The following message was delivered
on Sunday morning, August 25, 2002, in the Adult Sunday School
class at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. Now again, for any who may be
visiting with us, just a word of explanation. This is the fourth
and final lesson that I will be giving in the adult class
as we transition out of our completed studies in the book of Ruth under
the guidance of Pastor Jay and begin next Lord's Day, God willing,
a study of Donald Carson's book or the substance that's found
within the pages of the book a call to spiritual reformation,
priorities from Paul, and his prayers. And Pastor Carlson will
be leading that study. You've been encouraged to purchase
a copy of this book. They have a good bargain price
on it down in the bookstore, and you should have received
this blue sheet. If you didn't get one, please
make sure you get one before the day is out, and spend some
time going through it in preparation for your first lesson next Lord's
Day morning in the adult class. And this will greatly enhance
your profit from the book and from the class if you discipline
yourself to take the time to use the study sheets and the
study guides that will be placed in your hands. And then secondly,
you should have received this stapled group of four pages that
has seven pages of type. These are the promised notes
from the class that I've been leading over the past four Lord's
Days, and I'd like to pin a big fat medal right in the middle
of Anne Rimbach's forehead, if it wouldn't hurt her to pin a
medal on her forehead and engage in contemporary body piercings.
She did yeoman's work in First of all, taking all of my dictation
of those notes and then doing initial editing and then working
with me in the final editing, spending a number of hours even
on one of her days off yesterday, and I'm greatly in debt to Anne
and all of us should feel a sense of indebtedness to her for her
loving service to us in making these notes available. Now, I've
given you such detailed notes with the hope that you will occasionally
use these to refresh your minds in the matters we've covered,
and then for you who are the heads of families, that you would
have the basic materials with which to instruct the members
of your family that have not been here for the studies. I
have basically transcribed the notes from which I taught. In
other words, you have in readable form what I have in my unreadable,
handwritten form for the most part. If you want to know, people
often will ask me, how much of a manuscript do you use when
you teach? Well, this is basically a reproduction
of my notes with some additions and some deletions. So these
are commended to you, and because you have the notes, I will not
need to spend much time in any review this morning simply to
give the major headings of where we've been and then plunge into
the material that I hope to cover in this last session with you. I began my treatment of this
subject of the Christian and the stewardship of his body by
setting forth what I called an emphatic disclaimer and a sober
warning. and then using the analogy of
a string of pearls in which the pearls are not held on that string
clasped from some exterior metal clasp, but they are pierced pearls
hung together by a string that goes through each one of them,
I sought to open up what I meant by the analogy of the string,
the six strands that comprise what I call the larger biblical
and theological context of any responsible consideration of
the Christian's stewardship of his body. And then we have considered
six of the seven pierced pearls, that is, text of Scripture which
set forth the heart of the biblical teaching of the Christian's stewardship
of his body, but pearls, text, which must always be considered
in the light of the larger biblical context of the string that passes
through them, that is, the biblical and theological perspective of
Holy Scripture concerning the body of the Christian. We come
now to take up pierced pearl number seven, and it's what I've
called, and you may want to follow in your notes, you don't need
to, you'll have the notes there to refer back to this on page
six, what I'm calling the inescapable implications of the Golden Rule. What text is there that, along
with the six texts we've already considered, ought to exert constant
pressure upon the conscience of a Christian to take reasonable,
informed care of his body? Well, I answer by saying it is
the golden rule, the inescapable implications of the golden rule. And when I say the golden rule,
I'm referring to our Lord's words in Matthew chapter 7 and verse
12. Please turn there with me in
your own Bibles. Matthew 7 and verse 12. All things therefore whatsoever
you would that men should do unto you, even so do you also
unto them, for this is the law and the prophets." Now just a
word about the general context. Many have called Matthew chapters
5 through 7, a portion identified as the Sermon on the Mount, a
manifesto of the kingdom. In these chapters, Jesus articulates
