Obedience is the Pathway to Holiness

Romans 8:12-13

So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.

Pastor John Piper had a two-part sermon about (10) years ago that hit me hard. Often times I find myself traveling back to those sermon to listen to it again and remind myself of one of the things that I believe Christians should constantly be working towards, namely killing the sin that still lurks in our hearts and lives. (If you are interested you can find the sermons -- HERE)

Here are some of the take-aways that I've been thinking about over the past week.

What Is This Putting to Death of Sin?

The answer is that you suffocate the sinful deeds of the body. You cut off the life-line, the blood flow. Deeds of the body come from somewhere. Jesus said, "The things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. (19) For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. (20) These are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man" (Matthew 15:18-20). Sinful deeds have a life line that must be cut.

In other words, there is a condition of the heart that gives rise to the "deeds of the body." It's a heart issue. We must cut off the hands and gouge out the eyes, not literally – that would do no good – but with that kind of violent heart-work. You kill the bad fruit by severing the bad root.

What's the bad root of "the deeds of the body"? You can see it in Romans 8:7. "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." The root of "the deeds of the body" that have to be killed is the flesh that is hostile to God and unwilling and unable to submit to him. Verse 12: "If you live according to the flesh you will die." Flesh is the great enemy here. And it's an enemy because it is insubordinate and hostile to God. It doesn't like God and does not want to be told by him what to do.

So to kill "the deeds of the body" that this enmity produces, you have to cut the life-line. Pinch the air pipe. Stop the blood flow. Deeds must be killed before they happen by severing the root of hostility and insubordination that rejects God.

If you try to survive as a Christian in any other way than "by the Spirit," you will not survive. You will die. Until you believe that life and fighting sin is war – that the stakes are your soul – you will probably just play at Christianity with no blood-earnestness, no vigilance, no passion no wartime mindset. (HERE)

We may learn hence, that we are never secure from the greatest sins, till we guard against those which are thought the least; nor, indeed, till we think no sin is little, since every one is a step toward hell. | John Wesley

Paul tells us again in Romans:

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. | Romans 12:2 (ESV)

These are not passive words from Paul.  This is a call to action.  "Be transformed by the renewal of your mind". But how does this really happen?  The answer is wrapped into the source of the command. Christians are transformed by the renewal of their minds which takes by living and abiding in the word. With the Holy Spirit's help, it is the responsibility of every Christian to be Holy (1 Peter 1:16).  Sin, therefore, for Christians is a choice and we are responsible and accountable for avoiding sin.

Obedience is the pathway to holiness, and the Holy Spirit gives us the ability and capacity to be obedient.

God's word must be so strongly ingrained into our hearts and our minds that it becomes the dominating force behind the choices that we make. If we are not filling our minds with the truth (the Bible) how can we expect to make good decisions when the moments of temptation come?  If the word of God is the sword of truth how will we be able to use it as it's intended (an offensive weapon) if we don't keep it close to our hearts and meditate on it day and night?

For His Glory,

Jason

We Choose Love...Because Love Wins.

Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. | Romans 12:19-21 (ESV)

When we are wronged by others responding with crossness comes easy. When our wives yell at us, it's easy to be harsh with them in return. These are the natural ways in which our flesh desires to respond, but in doing so...a seed of sin is planted in our hearts...and that seed will begin to fester and grow into bitterness, resentment and hatred in our hearts.

This is ultimately what Paul is attempting to get us to understand here, when he says, "love your enemies". We choose love, because love wins. We choose to respond in humility, because humility overcomes. When we choose evil or sin, we are "overcome" by that choice and it leads to our destruction. We are robbed of the joy we would have otherwise received from God if we were to instead respond as Christ responds to us, in love.

We choose love, because love wins.

For His Glory,

Jason

The Mystery of Marriage

Take the mystery of marriage. In Genesis 2:24, right after the account of how woman was created, Moses (the writer of Genesis) says, “Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and cleaves to his wife, and they become one flesh.” Now when the apostle Paul quotes this verse in Ephesians 5:31, he says, “This is a great mystery, and I say it refers to Christ and the church.” And, with that as his clue, he unfolds the meaning of marriage: it’s a symbol of Christ’s love for the church represented in the husband’s loving headship toward his wife; and it’s a symbol of the church's glad submission to Christ represented in the wife’s relation to her husband. | John Piper - Male and Female He Created Them in the Image of God

Why Marriage?

Marriage is a temporary institution for this age until the resurrection of the dead. The essence of its meaning and purpose is to represent Christ’s relation to the church. But when the reality comes, the representation as we know it will be laid aside. And there will be neither marriage nor giving in marriage in the age to come. And those who have been single and devoted to the Lord will sit down at the marriage supper of the Lamb as full fellow-heirs of the grace of life. And according to their devotion to the Lord and their sacrifices they will be rewarded with affections and relationships and joys beyond all imagination.

John Piper | Male and Female He Created Them in the Image of God

Courageous Headship

Courageous Headship

 

Renewing Our Repentance

"God has already forgiven all our sins once-and-for-all through the death of Jesus Christ. Why then do we need to keep on asking for His forgiveness? The answer, of course, is that we are not perfect, and never will be in this life. We keep on sinning. We break God’s commandments every day, in thought, word, and deed. And although all our sins have been forgiven – past, present, and future – sin still has a way of disturbing our fellowship with God. It interferes with our intimacy with Him, estranging us from His holiness. When we sin, therefore, our personal relationship with God needs to be restored. The Puritans called this “renewing our repentance.” It means asking God to take the forgiveness He has already granted through Christ’s death on the cross and to apply it freshly and directly to our sins."

Philip Graham Ryken

He is Jealous.

[God] is a jealous God. Throughout the Bible He uses the marriage relationship to set for the union of Himself and His people Israel in the Old Testament and that of Christ and the church in the new. In either case He calls unfaithfulness adultery. In Jeremiah He says, 

“Turn O backslidden children…for I am married to you.” 

The book of Hosea is built on this theme. In the New Testament we read that the believer is married to Christ (Rom. 7:4). Paul wrote to the Corinthians, 

“For I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ” (1 Cor. 11:2). 

And James puts it bluntly, 

“You adulterers and adulteresses, know you not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? Whosoever therefore is a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (Jas. 4:4).

Vance Havner -- Repent or Else, Revell, p. 54.