Church Flesh looks good

 

Ephesians 4:25-29

How many of us would join a church with liar’s, and dishonest folks, who are fabricators, and deceitful, and many are angry and make it their goal to get even with the ones who make them angry?  Do members of your church steal and many live off of others because they do not want to work, and do many of those in your church use language that is immoral or depraved?  If so your church needs to read Paul’s letter to the churches at Ephesus, because Paul was not talking to people outside of the body of Christ, his letter was addressed to the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus.

These thoughts entered my mind, are the people that Paul is addressing in these verses Christians, and if so how can a Christian live such a life, and are there blind spots in my life in regards to the things listed above?  If we look back a few verses, Paul does question if they know Christ, not if they are members of that Church, not if they know about Christ, but have they entered into a relationship with Christ.  In verses 22-24, we are told; “to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.”

It was true for the churches in Ephesus and it is just as true for the church you attend, many who are in Christ have never dealt with their version of the flesh; often the old man, and the flesh or given the same mean, but that is error.   The New International Bible calls the flesh our sinful nature, but that is a very wrong interpretation.  That would mean you have a new nature and a sinful nature living inside of you, that would be a civil war; a war that you could never hope to win, and that does not agree with the teaching of Scripture. 

Now the flesh, at best, is still flesh and this is what the Scriptures have to say about it, in Romans 8:5-8, the flesh cannot please God.  We find in 1Peter 2:11, that the flesh wars against the Spirit of our soul and the flesh has no ability to fight spiritual battles in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5.  Until we give up on the flesh, we will never live in victory!  The flesh is not trainable, Romans 13:14, “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.”  It is true to state that the flesh and the Spirit are not going to live in harmony; one is going to be in control of your life.  It is your choice, and God tells us to make the flesh your slave, Paul uses the analogy of training for the race of your life in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27.  In Romans 6:12-13, we are instructed to live in victory and not to obey the passions of the flesh, but to present ourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life.  The untrained mind will always follow the emotions or flesh, so we must renew our mind in God’s Word and follow His Spirit’s leading.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice