Welcome to the For the Gospel podcast, where we're all about sound doctrine for everyday people. I'm your host, Costi Hinn, and on today's episode, we're finishing our four-episode series on spiritual disciplines and how to balance bodily health and fitness. That's the focus of this episode. And two perspectives in this episode need to be placed on the scale and then balanced biblically. The Bible calls on God's followers to be self-controlled. That'd be generally, habitually, self-controlled, able to restrain yourself in the midst of a variety of situations. We're also called biblically to glorify God with our bodies. That's 1 Corinthians 6, 19 and 20, where Paul says, literally, glorify God with your bodies because you've been bought with a price. And of course, he is referring to sexual immorality. That's direct interpretation. But we could apply that and say, with our bodies, we should be bringing glory to God. We're also called to exercise some level of worship, devotion, spiritual discipline with our minds and with ourselves. That means we don't exchange what is the worship of God and passion for Him with idolatrous addictions or things that we obsess over that become all about us and are centered on us. And so that certainly could be a part of this conversation as well in two ways the obsession and idolatry of our own body, and then the obsession and idolatry over food. And then Paul tells Timothy at one point, we'll get into it a little more later on, that physical fitness is of some benefit or bodily discipline. Some translations will say physical fitness, and so it's merely some benefit, which can be taken to minimize health and fitness, or just say, okay, there's some benefit to it. And there's also a sovereign aspect here in which God has numbered our days. Job 14, 5 says our time on earth is brief, and the number of our days is already decided by you, referring to God. Every man has been allotted a number of days here on earth, Job says. So one could say, Well, God has numbered my days. Who cares how much I worry about working out or health and fitness? Another aspect here that is important is you know, Paul went so hard for the gospel that he even tells married people that if they lose their spouse, they should just remain single and use their singlenesses, use their singleness to serve Christ all the more. And so you think about using one's body, using one's energy to go all out for gospel work, that would involve some level of health and body care. All this, and then 2 Corinthians 4.16 maybe throws a real wrench in our thinking, saying that our bodies are decaying, but our spirits are being renewed day by day. Now, careful now, that's not a wrench in your spiritual thinking. I just mean at times we might use a passage like that and say, ah, who cares about fitness and health? Who cares about my body? This old thing is decaying. My spirit is being renewed day by day. It's important to have balance and to take all of this and lay out key principles and have a good grasp on this for yourself. A little runway, and then I want to give you five truths and some practical steps. I come at this topic holding health in high regard, though I myself am like anybody else who has to work at discipline. I go through seasons where I'm not as disciplined with fitness as other seasons. My first degree, funny enough, was actually in kinesiology, and I was a college athlete and worked as a trainer. So I'm aware of the way the body works and have seen high-level training up close. I'm also a dad of five kids and a pastor. So I understand the busyness of life and how sometimes you just put on a few pounds and you're not exactly thrilled about the way you feel. All this to say, across the board, whether in the past, when I was in athletics or in the training world or now in ministry, discipline is always the centerpiece when we're talking about balancing health and fitness. And I believe this belongs in the spiritual disciplines conversation because the way you care for your body will affect your mind, and the way your mind is operating will affect your soul care and your focus. So let me give you some principles and then we'll offer some practical steps, and hopefully this will help you wherever you're at. Number one, let's make this clear. If you have six-pack abs but you're spiritually unhealthy, that will need to be addressed. That reality is an indication that your issue is actually not discipline if you're physically fit, but spiritually not. You're very disciplined, and your body's evidence of that. However, your priorities are the issue. So anytime we're leaning more into our physical health than we are spiritual health, we may say, well, I'm not as out of control as that person, or look at the way that my body looks. Well, if you're spiritually undisciplined, it doesn't matter. God is looking at the heart most of all, and by that I don't mean heart health and how great your cardio is. I mean the Bible makes it clear that physical fitness and bodily discipline to look a certain way is only of some benefit. So we want to be very careful because we live in a culture that has idolized the body and idolized fitness. And at times the enemy will lure us into the temptation that our spouse is not meeting our expectations or they're not what we want or not what we envisioned because they are focused on spiritual things and maybe not as fit as they used to be. We want to be very careful, leaning the scale too far into the physical. We want to be balanced and understand that we should not be overly jealous or impressed by those who boast a great body but are bankrupt spiritually. Rather, we should use if we do have