April 8, 2013

• The myth of Sinless Perfection, Pt 3: Freedom & War

  Legend: This is to help those who want to understand my color coding of Scripture, it is a separate Key apart from what I post below merely to help give understanding of why I highlight things the way I do, namely so as to bring out greater clarity from the Word of God.  Here’s the Key:

  • Any shade of BLUE = Judgment of God on or over sin.
    
  • Any shade of GREEN = grace, forgiveness, salvation, redemption.
  • Any shade of RED =  sin, lawlessness, transgression, evil
  • Any shade of ORANGE = the Character or Nature of God — Who God is.
  • Any shade of PURPLE = commands to obey, passages that speak with authority on how a Christian should live.
  • White on Black is merely there for emphasis.  Kind of zeroing in on the key part of a passage.

  Please likewise note, this only applies to Scripture passages.  What I write of my own is merely off-colored to give greater emphasis to certain thoughts.  Sometimes this highlighting does follow my themes…. just as often it doesn’t.

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  Putting Facebook away and actually maintaining the separation has given me a new freedom that is refreshing.  Whereas I used to spend about 40 minutes in the morning, 90 minutes throughout the day and then another 3 hours or so at night viewing and reviewing things on friends and “Liked” pages — now I find I have plenty more time to delve into things I’ve wanted to but didn’t for lack of time.   It’s nice.

  But this post isn’t about the freedom of Time.   It’s about the freedom of Christ.  Our freedom in Christ.  Freedom to do away with worry, fear, doubt and a sheer number of other things that come upon us like plagues of locusts.   It’s about a freedom that the world can’t honestly know — because it only comes upon those whom the Spirit of God rests.

  Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.  (Philippians 4:7)

  Peace – Freedom – Rest.   The ability to cease striving and simply walk in the Lord’s presence trusting that He will lead you wherever is right  <—This leads to this—> not worrying about where, or when you’ll get there, or even how.  Freedom to lay yourself into the care of God and not fear what happens next — because you know / understand / comprehend that God works all things to the good for those who love him and are called according to His purpose.  (Romans 8:28)

  Freedom is also something precious beyond words.   I’m talking about something more than what I just defined in the paragraph above.  I’m talking about the precious knowledge that our Sins have been covered by the blood of the Lamb.  I’m talking about freedom from both the sting of sin (Death) and the power of sin (The Law) —- while the flesh awaits and groans for it’s eventual redemption to complete the freedom from sin in total.

  And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering.  (Romans 8:23)
  

  It’s humorous, but the very Xanga member who claims that we can live without sin ….. who claims we can live sin-free lives, that it’s actually EXPECTED of us by God …… pointed me to Romans 8 last week — wherein I actually found the direct opposite of his statements to be true.   Instead of proving that believers are empowered to live SIN-FREE lives — I found that we groan in anticipation of being set free from our bodies that ARE STILL PRONE TO SIN.   This led me even further backwards in this book to Chapter 7 which portrays the struggle that the believer faces which is summed up best in these verses:
  

   I love God’s law with all my heart.  But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me.  (Romans 7:22-23)
  

  This isn’t the end of it, but it’s a good stopping place for the moment as we pause to think through what Paul is writing —- There are now two powers at war in the Christian wherein there used to only be one: Sin.

  There used to only be one thing ruling us.   Sin.

  There used to be only one thing we lived for.  Sin.

  There used to only be one thing that we were slaves to.  Sin.

  But now we find another power within us, a power that comes from God and helps us in our weaknesses.  Carry forward in Romans 7 to find this in the very next verse

  Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?  (Romans 7:24)

  Paul is not speaking hypothetically or theoretically, but rather he’s being realistic here — the non-christian does not know that he offends God.  Does not care.  Does not even think about it.  To the Non-Christian, sin is the preferred choice even though they’d never call it sin.  It’s just an alternate lifestyle (Re: homosexuality), just a personal expression of my feelings (re: anger), just me being in control of my body (re: abortion) or any other number of excuses for not calling sin “S-I-N“.  The Non-christian would best be summed up as seen in Ephesians 4:19

  …..you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.  They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.  Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.  (Ephesians 4:17-19)

  Let me bullet point this for you as I have in posts in the past (RE: Here and here…) — cause this really makes a powerful point.
  

  • Our Understanding is darkened
  • we are separated from the life of God
  • we are ignorant
  • we have hardened our hearts
  • we have lost ALL sensitivity to sinful things
  • we have given ourselves over to sensuality
  • we indulge in every manner of impurity (RE: all things UN-holy)
  • and lastly, we continually lust for more.

  All this is the state / status of EVERY PERSON who is apart from Christ.   This is the biblical picture that Paul likewise paints for us in Romans 3:10-18 which says “No one seeks after God, no not one.”   Apart from the Spirit of God awakening our own spirits, we only have one thing controlling us —- Sin.  

  This is the Irony of Jesus statement regarding serving two masters…. no man can, they will always serve sin over God, money over God, idols over God.   Men do not naturally choose God, they naturally tend towards evil.

  But there is something new in the Christian — there is now a new nature at war with our old nature WHICH STILL EXISTS!  This brings us right back to our original thought here and carries us forward in Romans 7 to the very next (and last) verse which is the main point.

  Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.  (Romans 7:25)

  IN MY MIND — I serve God…. but I still find IN MY FLESH the sinful nature still exists and still fights against what I want to do.  This is the whole point of Romans 7:15-20 where Paul asks “Why do I do what I don’t want to do, when I know the good I should do, but find that I still keep doing the evil I don’t want to.” (Paraphrased)   This is why Paul says of himself “wretched man that I am…” (Romans 7:24) because he knows now the struggle to do what is right.

