C131 3/23/58
© Project Winsome International, 2000

"ARE YOU OVERWEIGHT?"
Dr. John Allan Lavender
John 5:1-9a

Seven weeks ago tomorrow I sat in the office of my physician, Dr. George Cummins. It was annual checkup time and, having submitted to the usual tests, I was awaiting the verdict. He examined the various charts and reports and then settled back into his swivel chair, folded his arms, and with a twinkle in his eye which belied the grave expression on his face, he said, "Fella, you're disgustingly healthy."

We talked for a few minutes about this and that, after which he said,
"The only thing I'm really concerned about is that every year you come in about five or six pounds heavier than the year before. You're up to 218 now and I think it would be wise if you dropped a little of that. Why don't you try to get back to around 200!"

I smiled condescendingly and thought to myself, I'm not fat. I don't need to lose any weight. But in the next few days I found myself unconsciously thinking and reading about the effects of obesity. For instance, I discovered being overweight increases your susceptibility to such things as diabetes, hardening of the arteries, high blood pressure and various circulatory disorders.

I talked to Dr. Joseph Brandt, one of the fine physicians in our church, and he told me that for every five pounds of excess weight the body has to produce three miles of additional blood vessels. That is for every extra pound! The workload on this marvelous machine we call our heart is increased by one-half percent. Since I was eighteen pounds of what I ought to be, I had increased the workload on my heart by nine percent.

I also learned that every organ and system in the body is affected by overweight. Not only must my heart work harder, but every part of me is involved and affected by the level of fat in the blood and the extra strain placed on the heart.

But the most dramatic proof of the danger of obesity came when I went to the "Y" and picked up a 20 pound barbell. It didn't seem heavy at first, but it was amazing how heavy it became after I had carried it around for about five minutes. I thought to myself, that's what I've been doing all the time. I've been carrying almost 20 pounds of excess baggage 24 hours a day. It simply doesn't make good sense to subject my body, which is the temple of the Holy Spirit, to that kind of needless strain.

So, when my good friend Curtis Nims suggested we engage in a friendly contest to see who could lose the most weight in a month, I took him up on it. The competition triggered my will, and it was a good thing I had that extra incentive, because going on that diet was one of the hardest things I've done in a good long time. Believe me, it was an exercise in self-discipline.

Every afternoon about two o'clock I got the "awfulest" hunger for a big, thick, hot fudge sundae topped with whipped cream, nuts and a cherry. It seemed like every time I turned around I was confronted with a piece of cake heaped high with frosting, or chocolate cream pie, or a plateful of cookies.

It seemed like Lucille made more high calorie desserts the first week I went on that diet than in the previous year. Even Jodi, our little girl, seemed to be against me. One day, as she helped herself to my piece of cake, she said: "Here, daddy, I'd better eat your dessert 'cuz if I was as big as you, I'd go on a diet, too."

And bedtime! That's when the torture really set in. I must admit there were a couple of times when I fell off the wagon. One night I got so hungry around midnight I slipped out of bed, went down to the kitchen and ate six oranges, two grapefruit and three bananas before Lucille came down and marched me back to bed. I'll tell you one thing though: that night I went to sleep with a smile on my face!

The upshot of it all is that when the 30-day period was up, I was down to the magic figure of 200 pounds. Those of you who have had a similar experience know what I mean when I say I had a tremendous feeling of accomplishment and self-satisfaction.

Now all of this is by way of introduction to the fifth prerequisite to peace.
First, we talked about the necessity of being born again, of establishing a new direction to life, of achieving a relationship with God which allows you to say: "I and my father are one."

Second, we discussed the necessity of submitting to God's will to our life, believing he has something better for us than we can plan for ourselves.

Third, we investigated the meaning of Jesus' words, "Except ye be converted and become as little children, you cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven." And we saw the value of child-like faith in God and enthusiasm for life.

