Importance Of Physical Health

Importance Of Physical Health

Reading: Psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.    He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters,    he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

Teaching:

Well folks, hopefully by now you know that our teaching series this term is looking at God’s desire for us is to be transformed more and more into his likeness. When we give our lives to Jesus, we don’t wait until eternity for our old selves to be changed. Paul reminds us in Romans 12 that in this life we shouldn’t conform to what’s happening in this world and the culture around us, but right now work towards the transformation. He also says to the Church in Corinth that if we are in Christ, then the new creation has come. It’s not down the road – it’s now. Our old self has gone, and the new is here. So God desires to see transformation take place in all of us.
But I wonder how many of us really feel any different in our lives now that we have Christ living in us? Do you feel any different? I hope so. Would others around you notice a difference in your life? So that’s why this teaching series is so important, as I want to encourage you all that God wants to work on your transformation now, and not just in one area of your life, but in all. So these weeks we will be looking at different aspects that are to be transformed. Last week we thought about our spiritual transformation – we all are as close to God as we choose to be. And now this week we pick up on probably the most famous psalm in our bibles, Psalm 23, and today I want us to think about the transformation of our physical health.

Now I wonder as you think about your physical health do you panic slightly? Some of you might be thinking, I need to lose some weight, I really need to be exercising a little bit more, I can feel the aches and pains coming on me. But this morning I’m not going to talk so much about physical exercise or the right food we should be eating, although that is very important. Remember again what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6 that “your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God[?] You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore, honour God with your bodies”. So it is important folks that anything that we allow to go into our bodies, what we consume, our addictions, what we watch – remember that God wants us to honour our, bodies, and not allow ourselves to become a slave to those cravings.

But the thing that I want us to think about this morning, is something that affects us all – it can do great damage to our physical bodies and that is STRESS. Have you ever been stressed in your life? Every day I am stressed. Even this morning as I drive from Christ Church to St John’s I am conscious of the limited time I have to get across, and generally I am stressed making sure I have enough time. We all experience stress from time to time.
See if you can complete these phrases:
– I am at the end of my ………
– I’m ready to throw in the ……..
– I feel as though my life is falling …….
At some point I’m sure we have all said those words. They all relate to how stressed we feel. And this country spends a lot of money dealing with stress. Would you believe that in 2022, people taking time off work due to work related stress or burnout cost the UK Economy £28 billion. Stress affects us all to some degree.
And yet the word of God says that that should not describe those who walk with the Lord. Remember that stress is not a bad thing, we need stress to drive us and make us respond to different situations. But it’s when stress becomes a regular thing that we have to watch.

So there how do we deal with chronic stress, where we always feel out of control, where we go to bed worried, and we waken up in the morning with the issues still occupying our minds? And so, what does the Bible tell us about stress? The bible doesn’t specifically use the word stress, but we see situations throughout the pages where we know people are deeply stressed. Even Jesus experienced it – we know that as he came close to his trial and crucifixion, Luke records in Luke 22:44, ‘that in his anguish, [Jesus] prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground’.

So if we recognise that everyone in humanity is affected by it, can you think of things that cause stress?
Worry (mothers worry), hurrying around (calendars filled), traffic jams (road rage), choices that we have to make (different versions of the same thing), fraud/identity theft,

Yet in this psalm 23, we find that it gives us the greatest comfort. Because ultimately how we think about things, how we respond to things, really matters. Proverbs 14:30 says ‘a heart that is at peace gives life to the body’, or the NLT version says, ‘a peaceful heart leads to a healthy body’. When we are stressed, we are not healthy. When our minds are at peace, our bodies function so much better – don’t they. So let’s look at psalm in more detail – there’s so much in this that unfortunately I will only touch the surface.
So firstly, the psalm teaches us to look to God and he will meet all our needs.

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
And we will all agree with those words, but do our lives truly have a complete dependency on God for everything, where we don’t need anything else? So where do we place our security in, where’s our dependency? Remember that stresses come from human things. Stress never comes from God. Therefore, can I encourage you, that you should never put your security in something that can be taken away from you. You can lose your job, you can lose your family, you can lose your good health. But you cannot lose your relationship with Jesus Christ. When we chase after all that the world offers, we eventually get to the point I hope where we realise that nothing truly satisfies. God alone provides us with good things that bring hope. Don’t look to other things to meet your needs. Remember last week I encouraged you to look upon God more. Focus on him. I guarantee you that if you place him central, then it puts your stresses into perspective as you give them over to him. So it doesn’t matter what your needs are – physically, financially, mentally, relationally, the bible says The Lord is my shepherd, I don’t need anything else.