the fundamental character traits of the sons and daughters of
the kingdom that he has come to establish, and he also sets
forth the standards, the attitudes, and the principles by which the
sons and daughters of the kingdom will live. They live in this
way not in order to enter the kingdom, They live this way because
they are subjects of the King of Grace and are in the kingdom. And so our Lord tells them what
the manifestation of kingdom life will be like. So that's
the general context. The text itself. In this one
verse, Jesus sets before us a pithy summary of all of the horizontal
ethical and moral demands of the entire Old Testament. He is making it clear that those
ethical demands as epitomized in the Golden Rule are to govern
the new covenant community formed by His grace and His power. In this text we are commanded
to put ourselves in the situation of another. and assuming that
what we would want others to do to us that was both righteous
and reasonable, we are to do to them. And as you would that
others should do unto you, that is, given what is right and reasonable,
you are to do unto them. Perhaps it can be stated this
way. what our righteous and reasonable self-interest would desire to
be done to us, our principled, spirit-empowered love to our
neighbor will compel us to perform with respect to him, as you would
that others should do unto you. Even so do you also unto them,
for this is the law and the prophets. This is another way of stating
the second great commandment, you shall love your neighbor
as yourself. natural self-interest leads us
to desire that others treat us in a way that is righteous and
reasonable. And so our Lord gives us this
golden rule saying, what your righteous and reasonable self-interest
would desire to be done to you, your principled, spirit-empowered
love to your neighbor must compel you to do to him. as you would
that others do unto you, even so do ye also unto them. Leon Morris, in his commentary
on Matthew, has a most helpful paragraph. He writes, the golden
rule is found in some form or another in a variety of religions,
mostly in the negative. Do not do to others what you
would not like them to do to you. End quote. Jesus, however,
enunciates the rule in a positive form, and he appears to have
been the first to do so. His followers are to be active
in doing good to others. It is a most important rule for
disciples. The word, therefore, probably
refers to the whole of the preceding sermon, not simply to the immediate
foregoing context. In the light of the whole way
of life that Jesus is inculcating, this is the rule that his people
must obey. This is the rule that his people
must obey. This golden rule is a sweeping,
all-embracing, ethical guide which has relevance in every
human horizontal relationship and action. Now then, let me
make some specific applications of the Golden Rule in connection
with the stewardship of our bodies. And here I have preeminently
in my mind strand number six in the string. the strand which
articulated the principle that some illnesses, some diseases,
some bodily infirmities are the direct result of willful neglect
of the stewardship of one's body. Let me seek to tease out some
of the application, first of all, in the husband-wife relationship,
and that in three areas, appearance, functional efficiency, and longevity. And then I'll leave to you to
tease out those three areas in the other relationships, the
parent-child, the grandparent-grandchild, church member to church, and
church member to the on-looking, unconverted I'm not going to
take the time to tease it out in all of those three areas with
each of those, but I want to park for a few minutes on this
matter of how the Golden Rule has great implications in the
marital relationship with respect to appearance, functional efficiency,
and longevity in this area of the stewardship of our bodies.
It is clear from the Song of Solomon a book of the Bible just
as inspired as Paul's letter to the Ephesians. It is clear
from the Song of Solomon and other passages such as Proverbs
5, 15 to 19, where the son is being exhorted by his father
that the antidote to sexual impurity is an active, joyful, visually
oriented sexual relationship with one's wife. and from passages
such as Ezekiel 24 16 where Ezekiel's wife is described as the desire
not of his heart but of his eyes. This day I will take away from
you the desire of your eyes. Now Ezekiel wasn't a dirty old
man. He was a husband who found delight
in visually drinking in his wife's Song of Solomon is clear in this
area. Proverbs chapter 5. In other
words, mutual physical attraction is a legitimate and desirable
aspect of pure marital eroticism. Don't let anyone say the Bible
is against eroticism. It is not. It celebrates it within
the sacred bonds of the marital commitment, and in celebrating
it, it underscores the physical, visual dimensions of holy eroticism. Now, let me ask you, as a husband
and a wife, when you first, quote, fell in love with your spouse. And your heart and affections
went out in that mysterious emotional affinity that eventually led,
