11-14-10 Fleshing Out The Faith

ROM 8:5 For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

ROM 8:6 For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,

ROM 8:7 because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so,

ROM 8:8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

We broke off our study of Romans chapter 8 last week

at the end of verse 8,

having just listened to Paul’s description

of the life in the flesh.

We are studying a section of Paul’s letter

in which he is giving us both help and hope

for our ongoing battle with these mistrained physical bodies

in which our new, holy spirits now live.

We have seen the way in which Paul explains to us

why it is that, even after we bow before our God

and allow Him to recreate us at the spirit level of our being,

we still find tremendous pulls toward evil within us at times,

and along with Paul we find that, ... on the one hand... with (our) mind (we are) serving the law of God, but on the other, with (our) flesh the law of sin. Rom 7:25

He told us that the problem comes from the fact

that our new spirits must live out their remaining time on this earth

in a body that has already been totally mistrained under the leadership of our old spirit,

a spirit that was in every way hostile toward God and at war with Him.

The end result is that we are filled with emotional responses and reasoning processes and habits and need-meeting techniques

that all deny the truth about our God,

and about His love for us,

and His absolute, eternal commitment to us.

But then, as we moved into chapter 8,

we saw Paul equipping us with the truth we need

to fight this battle we face.

And the first truth he gave us

was the assurance that there is now no condemnation for the existence of this evil within us.

And the second, and the one we began to look at last week,

was Paul’s call to us

that we look honestly at this life in the flesh.

He told us that the mind set on the flesh is death...

Whether it expresses itself

in our attempting to meet some need outside of God’s moral framework,

or through our attempting to live the Christian life

on the basis of our flesh abilities,

it will never lead us to the quality of life our spirits long for.

I do love the visual picture our King gave us

of what He’s seeking for those of us who come to Him.

In John 7:38-39 He said, "He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water.'" But this He spoke of the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were to receive...”

Isn’t that great!

He said that when the new life He has created within us

is allowed to express itself through these bodies in which we live

it’s like a river of living water pouring out of us,

giving encouragement, and hope, and life to those around us.

But the release of that river

does not happen without a constant, daily battle

to keep our mistrained minds and emotions

in submission to our new, holy inner spirits.

I was in a conversation with a friend this past week

and he expressed a frustration so many of us have felt.

He said, “Why is it that it seems like the only time I really seem to be growing and reaching out to my Lord

is when I’m dealing with some turmoil in my life?”

I knew exactly what he meant.

As much as we hate the times of turmoil,

there is something tremendously purifying about them

because they have the power to bring us back to the truth we so easily forget -

the truth that we need our God desperately,

and left to ourselves we have no hope of ever achieving the quality of life we long for.

It is this truth that Paul wants us to face honestly

as he talks with us about the results of a flesh-based approach to life.

He understands that as we live out our lives in this mistrained body

our default setting is always the flesh.

That’s what we know,

that’s what we expect,

that’s what we understand.

And any progress into the true life in the Spirit

comes only as a result of conscious choices prompted by that new spirit within us,

choices that move us into greater conformity

with a daily life lived in the presence of the God who loves us so much that He died for us.

But that growth process demands constant daily resetting of our mental and emotional systems.

And to help us with that mental resetting

Paul begins Romans chapter 8

first of all with that clear, simple, bold and unqualified affirmation

that every single day we live

our God once again takes us right where we are, exactly as we are,

assuring us that there is no condemnation...ever.

And then, with that as our foundation,

he goes on to call us to an honest examination

of how our life according to the flesh really plays out for us.

It is a life that leads us to the death of everything we most want, most hunger for,

and a life that makes it impossible for us to live in a way that proclaims the truth about our God,

or the truth about ourselves, for that matter.

Now, as we pick up our study

with Romans 8:9,

the very next thing we hear Paul telling us in verses 9-11

is his bold affirmation

of the way the growing Christian life is designed to operate.

He says,

ROM 8:9 However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.

And before I read any more,

I can’t let that statement pass without pointing out the obvious.

Paul’s purpose throughout this whole passage

is to equip us with the truth,

even though he knows that our flesh-corrupted minds

will be very slow to accept and apply that truth.

And so he tells us that even though we may a times live lives driven by the flesh,

the true US, the real us is absolutely and eternally in the Spirit.

We may at times be living according to the flesh,

a problem he will address shortly,

but even then we are in the Sprit of God because the Spirit of God dwells in you.

And then, in a single sentence,

he goes on to forever slam the door

on what is one of the most common and most tragic misconceptions

used by Satan to disturb and harass the people of God -

the idea that a person could be a child of God

and not have the Spirit of God within them.

And to forever obliterate that lie, He says simply, But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.

