Valuing our physicalness

Offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of

worship (Romans 12:1)

John Byl

byl@redeemer.ca

Do you love your physicalness?

Creation

• Genesis 1 and 2

• Two lessons– God created all things—Psalm 33:9; 11:3; 2

Peter 3:5-7– God created all things good—1 Timothy 4:4-5

• Creation is personal

We do not reflect the image, we are the image—like father like son, like

mother like daughter

• Scripture on image– “When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a

son in his one likeness, in his own image, and he named him Seth” (Genesis 5:3).

– “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27).

• “Crowned” humans “with glory and honor” (Psalm 8:5).

Two aspects of being “in image”

• Cultivators/creators—unlike Greek gods– Genesis 1—created—let them rule– Exodus 20—6 work days; 1 rest day

• Live in relationship– A Trinitarian God— “not good to be alone”

(Genesis 2:18)

Fall• One person’s sin affects us all—Isaiah 53:6;

Romans 3:23; Genesis 4:8; Romans 5:12.• Fall is a universal and pervasive disposition for

people to turn their back on God.• Broken relationship with creation

– Thistles—Genesis 3:17-19– Broken relationships– Creation itself experience the fall—Romans 8:22;

Jeremiah 112:4, 12:11.

For example:Seven deadly sins and their

physical affect

Envy is to resent someone else’s good so much that one is tempted to destroy it or steal it from them—

Proverbs 14:30

Anger is to allow contempt for another to rule over us—Proverbs

27:4

Laziness is about dreaming and not doing—Proverbs 13:4

Greed in us wants, and wants—Proverbs 11:28

The glutton thinks only about food—Philippians 3:19

Lustful obsession continually craves for pleasure—Ephesians

4:19

 

 

Redemption

• “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full” (John 10:10).

• “For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:21-22).

• “For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven” (Colossians 1:19-20).

• Redemption is Christ’s payment for our sinfulness. Christ’s work of redemption call us to make all things new, to make things as they were, “very good.”

For example:Opposite of seven deadly sins

• Instead of envy we read—Proverbs 14:30

• Instead of injury through furious irrational anger—Matthew 6:12; also Ephesians 4:32.

• Instead of obesity caused by laziness—Proverbs 13:4

• Instead of greedy trust in self-serving riches, we need to live simply so all may simply live—Philippians 4:19

• Instead of being a captive to food—Philippians 3:20-21.

• Instead of being a captive to our lust—Ephesians 4:22-24). “Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God” (Romans 6:13).

• Fallen, but still created in God’s image:– Deuteronomy 32:6– Isaiah 64:8– Revelation 4:11

• God wants to renew creation through us:– Christ's ambassadors—2 Corinthians 5:19-20– Rulers—Psalm 8:6– Preachers to every cm of the world (Mark

16:15)

• Spiritual acts of worship are physical—Romans 12:1-2– offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and

pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do 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.

Learning from sport

Worshipping God

• Kneeling• Bowing• Lifting holy hands• Dancing

• Jesus’ messianic claim based on the physical—Matthew 11:4-5

• What does it mean to be holy—Leviticus 19:2; 11:44; 20:7?– Meat—Leviticus 19– Not eating swarming things—Leviticus 11– Not to hurt or kill our children—Leviticus 20:1-7

• Worshipping in the temple– 1 Corinthians 6:19-20; 1 Kings 6-7– 2 Corinthians 4:10-12

God’s providence

• God gives—Matthew 6:31-33• God nourishes—Psalm 104:14-15• Providence is a confident belief in God’s loving

care and protection.• God’s concern for our physicalness is also

demonstrated through his acts of healing– Matthew 4:23; 8:16….– “This healing was the sign of the reconciling and

victorious Kingdom which in Him and with Him came to be” (Berkhouwer, 1962, p.230)

• God’s concern is also noted in laws to protect life. He commands us: “you shall not murder” (Exodus 20:13).

• Why?

• “For in the image of God has God made man” (Genesis 9:6).

How then shall we live?• Enjoyment—1

Timothy 6:17• Abundant living—

John 10:10• Good Health—3

John 2

Fulfillment

• “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life” (John 3:36).

• Fulfillment is God honoring his promise that all things will be made new, and there will be an eternal “new heaven and a new earth” (Revelation 1:1)

• New Heaven and New Earth—a prepared place—John 14:1-3

• Resurrection– Apostles Creed– 1 Corinthians 15:51-58– Jesus ate—Luke

24:37-42– Jesus was seen

resurrecting—Luke 24-51

• Importance of Jesus’ resurrection to us—1 Corinthians 15:16-19.

• What are we being resurrected to—Isaiah 65:17; see also 66:22; 2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 21:4; Zachariah 8:5

Do you want to offer spiritual worship?

Offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual

act of worship (Romans 12:1)