I trust, to a deep, intelligent love that led to a covenantal
commitment to be husband or wife, sickness, health, prosperity,
difficulty, till death part you. Would it make any difference
in the whole process if she or he were entirely different in
his or her physical appearance, physical vigor, physical capacities? In other words, was your love
so utterly above the love of the rest of us that you can sit
here and say, the physical appearance of my prospective spouse had
absolutely nothing to do with the whole process from the initial
attraction to the marriage bed. And if you say that, I'm going
to tell you you're a liar or a freak. Excuse my bluntness. You're a
liar or you're a freak. That's unnatural. And grace does
not war against nature. Now let me ask you, having taken
that person in that physical form and condition, As you would that others do unto
you, even so do ye also unto them, for this is the law and
the prophets. Do you appreciate it if your
spouse has, through indifference to the care of his or her body,
indifference to diet, indifference to exercise, indifference to
reasonable medical knowledge and involvement, become a physical
wreck? Now I'm not talking about the
sovereign intervention of God in illnesses and pathologies
over which we have no control. Remember the string is through
every one of these perils. The string is through it. I haven't
forgotten that. I've chosen my words carefully. There is a real sense in which
some husbands and wives defraud by careless sloppiness with regard
to their physical appearance, physical capacities and energies
because they are blatantly breaking the golden rule. If you do not
love your husband enough to say no to that pattern of snacking
that piles up unburned calories that are turned into fat cells
that make you unattractive. How deep is your love for your
husband? If you do not love your wife
enough to maintain the physical vigor and strength of a man and
the appearance of a man who is concerned with his physical well-being
to the glory of God, how much do you love your wife? As you
would that others do unto you, even so do ye also unto them. Were you not proud to introduce
your prospective wife or husband when you, quote, fell in love
and courted? And must you now be embarrassed
because of a physical appearance that bespeaks total indifference
to physical well-being, weight gain, physical vigor? Do you
like to be embarrassed with an embarrassment that could be avoided? Do you? I ask you, do you? I
don't. Well, as you would that others
do unto you. Even so, do ye also unto them,
for this is the law and the prophets. Now, some of you are uncomfortable
with that, but I ask you, are you ready? to take me to task
at the end of the class and say, Pastor, you press the Golden
Rule beyond reasonable application. If not, then my dear brother
or sister, yield to the pressure of the Word of God and start
doing something about it. Start with repenting before your
spouse, saying, I've sent a terrible message to you by what I've allowed
my body to become. Start with repentance today,
before you pillow your head, and then determined by the grace
of God to begin to keep the golden rule. This is true not only in
physical appearance, but functional efficiency. When one takes seriously the
biblical description of what a man and husband, father, head
of the household is to be and to do, When a woman takes seriously
what she's to be and to do, and we'll be looking at her in Proverbs
31, I mean that babe. She was a bundle of strength
and energy and vigor and industriousness, and she didn't do what she did
as someone who had willfully, carelessly allowed her physical
constitution to go to pot, go to seed. So with regard to functional
efficiency in the husband-wife relationship, If we desire our
spouse to maintain optimum functional efficiency, and we know that
all things being equal, our energy level is directly related to
the ability of our blood to absorb oxygen, which in turn is related
to our overall cardiovascular health, which in turn is conditioned
by some kind of structured cardiovascular stress, Then the golden rule says, as
you would that others do unto you, even so do ye also unto
them, to maintain functional efficiency. And then longevity. Do you desire to have as many
years together with as little unnecessary loss of years as
possible? Again, we're not talking about
those diseases that come upon us in spite of our care and that
may make some of us widows or widowers has made some of you
widows and widowers. And I hope touching this does
not unnecessarily open up a wound. We're not speaking of that. We're
talking about carelessness and indifference in the stewardship
of the body that cuts short our longevity and makes someone a
widow or a widower. Do you want to be left a widow
or a widower as you would that others do unto you? Even so do
ye also unto them, for this is the law in the prophets." Pretty simple, isn't it? That's
why it's called the Golden Rule. It fits wherever you put it.
