Daily Passage on Works: Philippians 3:8-20

Posted on 11/16/2013 by Paul Pavao

Day 31:

Philippians 3:8-20: I count everything a loss for the superior purpose of the knowledge of King Jesus my Lord. For him I have suffered the loss of everything, and I count all of it refuse so that I may gain Christ and be found in him not having my own righteousness, which is from the Law, but that which is through faith in the King, the righteousness which is from God by faith.

I want to know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, so that I may shaped into the form of his death, if at the end I may attain to the resurrection of the dead. It is not as though I have already attained, or were already perfected, but I race after him so that I may grab that for which I have been grabbed by King Jesus.

Brothers, I do not consider myself to have gotten my hands on it, but I do this one thing: I forget the things which are behind me, and I stretch for the things in front of me. I race toward the finish line for the prize of the upward call of God in King Jesus.

Let us, therefore, as many of us as are perfect, think like this. If anyone has any other way of thinking, God shall reveal even this to you. Beside this, to wherever we have already arrived, let us walk by the same measure, let us think the same thing.

Brothers, be followers, together, of me, and pay attention to those who walk like you have us for an example. For there are many who walk, as I have told you often and even now tell you with weeping, who are the enemies of the cross of the King. Their end is destruction; their god is their belly, their glory is in their shame, and they pay attention to earthly things. Our citizenship, however, is in heaven, and from there we also look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus the King.

The Purpose of This Exercise

This is passage 31 of what I hope will be 180 passages (six months worth). The point is to establish that we can exhort each other to good works without apology because Jesus and his apostles certainly don’t apologize for their exhortations or their warnings concerning good works.

This is a faithful saying, and I want you to affirm constantly that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men. (Tit. 3:8)

Related articles
Posted in Daily Works Verses | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Daily Passage on Works: Luke 9:23 & Luke 14:26-33

Posted on 11/15/2013 by Paul Pavao

I’m going to add a disclaimer today. I also am going to do two passages because I missed yesterday.

Day 29:

Luke 9:23-24: [Jesus] said to them all, “If anyone wants to come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whoever wants to save his soul will lose it, but whoever will lose his soul for my sake, he will save it.”

Luke 14:26-33: “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, and, yes, his own soul also, he cannot be my disciple. Whichever of you does not carry his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.

“Which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and determine the cost so he knows whether he has enough to finish it? You don’t want to find out after you’ve laid the foundation that you don’t have enough to finish it. People will mock you, and say, ‘This man began to build, and he wasn’t able to finish.’

“Or what king goes out to make war with another king without sitting down and consulting about whether he is able, with ten thousand men, to face someone coming against him with twenty thousand? If he can’t, he will send an embassy and request conditions of peace while his enemy is still a long way off.

“So, in the same way, any of you that does not forsake everything he has cannot be my disciple.”

Disclaimer

It’s okay to put things in context. We are supposed to show kindness and patience to everyone. That includes our mother, father, spouse, children, brothers, and sisters. Actually displaying hatred to our relatives would violate other commands of Christ (such as “love your neighbor as yourself”).

This verse means something, however. Jesus used the word “hate” on purpose. He wants us to not have the slightest temptation to choose the will of our earthly family over that of our heavenly Father. You can have no loyalty to your family that is anything more than the kindness God wants you to show to people upon this earth. Forsake his family for yours, and you will find God an opponent.

This does not mean that we should not be responsible for our own widowed mother or father. This does not mean that we should not work hard to support our family so that the church does not have to.

It does mean that you who have loyalty to family traditions had better get over them now.

Consider, O daughter. Listen, and incline your ear. Forget your own people, and your father’s house, for so the King will greatly desire your beauty. Worship him, for he is your Lord. (Ps. 45:10-11)

Disclaimer 2

Jesus is looking for the willing, who will face whatever he puts in front of them. That is why he mentions carrying your cross. The cross was an instrument of torture and execution. It was a cruel death.

This is the call of the King. Will you follow him to death? Will you follow him through sufferings?

If you won’t, don’t get started. You’ll just embarrass yourself.

That said, my disclaimer is that neither you nor I can do anything without Jesus (Jn. 15:5). You are coming to the Lord of all the universe not just for a lesson, but for a transformation. There is no lack to what the believing can do.