great discipline, and the Lord has been gracious to us in that regard, we should use our knack for discipline with fitness with our spiritual priorities as well. So, number one, your spiritual health is the most important of the two. However, number two, lacklustre health and obesity could be a sign of imbalance. Now I want to be sensitive here and be careful. Hear me on this. You do not need to be a health and fitness model. You don't need to be constantly worried about the airbrush perfections of Instagram and all of the fake standards that the world puts in front of you. Especially you ladies, often tempted to assume because your body doesn't look a certain way that, you know, you're this or you're that. That's not your standard, Christian. You're fearfully and wonderfully made, and comparison is the thief of joy, so don't let the devil play that game in your mind. But hear me on this. Unless you have underlying health issues or a disease that prevents you from maintaining balance in your health, then lackluster, health, and obesity is indicative of some imbalance. Now, I come from a Middle Eastern family, maybe you can relate to this, where food is a staple in our relationships. And to that, many people say, Amen. It was that way in the Bible too. And if you're from the South, dare I say, more discipleship has happened around a smoker or some good barbecue than most churches could even boast. And to that, many of us would say, Amen. But let's be careful here. In the Bible, while food was a staple in their fellowship, sitting around for hours watching football, eating Cheetos and queso and living sedentary lifestyles was not the norm. They walked, they were active, they enjoyed a great deal of fellowship around food. So there's balance there. And look, I want to get real personal here for a second. I'm not defining obesity as having a little weight that you want to lose or having a little belly or whatever. Maybe you've, you know, never heard a pastor go here, but we're gonna go here. Obesity is not being flabby, it's not carrying baby weight. Uh, it's certainly not, you know, that you are missing the mark on the BMI, the body mass index. Funny story, the BMI can be a little misleading. I remember in college I was a very fit, 215 pounds. I ran the San Francisco Marathon back in 2010 with no training, not my greatest idea that I've had, but I did it. And at the time, the BMI said I was obese, and I had like 10% body fat. So be careful with stuff like that. Is there maybe a reference point you can find from your doctor? Sure, but you may just need to balance out some walking. Uh perhaps it's time to see the sedentary habits that you hold as hindrances to your spiritual health as well. Obesity and sedentary lifestyles have been linked to heart disease, diabetes, and of course, depression and anxiety as well, because our bodies were designed by God, our master creator, to respond to exercise, movement, and good food. When we live to eat rather than eat to live, along with sedentary American style living, complete with, and maybe it's a caricature, but you get it, Sunday night football, another night out, eating out, Thursday night football, Monday night football, junk food, processed food, Netflix binges, vending machine visits, soda rivers flowing into our bodies. Friends, let's face some hard truth here. That's not biblical fellowship. And that's not God's design for our bodies. So while we can enjoy food, we want to make sure we keep food in its place. So that principle again, lackluster, health, and obesity could be a sign of imbalance. And let the Holy Spirit lead you in applying that. Be wise, be careful, be honest, and assess have you gone the other extreme and let your body begin to waste away in ways that are not God's design. And if so, is that going to be healthy for you spiritually? Number three, a lack of self-control physically is something we should address spiritually. So, out of that last point, if you are having a difficult time with self-control, as a habit, I'm not saying that you have a favorite dessert or you do a cheat night where you enjoy a little indulgence and in the middle of your week. But if self-control is an ongoing issue for you with food and with caring for your body, you should address that spiritually. Galatians 5, 22 to 23 says that the fruit of the Spirit includes self-control. Now, first understand that it's not the fruits of the Spirit, it's the fruit, meaning it's a package deal. It's all of them that he bears in us. So if you're struggling to bear these all consistently, you have need for asking bigger spiritual questions in your life. Now self-control can refer to the emotions, the tongue, other decisions. We all have to constantly assess and reassess our self-control, and one area we should do that is with food. When we binge eat because food is an idol, or we can't control ourselves over certain foods, and then we hurt our bodies by overeating. This is a self-control issue. Spiritually, we're all tempted in many ways. From sexual temptation that the enemy throws at you to pleasures, indulgences, money, comforts. You know, food is just another thing in life that tempts us to a lack of self-control. Each can be a good thing. God gave us sex, it's good. God has given us all things to enjoy. 