Body and Spirit - Cleanliness is Godliness

I write this sermon because I would like to focus on that part of us which is not focused on so much in "western" thinking, which is the body.

We are made up of our body, our mind, and our soul/spirit.

The most important command in the bible reads: MT 22:37 `Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind (strength in Old Testament DEUT 6:5).'

Before the priests could approach the holy altar, they had to make sure they were ceremonially clean. Before Moses could approach God, he had to take off his sandals. In the same way, I believe that keeping a clean body helps us reach a more harmonious relationship with God. I am not saying it is absolutely necessary, only that I believe it can help.
For example:

In the bible our body is often referred to as a tent which houses the spirit which lives in us. If, as new born Christians, we receive the Holy Spirit from the father, do you not think we would want our "house", to which we have invited the Holy Spirit, to be clean and in order?

In the US, there is a saying that cleanliness is Godliness.
But cleanliness is more than just what is perceived outside.
As Christ said to the Pharisees:

This refers to the cleanliness of our hearts inside us. We cannot worship God in an outwardly way but it must come from the heart.
In the same manner, I believe that any "pollutants" we put into our body can potentially hamper our harmony with our creator.

When Christ came, he spent much of his time "healing" people’s bodies from all sorts of sicknesses. After all, can someone burdened with an unhealthy body serve God as effectively?
Therefore, I would like to spend a few moments focusing on how we can make our bodies more healthy, which in turn may help us more effectively serve Christ.

For example, I have many times read interviews with successful people who stated they were very active in sports. When you are active in sports, your heart becomes strong and your circulation increases, which helps clean out your system. I find that people who are more active in sports generally have more energy. People who are less active tend to find it more difficult to get up in the morning or to motivate themselves. A ‘sluggard’, as the bible refers to it.

Therefore, another reason why we may want to focus on our bodies in this way is to become more effective so that, when we serve God, we can do it more effectively.
Being active in sports keeps our bodies healthier and our circulation stronger to help clean out any pollutants, but it would be equally important to try and avoid those pollutants from getting there in the first place.

Therefore, polluting your bodies by smoking cigarettes for example could disrupt your relationship with God.
There are other ways we can pollute our bodies - by the food we eat.
We are living in a society where the average food we consume is often heavily bombarded by all sorts of chemicals and growth hormones, and this too can affect our bodies.
I have spent many years with people who have preached to me how avoiding meat is generally healthy for you, if not for the reason that the chemicals and hormones introduced into the food cycle get often stored in the fat cells of meat.
In the Old Testament, Daniel, when given the king’s food, responded in the following manner:

The same people who preached for vegetarianism also preached about the benefits of fasting.
The argument for fasting is that, apparently, once your body runs out of the food that it usually feeds off of, it starts to search for elements that do not belong in your body and burns them off.
Apparently, a first time faster can die of overintoxication because, once their system runs out of normal food and starts burning off all the toxins their body has accumulated over their lifetime, the initial shock can be too much too handle. This is why first time fasters should start slow, eating only fruit for a period to purge their bodies before moving up to a serious fast. The first year I fasted I could only handle one day, the second year three days, and the forth year nine days was no problem. My next year’s goal will be 15 to 20 days.

Anyway, the bible often refers to fasting as a means of humbling ourselves before God. It is also often spoken hand in hand with worshipping and prayer.
Therefore, fasting is yet another means how we can "clean" our bodies.

Some lines in the bible which relate to the cleanliness of your bodies:

Other ways we can help to keep our bodies ‘clean’:

These three passages focus more on the heart and spirit’s relationship to the body. If our heart is at peace, it will live in better harmony with the body. If we receive the word of God, our bodies will be filled with the spirit life that God offers. And we should watch what comes out of our own mouths, for

As the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost are in unison, so should our bodies, minds and souls in serving God. If one of these elements are neglected, the others may suffer.
Only because I mentioned that this focus on the body element of ourselves tended to be lacking from "western" thinking, I would like to throw in some text from "eastern" philosophy:

The Tai Chi Chuan Classics say, "Tai Chi came from Wu Chi, the mother of Yin and Yang." In the past, Tai Chi Chuan students generally had a complete physical and spiritual training by working on the Wu Chi Posture or static component and Tai Chi Chuan or the dynamic component.
In Tai Chi Chuan training, Wu Chi refers to the condition when the body and spirit are not divided into Yin and Yang Components. In other words, the body is tranquil and is not affected by any contact with the outside world. The whole body, physical as well as spiritual, is united into oneness. When we talk about Wu Chi training, we are talking about the ability to remove all the body's tensions and other emotions guided by intent so that the practitioner can return to the stable and natural stage that is full of potential and innate ability.

A part of this training is most certainly meditation, something which David does and frequently refers to in his writings.

In conclusion, I would only like to say that there may be many ways how we can achieve God’s greatest command of loving him with "all our hearts, strength and soul", only one of which may be purifying our minds and bodies so that we can offer our temple as a clean instrument to God.