This work is a process. The call of Jesus is not to prove your perfection and fitness. The call of Jesus is to acknowledge that he is worth everything. You have to start there and consider the cost of following. It is through many tribulations that we enter the kingdom of God (Acts 14:22). The work along the way, however, is his, full of grace (the power you need to follow), and mercy (God’s forgiveness when we fail).

Posted in Daily Works Verses | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Verses Evangelicals Ignore or Explain Away: 1 Timothy 3:15

Posted on 11/15/2013 by Paul Pavao

I am going to try to prove that there are at least 100 verses that a large percentage of evangelicals ignore or explain away. I’m not going to do this daily like I am doing the “good works” passages daily. Instead, I’ll just fit these into the blog on days I don’t have something else.

I’m going to start with an easy one.

Verse 1: 1 Timothy 3:15

These things I write to you … that you may know how you ought to behave yourself in the household of God, which is the church of God, the pillar and support of the truth.

Applies to whom?

All evangelicals

Category

Ignored.

This is a Roman Catholic verse. Evangelicals don’t pay attention to it.

Fair Warning

One of the “applies to whom” categories will be “eternal security believers.” That will make my task much easier because it will provide at least half of the hundred verses I’m shooting for. You have to close your eyes a lot, have a very creative imagination, and be impervious to embarrassing yourself with outrageous excuses.

Related articles
Posted in Verses Evangelicals Ignore | Tagged , | 6 Comments

John 5:24-29 – Jesus, Faith, Works, and the Judgment

Posted on 11/14/2013 by Paul Pavao

John 5:24 is used as a standalone verse in evangelism programs. It reads:

Most certainly I tell you, he who hears my word, and believes in him who sent me, has eternal life, and doesn’t come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.

It’s a great verse for the “once saved, always saved” doctrine that pervades the common evangelical habit of preaching the atonement as though it were the Gospel (see my book, The Apostles’ Gospel; it costs next to nothing on Kindle). However, this is hardly the only thing this passage says.

The next few verses are much more comprehensive than most of us realize. I had to have someone explain them to me, but once they did, the meaning was obvious, though profound.

The Voice of the Son of God … Now

Most certainly, the hour comes, and now is, when the dead will hear the Son of God’s voice; and those who hear will live. (John 5:25)

Because Jesus uses the word “dead,” it’s easy to assume that he’s talking about people in their graves. He’s not. He will talk about people in their graves in verse 28.

In verse 25, he is talking about now, and he is talking about us, the walking dead. Ephesians 2:1-3 tells us that we were all dead in our trespasses before coming to Christ, servants to the spirit that now works in the sons of disobedience. The time is coming, AND NOW IS, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.

I’ve written on the saving power of Jesus’ voice, of the Word of God, numerous times, and I have never felt that I’ve done a good job. I hope, however, the link I just gave you will be clear enough to help you get a revelation that is immensely freeing.

The Gospel is not teaching people the atonement. The Gospel is the proclamation of the good news of King Jesus. We proclaim him to the dead until they can hear his voice and come to life.

The Voice of the Son of God … Then

Don’t Marvel at this, for the hour comes, in which all that are in the tombs will hear his voice, and will come out; those who have done good, to the resurrection of life; and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment. (John 5:28-29)

Notice that here Jesus does not say, “… the hour comes, and now is …” Here he just leaves it as “the hour comes.”

The ones who hear this time are not just “the dead,” but those who are “in the tombs.” They will come forth either to the resurrection of life or to judgment.

The Voice of the Son of God … Now or Then

We will all hear the voice of the Son of God, if not now, then when we are in our graves. In both cases it gives life. One restores physical life for the judgment. The other restores spiritual life so that we can avoid condemnation.

I’m not a Greek scholar. I know a little Greek, and if I make an assertion concerning Greek, as I do now and then, I have researched real Greek scholars to make sure I’m telling you the truth. I never depend on my own knowledge of Greek, but it is minimal.

However, any of us can read Scripture and compare. Some Bible translations translate κρισισ as “judgment” and some as “condemnation.” Some, like the KJV, occasionally translate it either way. How do we choose what is meant?

