Walking in the Spirit-2: Winning the battle over sin

In reading Romans eight, we gain more insight into just what Paul means by walking according to the Spirit. He says,

“For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.”
Romans 8:5-6

It all works together. Considering ourselves dead and setting our mind on the things of the Spirit assist us in our fight for freedom.
If we keep our minds fixed on beating the problem (fulfilling the law), we fail. If we fix our minds on Christ, we find the victory we seek. Remember the sins that cling so closely? The writer of the book of Hebrews gives the same advice to win over clingy sins (addictions):

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Hebrews 12:1-2

Paul links the two (setting our mind on Christ and being crucified) when he states,

“Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”
Colossians 3:2-3

In the book of Galatians, Paul rebukes the believers for trying to complete by the law, that which was begun by the Spirit (by grace). I love the way Eugene Petersen says it in his paraphrase, The Message.

“You crazy Galatians! Did someone put a hex on you? Have you taken leave of your senses? Something crazy has happened, for it’s obvious that you no longer have the crucified Jesus in clear focus in your lives. His sacrifice on the Cross was certainly set before you clearly enough.
Let me put this question to you: How did your new life begin? Was it by working your heads off to please God? Or was it by responding to God’s Message to you? Are you going to continue this craziness? For only crazy people would think they could complete by their own efforts what was begun by God. If you weren’t smart enough or strong enough to begin it, how do you suppose you could perfect it?”
Galatians 3:1-3

An answer to our sin dilemma is coming into focus. We can’t beat sin by determining to keep the law. Winning comes when we begin to accept the gospel of grace as powerful and adequate enough to keep us from sin.
Perhaps contrasting the two methods will help us understand how walking in grace (the spirit) works:
If I battle according to the flesh, I concentrate on the law. If I battle according to the Spirit, I concentrate on grace. In the flesh, the emphasis is on me conquering sin. In the Spirit, the emphasis is on Christ in me conquering sin. In the flesh, I work. In the Spirit, God works. In the flesh, sin is central. In the Spirit, the cross is central. In the flesh, I’m seeking justification by works. In the Spirit, I accept the work of the cross as sufficient, a work of grace. In the flesh, I concentrate on me. In the Spirit, my eyes are on Christ.
Have you ever tried to not think a thought? The very act of not trying to think of something forces you to fail! This is a big part of the problem in trying to not sin. The very act of trying not to sin places sin in focus and we are ensnared by the temptation.
So what, do I just ignore sin?
Not exactly. Walking in the Spirit isn’t passive. It’s active with the focus on the Cross. And guess what happens when my thoughts are set on the things of the Spirit? Gratitude. Wonder. Jesus and his cross grow.
The good news about concentrating on Christ is that as he becomes my focus, my desire for sin falls away. I’ve beaten the addiction not by shear strength of my will, but by falling in love with Jesus.

Walking in the Spirit-1

I've been preparing a series of lectures on grace and wanted to put a few of my thoughts out here on the net for my readers. Walking in grace is all about walking in the Spirit. Walking in the Spirit: Oh great, another phrase that we’ve spiritualized until no one seems sure what Paul was talking about. What is walking by the Spirit? We envision a holy-man of sorts, eyes fixed on the clouds, walking in a zombie-like trance.
I think Paul meant something much more practical. Within the context of the whole book of Galatians, Paul is talking about walking in grace. He’s telling us that in order to win the battle over the flesh, we can’t do it by the law. We have to do it by grace!

“Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?”
Galatians 3:3

Let’s go back and review a basic concept. How were we saved? By grace, right?
So right at salvation, a huge victory was won over our sins, and it had nothing to do with us. It had everything to do with the cross, with who God is and what he does. Grace is the avenue. Grace is the divine quality whereby God freely loves, forgives and exalts sinners into sonship. Grace frames every interaction that God has with his children. We were saved by grace and by grace God moves us on towards the image of his son.

