Sermon preached by Dr. John A. Huffman, Jr.
October 7, 2007
Copyright © 2007, John A. Huffman, Jr.
All rights reserved.

GROWING TOWARD WHOLENESS--IN STATURE

And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor.(Luke 2:52)

"We want your body," declares a sensual health spa ad.

In a much deeper sense, Jesus Christ echoes a similar sentiment, "I want your body."

The Apostle Paul makes so clear the Lord's claims upon our bodies when he writes, "I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship" (Romans 12:1).

Luke 2:52 explains, "And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor." An alternative translation of that is that "Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature. . . ."

His example calls us to balanced living. Ours can be that exhilarating growth toward wholeness, which harmonizes our mental, spiritual, social and physical development. Imbalanced living occurs when one of these four areas is emphasized to the neglect of the others. Jesus calls us to pattern ourselves after Him.

In his little booklet Balanced Christianity, John R. W. Stott says, "It seems that there is almost no pastime the Devil enjoys more than tipping Christians off balance."

Jesus increased in stature. He grew physically. The Greek word, used here by Luke, usually refers to chronological growth. That's why the New Revised Standard Version translates it in these words, "And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years. . . ." Viewed in conjunction with the surrounding words, it means a development in bodily stature. An even deeper study of this word makes us aware that a spiritual maturity is interconnected with this physical growth. It's another way of saying that God wants to be involved, not only in our mental, social and spiritual development. He is also interested in our physical growth. The way we use our bodies is of utmost importance to Him and to us.

Are you taking good care of your body? Am I taking good care of my body? My body is a gift from God. Along with every gift comes a stewardship responsibility. What am I doing with this special gift?

Each one of us has a body. One person may have more visible spiritual gifts than another. Intellectual capacities differ from person to person. While we are not all the same in our social sensitivities, each one of us is given a physical body. We may differ in our sexual characteristics in height, weight, age, features and health, but each of us has a physical body.

There is a difference between the bodies of a Christian and a nonbeliever. The nonbeliever is entitled to do with his/her body whatever that person wants. She is free to be her own master. In contrast to this, as a Christian, I do not own my body. It belongs to God. In fact, my body is a temple! God has chosen to reside in me.

Writing to a group of believers who were misusing their bodies, Paul states this succinctly: "Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body" (1 Corinthians 6:19-20).

Do I live in constant awareness that my body is God's temple? In what shape do I keep this temple?

If we let the church sanctuaries in which we worship deteriorate, we become ashamed and consider them a disgrace. Several years ago, we took our sanctuary that we just completed in 1984 and completely stripped it down, repainting, recarpeting, reupholstering, restaining and redoing electrical wiring, sound system and the lighting. Your and my body is more sacred that any church building. It is the real temple of God!

This sacred view of the human body differs radically from traditional understandings. The Greeks of Paul's day looked down on the body. They emphasized the soul and spirit of a person. The body did not matter. When the human spirit is elevated and the human body depreciated, it is easy to move to one of two extremes. Both were present at the time of Jesus. In one form or another, they persist to the present day.

On the one hand, there is rigorous asceticism. Ascetics do everything possible to minimize the importance of the body. They literally hate their bodies. They deny themselves proper food, sexual release and adequate clothing. Even some Christians are guilty of depreciating their physical bodies, neglecting themselves as they concentrate on spiritual development. However, the most notable disfigurement of the body is seen among those who worship Satan. Such misled people feel that they will achieve a high level of spirituality through the disfigurement of the human anatomy. I have seen such evidences of this in some of the "holy men" in pagan cultures.

The other extreme is what we call hedonism. Since the body is of no importance, you can do with it what you want. Go ahead and satiate its appetites. It makes no difference, since the soul is the only thing that matters. Hedonists believe one can do anything he wants with his body.

Today, many choose hedonism as their lifestyle. They live sensually. Pampering their bodies in every way possible, they discover that pleasure is subject to diminishing returns. The more they gratify their sensual appetites, the greater those appetites become. Ultimately, deviant behavior patterns develop in terms of food, drink and sex, because normal, healthy practices no longer satisfy.

At its very core, that is the reality of pornography. Pornography distorts that which is beautiful into that which is ugly. Its airbrushed attractiveness quite quickly turns to that which is deviant, that which distorts the body and provides degrading titillation from that which actually is often quite ugly. Both asceticism and hedonism are totally unacceptable extremes for a disciple of Jesus Christ. Asceticism implies a distorted view of the Christian life. It goes hand in glove with legalism, which says that we can earn our salvation by doing good works. In essence, the Christian ascetic is telling God and the world that he is making himself more spiritual by denying his appetites. True spirituality comes only from God. It cannot be generated or developed by a human. On the other hand, the hedonistic approach denies the purity of the Christian life. As the temples of God, our bodies are sacred and to be treated as such.

How do I treat my body? A Christian should be as good a steward of his/her physical resources as the person who does not know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. As Christians, our bodies are certainly as important to us as the body of the professional athlete is to him. The athlete in training eats right, exercises right and gets the right amount of sleep. Do I?

We're now in the middle of the football season, and it brings back a lot of memories to me. I love athletics. In recent years, I've done some sports chaplaincy work on the Champions Tour, the PGA Senior Tour. Back when I was much younger and pastoring in Key Biscayne, Florida, I was the Protestant chaplain for the Miami Dolphins football team. I got to know a number of the players. One of them was a wide receiver by the name of Howard Twilley. He and his wife Julie were members of the church we pastored. He lived in Miami during the football season and spent the off-season in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he had been a collegiate All-American at the University of Tulsa. One summer, we stopped off in Tulsa to spend four days with the Twilley family. Our days together in July immediately preceded his checking into the Dolphins training camp. For several months, he'd been working out, getting himself in top condition. He asked me to join him on one of his workouts. We got up at 5:45 in the morning and ran four miles. After that, we did a series of "gassers," excruciatingly painful wind sprints.

By this time, I was totally worn out. But Howard put on shoulder pads, which he had made into a halter with a harness. Passing a rope through a little machine called an "Exergenie," he hooked it onto the fence. Then he did a number of forty-yard sprints, straining against this heavy tension. At the time we were in his home, he ate no bread, butter, potatoes or desserts. Why? He was conditioning himself for the new season.

That's what Paul refers to when he talks about "punishing" his body. He writes, "Athletes exercise self-control in all things; they do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable one. So I do not run aimlessly, nor do I box as though beating the air; but I punish my body and enslave it, so that after proclaiming to others I myself should not be disqualified" (1 Corinthians 9:25-27).

As a follower of Jesus, do I take seriously this responsibility of stewardship? Do I keep my body in good condition? Jesus did. He increased in stature. A rugged outdoor man, He walked mile upon mile over rough terrain. Do I get enough exercise?

One aspect of taking care of the body involves obeying what the Bible says about its use.

Some people don't want to have their lifestyle encumbered by what the Bible says. In fact, they don't want religion to in any way inhibit their lifestyle. I came across this little piece titled "The Lite Church-everything you always wanted in a church . . . and less."

7. Guaranteed 20-minute sermon or your next one's free!

6. Your choice of only 8 commandments

5. Only happy hymns and choruses

4. Fewer commitments

3. No messages on subjects that hit too close to home

2. Reclining pews with pillow pads and head rests

1. Offering followed by a complimentary beverage and after-service mint

In reality, I know you don't feel that way about your faith. You know that God knows how you and I function best. Not only did He create the world, He put us in charge of it. He created me and wants me to be in charge of myself as a good steward. Interestingly, the directions that He gives aren't too severe. They simply make good common sense. So I sit up and take notice about what the Bible says I should and shouldn't do with my body.

The Bible describes a healthy person as someone who is in charge of his own body. This involves getting an adequate amount of exercise and sleep. You don't have to be a great athlete to get the proper amount of exercise. Some of us actually overdid this. I ran four to five miles, three to four days a week from 1954 through 1992. I now have some joint problems as a result. I now do low-impact exercises like walking, bide riding, stretching and light weights. Only recently did I discover that my 94-year-old mother goes to the gym at her retirement home and does cardiovascular exercise on a stationary bike and light weights to keep her body in shape.

A careful study of the Bible gives us an index as to how we are to dress our bodies. The follower of Jesus should have a discipline of life in which he/she keeps his body clean and attractively clothed. We are called to balance here. On the one hand, we are to avoid a gloomy, unkempt appearance. On the other, we are not to go to the opulent excesses of gaudy ornamentation. This insight calls for an understanding of what the Bible means by the braiding of hair, wearing of jewelry and covering of one's head. In the New Testament times, a woman's head was a sign of chastity. She was not to stimulate the desires of men, as did the loose woman. The fullness of her beauty was directed toward her husband, to whom she was "the crowning glory." Some say that the Christian woman today should dress in the precise ways outlined by the Bible. What I believe we discover by carefully examining the principles of God's Word is that the Christian woman is to present herself as attractively as possible in a way that brings glory to Jesus Christ.

During the late 1960s, there was hot debate as to how long a man's hair could be. Some quoted the Bible as being opposed to long hair on men. The question is what is long hair? What is the standard of the day?

I got a kick out of this little story. A young boy had just gotten his driving permit. He asked his father, who was a minister, if they could discuss his use of the car. His father said to him, "I'll make a deal with you. You bring your grades up, study your Bible a little and get your hair cut, then we will talk about it." A month later, the boy came back and again asked his father if they could discuss his use of the car. His father said, "Son, I'm read proud of you. You have brought your grades up, you've studied your Bible diligently, but you didn't get your hair cut!" The young man waited a moment and replied, "You know, Dad, I've been thinking about that. I've read in the Bible that Samson had long hair, Moses had long hair, Noah had long hair and even Jesus had long hair." His father replied, "Yes, Son, and if you read on further you'll find out that they walked everywhere they went!"

The reality is that I don't think that God really cares about the length of one's hair as much as God wants us to be clear as to our gender identity. Careful study would emphasize the fact that God's Word is calling men to look like men and women to look like women. There is no place for a unisex look. There is a great variety possible in the areas of style and dress. The Christian is responsible to keep himself in cleanliness, neatness and modesty. In doing so, he is affirming, in a positive way, his sexuality.

We are also to obey the Bible in our attitude toward food. Gluttony has no place in the Christian's life. A balanced diet and proper nutrition should mark our habits. It's amusing to see how pious Christians can point their obese little fingers at others who do not live exactly as do they, forgetting that gluttony has no place in the Christian lifestyle.

The Bible refers to the consumption of alcoholic beverages, but nowhere do I find a specific call to total abstinence. The Bible does say, "Do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, sodomites, thieves, the greedy, drunkards, revilers, robbers--none of these will inherit the kingdom of God. And this is what some of you used to be. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God" (1 Corinthians 6:9-11).

Every one of us knows intimately people who have alcohol problems. The Bible teaches moderation in all things. For some, moderation is impossible. The estimates are that one-tenth of our population is physiologically genetically oriented toward alcohol addiction. For some, abstinence is essential. And for all of us, there needs to be an awareness of our vulnerability to overindulgence. It is impossible to calculate the amount of heartbreak that comes from the abusive behavior, the crime, the loosening of boundaries, the life-shattering accidents brought about by alcohol abuse.

Do we even need to mention the abuse of prescription and nonprescription drugs? How many bodies and minds have been wrecked by drug abuse?

And we are called to obey what the Bible says about how our bodies relate to the bodies of others. This is another way of referring to our human sexuality.

The Bible states clearly that there is to be no premarital or extramarital sexual intercourse. First Corinthians 6:12-18 reads:

"All things are lawful for me," but not all things are beneficial. "All things are lawful for me," but I will not be dominated by anything. "Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food," and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is meant not for fornication but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. And God raised the Lord and will also raise us by his power. Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Should I therefore take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never! Do you not know that whoever is united to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For it is said, "the two shall be one flesh." But anyone united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Shun fornication! Every sin that a person commits is outside the body; but the fornicator sins against the body itself.

