Honoring Our Bodies: A Spiritual Perspective

 

Summary

In our journey through the renovation of the heart, we are focusing on the significance of our bodies in our spiritual lives. Often, our bodies are mistakenly dismissed from spiritual consideration, yet they are central to our spiritual existence. Our bodies are the starting point of our personal kingdom, where our spiritual life unfolds. Dallas Willard emphasizes that our bodies are created for spiritual life in God's kingdom and should be honored in that context. However, when we make our bodies the central focus of our lives, they are betrayed, leading to a host of societal issues such as body shaming, idolization, and the fear of aging and death.

This misplaced focus on the body is evident in the worship of youth and the fear of aging prevalent in Western culture. It leads to destructive behaviors and attitudes, including the sexualization of everything, eating disorders, and various forms of discrimination. By idolizing the body, we deprive ourselves of a spiritual perspective that allows us to cherish the body rightly. Instead, we should stop idolizing our bodies and offer them to God, trusting Him with their care and purpose.

Paul's instruction to the Romans to present our bodies as a living sacrifice to God is a timeless guide. By deliberately offering each part of our body to God, we align ourselves with His will and purpose. This act of surrender involves acknowledging that our bodies are gifts from God, not possessions we own. Through prayer, we can offer each part of our body to God, asking Him to use it as an instrument of love and service. This practice helps us to live in peace, see the beauty in others, speak words of wisdom, and act with courage and humility. Ultimately, by offering our bodies to God, we allow our personal kingdom to become a small outpost of His kingdom, using our bodies to love and serve others.

Key Takeaways:

- Our bodies are integral to our spiritual lives, serving as the starting point of our personal kingdom where spiritual existence unfolds. When we make our bodies the central focus, they are betrayed, leading to societal issues like body shaming and idolization. Instead, we should honor our bodies within the context of God's kingdom. [00:46]

- The misplaced focus on the body in Western culture leads to destructive behaviors and attitudes, such as the worship of youth and fear of aging. By idolizing the body, we lose the spiritual perspective needed to cherish it rightly. We must stop idolizing our bodies and trust God with their care and purpose. [01:40]

- Presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice to God, as instructed by Paul, involves deliberately offering each part of our body to God. This act of surrender aligns us with His will and purpose, acknowledging that our bodies are gifts from God, not possessions we own. [04:54]

- Through prayer, we can offer each part of our body to God, asking Him to use it as an instrument of love and service. This practice helps us live in peace, see beauty in others, speak words of wisdom, and act with courage and humility. [06:23]

- By offering our bodies to God, we allow our personal kingdom to become a small outpost of His kingdom. This enables us to use our bodies to love and serve others, aligning our lives with God's will and purpose. [10:49]

Youtube Chapters:

- [00:00] - Welcome
- [00:33] - Importance of the Body in Spiritual Life
- [00:57] - The Body Betrayed
- [01:40] - Cultural Obsession with Youth and Beauty
- [02:23] - Mislocation of the Body
- [03:33] - Idolizing the Body
- [04:12] - Misuse of the Body
- [04:54] - Presenting Our Bodies to God
- [05:37] - Offering Our Bodies in Prayer
- [06:23] - Prayer for the Body
- [07:24] - Offering Specific Body Parts
- [08:57] - Surrendering Our Hands and Feet
- [10:19] - Offering Our Lungs
- [10:49] - Conclusion and Prayer

Study Guide

Bible Study Discussion Guide: Renovation of the Heart - The Role of Our Bodies in Spiritual Life

Bible Reading:
1. Romans 12:1 - "Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship."
2. Psalm 139:14 - "I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well."

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Observation Questions:

1. According to the sermon, how does Dallas Willard describe the role of our bodies in our spiritual lives? [00:46]
2. What societal issues arise when we make our bodies the central focus of our lives, as mentioned in the sermon? [01:40]
3. How does the sermon describe the cultural obsession with youth and beauty, and what are its consequences? [01:40]
4. What does Paul instruct the Romans to do with their bodies, and how is this relevant to the sermon's message? [04:54]

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Interpretation Questions:

1. How does the concept of offering our bodies as a living sacrifice align with the idea of our bodies being a starting point for our personal kingdom? [04:54]
2. In what ways does idolizing the body lead to a loss of spiritual perspective, according to the sermon? [01:40]
3. How might the practice of offering each part of our body to God in prayer change our daily interactions and attitudes? [06:23]
4. What does it mean for our personal kingdom to become a small outpost of God's kingdom, and how does this relate to the use of our bodies? [10:49]

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Application Questions:

1. Reflect on your own life: Are there ways in which you have made your body the central focus, leading to negative consequences? How can you shift this focus to align with God's purpose? [01:40]
2. Consider the cultural pressures around youth and beauty. How do these pressures affect your self-image and actions? What steps can you take to resist these pressures and honor your body as God intended? [01:40]
3. How can you practically offer your body as a living sacrifice to God in your daily life? Identify one specific part of your body and a way you can dedicate it to God's service this week. [04:54]
4. Think about a time when you felt disconnected from the spiritual significance of your body. What practices or prayers can help you reconnect and see your body as a gift from God? [06:23]
5. Identify a societal issue related to body idolization that you feel passionate about. How can you contribute to a positive change in this area, using your body as an instrument of love and service? [01:40]
6. Reflect on the idea of your personal kingdom being an outpost of God's kingdom. What changes can you make in your life to better reflect this concept in your actions and interactions with others? [10:49]
7. How can you cultivate a sense of gratitude for your body, even in its imperfections, and use it to serve others in your community? [10:49]

Devotional

Day 1: Our Bodies as Spiritual Foundations
Our bodies are integral to our spiritual lives, serving as the starting point of our personal kingdom where spiritual existence unfolds. When we make our bodies the central focus, they are betrayed, leading to societal issues like body shaming and idolization. Instead, we should honor our bodies within the context of God's kingdom. [00:46]

"So glorify God in your body." (1 Corinthians 6:20b, ESV)

Reflection: How can you begin to honor your body as a sacred space where your spiritual life unfolds today?


