1. God designed my body; it is breathtaking.

Genesis 1, God spoke the universe into existence, formed man. Formed, designed, hand-crafted. The crown of creation.

But it’s way too easy to take for granted the miracles of God that are happening all the time. For instance, let’s talk about your…

Circulatory System

There are somewhere around 34 trillion cells in your body right now, and each of them needs oxygen in order to survive. Enter the circulatory system.

Coming out of your heart is the aorta, this foot long, cane shaped artery that’s about a foot long and an inch in diameter at it’s widest.
From the aorta all the rest of your arteries branch off to service to every part of your body, from the top of your head to the bottom of your feet. They get smaller and smaller as they go, until they transition to being…
capillaries, the tiny, delicate blood vessels that reach each one of those 34 trillion cells in your body. They average only around 8 microns in diameter (1/3000 of an inch), so narrow that red blood cells have to pass through them single file. The capillary walls are made with a thin layer of endothelium cells, are designed to “leak” just enough for the necessary molecules to easily pass through the gaps in the wall, carrying the necessary oxygen and nutrients to your cells.
now that the life-giving exchange has been made, the capillaries join back together into venules, which then come together to form veins, which take the now oxygen-depleted blood back toward your heart.

Between your arteries, capillaries, and veins, you have around 60,000 miles of blood vessels in your body right now.

that deoxygenated blood flows from two main veins into the right atrium of your heart, on the top right. Just below that is the second chamber, the right ventricle.
in between beats, when your heart is relaxed, your aortic valve opens up, allowing blood to flow into the ventricle. When the that muscle contracts, the valve snaps shut, making sure that your blood is only flowing one direction.
- my dad’s aortic valve happens to be made of titanium, which means if you get close to him, you can hear the metal hitting metal as it snaps open and shut!
the valve snaps shut, the muscles contract, which forces blood out of the right ventricle and up through the pulmonary artery into your lungs.

Respiratory System

Everybody take a deep breath in. That air is around 21% oxygen. It went down your trachea, where it split into two bronchi that lead to each lung.
like tree branches, these air tubes divide into tiny passages called bronchioles
at the end of each bronchiole is a tiny air sac, called the alveolus. Each alveolus is wrapped in capillaries full of red blood cells, which are carrying this special protein you may have heard of, called hemoglobin.
Through the hemoglobin, there’s diffusion of oxygen and carbon dioxide.
with the heartbeat, that refreshed blood flows to the left atrium, and then into the left ventricle, and the process starts all over again.

Everybody relax and put two fingers on inside of neck. Feel your pulse?. Take a deep breath in and release slowly.

It’s around 11:15 AM. If you got up at 6 AM…

you’ve taken about 5,000 breaths since you got up (first one thought about!)
around 500 gallons of blood has been pumped by your heart…
…as it beat around 25,000× since you woke up.

The Point:

I will praise you because I have
been remarkably and wondrously made.
Your works are wondrous,
and I know this very well.
Psalm 139:14

Made. Designed. Part of what they do is show their Designer’s glory.

Isaac Newton said that apart from any other evidence, he would have to believe in God just by the design of the thumb alone.

Originally, our bodies were designed to work like this forever.

Unfortunately, the Fall… body’s ability to inhale and exhale, inspire and expire, suddenly had an expiration date.

These bodies are no longer perfect. Spiritual rebellion had physical consequences.

Our bodies strain under sin. They are not what they once were. They break down. They get injured—sometimes oh so easily
David Mathis

God designed my body; it is breathtaking, so…

I should appreciate it.

More next week, but don’t make this a general statement in your mind/heart. It’s personal. That’s why we’re talking in first person pronouns this week. It doesn’t just apply to all humans, it applies specifically to you.

Your body is a wonderland.
James Blunt

God is emphatically pro-body.

the body is… for the Lord,
and the Lord for the body.
1 Corinthians 6:13

God designed my body; it is breathtaking.