Fourth, last week we faced up to the necessity of eliminating every other consideration of life, and concentrating solely and wholly upon knowing and loving God.

We come now to the fifth area of concern: the matter of getting rid of the negative, destructive, hostile attitudes which many of us are carrying about.

Getting Rid of Excess Baggage
This is something we must not overlook. For even as our whole body is affected when we are physically overweight, so, too, our whole being is affected when we are emotionally or spiritually overweight. We cannot carry around the excess baggage of hatred, fear, resentment, anxiety, anger and so forth, without paying a terrific price.

As a matter of fact, the debilitating effects of spiritual or emotional obesity are even greater than those of physical obesity, as witnessed by the fact that mental disease is rapidly becoming America's number one health problem.

Now psychology recognizes four principle troublemakers in the emotional realm. They are: fear, guilt, inferiority feelings and hate. No one is completely immune to these. As a matter of fact, not only do most of us have at least one of these as a major factor in our lives, but when you find one of them you usually find a touch of all four.

Fear
I suppose the most common of these demons of destruction is fear. This expresses itself in many ways. Fear of failure. Fear of sex. Fear of self. Fear of others. Fear of high places. Fear of closed places. Fear of the dark. Fear of being alone. Fear of death and so on, ad infinitum.

Because it is too painful to face up to the reality of the these fears, too unpleasant to think of ourselves and see ourselves as we really are, the natural instinct of self-preservation causes us to bury these fears deep inside. We not only lock the door of our mind, we barricade it. We don't want this skeleton in our closet to be seen, either by ourselves or others. As a result, we build up terrific internal pressure.

As the pressure mounts, we use more and more of our conscious strength to keep the door of oursubconscious mind from bursting open. We grow tired. Tense. Easily upset. The way to handle these fears is not to push them down or submerge them. Instead, we need to bring them into the light so they can be faced, understood and ultimately defeated.

Guilt
The same thing is true of guilt, the second of these demons of disaster. I'm not talking about normal guilt, for there are times when we ought to feel guilty. God has established a universe of law and we cannot break his laws without serious damage to ourselves and others. As a matter of fact, we never really break God's laws; rather, we are broken on God's laws. And just as physical pain is a warning that all is not well within us, so, too, the mental pain of normal guilt is a warning that we have been running at cross purposes with one or more of God's laws. Therefore, normal guilt is always good and healthy.

Abnormal guilt, on the other hand, is never good nor healthy. It creates enormous burdens which, carried about for any length of time, can literally crush our spirits.

Many centuries ago before modern psychology concluded that
"People tend to become like the thoughts that they hold,"
the ancient writer of Proverbs wrote
"As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he" (Proverbs 23:7).
Someone else put it this way.
"It isn't what you think you are, but what you think -- you are!"
And, unless these feelings of abnormal guilt are removed, they will destroy you, as they grow and fester until they corrupt your entire being, often with devastating results.

Right now I am thinking of a young mother who was helped greatly by our own Dr. Curtis Nims. Over the objection of her husband, she had allowed her high school daughter to attend a school boating party. The child was drowned. The mother assumed, wrongly, that she had caused her daughter's death.

She allowed this sense of sub-Christian guilt to fester and grow until one leg became paralyzed and one arm developed an involuntarily thrashing motion much like someone attempting to swim. She also developed a terrific aversion to water and refused to bathe or even drink it. She was literally willing herself into the grave when Dr. Nims began to counsel with her. Through long, patient, arduous "work" she was finally restored to health.

Similar examples are associated with men and women who fought in World War II. Exaggerated or abnormal guilt over having survived when so many of their buddies died, subconciously caused these super-sensitive guys and gals to lose the use of an arm or a hand or a leg or even an eye. Medical record demonstrated that as their false guilt was carried up into the light where it could be seen, understood and eventually removed, they were freed from its devastating and impairing effects. Yes, the wrong kind of guilt is an enemy of peace.

