Week 1: Fitness

SESSION GOALS
The point of every session is a main idea with the goal of informing our knowing, feeling, and doing.

MAIN IDEA: Your body is a temple of the Living God.

Head Change: To know that taking care of your body is part of your calling to steward what God has given you.

Heart Change: To celebrate that your body belongs to Jesus.

Life Change: To determine not to worship or waste your body, but rather to commit to regular exercise, good nutrition, and rest.

OPEN
What’s the toughest physical challenge you’ve ever endured? On a scale of 1 (couch potato) to 10 (ironman), how fit are you? Would those who know you best agree with your self-assessment?

Perhaps you’re wondering what your fitness has to do with your relationship with God. In this session, Anthony Delaney explains that every part of us – soul, mind, and body – matters to the God who created us. Your physical fitness isn’t just physical. It has repercussions for all of life.

VIEW
As you watch, write down how Anthony answers these questions.

• Is it easier to regain or maintain physical health and fitness?
• What does ‘good stewardship’ mean?
• What are the two extremes we can fall into when it comes to our bodies, fitness levels, and general health?
• Who does your body belong to, and who lives in it?

Show SESSION #1: Fitness (13 minutes)

REVIEW
Anthony opens this session joking that he’s high (on exercise-induced endorphins, not drugs). How does exercise affect your mood, attitude, and creativity levels? When it comes to sport, are you more of a doer or a spectator? What’s your story when it comes to reaching, maintaining, regaining, or simply dreaming about physical fitness?

If you’re following Jesus, looking after your body isn’t an optional extra but part of your calling to steward what God has given you. Everything you have – your next breath and the lungs that receive it – is a gift from God who ordained all your days before one of them dawned (Psalm 139:16, James 1:17). Are you grateful for the body God has given you? Why, or why not? What have you done this week to care for your body?

So often it’s only when something goes wrong with our health that we become aware of it or grateful for it. Yet everything we’ve been given – money, family, jobs, the planet, and our bodies – matters to God. Do you agree with Anthony that ‘everything is spiritual’? Why, or why not?

There are two extremes you can fall into when it comes to your body, fitness, and general health. You can become a worshipper of your body or a waster of it. Have there been times in your life when you deified your body? And other times when you seemed bent on destroying it? Where do you see yourself now on the scale of worshipper to waster?

Anthony makes the point that body worshippers struggle with pride, and body wasters struggle with guilt. Both extremes are rooted in selfishness. Have people close to you suggested you need to start or stop certain health-related behaviours? How has this made you feel? Why might it be selfish of you to ignore these people’s concerns?

Paul explains God’s perspective on how we should treat our bodies: ‘Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honour God with your bodies’ (1 Corinthians 6:19­–20). Discuss the Greek philosophy of spirit and matter prevalent at the time Paul was writing. Why would the Corinthians have believed they could do whatever they liked with their bodies? Do you see a resurgence of this kind of thinking in our culture today? How would you explain to a seven-year-old the concept that their body is a temple in which God lives?

What you do with your body is an ownership issue because your body isn’t actually your body. God lovingly created your body. Jesus died to buy back you and your body from sin’s grip. The Holy Spirit fills your body, controlling and directing you as He dwells within. Anthony says, ‘Because it’s not my body, I can’t just do what I like with it – either worshiping it (which is idolatry) or wastefully abusing it (which is sacrilege).’ Did you grow up believing God was only interested in the ‘spiritual’ part of your life? How does knowing that Jesus owns your body change the decisions you make about it?

Anthony references the famous English cricketer and missionary, C.T. Studd, who wrote, ‘I had known about Jesus dying for me, but I never understood that if He died for me, then I didn’t belong to myself... If I belong to Him, either I had to be a thief and keep what wasn’t mine, or else I had to give up everything to God. When I came to see that Jesus Christ had died for me, it didn't seem hard to give up all for Him.’ What assurance do you have that you belong to God? Is there something God is challenging you to give up for Him?

How you look after your body affects whether or not you’ll experience the abundant life Jesus came to bring (John 10:10) and may also have a bearing on how soon you’ll get to experience the next life! Would you call yourself fit? Would you say you’re living life to the full? If not, what needs to change in terms of your eating, exercising, sleeping, or some other health-related aspect of your physical life? What one thing could you begin doing tomorrow to change your health trajectory? Do you agree with Anthony that the results of regular exercise are more than physical? Whose health or fitness inspires you? How can you emulate their attitudes or actions?

BIBLE EXPLORATION
In his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul teaches them about marriage and sexual purity. Again he references the truth that our bodies are temples. He writes, ‘And what union can there be between God’s temple and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God said: “I will live in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they will be My people”’ (2 Corinthians 6:16). What would change in your life, this week, if you were mindful of the truth that God cares about your sex life, what you eat, and how much you exercise?

Read Ephesians 5:18, 1 Timothy 4:8, and 3 John 1:2. How are the physical and the spiritual aspects of life interconnected?

The writer of Hebrews encourages us, ‘Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees…’ (Hebrews 12:12). Read the preceding verses and discuss whether this verse is meant literally, figuratively, or both.

LAST WORD
When you commit to stewarding your health and fitness, you’ll discover new levels of self-respect, determination, and well-being. It’s never too late. There is something you can begin doing, today, to care for your body. You don’t need a crash diet or a crazy dream. You simply need a purpose and a plan, and you need to take the first step. Get started! Honour God by making the most of the body He has given you. You’re fearfully and wonderfully made in God’s image (Psalm 139:14), and He paid the highest price imaginable to buy you back from slavery to sin. You belong to Him.

DEEPER WALK
Select at least one activity below to complete before watching the next session.

Read: Take time to meditate on 1 Corinthians 9:24–27. What is God saying to you? Is He pinpointing spiritual, emotional, or physical aspects of your life? What will you start doing? What will you stop doing?

Write: When it comes to health and fitness, what are your fears and frustrations? What are your hopes and dreams? Write down your goals, and then write out your personal training programme. Consider sharing it with a friend who will cheer for you and hold you accountable.

Pray: Every day this week, pray for someone you know who is wrestling with body worshiping or body wasting.