WHY YOU NEED TO GO TO A GYM

SEEING CHURCH AS A SPIRITUAL GYM

Over the last few years, the fitness/gymnasium industry seems to have grown remarkably. There was once a time when ‘going to work’ involved physical exertion and the use of one’s muscles. We called this manual labour. But now, an increasing number of jobs involve sitting – usually in front of a computer screen. Perhaps this helps to explain why more and more people now recognise the need to go to a gym so that they can get some physical exercise (to make up for the lack of it in their jobs). God has designed for us to be physically active. There are people, though, who cannot be (either temporarily or permanently). The apostle commented that physical exercise was beneficial – but it was no where near as beneficial as spiritual exercise – for physical exercise profits us here and now, but godliness (spiritual exercise) benefits us eternally.

for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come.
First Timothy 4:8

I suppose you “could go to the gym” and just watch everyone there do their work-outs. It would be technically true to tell others that you “went to the gym”. But this is quite different to paying your $20 a week, putting your work-clothes in a change bag, dressing in your exercise outfit (which I suspect legally involves wearing lycra), grabbing a fresh towel, topping up your water bottle, firing up Spotify, driving to the gym, putting your gear in the locker room, going to the exercise equipment and then working up a sweat and bit of muscle fatigue as you did your gym session, then showering, changing into your work-clothes, and going to work for the day.

In a similar way, I suppose it’s possible for someone “to go to church” and watch others seek God, pray, give, worship, serve, welcome, and support others. But the true benefit of going to church is not merely in spectating. 

¶ I was glad when they said to me,
“Let us go to the house of the LORD!”
Psalm 122:1

The Apostle Paul has stated that physical training is of “some value” but spiritual training (“godliness” – striving for a Christ-like character) is of eternal value. The level of godliness you attain in this life is what you take with you into the “life to come” (1Tim 4:8). In this sense, our church is our spiritual gym. It is the place where we are challenged, exercised, trained, and put to work as we serve one another. In the same way then that a home-gym can’t help the average person achieve the same results as a community gym, neither can isolating yourself from your church community help you to be trained in godliness and made stronger in God. 

To this end the Apostle Peter told the Christians in the churches of northern Galatia – 

For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Second Peter 1:5-8

I want each of us also to be effective and fruitful, just as Peter told these early believers. May God help each of us to grow in godliness each time we meet together on a Sunday and as we meet in our home-groups through the week. See you at the gym this Sunday!

-Pastor Andrew

Invisibility Versus Transparency

If you are a Nurse, then according to a recent poll, you are most trusted person in Australia!* I get concerned about someone when I hear them say, "Don't you trust me?!" But I get deeply troubled when I hear a Christian say it! I assume that in every Christian's discipleship pathway they were taught about The Fall and its damage upon every human being since then. I assume that those who have been a Christian for a while understand that everyone is subject to a fallen nature which causes us to involuntarily prefer sin and rebellion over righteousness and submission to God, His Word or His delegates. Our universal perspicacity (tendency to shrewdly distort things in our favour) causes us to use passwords on websites and locks on our doors.

"Trust no man", the Psalmist wrote (Psalm 146:3). In fact, no where in Scripture does it require, recommend, or encouragement us to trust another person.

¶ Thus says the LORD:
"Cursed is the man who trusts in man
and makes flesh his strength,
whose heart turns away from the LORD.
Jer. 17:5

This is why accountability and transparency is not an unreasonable requirement of those you interact with.

My understanding of what the Bible says about the universal human condition causes me to willingly submit to the appropriate scrutiny of others about the use of my time, my productivity levels, my key relationships, my use of money, my reliability. "Don't you trust me?" is not something I can honestly remember saying since I came to understand what the Bible states about the human condition (over 30 years ago now). This is not meant to be a boast. It is, in fact, an admission.

Because we are all flawed humans, we can only truly interact with each other on the basis of there being some accountability and appropriate transparency. Those who are closest to me see more of who I truly am - that is, I am more transparent with them. "But doesn't this require trust?" you ask. Yes it does. But I have learned that the Bible requires not that I trust others - but that I be trustworthy.