Day 2: The Cultural Obsession with Youth
The misplaced focus on the body in Western culture leads to destructive behaviors and attitudes, such as the worship of youth and fear of aging. By idolizing the body, we lose the spiritual perspective needed to cherish it rightly. We must stop idolizing our bodies and trust God with their care and purpose. [01:40]

"Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised." (Proverbs 31:30, ESV)

Reflection: What steps can you take to shift your focus from cultural standards of beauty to a deeper appreciation of your spiritual identity?


Day 3: Offering Our Bodies as Living Sacrifices
Presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice to God, as instructed by Paul, involves deliberately offering each part of our body to God. This act of surrender aligns us with His will and purpose, acknowledging that our bodies are gifts from God, not possessions we own. [04:54]

"I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship." (Romans 12:1, ESV)

Reflection: What part of your body can you offer to God today as an act of worship and surrender?


Day 4: Prayer as a Means to Offer Our Bodies
Through prayer, we can offer each part of our body to God, asking Him to use it as an instrument of love and service. This practice helps us live in peace, see beauty in others, speak words of wisdom, and act with courage and humility. [06:23]

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer." (Psalm 19:14, ESV)

Reflection: How can you incorporate a prayer of surrender for your body into your daily routine?


Day 5: Our Bodies as Outposts of God's Kingdom
By offering our bodies to God, we allow our personal kingdom to become a small outpost of His kingdom. This enables us to use our bodies to love and serve others, aligning our lives with God's will and purpose. [10:49]

"For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2:10, ESV)

Reflection: In what ways can you use your body to serve others and reflect God's kingdom today?

Quotes


Our bodies are real important things and often they get unfortunately and incorrectly dismissed from our spiritual life when actually they're right at the heart of it our spiritual existence happens in the little kingdom that begins with our bodies. [00:29:46]

The body is created for spiritual life in the kingdom of God and to be honored indeed glorified in that context, but when taken out of that context and made the central focus of the human experience and endeavor, it is betrayed that is it's robbed of the spiritual resources that it needs to flourish. [01:11:03]

An outlook focused entirely on the human body where there is no transcendent reality deeper than physical existence finds the body's failure and cessation to be of course the ultimate insult from which there is no recovery you have to understand this if you want to understand western life and culture. [01:18:43]

We hear a lot about body shaming body idolizing is the flip side of the same coin, they both go together and they are both deeply destructive. The same mislocation of the body explains many other intractable problems now facing much of our world the sexualization of practically everything, abortion, eating disorders, racial and other discriminations. [01:38:52]

Not accepting God as God puts us in God's place and leaves us with nothing to trust and worship but our body and its natural powers the frenzy we see over physical attractiveness all around us today and the despair over its laws eventually in aging and death for everyone are the main characteristics of the climate of this life. [01:54:00]

Dallas says one thing it means to stop idolizing our bodies no longer make it an issue an object of ultimate concern after all you've given it up to God he can do with it as he wishes you don't worry about what will happen to it, sickness repulsiveness aging and death really nope for you have placed God in charge of all that. [02:21:04]

Paul wrote the classic instruction on this to the church at Rome thousands of years ago, present our body as a living sacrifice to God, and if you want Dallas lays out wonderful instructions on pages 172 and 173 about how to do this over a longer period of time and I've found that very helpful and very meaningful to actually be quite deliberate about this. [04:54:00]

Remember that God created your body that you are fearfully and wonderfully made. I remember that I do not own my body it is a gift to me from God I did not create it, I came into this world unable to care for it and will likely go out the same way and the best use to make of it is to offer it to God. [05:50:52]

God, I offer my body to you, may it be your instrument, your channel of love. I offer you my forehead, my eyebrows may they not be furrowed in worry and anxiety, but live unruffled unfurrowed in peace. I offer you my eyes, I ask that you help them not only to not look at what would be what would be unhelpful. [06:28:39]

God, I offer you my mouth, would you mortify put to death in my mouth habits that are cruel or narcissistic or deceitful, would you fill my mouth with words of wisdom of wisdom and gratitude and encouragement and courage and love. God I offer you my neck, may it not be stiff and stubborn, may it be bowed in humility and reverence. [07:33:19]

God, I offer you my feet, might they go where Jesus would go, might they be carrying me to places where I bring so much love and so much good news that they look beautiful to those who see them. Take a deep breath, God I offer you my lungs, may they be filled with the spirit breath that could inspire and empower all of my body. [10:01:12]

Would you use my body now God, so that my kingdom would be a tiny little outpost of your kingdom, help me to love and care for it today and use it for you, I pray this in the name of Jesus amen. [10:58:48]

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Transcript
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