HELLO
GOOD HEALTH
DR. JIM DIXON
1 CORINTHIANS 6:19-20
SEPTEMBER 28, 2008
Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote The Brothers Karamazov in the year 1879. That novel, The Brothers Karamazov, is considered the greatest of Dostoevsky’s novels, even greater than “Crime and Punishment.” Some literary critics believe it is the greatest Russian novel and indeed some literary critics and literary scholars believe it’s the greatest novel ever written, a great work by a great man.
Dostoevsky, when he was a young man, was incarcerated. He was thrown in prison and was in prison for a couple of years. He was there because he had read political literature that had been banned by Czarist Russia and by the government of the Czars. In prison, Dostoevsky only had one book and that one book was the Bible. He pored through it. He had nothing else to do for days and weeks and months and even a couple of years so Dostoevsky pored through the Bible. He read it again and again and by the time he came out of his cell he was a devout believer in Jesus Christ.
“The Brothers Karamazov” was his last novel. That novel concerns four brothers whose father had been murdered. When you look at the chapter on the Spanish Inquisitor, a story is told by one of the four brothers, a young man named Ivan who is struggling with Agnosticism and the Christian church, The Orthodox church. Ivan tells this story. The setting is Seville, Spain and it’s during the Spanish Inquisition. In the story, a child has died, a little girl and she is being carried in her little casket to the Great Cathedral. People are weeping and people are crying and suddenly Jesus appears. Jesus comes again. He is there and He lifts his hands towards heaven and the powers of heaven descend and this little girl is resurrected from the dead. She calls out for her mom and dad. People cry tears of joy and people shout, “He is come again! He is come again!” but the church leaders are indignant. They didn’t want Jesus to come back. They’re proud. They’re puffed up. The Cardinal arrests Jesus and has him put in a cell, has him incarcerated, and then the Cardinal goes to the cell and the Cardinal says to Jesus, “Why did You come back? We don’t want You. We rejected You centuries ago. Your church now belongs to us. We have the authority and we have the power and we have all the honor and glory. Then Jesus kisses this thin-lipped priest and just disappears from the cell.
You have this chilling story which reflects Dostoevsky’s fear that the church of Jesus Christ had lost its love, had lost its compassion and had ceased to care about people. They no longer believe the love of Christ was supreme but the church had become enamored with authority and power. Instead of giving Glory to Christ, the church was seeking glory for itself.
I think it has been true at various times and at various places that the church of Jesus Christ has gone off track, lost its way, but in this time and this place we don’t want that to be true. In this church we want to give the glory to Jesus Christ. We want to be a church of compassion. We want to be a church that loves people, a church that cares about people, a church that fulfills the call of Christ.
So, here we are in the midst of this series called “Hello.” We’ve looked at the hendiadys, the One through Two, the combined greeting of the Hebrews and the Greeks—Shalom, Charis, Grace to you and Peace. We have seen that it means to wish people heaven and to take them the Gospel we have seen. We are seeing that it means to wish them “good health.”
Today as we look at good health, what Christ wants for us is that we would be His people, that we would really care about people and that we would care about their well-being and that we would truly wish them well, that we would wish their bodies well as well as their souls. So, this morning I really have two teachings, two thoughts, and the first concerns the relationship between health and stewardship. The Bible is clear that there’s a strong link between health and stewardship, stewardship of the body. I know many of you when you think of stewardship, you think of money. A lot of churches and a lot of pastors, including this church and this pastor, from time-to-time we’ve referred to money. And we’ve talked about the fact that money belongs to God, not to us. We’re mere stewards and someday we’re going to have to give an account but that’s also true of our body. Our body belongs to God. Our body doesn’t belong to us. Our body belongs to God and we’re just stewards. Someday we’re going to have to give an account. A steward is someone who manages or cares for something that doesn’t belong to him so when you manage or care for your body, you’re managing and caring for something that doesn’t belong to you. As Christians we understand biblically in a sense Christ is the owner twice because He is our Creator and then secondly because he died for us. We have bought with a price. We are not our own. So, the question is stewardship.
Certainly, the stewardship of the body is not an easy thing. I was reading this last week about some of those conflicting medical studies relating to health and I saw this statement. The Japanese eat very little fat and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans. The French eat a lot of fat and also suffer fewer heart attacks that British or Americans. The Japanese drink very little red wine and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or Americans. The Italians drink excessive amounts of red wine and also suffer fewer heart attacks than British or Americans. The Germans drink lots of beer and eat lots of sausages and fats and suffer fewer heart attacks than the British or the Americans. And so, the conclusion is, “Eat and drink what you like. Speaking English is what kills you!”
