The Fitness Trinity II: Strength Training -- FPC sermon excerpt
God wants us to be strong. Not so that we’ll have big bulging muscles, not so that we’ll push people around, not so that we’ll intimidate others on the softball field. No, God wants us to be strong so that we can be servants.
I discovered the importance of strength while on last fall’s mission trip to Honduras. Our Midlife Men were helping to build a science building at the Plan Escalon School, and the building was located at the bottom of a hill. The cinder blocks could only be delivered by truck to the top of the hill, so you can imagine how the blocks made their way to the construction site.
They came down in our arms. Two by two. Block after block after block. It took just about all the strength we had.
I love what Phil Beauchene said about the work of the Midlife Men: “You couldn’t pay me enough to do this kind of work in the United States.” But in Honduras, he does it for free, and he loves it, because it is an act of Christian service.
This is the second of three messages on the link between spiritual fitness and physical fitness. I have begun to introduce you to “The Fitness Trinity,” which has been devised by my friend Vik Khanna, an exercise coach and health educator.
The Fitness Trinity consists of three parts: Endurance exercise, strength training, and good nutrition. Endurance exercise is any exercise that puts you into motion and requires you to use the biggest muscles in your body — your legs, hips, and rear end. Endurance exercise can include walking, running, swimming or riding a bike, but it should be done vigorously, for at least 30 minutes at a time, and at least 3 times per week.
Now, I want to speak about strength training. I believe that strength is a virtue — whether it is physical, intellectual, emotional or spiritual. Strong people are able to resist fads, endure hardships, enjoy recreation, and perform God’s work in the community and world. Strength is not merely the absence of weakness, but is, instead, an approach to life that values the presence of mental, spiritual and physical muscle, and helps us to be the people God wants us to be. As St. Francis de Sales once said, “There is nothing so strong as gentleness and nothing so gentle as true strength.”
None of us would ever question the fact that Jesus was a man of strength. From resisting the temptations of Satan to standing up to the criticisms of religious and political leaders, Jesus showed incredible personal strength. His strength came from his sense of mission and purpose, his relationship with his disciples, and most of all from God himself. Jesus tapped into the very same divine power that is available to us — the power that Paul speaks of when he says, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).
Strength is a tool for achievement, purpose, and service. Spiritual and physical strength are two of the most empowering forces you can imagine. When you have taken yourself from unfit to fit, from spiritually unfulfilled to overflowing, from medically at-risk to medically robust, you make yourself into a change agent for the world. You become a person who has the strength to change the world around you.
It is clear to me that the very last thing Jesus wants is a group of inactive, sedentary disciples. He wants his followers to embrace the spirit of action. In fact, some of Christ’s strongest condemnations are directed toward those who sit and talk — rather than stand and serve. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus denounces the scribes and Pharisees who sit on Moses' seat; they “love to have the place of honor at banquets,” he observes, “and the best seats in the synagogues" (Matthew 23:6).
To all who feel tempted to take such seats, Jesus barks the command, “Don't sit there!” Disciples of Christ are not to sit and become sedentary, they are to stand and use their strength to be active ... as servants. “The greatest among you will be your servant,” says Jesus, (v. 11), standing to identify human needs and make an active effort to bring comfort, healing and hope.
The question for us, as followers of Jesus today, is this: Are we standing up and using our strength to serve others? Or, are we sitting down and focusing on ourselves?
I discovered the importance of strength while on last fall’s mission trip to Honduras. Our Midlife Men were helping to build a science building at the Plan Escalon School, and the building was located at the bottom of a hill. The cinder blocks could only be delivered by truck to the top of the hill, so you can imagine how the blocks made their way to the construction site.
They came down in our arms. Two by two. Block after block after block. It took just about all the strength we had.
I love what Phil Beauchene said about the work of the Midlife Men: “You couldn’t pay me enough to do this kind of work in the United States.” But in Honduras, he does it for free, and he loves it, because it is an act of Christian service.
This is the second of three messages on the link between spiritual fitness and physical fitness. I have begun to introduce you to “The Fitness Trinity,” which has been devised by my friend Vik Khanna, an exercise coach and health educator.
The Fitness Trinity consists of three parts: Endurance exercise, strength training, and good nutrition. Endurance exercise is any exercise that puts you into motion and requires you to use the biggest muscles in your body — your legs, hips, and rear end. Endurance exercise can include walking, running, swimming or riding a bike, but it should be done vigorously, for at least 30 minutes at a time, and at least 3 times per week.
Now, I want to speak about strength training. I believe that strength is a virtue — whether it is physical, intellectual, emotional or spiritual. Strong people are able to resist fads, endure hardships, enjoy recreation, and perform God’s work in the community and world. Strength is not merely the absence of weakness, but is, instead, an approach to life that values the presence of mental, spiritual and physical muscle, and helps us to be the people God wants us to be. As St. Francis de Sales once said, “There is nothing so strong as gentleness and nothing so gentle as true strength.”
None of us would ever question the fact that Jesus was a man of strength. From resisting the temptations of Satan to standing up to the criticisms of religious and political leaders, Jesus showed incredible personal strength. His strength came from his sense of mission and purpose, his relationship with his disciples, and most of all from God himself. Jesus tapped into the very same divine power that is available to us — the power that Paul speaks of when he says, “I can do all things through him who strengthens me” (Philippians 4:13).
Strength is a tool for achievement, purpose, and service. Spiritual and physical strength are two of the most empowering forces you can imagine. When you have taken yourself from unfit to fit, from spiritually unfulfilled to overflowing, from medically at-risk to medically robust, you make yourself into a change agent for the world. You become a person who has the strength to change the world around you.
It is clear to me that the very last thing Jesus wants is a group of inactive, sedentary disciples. He wants his followers to embrace the spirit of action. In fact, some of Christ’s strongest condemnations are directed toward those who sit and talk — rather than stand and serve. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus denounces the scribes and Pharisees who sit on Moses' seat; they “love to have the place of honor at banquets,” he observes, “and the best seats in the synagogues" (Matthew 23:6).
To all who feel tempted to take such seats, Jesus barks the command, “Don't sit there!” Disciples of Christ are not to sit and become sedentary, they are to stand and use their strength to be active ... as servants. “The greatest among you will be your servant,” says Jesus, (v. 11), standing to identify human needs and make an active effort to bring comfort, healing and hope.
The question for us, as followers of Jesus today, is this: Are we standing up and using our strength to serve others? Or, are we sitting down and focusing on ourselves?
posted by Henry Brinton | 12:25 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home