There is no way one can bypass this biblical understanding of sexuality, unless one wants to totally distort the Bible. Many arguments are made against biblical teaching. Many attempts are made to say that the Bible doesn't say that. But the Bible does develop what is a masterfully beautiful understanding of human sexuality. It declares that your body is a beautiful creation of God. It declares that sexuality is a God-given gift. That gift is to be used both for procreation and the enhancement of intimate bonding between a husband and a wife. Sneer as one might at this understanding of human sexuality, I can guarantee it works. What brings greater security and intimacy than the assurance that one's spouse is faithful and one's sexuality is not used as a self-gratifying, exploitive tool outside the vows of marriage commitment.

Thank God for His amazing grace and forgiveness. Thank God for His new beginning in which His Holy Spirit enables us to turn our backs on previous lifestyles that robbed one of ultimate sexual security. I've seen, in the past few weeks, enough case examples of selfish, egocentric sexual promiscuity to be reminded once again that God's way is the best. How heartbreaking it is to listen to the heart-cry of a young wife and mother whose husband has just told her, "I'm leaving. I've got to be me. I want to be free. I'm ready to start dating again." And how horrendous it is to talk to persons whose lives are being destroyed by sexually transmitted diseases, particularly HIV/AIDS.

And, in a much more subtle way, we have the new epidemic of addictive sexual behavior that fleshes itself out in the cyberspace world of internet pornography. In the September 4, 2007 issue of Christian Century magazine, there's a major article titled "Addictive behavior: Pastors and pornography." This insidious, addictive behavior has made its way right into the middle of American Christian families and is even taking its toll on Christian leaders. The opening paragraph of the article reads,

According to many Christian groups, pornography is a disturbing and increasing problem. A Promise Keepers survey found that 53 percent of its members consume pornography. A 2000 Christianity Today survey found that 37 percent of pastors said pornography is a "current struggle" of theirs. Fifty-seven percent called pornography the most sexually damaging issue for their congregations. A Barna Research Group study released in February 2007 said that 35 percent of men and 17 percent of women reported having used pornography in the past month.

The pornography industry in the United States is indeed large. Adult Video News, an industry publication, estimates the industry's 2006 revenues at $13.3 billion. The U.S. is the worlds largest producer and consumer of pornographic material. Porn Web sites draw 72 million visitors every month; more than 13,000 pornographic video titles are produced yearly.

It's not my purpose in this message to give a lengthy dissertation on why God's Word prohibits premarital or extramarital intercourse. There are good, sensible reasons for this prohibition. God is a good, sensible God. God is interested in your well-being. He's interested in my well-being. He wants you and me to use our bodies sexually in a way that will bring the greatest fulfillment to us as individuals and to the society of which we are a part.

Dealing with the subject of physical wholeness also demands that we look at homosexuality. How sad is this lifestyle. How helpless are many who have become caught up in it, because of their genetic orientation, their life experiences or some combination of both. It is anything but a "gay" lifestyle. But more tragic is a society that is coming to accept this distortion of creation, giving it front-page respectability. The Bible teaches that homosexuality is sin. But the Bible also has compassion for the sinner. I read of no degrees of sin. Jesus directed His rebuke equally to the religious self-righteous Pharisees and to those who were guilty of debasing their sexuality. Just the fact that a person has a tendency toward homosexuality does not make that person a sinner. Giving surrender to the temptation is the sin. This is true, also, for those heterosexuals who yield to infidelity. God calls us to a purity in the way we use our bodies, both in actuality and in fantasy.

On the other hand, there are other areas where the Bible is not clear, not specific. This is where you and I are called to an exhilarating freedom before Christ to live faithfully as His disciples. How do I determine how to live when the Bible's teaching isn't clear? The secret is to derive principles from God's Word, being very much aware that the times change. We must not involve ourselves in mechanical, hypocritical lifestyles, which attribute to the Scriptures teachings that are not actually there.