It works. It works. It's the Golden Rule. Now take
that to the parent-child relationship. You can see in your printed notes
how I sought to draw this out at least briefly, not extensively,
with regard to the parent-child relationship. When you were a
child, did you not desire to have legitimate pride in the
appearance and physical bearing of your parents? Can you remember
as a child, when if you could introduce your dad to your peers,
say, this is my dad. You want to see his muscle? This is my mom. And when mom
left, the kids said, you know, your mom's kept herself very
attractive. Did you like that when you were
a kid? I did. My kids have told me they did. Well, as you would that others
do to you, make yourself a kid again. Are you the kind of parent
that gives your kids, all things being equal, without body worship,
taking into due consideration those sovereignly imposed illnesses
and patterns? Remember, the string is through
this pearl. I'm going to keep thumping on it. Don't detach
the golden rule from that six-stranded string. But hung on that string,
there is a legitimate application in this area of the parent-child
relationship. And I've noted Proverbs 17. and
verse 6 as a text that points in this direction. Children's
children are the crown of old men and the glory of children
are their fathers. Are you the glory of your children? In this area, insomuch as it
is possible within the bounds of the six stranded strings,
as you would that others do unto you, even so do ye also unto
them." And then I've noted in the notes, this can be applied
to appearance, functional efficiency, and longevity as well. Then the
grandparent-grandchild relationship. Again, Proverbs 17, 6, the first
part of the text speaks of grandchildren being the delight of the grandparents. In the ordinary course of things,
God wants grandparents to live long enough and have sufficient
vigor to enjoy and to delight and glory in their grandchildren. And in Deuteronomy 4, 9, grandparents
are commanded to take an active part in the training of the grandchildren. And one of the blessings upon
the righteous, Psalm 128, 5, they shall see their children's
children. Do you want to see them with
an oxygen tank at your side? And the supply line in your nose? Because you've got emphysema
from smoking? Oh no! Alright, do you want to
see them sitting on a chair and you can't get up and even throw
a ball with them? Go out and take a vigorous walk
with them because you've been a couch potato and robbed yourself
of that ability? as you would that others do unto
you, even so do ye also unto them, for this is the law and
the prophets." And then we can apply it to the church member
to church relationships. Once again, the above division
of appearance, functional efficiency, and longevity have applications
within the body of Christ. As I've stated earlier, we desperately
need the aged, mature, wise, men and women among us, but if
they're cut short or rendered totally incompetent because of
indifference to the body, we're robbing our brothers and sisters
of benefits that otherwise they could have, and love works no
ill to his neighbor, therefore love is the fulfilling of the
law. And then the church member to
the world relationship, and I've cited three texts Paul focuses,
particularly in Philippians 2, upon grousing and grumbling.
He said, Do all things without grousing and grumbling, that
you may be blameless and harmless sons of God, without rebuke,
shining as lights in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation.
Where grousing and grumbling are dominant sins, the Christian
shines when he does things cheerfully as unto the Lord. Where self-indulgence
and obesity And couch potatoism are the dominant sins of a society. How do we shine as lights when
our bearing and appearance, witnesses, we've not given in to the couch
potato, to the obesity, to the indifference, to this sacred
temple of God the Holy Spirit. It underscores and validates
Our witness, Romans 12.2, be not conformed to this age. And
what is one of the marks of this age? If you have read the original
handouts and read that editorial, too many calories in, too few
out, you know that obesity is of epidemic proportions among
the adults and increasingly among children. You want to bear witness
that you haven't sold out and caved in to the spirit of this
age that produces this? Then take care of your body. And 1 Peter 4, 3 and 4, where
Peter says, your past life sufficed to conform to the fleshly indulgences
of the pagan world. Now manifest that you're a different
man or woman in Jesus Christ. So I say the golden rule is the
seventh of these pierced pearls, the implications of which demand
that the believer make conscience about the stewardship of his
body. Now then we come to Roman numeral
number four in your notes. We looked at the disclaimer and
the warning, the string, the pearls. Now the specific areas
in which this concern and effort regarding the stewardship of
one's body should be implemented. The major areas of concern and
effort regarding these matters, I've listed three. Diet, not
dieting. There's a difference. Diet is
an incorporation into my lifestyle of patterns of eating that fit
1 Corinthians 10.31. Whether, therefore, you eat or
drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God. I cannot
glorify God in my eating and drinking if I eat and drink for
purposes other than those for which God has given food. And
God has not given food as a means by which I dig my grave with
my teeth and seal my early demise with my taste buds and my belly. He's given food that I might
enjoy it. but ultimately that I might be
strengthened and nourished to do the will of God in this holy
temple that He has bought with the blood of His own Son and
indwelt by His own Holy Spirit. Exercise, remember 1 Timothy
4.8, bodily discipline or exercise is profitable for a little. And then medical awareness and
involvement, 1 Timothy 5.23. Timothy, Paul writes and says,
Be no longer a drinker of water, but take a little wine for your
stomach's sake and your often firmities." Apparently, Timothy
had a chronic problem of acid reflux or some other kind of
gastrointestinal problem. If Paul were living today, I'm
convinced he'd know the over-the-counter remedies that would help. He
may have said, take a little Xantax, take a little Pepto-Bismol. But Timothy, don't be indifferent
to the available medicinal means to help your physical problem.
I want you to be optimum in your efficiency in the work of the
gospel. Timothy, don't be so spiritually
minded that all you do is drink water when a little wine would
help your stomach's problem and your oft infirmities. Paul is
giving a little home remedy. Now, as someone has said, one
of the Scottish preachers, How much drunkenness and how much
of the liquor business has hidden under Paul's little wine. And
that's true. People abuse the word of God.
But there is an element of truth. There's a principle. You see
it again in 2 Kings 20 and verse 7. The prophet comes to Hezekiah
and says, hey, get your house in order or you're going to die.
Hezekiah prays. The prophet comes and says, God's
heard your prayer. You're going to live. What does
he do? He then puts a poultice of figs upon his boil. God used
means to fulfill his own prophetic word to heal him. A marvelous
principle. That we pray, we seek the face
of God, but we are aware of and we judiciously use medical means. And so, these are the three major
areas that are involved in a responsible, comprehensive administration
of the stewardship of our bodies. diet, exercise, medical awareness,
and involvement. Now notice letter B, a word of
explanation. Since I do not believe it is
the place of the pastor to give detailed instruction on these
matters in the church in its stated gatherings for worship
and instruction, I am not giving detailed teaching on these three
crucial areas. I don't believe it's my right
and responsibility to do so in the house of God. However, letter
C, It is my hope and prayer that many of you, I don't have the
faith to say all of you, oh you of little faith, I wish
I could say, it is my hope and prayer that all of you, God forgive me if it's unbelief,
but I do have hope and prayer to believe that many of you,
will determine to follow through on these issues in the following
practical ways. Number one, that you will obtain
and carefully read the booklet mentioned in the handouts. I'm
speaking particularly on the fourth page of the handouts,
where, from the Harvard Medical School, which is, this comes
with one of my medical newsletters, special supplement on exercise
a very helpful little tabulation of some basics, and then exercise
a program you can live with. It's the most simple, comprehensive,
and responsible statement in 50 pages, and will be well worth
the investment. There's an order form. I have
no investment in the stock and the rest. I gain nothing from
this, but trusting that I will be of help to some of you. And
then my second hope in prayer is that there'll be a groundswell
of desire to have some voluntary church seminars addressing these
issues, possibly held on a Friday night. In these seminars, we
would seek to secure the services of a competent nutritionist,
physician, and a professional exercise trainer. If you're convinced
that this would be helpful to you, please indicate the same
to one of your deacons or elders. That's my hope, that enough of
you will say, hey, enough is enough. I want to get a handle
on these things. I want to know that what I'm
putting on the table for my husband and my children is indeed that
which can be consumed to the glory of God. It is, by all responsible
nutritional knowledge, a balanced, healthy diet in proper proportions,
etc., etc. That's the role of the nutritionist,
to help you. Likewise, with starting in some
regimen of exercise, it's the province of the physician and
of the professional physical trainer to be able to say, look,
if you're totally out of shape, this is how you've got to start,
reasonably, in this way, this way, this way, and where it'll
go, nobody knows, but it's my hope that there'll be that kind
of groundswell, and I believe with a good conscience, We could
sponsor something like that on a Friday night, concern for you
as the Lord's people, and not wanting you to have to go off
and spend a lot of bucks and get those services. My urologist,
Dr. Schlecker, who took out my prostate,
and I see him every six months, my last visit to him, he mentioned
to me, he said, you know, do you ever want to have a doctor
come and speak on general health? He said, one of my colleagues
and myself, we go around to churches and synagogues doing this. So
there are competent people ready to help us. My final summary,
we've examined these seven pierced pearls threaded on the string
of six strands. I trust they have persuaded you
from the scriptures to cultivate a concern and to implement a
concrete effort to be a good steward of your body. I remind
you of this very vital text, to him who knows to do good and
does it not. To him, it is sin. Now I want to give you three
concluding exhortations. Realizing that the devil has
not gone on a vacation these four weeks while I've been delivering
this material, nor will he go on a vacation now that it's been
delivered, and he sits or crouches ready to take the best aspects
of God's truth and use them to his own ends. And so I want to
