I often hear believers comment as they’re attempting to live the Christian life, “My life seemed a lot easier when I wasn’t a Christian.” Or, they’ll say, “Why am I having such a hard time, when those who don’t live for Christ seem to be so ‘happy go lucky’, they seem to live without a care in the world?” Which brings me to ask us; “What is that makes the Christian life so difficult to live?”
Even the Apostle Paul seemed to express difficulty in living the Christian life when he wrote in Romans 7:15, “For that which I am doing, I do not understand; for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing I hate.” If you were to ask most defeated Christians about issues in their lives, they would tell you they have a problem. It’s a problem that they believe is keeping them from experiencing peace, joy and freedom that comes with the life in Christ. These problems may range anywhere from a spouse who doesn’t respond appropriately to an addiction to an eating disorder. However, the truth is what appears to be the problem in the life of a struggling or defeated Christian really isn’t the problem at all!
One Christian counselor put it this way: “Your problem is that you don’t know what your problem is. You think your problem is your problem, but that’s not the problem at all. Your problem is not your problem and that’s your main problem.” So, just what is the problem? The problem is that the Christian life is not difficult to live, it’s impossible. You can only live the Christian life as you trust Jesus Christ to BE your life and live His life through you. However, the truth is the majority of believers live most of their lives out of their own resources rather than living through Christ as their source of life. As a result, we become pretty much set in our own ways, ways that aren’t so easily changed. Ways that may have somewhat met your needs and even appeared godly. Those old ways that you have depended upon and lived by for so long constitute what the Bible calls “THE FLESH.” And it’s the flesh that’s the major barrier to experiencing Christ as your life. So in seeking to understand the flesh, first of all let’s answer 3 important questions beginning with:
I. What is the flesh? verses 16-17
The word itself comes from the Greek “sarx” meaning the corrupt ways of man, subject to his selfish appetites and passions. From that root we get “sarkikos” meaning carnal or fleshly. In fact, flesh is referred to 163 times in the New Testament and 250 times in the Old Testament. Flesh has many usages from meaning skin - whether of man, animals, birds or fish. It’s also used of the human body as well as people in general, all mankind or the world in Genesis 6:12 when God looked on the earth and behold it was corrupt; for “all flesh” had corrupted their way upon the earth. There are many other usages of flesh, however the most common usage is to point out the personality of an individual focused on self-centeredness.
Now, when we talk about “the flesh” most people tend to think in terms of the deeds or results of living after the flesh. Paul gives us that suggestive list in verses 19-21. But “the flesh” is not just smoking, dipping, drinking, running around and profanity. The flesh is the way that you seek to meet your needs out of your own resources. Paul gives a description of his flesh in Philippians 3:3-6 . . . He includes his status, his education, his religious zeal, family line as well as commitment to a cause.
Another definition by Bill Gillham is “Flesh refers to the old ways or patterns by which you have attempted to get all your needs supplied instead of seeking Christ first and trusting Him to meet all your needs.” Another biblical description is found in 1 Peter 1:18 “knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers...” So the flesh is all of the habit patterns that you have developed over the years to meet your needs out of your own resources. And that’s what many call it the Self-life or self-sufficient life. The actual problem is, we’re living out of our own resources rather that living in Christ’s resources.
Neil T. Anderson characterizes the flesh as “learned independence.” In The Bondage Breaker, he states, “You brought to your Christian commitment a fully conditional mind-set and lifestyle developed apart from God and centered on yourself. Sure, you were born physically alive, but spiritually dead. You had neither the presence of God nor the knowledge of God’s ways. So you learned to live your life independent of God.” Your flesh patterns are the ways you’ve learned to find life, to live life, to make life work without depending on God. That’s what the flesh is. But to get a better understanding of “The Flesh” there’s another important question we need to answer. Secondly:
II. Where does “The Flesh” come from?
You and me and everyone else on Planet Earth are born with two basic sets of God-given needs. First, there’s the need to be loved and accepted. Secondly, there’s the need to have worth and value. These are God-given emotional/mental/spiritual needs and desires. God’s plan is for you to get those needs met through a relationship with Him. But because of Adam’s fall in the Garden of Eden, you and me and all mankind came into this world without a relationship with God. However, you still have those basic needs for love and acceptance, value and worth, which we could broaden to contentment, satisfaction, fulfillment, security, stability, protection, connectedness, peace, meaning, purpose, importance, significance and the list could go on. But the point is you were created with some basic God-given needs.
However, unable to relate to God as your “need-meeter” you began going about trying to meet these needs the best way you could, in your own resources, your own strength and in your own wisdom. We play what Bill Gillham calls “Lord of the Ring.” That’s what makes the world “go ‘round.” It’s what drives, motivates and energizes people. We all have these basic needs and we all go about meeting them the best way we can. We program our own emotional/mental/spiritual software or living patterns. Perhaps a line in the Country and Western song best sums up this answer, “looking for love in all the wrong places.” Of course, the wrong places include many places besides bars and honky tonks. It includes sports, business, religion, family and relationships to name a few places.
You see, your unique brand of flesh was developed to meet your needs. And here’s where it came from. You see there were MESSAGES that you received about yourself from those who were significant in your life as you were growing up – mom, dad, siblings, grandparents, teachers, preachers and significant others. As a result, you had FEELINGS about those messages and you developed BELIEFS about yourself based on those messages. Those messages and the environment in which you lived helped to mold your self-image. Then out of your beliefs you developed protective layers and coping behaviors which became your unique brand of “The Flesh.”
So, we develop what is more commonly called programmed flesh or flesh patterns to meet our needs, to cope with life, to live when things go wrong, to succeed, to protect ourselves from hurt or rejection. Your unique flesh patterns are the ways you’ve learned to met your basic needs, deal with problems, relate to others and escape intolerable situations in life. That’s where your flesh comes from! Now, there’s one other question we need to answer for a foundational understanding of “The Flesh.” Finally:
III. What’s God’s answer for the flesh? verse 24-25
The wrong answer for the flesh, is to try to improve the flesh. You can make it look better, cope better or even look prettier, but in the end it’s still flesh. God’s answer for the flesh is in the truth of Galatians 5:24. First of all, realize that God has already dealt with the flesh by putting the old Self, that is who you were “in Adam” to death on the cross. The NASB translates it, “Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified (past tense) the flesh with its passions and desires.” God dealt with the flesh, which is simply the old ways of the old Self, by crucifying the old Self. Romans 6:6 is also speaks of this part of God’s answer as it says, “Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him that our body of sin might be done away with (rendered powerless), that we should no longer be slaves to sin.”
Secondly, you must realize that the flesh is NOT who you are. You may tend to think that your behavior is “who you are.” But, it’s not “who you are” it’s simply the old ways you learned in order to get your needs met apart from God. You are “who you are” in Christ, you have a new identity and you are who God says you are, a “saint.” Therefore, you can live in line with your God-given design, the Eternal Life who is in you. I want you to realize something: The non-believer only has one option in living life – to live it “in the flesh,” that is out of their own resources. But what about the Christian? The Christian has two options. Because you have been born again, made alive with the Holy Spirit, you have a brand new life, a new heart, a new spirit and the eternal life of Jesus Christ lives inside you – you can choose to “walk or live according to the Spirit” or you can choose to “walk after or live after the flesh.” So God’s answer for the flesh is:
Finally, to deal with the flesh you must realize you DO have a choice. Sure, the flesh is difficult to deal with because it does something for you. It enables you to cope with life, survive and get by, but not thrive and be a victor. You can take responsibility for your old flesh patterns and choose by faith to surrender them when revealed by the Holy Spirit and live out of Christ’s resources inside you. You can live through your Christ-sufficiency rather than your Self-sufficiency.
You have all of Christ’s resources available to you. If you’ll just choose to trust Him and appropriate those resources by faith and depend on Him to meet your every need you will be victorious. Then, as the Holy Spirit reveals to you little by little the ways you manifest your unique flesh, all you have to do is to agree with Him and indicate you don’t want to live like that and thank Him for forgiving you and ask Him to enable you to walk according to the Spirit once again.
(This message was developed from a study of Chapter 5 of “The Grace Life Handbook" edited by Scott Brittin and Barry Grecu pages 51-57.)
