http://www.mediafire.com/file/mudgnmomoez/Holistic Health.mp3
“Holistic Health: the Nephesh”
Brimfield Faith UMCFebruary 28, 2010
Deuteronomy 6:4-5; 1 Thessalonians 5:23
Brimfield Faith UMCFebruary 28, 2010
Deuteronomy 6:4-5; 1 Thessalonians 5:23
INTRODUCTION – WESTERN MEDICINE
In many ancient cultures, the art of healing the body was a practice reserved for the divine and the spiritual. Instead of doctors that solely treated the body, there were priests, shamans, and medicine men were called upon when a person fell ill. People throughout the history of the world have understood the art of healing to be both a physical and spiritual journey. In Greece during fifth century B.C. was the first time there two were separated with any significance. Hippocrates of Kos was the ancient Greek physician that laid the ground work for the two to be separated. While he is most well-known for the Hippocratic Oath and the call to practice ethical medicine, he is credited with being the father of Western medicine. This is because he was perhaps the first practiced a more rational approach to medicine that did not lean heavily upon the spiritual.
The approach of Western medicine, of course, is the prevailing approach to healing here in the United States. It primarily deals in treating the body without attention to the mind or the spirit. Western medicine is credited with tremendous accomplishments such the polio vaccine, the discovery of penicillin, and the ability to perform complex surgeries. All of us here have benefited from the methods and practices of Western medicine. With all of the accomplishments of Western medicine, it still has its shortfalls.
Where it succeeds at healing the body it often fails at treating the whole person. This is a problem because more and more research is showing there is a significant interconnectedness between the body, mind, and spirit. For instance, recently a study was released that linked obesity with decreased brain function. Every year, some research institute releases a study showing that prayer makes a difference in health and healing. Without throwing out all of the benefits of Western medicine, it is important that we begin to acknowledge there is more to healing than just the physical body.
Last week, we began the series “Jesus-Care” and we saw how it is in God’s character to heal as is reflected in the Hebrew name, Adonai Rapha or “the Lord who heals you.” As we talked about God’s ability to heal and desire to equip his followers to be channels of healing, we thought of it primarily in terms of physical healing. Being Westerners and being accustom to only having the body treated, this is a natural deduction. This morning, I want to look closer at the way in which God brings about holistic healing in the entire person.
THE HOLISTIC APPROACH
The practice of holistic medicine may seem like a new approach or fad, but in reality it is as old as humanity. As advanced as medicine is today, the new ‘discoveries’ of body, mind, and spirit interconnectedness are not new. As United Methodists and Christians, we have a rich tradition of understanding the mind-body-spirit connection. Our founder John Wesley had a holistic view of salvation. Holistic salvation means that Christ died for our sins that we might experience spiritual rebirth, but he also believed salvation could have an effect on our physical bodies. If we learned to live within God’s purposes and ways, that we might receive physical healing as well as spiritual healing.
Wesley understood that a healthy body contributed to a healthy spirit and vice versa. In response to that conviction, Wesley wrote a book called, Primitive Physick. It was a book of home remedies that was committed to helping people alleviate some of the common ailments of body. When read today some of the home remedies suggested simply amusing: for example, electric shock to treat headaches. Nonetheless, Primitive Physick was filled with many practical and useful guidelines. Published in 1746, it went through 23 printings during Wesley’s lifetime and was still widely used until the 1880’s. Wesley was committed to a holistic approach to health and wellness. In fact, you can still read it on Google books today. While Wesley may have been well ahead of his day, he was drawing upon the deep wells of Scripture for his inspiration.
THE NEPHESH
Wesley understands holistic salvation and connection between body, mind and spirit through the lens of the Old Testament. The Hebrew mind did not compartmentalize a person in the same way that we do today. We commonly think of a person being divided into body, mind, and spirit because we have influenced by Greek and Western thinking. The Hebrew approach saw a person much more holistically. Deuteronomy 6, the Shema, illustrates this: “4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.”
The word that best conveys the holistic approach of the Hebrews is the word translated ‘soul’ in this passage. The Hebrew term is Nephesh. While translated soul, the Nephesh is best understood as the entire person. The Nephesh was the seat of the emotions: the center of joy and the seat of evil desires. The Nephesh often referred to a person’s very life itself. While there appears to be a divide, the understanding of the Deuteronomy 6 was holistic. The exhortation of the Shema is to love God with one’s entire self. If one part of the person is to love God, then the whole person must love God.
While this way of thinking may seem antiquated, it is after all three to four thousand years old, it has not been disproven. In fact, recent studies in modern medicine support the belief that every part of a person is interconnected. While we might think of having a separate body, mind and spirit, each part is completely reliant on the other parts.