give these three pastoral exhortations. Number one, let us not inwardly
or verbally judge one another by mere appearances. In John
7, 24, Jesus said, judge not according to appearance, but
judge righteous judgment. There's some of you, in terms
of the way God genetically programmed you, that you look like the epitome
of good physical health and conditioning. Anyone looking at you would say,
boy, you're disciplined in your diet and your exercise and whatever
medical concerns you have, you've got a handle on them. And you
may be, that person may be absolutely indifferent to diet, exercise,
have clogged arteries, a rotten cardiovascular system. Don't
judge according to appearance. Don't do that. It's sinful. There
may be others. who, in appearance, you say,
boy, they've got no handle on diet. How do you know? There
may be issues that they are wrestling with that you know nothing about.
Matthew 7, verses 1 to 5, judge not that you be not judged, for
with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged. And what
measure you meet, it shall be measured to you again. Do you
like to be judged when someone doesn't have all the facts? Then
don't do it. Don't do it. It would be a crime, a terrible
crime, If inwardly or verbally we began to judge one another
by mere appearances, I exhort you, don't do it. Secondly, let
us seek to be open, honest, and prayerful with one another regarding
our struggles in these matters. James 5, 16. Confess your sins
one to another in order to pick on one another. No. Confess your
sins one to another and pray one for another that you may
be healed. You see, talking about these
things to one another is sort of like talking about your intimate
life as a husband or wife. You don't talk about that to
anyone else. Well, let me assure you, this is not in the category
of your intimate life with your husband or wife. It should not
be discussed with anyone but husband or wife, or under certain
circumstances in the confidential relationship with a pastor or
a doctor. But brethren, if we are sinning
in this area, and we've made efforts and we've fallen, we
need each other's help. Confess your sins one to another. Pray one for another. John, I
want to make myself accountable to you. I've really committed
myself in this area of diet and exercise, and I need help. I need somebody to be a barb
in my conscience, perhaps out of this. We might even have an
internal support group. Why spend ten bucks a week going
to get weighed at Weight Watchers if you could come to a group
of your brothers or sisters, get on a scale for free, and
pray together and exhort one another? I don't know where it's
going. I don't have a secret little
spreadsheet here. I'm just bearing my heart to
you, urging you as God's people to seek to be open, honest, and
prayerful with one another regarding your struggles in these matters.
One of my fellow elders has made himself very open and honest
with me about his struggles in this area. And just the fact
that he knows that I can ask him on any given day, how did
you do today, is a means that God uses. Now don't sit there
trying to figure out which one it is. It's none of your business.
All right? Thirdly, no, it's two of my fellow elders. That
wasn't accurate. So now we're narrowing down the
scope. All right, number three. Let us seek to be faithful in,
now notice my words. Let us seek to be faithful in
judicious and gracious, exhorting, admonishing, and helping one
another in these matters. And I've given you three texts,
Hebrews 3.13. Exhort one another daily while
it is called today, and exhort doesn't mean you come up to someone
with a wrinkled brow and say, brother, are you doing what you
should do? Sister! No, no, no. The word
exhort has a wide range of what people would say a wide semantic
range. It means coming alongside, encouraging,
maybe coming alongside and nudging, maybe coming alongside and giving
a whack in the ribs. maybe coming alongside and giving
a boot in the britches, but it has the full range of significance. We're told to exhort one another
while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened through
what? The deceitfulness of sin. Sin is deceitful. It's constantly
adjusting reality in order to fit the passions and appetites
of the flesh. And in few areas is its deceitfulness
seen more clearly than when we get determined to get a handle
on bodily discipline. Oh, but I face its deceitfulness
every single time I know in my schedule it's time to get on
my treadmill and do my other exercises My head and my renewed
heart go into a debate. And then when I'm on my treadmill,
it's a constant debate. Oh, you've done 15 minutes. Why
you got to go for the half hour? I mean, you paid your due. And
I'm constantly having to talk to my head. Constantly. Sin is so deceitful. And here's
where we need to exhort one another. Romans 15, 14. The mark of spiritual
maturity in Paul's mind with regard to the Romans was this.
