Paul said in Romans 12:1-2

¹Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. ²Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

We have an extract from that here – let God change the way you think. It is not being different that matters, what matters is being Christ like that matters and our thoughts in the next few weeks are about changing the way we think on some key issues.

 We looked at family last week and we will consider together wealth, holiness and politics. The other issues listed (money, time, power, work, leisure, forgiveness, suffering, friendships,

) here you need to be challenging the way you think and be different from the world around you. In particular we need to challenge what the advertisers tell us, the TV and papers tell us. Satan wants to shout down the Holy Spirit in your life, don’t let him.

 So we are considering Health.

 The Story the Bible Tells -

Creation: harmony created

Corruption: harmony destroyed

Christ: harmony inaugurated

Consummation: harmony restored

Antony Billington last week spelt out the framework the Bible tells us about family. And I think it is good as a starting point today. Not that I want to establish a dispensational view but that it outlines the story of creation. What God created was good. Sin has corrupted it, Christ has begun a new creation which one day will be complete with him in heaven.

I do want to hang my thoughts on a single verse of scripture just to act as a key to how we view out health.

1Corinthians 15:22

As in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.

In a sense it is a summary of the four points Anthony used. And we need to keep it in mind. Lack of fitness, sickness and death are a consequence of sin entering the world, Jesus made it quite clear that he brought health, healing and resurrection to eternal life for us.

 So what questions do we ask about our health?

Here are some and I am not going necessarily to answer them this morning but answer them we must because our family and neighbours want to know why they suffer and die. So do we.

So we need to understand that God heals, the connection between sin and health, we need right thinking about keeping healthy and a sensitive understanding of those with mental health problems.

And we will be looking at the scriptures because ¹⁶All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, ¹⁷so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.  2Timothy 3:16-17

Lets start at the beginning. Too easily we get into debate about the process of creation rather than the purpose of creation. 5 times the Moses says …and it was good. It is too easy to be squeezed into the mould of modern man and believe that creation was flawed from the beginning. Genesis is the antidote to that, and maybe we have to forget Jurassic Park and believe that before sin entered the world, it was good and healthy. That is not to say that bacteria, viruses, tyrannosaurus Rex and the like did not exist but that God’s creation was in harmony; that genetic disorders, disease, cancer and death were not in the plan. They are a consequence of sin.

 Sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and this way death came to all people. Romans 5:12

 We cannot avoid the basic fact that sin has fundamental consequences. It has both direct and indirect consequences. If you drink and drive, your lack of judgement may cause you serious injury but it may cause injury to someone else. In this case sin causes injury in a third party. If a married person has an affair and contracts HIV he or she may well infect the partner. Sin not only has direct consequences but also indirect. So when someone is ill, the cause may be a direct consequences of sin but it is more likely to be nothing at all to do with their choices. In a fallen sickness is not a sign of particular sin. It is a sad reminder that sin is deadly. And this is true throughout the whole range of medical conditions. Cancer is not because you have sinned, although you have. It is caused by the corruption of DNA, due to the consequences of sin entering into the world.

 In simple terms. Illness is a consequence of sin but is not generally directly caused by your own sin. This is important because any illness has a depressive effect and we then start thinking that somehow God is punishing us for something. Illness is not God punishing us, except in specific events, which are mentioned in the Bible. In those circumstances there is a clear prophetic statement. For example, Uzziah we spoke of two weeks ago had leprosy break out when he offered incense.

But that is unusual. Normally illness is simply that our bodies are subjected to bacterial or viral attack or fail to reject cancerous cells. We are no different to the rest of the human race.

 

 But the question has to be, what difference does Christ make? First we note that eternal life is not physical, our bodies still die but our spirits go to be with Jesus. But the presence of Jesus does have an effect on our physical bodies. Holy living, living according to the Spirit is also physically healthy living. We are part of the new creation in harmony with our creator and that is healthy. But we have to accept that the completion of the work of grace is for heaven. In the mean time God in Christ demonstrates his love and power in healing.

 God does heal. First we believe that he expresses his authority and compassion through government and in our case that means the NHS. Christians have long been committed to medical services because we believe that Jesus is THE HEALER. We do not just pray and then do nothing. We have always use the knowledge that God has given us to heal. So TAMIFLU may come via the NHS but it is a God given relief for Swine Flu. Most of us are alive because God has healed us through normal medical intervention of illness that otherwise would have killed us. Are we thankful for his healing or simply expecting it as a right because we paid our National Health Contributions? That is a major issue in the USA at present because money buys healthcare and healthcare is seen as what you buy rather than what you receive as a blessing from God. And those who cannot afford it, don’t get it. If you are unwell, you book into the doctor, get the advice and treatment available. God works through the NHS. And we should be careful to thank him for the treatment and healing we receive that way.