THE HOLISTIC HEALING OF JESUS
For this reason, when we seek God’s healing power, we cannot confine our prayers to physical healing. Instead, God is in the business of healing the Nephesh, the whole person. If we are desire to be healed in the body, we must also be healed in the mind and the spirit. In 1 Thessalonians 5:23 it reads, “May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The writes of the letter understood that our whole person was in need of healing. You couldn’t have a healthy spirit without a healthy body. And you couldn’t have a healthy body without a healthy spirit or mind.
Throughout Jesus’ ministry, God is in the business of healing both the body and the spirit. In Mark 2, we read a story of a man who is healed by Jesus. A paralytic man is brought to Jesus on a mat. As the man is presented before him, Jesus says, “Son, your sins are forgiven.” When Jesus does this the religious leaders present are in an uproar. They say, “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgives sins but God alone?” Jesus responds, “Why are you thinking these things? 9 Which is easier: to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up, take your mat and walk’? 10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins….” He said to the paralytic, 11 “I tell you, get up, take your mat and go home.” First Jesus heals the man’s spiritual sickness by forgiving his sins and then proceeds to heal his physical body. Jesus understands the importance of healing both the spiritual and the physical.
SPIRITUAL HEALING
Spiritual healing is an important part of the healing process. As we see with the paralytic, spiritual healing is often the first step in being be healed in the body. Jesus begins the process of healing by forgiving the man of his sins. There is a unique relationship between sin and sickness. On a global scale, all sickness is the result of us being sinful people. Before the rebellion of Adam and Eve, humanity was whole and unbroken. Sickness did not exist because sin did not exist. A lot of the sickness and illness in the world is a result of a broken, messed up world.
On a personal level, sin can also account for people’s sickness. When we understand sin as being out of alignment with God and broken in our relationships with God, others and the world, we can see how being in sin can open the door for sickness. In biblical times, there was an assumed one to one correlation between sin and sickness. If a person was blind, they must have sinned. In John 9, Jesus and his disciples encounter a man who had been blind since birth. They asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.”
While there is not a direct correlation between sin and physical sickness, spiritual sickness almost always affects a person physically. This is why we should remember to pray for spiritual healing when we pray for people’s physical ailments. In many cases, the spiritual healing can be the key to unlocking physical healing. For example people with emotional stress and anxiety often suffer physical ailments such as stomach ulcers, high blood pressure, and heart problems. For these people, to receive spiritual healing will naturally lead to physical health.
I have been reading a book called Power Healing by John Wimber and in it he shares a story of a lady with scoliosis named Mercedes who’s spiritual healing was an important was her physical healing. She story begins with her recounting feelings of unworthiness and fear. During a healing service, she went forward for healing and tells the follow:
“Three sisters began praying over me and at first it seemed that my fears were being realized. But at the point when my frustration had become almost overwhelming, the Lord brough to my mind some memories I wasn’t expecting right then. I burst into tears and cried till I had no more tears to shed. Through that I became so filled with the Spirit and with a great peace that I simply opened my hear to the Lord and his healing power. That’s when a woman laid hands on my back. A that moment, I had a vision in which I saw my spine straightening up and taking its original shape. Then I heard the sisters shout for joy as the vision was realized before their eyes!
“Now I am about an inch taller than before, and I take this physical healing as a sign of ever greater inner healing I experienced during those couple of hours when the Lord came to me and embraced me very tightly. With this permanent remembrance as proof, I can never forget how much he loves me!”
While her spiritual sickness did not cause her scoliosis, it did prevent her from receiving physical healing. This story is a perfect example of the importance of spiritual healing as we seek healing of the whole purpose.
CONCLUSION - BALANCE
Understanding health and healing through a holistic approach may be a shift for you. My hope is that you see the importance in the shift. Allowing God to heal the entire person is much harder than just healing the physical body. It requires much more than just taking some pills or exercising more. It begins with recognizing the importance of each aspect of our person and praying for healing in every one of those aspects. As God brings more and more wholeness to our lives, we must remember to participate in the process. This means seeking to live a balanced life. It means keeping our body, minds and spirits healthy. If we want a healthy mind, we need to eat well, exercise regularly and sleep enough. If we want a healthy body, we need to pray daily and attend worship regularly. If we want a healthy spiritual life, we need to engage our minds and seek emotional wholeness.
Holistic health is not easy but it is worth it. It requires constant prayer and attention. Yet, it is God’s desire is for our Nephesh to be fully restored. He longs for our entire lives to be in alignment with God’s will and purpose. And God is willing and able to fully restore us if we are willing to walk the road of healing with him.
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