He said, I am persuaded of you, Romans, that you've reached a
stage of maturity described in these words. I myself am persuaded
of you, my brethren, that you yourselves are full of goodness,
filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another. Now, the word admonish, mutateo,
that's the crack in the ribs. That's the finger pointed, but
with goodness and with knowledge, not with acrimony and judgmentalism. It is judicious and gracious
admonition. And then Galatians 6, 1 and 2. If any be overtaken in a fault,
you that are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit of gentleness,
considering yourself, lest you also be tempted. And brethren,
those are my concluding exhortations, and I trust that by God's grace
we will heed them, and in the days to come that there will
be tangible fruit from these sessions together. Now, we've
got seven, eight minutes. I said I hoped we would have
time for questions and answers, comments, et cetera, and we've
got the time. Questions? Comments? Yes, David. Yeah. Yes. Let me repeat that for Leslie's
sake, that if you're reading at all, as I do, just my four
or five layman's medical reports, one of them is a distillation
in layman's term of the leading emphases in the New England Journal
of Medicine. The other one comes from Harvard
Medical School, another from Johns Hopkins, some of the well-known
and respected things, and it's evident that what was considered
medical orthodoxy in 1995 in certain areas is now heterodoxy
in the year 2002. And David's question is, what
do we do in this area, and how do we relate to one another?
Well, this is why I use the term reasonable What term did I use? A reasonable awareness, knowledge
in one of my initial, let's see if I can find it in my own notes
here, that my goal was that, yeah, here we are, to promote
a conscientious and balanced concern and to implement and
promote an informed, disciplined effort. And by informed, that
means that we do seek to be aware. We don't jump on the cutting
edge, latest pronouncement in these matters. I come back again
and again to the biblical injunction, all things in moderation. And
some years ago, there was real agitation that caffeine was a
major cause of heart problems. The latest studies indicate two
to three cups of coffee today, especially if you use any kind
of a a paper filter to take out certain bad stuff in it show
no relationship to cardiovascular problems and perhaps a minor
relationship to blood pressure so it just illustrates that we
do not want to be those who jump on the cutting edge of things
and at the same time we must recognize that to his own master
a servant stands or falls that someone may have a chronic medical
problem in a given area in which they have tried all of the standard
therapies for that, and they've come up short. And they may now
be on cutting-edge stuff, or what we might call alternative
medicine, where double-blind studies have not been done, and
the worth of this particular modality has not been validated
scientifically with double-blind studies, with a broad spectrum
of subjects, which is always the safest thing. And so we just
have to say, to his own master, a servant stands or falls. But
in terms of how we ought to regulate this thing, I think we come back
again and again to the principle, all things in moderation, and
the recognition that the medical community is not omniscient.
And so we are neither ready to jump on the latest cutting-edge
theory, nor are we prepared to lag behind on matters that are
so incontrovertibly established. For example, Forty years ago,
if you took a strong stand, cigarette smoking is a major cause of lung
cancer, someone might have said, well, how can you prove that?
I mean, that has not been empirically demonstrated. You can't say that
now. It has been so demonstrated that a man is a fool, a woman
is a fool, who says, well, I don't believe all of that stuff. That's
just sticking your head in the sand. Back 10 years ago, if you
were taking glucosamine and chondroitin for joint health, you were beginning
to have some creaky joints. People said, oh, you're a health
food nut, you're a supplement nut. But now, double-blind studies
have been done, and standard orthopedic literature is saying,
hey, there's a lot of people, this helps. It may not help.