We have to interpret the Scripture so it does not contradict itself. Jesus talks about judgment all over the Gospels (e.g., Matt. 12:36; 25:31-46; Mark 12:42; Luke 10:14; Jn. 5:22; 9:39). Paul says we shall all appear before the judgement seat of Christ (2 Cor. 5:10). Peter tells Christians that because we’ll be judged by our works, we should fear (1 Pet. 1:17).

Condemnation, however, we can avoid. “Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to preserve you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceptional joy, to the only wise God, our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever” (Jude 24-25).

There is no way to avoid the judgment. We must all appear before the judgment seat of the King, there to receive the works done in the body, whether good or bad (2 Cor. 5:10). However, we can avoid condemnation.

The way to do that is to hear his voice now. You may be dead in your trespasses and sins, but when you hear the voice of the Son of God, in this time that now is, you will live. You will rise from spiritual death into spiritual life; old things will pass away; all things will become new; you will become his workmanship, created in King Jesus to do good works, just the ones that God has prepared in advance for you to do.

No wonder the writer of Hebrews spoke of a new covenant “based on better promises” (Heb. 8:6), or that Peter referred to “great and precious promises” through which we escape the corruptions of this world (2 Pet. 1:3-4).

If we fail to hear his voice now, or even if we claim that there is no such voice now, we shall hear it eventually, after we are in our graves. It is terrible to be dead spiritually now, but it is worse to remain that way until you are dead physically.

Today, if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. (Heb. 3:7-8)

Related articles
Posted in Bible | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Daily Passage on Works: John 5:28-29

Posted on 11/13/2013 by Paul Pavao

Day 28:

John 5:28-29: Don’t marvel at this, for the hour comes, in which all that are in the tombs will hear his voice, and will come out; those who have done good, to the resurrection of life; and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment.

Purpose of this Exercise

“Works,” as a word, has become almost a cuss word in many Evangelical circles. Affirming constantly that we are to be careful to maintain good works, as Titus is told to do (3:8), is frowned upon. Doing so requires constant reminders that we are not saved by works.

This is not what we find in Scripture. The apostles don’t apologize for exhorting us to good works. They don’t apologize for warning us, and they certainly don’t stop to remind us that we are saved apart from works.

We are at 28 passages so far. I’m shooting for 180, six months worth.

Somehow, it seems to me, that 180 calls to good works, without apology and without reminders of our salvation by faith alone, should be sufficient to motivate us to follow those examples.

Posted in Daily Works Verses | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Jesus Paid It All?

Posted on 11/13/2013 by Paul Pavao

I’m back on the “Jesus Paid It All” bandwagon again.

I saw a blog I won’t reference because I really liked it. I’ll link to it some other time when I’m not using it to point out an error that infects evangelicalism.

The blogger has some good things to say, but one of them reminds her that “Jesus has paid the price for all of us.”

I wish I could believe that she means what Peter means when he speaks of Jesus purchasing us with his precious blood. Peter meant that we were purchased by him, and therefore we owe him our life and obedience:

Therefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of the King Jesus. As obedient children, do not conform yourself to your previous lusts which you had when you were ignorant, but as he who has called you is holy, so be holy in all your behavior. … Because you know that you were not redeemed with perishable things, like silver or gold, from your empty way of life received by tradition from your fathers, but by the precious blood of the King, as of a lamb without spot and without blemish. (1 Pet. 1:13-15,18-19)

She doesn’t however. She means, I’m certain, that Jesus paid the penalty for our sins so that we can have a ticket to heaven apart from works.

Problems with Jesus Paid the Penalty

1. The Terminology Is Unscriptural

Scripture never uses Jesus paid the penalty. In fact it never uses “Jesus paid.” It does say that we were bought with a price. That price, our purchase price, Jesus did pay, so that “we should no longer live for ourselves but for him who died for us and rose again” (2 Cor. 5:14).

2. There Is No Penalty To Be Paid

The only thing God asks in order to forgive sin is repentance. This is all over the Scriptures, both under the old covenant and under the new. When David sinned, he said God didn’t want sacrifice and offering. He wanted a broken heart and a contrite spirit. He promised forgiveness for that kind of repentance not just to David, but to any wicked person who would repent (Ezek 18:21-23; 33:14-16).

