part of the way this played out, it played out in a bunch of different ways. of the primary ways it played out is there was a bunch of Christians going to like First Baptist Corinth and on Wednesday night they would go to the temple and sleep with temple prostitutes but on Sunday morning they'd come to church and worship with both hands in the air and Paul was like um that's not how this works and essentially they're oh sure it is no no no I've given my heart to Jesus but what I do on Wednesday nights with the temple prostitutes that's just my body and they would say

things like food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food what that meant was when my physical body gets hungry, I feed it. And when my physical body gets another H word, I feed that. That's what he means, okay? Explain that to your children. Y'all know we have kids ministry, all right? So anyway. So in light of that, Paul says this.

Or do you not know? And the reason he says this is because they didn't know. He says, or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you? In other words, when you're, when you're, put your faith in Jesus, the Spirit of God moved inside your body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own. You were bought with a price, so glorify God with your body. You see, he says that your body is a temple. God resides in you. So you're treating your body as if it's not a big deal, but God thinks your body is a really big deal.

I mean, think about this. You ever get that call, husbands? You know what I'm talking about. Your wife is like, hey, we have to clean the house fast. Why? Because people are coming over. You ever do that thing? Just random.

Well, they're not random. They're like your buddies. They're coming up. It happens all the time. The cops, not the police, but Jeff and Alicia Cop, a cop runs our prison ministry. Regressive about it. The cops are coming clean.

I'm like, well, you usually run where I'm from, but what? I'm like, no, with a K. So she said, the cops are coming over. We've got to clean up. I'm like, why are we cleaning up for these people, man? They're my friends. They're my neighbors. He works with me. I said, in my inside voice, I'm just putting the pillows back thinking, well, I've got so many pillows, man. I've got to many pillows. So, anyway, a part of what Paul is saying is, all right,

is some just regular old nobody's come to your house, you clean up for them? If you've got a phone call and the Spirit of God says I'm coming over, wouldn't you tidy up a little bit? That's kind of what, that's kind of the feeling he wants us to understand. Now, in reality, the moment you surrender your life to Christ, the Spirit of God moves in, and the Spirit helps us do all the cleaning. This is what he's saying. You see, the idea is this. He says, you're not your own.

You're bought at a price. Now, in America, we're like, no, no, no, no, no, this is my body. You can't tell me what to do with my body. And the apostle Paul would say, no, no, no, but I thought you were a Christian. See, if you're a Christian, then your body is not your own. Just like your money is not your own and your time is not your own and your talent's not your own, that your body is not your own. It was bought at a price.

Now, this is good news. This means this. God is saying, you are very, very valuable. This is the gospel according to eBay. Do you know how you determine something value? It's not just arbitrary. Value is determined by the price someone is willing to pay for it. Like you have some junk at your house and you think, this is very valuable. And you put it on eBay and somebody will give you $2, get what your valuable junk is worth. $2. I don't care what you feel about it. and the cosmic king of the universe looks at you and says, hmm, what would I be willing to give for you? And he says, I would be willing to give the blood of my very own son. You, my friend, are valuable.

Therefore, you should be treated as valuable. You were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your body. So quit sleeping around. giving yourself away like it's not that big a deal it's a big deal and quit drinking so much treating your body like it's not a big deal because it's a really big deal and quit smoking cigarettes they're going to kill you now net i just saved the email somebody's like don't you smoke cigars but that's pretty cool you got to admit that's cool doesn't count and quit eating ice cream at

midnight in other words if who do you think you are to devalue a thing that god said was very very very Now, when it comes to treating our body as a temple, most of us live in one of two extremes, okay? Most of us live in this continuum between one of two extremes. One is there's folks that are just neglectors. We have a tendency to neglect our physical body. Any neglecters in the house, all right? So everybody's embarrassed, right?

They're like, because oftentimes when we neglect our physical self, there's a lot of, like, guilt and shame associated with it. and see the reality is is that in one sense when we neglect our physical body it's this weird form of selfishness we often think of like the psychos in the gym nine days a week that they're the selfish people but people that neglect their physical body essentially what we're saying is I'm going to treat me however I want to treat me but eventually what we're saying is and one day you're going to have to take care of me because I'm neglecting me it's selfish now what do you call it when you take something that was meant to be sacred or holy and you treat it as common.

