Fresh Bread

Guest (Male): You are listening to Fresh Bread, Dr. Harry Reeder's daily devotional from the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals.

Harry Reeder: Parenting that promotes children who grow in four dimensions: intellectually, physically, spiritually, and they grow socially. And we take that from the parenting of Mary and Joseph that is summed up in the life of Jesus in Luke 2:52. It's our foundational verse for this week.

And Jesus increased or grew in wisdom, there's the intellectual; knowledge, understanding, wisdom, that is developed lives that are faithful under the eye of God. Stature, that's the physical life. And then in favor with God, that's spiritual life. And then in favor with man, that's our social life.

Here we are looking at these four dimensions, having looked at the intellectual yesterday, reminding ourselves this was only possible because Jesus was submissive to his parents and his parents were submissive to the Lord. And their submission to the Lord was seen by their regularity in church, in the synagogue, and in the temple, and by the truth of what they learned in the church at work in their home.

Now, what about this matter of stature? You know, Pastor, I'm concerned about the intellectual and the spiritual. No, you need to be concerned about the physical. Paul was. Paul said, "I buffet my body and make it my slave." He wanted his body to be available and ready so that he could serve the Lord. Whether you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, in what? In your body? That you are to do that to the glory of God.

Our bodies are a reflection of what's happening in our lives spiritually. Do you know when the Bible tells you to worship the Lord in spirit and in truth? And you come to bless the Lord, O my soul? Well, if you didn't go to bed on Saturday night, you stayed up, and I tell people, "Saturday night live is going to be Sunday morning dead." If you stayed up and didn't get your sleep for Sunday, you're not going to worship the Lord in spirit. The physical and the spiritual are inseparably tied to each other.

What you do spiritually affects you physically. There's nothing more spiritual than the fruit of the spirit, is there? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Isn't it abundantly clear in your Bible, isn't it abundantly clear in life, that if you're going to love, you've got to physically be ready and available and energetic? And self-control is the declaration that all that you are is under the control of the spirit of God.

That's why the Bible says, "I urge you, my brothers, present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service of worship." That you want to bring your soul-heart motivated, instructed, and inspired life into this world to live for the Lord and use your body for his glory. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit?

I've got a little thing on my calendar each day for where I exercise. It's called "temple revitalization" or "temple reconstruction." Take this temple and work on it so that I can use it faithfully and effectively for Jesus. I can live for him in this body as long as possible. So that's what I want to encourage you to do, is to see the impact of the grace of the Lord Jesus as you involve yourself in the church and what you learn in your life and you fix your heart and your mind upon Jesus, not only with the intellectual disciplines but also with the physical disciplines.

Paul says, "Godliness is a means of great gain." Then he says, "Bodily discipline is only of a little profit." And I acknowledge that spiritual discipline, which we'll talk about tomorrow, is more important than physical discipline. But physical discipline is not unimportant. Now, the spiritual is more important, but he doesn't say the physical is unimportant. It is. And that's why you want your bodies as a temple of the Holy Spirit, available and ready to present as your life is lived out as a living sacrifice for Jesus Christ. And that's another slice of Fresh Bread.

Guest (Male): The Bible has no shortage of critics who are quick to point out seeming contradictions. Do you have the confidence to engage in such a discussion? Dr. Reeder's series, "Is the Bible Reliable?" is our free gift to you. Call 1-800-488-1888.