Ben Coder had a sermon on February 25th. See notes and recording.
Spiritual Fitness
Introduction
a. 1 Timothy
4:6-8
b. There are
many parallels between physical fitness and spiritual fitness
c. That’s what
we hope to examine today.
I.
Fitness
requires a change from natural lifestyle
a. Diet
i.
Learn to despise bad food – Psalm 101:3-4
ii.
Learn to not desire “ok” food –
iii.
Learn to love good food – Psalm 1:1-3
b. Pastimes
i.
Stop all harmful activities – Galatians 5:19-21
ii.
Start helpful activities – Galatians 5:22-23
iii.
Strongly consider “neutral” activities
- I
Corinthians 10:23-24
- Different
context, but still applicable
II.
Join a gym
– Hebrews 10:23-24
a. Friends/trainers
can show you exercises that you wouldn’t have thought to do before
b. Friends can
be accountability partners
c. Note all
the “cans”
i.
It is a choice whether you want your friends to be
fitness partners or not
ii.
Sometimes, we need to initiate it
- What do you
talk about?
- Are you
exercising, or chilling?
d. Surround
yourself with trainers
i.
I Corinthians 4:14-21
ii.
Friend
- He isn’t
pushy
- Purely by
being who he is, he encourages me to push on
- If I ask, he’s
more than happy to show me
III.
Consistent
time must be made for it
a. There are
“prime” times for a workout
i.
Morning
- Psalm 5:3
2. Note – pray
and watch how God will show Himself
ii.
Evening
- Psalm 42:8
- Psalm 63:6
- We close by
dwelling on how He showed Himself to us that day
b. It must be
a priority
i.
Luke 12:34
- All these
things will be added unto you
- Your
pastimes show your priorities
ii.
Hebrews 12:1-2
- Lay aside
weights
- These
aren’t dumbbells, these are shackles
- Eliminate
pastimes that hold you back
c. Enemy of
excellence is goodness
i.
“Good” things may not be the best things
ii.
If pressed for time, good things may need to leave to
make way for the best things
IV.
It should
result in desire, not a chore
a. Romans 12:1
i.
Therefore…
ii.
Christianity is backwards from all other religions
b. Where your heart
is…
c. Are we
eternally focused?
d. Eventually,
discipline should no longer be the driving force – this won’t last
e. Romans
7:14-25
i.
Desire should be driving force
ii.
However, we are still human
iii.
This is where discipline comes in
iv.
We will have off-days where we sleep in or just don’t
feel like it
- Discipline
- Gym
membership comes in handy
Conclusion
a. What’s the
state of your spiritual fitness?
b. How
spiritually fit are your friends?
c. Have you
joined a gym, or are you floundering about with no accountability?
d. We are in
training – we don’t know when we’re going to be called to sub in for the most
intense part of the game
e. We need to
be ready and waiting to go in; “I’ll do it tomorrow” could be too late to
perform
f. Jude 3 –
How can we contend for the faith if we are spiritually unfit?
