Why Would a Christian Exercise?

0:10 for the men and women who've gathered here and I assume all across the spectrum some who have physical exercise as a significant part of their life maybe too much of their life others who maybe have too little and want to honor you in their bodies in a new way and have some desire or they want to want to have that desire. And so I pray that you would be pleased, Father, in these few moments to meet us in the various places we are. It's not beyond you. By the power of your spirit, you can help. And would you move the needle some degree for each one in this room? In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. One thing I love about this cross conference is we focus here on the biggest realities in the universe. God, who made all things and rules all things, and human sin, and the coming of Jesus, and his gospel, and the gospel going to the nations.

1:12 So these are the biggest realities in the universe in this conference. So why then would we talk about physical exercise? Isn't that too insignificant in light of these massive, of weighty realities that have been occupying our minds here for the last two and a half days. Maybe you know the name Adoniram Judson.

1:34 If you don't, let me introduce you here briefly to Judson. I would say, and I think in God's reckoning, it would be true that he is one of the greatest Americans in the 250-year length of this nation. Judson was born in Massachusetts in 1788. At age 25, he and his wife Anne sailed for India, and because of some complications with the War of 1812, they ended up going to Burma. And he was in Burma as a missionary for almost 40 years. He returned to the United States once in 1845. He went back to Burma. He died there at the age of 61 in 1850. and Judson was the first commissioned missionary in the United States. He was a particular Baptist.

2:33 That's what it was called back in those days, a particular Baptist. That means a Calvinist Baptist or a Baptist Calvinist. My kind of guy. I love this Adoniram Judson. All right, so what about physical exercise? Well, one surprising fact about Adoniram Judson, I'm getting this from one of my favorite historians, Thomas Kidd, is that Judson, I'll read from Thomas Kidd, Judson maintained an impressive fitness regimen, one that was steady and probably life-sustaining in an environment where many missionaries died early from disease. day after day for years judson took brisk walks in the morning and some evenings quick pause here i'm not here to make everybody into a crossfitter or do jujitsu or be a world-class track athlete for judson it was brisk walks in the morning so be encouraged if you're at step one judson did this despite his incredible productivity and prodigious learning in the burmese language and biblical scholarship not to mention his family and pastoring duties judson said that he kept up this routine for 35 years to it quotes judson here to it under god i ascribe the good health and the long life I have enjoyed in this unfavorable climate.

4:10 And then that's Judson's story. Now this comment from Thomas Kidd. When you consider how phenomenally productive Judson was, you might wonder, how was he able to maintain this fitness regimen too? I suspect Judson would tell us that the physical regimen helped enable his scholarly productivity. For scholars and pastors and creatives and missionaries, fitness is especially urgent since we don't typically have physical work built into our vocational responsibilities.

4:50 Adoniram Judson spent enormous time in his study poring over works of biblical scholarship and agonizing over the best way to translate a Greek or Hebrew term into Burmese. And day after day, he also maintained that enlivening exercise routine because he saw it as essential to his bodily health, just as prayer and devotional reading was essential to his spiritual health. That's all for Judson. I love that phrase, enlivening. That has been my experience, not only as a human, but as a Christian and as a pastor, that physical exercise can be enlivening. And not only for bodily health, the kid says here, I'm sure he'd agree with me. He's a friend. He'd agree with me on this, I think.

5:45 Not only was physical exercise helpful for bodily health, for Judson, but alongside prayer, in Bible meditation. Physical health serves those realities to produce spiritual health and thriving. It's enlivening not only in our humanity, but can be enlivening in our spirituality, in our soul, in our walk with Jesus. And that's why in a conference like this on God, on sin, on missions, on Jesus, on heaven and hell, that I bother, I dare to talk about physical exercise. Not just that your body might be healthy, but that your body might serve your soul and your good in Jesus Christ and the pursuit of his great commission. Here's my story, a little background. I was relatively active when I was your age, up to about age 25, a little bit of lifting and and running in college, play intramurals.

