Untitled Sermon

This is an unsupported strawman argument which makes it hard to address but here are my thoughts and elaborating on what I meant in this post.

Brace yourself, this will be long-winded.

(also, posting this publicly because this is a topic that should be openly discussed)

When I say “do what you want” what I mean is: start learning to trust yourself. God gifted you with a body and a mind that is intelligent, all you have to do is respect it, listen to it, and treat it with kindness (and maybe take it to therapy every once in a while).

The problem that we see nowadays is that the people in the church have a skewed moral compass and have a hard time trusting themselves because the church teaches doctrine that surrounds shaming and guilting people into what they think is “right” and “godly” rather than teaching God’s word from a neutral standpoint and allowing individuals to seek God of their own accord and come to their own conclusion on what God wants for their lives.

This has now turned the entire religious community into thinking that what they are doing is what God wants when in reality they are doing what the church wants, not God. It’s a form of control.

Are you going to suffer in this life? Yes, that’s inevitable because through these situations we typically have an opportunity to grow and learn. And sometimes we just suffer because life can sucks and so do people. Sometimes suffering doesn’t have a deeper meaning to it.

The issue becomes when you cross that threshold and start taking on suffering willingly and making yourself through your own actions a “persecuted Christian” in order to play the martyr.

We typically see this in the evangelical community at the hands of individuals who often play the victim in order to feel better about themselves because they like to think that the more they “die to yourself” or “suffer for Christ” the godlier they are.

Persecution & suffering for Christ does not make you “right” or godly or guarantee you success in this life or the next.

And living for yourself and doing what you want does not mean you are falling into the hands of the enemy. No correlation between the two whatsoever.

Nowhere in the bible does it state that you have to suffer in order to be a good person. Nowhere in the bible does it state that you can’t “do what you want” or that you can’t trust yourself in this life because it will lead you down the “wrong” path.

“Living for yourself is undeniably the most unenjoyable pursuit in this life”.

This depends on what your definition of living for yourself is. If your definition is because the bible says you must “crucify the flesh & die to your sins” (Galatians 5:24 ESV) then we need to figure out what that actually means.

Let’s dig into the best verse about this issue and look at the original Greek text in Galatians 5:19-21 (ESV) where Paul lays out the “works of the flesh”.

This is a non-exhaustive list of behavioral sins that provide an example of what we are to be separating ourselves from in our lives.

πορνεία (sexual immorality) simply means to cheat on your partner or spouse.

ἀκαθαρσία (impurity) being morally corrupt or as William Barclay states “that which makes people unfit to come before God, the contamination of life with the things which separate us from him”

ἀσέλγεια (sensuality) self-abandonment where people who are so concerned with their own desires that they have ceased to care what others say or think and live a reckless lifestyle.

εἰδωλολατρία (idolatry) serving or worshipping idols

φαρμακεία (sorcery) literally means the “use of drugs or drugging”. During ancient times it was common for people to use sorcery in order to poison or drug others in order to harm or kill them.

ἔχθρα (enmity) An individual who is aggressively hostile towards others.

ἔρις (strife) rivaling with others that results in fighting physically & verbally.

ζῆλος (jealousy) desiring something that does not belong to use.

θυμός (fits of anger) this is an anger that come in short bursts and often results in negatively impacting the people around you. (much different from a righteous or justified anger which typically last longer).

ἐριθεία (rivalries) selfish ambition, typically used to describe people who “canvas for political or public office” in order to get something out of it rather than to genuinely help people.

διχοστασία (dissensions) very much like “strife”, this is a disagreement that leads to antagonism and fighting with others.

αἵρεσις (divisions) a focused disagreements that ends up with people who have differentiating beliefs hating and disliking one another.

φθόνος (envy) when people hate the fact that someone else has something they want to the point where they want to take it from others. Having grief at someone else’s good.

μέθη (drunkeness) the people in the ancient world commonly drank wine, even children so the kind of drunkenness that is being referred to here is to the point of extreme (think alcohol poisoning).

κῶμος (orgies) a ritualistic drunken procession performed by revelers in ancient Greece. It often lead to unrestrained parties that became severely out of control and lead to illegal activity (such as vandalism, fights, and non-consensual sexual activity).

Looking at all these words in their original Greek and translating the meaning of them, we see one common idea in all these “works of flesh” are: Don’t be an asshole.

When I say “do what you want” it’s common sense that hurting others isn’t included in that statement. If “living for yourself” means don’t put yourself first to the point where you steam roll over others, then yes absolutely we should not “live for ourselves”. Trust yourself and do what you want but not at the expense of hurting others.

It’s also important to note that “crucify the flesh” means separate yourself. This doesn’t mean that you won’t ever do these things as we are humans and we make mistakes. We can’t be perfect but what we do after our mistakes is what reflects the idea of “crucify the flesh” as Paul states.

Are you willing to grow and do right by others, apologize when it’s needed and respect others boundaries? Or will you move forward in selfishness and pride, abusing the people around you? It’s not rocket science to figure out how to not be an asshole.

Sometimes you are also going to hurt others when you set your boundaries in a healthy way but this isn’t your fault as you are not responsible for the actions and emotions of others. You can only control what you do but setting healthy boundaries is an entirely different topic.

Living for yourself doesn’t automatically mean you are living a life that correlates with the “works of the flesh”. If your definition of “do what you want” is live selfish and hurt others then I suggest you commit yourself because you might have bigger issues that you should deal with.

It is possible to be happy, live a life that you love, trust yourself, and still be a good person. Imagine that.

Pleasure also isn’t inherently wrong either. We can’t paint these ideas in a this or that perspective as everything is subjective based on the person & their intention.

I get pleasure eating chocolate cake. Is that going to lead me down a road away from God? No.

But if you get pleasure from sneaking around and cheating on your partner, obviously this is a no-no. Pleasure that comes at the negative expense of others is wrong.

When making decisions, use your moral compass and ask yourself “does this feel right?”, “am I ok with this?”, “will this decision hurt me or anyone else?”. And if you feel shame or guilt for doing something, dig in and figure out why.

God doesn’t condemn, guilt, shame, or use fear. God is that little voice in the back of your head that gives you nudges that help you see things from a different perspective.

If feelings of guilt, fear, or shame start to creep in, THAT IS NOT GOD. Those feelings more than likely tie to a much deeper issue that probably stems around past trauma where you were made to feel this way at the direct hands of another person.

You are allowed to trust yourself and do what you feel is best and live a life for yourself. You are not a puppet, you have free will and you are 100% capable and worthy of taking care of yourself… just as God designed you to be.

You do not have to suffer.

You are allowed to enjoy life.

You can do whatever the hell you want. (as long as you’re playing well with others)

Thanks for coming to my even longer TED talk.

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When studying the original Biblical Greek & Hebrew and learning the historical context of the Bible, we see that very little of the actual text is a principle or rule that should be followed.

We need to stop treating the Bible like a rule book that is used to judge others for not being righteous enough and start properly studying it in a way that encourages meaningful & open-minded conversations with God and others.

However, one idea that will always be a Biblical principle is the kindness and compassion that you need to treat others with.

When you start trusting yourself and stop allowing the church to manipulate you into what is “right” or “wrong”, you’re going to find your relationship with God will flourish even more because you’re going to start trusting God’s voice instead of the church’s.

ANY church or individual who preaches or teaches in a way that is cut & dry or this & that and uses fear, shame, or guilt, is not someone you should learn from. A good teacher will encourage you to think for yourself and will always lead you back to God.