We call that sacrilegious. That's sacrilegious. For instance, like if we went camping and you were trying to make a campfire and you're like, I can't get it to start. And I'm like, cool, no problem. Just use a page out of my Bible and I said, and ripped out a page of the Bible and crumpled it up. And what would you do? You'd be like, I don't think. No, no, or just to use a map. The maps aren't inspired already here just take a map you know who would love that who'd be like yeah cool it's just paper no no no you'd be like i don't think we should do that that's the bible like god inspired it and wrote it and it's a gift to us and men and women died for it and i don't want to start a campfire with it or if we were in it if you were just if you needed to prop your door open and you just took your bible and said here i'll use that

wouldn't you be like could we use your shoe or i mean this thing is sacred and holy and it's not to be used it's common in fact at our church when our i made our worship leaders when they read from the Bible, not drop it on the ground, but put it on a stool. There's no verses about that anywhere. It's just like, don't do that, okay? Or like you Catholics, all right? If you go into Mass, if you took me to Mass with you, that'd be a treat. If we went to Mass together and I walked in and there's the little bowl of holy water, but even though water can't be holy, but that's, you know, somebody made that up, no problem. But if I saw the holy water and I just walked through and I was like, ooh, I'm sweaty, and I just washed my hands and, all right, you'd be like, I'm not Catholic

to God. I don't think that's okay. You think, I don't think that's what that's meant for. We could go on and on if you had a cross necklace. You had something in your teeth and you pulled off your cross necklace and you pick your teeth in it and pick your fingerna out. Clean your ear out with a key. Clean your ear out like that. I don't care how religious or irreligious who you are. You're like, I don't want that they're supposed to do that.

Now, none of these cross necklace, holy water, even the Bible, none of these things have been given temple status. and yet your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit. Bought at a price, not your own. And so when we neglect our body, it's essentially sacrilege. Here's what this means. If you get the majority of your meals from a clown through the window of your car, I don't think you're supposed to do that. If you don't sleep enough, if you don't exercise at all,

if you drink too much, if you medicate everything, I'm just telling you, essentially, you're looking at what God, did for you on the cross and said, eh, whatever. I am just obeying the thirst. I do what I want when I want with my own body. And the gospel would say, it's not just your body. Now, there are some folks that live on the other extreme. And you idolize your body.

You worship your body. You're obsessed with your body. And I know what you're saying. You see, those people, and listen, this used to be me. I may have swung way too far over on the neglect side, but there was a day where all things were ruled by my diet and all of that. And I know what you're thinking right now. You're like, you tell them, all you super fit people that on Instagram, we watch you do muscle ups. And can y'all just stop?

We don't want to see that. And you're into it, man. Way into it. And you're like, you tell those fatties, preacher. All right. Anybody want to point out somebody else in that? Because nobody ever admits it. Anybody just want to point at people in the room?

It'd be like, you're obsessed, all right? You see, what do you call it when you worship the creation instead of the creator? It's called idolatry. And sometimes what we can do is we think my body's for me. And I worship my body and I idolize my body to the neglect of what's important, to the neglect of my family. And I hold everybody hostage to my diet and my timetable. And I have no flexibility in my schedule to be obedient to the nudges of the Holy Spirit because everything's locked out this way and we're only eating these foods at these time.

And honestly, you would never say this out loud and you immediately judge everybody else on what they look like based on your own experiences. You see, that's not honoring God with your body either. There's a lot of pride there. Now, now here's the thing. Again, I used to live in that world, man. used to compete in bodybuilding and I'm telling you and I had all the excuses as to why it was okay and I will just confess to you it was just idolatry now at this point in my life my fitness goal is don't be fat and then about this time of year it's don't be too fat and then right around Christmas it's

don't look fat in your clothes that's kind of my where I'm at all right so I've legitimately need to get back into taking better care of myself but let me give you a big fat warning if you worship your body and I know some of you're like I don't worship my body I have never just stood in the mirror and looked at me and sang me a worship song. Here's the warning. Here's the warning. Whatever you idolize, when it lets you down, you will demonize. That's it.

And so if you spend all of your time and all of your energy and all of your effort and all of your money on what you look like and you look in the mirror, there will be times where it will fulfill you temporarily and you'll feel super good about this. The problem is you've got two things working against you, time and gravity. It literally is going to let you down. Like there's some stuff up here, it's going to be down here, all right? Now again, we talked about it before. If you got a little extra change, you can clip it and nip it and tuck it and cool sculpt it.