You have heard me teach things that have been confirmed by many reliable witnesses. Now teach these truths to other trustworthy people who will be able to pass them on to others.
Second Timothy 2:2

Trustworthiness is at the heart of the Bible's command to followers of Christ to be 'faithful'. By being faithful we become dependable, reliable, and somewhat predictable - that is: worthy of trust. By being faithful to Christ we become known for being truthful, honest, and God-fearing. This also means that we are happy to be accountable and reasonably transparent, because we have nothing to fear from such scrutiny. This might be why I become a little suspicious when someone asks ('demands') "Don't you trust me?!", because this sounds too much like - I am not accountable to anyone.

There is a craving, though, in every human heart, to trust someone. When we do this with someone who has not earned our trust, we get hurt. But despite our hurts, we still want someone to trust.

¶ Trust in the LORD with all your heart,
and do not lean on your own understanding.
Proverbs 3:5

When someone holds you to account, they are doing what is absolutely necessary for you to become trustworthy. If you resent someone checking on your work, you can never become trustworthy. If you are uncomfortable with someone asking where you have been, why you are late, how you managed to lose it, what have you been doing all day, or who you were meeting with today, you are possibly preventing yourself from becoming trustworthy.

In writing to his protegé, the apostle Paul told Timothy to pastor the church at Ephesus by preaching the Word of God (2Tim. 4:2). And what was the main value that preaching the Word of God could deliver to those he was pastoring?

and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,  that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. 
Second Timothy 3:15-17

God has given the Scriptures to (i) make us wise to receive salvation through Christ; (ii) teach us; (iii) reprove us (reprimand); (iii) correct us; and (iv) train us. Which of these Scriptural functions doesn't involve accountability? And to which of these Scriptural functions can we submit to without becoming increasingly transparent? The follower of Christ who therefore tells everyone to 'mind their business' and 'that is none of your business!' has failed to recognise that following Christ inevitably requires increasing accountability and transparency. But the believer who welcomes the effect of the Word of God in their lives is on a journey toward "completeness" and being "equipped for every good work" (2Tim. 3:17). If you want to be 'complete' and 'equipped', be accountable to the right people.

INVISIBILITY, THE OPPOSITE OF TRANSPARENCY

In the full story of Jack (most often associated with beans and a giant) he comes across an enchanted coat which has the power to make him invisible. F.W.Boreham asks, "How could Jack have conquered the giant; how could he have slain the dragon; how could he have escaped from the ogre's bone-littered dungeon; how could he have rescued the charming princess whom he afterwards married, but for that enchanted garment?" (The Other Side of The HIll, 1930, page 67) Boreham reminds us that Plato first wrote about the use of invisible powers in his book, Republic, where Gyges discovers 'a ring of invisibility' which when placed upon the finger and turned in a certain direction "rendered the wearer totally invisible" (p. 68). H.G. Wells wrote the book, The Invisible Man, who discovered the chemical secret to becoming invisible. If you had the power of invisibility what would you do with it? What if half the world had the power of invisibility - would the world be a better place? F.W. Boreham argues that it would lead to rampant crime and chaos. Invisiblity, it appears, is the opposite to transparency! Yet today there are followers of Christ who are more invisible than they are transparent.

Rom. 3:19 ¶ Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.

Rom. 14:12 ¶ So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.

If you want to enjoy the riches of knowing and following Christ, your journey will be one of increased scrutiny and transparency. Our flesh (our sinful nature) will recoil at such a notion. But our God-given new spirit will rejoice at the opportunity to know Christ better and serve Him more effectively. And as you come up this mountain of intimacy with the Lord (refer to Psalm 15) you will be delighted to find that you will be accompanied by other trustworthy pilgrims who also submit to the accountability that the Scriptures necessarily bring. Thus, rather than having fewer and fewer people to trust, you will discover more and more people that you can trust because they have become trustworthy. As a result, you will become more trustworthy and more Christ-like and therefore a more attractive and persuasive witness for Jesus and His Gospel. The next time you crave invisibility, choose transparency instead.

Ps. Andrew