Romans 6:12-14 ESV
“Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.”
Believers in Jesus Christ, we are NOT to continue living in
sin. We are NOT to let sin have dominion (rule, control) over our lives. Not
one of us should be addicted to sin. We are NOT to give in to the sinful
passions of our flesh. We are NOT to obey the passions (desires) of our flesh,
especially habitually.
God’s grace to us is NOT freedom to continue living in sin
without guilt. His grace instructs us to say “NO!” to ungodliness and fleshly
lusts and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives while we wait for
Christ’s return (Tit. 2:11-14).
Jesus died on that cross, not just to forgive us our sins,
and not just to promise us heaven when we die. He died that we might die with
him to sin and live to him and to his righteousness, and that we might no
longer live for ourselves, but for him who gave his life up for us (1 Pet.
2:24; 2 Co. 5:15).
Jesus died for us on that cross to deliver us from our
bondage to sin and to free us to walk in his righteousness in the power of God’s
Spirit living within us. Our lives (minds, bodies, hearts) are to be his vessels
of righteousness, not of unrighteousness (Rom. 6:1-23; Rom. 8:1-17; Eph.
4:17-24).
Romans 6:15-16 ESV
“What then? Are we to sin because we are not under law but under grace? By no means! Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?
The “church” at large in America is not just “the church.”
Its gatherings and memberships are comprised of the government, wolves in sheep’s
clothing, the ungodly, the unbelieving, the people of the world, the lecherous,
the self-indulgent, the adulterous church, the obedient church, those who
demand what they believe are their rights to live however they choose, and
those who will coddle them in their sins, and who will refuse to confront them,
or to call for repentance, out of fear of offending them.
The church in America, overall, is being modeled, not after
Christ, and not after the Scriptures, but after business models for how to “grow”
your “churches,” i.e. businesses called “church.” Thus, the model or the design
for the American “church” of today is that of a playground or an amusement
park, catering to the feelings of people and their fleshy passions (desires).
So, rather than confront people with their sin, they
entertain them, and sometimes that entertainment includes what is fleshly,
worldly, and even sensual. For, they might have women dressed sensually,
swaying their hips, singing like bar singers in very sensual tones. Or they may
show movie clips from movies which contain much sensuality, immorality, and
even nudity.
Pastors will sometimes make jokes about the Bible which mock
the Scriptures, or they will make lewd and inappropriate remarks which should
not be something coming from the mouths of spiritual leaders. Many pastors have
turned into clowns and actors to entertain the people and to keep them laughing
and coming back for more of the same. This should not be.
They are living outside God’s design, will, and purpose for
his church, and thus they have fallen into much immorality and wickedness. And
the church, overall, is on a massive spiritual and moral decline. And, that is
because they refuse to accept our Lord’s plan of redemption, and they have
sought out their own cheapened version of his gospel of grace.
Sympathy vs Harshness
I am finding that there are those, of the legalistic
churches, who pick out specific sins, while ignoring others, and they treat those
sinners much like the Pharisees treated the woman caught in adultery. And, then
the pendulum swings the other direction, and there are those who are so concerned
about people’s feelings that they will never tell them the truth of the gospel
but will dilute it to make sinners feel good about themselves.
Jesus didn’t swing either direction. He was direct, but he
was loving, kind and compassionate, too. He spoke the truth in love, but he
said it with grace, and he seasoned it with salt. We can be loving to people
and still get the seriousness of the truth of the cross of Christ across to
them. We can be compassionate but not coddle them in their sins.
So, we don’t have to compromise the truth of the gospel to
spare people’s feelings or to show them sympathy. And, we don’t have to hit
them over the head with a hammer to get the truth across, either.
But now there are times when that might be called for, and
that is when people claim to be Christians, but they are living hypocritical
lives and are leading others to sin, and when they are living in open rebellion
against God and are refusing to repent by continuing to live in rebellion. For,
they are hurting other people and are damaging lives, much like the Pharisees
did.
But, the point of the gospel, and the point of our salvation
from sin, is to deliver us from slavery to sin, and to empower us to live
godly, holy, pure, and unadulterated Christian lives. And, part of that is also
that we must love God, and we must love other people. And, love is neither
overly and unnecessarily harsh, nor is it lenient and bending towards freedom
to sin.
The reality here is that we are slaves of the one whom we
obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to
righteousness. So, if we walk according to the Spirit, we will live eternally
with God. But if we walk according to the flesh, according to our own fleshly
desires, we will die in our sins. We will NOT have eternal life with God.
Truth! In love!!
Feelings
/ Greg X. Volz
Feelings come and feelings go
But feelings are so deceiving
I place my faith in the word of the
Lord
Nothing else is worth believing
If it feels good, they say it can’t be
wrong
But love is more than a Kaliope song
How can I get back to where I belong?
Get off this Farris wheel; you’ve got
to trust what is real.
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