And, man, you can stretch that thing all over the place. Now, let me give you a warning. Eventually, you look like you got in a fight with a beehive. it doesn't go good man it just looks like oh she needs friends that's not what you think it's not

kind of a Mr. Potato Head going wrong kind of thing all right and I tell you the problem listen what you do is you're taking a good thing being in shape taking care of yourself and you're treating it like a God thing and that's a really bad thing

because you're more concerned about what you look like than just honoring God with your body and if you idolize what you look like when it lets you down when you just age maybe god has let us age to just remind us that we don't spend forever here that we don't spend forever here and if you put your hope in your physical self when you begin to decline not if when we begin to decline then you will begin to demonize honestly what the Bible says that we should honor so then the question is this so we

What do you do? What do you do? Is it just balance? Is it like, why don't we just all meet in the middle? Okay? Now, all the neglectors would probably go, yeah, that's probably a good idea. I should probably do a little something. And all the idolaters are like, heck no, I've spent my whole life not to look like that thing over there. Okay? So I don't think it's about just about balance. I think it's all about perspective. It's all about perspective. And I want to be very, very practical in this. In your discipleship God on page 30. We put a test. We just put this little assessment and I dare you to sit down with somebody that loves you enough

to be honest with you to hold you accountable and just go through this assessment and be honest. The fundamental question is this, am I loving God with all? Am I loving God with all of my strength? And most of you already know where you're going to land on this thing. Are you kind of, are you obsessed with it or are you neglecting it?

And then, and then let me just, let me just warn you here. And don't overcorrect. Some of you hadn't worked out in 40 years. You're going to try to make up 40 years in the next four days. And you won't be able to, you walk into work like, I can't zip up my pants, you know, because you can't move because everything hurts so bad. That's not it. But you would just repent and begin to make some changes.

If you're not working out at all, if you're not exercising, you know, move a little, eat a little less. You can Google some things to help you with nutrition. and that kind of thing, find an 1122 or maybe that could help you out and just begin to make a heart decision. I don't want to neglect this body God has given me, but I want to honor God with my body. And if you're over on the idolatry side, maybe you would wake up and realize that if you idolize your body one day, when it lets you down, you will begin to demonize it.

You see, the real key is this, is that we've got to change our perspective. because if we don't renew our mind, if we don't change our perspective, then we'll never change our practice. You see, the real question, I guess, is this. So what's the point of stewarding our body? Are we supposed to eat better and sleep good and work out so that we just die leaner? Oh, that's not the point at all. You see, the point is this. The reason that we steward our bodies is because our body is a temple.

Now think about the purpose of a temple. What is a temple for? A temple exists for two reasons, to glorify God and connect people. with Him. That's it. That's why a temple exists. A temple does not exist unto itself, but the point of a temple is that people that are far from God can connect with the God that resides in that temple, and that is the point of your body. That the way that we glorify God with our body is we steward ourselves in such a way that we are healthy enough for a long time that God could use us to glorify Him by using us to connect people. that are far from him to him. This is the way Paul will say it in 1 Corinthians 9. Do you not know to erase all runners run, but only one receives the prize, so run that you may obtain it.

Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable one. So I do not run aimlessly. I do not box as one beating the air, but I discipline my body and keep it under control less after preaching to others, I myself should be disqualified. In other words, your body is not the end. Your body is a means to an end. That's what he's saying.

Nobody running a race is like, check out my abs, because that is not the point. That is a byproduct. That means the end is trying to cross the finish line first. And the finish line for us as believers in Jesus is to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. and to love our neighbors as ourselves, and there's nothing more loving to our neighbors than introducing them to the God that loves us. At the end of Paul's life in 2 Timothy chapter 4,

the end of his life, he says this, for I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. Imagine if you and I could be like Paul and we could look back over the entirety of our life, and we could say these words, you want to talk about a peace? And he says, I have fought the good fight. I have finished the race.

I have kept the faith. Henceforth, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day and not only to me, but also to all who have loved his appearing. Here's the point. The reason that we should not live in neglect, and the reason that we should not live in idolatry is this, is that we are to be stewards of our bodies and our health,

not for our own comfort or benefit, but so that we can pour our lives out for the sake of the gospel. Because you're a temple. And the point of a temple is to glorify God and to connect people to that God that you love. So the reason that we steward our bodies this well is because God may call you to the mission field. He may call you to the mission field as a long-term missionary,

and can you imagine if you were not able to be obedient to God's call in your life because of poor stewardship in your 20s and 30s and 40s, can you imagine? Every time we do a generosity initiative, we meet people this way that we're poor stewards of their finances, and now they're not able to be generous to the Lord because they are slaves to the debtor. The same thing's true with our body. Or God may call you to a short-term mission trip. I want every single person that can go to go.

