Flesh & Spirit Sermon Series
Part One: “What is so bad about my flesh?”
1. Over the past few weeks, God has been speaking to me about the power of the Spirit led life and the tragedy of the flesh led life. The consequences for a church, for a family or for an individual are dramatic, depending upon what/or who is leading their life.
2. Introduction:
a. There are many misunderstandings about our flesh and its nature (is good or evil?)
b. These have been compounded even by the church, which has over the ages almost condemned the flesh with praising the ascetic behavior of the monks…
i. Asceticism is a denial of all bodily comforts in the belief that the body/flesh is so bad that it must be starved of any comforts.
ii. The proponents (including the Roman Church) based this view on 1 Cor 9:26-27 “Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; 27 but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified.”
iii. The early monastic movement saw food, marital pleasures, even the comfort of a mattress as worldly and corruptive to purity, holiness or spirituality.
iv. Denying oneself of everything but the spiritual disciplines was considered to be of the highest form of devotion.
c. Over the centuries this led to a “my body is bad” “spirit or religion” is good sort of attitude.
i. This dualism which views the physical realm as evil and the spiritual realm as good.
1. This dualism was advanced by the early Gnostic heresies, and has persisted off and on throughout the centuries.
ii. The Puritans reflected this attitude in early America.
iii. Evidences can still be seen around us in some of the “primitive” forms of Christianity that declare music, electricity or colorful clothing or jewelry to be sinful.
iv. This has led to a backlash against the church, which was perceived to be “against” the body, against marital relations, against anything that reflected a healthy enjoyment of our body.
d. The truth is the body is good. God made us with a body.
i. God examined His creation at the completion of each day and declared it good.
ii. He gave us many things to enjoy in their proper context.
iii. The Jews understood this and celebrated life in a number of feasts each year with joy and revelry.
iv. Jesus understood this truth and evidenced it by his attendance at feasts and parties.
v. He didn’t declare the body as evil but instead He focused upon the human heart.
3. Definitions.
a. We need to make some definitions of what we mean when we talk about the “flesh.”
i. The word for flesh is sarx –
1. (Romans 8:3 “sinful flesh” - Robertson translates as “flesh marked by sin.”)
2. But flesh is not sinful in itself, but rather is simply weak.
3. Having flesh does not mean you are destined to sin, because Jesus was flesh and blood like you and I.
4. What Jesus did not have was the estrangement from God that we call “original sin.”
5. That occurred as a result of Adam’s disobedience in the garden.
6. Because Jesus was born of a virgin, he did not inherit that original estrangement and thereby didn’t need to be redeemed from it.
ii. Jesus was born into sarx flesh.. John 1:14 “The Word became flesh”
1. He was without sin.
a. Christ became a flesh and blood person but did not give in to the desires of the flesh.
b. Instead, he was perfect in life and death,
c. He died to provide salvation for all other persons, since they do give in to fleshly desires.
b. Adam did not have a sin nature and he was tempted.
i. He was flesh and blood. He lived in “temptable” or “weak” flesh.
ii. It was not sinful flesh but flesh.
iii. Once he sinned, he was estranged from God, he became a slave to sin, and his heart and life was corrupted by sin, which he passed on to all of his descendents through “his seed.”
iv. Because you and I are born into the original estrangement from God, the inherited sin and sinful bent called original sin, we need to be redeemed…from the penalty of sin, from the consequence of sin, and from sin itself.
v. Sin is something that resides in our hearts and not our flesh.
vi. (Our heart is our mind, will and emotions, defined as our soul, our core eternal being)
c. So when the bible, speaks of “sinful flesh” it is actually speaking of man’s lower, sin disposed nature that is governed by his heart that is or was estranged from God’s rule and fellowship, and now must be changed.
i. The bible says that a man must be “born again” in order to enter the kingdom of heaven.
ii. It also says that “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.”
iii. Meaning that we must be born of the Spirit and receive a brand new nature, a transforming nature that is fitted for living for eternity in heaven.
d. Some teach that we have two natures living side by side after becoming Christians.
i. They claim that we have the new nature of Christ and the old nature of our sinful man.
ii. While in practice it may appear to be so, the bible says something quite extraordinary about this. It says when you became a new creature in Christ that the old man that you were died. It says that you were crucified with Christ.
iii. That is a heavenly reality.
iv. But it is a reality that has to be practically applied daily here in life.
v. So in our daily struggles, we appear to have two natures fighting for control of our lives, we feel like our flesh (old man) and our spirit (new man) are warring for how we shall live.
