Time to Detox: Body
About this series:
It's a common thought at the start of a New Year: "What changes can I make for a healthier life this year?" It's a good question, but one that's so quickly submerged by the return of old habits as January turns to February. But what would it look like to really make some changes in January 2024? To take steps for an all around healthier life? What would it look like to detox our lives?
Detox (or detoxification) is 'a process or period of time in which one abstains from or rids the body of toxic or unhealthy substances.' Everyone develops unhealthy thoughts, habits and patterns of life and much of the time we either put up with them or just don't have the courage to address them. So, at the start of 2024, we're going to take four weeks to refresh, reset and restore some of the key aspects of our lives, helping us prepare for a healthier 2024.
About this talk:
Throughout history different cultures have regarded the body in quite different ways. Some have indulged physical appetites, glorifying the body. Others have sought to reject physical appetites, seeing the body as inferior to the soul and appetites to be subdued. The Christian faith takes neither of those views, but instead sees the body as a gift to be used in service to God and people, while not seeing its appetites as simply to be indulged. The Christian faith avoids the opposites of, on one hand, gratifying the body and, on the other, of belittling the body.
A biblical view of the body includes these aspects:
The physical world, including the human body, is a part of God’s good creation, which we are called to steward responsibly.
God is involved in the creation of each person.
The present world, including the human body, is not all there is. We are embodied spirits.
The human body has limitations, according to God’s good design, and is also subject to the effects of the Fall, such as sin and disease.
Those who are God’s children will one day receive a new resurrection body in which we will live in the new heaven on the new earth. Eternal life will be physical.
Those who are God’s children are temples of the Holy Spirit. God dwells with us and in us, which means that our bodies are neither to be glorified nor taken lightly.
It is through the human body that Christians are called to love and serve God.
In 1 Corinthians 6 Paul is addressing errors in the church: first, how they are dealing with disputes (vs 1-11) and then their faulty thinking about the body (vs 12-20). Their slogan - “I have the right to do anything” - is faulty in at least two ways, v 12: firstly, even if you did have such a right, not everything is beneficial; and secondly, being free to do some things could eventually lead to being mastered by those things. And specifically, their approach to sexual desires - by drawing a parallel with the need to eat when one feels hungry - is way off. Indulging sexual desires outside marriage leads to being united to that sexual partner - it is far from simply a matter of using one’s freedom to satisfy an appetite.
And so they should, v 18, “Flee from sexual immorality” with two further reasons being given, in addition to what has already been said:
v 18: sexual sin has an effect on one’s own body. Perhaps he has in mind the damaging, addictive nature of sexual sin that affects the body.
v 19: “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own.” If God has designated where the sexual boundaries lie (marriage), then to not live accordingly is to not dishonour God and the sacrifice he paid to win us, including our physical selves. Every time we misuse our bodies, it is his dwelling place that is being defiled.
In summary, then, for Christians the body matters. Not because it is ultimate, but because it is to be stewarded as a gift from God and used in a godly manner because God himself dwells in us. Detoxing the body, then, might lead some to pay less attention to it if we have been ‘obeying’ it too readily or focusing on it too much (body image, social media, etc). For others, detoxing their body might mean removing negative thoughts and behaviours - if we have been neglecting it or stewarding it poorly - by, for example, eating more healthily, exercising a little more or attending to appearance.
Audio only