But it has really helped people in double-blind studies. And
there do not seem to be a lot of toxic side effects. So a believer
then can say, Lord, my joints are getting a little stiff. I
want to honor you and do all I can to unstiffen them. Would
you bless me? I don't mean to be cheeky when
I say this. When I take my medications that I have to take for a couple
of medical problems with my supplements, put them in my hand in the morning,
almost every morning I pray over them and say, Lord, these have
no power to help me. But with your blessing, I can
take them in faith and I swallow them all at once. I drive my
wife crazy. One gulp of orange juice and
down they go. All right. But I can do that.
Now, if unfolding medical studies show that a particular medication
is no, I'm going to stop taking it. But right now I can take
it to the glory of God. And it's not set in iron, in
concrete. And so we need to be flexible
on those things, David. Am I responding to the question? Yeah, good. Yes. Yes. Leslie is telling us he's lost
75 pounds. Yeah. Yeah. He's saying that his legs
are ruined. because of all that excessive
weight that he carried for many years, and he's not asking the
elders to come and lay hands on him and ask God to reverse
the results of that effect. Now Leslie told me a couple weeks
ago, he said, if you want to use it, and I was not going to,
even though he gave me permission to do so, so our brother has
taken the initiative to tell you, as a warning to some of
you, because Leslie, you're close to me age-wise, you're what,
60? 66, yes, two years behind me. Let that be a beacon. Our brother is putting himself
forward as an example to us, and I trust that we'll heed that
exhortation. All right, we've got two more
minutes. Yes, Bill? In regards to helping one another,
crank the volume up so everyone will get it, and even Leslie
may be able to get it. My wife and I have noticed the abundance,
or maybe even overabundance, of desserts and everything at
church picnics, weddings, and it tends to be a... Personally,
for me, it's not necessarily something about me loving a lot
of desserts, but for my wife, who's always trying to watch
me, it's a great temptation. When I went to a wedding in town
in the South, it seems to be a culture that Yeah. Yeah. All right. Bill's question is, what do we
do? We come to church gatherings and the rest or maybe picnics
at one another's home. And there's a lot of stuff that's
got. What should we say? It's not the most nutritional.
And for someone struggling with weight, I would say two things,
Bill. Number one, are we all right? Leslie, do I need to repeat
that? Are we all right? OK. I would say, first of all,
there is a biblical doctrine of feasting. And that's one of
the joys. If you have a handle on the lifestyle of your eating,
you can go out and someone can treat you to a meal when you
can have a big, fat, juicy, well-marbled steak with sour cream on the
potato, to the glory of God. Because it's not part of your
lifestyle. And you know that, you know, an extra 15 minutes
on the treadmill the next time will burn up the calories. However,
if one is struggling with discipline in this area and is in a pattern
of seeking to lose weight, to get down to a proper healthy
weight level, then that person has just got to deny himself
or herself. And if it's a group setting,
you're not going to offend anyone. I mean, if you're over at a special
meal at someone's home, then you need to just graciously say,
my dear brother or sister, I deeply appreciate all that you've done.
but I'm really seeking to get a handle on my weight to glorify
God would you excuse me from partaking of this and then just
graciously say thank you but no thank you the way some of
our people feel that God's called them to be teetotalers and they
just say look I appreciate the offer of that nice you know wine
but for me It's a no-no. I trust you understand. I appreciate
the love shown that you went out and got an expensive bottle
of wine. I'll enjoy watching others enjoy it, but it's a no-no
for me. Okay? All right. Time is gone. You
see, if you've got a lot of other questions, first Friday night
seminar, we can take them up. All right? Good. Let's pray.
Let's pray. Our Father, we thank you that
your word is a lamp to our feet and a light to our pathway. We
thank you that we need not be bullied by the world's philosophy
and opinions, but we have your word to enlighten our judgment,
to instruct our consciences. We have your Holy Spirit dwelling
in us to give us the power that we might walk in the light of
your word. So, Father, we pray, seal these
things to our hearts and grant us grace to live out the implications
of them. We plead for your glory, and
for our good, and the good of our children, and our grandchildren,
and an onlooking world, and one another, for Jesus' sake. Amen.