Inferiority Feelings
The third principle troublemaker recognized by psychologist is feelings of inferiority. In this regard, it is very important to remember that everyone has such feelings in certain areas and at certain times.

Actually, an inferiority complex is abnormal only when it's applied to almost every aspect of one's life, so that he or she feels completely inadequate and unworthy. Only then does a feeling of inferiority become a serious problem.

I think it was Bob Pierce who told the story of a man who went to a psychiatrist complaining of an inferiority complex. He was given the usual tests and examinations, after which the psychiatrist said, "Sir, you don't have an inferiority complex. But did it ever occur to you that you are inferior!"

Well, of course, we all are inferior to others in certain ways. None of us will measure up all the time, in every area of life. There will always be someone who can do something better than we can. But a wise person will evaluate his or her strengths and weaknesses, and then make peace somewhere between his or her ambitions and abilities.

Hatred
The final member of this quartet of negative qualities is hatred. This, indeed, is a devastating enemy of peace. Whenever we succumb to this particular kind of emotional obesity, we pay a terrific price.

Not only do we shut other people out of our life, but we make it impossible for our own life to function properly. Our whole body is afflicted. Hatred upsets our digestive system. Hatred throws normal functions out of order. Hatred raises our blood pressure. Hatred reduces our ability to fight life's battles.
"Hate always impoverishes the hater and leaves him unable to live life at its best."

The Answer
Then, what is the answer? If fear, guilt, inferiority feelings and hatred are the enemies of peace, how do we overcome them?

The answer lies in giving the right answer to the question Jesus posed when he was confronted by the man in our text who had been sick for thiry eight years. Do you remember the question Jesus asked? "Wilt thou be made whole?" I'm sure all of us want to be made better. I wonder how many of us want to be made whole.

Right now I am thinking of another woman who also lives out in California. She is about 40, a housewife and mother, who entered a Prayer Therapy Group being conducted at the University of Redlands. She was an alcoholic and desperately wanted to stop drinking. But when she was confronted with the guilt, fear, resentment and self-pity which were literally crushing her, she showed little interest. "I want to stop drinking first," she said. "If I can't stop that, then what's the use? Why doesn't God help me?"

Well, you see, God couldn't help her because she wouldn't let him. She did not want to be whole. She only wanted to be sober. She wanted the pain of excessive drinking (which was only a symptom) removed. But she also wanted to hang on to her resentment, self-pity and guilt. Sadly, that can't be done.

"Wilt Thou Be Made Whole?" That's the question Jesus is asking you this morning. If your answer is "yes," you must be willing to be made willing to get rid of the fear, guilt, hatred and inferiority feelings which are the source of your despair. You must bring them up into the light where they can be seen, understood and ultimately removed.

Confession
How do you begin? You begin by confessing it all to God. Psychology calls this submitting things to the light. As always, there is no conflict between scientific truth and religious truth. Truth is truth whereever you find it, and good theology and good psychology will agree.

Why then do we find it so difficult to "take our burdens to the Lord and leave them there?" I think it has something to do with the fact that we are afraid that if God really knew how we think or how we feel, he'd clobber us! But the truth is he does know and is anxious to heal us from that which is hurting us.

There is a book in my library entitled Prayer Can Change Your Life by William R. Parker. I was leafing through it the other day and my eye fell on a sentence which proved to be so helpful, I've included it on our prescription for this week:
"Don't be afraid to talk it over with God,
he knows about it anyway -- and understands!"

I think one reason so few of us succeed in making prayer real is that we never get specific in our confessions. We pray all around the mulberry bush. We speak in generalities. We hint about this and we allude to that. But we never really get honest with our self and with our God. As a result, we never experience any real sense of cleansing through confession.

Nature abhors a vacuum. In fact, it will not tolerate one. Something always rushes in to fill the seeming emptiness. As long as our heart is filled with hate and fear, guilt and inferiority feelings, it cannot be filled with love and faith, forgiveness and peace.

