THE HEALTHY CHRISTIAN

III JOHN 2

          I know that this scripture has been often taken out of context and presented as if God has ordained that strong, spirit filled believers should never be ill and should be wealthy or at least financially secure.  Now don’t get me wrong because I am not saying that God wants us sick and poor. However, I want you to know that I understand that this verse is simply a greeting used by John in much the same way that we might today say when we are writing a letter, “Doris, I trust that this letter finds you and your family in good health and enjoying life.”  This verse is John’s way of greeting these believers.  It expresses his desire for them and in no way should be taken as a declaration from God, related to the health and wealth of believers.  However, though this is but a greeting, it does lead us to the subject of this morning’s message which is “The Healthy Christian”. 

          Now before we proceed, I want you to know that I am already assuming that those who are present in this audience this morning are born again Christians and thus are already spiritually alive.  You see there is no need to talk of being healthy to someone who is already dead.  There are no healthy dead.  In the natural, when you are physically dead people may say of you, “Oh he was in such good health and now he is dead.”  Notice that they speak in the past tense.  They don’t say he is in good health, but rather he was in good health.  Why, because there is no such thing as the healthy dead.  In the natural if you are dead, health is not an issue and like wise if you are spiritually dead health is not an issue.  You can not be a spiritually dead, healthy Christian.

          I want to talk about 4 things that are necessary in promoting health. 

1.  Nutrition

          Most of us, and I hope all of us recognize that what we ingest will have noticeable impact on our health.

HEBREWS 5:12-14

          We all know that I Peter 2:2 says, “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby”, but if it is time for you to be eating meat and you are still trying to live off of milk then you are not growing.  In fact, you are probably declining in health.  Paul here rebukes these believers because they have been in the faith long enough to now be leading and helping others to grow, but rather find themselves back at the point of sucking on milk rather than chewing on milk.  They were acting like babies and small children, waiting on someone else to feed.  Now if you are young in the Lord, you are supposed to be drinking milk, feasting on the foundational principles of salvation.   However, some of us have been sitting in Church long enough that we should be skilled in the Word of God and our spiritual senses should be so well tuned that we should not be spending the bulk of our spiritual energy wrestling with what is right and wrong.  We should not only be able to tell the unsaved that Jesus is the way, but we should also be able to clearly explain to them why He is the only way.  If we are going to be healthy Christians we must eat age appropriate food; milk for babies and strong meat for those who are of full age.

II TIMOTHY 4:3

            Here Paul warns that the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine.  Instead they would seek out teachers, who would tell them what they wanted to hear rather than face them with the truth. Teachers who merely “tickle the ear” turning people away from the truth of God’s Word on the one hand and toward myths and false doctrines that aim at satisfying the flesh on the other hand.  Many who call themselves Christians race to have their ear tickled.  This to me is the equivalent of eating junk food.  It may satisfy the taste and fill the stomach temporarily, but it has very little if any nutritional value,  will leave you feeling hungry much sooner than real food and will probably kill you quicker than eating healthy meals.  Racing to hear someone who will simply tell you what you want to hear will not provide the spiritual nutrition that you are going to need in order to survive the wickedness of this world and grow into a healthy Christian.  Developing into a healthy Christian requires healthy ingesting of the rightly divided Word of Truth.

          But good nutrition does not only depend on what I eat, but also it is a function of when I eat.  In the natural, if I eat my biggest meal every night at 10:30 just before I go to bed, what is going to happen?  I will gain weight, have trouble sleeping, and develop digestion problems.  Why, because my body will not require enough energy while I am asleep to burn off the food I just ate.  Also, when I am asleep, my body functions want to take that time to rejuvenate themselves.  If I constantly eat late I will overwork my system.  Most of us do not eat breakfast, or at least not a healthy breakfast.  But if you think about it, the hours between 6 a.m. and noon are usually the busiest time for many of us.  This means that we are asking our bodies to function at top capacity with minimal if any fuel.  If you asked your car to go 6 hour, at 50 miles/hr on a $1.50 worth of gas, you would soon be on the side of the road with your thumb out.  Many of us treat our spiritual nutrition the same way.  If we spend anytime at all in the word in the morning it is a quick snack that may have very little nutritional value.  We read that same Psalm that we have been reading for 10 years.  Then we run out to face our day; the trials, the attacks of the enemy, even our Christian responsibility of glorifying God on 10 minutes worth of low grade spiritual energy and we wonder why we so often feel spiritually drained. 