1 Timothy 6, 19, that's good. God allows us the provision of money. We are allowed to be in comfort and enjoying our families and enjoying the things of life, and food is a gift. But each have a dark side. So if food has gone from something you enjoy to the glory of God, because he gave it to us and wants us to enjoy it in its proper place, to being something you obsess over and you can't control yourself with, well, don't just try to solve the symptom of not having bad food around anymore. But ask yourself, do I have self-control issues in other places in my life? Seek the Lord on it. And here's some bad news, but maybe encouraging news too. The older people I talk to, like the 60 and 70 year olds, they say they still do this. So bad news, it's going nowhere fast because you're on this side of heaven, friend. Good news, you're not alone. We all have to keep reassessing self-control. Number four, physical fitness is good for the body, the mind, and therefore it benefits the soul. So hear me out on this one. God designed your body. Again, I mentioned it earlier, but I want to go a little deeper. Your body's designed to respond to physical activity. It pumps oxygen-rich blood into the brain, to the muscles. There's benefits to bone health, memory, focus, hormone regulation, immunity, and more. Now, science has proven all of this to be true, which only makes our admiration for God increase all the more because He designed us that through regular exercise, even walking, doesn't mean you gotta go out and do deadlifts every day, although that can be great for your core. Your body's gonna be healthier, your mind is gonna be sharper. And therefore, your soul care will be stronger with a sharper mind and a healthy body. You can read more books, you can focus longer in the moments that matter, you can recall scripture that you've studied, you can provide wisdom to people that you love, you can have a level head, you can have hormone balance, and you can experience energy and motivation because the way that God has wired the human body. Very important that we don't dismiss physical fitness. Now, this fifth principle, I want to talk to fellow pastors, and the rest of you can listen in, even if you're not one, but maybe there's a conversation you're saying, okay, this is probably a needed one, so listen in. Pastors do not need to be fitness models, but they must model self-control. This one isn't meant to be a shot, and I'm not playing to the caricature, but obesity is not to be normative in the pastor's life unless there's some medical or uh debilitation that they they can't do certain things that hinders him from exercising and prevents him from balancing his weight and health. Obesity is really not that complex. And I say this in love, but it's simple. And I know this. I'm human, I'm a man, I go through the holidays, I see the scale tip one way and then the other way. We all understand this, so let's just get honest together as believers. Calories in, calories out. When we eat far more, and I mean far more than we burn, obesity comes. And even with an average caloric intake and sitting and study for hours a day, a pastor will not necessarily end up extremely or excessively obese, provided he walks around in other times and plays with his children in the evening, maybe joining his wife for a walk on days off and eats normal portions and then goes to bed. The trouble is, maybe this is you, pastors tend to eat their stress away like any human, and maybe we at times will enjoy too much fellowship or justify overeating by saying, well, it's fellowship. But again, we want to still be aware of self-control. Here's why this is a big deal. First Peter 5, 1 through 4 says we're to shepherd the flock, and then says we're to be an example to them. The word means a copy or a type to model after. This is undoubtedly spiritual, but when a man is highly obese and he's a pastor and he lacks self-control with his eating, this is a deeper issue. He's modeling that when he's stressed, he eats. When he's given choices, he chooses poorly for his temple. It means that perhaps when he is overindulging, he is justifying that, calling it fellowship. Knowing the sovereignty of God has numbered our days, we of all people need to remember that we need to care for our temple because it is through our temple that God will use us as a vessel during our sovereignly numbered days. Now, there are those who take this to extremes. I remember prosperity type pastors who obsessed over their bodies and would wear certain shirts and would try to appear a certain way, believing that that would attract people to the church. That's not what I'm saying we should do here. I believe based on what the Bible says, God's man should simply not be a distraction in this way. He doesn't need to be overdoing it in any way, shape, or form on either side. You don't need to worry about being some fitness model and showing off, but at the same time, we should not be out of control, and our bodies should reflect that our care of temple again whenever possible, when it's not a medical or other justifiable issue. And surely people in the pews would appreciate a man who is not a distraction. We know that there are people in the pew when we preach something that are saying, Well, you don't live this, so man, I'm not listening to you. One of the easiest ways to prevent that is with our physical appearance as it pertains to temple care. When we tell people that we are to have self-control and balance in life, we should appear normal, balanced in these areas, and thus being a good example to people. I have heard many a story, and who knows? I look back on my younger days as a pastor, and while we get away with a lot by way of eating, I remember at times that, you know, just indulging in things and not thinking of how it looked or how it was presented. And I think of many comments that I've heard church people make over the years about various people or in various contexts, and the joke is very much like people will talk about cops and donuts, is the pastor