Of course, it’s not true. It’s kind of clever but it’s not true. What you eat and what you drink is very important and it happens that a doctor saw a man dying. The man was so skinny he was just emaciated. He had obviously lived on little but alcohol for years. Later evidence would show this man was only 38 years old. The doctor sent this man to the Belleview Hospital and two days later the man died. They found in his pocket 38 cents and they found a piece of paper. On the paper, these words: “Dear Friends and gentle hearts…” That’s all that was written. It kind of sounded like the beginning of a poem or maybe the beginning of a song. They thought, “Who was this guy? Who was this drunk who died in the slums? Who was this alcoholic?”
As they searched, the made an amazing discovery. The man was Stephen Foster, one of the greatest songwriters in American history. Stephen Foster wrote, “My Old Kentucky Home.” Have you ever watched the Kentucky Derby? You see the people of Kentucky sing that song and they love it. It’s the state song of Kentucky, “My Old Kentucky Home.” Stephen Foster wrote that. He wrote “Oh Susannah,” “I Dream of Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair,” “Camp Town Races.” Really going back four or five generations all the fun songs were written by Stephen Foster but he was dead at the age of 38 because of alcoholism. What a tragedy. What a tragedy.
Now, in the Bible the view of alcohol is very complex. On the one hand, you have passages like Psalms 104:15 where the Bible says, “As God has given straw to the ox that he might be strong, so God has given wine to man to gladden his heart.” Certainly, wine does gladden the heart. If you look at Genesis, chapter 27; if you look at the Book of Joel, chapter 2; or if you look at the Book of Amos, chapter 9; or Zechariah, chapter 10, and in passages like this we’re told that “the abundant wine in Israel was a gift and a blessing from God, a gift and a blessing from heaven.”
In the Bible we’re told how the people of Israel brought wine offerings to God. We’re told in the Bible how the people of Israel built the Temple in Jerusalem and how they used their abundant vineyards and their abundant supply of wine to buy the Cedars of Lebanon in order to build the Temple of Jerusalem.
You come to John’s Gospel, the Second chapter, and you see the first miracle of our Lord Jesus Christ and He transforms water to wine. It’s good stuff. The steward of the feast says, “Most people serve the good wine first. When people have drunk freely, their taste buds are numb. Then they serve the poor wine but you have saved the best for last. Six jars equal to perhaps 120 to 180 gallons, representing the abundance of life that Christ was bringing into the world.
But on the other hand in the Bible, while there are some passages that kind of portray wine and spirits in that more positive light, there are far more passages in the Bible that warn us about the dangers of wine and spirits. The Bible tells us if wine is a gift from God, it’s a very dangerous one. The Bible reminds us that the abuse of drink is a sin. The abuse of drink is a sin. I know that alcoholism has complex causation. I know that there are nature and nurture issues. I know that sometimes environment is a factor. I know that points of trauma and hurt and loss can be a factor. I know that sometimes biochemistry can be an issue or even genetics with regard to alcoholism but ultimately, you see, it’s an issue of stewardship. Our bodies are not our own. They belong to God so glorify God in your body.
And with regard with what you eat, I know the food pyramid is constantly changing and you’re frustrated. What should I eat? And of course, it really is pretty clear. What we really need to know we do know. We know that we eat too much bad fat, too much saturated fat in the American diet. We know that we eat too many bad carbs, too much white flour, too much sugar, too much starch. Bad fat, bad carbs. Almost no exercise. This is a stewardship issue. It’s an issue of how we treat these bodies that belong to God and whether or not we eat or drink properly and exercise properly, these are all issues of stewardship. Of courses we’ve seen that before God we’ll have to give an account,
There’s this book by Laura Stack. Laura actually is sitting right down here with her husband John. Laura is a member of our church. Just a couple of weeks ago Laura was up here interviewed by Mark as we started this series telling us how to greet each other. Laura has written a number of books. This one is called “The Exhaustion Cure.” We have it in Inklings and it’s really a wonderful book. There are chapters on exercise, nutrition, diet, even sleep, but the care of the body. I really recommend it to you as you begin to be a better steward of your health as you seek to please Christ in the way you treat your body.
Of course, in our passage for today in 1 Corinthians, chapter 6, we’re reminded how, as Christians, have become temples. In biblical times there was the Tabernacle and then the Temple and they were viewed as the House of God because in the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle and the Holy of Holies in the Temple there was the Shekinah, the Glory of God which descended upon the Mercy Seat of the Ark of the Covenant there in the Holy of Holies. It was the House of God with some presence of God but the Temple is no more and the Tabernacle is no more and so, here we are. The Bible says that we who believe in Jesus Christ have become temples and into us Christ has sent His own Spirit to tabernacle within us. This makes our bodies almost sacred, set apart for God. God is very interested in how we treat the body and, in the church, in the congregation, in the church community, we need to be people of compassion. I think we should have compassion on people who eat too much. I think we should have compassion on people who drink too much. I think we should have compassion on people who don’t exercise. I think we should have compassion on people with poor health. In the church there should always be compassion and love but there should also be accountability. If we really wish people grace and peace… If we really wish people heaven for their soul and health for their bodies… If we really wish the hendiadysfor people, then there needs to be some accountability.
Do you love people? If we love our spouse, if we love our family, if we love our kids, if we love our parents, if we love folks in our neighborhood, if we love people at work, there needs to be some accountability. If we’re really saying grace and peace to people, there need to be times where we would come up to someone we love and say, “Oh, I really love you and I’m very concerned because I think you’re drinking too much” or “I think you’re eating too much” or “You’re too sedentary and I’m concerned about your health.” This, in a sense, is part of what it means to say “grace and peace” to someone we love and someone we care about. This in a sense is part of what it means to say “grace and peace” to someone we love and someone we care about.
I know all of you have heard of Ludwig van Beethoven. Ludwig van Beethoven died in 1827. He died at the age of 57. He was a great composer, one of the greatest composers in the history of the world and he mastered many instruments. From the violin to the organ, he was a master and a great composer. He was an extremely gifted man. He was not devout in his Christianity, but he did write and compose some religious oratorios and symphonies and he did these things as did most masters in his age. He wrote an oratorio called “Christ on the Mount of Olives” and it’s considered a masterpiece. One of my favorite hymns is “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee, God of Glory, God of Love.” One of the great hymns of the faith and that was written by Henry van Dyke but the music came from the 9th Symphony of Beethoven. It’s beautiful and it’s glorious.
A lot of people, however, were not aware of the fact that Beethoven was sick the last 25 years of his life. He only lived 57 years and the last 25 he was increasingly ill. Historians and scientists have wondered what caused this. What was his problem? Just recently the Science Medical Department at the University of Illinois conducted studies taking some hair that had been preserved from Beethoven’s head. These studies revealed that Beethoven had 100 times the normal amount of lead in his body so he died of lead poisoning. It was slow over a period of 25 years and they found that about 25 years before he died, he began to take mineral baths and then would drink the mineral water. He did this for 25 years and just slowly poisoned himself, slowly killed himself.
None of us would willingly, willfully in a premeditated way just choose to kill ourselves and yet that’s what’s happening all over our country and maybe all over the world. People are cutting ten years off of their lives, 20 years off their lives, maybe 25 years off their lives because they’re drinking too much or because they’re smoking or because they’re just eating too much or eating the wrong way. All of these things have to do with stewardship. Truly if we say grace to you and peace… If we wish good health, remember if we really care about people there needs to be some accountability.
Secondly and finally, I’d like to have us think just a little bit about the relationship between health and healing, health and prayer. Next year Barb and I are going to be taking a group from this church, some of you, to Israel and to Turkey. We’ve gone to Israel with church groups many times and we’re looking forward to late next spring or early summer as we travel to Israel and Turkey together. Now, when we go to Turkey, we’re going to visit the Seven Churches of Asia, sometimes called the Seven Churches of Revelation mentioned in Revelation, chapter 2, and Revelation, chapter 3. We’re going to be going to some of those churches, Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea. These were the churches to which Jesus crafted letters. When we come to Pergamum, and Barb and I have been there before… Today it’s called Bergama. When you come to Bergama, when you come to Pergamum, you see the ruins of an ancient city and it’s just awesome. You see Greek ruins and you see Roman ruins and you can walk the cobblestone streets that are 2,000 years old. When you’re there, you think about the words of Jesus that He wrote to the church that was there.
What did Jesus say in Revelation, chapter 2? Jesus said, “To the angel of the church in Pergamum write: “The words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword, I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is.”
Now, why was that? Why would Jesus say of the church at Pergamum that it dwelt where Satan’s throne was? Historians and scholars have looked at this. Some have suggested that maybe it had to do with the Altar of Zeus and indeed when you get to Pergamum and you come to that ruin, you will see the Altar of Zeus, the remains of it rising up on the Acropolis before the Temple of Athena. It was not as great as the Statue of Zeus at Olympia and the truth is there were many altars of Zeus and I think it unlikely that is why Jesus called Pergamum the place of Satan’s throne.
Some historians have said, “Maybe it has to do with emperor worship because in Asia Minor Pergamum was a primary governmental seat where emperor worship was enforced and Christians were brought before Roman authorities and they were forced to say, “Caesar is Lord.” If they refused to say, “Caesar is Lord,” they suffered the consequences. If they were silent or if they responded as many Christians did by saying, “Jesus is Lord,” they suffered the consequences. On some occasions they were just executed. Sometimes they were incarcerated. Oftentimes they were beaten because of emperor worship. Maybe that’s why Jesus referred to Pergamum as the place where Satan’s throne was.
There are many scholars and many historians who believe that what Jesus is referring to is the Asclepion. The Asclepion was a primitive hospital, a massive structure but primitive in terms of medicine. It was a hospital at Pergamum named after the Greek and Roman god Asclepios. Asclepios can be pronounced As-cleep-ios and indeed in the Greek and the Roman world the tital was pronounced differently and sometimes the spellings are different as its transliterated into English, but this god Asclepios was the god of healing, the son of Apollos, the father of Hygieia, who was the goddess of hygiene and from whom we get the English word hygiene. Asclepios was the god of healing and Asclepios had this massive, massive structure dedicated to him called the Asclepion.
Barb and I went in through the ruins of Asclepion. You can see rooms where they used herbs and ointments and medicines to try to help people in those early days of medicine. You can also go in some rooms where bizarre things took place, into rooms that were filled with superstition and occultism. You can go into rooms where people were made to lay on the floor and have snakes crawl over them. Why was that? That was because the symbol of Asclepios was the snake. Of course, in Genesis in the Bible, the snake was the symbol of the devil. Maybe that’s why Jesus said, “This is where Satan’s throne is,” but of course there were other rooms in the Asclepion that you can go into and these rooms were really weird places where people would spend the night if they were seriously ill, maybe critically ill, near death. They were put in there and poisonous snakes were allowed to crawl over their bodies all night and if they survived until morning, which few did, they were pronounced healed. It’s a tragic form of medicine. And of course the title given to Asclepios was “Asclepios-Soter,” Asclepios the Savior” and this was offensive to the church of Jesus Christ as Jesus is Savior.
The Caduceus of Asclepios was a serpentine staff which in medical communities around the world today is a symbol of medicine. Sometimes the staff or the Caduceus of mercury which is also a serpentine staff is a symbol of medicine, but both are used around the world. Of course, today we thank God that we have wonderful doctors. We thank God that we have wonderful men and women who serve in the field of medicine. We thank God for Sam Alexander who was up here with Mark a few moments ago. What a wonderful member of this church. What a wonderful doctor. What a wonderful man who loves Jesus Christ and cares about people. I thank God for all of the doctors that are out there under God helping people and really truly involved in a ministry as they seek to serve the health of people.
But you understand in the time of Christ at places like Asclepios and in temples of Asclepios, people actually worshipped health. It was a world where people actually worshipped health. That’s what Hygieia was about. That’s what Asclepios was about and even Apollos was in part the god of medicine and this was a day and age where people literally worshipped health. Is it different today? What do you always hear? “If you have your health, you have everything.” How bogus is that? I think we live in a world where people still worship health and yet here, we are and we should care about health. We should care very much about health. As a church this should be a place where we pray for folks, where we come around people, where we support them, where we encourage them. We pray them through their suffering and their hurting and we pray for their healing. We are seeking to be faithful and so, do our elders. We pray for folks after every service in this church. Helene and her team are so faithful to pray.
After Communion Sundays, our elders are here after every service with oil to anoint you and to pray for your healing. We want to be faithful and we believe that prayer changes things. We believe that God cares, not just about our souls but God cares very much about our bodies and we believe this call is upon the church of Jesus Christ.
Of course, there’s much we don’t understand. This past week, as Mark said, we had some folks in our congregation die—three men and a woman—and they were all precious. One of those who died was Charlie Ferguson. Charlie is an old friend. Barb and I loved Charlie very much and his wife, Barb. Charlie was the President at First Colorado Bank when this church, 26 years ago, received its first loan. It was only because of grace and mercy. We had no members. We bought a building and Charlie believed in us. We had that first loan and we had our beginning. Charlie and Barb and their kids and grandkids have been so faithful in this church through the years.
Less than two months ago Charlie found out that he had cancer and he found out that it was terminal. The doctors told him there was nothing they could do and that he would die within 6 months even though he felt great. It was lung cancer. Charlie hadn’t smoked in over 35 years, but we all began to pray. So, many of us prayed and we prayed every day. Doctors re-examined Charlie and began to say, “Well, maybe we can do this and maybe we can do that.” Just last Sunday Charlie came up to me and he was smiling. The doctors said all of the cancer was gone and we were so happy and celebrating. Barb and the kids and the grandkids were so happy.
Then this Wednesday at 4:30 in the morning Charlie got up to go to the bathroom. It was still dark and as he was coming back to his room, somehow, he made the wrong turn and he just went down the stairs and died suddenly. Charlie went down those stairs and he woke up in heaven. For his wife, kids, and grandkids we have great compassion and for Charlie great celebration. But I don’t understand. It’s not easy to understand all these things and I don’t claim to understand. I don’t understand the timing. It seemed like God was doing stuff and God was active and doing great things, so I don’t understand but I believe. I believe Jesus heals. I believe Jesus loves us and we’re never going to quit praying. We’re just going to keep praying for folks. We see God do awesome things. We see God do amazing things. I’m so grateful for this church and for all who are faithful to care and to pray.
I got an e-mail recently. I get quite a few e-mails and the overwhelming majority of them are just a blessing but so often some of you will write me and just tell me about what God is doing in your life or you’ll tell me what God has done through this church and through some of the ministries of the church and how God has blessed you in a tough time or God has done something wonderful.
I got this e-mail last month from Tricia Kilzer and Tricia wrote this: “Dear Pastor Dixon: You don’t know our family but we certainly know yours. During the past 6 months our son Preston has endured many long hours and procedures and infusions at the Children’s Hospital. He was diagnosed back in February with Stage 3 Hodgkin’s Lymphoma at the tender age of just 5. His cancer was found in his neck and in his upper left lung and in his liver and in his spleen. He had two surgeries, twelve chemotherapy treatments, nine in-patient days of high fevers and low blood cell counts and dozens and dozens of pokes every week. His little body fell apart before our eyes but his heart for the Lord strengthened and soared to new heights that we were privileged to be part of.
“Believe it or not, Preston only missed a few Sundays because he didn’t want to miss out on Sunday School. We wanted you to know how very honored we were to feel Christ’s love wrap around us from people like Lisa Reese at the Fun Factory and Josh and all the members from the Pod and Sheila Robinson from the Children’s Ministry and Sunday School teachers, Tammy Schroeder and Christy and Don Spencer. I wish I remembered names better because Don and his wife in the nursery bring smiles to our faces every week as does the current children’s director working with the Spencers. We deeply believe Preston’s outcome and journey have remained so positive because of your faithful staff and volunteers and the devoted church body. We’re singing songs of celebration because Preston is now cancer-free. He finished with chemotherapy and is turned 6 August 11. I know you are extremely proud of your church and here’s one more reason to smile at your brothers and sisters in Christ around you. Thank you. Tricia, Preston’s very proud mom.”
When I get an e-mail like that, I get chills. When I just think about what Christ can do through you and what Christ does through His people and how Christ blesses people. I want you to see a little video of Preston at the hospital as he was undergoing chemotherapy, singing a song that he’d learned here in Sunday School. Here’s a video of Preston. The first part of the song was too soft to hear and then when it got louder, I could not understand the words.
Preston is such a great young man, such a great little guy. He loves the Lord and is precious to the Lord as are all of you. Preston is here with his mom and dad. Bill and Tricia are here with Preston down front. They have two other kids. All three of their kids are wonderful, but I wonder if Bill and Tricia and Preston would stand and we could just express our love for you.
Preston is doing really well. Wednesday night he had a little allergic reaction to peanuts right here at the church but he’s doing great. And we thank God for Preston. He now has more hair than his dad as indeed it should be. We thank God for you all and your family. I love the Body of Christ. I love the way Christ has called us to pray for each other and to care for each other and encourage each other in the midst of all that we go through. I wonder this morning… I think Christ would ask us if you really wish people grace and peace… If you really wish them heaven and if you really wish them good health, maybe you would consider joining a small group. If you’ve never been in a small group or you’re not in a small group so you could kind of love on some people and pray for them and get to know them and encourage them with whatever they’re going through in their lives and they could pray for you.
Maybe you would consider teaching or just helping in any of our Sunday School classes. We have almost 2,000 children and youth every Sunday here and we need people. Maybe you would consider loving them and entering their world and praying for them and having a ministry in their lives. Maybe you would consider going with one of our teams down into the inner city where we hold hands with 20 different organizations. Maybe you would consider going with us and just say “grace and peace” to some folks in the inner city who maybe are growing up in the midst of pain. Maybe they’re Hispanic. Maybe they’re African-American. Anglo. Asian. All of these people are loved by God and hurting and they need the love of Christ. That’s what the body of Christ is about. That’s what we’re talking about these weeks and we look at what it means to wish people well and being the body of Christ and saying to people, “grace and peace.” Let’s look to the Lord with a word of prayer.