Secondly, as we think about our stresses, remember we have got to obey God’s instruction on rest.
He makes me lie down in greed pastures.
I really don’t like this one personally, because I’m always on the go. I never stop. Alison when she is out walking with me will always tell me to slow down – it’s as if I’m being chased by someone or I have some meeting I’m having to get to. There’s no time to rest. And yet I realise as I get older how important rest is. But then guilt kicks in as if I’m not doing something. There’s got to be something that needs done. Can I give you a tip today if that’s you – there’s no point in the to-do list, because tomorrow there’s going to be another one. It never stops. So why did God model rest. Why on the 7th day did he instruct that we should rest? Well because he knew that our bodies needed a refresh. A day to recover. It’s so that we don’t burnout. I’ve absolutely no proof for this, but I’m guessing that now we have a 24/7 culture, where people work right throughout the week, where shops remain open 24 hours 7 days a week, this is bound to have an impact on our health. And God knows this. Notice in the psalm it says that our shepherd MAKES us lie down. Have you ever felt at times that God has brought you to a point where he has made you lie down. Our best requires rest, and can I suggest that it’s better for him to make us lie down, than our bodies becoming so exhausted that we lie down because we’re ill with worry or exhaustion. So how do we rest? Well maybe this afternoon, some of you are going to lie down for an hour. Maybe today is a day where you decide to set aside your phone and rest from the constant barrage of texts or emails or social media. Even Jesus who was perfect, knew that he needed to rest and so we see examples of Jesus doing that – sleeping in the boat, withdrawing from the crowd, after major events you see him retreat to pray and replenish his soul. So, if Jesus rested, then why don’t we?

Next, I’d suggest that we need to recharge ourselves through the beauty of creation
He leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul.
You know something, I always find when I go to our house in Portstewart and go for a walk on the beach with the dog that I feel so much better. It takes a lot for me to walk away from the desk or the computer, and head for the beach, so there needs to be an active will in my heart to do it. Now for others, the sea doesn’t do it, and I know in St John’s there are several of the guys who love the mountains, and they wouldn’t think twice about going up the Mournes on a Saturday and being back in time for church on a Sunday morning – just that idea of connecting with nature. Remember that God made all of this to recharge our soul. Yesterday morning I stood outside and listened to the birds in the trees singing. It was so beautiful, and it restored my soul. For some of you it’s a beautiful piece of music that just helps you unwind from the stresses of life. So how can we find time in our day to get away from it all. For example, how about starting your every day with God rather than media. What’s the first thing you reach for when you waken – is it your phone or is it your bible? You see these gentle waters that the psalmist talks about here are life giving. And when the world seems to suck everything out of us, knowing that the Good Shepherd wants to lead us to somewhere that restores us is so affirming. He doesn’t just lead us to quiet waters—remember He is the living water. He is life-giving and soul restoring. When he leads us to quiet waters, He is leading us to Himself, to the only thing that can fully restore us in this crazy, busy, draining world. But like any sheep, we tend to wander, so we must stick close to the Good Shepherd to lead us by quiet waters.

And then the 4th thing – Go to God for guidance
He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.
Do we really go to God for help – is he the one who we go to? Listen to the words of the hymn, “What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bare. What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer”. You know I really think that the reason why we get so stressed in life is because we feel so overwhelmed with the decisions we face – we want to know that the path ahead is going to be ok. Can I suggest that it will never be ok if we won’t bring it to the Lord in prayer? Too often we will go to friends or family for guidance and advice, instead of going to God. Here’s what James 1:5 says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you”. SO when you feel the weight of things sitting on you, go to God for guidance – he will as Proverbs 3 says “make the path ahead straight”. Just last night I faced a major issue that now sits as a weight on my shoulders, and then the Godly wisdom of Alison told me. Don’t respond. Stop. Take time to pray and consider the right path. Folks, knowing that the stresses of life are not for us to deal with on our own is such a comfort.

So, let’s move on. We all know that the stresses and pressures of life can be so tough, they are very real. And so, the stresses can be so overwhelming that it feels there’s no way through it all. And so, our 5th final lesson is to Trust God in the dark valley.

Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

Some of you are in a dark valley right now. It’s lonely, and you are worried about the future. And so it will feel like a shadow that follows you are around. And in that valley of the shadow of difficulty, in that valley of the shadow of depression, or discouragement, or divorce or whatever it might be, it seems so large doesn’t it. But we need to remember, that which is causing the shadow is so small in comparison to the God’s love for us. And therefore, God is with you, his rod and his staff will bring you protection and reassurance. Sometimes we think that the massive issue we are dealing with, maybe a health scare, has never been seen by God before. Remember folks that he knows everything about us, he knows what we are thinking, he knows when we sit and when we rise. It’s nothing to him. We need to turn our eyes away from the shadow and concentrate on the light that will lead us through the dark valley.

There’s so much more I could say but let me finish with a last thought. Expect God to finish what he started in you. Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
When we go through the worries of life, we often think of the what ifs. We think, what if this was to happen to my illness. What if this was to happen to my job. And yet I learnt, actually back in the year 2000 in a sermon I present at, that God doesn’t deal with what ifs. There’s absolutely no uncertainty to him. His beautiful plan for us is marked out. The other things that might happen are not his plans. We can focus on what if this was to happen, or this goes wrong. Or instead, we can focus on this – surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life. God has such a desire for your life to be full of joy, a life of abundance, a life of blessing, a life where rest is important. He doesn’t promise life to be easy, and that’s because of the brokenness of the world. But he does promise that his goodness, his love will follow us ALL the days of our lives. What comfort that can bring to our daily lives if instead of waking up to the stresses and strains that we face, we instead waken up and think of Psalm 23:6 before anything else – his goodness and love is following me today. Jesus reminded us that if we are weary and heavy laden today, to bring those pressures and stresses to him. Depend upon him. He can carry it. He doesn’t expect you to do it. Jesus is waiting for you to place all those stresses on him.