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Sunday, September 5 |
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| When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. (Col. 3:4) | |||
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Walk in the Spirit not the flesh
I mentioned in my last email ("Do nothing in your own strength") how I have been learning and growing in the Lord in just the last few months. I am seeing, tasting and experiencing truths now which I have never known before. One of the huge things I see much more clearly now is the distinction between walking in the Spirit and walking in the flesh.
It is very clear to me now that prior to February of this year (2005) I have lived my life largely in the strength of my flesh. I don't for a moment question my salvation in Christ all these years, but it is so obvious that most of my life was about me (the flesh) and not about Christ. Even as God opened my eyes to the many truths about Him in July of 2000 and I began writing things you read in my emails and web site, I was still struggling in the flesh. I was striving to seek after Christ, but it was largely an effort of the flesh and not the Spirit. Much of what I wrote is still true and good, but at the time I never completely understood and lived what I wrote about. It makes so much sense now. I read what God gave me to write in the article "Walking in the Spirit" almost two years ago, for example, and I see that the words are true, but amazingly I still continued at the time to struggle in the strength of my flesh. The flesh is so powerful and so pervasive in and around us. We are not immune from it as believers by any means and it permeates our lives and our churches.
You may look at my web site and the words I have written over the years and have been thinking that I am some strong, wise, gifted Christian. Nothing could be further from the truth. Certainly, any truth and goodness in any case is all from God. I could see at the time that these things I had written weren't real in my life as I knew they should be. I knew they were true, but my life was largely ups and downs filled with struggles to "focus my eyes on Christ". Don't be alarmed. I don't say all these things to prepare you for a personal confession of some dark area of my life. My life in Christ has been measurably better since I started understanding these truths almost five years ago. The problem is that I never really broke free from the bondage to the flesh until just a few months ago. The flesh still remains and I still have my ups and downs (as I always will), but my head is now above the clouds, so to speak, and I truly can now choose to walk in the Spirit. Previously, I just didn't get it. The Holy Spirit would reveal things to my heart, as when I wrote the article "Walking in the Spirit", but I continued to strive in my own strength rather than relying completely on Christ. I continued to find it difficult to focus in prayer and my thoughts would often be virtually out of my control. I remember at the time reading some of my articles myself and being amazed at what I read. It was like someone else wrote those things because the words were more powerful than the reality I was seeing in my own life.
Looking back, one error I can see is that would challenge myself and you my readers to "focus our eyes on Christ", but, for me at least, I tried to do this in the strength of my flesh. God had truly impressed upon my heart that this was something which was true, but it was something I tried to do (which is impossible) rather than letting Christ work and live in me. I would struggle to focus my mind and heart on Him, but I was largely a failure. My mind would often drift off to other things. I would be distracted by the cares of this world. It was frustrating because I would look back at my life over the months and even years and see the same old struggle. Praise God that He is faithful and His grace covers all our failings in Christ.
As you read this you may be saying to yourself, "What is the fix for this problem? How did you get past this struggle in the flesh?" As I mentioned in my previous email article "Do nothing in your own strength", God brought into my life some men who know and experience walking in the Spirit as a way of life. God used them to bring me to see this truth. The flesh is so strong and pervasive that it is quite difficult to get past this without the encouragement and challenge of fellow brothers and sisters in Christ hammering away at this truth and challenging our every thought to bring it into obedience to Christ. The wonderful thing I saw was this modeled before me with a sincere, true passion for Christ. None of them told me, "You are living in the flesh and need to change." or anything like that. I saw them live in the power of the Spirit in everything they did and said. They would be first to admit they aren't perfect, but the Spirit just seems so pervasive in them. God has used their words and lives to challenge my heart and reveal to me that it is nothing I can do in my own strength. Praise God, I finally "get it".
If you sincerely wish to walk in the Spirit and desire to be filled with Christ, you will need to admit and to see that most your life is lived in the strength of your flesh. The revelation of this truth is a work of the Holy Spirit and not the flesh. Obviously, our flesh or sinful nature is not going to teach us anything about laying aside the flesh. Our sinful self is mostly concerned with self preservation and continuing what we want to do in the pride of our flesh. Do not be deceived into thinking that doing Christian things like praying, worship, reading the bible, singing in the choir, preaching from the pulpit and sharing Christ with others cannot be largely a work of a flesh. Having experience as an Evangelical Christian in America, I believe that most believers and much of what goes on in churches and Christian circles today is a work of the flesh. Certainly, the truth of Christ is there and the Holy Spirit works to regenerate the lost and answer prayer and do many other things in the midst of it all, but much of what we see is largely the flesh. Our flesh or sinful nature is quite content to put on a spiritual pretences as long as we don't truly live in the power of Christ. Praise God if this is not true for you.
To make myself clear on this matter, when I speak of living in the strength of the flesh in our churches today, I am not speaking of doctrinally liberal denominations which dilute the truth of scripture. I speak of doctrinally conservative churches and believers who believe all of scripture is from God (which it is) and who preach and teach the word faithfully without apology. Unfortunately, many churches like this largely appeal to the flesh, although few people in the church would agree this is true. The emphasis is on what we must do to live in obedience to Christ. At it's best, the Christian life is taught to be something like a teamwork relationship between us and God. We do our part and God does His part. One of the things I see in Christian circles is the idea of what I call Christian "self (flesh) improvement". We have books, programs and sermons on being a better husband/wife, praying better, studying the bible, sharing our faith, managing our finances, patience, friendship, loving others, serving others and the list goes on. We read and are taught that we must "do this" and "do that". It is good to improve different areas of our lives, but the world does the same thing. Real change and real life is only by the power of Christ. The teaching about salvation by faith through the grace which is Christ is generally clear and true, but living it out is a myriad of methods and programs and not by the power of the Holy Spirit.