Os Guinness suggests a formula which I've found helpful. He says, first set your boundaries as to what would be wrong action at either extreme. Pick the area of dress, for example. At one extreme, it would be wrong to dress lavishly, spending enormous sums of money on clothing. On the other hand, it would be wrong for the Christian to walk around in threadbare, unkempt clothing. Either route would be contrary to biblical teachings. So we avoid either extreme.

When we come to that middle area in which we are unsure, we can be guided by two specific principles. First, we should lean against the weakness of our own tendencies. If I'm given to a lack of interest in clothes, perhaps I need to pay a bit more attention to that area. If I am one whose temptation is to overdress and spend too much money on clothes, perhaps I should hold myself back a bit, being sensitive to my natural inclinations. Second, we should lean against the particular cultural temptations of the day. If we live in a society that stresses bizarre dress and extravagance, we should be careful not to be pushed by our culture. On the other hand, if my closest friends tend to depreciate physical appearance, I may have to counter that tendency so that I'm not overly influenced by what they say.

There is an exhilarating principle that may be applied to most of the ethically gray areas of human decision-making. Christians should always remember to first look at the revealed principles of the Scriptures and to depend on the existential presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives.

There is a danger in Christian circles today. There can be an undue stress on Christian freedom. True, in Jesus Christ we are set free. We are no longer bound by the Law. We are not to judge ourselves spiritually on external, human-made standards. However, some of us play a subtle game with God. In our emphasis on Christian freedom, we may forget that we do not own our bodies. As we've already mentioned, we are the temples of the Holy Spirit. Over a period of time, we can drift into a lifestyle in which we try to live as closely as possible to the world's pattern, forgetting that we are called to a higher standard. Paul says, "'All things are lawful for me,' but not all things are beneficial. 'All things are lawful for me,' but I will not be dominated by anything" (1 Corinthians 6:12).

There is a higher standard than that technically "safe" sliding into second base in strict conformity to biblical ground rules. A true disciple of Jesus Christ yearns to live at the highest standard possible, not judging those around but voluntarily taking upon oneself certain disciplines that free one for fuller Christian service.

In the Old Testament, there was what was called the "Nazarite vow." A Nazarite was one consecrated, devoted, separated in a special dedication under God. The Nazarite vows called for three outward signs: the Nazarite's hair was to be untouched by a razor; he was to abstain totally from alcoholic beverages; and he was not to come in contact with dead bodies. This Nazarite vow was a consecration, not an ascetic separation. It was an expression of loyalty to God in which forms of abstinence were illustrative of one's consecration. The vows were not designed to purchase salvation or sanctification.

Originally, these vows were for a lifetime. Then, they came to be regulated by law. A person could accept Nazarite vows for a certain period of time and then be freed from them for the rest of his life. I believe God would call some of us to a contemporary concept of a Nazarite vow. What would this be for you? I do not know. It's puzzling to know how to fit this together. We live in a fast-moving world. Some of us are bombarded daily with the affluence of our society. I struggle daily to keep from being possessed by my possessions. Should I sell all and become an ascetic, or should I luxuriate in all these material blessings, gradually becoming a hedonist? How delicately I can rationalize, especially in those areas where the Bible is not clear.

Paul was willing to punish his body. He was willing to condition himself, training himself for effective Christian service. What special disciplines would God have me carry out quietly in my own life? They will probably be invisible to others. They will be disciplines in the use of my body, my energy, my human resources, which ultimately will bring glory to Jesus Christ, along with growth toward wholeness.

Daniel. What a person! A war refugee. Taken captive by a hostile power. Wined and dined in the opulence of the king's court. But Daniel was determined to grow toward wholeness in balanced living. Daringly, he refused to indulge himself in the luxurious lifestyle of the king's table. The Bible says, "But Daniel resolved that he would not defile himself with the royal rations of food and wine. . . ." (Daniel 1:8). In the process, Daniel, with this strong purpose to bring glory to God, was singled out as special, both in the eyes of God and the eyes of the people with pagan background.

God has given each of us a body. Are we taking good care of the body He has given? Are we obeying what the Bible says about its use? Are we willing to go a little bit extra, disciplining ourselves to bring even greater glory to the Savior? Be honest with yourself and God as you answer these questions!