          In fact, nutritionist now say, that it is better to eat three small balance meals a day and eat small healthy snacks throughout the day than to eat three large balanced meals a day.  This gives a better distribution of energy, provides the body with its needed fuel throughout the day, and actually facilitates weight loss.

JOSHUA 1:8

          Here God tells Joshua to meditate in the Word day and night, not day or night.  Meditating in this way, God said would make Joshua’s way prosperous and would bring Joshua good success.  Many of us don’t eat physically or spiritually healthy though out the day because we feel we don’t have time to prepare meals and sit down to eat them.  By not eating and eating improperly we are perpetuating an unhealthy lifestyle both physically and spiritually.  To develop into healthy, spiritually strong Christians we must be like the writer of Psalms 119, where in verse 97 he tells us, “O how love I thy law! It is my meditation all the day.”

2.  Exercise

          Another thing that is needed to facilitate good health is exercise. 

ACTS 24:16

In the natural we must burn the energy that we acquire by eating right and in the spiritual we must learn to practice that which we learn by feasting on God’s Word.  Paul says here that he makes it a practice to have a clear conscience towards God and man.  To make this a practice Paul must exercise, or use that which knows and understands about the will of God for mankind and for himself in particular.

I TIMOTHY 4:7-8

            Here Paul is not speaking against physical exercise but rather is saying “As valuable as physical fitness may be, spiritual fitness, or godliness, is much more valuable.”  You see, “Physical fitness is profitable only for a little while.” But godliness is profitable not only in this present life but in the life to come.  One might also say here that hooping and hollering, dancing and shouting profit but a little, especially if one is not living a holy and righteous life.  It may make you feel good on this side of life but will profit you not at all when you face eternity.

          Finally many Christians are eating better spiritual meals than in times past.  Yet we see the Church having less and less impact in society and in the lives of those who are outside of the Church.  If we as individuals do not take that which we learn inside the church walls to those who are outside, then we miss the greatest opportunity to exercise our faith.  The proper exercising of the Christian faith hinges on service to others.

3.  Rest and Relaxation

          Because we do lead very active and busy lives it is important that we get the proper rest and that we have periods of relaxation.  Many times we understand how to rest physically.  We sleep at night, take naps during the day and occasionally just take a vacation, kick back and attempt to do nothing in particular.  We say then that we are resting.  But in the spiritual we many times struggles with resting because to rest in the spiritual requires complete trust in God.  We know all of the right scriptures to repeat to ourselves.

Psalms 37:3-7 - Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shall thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shall be fed.   Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.  Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.  And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday. Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked devices to pass.

MATTHEW 11:28-30

          Often we can not find the rest that we need because we refuse to bring the mess that we are carrying to Jesus.  We don’t trust that God will handle our issues, our desires, and our stuff in the way that we want it to be handled.  So we carry our own heavy load, trying to figure out a way to make things work the way we would like for them to work.  The healthy Christian has really learned to “Trust in the Lord with all of their heart and to lean not unto their own understanding” in any situation, in any desire or in any part of their heart.  The healthy Christian finds rest in God because he has learned that God “will keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on him because he trusts in God.”

4.  Regular Check-ups

          The fourth and final thing that is needed to maintain good health is regular check-up.

2 CORINTHIANS 13:5

          In the natural when many think of a check up they think only of going to the doctor.  But a very important part of having good health is knowing your own body.  We women know the importance of self-examination.  Likewise spiritually if we are to be healthy Christians we must make a habit of examining and evaluating ourselves on a regular basis.  Paul encourages us here to prove our own selves.  You see the Spirit of God who is in us should bear witness with our spirit not only that we are saved, but also that we are daily walking in the will of God and thus pleasing him by the lives we live.  Examine yourself regular to assure yourself that you are living and walking as the Spirit of God leads.

EPHESIANS 5:21

          Along with doing self examinations we do go to the doctor for regular check up, and sometimes to a specialist when we have a specific problem.  This scripture says submit yourselves one to another.  I don’t see this as find someone to have authority over you, but rather, find someone to whom you will be accountable, someone who will be committed to helping you to stay in check even when you pout, mumble, complain and threaten to go your own way.  Good health often requires the outside view of one who is able to see beyond your current circumstances when you may be struggling to do so.  Find that person from whom you will receive medicine that often is displeasing to the taste.  For it is often the worst tasting medicine and the harshest treatments that rid us of germs, bacteria and sickness and likewise it is often that which is harsh and distasteful that purges us of sin, spots and wrinkles.  The healthy Christian eats right, exercises his faith, rest and relaxes in the care and provision of God and keeps a close watch on his spiritual well being.