And what if you were unable to walk in obedience because physically you're not able to keep up? And again, I'm not talking about an age thing and I'm not talking about medical issues. I'm talking about you were just a poor steward of what God had called you to do. Or what if, this is most of us, or what if some of the most productive years of your ministry won't even necessarily be taking the gospel to the ends of the earth, but taking the gospel to your kids and your grandkids. And you rob your family of two or three or four or ten years of healthy discipling of one more generation, but you're unable to do that because of the neglect, the poor stewardship of your physical body.

You see, this is a really, really big deal. Again, there was one verse about Jesus when he was 12 to 30, and he grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man. What if, what if? If you go down this road too far, you'll get into heresy, but just play along with me. The Bible says Jesus was tempted in every way. So Jesus, like us, he must have been tempted to not take care of his body. And what if Jesus, for his whole teenage years and his 20s and into his early 30s, what if Jesus had only neglected his physical body?

The word became flesh and dwelt among us. And what if he neglected the flesh to the point where it was time for him to fulfill the scriptures and being the lamb that was slain? What if he had so neglected his physical self that he could not love the Lord His God with all of his strength? And therefore he couldn't endure the flogging. He couldn't carry his cross to Galgotha. and he could not endure the cross. And yet, he knew.

He knew that God had given, the Father had given him a purpose. And he loved God with all of his mind, and he loved God with all of his heart, and he loved God with all of his soul, and he loved God with all of his body to accomplish all that God the Father had set out for him to do. And Paul says in Philippians too, and may we have the same attitude as that of Christ, Jesus.

Jesus. Church, you were not your own. You were bought at a price. Therefore, honor God with your body. And the reason that we love God by taking care of our bodies is because Jesus demonstrated his love for us by this. He offered his body on the cross. Do you know what hangs in the balance when it comes to caring for yourself for the sake of the gospel? Honestly, you have no idea. You just have no idea. So for those of us that are in the neglect area, what we probably need to do is you probably need to go home and look at the people closest to us and confess and repent. To look at our family and say, I'm sorry.

I have not done a good job of taking care of me. And implicitly, I was assuming that one day you were going to have to take care of me. I'm sorry. And repent means change your mind so that you'll change your actions. Again, man, you just began to. to do the things that begin to eat a little better, sleep better, move around if you're not doing that. And maybe if you're over here on the idolatry side, the worshipper side, maybe you need to go

home and repent. Say, I am so sorry. I have held you hostage to me and my world and what I look like. I have held you hostage to my diet because it's all about me and I am sorry and change this perspective. And say, from now on, by the power of the Holy Spirit, I have. I want to just live this out. I am not my own.

I am barred at a price. Therefore, I want to honor God with my body. I want to love the Lord, my God, with all of this physical self that he has given me. Not for myself, but for the sake of the gospel. Church, would you please stand? Let me pray for you. Our good and gracious Heavenly Father, God, I pray,

Holy Spirit, you would just land on us with a head, dose of conviction, a heavier dose of comfort, that we would know that therefore now there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. And God, I pray that maybe like the Corinthians, I think Paul keeps saying, do you not know, because they didn't know? And Lord, a lot of us have been in church for a long, long time, but we don't talk very much about honoring you with our bodies. And so may we do that. May we offer our bodies to you as a living sacrifice. Holy and pleasing unto you. God, by the power of the Spirit,

would you give us the courage to repent to make some changes in our life that glorify you? We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. The church, we respond to the gospel. It's what we do. My guess is there's a bunch of us

that need to pray, and I would encourage you to not do this alone because try harder just won't work, okay? It won't. You see, just like when we bring our ties and offerings, we bring them to God for God not to get anything from him. What we're going to need to pray is that God would work strong in our mind so that we don't run out of here and start a new diet so we can get something out of it,

but that we can offer our bodies as a living sacrifice. So I'd invite you to come and pray, to come and kneel down before the Lord and say, God, I'm going to need help in this. And the good news is that he has sent a helper, and if you are in Christ, he lives in you. So come on. And this is the time that we bring our ties and our offerings. We just bring back to God, our first and our best. It's not ours to begin with.

We are but stewards for a short time. And we are glad with a cheerful heart to say, Here you go, God. I want to honor you with all. And we join our voices together and we sing. And we're going to sing a song that Pastor Ben wrote from an old prayer from a long, long time ago, from St. Patrick. And it's really rooted in Psalm 139,

how God goes before us and behind us and he hymns us in all around us. So let us pray and let us sing. Let us bring. Let us respond.