Part 6 & 7 of this series dealt with Romans 12:1, 2. In this passage to the believers in Rome, Paul made it clear that only by following the commands he lays out will you be able to “prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
To be able to prove or know the will of God, it involves 1) Giving of ourselves to God as a living sacrifice; 2) Not being conformed to the world and its ways; and 3) Being transformed by the renewing of our mind.
Let me kindly remind the reader that the will of God is NOT hard to find – simply go to the Scriptures. On the authority of God’s Word, I can state that God will never direct or lead you to go or act contrary to the principles found in the Bible. Neither will He come to you and reveal more of His will to you when you are NOT WILLING to follow His already defined will.
I am amazed at how many spend hours agonizing before God in regards to who they will marry, what car they will buy, what mission field they should serve on, what church they should attend and where they should be in fellowship, etc. YET, those same people (and I have been there) WILL NOT spend hours agonizing before God over their sin and their disobedience in following the already clearly laid out path God has for His children!
But why does this happen? The next verse we wish to deal with in this particular series helps to clarify what Paul has addressed in regards to the renewing of the mind. In this verse, he makes it clear that Christianity and being like Christ is NOT BASED ON YOUR FEELINGS! It is NOT BASED ON YOUR EMOTIONS! And it is certainly not based on what you think you know in your heart for your heart can, will and does deceive you! It is based on this renewing of the mind. Let us clarify further!
2 Cor. 10:5 – “Casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.”
In the letter to the Corinthian believers, Paul in this verse makes two aspects of holiness quite clear. First, believers are required to cast down all that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. The word for cast down means to lower or demolish with violence. The path to holiness can often mean a violent struggle in our feeble attempts to demolish all those areas which are contrary to a Biblical understanding of not only Who God is, but also in having an understanding of what His Word has to say to us.
What is our knowledge of God? What do we know about Him? How does the way we live our life reflect the very small amount we do know about Him as revealed in His Word?
We will never gain the upper hand in our desire for victorious Christian living when we have more of a tendency to pacify the lusts of the flesh than we do in demolishing what we already know brings dishonour to the Lamb of God.
In Part 2, I stated the following, Anything less than pre-eminence of the Godhead is therefore – IDOLATRY! God does not want Prominence, but pre-eminence!!” Too often, our lives are run based on our emotions instead of facts. If we feel saved, then it is a good day. If we don’t feel saved or feel like we are out of fellowship with God, then it is a bad day and we might as well do what pleases us.
Again, a huge part of this on-going battle and problem for many believers is because they are trusting that which is deceitful and cannot be trusted – namely their hearts. By doing this, they are limiting holiness to externalities only! The apostle Paul tells us in Romans 7:25, “I thank God – through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.”
It would be a foolish individual who invited to a royal banquet chose to show up at the palace having rolled in the sewage pits of the city. Yet, many are rolling their minds in the sewage pits of the City of Destruction daily but think their hearts can remain clean!
Day by day most believers find themselves filling their minds with the sewage, the filth, the refuse, and the perversions of the world through various forms of media. They are not being careful to follow the second aspect of holiness given by Paul. “Bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ.”
You and I will never gain victory over the sins and habits in our lives until we realize that there is more to the Christian life than what others around us see. Anybody can reform by putting on a nice set of clothes or by attempting to show that Christ lives in them. But what about in the dark of the night, or when you think nobody else is around or is watching?
What happens when you go to church to be around other fellow believers and they ask how you are doing? Do you give them a pat answer and hope they go away? Or are you like others who are truly struggling and wish you could open your heart and tell them what is on your mind?
There are many who go to church every week and appear to have “it” all together. Their marriages seem intact, their children seem to have no problem with obedience, their jobs are secure, their testimonies are stunning in speaking of the grace of God – BUT, they know it is only a facade. They know that what you see on the outside is not what they really are on the inside. More importantly, they know that what is on the inside and what they dwell on in the dark recesses of their minds would damn them to a Christ-less eternity if it wasn’t for the mercy and grace of God.
(…to be continued…)
The Desert Pastor
2 Comments
July 21, 2008 at 4:00 pm
[...] highly recommend this to you and feel free to pass on the links to others. Here is the link for Part 8, and I know that Part 9 is soon to be added as well. Thanks for reading, and may you be encouraged [...]
July 22, 2008 at 7:57 am
[...] Which God do you worship? -Part 8: The Desert Pastor [...]