[Edited]
We are into week two of our series – How to Overcome Sin in Our Lives. We are looking at how to get rid of our sinful behaviors and habits which enslave us and destroy us.
Last week we heard the call to stop sinning; to put away those sins that we know about and yet choose to do anyway. And if this is indeed our goal, then we need to understand ‘How Sin Works’ – which is our focus today.
First of all we look at the biblical concept of –
The flesh
This refers to our human weakness and frailty apart from God. As Jesus said, “the flesh is weak” – Mark 14:38. This weakness is connected to our human desires, longings and fears. For instance, Paul speaks of “the passions of our flesh . . . the desires of flesh and senses” in Ephesians 2:3.
Specifically, the flesh is weak in regard to doing God’s will. That’s because the desires of our flesh lead us into conflict with God’s will for us. God requires things like love and sacrifice for others. But our flesh is all about self-interest and comfort. It wants the easy way out. It wants to feel secure. It is self-centered.
Paul says it this way, “For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other . . .” – Galatians 5:17.
Now, to clarify, God gives us basic desires, for instance the desire to meet our needs for food, clothing and shelter; or the desire to be in relationships with others. There is nothing wrong with these. It’s what we do with them as we put them into practice apart from God that’s the problem. Our self-centeredness twists and distorts these desires.
Here’s a couple of examples of this:
- God created us with a desire to meet our basic needs, but we turn this into greed – a craving for more and more beyond what we need.
- God created us with sexual desire, but we seek to fulfill it in our own way, not God’s way, and so it leads us to sexual immorality.
So the flesh is not some alien thing, or some “other” nature in us, it is simply our humanity in all of its weakness as we try to live our lives apart from God. And this is where sin comes from. It comes from us; as we follow our distorted desires, longings and fears – instead of following God’s path. To use the language of James 1:14-15 – “Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin . . ..”
And then there is our –
Human pride
– which makes everything worse.
God designed us to seek after peace and to find fulfillment. This is the way we are made. But it has always been God’s plan that we find our peace through him and his will for our lives. And, indeed, this is the only way we will find real peace. God is our maker, after all, and God knows what is best for us and what will bring us fulfillment.
But, we -and this is our pride – we think we know more than God. So instead of doing what God wants us to do, we seek after peace through the flesh. We do things in our own way, not God’s way. We act according to our wisdom, not God’s. We pursue peace through our own self-centered pursuit of what makes us comfortable; what soothes our fears; what we think will solve our problems.
And it might seem to work for a while. Hebrews 11:25 talks about the “fleeting pleasures of sin.” But it doesn’t usually take long before the other shoe drops. That’s because, although we may freely choose our sin, our sin comes to take over our lives. As Jesus said, “Everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin” – John 8:34.
And we come to realize that what once seemed good and the answer to our problems, we now hate because it’s ruining our lives. Proverbs says, “There is a way that seems right to a person, but its end is the way of death” – Proverbs 14:12.
Now, for sure, most who are caught in this slavery don’t see themselves as weak or in bondage, but as strong and free, choosing their own way in life. When we walk in the flesh we think, ‘we don’t need God!’ As Paul says in Romans 8:7, “the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God.” And it is this very pride that keeps us in our slavery.
This is the tragic irony of sin. Jeremiah 2:13 says it well. Speaking of us, the Lord says, “They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.” God is “the fountain of living waters,” pure, bubbling, refreshing; providing all we need to quench our thirst and give us life. But in our pride we choose to go our own way and we forsake God. We follow after the flesh digging our own water holes, thinking this is the way to happiness. But our water holes don’t hold water! And so we are left with nothing – thirsty, despairing, dying.
The very thing that would give us life and peace, we will have nothing to do with. This is our pitiful state, when we walk according to the flesh.
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So this is what we are up against. But there is good news. Although the flesh is weak – Jesus has overcome it through the power that the Spirit gives to do God’s will even when it is very difficult. And we will look at how to follow his example in the teaching to come.
William Higgins
Christian teaching 