Sermon Title: Spiritual Warfare - the flesh
Scripture: Galatians 5:16-25
Meanings of “flesh” in the New Testament:
“Body.” “Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.” (1 Cor 6:16)
“Ethnicity.” “For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh.” Phil 3:3 In context, what Paul means here by “the flesh” is his Jewishness. It can be a reference to your cultural and national identity that you were born into.
“Cravings” or “Sinful passions” or “Corrupt Desires.” (Ephesians 2:3; Rom 7:5; 1 Peter 2:10).
“Flesh” refers to fallen human nature; the center of human pride and self-willing. Flesh is the arena of indulgence and self-assertion, the locale in which ultimate sin reveals itself to be the false assumption of receiving life not as the gift of the Creator but procuring it by one’s own power, of living from one’s self rather than from God.” - Timothy George
“The West over the last five centuries has moved from a culture of authority to a culture of authenticity.” “A Secular Age” - Charles Taylor
2 Diametrically opposed world views:
Augustine - We are image bearers created by God to love him and others, but when we disorder our loves and let them run amok, we suffer.
Freud - We are animals run by an instinctual desire for pleasure and when we repress that desire, we suffer.
“In an ego-centered culture, wants become needs (maybe even duties), the self replaces the soul, and human life degenerates into the clamor of competing autobiographies. People get fascinated with now they feel - and with how they feel about how they feel. In such a culture and in the throes of such fascination, the self exists to be explored, indulged and expressed, but not disciplined or restrained.” “A Breviary of Sin: Not the way it’s supposed to be.” - Cornelius Plantinga
*“We have been led to believe that the self is sacrosanct (sacred/untouchable); just as in an earlier time it was thought never fitting to deny God, now it feels never right to deny oneself.” “A still more excellent way” - Robert C Roberts *
Notice the 2 strategies Paul offers us if we want to experience true freedom:
Crucify the flesh (sinful passions and desires)
Keep in step with the Spirit
“Every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different from what it was before. And taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, all your life long you are slowly turning this central thing into a heavenly creature or a hellish creation.” “Mere Christianity” - C.S. Lewis
Additional Notes:
Galatians 5:16-25
“So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.” The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.