Though perhaps the connection will at first not be apparent, I have selected as a biblical text for the sermon: Galatians 5, verse 1: "It is for freedom Christ has set us free" (NIV).

The Adventist health message is a key issue in this freedom secured in and through Christ Jesus. And the meaning and relevance of the health message are intimately tied to the freedom referred to in this text.

As we shall see, freedom has deep meaning. The need for transformation is, of course, the basis of the life and ministry of Christ. Such a necessity is identified in the opening sentence of the book Ministry of Healing, which states, "Our Lord Jesus Christ came to this world as the unwearied servant of man's necessity" (p. 17). This potential need was covered by Christ before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4).

Transformation is distinguished from a new creation in that elements of the former reality are retained. Let me illustrate: My wife and I have a small cabin on a lake. It is an idyllic retreat, and a place of cherished memories. Grandchildren, children, and happy hours together. But the cabin is old--well-built, but not winterized. When discussing its future, some advise us to tear it down and start again; others say, "you could refurbish it." My wife loves the place so much, she wants to save as much as possible of its charm and warmth. We will seek to transform it.

Understanding Biblical Wholism
When Adam and Eve sinned, God loved them so much, He was reluctant to throw it all away. They bore the image of God, you see.

If angels could sweat, they would have broken out in a cold perspiration as they watched the unthinkable. Eve succumbed to the wiles of the serpent! They comprehended that sin is not an isolated act. Sin is a deforming, enslaving state. By eating the fruit, Eve became a sinner.

Angels knew only too well that this physical act of disobedience broke the spiritual bond with God and warped the mental processes. Sin had taken possession of Eve, and then of Adam--so that they now stood as sinners. And while the sin required forgiveness, their state required transformation. They were now under the domination of Satan.

As it says in Romans 6:16, "To whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness." Our common parents had been deformed from a perfect wholeness to a broken shadow of what God intended. The synthesis of the body, mind, and spirit gives a present wholeness, which, however, because of sin, is broken and cracked.

Harold S. Kushner tells of a young woman, a victim of incest. She had undergone years of counseling and therapy. "She does not feel whole, because she has never been able to get her brother to say, 'You were innocent, and I did a terribly wrong thing to you.' That one sentence, she believes, would do more to heal her than anything else."

How difficult, when one's healing depends on another. Yet, to be free from the brokenness of sin we require a Savior.

"It is for freedom Christ has set us free."

Enslaved by Satan as sinners, we cannot and are not whole in the way God intends us to be. Fractured physical parts lead to disease; fractured emotions lead to distress; fractured mental outlooks lead to lust; and fractured spiritual relationships yield guilt, remorse, and pain. When Christ died, He paid the price of freedom, but we now were "sinners saved by grace."

God is interested that we should be totally free. He wants every component part of our whole to be developed. Knowing we are spiritual, physical, and mental beings, He carefully attends to all our parts. This transformation, or giving of "freedom," comes by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit sets us free, but we must cooperate, and accept the freedom.

The famous American artist Winslow Homer depicts in one of his many seascapes, The Gulf Stream (1899), what I have always felt must have been a runaway slave. This hapless African lies on the deck of a battered vessel. Its mast has snapped off; it lists precariously; the lowering sky frowns on a tempestuous sea; a funnel cloud threatens; whitecaps race the waves, adding deeper tones of ominous portent over the shark fins that cut in circles around the runaway slave in his shattered craft. In the distance a full-masted vessel plows in determination through the sea--could it be a "slaver"?

The man's face betrays feelings of hopelessness, dejection, and despair. Trying to free himself, he fails. Sinners cannot transform themselves. We need the indwelling Holy Spirit to create in us "a clean heart . . . and renew a right spirit within [us]" (Ps. 51:10).

Adventism's Unique Message
Recognizing this composite wholeness as God's goal for humanity, comprehending the pervasive, all-encompassing, perverting nature of sin, Adventists seek not only forgiveness of sin and justification, but restoration to the wholeness God intended. This process of sanctification is not only an emancipation of the mind, but is to include the body.