  • But here’s the freedom.  Here’s the joy.  Here’s the promise of Hope in all of this.

  I am a new creation in Christ — but I still do have my old nature (the flesh) kicking around and trying to drag me down.  I have two powers at war in me, whereas there used to be only one.   Romans 7 ends by telling us the answer is in Christ…. and Romans 8 starts up with that very point.

  Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.  (Romans 8:1-2)
  

   

  We have freedom…. not freedom FROM sin, but freedom from the power and sting of sin.  Freedom from condemnation that comes because of Sin.  Why?  1 John 2:1 gives us part of the picture here.

  My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.  He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.

  Because Jesus has claimed us as His own and covers all that we do.  This isn’t a license for us to sin — it’s a relief from the constant guilt that comes because we DO sin, we are prone to fail, we do fall, we daily give into temptation at some point.    It’s a freedom that tells us we are never forsaken (Hebrews 13:5), never alone (Matthew 28:20), never cut loose from the bonds that tie us to God (Romans 8:38).  There is nothing that can separate us from God — including sin. (Romans 8:35-39)  Because our sin, which used to be the very thing that stood between us and God, now stands covered by the atonement of Christ’s death.

  Let me give you one more set of verses which paint this whole picture clearly.  I could have started here — but I wanted to paint this picture before showing you what you’ve probably already seen in the past and never considered. 

  So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won’t be doing what your sinful nature craves.  The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. (Galatians 5:16-17 — Right before the comparison charts on the fruits of the Spirit and the fruits of the flesh….. now you see why this flows to that natural conclusion)
  

  We are at war.  Not only with the demonic system around us which seeks to eradicate all traces of God from our lives (or — replace it with false gods of their own creating…) but we are likewise at war within our own selves for we now have 2 natures — New and old, Spiritual and Carnal, Spirit and Flesh — combating for the right to control what we do: Obey God or sin.

  • This is something the Non-Christian knows — and indeed will never know —- nothing about.  Because they do NOT have a choice to follow God.  All they can do, will do, shall do and are condemned to do is …. sin.

  It is this battle which we daily fight — and sometimes lose — that those who claim sinless perfection would ignore.   In their pride or arrogance they would claim freedom from such a battle.  They’ve no sin — what’s there to fight against?  They’ve overcome in this life — what reason would there be for battle?   They’ve risen above the rest of us sinners — all that they do (they conclude) is perfect and pleasing to God.  Thus they have no war to fight.

  But the rest of us — we have two natures, not simply one.  And these two natures do war, they do fight, and we are sometimes the victim and sometimes the victor.  We repent when we fail, we rejoice when we prevail.  

  Here’s the conclusion to this post and the why of our freedom being so precious.  Here’s the honest and real beauty in all of this.

  God forgives.

  He forgives all my sins
      and heals all my diseases.  (Psalm 103:3)

  The Lord is compassionate and merciful,
      slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.
  He will not constantly accuse us,
      nor remain angry forever.
  He does not punish us for all our sins;
      he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve.
  For his unfailing love toward those who fear him
      is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth. (Psalm 103:7-11)

  The Sinless Perfectionist would have us to think that this forgiveness is a one time event.  They have sadly forgotten the words of Jesus to Peter.

  Then Peter came to him and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?”

  “No, not seven times,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven!  (Matthew 18:21-22)
  

  This manner of forgiveness is a reflection of God’s forgiveness — not seven times will he forgive you, but seventy TIMES seven.

  Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed,
  Because His compassions fail not.
  They are new every morning;
  Great is Your faithfulness.  (Lamentations 3:22-23)
  

  God forgives.   He DAILY forgives — just as Jesus told us to DAILY pray for the forgiveness of our sins.

  and it is this beautiful mercy, this wonderful grace that the sinless perfectionist misses — because he sees in himself no sin!!!  

  Freedom — beautiful freedom.   Because we know that God will forgive us when we come to him.   He’s promised that (1 John 1:9) — but nowhere in all of Scripture has God ever given us a promise of sin-free living in this life.  Nowhere.  In ALL of Scripture.   Through Christ we find our hearts attended to and covered in blessed peace.   Through Christ we find our sins forgiven.  Through Christ we find ourselves in possession of mercy undeserved.  Not because of things we’ve done, not because we’ve earned it, not because we’ve any right to claim it by our own power —– only because of the gracious compassion of God.

  And being freed from the constant trying to seek God’s approval is true freedom indeed.

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  Father, thank you for your gracious mercy, so undeserved.   I know myself to be a sinner.  I know that I constantly and daily fail you in word, in thought and in deed.   I know that in me nothing good dwells.  And I eagerly and anxiously do await the day when my body of sin falls away and I can stand before you as perfect as YOU SEE ME.    Lord — thank you.   Thank you for remembering that I am but dust and prone to being weak (Psalm 103:14) and for providing a way for me to come to you (Hebrews 4:15-16)  and seek forgiveness for having failed you anew.

  Lord, Thank you.  Because your grace is more precious in all of this than if it were that I was delivered completely from sin and lived above this world’s system in the here and now.  Because I fail — I know Your Grace all the more dearer, dearly and dearest because of it.   Thank you, for sending Jesus to die for my sins — ALL my sins.

  Amen.

  • 10:52 pm
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