 God is the God of miracles. Sometimes God breaks out of the normal processes to demonstrate his love and power and heals miraculously. Ann Easton spoke on Tuesday of a young lady who had been miraculously healed.  It is part of his demonstration that he renews life so he heals some just because he wants to, like the man at the pool of Bethsaida. He heals some because their friends and family pray for them, like the man who was let down through the roof, the centurion’s servant, daughter of Jairus. Others he heals because they pray for it, like blind Bartimaeus, the 10 lepers. He is sovereign in this. one prays for healing but has never been healed. Another prays and is healed. Jennifer Rees-Larcombe wrote a book about how God had not healed, which was a bit premature because he then healed her. The Bible tells us to call the elders who are to anoint with oil and we have done that and people have been healed. We anointed Krishna for healing but she still needed a replacement liver. The healing was through the medical services. Other are healed when hands are laid on them in prayer. Some are healed when people meet for prayer. That can only happen if you pray. And this is a critical point. God chooses who and how he heals. But if we do nothing he cannot use our prayers as a means of grace. We became disengaged in the salvation of God. The Biblical word for salvation is the same one as used for healing. That is because healing is part of the new creation.  God wants to heal you spiritually, emotionally, mentally and physically. His salvation is also involved in all aspects of your person. So we are not just interested in your being physically fit but emotionally healthy, mentally good and spiritually in tune with God.  There are lots of issues you here that we do not have time to go into. What is important to us is that mental illness needs to be seen in the same way as physical illness, Christians will want to show love and compassion and not just walk again. The emotionally damaged need the love of God expressed through his children to heal. The spiritually weak need our prayers and encouragement to seek God and be found by him. Christians are holistic because God is holistic.

 

 But we must understand that we are still part of a fallen creation. Our destiny is to go to heaven to be with Jesus. The long-term prospects are great. The short and medium term are to endure the same experiences the rest of the world faces but to we know the Saviour walking with us through the presence of the Holy Spirit every day and every hour until in death we pass from this mortal life and enter eternal life.

Much of our complaint is that life is not fair. But fairness means we receive the just rewards of our deeds and we are sinners. Grace, on the other hand is not fair, in it God forgives you because you ask him to. God offers you a place in heaven made possible by the death of his Son, Jesus Christ.

It is in Christ that the unfairness of life becomes endurable because he begins to put right all that sin has made wrong.

 

So what are we to do?

What does the Bible say?

 1Timothy 4:8 is pretty straightforward.

 ⁸For physical training is of some value,

The Bible does not reject care for the physical body. Keeping fit is part of the life of a Christian whatever your age. And I joined a number of elderly people going through their fitness training the other day. Most were in their 80s and some had to be wheeled in but they were still able to do something to increase their fitness. And we did it without standing up! Eating properly, washing yourself, keeping warm, sleeping at sensible times, exercising are all thoroughly good Biblical activities – the Law had rules for a good diet, plenty about washing, and even sleeping arrangements. God does not leave us to our own devices, he gave us plenty of encouragement to keep physically healthy. But physical training is only part of the verse, it is of some value.

 

  but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.

 Because we know that this life is not everything, we should keep our training in proportion. We keep our bodies fit as we are sensibly able, so what about the spiritual person inside it? How much more important is godliness- in fact the verse before says ‘train yourself to be godly.’ So what are your daily spiritual exercises? Not doing them, then its no wonder your are spiritually flabby and out of condition. Time to feel the burn in spiritual exercise. What do I mean? To get spiritually fit what do we need to do?

Paul is quite clear, let me read it to you in 1Timothy 4:9-16

It is about setting your hope in God, being exemplary in speech, life, love faith and purity. It is reading the scriptures, being at church to hear the teaching and preaching. It means exercising the gifts that God has given you, whatever it is and however it is discovered that God has given it.

 

You see. We can’t just separate our physical from our spiritual life, or our emotional or mental health, God made us as we are. So it is good godly practice to keep all aspects of our lives fit, but especially our spiritual fitness.

 

 

I am very aware I have been sketching out a large subject. To summarise, the heart of our gospel is that

“As in Adam all die,

Sin has caused the damage in our lives, leading to illness and death. But our illnesses are usually just the consequences of sin in the world and not the direct result of our personal sin.

 

 so in Christ all will be made alive”

Jesus transforms lives. He gives us new birth in the Spirit and that affects everything about us, including our emotional, mental and physical health.

He has given us the NHS for our healing.

He is the God of miracles, do not be afraid of asking for miracles.

Our long term prospects are excellent. In the short term we still suffer the consequences of sin but we have the  presence of the Holy Spirit to give courage to endure the privations of life.

Physical fitness is of value

Spiritual fitness is of much greater value.

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