3. The Doctrine that God “Must” Punish Sin Is Blasphemous

I suspect that well-meaning Christians will avoid the charge of blasphemy because they don’t think through what they are saying.

God must punish sin?

It’s in almost every tract I’ve sin. God is merciful and he “wants” to forgive sin, but he is also just and he “must” punish sin.

What kind of crazy teaching is this, that the God of all the universe must do something he doesn’t want to do? What greater God is forcing him to do this? Is it a cosmic rule of the universe, greater than God himself, that has God in an arm bar and is forcing him to submit.

The idea is unscriptural, ludicrous, and blasphemous because it puts something above the will of God.

4. The Problem Is Not God

God has always had a way out for us. It has always been true that if we would simply repent and walk in his ways, then all our wickedness would be forgotten (Ezek. 18:22).

The problem is us. According to Romans 7, because of the sin in our flesh, the lusts of our body, there is no law that we can obey.

So what solution does Paul describe? Does he describe the penalty of our sins being forgiven because of Jesus’ death?

No, Paul says that Jesus’ death cured the sin problem so that we can repent, have our sins forgiven and forgotten, and go on to live in righteousness.

The end of Romans 7 is Romans 8:

There is now therefore no condemnation to those who are in King Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit, for the law of the Spirit of Life in King Jesus has set us free from the law of sin and death [i.e., from Romans 7]. What the Law could not do [described in Romans 7], God did. By sending his Son in the likeness of our sinful flesh, as sin offering, he destroyed sin in the flesh so that the righteous requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. (vv. 1-4)

Note here that it does not say that if we walk according to the Spirit we can set our mind on the Law and fulfill the Law. No the righteous requirement of the Law—not the Law itself, which was made for fleshly Israel, and awaited the expansion and fullness brought by Jesus’ new Law (Heb. 7:12)—will be fulfilled in us if we keep our eyes on the Spirit and on King Jesus, who sits at the right hand of the Father.

Paul later gives another reason, exactly similar to this one in Romans 8, why Jesus died:

For to this end the King died, rose, and lived again: that he might be Lord of both the living and the dead. (Rom. 14:9)

The Breadth of the Atonement

I cannot possibly sum up the meaning of the atonement in a one-thousand-word blog post. In fact, neither I nor any human can sum up the meaning of the atonement, period. Gene Edwards, by wisely using pictures and parables rather than mere explanation and teaching as I do here, may do the best job of all of helping us understand the cross … and to understand that the cross is way over our head. We should cherish it, embrace it, let it crucify us, and learn its depths in our spirit.

There is much more to the atonement than I describe in this post, though the “more” does not include God being forced to punish sin nor Jesus “paying the penalty.”

I can, though—I hope—save us from the crazy idea that God had to kill someone, just anyone, because we sinned and he “must” punish sin.

I can, I hope, save us from the idea that the penalty of all our sins are paid for so that if we just believe, no matter what we do, we’ll go to heaven. It’s not true. Just read on, all the way from Romans 8:1-4, which we quoted above, out to Romans 8:13. Read Galatians 5:19-21 and its corollaries, 1 Cor. 6:9-10 and Eph. 5:5. If we practice such things, we will find they are not paid for at all, no matter what we believe.

If I can get you to see those Scriptures, for they seem to be hidden from our sight and thought, then I can save you from having all your fear of God stolen by a doctrine that is at the heart of the problems I described yesterday.

For I did not speak to your fathers, in the day that I brought them out of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices. This is what I commanded them, “Listen to my voice and obey all that I command you that it may go well with you.” (Jeremiah 7:21-22)

If you address as Father the one who impartially judges according to each one’s deeds, then conduct yourself throughout the time of your traveling here in fear. (1 Peter 1:17)

By mercy and truth iniquity is purged, and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil. (Proverbs 16:6)

Related articles

The following articles are examples of the modern idea of Jesus paying the penalty for our sins. I think we all have to look at whether or not the idea is scriptural. Does this idea fit all of Scripture, or does it leave you with many contradictory verses? If so, you need a better idea, no matter how sweet it seems.