2. God bought my body; it is his, not mine.

You are not your own, for you were bought
at a price. So glorify God with your body.
1 Corinthians 6:19–20

When God bought us with the blood of Jesus, he bought the right to spend our days, our lives in this body, in any way he chooses. He already had the right as Creator.

The Good News is that he is for us. Jesus said that “even your hairs are numbered, and not one falls from your head without your Father knowing.”

I should steward it.

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for
good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.
Ephesians 2:10

As a Christian, you have a body for Jesus’ sake.
David Mathis

This may seem overly simple, but every single one of the good works he has prepared for you will be done in your body.

Other places like 1 Peter say that we should “be prepared for every good work.”

God designed my body; it is breathtaking.
God bought my body; it is his, not mine.

3. God inhabits my body; it is his temple.

Don’t you know that your body is a temple of the
Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God?
1 Corinthians 6:19

Part of the design & purpose of the original Temple was to invite outsiders to come know, experience the one true God. The same is true of all the temples in this room today.

We mustn’t have a fragmented view of our lives. God has decreed that we do ministry in a body. If you are destroying your body by neglect then you are hindering your ministry. It’s really that simple.
Erik Raymond

Gluttony

It’s a bigger battleground than we think it is.

Our first parents ate their way out of Eden.
Scott Hubbard

What’s the big deal? Self-indulgence.

IMPORTANT

External dimensions are no predictor of internal rebellion.
Frederica Mathewes-Green

“Everything is permissible for me,” but not everything is beneficial.
“Everything is permissible for me,” but I will not be mastered by anything.
1 Corinthians 6:12

Excercise

For other species, one can make a categorical statement like “born to gallop,” but for humans, no. Born to run? Yes indeed, but also born for doing other activities as well. Humans are the Swiss Army knives of motion.
John Ratey, Go Wild

In what other species do you see a variety
that stretches from linebackers to ballerinas?

360 joints, with corresponding tendons & ligaments
200-300 primary muscles

Unlike plants and trees, human beings are not tethered in one place. We’re not left to wait for the world to come to us; rather, we can go to the world. In fact, that’s what we’re made to do:

Adam’s job was to extend the shalom of the Garden to the rest the earth.
Jesus re-commissioned us to that very same mission before he ascended.

Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you.
Matthew 28:19–20

A new problem

For the first time in human history, we have to be purposeful to make sure we’re moving.

The first recorded heart attack in this country was in 1896. In 1896, you had to get exercise to go to the bathroom! Everybody lived on farms.

My wife’s idea of excercise: take a bath, pull the plug, fight the current!

Many of us have been conditioned by this present age
and our own lazy impulses to move as little as possible.
David Mathis

To go, you’re gonna have to be able to move.

Don’t you know that the runners in a stadium all race, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way to win the prize. Now everyone who competes exercises self-control in everything. They do it to receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable crown. So I do not run like one who runs aimlessly or box like one beating the air. Instead, I discipline my body and bring it under strict control, so that after preaching to others, I myself will not be disqualified.
1 Corinthians 9:24–27

Discipline my body.

KJV: “I buffet my body!”

We want to be ready. Ready to move and display God in his world. Ready with hands and arms, not too bulky and not too flabby, that can reach and lift and pull and push. Ready with feet and legs that feel life and energy in every step. Ready with minds and hearts and wills that would rather move than lounge, rather get up and go and have something to do than just sit there on a screen, rather move into the world and work to help people than calculate how we might move as little as humanly possible.
David Mathis

Again, not talking about measurement of gravity when you step on a scale. We’re talking about how much gravity the Lordship of Jesus Christ has on your life. How much you feel the weight of the price that was paid for you.

God designed my body; it is breathtaking.
God bought my body; it is his, not mine.
God inhabits my body; it is his temple.

4. God will resurrect my body; it will be perfect.

More next week, but that’ll be the day. What a day that will be!

You may have surrendered your soul to him years ago. Today is the day to finally surrender your body to him as well.

You are not your own, for you were bought
at a price. So glorify God with your body.
1 Corinthians 6:19–20