There is no such thing

as a true Christian who does not have the Spirit of Christ within them.

The presence of the Spirit of God within us

is the foundation of God’s entire redemptive and recreative plan for the Christian.

It is the union of His Spirit joined to our spirit

that is the new creation, the new heart within us.

It is His Spirit that gives us the ability to hunger for our Lord

and reach out to Him.

It is His Spirit that makes every aspect of the new birth

a reality within our lives.

In fact that’s all just the tip of the iceberg.

When Paul wrote his letter to the Ephesians

he began that letter by sharing with us a number of things God accomplished in the life of every Christian

at the point where we entered his family.

And in that list he says,

In Him, you also, after listening to the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation--having also believed, you were sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is given as a pledge of our inheritance, with a view to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of His glory.

Eph 1:13-14

There simply is no such thing

as a child of God

who does not have the Spirit of God within them.

But here is the important distinction Paul wants us to see in this passage in Romans-

even though as Christians we are absolutely and eternally in the Spirit,

immersed in Him,

cradled in Him forever,

yet we can be in the Spirit and yet at the same time be living according to the flesh.

And in fact it has been my experience for more than 40 years

that every day of my life

I must once again choose that day

whether I will seek an ongoing submission to the Spirit of God within me

or just let the flesh have its way and live according to the flesh.

And even if I made really good choices the day before,

those choices never automatically carry over to each new day or even each new hour.

But then, Paul goes on to give us a clear, powerful statement of hope and encouragement in this whole thing

because the next thing he says is this.

ROM 8:10 And if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.

ROM 8:11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you.

While our new heart

must now, for a brief time

live out it’s union with Christ

within this mistrained body,

the Spirit of God Himself,

the same Spirit that brought about the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

is at work in us

to replace death with life

in these mortal bodies.

He is not talking about total redemption and transformation here.

He’s talking about making these earthly bodies

reasonable, practical temporary tools

for expressing the new life within us.

And the comparison Paul has chosen

to impress this hope on us is a powerful comparison.

He turns our attention back to the physical body of Christ following the crucifixion

as that physical body lay dead,

and cold,

and still for three days,

sealed within a tomb carved out of solid rock.

You see, he knows what we go through,

he knows what he himself goes through,

when we look at our physical bodies,

with all of their stubborn, determined resistance against the truth,

against the life of Christ in our spirits,

and he knows how discouraging,

how potentially defeating that can be to us.

Paul himself put it into words for us -

ROM 7:18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the wishing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not.

ROM 7:19 For the good that I wish, I do not do; but I practice the very evil that I do not wish.

He knows the power of the lies

that Satan uses to destroy our confidence,

our hope,

and our security.

Our enemy points to our past

with all of its failures,

and all of its fears,

and all of its defeats,

and he tells us

that the past will determine our future as well.

And he points to the power

of the lies that are still imbedded in our minds and emotions,

and the way those lies

seek to pull us into an approach to life

that is in every way hostile to the life of Christ within us.

And Paul knows all too well

how much we need strong assurance.

He knows that in this life here and now,

with this new spirit encased in the apparent tomb of this physical body,

with our minds still so filled with death thoughts,

and death impulses,

and memories of past failures,

we will struggle with having the hope that in this life here and now

we can know real,

practical,

consistent victory,

a victory in which the holy longings of our new heart

can be expressed clearly and effectively

in our practical daily living.

And to give us that hope, that assurance,

Paul takes the body of Jesus Christ,

encased in more than 100 pounds of paste and linen wrappings,

lying cold and dead for 3 days in the tomb,

and then asks the question,

“Which is harder to do - bring that body back to life,

or bring your body into submission to the leadership

of the new spirit God has created within you?”

ROM 8:11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells you.

Don’t listen to the lies,

don’t listen to all those flawed memories

that were recorded within you

before you ever knew the truth,

before you ever met your God.

In Jesus Christ

this one truth above all others

we must never forget -

our past,

with whatever it contained,

does not,

will not determine our future.

Our future is not determined by our past,

our future is determined

by the living reality of our God with us,

in us,

for us,

committed to conforming us to the image of Christ Himself.

The same God who brought Christ back from the dead dwells in you

and He will allow His life to be expressed through your mortal bodies.

And, of course, this transforming process

that Paul is talking about here

is common stuff to the people of God.

Through the presence of the Spirit of God within us

we do see changes taking place

that we never dreamed were possible.

We see ourselves relating to our world,

to our possessions,

to our relationships as we have never related to them before.

We see ourselves caring about things

we never cared about before,

and NOT caring

about things that we once thought we couldn’t live without.

We discover within ourselves the most remarkable love impulses,

caring about the people God has entrusted to us

in a way we never cared about anyone before.