6:56 And about your age, those who are 25, 26, I got my first ministry job, full-time job. And on day one, they gave me a laptop and a Blackberry phone. That's what they called the smartphones back then. This was before the iPhone. It was way back, way back. And I thought it was so great to get these devices. What I didn't realize is these were symbols of my new sedentary job. I was going to be sitting at a computer all day and making calls all day on this Blackberry. And it took me years to realize what I was not getting in my vocational occupation, a physical activity. I needed to find a way to get outside of my day job. So it was long, about 2015. I was walking one day around a Minnesota lake. with my wife, and I was making excuses.

7:49 Ah, you know, I just can't do this anymore. By the time I get home, I'm too tired to go jog, put my twin boys in the jogger and push them around the lake. I can't do this. It doesn't fit in my life. And she didn't buy it. She said, you seem to have plenty of time in the morning for your leisurely devotions, for your Bible meditation and prayer. If this is an important part of life, make time for it. You must be doing something wrong in your other time. Too much entertainment, too much Minnesota Vikings, too much Minnesota Twins baseball, too much Clemson football, whatever it is, you're making some decisions to spend your time elsewhere, and you're not getting a non-negotiable. So I stepped up to my wife's challenge, and I started doing a little bit of exercise. I was out of shape. I was carrying an extra 40 pounds. And for me, just to get out and walk was a good first step.

8:45 It was a beginning step. And eventually I was able to find that old stride again on some jogging and on some running. And over time, it began to actually be a little bit enjoyable. As I got back in shape, I could actually enjoy moving my body some and maybe do a little bit of weightlifting. I enjoyed playing baseball with my boys as they grew up, play some basketball with some old men on Tuesday mornings. I began to enjoy physical activity again. And the biggest thing for me and why I have bothered to speak to rooms like this and write a book on a Christian theology of exercise is because getting physically active again has been so significant in my spiritual life. in my ability to pray and stay focused in prayer and read God's word and feel God's word to the bottom because my soul and my brain are not encumbered unnecessarily by the inactivity of my life.

9:48 So I stand here now 10 years later as someone who is manifestly more joyful and energetic in a way that really matters as a pastor because of just a little modest physical activity in my life over these last 10 years. Now, I want to talk about the motivation for this. I know that over and over again, I hear that question. People want to ask, what's the motivation? Not just motivation as a human, motivation as a Christian. And for Christians, maybe the first thing we want to say, and this is good, this is a good place to start, is for the glory of God. He made the world for his glory. He made me for his glory. I'm learning at a conference like Cross that my life is for his glory. I want it to count. Whether you eat, whether you drink, whatever you do, do all for the glory of God. And I say, amen.

10:40 And now, how do I connect exercise to that? How do I go about? What's the motivation? So if that's the macro motivation for his glory, what are the sub-motivations that connects my little life, my little modest, unimpressive exercise? How does it get connected to his glory? So I want to share with you four whys. These are four whys I have lived in these last 10, 11 years and have been significant and have kept me going. And I want to share those with you. Number one, for my joy. I want to be happy in Jesus. I call myself a Christian hedonist. I want to dedicate my life to the pursuit of holy pleasure in Jesus Christ. And I have found that exercise helps.

11:37 It's by no means the only avenue I pursue. but it is a secondary, supplemental, and helpful avenue in pursuing my joy in Jesus. I'm a happier person when I am exercising and have a pattern of exercise in my life, and I'm more ready to sit and pray, more ready to read the Bible, more ready even to experience the joys of sharing life with others, of giving to others, of trying to help through the joy, the human joy, that is not yet spiritual joy that God can bring through being in normal human condition and then pursuing my joy in Jesus. That's number one. Number two, for my mind.

12:22 Maybe some of you have experienced this. I began to experience this after exercising for a while and I thought, is this just in my head? and I'm not opposed to placebo effect. Like if it's working, if you feel like you've got better focus and better clarity, then go with it. And I was really encouraged to find the biological basis for this in a book called Spark, The Science of Exercise and the Brain. And the author, he's a Harvard psychiatrist, he writes this. I'll give you a key paragraph from page three that was so helpful to me. He says, body. Building muscles and conditioning the heart and lungs are essentially side effects.

13:38 I often tell my patients that the point of exercise is to build and condition the brain. And we Christians are people who think that the life of the mind matters. God gave us a book. he tells us to teach all nations the things that jesus has commanded the mind really matters in christianity and exercise boosts alertness it helps with focus in a distracting world it brings a kind of clarity of thought and a richness and depth of feeling and on its own that's not necessarily spiritual unbelievers can experience those good effects What makes it christian is what we then do With that energy and clarity and creativity and focus in our minds that we would turn that to jesus to god's word To his calling on our in our lives and that we'd be more fruitful christians with that clarity of mind number three For your will pushing the body conditions the will.

14:53 Straining and enduring the discomfort of exercise trains your will not to give up so quickly when you experience resistance. when you're exercising, you're training yourself for the rest of your day, the rest of your life. When discomfort, when obstacles come in your church, in your work, in your family, what is the default response of your soul to resistance? Is it just like a modern person to, oh, just flake, just fade? or would you learn to lean in? That good things come in life from leaning into the hard thing and enduring, pushing through, seeing joy on the other side, leaning into the difficulty, being motivated by the reward on the other side and getting there through faith.

15:53 Exercise helps condition the will. And I suspect this is why somebody like Judson was not wasting his time with his brisk walks. That's why he was so productive. It's not just, oh, Judson did his exercise, and he's quirky, it's weird, does his exercise, and he also found a way to be productive in his work. No, he's training himself. He's helping himself. The reason he was so productive is because he was giving himself to that regular exercise regimen. Number four, for your love. that is for others good to meet needs in Jesus' name to perform acts of love in and through and with your body that flow from a heart of Christian love there's hardly any good deeds this is what we call it in Christianity good deeds there's hardly any good deeds that don't involve our bodies in some ways Now, maybe you can type an email.

16:58 Do a good deed by typing an email and you barely move your fingers. But so many times in our lives, doing good for others requires seeing a need and then having the motivation and the wherewithal in our soul to get up and take initiative and do something about it. Get off the couch, take a few steps, pick up the box, help somebody, move, use the body in the service of Christian love. Do good for others with these bodies. this is where the term fitness can be useful for Christians we just want to ask fit for what?

17:37 what do you want to be fit for? fit to look good on Instagram? fit to downsize your wardrobe into tighter clothes? what do you want to be fit for? and the Christian answer is fit for good works I want to use this body I want to use this life to glorify Jesus Christ and help meet others' needs in love. So Paul's got this phrase. It's in 2 Timothy 2, verse 21. It's in Titus 3, verse 1, which makes me think that he said the exact same phrase twice in his very short little 13 letters. Makes me think Paul probably uses language frequently. The phrase is, ready for good works. That's what I hope we will be. this cross generation, that you will be a people who are ready for good works. First and foremost, in your theology, in your soul, in your willingness, and then that these bodies would be fit for good works. That at least your body wouldn't hold you back in your great commission call. That it wouldn't be a hindrance in what Jesus calls you to, but it would be a help in his call for your life.

18:54 All right, let me finish with three very brief counsels. So as you go along the way, those in this room who are exercise gurus and you're here to reinforce good patterns already in your life, these lessons may be really old to you. Others may be in here going, it's time to change. It's a new year. I have a desire in me. I want to turn a corner. I don't want to be conformed to the pattern of this world in its sedentariness. I want to dream a different dream over these coming years. Let me close with these three councils, then we'll do some questions here. Number one, exercise is an acquired taste. So if you're just starting out, it's probably going to be difficult. I'll tell you this.

19:47 It is going to be difficult. it's probably going to be miserable. Now, that may mean that you bit off too much, right? Modest steps, a little bit of discomfort. Get yourself used to feeling the discomfort and persevering through it. So if you are utterly miserable in your first week of trying to get an exercise routine going, it's probably you're doing too much. So slow down. You need a pace that can last for years. Don't try to nix this thing in a couple weeks. That's not going to happen. you're going to quit, you're going to injure yourself. You want to find a trajectory. We talk at this conference about make your life count. You make your life count not in seven days. You make your life count in 70 years maybe or maybe the 20 or 30 years that you pour your life out before they kill you in a foreign country because you've been so productive for 20 or 30 years.