Therefore, we must find a way to pierce the armor of self-protection so the inner pressure can be released and we can be emptied of the evil forces fermenting within us. Only then can God rush in and fill us with the blessings of Christ's peace.

The only really effective way I know of doing this is through a prayer of honest, thorough-going confession. I am not talking about "blanket self-condemnation" -- that low, wormy evaluation of ourself which makes us feel we are of no earthly good whatsoever -- I'm talking about a thorough, on-going, honest confession of all our sin to God. I'm talking about an earnest effort to root out the thoughts and attitudes that are keeping us from experiencing the peace of Christ.

Does that sound simple? Well, believe me, it isn't! One day Rodin, the famous sculptor, was approached by an enthusiastic tourist who asked, "Mr. Rodin, is it difficult to sculpt?" "Oh, no, madame. All you have to do is buy a block of marble and chip away what you don't want." Simple? Yes! Easy? No!

As Dr. Parker points out in his book,
"Within our block of marble, imprisoned by the fogs
of our own making, stands a child of God."
The task before us is to slowly, patiently and persistently chip away at the bits and pieces of fear, guilt, hatred and inferiority feelings which imprison us. When that happens we will be free. Free to live and act as children of God should. Radiantly. Joyously. With perfect peace and unclouded purpose.

I'll never forget the first time I really -- honestly and wholeheartedly -- tried to pray a prayer of confession. I knelt quietly in the seclusion of my room and began to pray. For the life of me, I couldn't think of anything to confess. So I confessed that! I said, "God forgive me for being so blind, so dull, so spiritually insensitive I can't even see my own sin, arrogance and need of you!"

Believe me, that pulled the plug! For the next half-hour, out of the depth of my being, flowed a prayer of confession as the searchlight of God began to play upon the hidden corners and crevices of my being, revealing things I had never been aware of before. Then, after a half-hour of the most penetrating, thorough-going, heart-searching confession imaginable, I found myself quite unconsciously saying, "Thank you, Lord. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Lord." I arose from my knees with the grandest sense of inner peace I have ever known.

My friend, you can't keep those negative, nasty, hostile feelings penned up inside you without exacting a terrific toll upon your entire being. You must get rid of them if you are going to be relieved of the pain they produce. It is like lancing a boil. Before the lancing, it is intensely painful because of the pressure of infection. After the lancing, the pressure is relieved, the pain subsides and then, and only then, healing begins.

Honest confession is like that. It is the scalpel which cuts through the outer shell of our rebellion and resistance. It opens up the channel of communication between us and God. It enables us to flush out the demons that would destroy us, so the love, grace, goodness and peace of God can flow in. As that happens, healing, both spiritual and physical begins.

Restitution
The time has gone! But, as the fat man said as he worked his way through a barbed-wire fence, "One more point and I'll be through." Let me say one quick word about restitution.

To be truly effective, confession must be coupled with an honest effort to right the wrong. And, it is restitution that makes the prayer of confession complete.

This morning you may be a few pounds heavier than you ought to be, and, for the sake of your total being, I humbly suggest you do something about it.

But, when I ask in my title "Are You Overweight?" -- my primary concern is not physical obesity, but spiritual obesity. For, while physical obesity can have a devastating effect upon yourbody, spiritual obesity can wreck havoc in your being, if you allow it to remain there.

"Wilt thou be made whole?" Then try confession. Take this great promise from God's word and apply it to your life: "If we confess our sins, (God) is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

The following was printed and distributed to worshipers along with the Order of Worship.
Spiritual Prescription For Today
"Wilt thou be made ... whole?" (John 5:6).
Directions: To be "taken" along with this daily reminder: Try confession!
"If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us
our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." (I John 1:9).
Don't be afraid to talk it over with God, he knows it anyway and understands.
Dr. John Allan Lavender
Morgan Park Baptist Church
11345 So. Bell, Chicago, Ill.