Untitled Sermon (2)

Good morning my name is fadi Alhinn my wife and lead the youth and family ministry here in sd weve been in sd for almost 4 years and we love this congregation we truly feel like it is our family.

Spanish ministry

We are in our second week of our series in Ephesians. Discussing and breaking down big ideas presented in the letter such as God’s sovereignty, his plan of redemption, his grace, and our responsibility to love one another.

Ephesians is an inspiring book revealing to us that God has a divine plan to reconcile the world to himself.

The title of the sermon today is the slavery of freedom. And specifically study out a word that we see and hear about often in the scripture and that word is the flesh. What does the bible mean when it mentions our flesh and how does Gods grace play a role in it.

Woody allen

Do you guys know who this is? Woody allen has been directing and acting in movies for 5 decades.

Woody allen was in a relationship for years with Mia Farrow. Mia Farrow Adopted Soon Yi as a little girl from South Korea, then she adopted a few more children, kind of the original Angelina Jolie.

Years go by, 15 plus years, and Mia finds photos of her eldest adopted daughter nude in Woody's briefcase. And it comes out, they're sleeping together, Woody is 56, Soon Yi is 21. This is long before Me Too, and Alan goes on to then date her in public and eventually they marry.

In 1993 Woody allen sits for an interview with time magazine and the journalist askes him about his infamous affair with Soon yi

And the journalist is just persistent. He just will not stop. very to the point.

But Alan time after time after time will not admit that he did anything wrong. And at the very end of the interview, Allen has this iconic line, you’ve heard it probably said yourself, he says, the heart wants what it wants.

He says it as the justification for his affair, that is the history of that line. We all agree that what he did was not right but the heart wants what the heart wants rings similar to other lines we hear today.

Such as be true to yourself, love is love, I am spiritual but not religious, the heart wants what the heart wants. Lines that sound incredibly smart yet void of real meaning.

these lines have entered the vernacular of our culture. Just to say I want to do what I want to do I want to feed my flesh without restraint and I want it now. And so romans 1 says So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts, their flesh desired.

Lets go ahead and read eph 2:1

As for you, (btw the you here is directed specifically to the gentiles) were dead in your transgressions and sins.

Pre Jesus, you were just dead. In which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit, who is now at work in those who are disobedient. All of us also (now he’s talking to the Jews, he moved from the gentiles to the jews) lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts.

Like the rest, So, we are all corrupted, we were by nature deserving of wrath, but because of his great, what? Love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ. even when we were dead in transgressions. And then the iconic line, it is by grace you have been, what? Saved.

Notice how in one paragraph Paul ties together the world, the flesh, the devil.

The world “You followed the ways of this world.”

And then the devil, “the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.”

The flesh, “Gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. We were by nature deserving of wrath.”

And these are three enemies we see in scripture time and time again known as the three enemies of the soul

whether you are an atheist or a disciple we all feel the tension the fight outside our bodies and inside our bodies between good and evil, between heaven and hell.

That is why in the same letter paul says that our fight is not against flesh and blood. It's not against ISIS, or Russia, or Republicans, or Democrats, or this form of government, or that form of taxation. That's all symptomatic level, not root cause. Our fight is against the world, the flesh, and the devil.

And if you think you stand justified and righteous take the warning before you fall workout your salvation with fear and trembling in labor, in service, in offering, in prayer, in fasting

Because even when you were baptized you were born again into a hope of heaven, but not in heaven yet. We have to deal with our flesh, with the world, with the devil,

And they are fighting for your soul and it is only by god’s grace that we can live by the spirit.

Now for today we’re going to try and understand the flesh.

I believe that the center of these 3 enemies is the flesh without my flesh satan has nothing to tempt me with and Without my flesh the world has nothing I want.

But first lets define flesh its seems like such an abstract idea

The word flesh in Greek is sarkos, And very similar to English, a Greek can sometimes have more than one meaning. For example,

1 Corinthians 6:16 sarkos can mean your body your actual body

Luke 3:6 sarkos means humanity multiple bodies

Philippians 3:3 sarkos means ethnicity

But what eph 2 is talking about your flesh as in your cravings or the way Romans 7:5, defines the flesh as our “sinful passions.” 2 Peter 2:10, defines it as corrupt desire.

Flesh refers to fallen human nature. The center of human pride. it's the part of your will that just wants to rebel against God's rule. It's this area of indulgence and self assertion. I want what I want and I want it now. You know these kids and marshmallow tests

We all have a hierarchy of desires in our mind that we want to do some are good desires that leads to life and life to the full and some are not good and lead us not to life but to death. And those desire is what the bible means by the flesh.

In matt 6:31 31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Jesus is saying we are creatures of desire and we know there are thing we need and want and he wants to provide the thing shat will give is life and life to the full but often times we disorder our desires and we love thing things in the wrong order

it's not bad to love your job, that’s a good thing, But when you love it more than your your son, or daughter, that's a disordered love and it will wreak havoc in your life. Again, it's not bad to love your kids desire great grades, desire success desire a relationship but when you love or desire these things more than God, that's a disordered love and it will wreak havoc in your life.

That’s what Jesus taught about overcoming the flesh saying yes to the right desires and no to all of the other desires.

The first thing Jesus teaches about discipleship is deny yourself and carry your cross and that takes self-control and self-discipline through getting advice from people that have done it before you being open, studying the scripture, praying and fasting

But that is so hard to do don’t you agree, it sounds simple but actually very dificult especially when the world in the past years moved from a culture of authority to a culture of authenticity.

People no longer live by what an authority tells us. God, or the Bible, or the New Testament, or church, or tradition, or our parents. but rather from what our authentic self wants to do.

If it feels right do it if it doesn’t then don’t it. Because self-control and self-discipline leads to unhappiness that’s what the world teaches. If scripture, culture or people guide me on what to do that goes against my flesh or desires then I am oppressed.

My daughter who is 15 months started to do this grunt when we tell her no. in 2 years shes going to tell us how oppressed she feels

My parents turned off the wifi at 10 pm and told me to go to bed im oppressed in my own house

The world says Im only happy when I let my desire run wild. In our culture it is a sin if we do not follow our feelings, And we start to parent, date, serve, live out our biblical roles as husband and wife based on what feels right rather than the biblical word of God

Cornelius Plantinga who is a theologian writes this in an ego centered culture, (or a me centered culture) Wants become needs, maybe even duties. (you have to follow your heart)

The self replaces the soul, and human life degenerates into the clamor of competing autobiographies. People get fascinated with how they feel, and with how they feel about how they feel. In such a culture, (like SD), and in the throes of such fascination, the self exists to be explored, indulged, and expressed, but not disciplined or restrained.

Here is another quote I read We have been led to believe that the self is sacrosanct (meaning too valuable or important). Just as in an earlier time it was thought never fitting to deny God, now it feels never right to deny oneself.

Even though that's the first thing Jesus said we do to follow Him. You must Deny yourself and carry your cross. But this is just the air that we breathe now, am I right?

It comes out in sayings like I am spiritual but not religious, the heart wants what the heart wants, follow your heart, be true to yourself.

Btw that saying be true to yourself comes from a Shakespearean hamlet and the person that says it, is the fool it’s not even the wise person, people understood that just following your instincts is not wise yet here we are.

Now we are not all just wanting bad things but there is a tug of war of desire in all our hearts.

You know we’ll just start off with a silly example and we’ll get deeper.

You know how youre in in line at the grocery store ready check out, and usually there is a magazine rack one the left and one the right

normally on the left one there are magazine covers of beautiful famous celebrities wearing very few clothing and Photoshop doing its thing or maybe like a fitness plan and then on the other side, there is a magazine rack with covers with food on them.

So it's chocolate cake, or like, a holiday dinner party, or it's just chocolate. That’s the one I usually notice chocolate and then above it is the snack shelf the peanut butter cups and chocolate and gum.

Now these two racks are advertising two different thing. But in that moment I want both. I feel this pull and push of desires. On one hand I want to look I want to look fit and I want to look like ryan goslin who doesn’t age but on the other hand, I want those enchiladas for dinner with extra guacamole and chips and salsa.

So I want both. Both Are my authentic self. my heart wants both. So what do I do? I buy the peanut butter cup go home and eat while I do pushups or whatever.

Now that's an easy, silly, non emotional example, but there are far more serious desires that war in us

I want to stay faithful to my spouse and I want a divorce. I want to live pure honor men and women And I also would like to objectify them and watch that show on Netflix and gaze at that person walking down the road for my own sexual sensation. I want to be like Christ. And I just want to do whatever I want. I want to have a dating relationship that honors God but also date whoever, Sleep with or makeout with when you said, not me, I follow Jesus. Or cheat on your spouse when you said, never.

I want to have a life of prayer. And I want to just stay up late, watch TV, and sleep in in the morning, last minute before I go to work. Right at a Major level and a minor level at a surface and at a deep level.

We all live with this war inside our mind and our body and it's easy to forget that our strongest desires are not necessarily our deepest desires.

Meaning in the moment of temptation the only desire that I feel is the desire to sin The desire to lust, to gossip, to belittle somebody, to tear somebody down, to get drunk, to buy another pair of shoes I don't need, to whatever the temptation is.

But actually, when I step out of that moment of temptation, and I'm alone with myself and God, I realize that this not my deepest desire. Like, underneath, like, the surface level chaos, my deepest desire, And this is not because I'm so spiritual. But because God has set eternity in our hearts

My deepest desire is to honor God with all my mind and body and to honor woman and man a coworker and every friend to live in a way that is pleasing to God. That’s why prayer and fasting and confession is so important because it centers our deep desires

But it often doesn't feel that way in the moment of temptation. But It's, way underneath there.

And often we do not walk by the spirit long enough to fight that surface level temptation.

16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 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, They are literally at odds, opposits that's why the be true to yourself thing is not helpful.

Which is exactly what we are told by our culture to do. Be true to yourself. Do whatever you want and don't let anybody tell you different. That will lead you to happiness.

But that’s not what the bible tells us.

19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, this reads like the morning news,

discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. This is the world we live in. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

if you follow the flesh, this is what you will reap, what you will reap is not life instead will inherit is sexual immorality, impurity, anger, factions, tribalism, bitterness, addiction, no control over your mind and your body, regret, a trail of broken relationships behind you, wounds deep in you

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control.

If we follow the spirit it will lead all of us to to inherit love, joy, a deep sense of well being, peace, a calm, non anxious, ah, it's okay, patience, an unhurried just way of being present in the world.

Gentleness in a time of just anger and rage. Kindness in an age of selfishness. Self control in an age where everybody's out of control. Faithfulness in a time of commitment phobia It's the exact opposite.

To end with communion I want to leave you with this thought the solution to that problem is not willpower im not asking us to willfully overcome the flesh. Willpower is good it just doesn’t work most of the time we need to grow in tandem with the character of jesus through confession, prayer and fasting.

Going back to ephesians 2:1212 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

the news is bad in the first half but God the news is bad in the second-half but now in Christ

Jesus

when he says you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ what is he refrencing?

He is referencing the temple in the old testament we know that inside the holy of holies it is there where the presence of God is seen and dwells and nobody goes there but the high priest and only once a year

and then outside of that there's a place where the priest ministers and then there's an area where the levites can go and then this is the area where Jewish men can go and there's an area where Jewish women can go

and then back there way far off you have the court of the gentiles they come to know and love God but even though they come to know and love god when they worship god they have to be way back there as far away from the presence of god as you can possibly get

but christ dies and the veil of the temple is torn in two and now all of a sudden you who used to sit way back there in your flesh with no out have been brought near by the blood of Jesus.

The way to life is not through our desires of flesh but by living through the spirit growing in the character of Jesus