20:44 So have a decades-long trajectory as you step into this and realize it's an acquired taste. As you begin to identify the rewards of exercise with the activity itself, it can become pleasurable. Now, often not euphoric, but pleasurable. There's the pleasure of at least I'm done. I did it. I did my five minutes of exercise, if that's how you're starting. really modestly starting out with five minutes, whatever it is. I did my modest thing. I started out. I'm done. I feel the pleasure of it. And I love to remind people that point. When you feel the joy of being done, remind yourself of that. And next time, pursue that and higher joys in Jesus too. Second counsel here is we tend to overestimate what can be done in the short run and we underestimate what can be done in the long run.

21:38 you think, I'm going to drop this weight, I'm going to be in shape a few days or a few weeks, you are overestimating what you can do in the short run. But if you would find something reasonable and doable and enjoyable and stick to it for months or years, you'll be blown away by how much more can happen in the long run if you'll stick through it, stick to it. This is the power of habit. You want to find something modest, small changes, make it somewhat enjoyable, find a way to make it enjoyable, rewarding, and stick to it for the long term. So we're talking years here. We're not talking days in the kind of exercise God would call us to in his cause. Last one is number three. God means for us to pray to him about and for.

22:36 our exercise. I think this is really a danger in the 21st century. There are a lot of people talking about exercise. Like you see influencers who want to show you the different routine, different techniques. You may feel the pressure from friends or conversation. You hear things about exercise and maybe you have the willpower to go try something and do it. And we leave our Christian faith behind. We just kind of pursue it from a human angle. And there is good reason from a merely human angle to pursue normal human levels of activity in our lives in an age where our jobs are sedentary. However, I want more for you than just humanity, than just human reasons to pursue exercise, that we would do it as Christians. And a vital link in doing it as Christians is prayer. Do you talk to God about your exercise? Do you ask him about it? Whether you should do it? How much? For how long? Do you pray as you start your workout? And I've got a biblical basis for this. I'm not just saying, hey, good Christian counsel, pray about everything.

23:45 That's true. 1 Timothy chapter 4, verses 4 and 5, Paul says, everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer. This text, 1 Timothy 4, verses 4 and 5, that's why Christians pray before meals. We pause. It's a good habit. If you do this, good thing, good habit. Pause and pray before a meal. Father, thank you for the food. Thank you for it. Would you use it in my life for your good purposes? In Jesus' name we pray. amen. That's a good habit. We should just do that with more than food. We should do that with our exercise. So one way to sanctify your exercise, and make sure it's not vain, because there is so much vain exercise in the world of physical fitness. One way to sanctify is pray about it.

24:44 Connect your Christian heart. Invite the Holy Spirit into your plan. Ask for his help and guidance. And then as you begin an activity, pray over it like you would pray over a meal. God, thank you for a body that works the way it does. None of our bodies are perfect. And injuries come. Disability is a horrible thing to face. It can be mild. It can be great. whatever ability God's given you. Thank him for it. Thank him for your ability. And then ask that he would use it, that he would consecrate these moments of exercise to his glory, to his good purposes in your life. That's what it means to make it holy. By the word of God, that's what he says. So in light of what he says in the Bible about our bodies, make it holy by prayer.

25:40 So let me do that now. And as I pray, you can come if you want to do questions here. Let me just encourage you. I know at the cross conference the lines can be long. I don't want to be rude, but I'm going to try to answer quick. Okay? We'll try this and see. Maybe you'll just say at the end, he was super rude. You shouldn't do that. We'll give it a try. Let me pray. Father in heaven, thank you for these students. I thank you for the interest in this topic that this full room represents. And I pray that these words have been helpful and would find their place in hearts and in habits and in lives like Adoniram Judson. And Father, I pray there would be men and women in this room who would be helped for decades in hard missionary labor because of the gains and benefits from being modestly active, humanly active in their lives that would help their brains, help their souls, help their minds, help their emotions, and make them endure, help them endure on the mission field like Judson.

26:49 and for all the others and whatever you would call these men and women to, I pray that modest, God-glorifying, Christ-exalting physical activity would serve their souls and your good purposes in their lives. And help us now in these few minutes. Guard me from error. Guard me from saying anything unhelpful to anyone. And would Jesus be praised in this moment and in the long-term effects of our time together. In Jesus' name, amen.