Posted in Modern Doctrines | Tagged , , , , , , , | 13 Comments

Daily Passage on Works: Matthew 7:24-27

Posted on 11/12/2013 by Paul Pavao

The following passage ends the Sermon on the Mount, and “these words of mine” refers to the words of Matthew 5-7.

Day 27:

Matthew 7:24-27: Everyone therefore who hears these words of mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man, who built his house on a rock. The rain came down, the  floods came, and the winds blew, and beat on that house; and it didn’t fall, for it was founded on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of mine, and doesn’t do them will be like a foolish man, who built his house on the sand. The rain came down, the floods came, and the wind blew, and beat on that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.

The Purpose of This Exercise

“Works,” as a word, has become almost a cuss word in many Evangelical circles. Affirming constantly that we are to be careful to maintain good works, as Titus is told to do (3:8), is frowned upon. Doing so requires constant reminders that we are not saved by works.

This is not what we find in Scripture. The apostles don’t apologize for exhorting us to good works. They don’t apologize for warning us, and they certainly don’t stop to remind us that we are saved apart from works.

We are at 27 passages so far. I’m shooting for 180, six months worth.

Somehow, it seems to me, that 180 exhortations to good works, without apology and without reminders of our salvation by faith alone, should be sufficient to motivate us to follow those examples.

Posted in Daily Works Verses | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

To Speak or Not to Speak

Posted on 11/12/2013 by Paul Pavao

Do you ever get in a situation where you are wondering whether to confront a false teaching or just to let it go for the sake of peace? I find myself in that situation a lot. Evangelical theology is terrible. Even what’s good is tradition-based and not Scripture-based. Evangelicals claim the Bible as their “sole rule of faith and practice,” but the reality is that they ignore or explain away dozens of verses, maybe hundreds.

Hmm. Maybe that should be my next experiment, after or along with the daily passage on good works I’m doing.

On the other hand, if you want to find people who are devoted to following Jesus, people who actually obey him, many even in radical ways, among the Evangelicals is the most fruitful place to look. (The rest of you can get as angry as you want. I’d prefer you would get jealous, rather than angry, but either way it’s just true.)

Evangelicals have no place to get haughty. There’s a very convicting book devoted to the failure of the Evangelical Gospel. It’s called The Scandal of the Evangelical Conscience. You can get it just about anywhere; I’m certain it’s on Amazon. The statistics given by Ronald Sider in that book are backed up on a regular basis by The Barna Group. George Barna is a famous Christian pollster, and I’m sure he’d like to be just a pollster, reporting the wonderful success of Evangelical teachings, rather than the controversial figure he has become for reporting the frightening truth about divorce, abortion, ignorance, and unbelief among “Christians” in America.

Charles E Hackett, the national director of the Division of Home Missions of the Assemblies of God, once said:

A soul at the altar does not generate much excitement in some circles because we realize approximately ninety-five out of every hundred will not become integrated into the church. In fact, most of them will not return for a second visit. (Kirk Cameron & Ray Comfort; The Way of the Master [Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2004] p. 61)

As Ray Comfort points out is his book, Hell’s Best Kept Secret, it doesn’t do us much good to cite the 5% who are really converted when we are creating 19 backsliders for every convert we produce. Can we really compare those kind of results to Paul’s?

For I am confident that he who has begun a good work in you will continue it until the day of King Jesus (Php. 1:6)

It is true that there were problems even in Paul’s churches, but what church today could tell its whole congregation that it is confident that God will continue the good work he has begun until the day of Christ Jesus? The fact is, George Barna tells us that 60% of all professing Christians admit that they are either backsliding or stagnant in their Christian faith. They are not growing towards being presented blameless and holy in the Lord’s sight on the last day.

I have spent the last 18 years in a congregation where we could be confident that God was continuing the work in every person. We could promise people that if they would stay, the grace of God would work on them and conform them to the image of Jesus Christ.

That congregation still exists and consists of around 150 people because we’ve got around 50 in various states and countries teaching people not only the power of God that comes through the proclamation of the name of the King, Jesus the Lord, but also teaching them the power of the church, its unity, and God’s love for it.

I know there’s something better.

It’s hard to avoid taking every opportunity possible to say something to shut down the machinery of tradition that grinds up 95% of those who make a profession of faith and leaves 60% of the survivors struggling just to keep their head above water.