“For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son….”
Romans 8:29a

But most of us have accepted the part of salvation by grace, but we’ve left the altar and decided to carry on in our own strength. We fail and feel guilty and so we’re reluctant to approach God for help. That’s why addictions are so difficult to combat. Because, not only do we try to fight them in our own strength, we shrink away from grace because of our guilt.
Paul taught that when we were crucified with Christ so that we could find freedom from our enslavement to sin.
Some of you are thinking, That’s exactly what my addiction is like. I’m a slave. It says jump and I say, “how high?”
So just what does being crucified with Christ mean? First, Paul says we know this to be true. That’s something that the Holy Spirit settles in our hearts.

“We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin.”
Romans 6:6

A few verses later, Paul says we must consider this so. This is what the King James Version refers to as “reckoning.”

“So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.”
Romans 6:11

Paul likens being put to death with Christ so we will understand personally that a debt has been paid on our behalf. Christ died for our sins. In effect, we died, because that was what was required to pay off our debt. But Paul’s metaphor of dying works on another level. We’ve died to the law, our marriage partner, so in effect, we are free from its stranglehold on our souls to marry another, Christ, the personification of grace.
So walking in the Spirit and being crucified with Christ are both equated in the scripture to overcoming enslavement to sin.
But what does it mean?
I believe the answer comes as we begin to experience the freedom of grace.

“For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.”
Romans 6:14

This is the secret to overcoming addiction: grace.
Paul makes it clear through Romans six and seven that the law is powerless to help us live the life we desire. Concentrating on the law only seems to stimulate a desire within us to break the law. So in my efforts to win over addiction (habitual sin), by holding up my determination not to break the law…I fall.
In reading Romans eight, we gain more insight into just what Paul means by walking according to the Spirit. He says,

“For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.”
Romans 8:5-6

It all works together. Considering ourselves dead and setting our mind on the things of the Spirit assist us in our fight for freedom.
If we keep our minds fixed on beating the problem (fulfilling the law), we fail. If we fix our minds on Christ, we find the victory we seek.

The Bridge...awesome!

You have to watch this video. Be prepared to cry.
Look at the faces of those who were saved....and they knew nothing of the sacrifice that bought their safety.
Amazing and heart warming: http://www.maximumreferrals.com/videos/bridge/bridge.htm

Read this before voting for Mr. Obama

OK, this election really seems to be whipping up the emotions, doesn't it?
For many Christians, the issues surrounding the fundamental right to life is paramount. Yet I hear of Christians who are willing to cast a vote for Obama and I am puzzled. How can we compromise on this issue and sacrifice the innocent in the womb? It is clear that God knows us and loves us even before birth. When we turn our eyes away from the slaughter of innocents and cast a vote for a pro-abortion candidate, we are cheapening life for all of us.
For this reason, I urge anyone contemplating a vote for Mr. Obama to read this short article before entering the voting booth. All I can say in response is, "amen."

http://www.thepublicdiscourse.com/viewarticle.php?selectedarticle=2008.10.21_Bradley_Gerard%20V._When%20is%20it%20Acceptable%20for%20a%20%27%27Pro-Life%27%27%20Voter%20to%20Vote%20for%20a%20%27%27Pro-Choice%27%27%20Candidate?_.xml

Choosing death over life

A drowning sailor claws at the surface of the water, gasping, fearful, crying out for help. A life line is deployed and is within easy reach, but the sailor turns away, preferring to fight on his own. Exhausted, he slips into the hungry darkness of the ocean.
Starving, a man is escorted to a banquet table laden with food. With life-saving nutrition within easy reach, he willfully and apparently happily, wastes away, dying with a concentration-camp physique, skin a translucent covering over sharp bone.
A woman parched with thirst, faints in the desert heat rather than sip from the cool water in her hand.
A prisoner on death row chooses to stay in solitary confinement, turning down a President’s pardon.
A cancer victim turns away from a guaranteed cure.
Survivors (and I am in their midst) stand on the sidelines, aghast at the deathly choices of the masses.

Imagine an offer so amazing that to walk away would be damnable. Inexcusably crazy.
But this is what is happening every day. Every second.
Our generation chooses to die. Yes, they freely choose death over life. Hell over heaven. Pain over everlasting joy.
To me, this is nearly unbelievable, and it points to huge problems facing today’s church.
My search for an adequate simile pales in light of reality. Is the perception of Christ and his church, rather than the reality of Christ, responsible for this understated tragedy?

