InteGRITy (Part 1)

Written by Ed Allen
Sunday, 19 April 2009 09:00

Sermons - InteGRITty

Sermon Notes

Physical development follows set a pattern. Children learn to crawl, then walk, then move with increasing dexterity according to a set blueprint. The same is true with mental development. Very small children are unable to think in certain ways. We are able to think in certain ways and to entertain certain concepts only after we have experienced a certain level of development. This same pattern holds true for emotional development. And in the same way, our spirit develops – and it also happens according to a certain pattern.

Accordingly, as we develop spiritually, we live with increasing spiritual sophistication, increasing spiritual tenacity, increasing capacity to persevere, increasing sustainable joy, and increasing integrity. That word integrity means: “the state of being whole, undiminished;” or even better for our purposes “sound, unimpaired.” That’s what we’re going for in this series. We are building toward increasing personal integrity.

As we develop spiritually, all parts of who we are increasingly align themselves with one another. We become consistent in and out, through and through. We are undiminished; we are unimpaired. In order for this to happen, we must continually give all that we know of ourselves to all that we know of God.

This is one of the keys to spiritual development: to give the more and more that we know of ourselves to the more and more that we are discovering of God. We must do this mentally – in fact, in one passage Paul talks about taking all of his thoughts captive for God – we must do this emotionally, and we must do this physically. That’s what this series is all about! We going to do our part physically to achieve increasing personal integrity.

And doing our part physically requires GRIT. You will be learning over the next 3 weeks what we mean by “grit.” But here’s what you need to remember today: physically, this means, first of all Giving your body to God. Let me explain this further with 4 key principles that come out of Paul’s teaching in Romans 6!

Romans 6:1-14

PRINCIPLES ARISING FROM ROMANS 6:

1. The body is more than a physical system. Our body is how we are expressed to the world outside of ourselves; it is our outer life. As such, it is an integral part of the whole of who we are.

(This first principle is not directly stated. It is more of an assumption that the text is based upon.)

• Our house is more than a collection of sheetrock and screws. It is a place of memories and life. It is part of our family in a sense. In a much stronger sense, our body is the exterior of us.
• As you would expect, since our bodies are an integral part of us and inextricably connected to the rest of us, it follows that our inner life bleeds through to the outer life. Sometimes we forget this.
  • Those of us who don’t think people like us – we forget this.
  • Those of us who are operating out of self-promotion or self-defensiveness, we forget this.
  • Those of us who are in sin, we forget this.

2. We, including our bodies, are not our own. We are slaves to something.

• Jesus’ illustration: no one can serve two masters (Matthew 6:24). This illustration does not allow that we do not serve any master.
• Martin Luther, said we are a horse ridden by one rider or the other. We do not direct ourselves.
• In Romans 6, Paul talks frankly about our slavery to sin.
  • The result of that slavery is that we obey the desires of our body.
  • And in this, we are full participants. We give the parts of our body over to this slavery.
• But he encourages us to transfer the mastery of lives over to God.

3. (Follows from the previous principle) If we are in Christ, we – including our bodies – belong to God.

• He says this even more plainly in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20. “19Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.”
• This is true in 2 ways: by creation and by redemption.
• In 1 Corinthians, this principle is used to justify our ethics.

4. As a result, we must consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God.

• I like the way The Message puts it: “so you also should consider yourselves to be dead to the power of sin and alive to God through Jesus Christ. Do not let sin control the way you live, do not give in to sinful desires.”
• This means, in part, we must consciously offer the parts of our body to righteousness.
• When we please ourselves physically, we do so by offering our bodies up to the pleasure.
• In the same way, we have to offer our bodies up to God.

Long been noted by dieters and those recovering from addiction that you cannot make real progress unless you do it for the right reasons with the right motivation. That is because, of course, our bodies are not an isolated system. They are an integral part of the larger system that is us. So we will not make real long-lasting progress that promotes real long-lasting personal growth without understanding 1) that our bodies are related to the rest of us and 2) that our bodies must be given to God as a regular discipline.

Prayer: Giving Our Bodies Over To God

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Small Group Questions

1. One of the principles concerning our body that Ed talked about on Sunday was: “We, including our bodies, are not our own. We are slaves to something.” According to Romans 6:12-13, what do we tend to be slaves to and how does that slavery work?
2. Think of Paul’s statement “Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness.”
   1. How does this relate to eating?
   2. How does this relate to sexual gratification?
   3. How does this relate to our tongue?
   4. Can you think of any other practical applications of this?
3. Ed also said, “If we are in Christ we belong to God, including our bodies.” (See 1 Corinthians 6:19-20.)
   1. The background for this teaching is “slavery.” That’s what is in Paul’s mind. In what sense did a slave’s body belong to their master?
   2. How does that apply to our understanding of this principle as it relates to our bodies?
4. The last principle we talked about on Sunday was: “you must consider yourself dead to sin but alive to God.”
   1. What does this mean?
   2. How do you do that?
   3. How could this group help one another with that?
5. Discuss within your group some possible physical goals for the next 2 months.
   1. Start by listing categories of goals: exercise, diet, etc.
   2. Brainstorm about how you could possibly be of help to one another.
   3. Consider having a time of setting goals next week and making those goals known to one another.
6. Consider this Dallas Willard passage:

   “The way of Christ is relentlessly incarnational – it is bodily. Incarnation is not just a fact about Jesus, simply that ‘Christ has come in a body’ (1 John 4:2). Rather, he came in a real human body so that he might bring redemption and deliverance to our body. Our body is an essential part of who we are, and not redemption that omits it is full redemption...

   Such a strong position is taken in the New Testament because redemption is for ‘the life which I now live in the flesh’ (Galatians 2:20). This present life is caught up now in the eternal life of God. So my body must become holy – it must come over to Christ’s side. Otherwise, my life as a whole could not come over …”

   1. What part of this passage is the most encouraging to you? Why?
   2. Is there anything that Willard says here that is different from how people usually think of their Christian life?
7. Spend some time in prayer using the “give your body to God” prayer as a guide.

The Prayer