An example can be a program to reach people for Christ (a most lofty and selfless goal). We can set something like this up and ask God to bless our efforts. People do come to the Lord in these things and the Holy Spirit can work where Christ is proclaimed, but the Kingdom of God is not about what we can do for Christ, but about what Christ is doing in and through us. The gospel of Christ clearly proclaimed will always bear fruit, but God intends for every fiber of our being to proclaim Christ, not just words or testimonies we share with others. The distinction may not be obvious to you, but this distinction is like night and day. If you are involved in a church like this, and I would guess that many or most of you reading these words are in church like this, it is difficult to see because all around you are efforts largely dominated in the flesh. You don't see the contrast of the true life living in power of the Holy Spirit so everything seems fine. I never saw this truth clearly myself until I met others who truly were "walking in the Spirit" (although prior to this time I did clearly know the evangelical church was missing some very important teaching in this matter).
I should note that when I speak of "the power of the Holy Spirit" I am not speaking a more spirited worship service or the manifestation of the gifts of tongues or healing or the like (I have no background or experience in these things). I am speaking of living day in and day out in the strength of Christ and not the strength of the flesh.
The purpose of this writing is not to speak ill of the church. As I considered writing this article, my primary goal was and continues to be to communicate to you the falsehood of living in the flesh. I apologize if what I write offends you, but I have a clear conviction from Christ that these things are true. If you read these words about walking in the Spirit and not in strength of our flesh, but are taught on Sunday morning and elsewhere to "do your (flesh) best for God", how are you going to grow in these things? If you want to walk in the Spirit you must see that much of what is taught and written in books appeals to the flesh, even if that is not the intent of the writer or speaker. The flesh is so powerful and so steeped in sin that it can easily deceive us apart from the power of Christ. We can only clearly understand the truth when we also clearly see any falsehood around us. If we cling to what is false, we can never know the truth.
So, how do we walk in the Spirit and not live by the flesh? The simplest way I can explain it is to assume you are like most Evangelical Christians and you have a clear understanding of our salvation by faith through the grace of God in Christ. We come to God through the blood of Christ with nothing but complete faith and trust in Him. We bring nothing from ourselves. We cast ourselves completely and fully on the grace and mercy of God in Christ. Do you see how this is absolutely nothing from ourselves? Well, this is exactly how we are to live each moment and each breath of our life. It is all from God and nothing from ourselves. It is complete and full dependence on Him and faith in Him and nothing from ourselves. Every thought and every action must be from God and not from ourselves. Remember the words of Christ I wrote of in my last email
Christ didn't say, "I am influenced by my Father" or "I follow the principles of my Father" or anything like that. He clearly communicated that every word He spoke and every action on this earth were from the Father and not from Him. In the same manner, every word we speak and every action of our lives must be from Christ and not our flesh or sinful nature. Cease striving to do what you want, no matter how "spiritual" it may seem to you, and, rather, do all from Christ and in Christ.
This teaching about living in complete and full dependence on Christ, just as Christ lived in complete dependence on the Father, is something which is rarely spoken of in many churches today. We probably consider this idea to be totally impossible to do ourselves, which is true, as it is only from Christ. "How" do we do it? There is no "formula", but one key ingredient is that it is nothing from ourselves. Our old self has died with Christ and we must recognize this truth and ignore the clamorings of the flesh as we rest fully in Christ. Stop everything you (the flesh) are doing and wait upon Him for every word and every action. I don't mean that you should sit completely idle waiting for God to speak to you audibly. Live your life and fulfill your responsibilities, but see that it is all from the Lord. Do all that you do led every moment by Christ. Why do you look at what you look at? Let your eyes be of Christ. Why do you speak what you speak? Let your words speak only from Him in even the most mundane of things. Why do you think what you think? Let every thought be from Christ. Let all be of Christ.
I will end with the words of truth from scripture which sum up this truth as well as any. Ponder these words and let the Holy Spirit guide you into deeper understanding.
It is my hearts desire and prayer for each of you that God may reveal His truth to your heart.
Addendum: What about my church?
If you understand walking in the Spirit is not being taught in the church you attend, what are you to do? First, although I pray this isn't true for you, generally you will find that other believers are not readily responsive to these ideas. It does take time for people to digest this information and it is particularly difficult to see if someone doesn't see it modeled in someone's life. It will be a challenge for you, but seek to rest fully in Christ and be led of Him alone in all things, even though this is not brought up in the teaching of your church. Live all in Christ and latch on to other believers you find who are responsive to this truth.
Don't let yourself be discouraged if you don't see those around you responding to these ideas. Our faith is built on Christ and not fellow believers, churches or pastors. One of the best helps I have found to understand these matters is the LifeStream web site. There are other helps as well to be found in the Links section of my web site.
April 2005
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