4. Our Problem.
a. As the Apostle Paul established churches throughout Asia Minor, he would revisit them after awhile to see how they were doing. Much to his surprise, many of them seemed to be losing the war between the flesh and the spirit. As a result, he spent a great deal of time addressing this issue.
b. That is what I hope to do for the next few weeks. You see, there is a danger if we as Christians live or walk by our flesh (which incidentally is supposed to be dead and buried).
i. When we walk by the flesh instead of the spirit, we destroy the very church that Jesus died for.
ii. And this is what the Apostle Paul addressed and why.
iii. It is easier to say, “Satan and the demons are at work in the world,” than to say, “The flesh is at work in here! The problem is me!”
iv. This is the inner war that Paul describes as a conflict in Galatians 5.
5. Lets begin our study this morning by opening our bibles to Galatians 5:13-26 :
a. “13 For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, "YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF." 15 But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another. 16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. 17 For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. 19 Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, 21 envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. 26 Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.
b. Verse 13: “do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.”
i. Opportunity for the flesh – Greek word ~ “aphorme” means “to make a base of operations.”
1. The flesh will take advantage of any opening you give it.
2. Bob’s Translation: “Don’t give your flesh a base of operation where it can control you, but choose to perform loving acts of service for one another.”
c. V14-15 “For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, ‘you shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ But if you BITE and DEVOUR one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.”
i. In verse 15, Paul describes the Galatians as doing precisely this.
1. They were serving themselves, they were serving the flesh, and they were not serving one another.
2. The Greek word for bite and devour means to “wound the soul” and to “consume and destroy.”
3. It sounds more like a den of carnivores than a church!
4. He seems to be painting the picture of what will happen if they continue to go in this direction of walking by the flesh.
ii. The works of the flesh are motivated by a desire to fill our emptiness.
1. But love is very different—it is motivated by the joy of sharing out fullness. "Love does not seek its own" (1 Cor. 13:5).
2. verse 15 gives the tragic alternative: "If you bite and devour one another, take heed that you are not consumed by one another."
3. A church of people who do not serve each other in love will destroy itself.
iii. Are you getting a picture of how nasty a flesh controlled life can be? How about how ugly a flesh controlled church could be?
1. I hear many people say, “Oh, I wish I could go back to the way things were in the early church, the first century”
2. My reply? Which church would you like to be? Galatia or Corinth or Rome or Collosia?
3. All of them were STRUGGLING with this issue!
4. Paul used significant parts of his letters to these churches dealing with the flesh and the spirit!
d. V16-18 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.“
i. When we come to Christ, we become new creations by virtue of the Holy Spirit who comes to live within us.
1. Even though the dominating power of the flesh is broken, the pull of evil remains with us.
2. As one writer put it, evil desires arise from the flesh like smoke from a chimney.
ii. Even though we long for the day when our flesh will be utterly powerless and only pure and loving desires will fill our hearts, there is something worse than the war within between flesh and Spirit.
1. What is worse than a war within? No war within because the flesh controls us totally.
a. Praise God for the war within! Serenity in sin is death.
b. The Spirit has landed to do battle with the flesh.
c. So take heart if your soul feels like a battlefield at times.
d. The sign of whether you are indwelt by the Spirit is not that you have no bad desires, but that you are at war with them!
2. Many Christians prefer not to hear this truth because they want a Christianity that proclaims “all victory all the time.”
3. They want a guarantee that all their problems will be solved if they will follow the right formula.
4. But that is not realistic nor is it biblical..
iii. Here he talks about the conflict between these two natures, one that is supposed to be dead and the other which is supposed to be in control.
1. He acknowledges that our flesh is very tough to refuse, and it will cause us to do things that we really don’t want to do in our renewed heart.
2. It is like a gravitational pull that tugs relentlessly to its power.
iv. How, then, do we walk by the Spirit? The answer is plain.
1. We stop trying to fill the emptiness of our lives with a hundred pieces of world and put our souls at rest in God.
2. The Spirit will work the miracle of renewal in your life when you start meditating on his unspeakable promises day and night and resting in them. (also Romans 15:13, 2 Peter 1:4, & Isaiah 64:4)
3. George Müller learned the secret of walking by the Spirit: “meditate on the precious truths of the Word of God until your heart is happy in God, resting in his promises”
4. Hudson Taylor had learned it too. He received word one day of rioting near one of the inland mission stations. In a few moments George Nichol, one of his evangelists, overheard Taylor whistling his favorite hymn: "Jesus I am Resting Resting In The Joy Of That Thou Art." Hudson Taylor had learned that for him, only one life was possible—just that blessed life of resting and rejoicing in the Lord under all circumstances, while he dealt with the difficulties inward and outward, great and small." (Spiritual Secret, p. 209).
5. Walking in the Spirit is resting and living the promises of God.
6. What does the flesh act like?
a. v19-21 Now the deeds (works, products) of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, 21 envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
i. He describes the deeds of the flesh. We like to focus on the ones we don’t do. Sorcery, idolatry, immorality…”gosh pastor, we don’t do those!”
ii. And we gloss over the ones we do by saying, “I don’t do those THAT often!”
iii. Lets look at the ones that tend to be Public sins as opposed to the others that would probably be classified as private sins.
iv. Evidences of the Control of the Flesh:
1. ENMITY = hostility - It is a hostile attitude in life which may be played out in hateful words or actions. The word is the very opposite of love.
2. STRIFE = contention, arguing, quarrels - implies the idea of discord. Strife demonstrates action which seeks to act out a "contentious temper" among a congregation. It satisfies itself by driving a wedge among others, throwing a group into disarray in terms of attitudes and service.
3. JEALOUSY refers to "someone who wants what other people have
4. OUTBURSTS OF ANGER – boiling anger - fits of rage" speak of letting what is on the inside burst forth verbally. It is the release of one’s temper as though swinging a verbal club to strike any who stand in the way.
5. DISPUTES It is better translated as "selfish ambition" and conveys the idea of "office seeking" which we might call "self-promotion and self-service" as opposed to serving selflessly unto the Lord.
6. DISSENSIONS the person who will seek to mount a party spirit within a congregations in order to bring in division.
7. FACTIONS – the result of dissensions. We get our English word "heresy" from this particularly Greek word
8. ENVYING - Great trouble has been promoted in churches due to envy. For it has a blind eye to justice and truth so that it is willing to damage someone else’s reputation by malicious rumors.
b. v22-25 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified (driven stakes into) the flesh with its passions and desires. goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 Now those 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.
i. Ah, here he talks about the works of the Spirit that should evidence themselves if we are walking by the Spirit.
ii. Unless a man’s essential nature is changed then he can only produce the fruit of his flesh.
iii. Paul declares that THOSE who BELONG TO CHRIST have crucified the flesh with its passion and desires.
1. Once crucified, they cease to be dominant and ruling factors in our lives.
iv. V24 By coming to Christ, you symbolically nailed your own flesh to the cross of Christ.
1. You made a decisive break with your own sinful tendencies and said to your flesh, “You will rule me no more! From now on, Christ will be my master!”
2. That’s what conversion is all about.
3. You took a hammer and nailed your “passions and desires” to the cross.
v. Crucifixion was a means of death that was deliberately designed to be slow and agonizing.
1. Sometimes the condemned hung on the cross for days before finally succumbing to death.
2. The same is true with our flesh.
3. Even though we crucified it when we came to Christ, it isn’t dead yet. Our real problem is that when the flesh calls to us, we like to go back to the cross, fondle the nails, and begin to take the flesh down from the cross.
vi. Martin Luther compares the flesh to a man’s beard. What happens when you shave on Monday? The beard grows back on Tuesday. If you shave on Tuesday, it grows back on Wednesday. If you stop shaving (even for a few days), soon you have stubble everywhere on your face. Crucifying the flesh is like taking a daily shave.
c. V 25 challenges them to make their walk match their talk.
i. What is this "walking by the Spirit"?
ii. There are two other images in the context which shed light on the meaning of "walk by the Spirit."
iii. The first is in verse 18: "If you are led by the Spirit you are not under law."
1. If Paul had said, "If you follow the Spirit you are not under law," it would have been true, but in using the passive voice ("If you are led") he emphasizes the Spirit’s work not ours.
2. The Spirit is not a leader like the pace car in the "Daytona 500."
3. He is a leader like a locomotive on a train.
a. We do not follow in our strength.
b. We are led by his power.
c. So "walk by the Spirit" means stay hooked up to the divine source of power and go wherever he leads.
iv. In verse 16 the incentive for walking by the Spirit is that when you do this you will not gratify the desire of the flesh.
a. It is a PROMISE!
d. v26 Let us not become boastful, challenging (provoking, challenging to combat) one another, envying one another.
i. v. 26 speaks to church life conduct as a final reminder of what they need to avoid!
7. Application:
a. We ALL will from time to time walk in the flesh.
b. Actually, most of us walk in its power a lot more than we would like to admit.
c. I would have to say that I am under its control and influence far more that I would like.
i. When I press for MY WAY, my flesh’s control is exhibited.
ii. When I have to prove I am right, my flesh is showing.
iii. When I want to win at all costs the power of my flesh is demonstrated.
iv. When I want others to see my point of view, its influence is unveiled.
v. When I can’t stand to see someone else get praised or thanked and I get overlooked, my flesh is unmasked.
vi. When I humiliate someone in public, what is happening? I am valuing myself above someone else. My flesh is in control!
vii. When I want so bad to be heard that I gather others to “get on my side”… my flesh will destroy the church.
viii. The spirit desires to please God, the flesh desires to please itself.
d. What if, you say, someone else is acting according to the flesh; can’t I just put them in their place?
i. If you do, you are acting according to the flesh as well.
1. Add flesh to flesh and you get death.
2. Death to the body, death to relationships, death to yourself.
ii. When you “escalate” you are never walking by the Spirit.
iii. When someone walks by the flesh, we have a responsibility to respond in the spirit. Especially in our church.
e.
8. If you have ever read the beatitudes, they are not just instructions on being good.
a. The Beatitudes are the evidences of a Spirit controlled life.
i. The flesh hits back, the spirit turns the other cheek.
ii. The flesh seeks its own, the spirit gives away.
iii. The flesh gets even, the spirit forgives even when the offender doesn’t ask for it.
iv. The flesh loves people who live him, the spirit loves those who hate Him.
b. The flesh revels in sin, the spirit would prefer to live without an eye or a limb than to sin again.
c. THERE IS NOTHING SO BEAUTIFUL as a church filled with people who are walking by the Spirit, serving one another in love.
d. And there is NOTHING SO UGLY as a church filled with people who are walking by the flesh and responding to one another in the flesh.
i. What is your responsibility? You are responsible to walk and respond in the Spirit.
9. The appeal this morning is simple.
a. God’s word has examined you. You can see your conduct in its light.
b. If you have sinned, I am asking you to repent.
c. If you have harmed someone else through words or actions, you need to move by the Spirit and ask their forgiveness.
d. If you have been angry at someone, you need to let the spirit rule you this morning and go to them and tell them and ask their forgiveness.
e. If you have publicly humiliated someone, you must let the Spirit lead you to publicly apologize.
i. You can be right and still be wrong. Wrong in what led you to do or say what you did. There is only one response we are to make. To walk by the Spirit. Will you do that today?