As a church, we hold a treasure of inestimable worth. We serve an indescribably powerful God who launched a loving rescue plan.
Yet the world looks on in revulsion. I’ll never join the ranks of those hypocrites. If that’s what being a Christian means, count me out! They scoff at our offer, joking their way into eternity. I’d rather be in hell with my friends…
The drowning sailor prefers to fight on his own. The starving and thirsty turn away from food and water. The prisoner willfully chooses to stay in his cell, wearing sunglasses of damnable delusion. Freedom is here, he thinks, within these walls.

Why?

I've got my theories, but I want to hear yours. I spent several hours in a mall asking non-christians why they were not Christians. The answers may surprise you. But what do you think? Why aren't unbelievers flocking to our doors because of the good news?

Comment below or e-mail me from my contact page.

Check this out!

Just wanted to let my readers know about an interview that has appeared on Crossway Books' blog site. It's all about my newest non-fiction book, "The Cure." Check out this address: http://www.crossway.org/blog/2008/10/interview-with-author-and-surgeon-dr-harry-kraus/

Happy surfing!

Christian writers: What is our calling?

I was listening to a Christian teacher a few weeks ago. "Why did Jesus come?"

Many answers were given. "To save us." "To seek and save the lost." "To free those in bondage to sin."

All of these answers and more were rejected. They were good answers, to be sure, but not exactly what the teacher was getting at. The specific answer is found in Jesus comment to Pilate recorded in John 18:37:

"...For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world--to bear witness to the truth..."

Honestly, that wasn't the first thing that popped into my head as I attempted to answer the question. But as I considered it, and thought about the truth that Jesus came to testify about, I understood. And I considered that our calling as Christian writers can be distilled down to this important element: a testimony to the truth.

Jesus is inseparably linked to the word and to the truth. We understand from John 1 that Jesus is one with his message. He is called "the word." He is God. He is the message. He is the truth. (Remember, "I am the way, the truth, and the life...").

Not a truth. The truth.

In our post-modern culture, truth is under attack. Absolutes have given way to relativism. What is true for me may not be true for you. Is not this the beginning of a downward slide into an anything-goes lawlessness?

I was privileged to attend the Desiring God national convention this past week in Minneapolis. The theme was the Power of Words and the Wonder of God. It was an awesome time to soak up great teaching from John Piper, Mark Driscoll, Sinclair Ferguson, Bob Kauflin, and Paul Tripp. I was particularly interested in the way Mark Driscoll (teaching pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle) broke down the ministry calling of today's communicators:
1. Feed the sheep (the Christians).
2. Rebuke the swine (Christians who are not following the narrow path).
3. Shoot the wolves (he noted that pastors who stumble into the philosophy of loving everyone, not creating controversy will end up loving even the wolves and that the wolves will take over their congregations).
4. Bark at the dogs (these are the "religious" people who are legalists, threatening the gospel by their false teaching. Mark is busy calling sinners to repent of their sin and the religious people of our day to repent of their religions.
5. Pray for the shepherds. This is critical so they can distinguish the sheep from the swine/wolves/dogs.

I believe our calling as Christian writers is a clear presentation of truth (Jesus). No, I don't mean that each novel has to be laced with the four spiritual laws or the Roman's road to salvation or even have a conversion within the covers. But in some way, there have to be distinctions that set our writings apart. A spiritual message cannot be tacked on. It has to be woven into the story in such a fashion that to remove it will cause the whole theme to unravel. The truths that we present may come as an encouragement to the sheep.

Or they may come as a rebuke to the swine. Or as a sniper to the wolves.

When we present the truth, we are giving our readers a glimpse into some aspect of God. Faced with an image of God, three things happen. I've adapted this from a presentation called "The Truth Project" a seminar sponsored by Focus on the Family. Read Isaiah 6:1-8 When Isaiah saw the Lord, there were three results (and can we not predict that a presentation of truth would have a similar response along these three lines?): 1. He was exposed ("I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips.") 2. Our culture is exposed ("I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips...") and 3. We become world changers ("Here am I, send me.").

Christian writers, what is our calling? To testify to the truth!