We begin to find that PEOPLE matter more to us

than our rights, or our things, or our ideas.

Step by step,

one day at a time,

one relationship at a time,

one issue at a time,

the death within us is being swallowed up in life.

But what if it isn’t happening?

What if this growing transformation

from death to life

is not taking place in the Christian.

What if nothing is changing?

What if nothing has changed for years?

What if the presence of Christ within us

is not the great, glorious thing

that gives us both our hope

and our reason for each new day?

It is that question

that Paul turns his attention to next

in his letter to the Romans.

And before we read his words together

I need to warn you that what we will hear him say

is very likely not what we will be expecting.

What we would very likely expect

is what we hear so often from the world of religion around us,

a call to try harder,

to be more committed,

to be more faithful,

to be more determined.

What the world of religion offers us

is the bold affirmation

that we should try to conquer the flesh

through the strength of the flesh.

And it simply cannot be done.

Even if, through fierce flesh determination

we are able to alter some stubborn behavior pattern,

it will be replaced by a subtle, ugly flesh pride

that says to itself and to others, “LOOK! Look what I was able to do for my Lord.”

And the pride will be every bit as hostile to the life of Christ within us

as was the behavior we were seeking to conquer.

So what’s God’s answer?

In a single statement,

consisting of just 12 words,

Paul both diagnoses the cause of the problem

and reveals the solution.

Now, in verse 8:12

Paul begins with a summery statement

of the conclusion that follows

from all that he has been teaching us

in this whole section of his letter.

He says,

ROM 8:12 So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh–

It is a clear, simple affirmation

of the freedom we now have

from the flesh-driven life we lived

prior to our union with Christ.

It is not an automatic, instant, permanent freedom,

but rather it is the freedom to choose one day at a time,

one relationship at a time,

a freedom we never had prior to our union with Christ.

But then, halfway through his statement he stops,

and he injects these 12 words:

“...for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die...”

Now let me put that statement together

with what we’ve just heard him telling us.

He has just told us

that the normal Christian life

is one in which our inner spirit is filled with the new life of Christ,

and one in which we are consistently seeing the Spirit of God

enabling that inner spirit

to express itself through our mistrained bodies.

Paul calls this ongoing process

that of “...giving life to our mortal bodies through His Spirit who indwells us.”

But then he tells us that

if that is not what we are experiencing,

the reason we are not experiencing it

is because we “are living according to the flesh”,

and the only solution to this situation is that “you must die”.

That is not a threat,

it is a simple statement of truth.

And once we have given ourselves over to the lie

and have built our hope

and our future upon it,

freeing us from it is never easy.

Usually it involves our God

allowing us to put the full weight of our hope upon it,

and then letting it collapse.

If it is a flesh-based walk with God

that rests upon our ability to perform for Him,

using our talents,

our abilities,

our determination and skills,

when it matters most of all,

when religion as usual is not enough

and we desperately need real answers

in His love, He will allow our little system

to fail us utterly.

And all we’ll have is HIM.

And then, as we sit in the rubble of our efforts for God,

after having done the very best we could do,

and finding out that in the end it changed nothing,

and left us feeling empty inside,

when we no longer have any hope

or any confidence in our ability

to do for God or for ourselves what must be done,

at that point we will be able to hear His voice saying,

“MAT 11:28 "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest...

You tried it your way,

trusting in your own abilities,

now trust in Me,

and find out if I really do have the ability

to bring life from death,

and to live My life through you.”

If you want a good example of this process,

just look at Peter in the gospels.

He knew he could do for his Lord what needed to be done,

and when it mattered the most,

it all came crashing down around him.

And that crash was the beginning of his life in the Spirit.

And then, for those who have placed their hope on the flesh

by trying to meet their needs outside of God’s moral framework,

the same solution applies.

God will allow us to reap the consequences of our immorality,

not as an expression of His wrath,

but as an expression of His love,

knowing that our needs can never be truly met outside of His pattern for us,

and that every act of immorality

is most of all an act of hostility against ourselves.

Paul’s solution to the Christian life

being built upon the foundation of the flesh is simple:

ROM 8:13 for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

And just one final word of encouragement -

it is always our tendency

to drift back toward the ways of the flesh.

We know them so well,

and the rest of the world is continually shoving them in our faces.

But I have found that

as we grow accustomed to this flesh/spirit battle,

and as we become more skilled

in recognizing our own flesh vulnerabilities,

God’s Spirit is very faithful

in giving us eyes to see the return of these lies early in the process,

before we once again rebuild our kingdoms upon them.

And the earlier we see them,

and the more quickly we recognize them for what they are,

the less pain it takes to once again die to the flesh.