Ellen White was shown that health reform "is a part of the third angel's message, and is just as closely connected with it as are the arm and hand with the human body" (Counsels on Diet and Foods, p. 32).

Health reform is to be a cry against all pagan influence. Health reform applies not only to the healing of this disease or another, but to the health of the whole person. It's concerned not only with food or drink.

The Adventist message of health reform is unique in a world that is obsessed with pleasure and self. A world that, as Galatians 5:19, 20 describes it, is full of "adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies." As the third angel calls for those who would distance themselves from these "beastly" behaviors, so health reform requires a yielding to the Spirit. A people heralding the soon advent of Jesus need to show they possess the fruit of the Spirit: "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law" (verse 23). Adventists are unique in applying such a message to the whole person, calling for transformation in the here and now.

Fundamentals of the Message
One may say, "But I thought the message of health reform had to do with milk and cheese and eggs?"

The fundamental message is the restoration to the Edenic wholeness, to the extent possible here before Christ comes. Health reform is a part of the final call to "come out of her, my
people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues" (Rev. 18:4). This is not a do-it-yourself program. Health reform has, as its basis, a yielding of the will to the Holy Spirit.

There are three fundamental steps.
Step 1: Yielding the will, which permits the life to be taken over by the Holy Spirit. Once we do this, attitudes will be changed.
Those who are angry, loud, critical, abrasive in the pursuit of the health message are in fact "teaching for doctrines the commandments of men" (Mark 7:7), for the first healing that must take place is that of the spirit. The human spirit, with its strivings, ambitions, pride, and arrogance, is to be replaced with the calm and quiet love that comes from God: Having been transformed by the Holy Spirit, such Christians bring to all they meet a healing calm. The close connection between spirituality and health is being rediscovered in the scientific community.

Step 2: Changing our way of thinking.
Just as the body, mind, and spirit make up the soul, transformation must address each of these for it to bring healing. Romans 12:2 says, "Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God." Our mental component has to be renewed also for health and healing to take place. Health reform speaks to young people about their sexuality. It speaks to cultures to consider their behavior in the light of the mind of Jesus. It confronts the world church to address issues of domesticity, gender role, and integrity.

Step 3: Mending the broken physical component of wholeness.
We cannot have a "whole soul" unless we address this aspect of being Christ's witnesses. Not only are Christ's chosen transformed by healing, but they are given a specific purpose "to be occupied in healing." The giving of glory to God is not for God's edification, but a witness to His majesty, a magnification of His character that will be the final call to a dying world. His children are to be His witnesses.

Early Adventist workers were a sickly lot. The obituary pages in the early Review and Herald were filled with young people who died of many disorders preventable by proper lifestyle. The early church was guided by divine revelation about the major health-giving practices of trust, temperance, good nutrition, exercise, pure water, sunshine, fresh air, and rest. It is truly amazing that the application of these principles in the lives of Adventists has been conclusively shown to promote increases in vitality and longevity.

Hundreds of studies have convincingly demonstrated that Adventists have less cancer, heart disease, strokes, hypertension, diabetes, and arthritis when they follow the Adventist lifestyle.

Living as we do, in a postmodern world, people doubt the authority of the church. Skeptics they may be, but when their eyes see the facts and read the data, many are impressed and fascinated. Perhaps one of the saddest features of modern Adventism is that many within the church have neglected the health message. Perhaps it has been seen as only a litany of don'ts. But the power behind the Adventist health message is, in verity, that of the Holy Spirit. His fruit transforms us for the purpose of our redemption, but also for that of the world to whom we are called to witness.

As my beginning text says, "It is for freedom Christ has set us free."
o Freedom from fear, shame, guilt, anger, malice, and envy. Oh, what mental health!
o Freedom from doubt, poor self-image, hopelessness, and futility. Oh, what emotional health!
o Freedom from hatred, sadness, covetousness, self-flagellation. Oh, what spiritual health!
o Freedom from isolation, bigotry, racism, nationalism, political encumbrance. Oh, what social health!

And yes, freedom from so many diseases made worse by our lifestyles. We are transformed for healing. We are to experience here a little of heaven's bounty now.

"It is for freedom Christ has set us free."