at the potluck, the man who stands up in the pulpit to preach about self-discipline and yet lacks discipline when it comes time to food and potlucking with the church. Again, don't hear what I'm not saying. The pastor should be a man who's self-controlled, able to bring his temptations into subjection, and then agree with Paul that physical fitness is still merely of little benefit, and then focus the lion's share on our lives on spiritual priorities. I love the story that John Piper tells about his taking up of running. I think of older other pastors who have mentioned their various regimens of walking or of exercising, and all of this, a way for them to expel energy, keep their body under subjection, and maximize their days. So as part of our spiritual discipline, brothers, let us care for our temple in a way that honors the Lord and stays in balance. So, practical next steps to finish. Number one, start small. It's okay to have big goals, but big goals need small steps that eventually reach the big goal. Like a team that says, you know, we want to win a championship. Okay, great. Win the game today. So eat a simple meal. Don't snack tonight. Don't go for back to back to back nights of eating out at places where you're gonna overdo it. Go on a walk, set a mileage goal for the week, and then for the month, and then carry out that for the year. If you can start working out, do it. If you can afford a trainer, hire one. But all in all, start small. And that again includes our food choices, just like we might say, hey, let's start reading the Bible tomorrow. Let's just read a verse, let's read a proverb, let's take some time to pray today. Well, so it is by starting small with our physical, bodily fitness goals. Number two, include your community. This one is personally beneficial for me, and I think it will be for you as well. I discuss these matters with a group of brothers that are in my life. Uh that is helpful for me. We talk about Our fitness goals, we talk about our health, we're honest when we are not nailing it. We're a mixed group, sort of, of body styles. And uh, for example, some of the guys in my group are you know in the they play pro sports or they fight competitive jujitsu and they are machines, whereas others of us just are trying to keep the weight off and you know have heart health. All in all, it's good to discuss these things in a trusting community where we could keep each other accountable. And with that same group, I enjoy good food and have delighted in many different things made by one of our wives or some other aspect that we're introduced to in the food culture. But when we're encouraging a balance in our lives, enjoying food is never a burden, it becomes a blessing. So do this in community, include your community, have fun, talk about it with others, just like you'd encourage somebody in Bible reading and you'd keep each other accountable. Maybe find somebody who wants to go on walks together, or find somebody who wants to set goals with you. Third, purge your house as needed. When something is causing you to sin, cut it off. And just like we might put books on a coffee table instead of a TV remote, or we might remove an app that's distracting us, purge your house of foods that are hurting your goals or switch them out. Instead of, you know, heavily processed foods, try more natural healthy foods. Instead of big bags of chips, try a lighter popcorn. Do things that will help you replace the bad habits with good ones. Ask your husband or wife for help along the way and purge the house as needed. And then finally, keep an eternal perspective. Like any spiritual discipline, the care of your temple is about eternal work. You want a healthy body and a healthy life so you can maximize it for the glory of God. You want to be presenting yourself with confidence, knowing that you can say no to temptation, because today it might be food, and tomorrow it could be something much deeper and more harmful to your marriage or your reputation. This may not be about weight loss for you, maybe it's about heart health or whatever your goals are. Maybe for you it's not about overindulging, maybe for you it's about an alcohol thing or a different type of uh obsession. On and on you could go in what you need to address. The point is this, like Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6 12, everything is permissible for me, but I will not be mastered by anything. So as the Holy Spirit convicts you and things come to mind and you begin to reflect on your life and your heart and these spiritual disciplines we've talked about throughout this month, now as we come to physical health and care for your temple, this is the question that you and I need to ask above all else. Not what do people think, not how will I look, not this or that, but this what is mastering you? What is mastering you in your spiritual disciplines? Forget not the balance of health and fitness, but keep eternal perspective. Nothing should have a hold of your heart but Christ. May it be so. Thanks for listening. For free resources, go to forthegospel.org and be sure to drop a review on Apple if this podcast has been a blessing to you. If you want to partner with us to support our ministry here at For the Gospel, you can do that on the giving page on our website. And thanks again today. If you did wonder what's going on with my voice, I was a little under the weather and am coming through it. I do promise you, in light of this episode, I did not get sick from eating bad food. It's just the season, as you all know. Thanks for rolling with me today. I'll be back next Monday with another episode. For now, keep on living for the gospel.