It’s just as hard to say something that angers the 2% of the professing ones that are left, who think they are growing and in most cases are, and who are reaching out to those that struggle. They think their way worked for them, so it should work as well for all these others. Sometimes it does.

But it’s just not what the apostles gave to the church.

So I just keep walking the line.Why did I say all this? Because tomorrow’s post is a discussion of a statement I found on a zealous young lady’s blog, citing a tradition almost all us Evangelicals take for granted. Thought through, the tradition is horrific—in my opinion, if we understood what we were saying, blasphemous. For many of those struggling, whom I mention above, it breaks their will, steals their fear of God, and cripples them in the battle against the devil, who by means of his demons, seeks to devour both us and them.

Related articles
Posted in Evangelicals, Modern Doctrines | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Daily Passage on Works: Hebrews 10:26-31

Posted on 11/11/2013 by Paul Pavao

Today’s passage is from the NASB because it is the translation that is the most careful with Greek verb tenses. In a passage like this, that is important. Greek verb tenses can indicate continuous action or just a snapshot. In Hebrews 10:26, the writer uses a verb tense that means ongoing activity. It is not one willful sin that is terrifying (though may God grant us to tremble at even one), but ongoing sin. The NASB communicates this accurately.

Day 26:

Hebrews 10:26-31: For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

Purpose of this Exercise

“Works,” as a word, has become almost a cuss word in many Evangelical circles. Affirming constantly that we are to be careful to maintain good works, as Titus is told to do (3:8), is frowned upon. Doing so requires constant reminders that we are not saved by works.

This is not what we find in Scripture. The apostles don’t apologize for exhorting us to good works. They don’t apologize for warning us, and they certainly don’t stop to remind us that we are saved apart from works.

We are at 26 passages so far. I’m shooting for 180, six months worth.

Somehow, it seems to me, that 180 calls to good works, without apology and without reminders of our salvation by faith alone, should be sufficient to motivate us to follow those examples.

Posted in Daily Works Verses | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Not Secretly and Not Deep Down

Posted on 11/11/2013 by Paul Pavao

Long ago a deacon at a church I attended told me he’d like to get together with my wife and I. He couldn’t tell me what it was about, but he assured me it was spiritual.

It sure was. It was Amway, and he tried every tactic he could think of to tempt me to long for the riches of this world.

“Deep down, ” he said, “you know you want a BMW. Admit it!”

This is a bad example because for some reason I was born without the longing for a BMW, or a Ferrari, or whatever hot car that most people long for. I’ve had my own struggles, and most of the typical fleshly lusts, and I have not spent my life as an icon of self-control. Cars, however, would be a pretty stupid thing to tempt me with. As long as I had a reliable car to drive, I’d trade a Camaro (my favorite sports car) for a box of Chips Ahoy™ cookies, especially if you threw in a half gallon of milk. A Camaro and a box of cookies have equal value to me.

The point, however, is not a specific desire, but our desires.

My fleshly desires are not “deep down,” and they are not secret. My friend said, “Deep down, you know you want it.” Others say, “Secretly, you desire it. Admit it!”

It’s not secret! It’s not deep down! I don’t have to admit it—we don’t have to admit it—because we’ve never been hiding it.

We are overcoming the desires of the flesh, not hiding from them. We are crucifying the passions of our body, not pretending they don’t exist.

I’m a human being. Sometimes I want revenge. Sometimes I want attention (which is not always bad). Sometimes I want fame (which, as a desire, is always bad). Sometimes I want money. Sometimes I just want to relax and taxe some time for me (also not always bad, just usually).

Either way, it’s not a secret. No one makes me more tempted by reminding me that I travel this world in a body that must be disciplined and brought under control so that I do not perish like my deacon friend certainly will if someone has not gotten him to obey the Gospel of King Jesus.

It’s also not “deep down.” It’s right on the surface. It’s a battle I fight every day, gladly, because I am not just human. I am a partaker of the divine nature, and I strongly oppose the evil demons (1 Pet. 5:8-9) and the lusts of my body (Rom. 8:12-13) because I know that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory which shall be revealed in us (Rom. 8:18).

Related articles
Posted in Holiness | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments