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Two Ages/Two Bodies
Two Ages/Two Bodies
Review
What we are going to talk about today flows directly out of the text that Simon taught us out of last weekend.
Let’s review that super fast
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
When some of us read in the New Testament, sometimes we can get “theological vertigo” from words that we see and hear all the time. And then some of us may be encountering Scripture for the first time, and the way the NT writers talk can feel foreign. A huge part of this has to do with the fact that our culture is separated by 2000 years from the culture this was originally written in.
But here’s a helpful encouragement for you.
We share more common human experience with our 1st century peeps than we do differences.
Sure they didn’t have smart phones are use words like I do, and I don’t ride a donkey to work or walk past a temple to Apollo on my way to the gym. Mainly because I don’t go to the gym.
But we do share the basic reality of living in an age that is marked by sin.
And that transcends all cultural differences.
So when we see words like “Spirit” “Flesh” “Age” and “Kingdom”, we can experience varying degrees of “What does that mean again?
To set the stage for today, let’s talk about a reality that would have been a little more at the forefront of the minds of the Galatian church, but maybe isn’t in ours.
The Jewish people, Jesus, Paul, and all of the apostles shared the same view about how time worked.
Present Evil Age / Age To Come (talk about the marks.
(Plate props) (Baptist Brewer Joke) (I’m not Baptist)
Overlap of ages
Part of what comes in this overlap of the ages is an outpouring of the Spirit of God on the people of God in a way that draws them near in worship to God, but also equips them for good works that draw the nations to God.
And what the Spirit is saying in Galatians is that it should be obvious to us which age someone is marked by.
Structure / Direction
“The acts of the sinful nature are obvious”
Paul gets right to it and points out to us that we can clearly see the evidences of which age/nature/body is at work.
19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Let’s sit with that a second.
If it feels like a little bit of a gut punch, it’s because it’s supposed to.
But let me instantly point something out.
The purpose of the list of sinful acts is not to pigeon hole sin into neat little boxes, or to categorize sin so we can check to see if we’re on Paul’s list.
The purpose of the list is to paint a broad brushstroke.
Imagine that Paul is holding a paintbrush, and next to him is a bucket of paint that says “SIN” and he’s dipping his paintbrush in it and then sweeping it across the wall.
And when he does so, the words we see are sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, etc...
But there’s even another dimension to it. It’s almost as if the paint he’s using is the special kind that only shows up under a blacklight. And the light he’s using is the light of the gospel.
Light exposes darkness.
Fruit of the Spirit
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.
Fruit of the Spirit as opposed to the fruit(s) of the Spirit.
This is important because again, what Paul is not doing is trying to make a list of character traits that we can grab onto one by one and go “Oh I’m so good at patience.”
Even in the way Paul phrases this evidence of being found in Christ he is showing us that fruit is a fully orbed fruit evidence in the lives of those who belong to Christ.
Something that church people do that I confess I’ve done before is saying things like,
“I’m going to work on joy this year”
or
“I really need to work on my anger outbursts at work this year”
We don’t “work on” one or the other, we conform ourselves by crucifying our sin WITH Jesus, living by the power of His Spirit, fully living in our new identity as sons and daughters who were baptized into Christ. 5
The very second that decide that we will work on something is the second that we fall into the same trap of the Judaizers who wanted the Galatian church to incorporate an element of works into their belief of how salvation happens.
Now we have to be careful with this.
Do Christians do good works?
The book of James makes it pretty clear that faith, if it’s not going hand in hand with works, it’s dead.
Martin Luther once said, “God doesn’t need your good works, but your neighbor does.”
I love that.
If you believe in a God who created the earth good, created humans very good, and is restoring all things to Himself, than that should have radical implications for how we act!
That is what is at the core of what Paul was teaching the Galatian church.
Your salvation is not hinged on your works, but if our lives are like a tree, then the fruit that is produced BY that tree is a clear evidence of what is going on on the inside.
Have you ever seen a tree that has tapped into something poisonous?
At a bare minimum, if a tree is not getting good nutrition, than the fruit is gonna taste bad.
At a maximum, even a cursory glance at the tree will reveal, “oh shoot, it’s freaking dying” that tree needs help! It needs better soil, it needs water!
A Practical Example
So what does this look like for us?
What would be an example of this in our modern era?
Many of you might be familiar with the name Mark Driscoll.
Mark was the mega viral pastor of Mars Hill church in Seattle, a church that started small as a unique community of believers, that over 20 years ballooned into one of the most influential mega churches we have ever seen.
Through a series of unfortunate events, Mark stepped down from ministry at that church after it became apparent that there were numerous ways he was abusing authority and people.
Now I heard Preston Perry get asked recently on Instagram about a controversial church community that’s out there and he said”I don’t speak on churches that I’m not in fellowship with.”
Mark Driscoll is currently doing ministry again, this time in PHX.
And I’ve got two different people in my church community alone who have friends and family currently attending his church.
It’s become public knowledge that volunteers at this church in Phoenix are required to sign a non disclosure agreement not to talk about the church.
Sayyy whatt?? that’s not healthy.
There’s a podcast right now called the rise and fall of Mars Hill deep diving into what happened at this church over the years before it shut down.
First of all, I pray that there’s never a long form journalistic podcast cataloguing my failures.
It reminds me of when I was cleaning out the house of a lady...
Steve Johnson’s prayer
Over the course of the life of Mars Hill Church, there was deep rooted abuse that was covered over and overlooked because there were simultaneous conversions taking place and the church was growing like wildfire.
But all along the way there was an undercurrent of displayed in the leadership of the church that honestly could have been categorized under what Paul calls “Works of the Flesh.”
A few weeks ago more than 40 former elders from Mars Hill published a letter saying that Mark should step down from his role at this church in PHX.
Brothers and sisters, this is where the rubber meets the road. This is real life in 2021.
There are those within the church, even within this church, who have the potential to shipwreck the faith of others because they are not following the Spirit but are following the flesh.
So where does that leave us?
I’m imagining that there’s at least 3 different people in this room right now with 3 different responses.
The leader in the church saying could this be me? Is my life exhibiting fruit in such a way that people could trust Christ around me?
The person who might be asking the question, can I trust the spiritual authority of so and so in my life?
The person sitting here, feeling condemned by a passage that is meant to give life.
The quote I selected for this weeks Instagram quote is St Augustine.
“You have made us for yourself, Oh Lord, and our heart is restless until it is found in you.”
If you’re sitting in here today, and you’re a human, than God made you to function as a dearly beloved son and daughter that is a royal priest in this world, extending grace and love to His creation.
When we, or our leaders are living according to the flesh, it’s like taking an engine that’s supposed to run on gasoline, and pumping it full of koolaid and then expecting it to run.
Our hearts are designed to be uniquely and particularly oriented towards Christ and His Spirit.
And that’s what Paul is getting at when he says: “Against such things there is no law.”
Lives that are oriented towards Christ, having been crucified WITH Him are lives that are not bound by the law with all its demands, but lives that obey God’s law out of love for Him, and love for neighbor.
Let’s look at the next verse together really quick.
24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
Does this mean that being a Christian means you don’t ever have desires for sin again?
Absolutely not!
That’s part of the tension of living in this already, but not yet age!
19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
Paul wraps up this particular tongue twister part of scripture by saying:
“Who will rescue me from this body of death?!”
His answer is immediate.
Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord!
God has designed you for communion with Him and with others and through His Spirit He has given you the opportunity for daily renewal and ever nearness to Him.
We are free to obey, because of love.
Don’t get too big for your britches Mission Church
Not becoming conceited is the warning given to a church who has just been given a tool to discern if people are walking with God.
Ya’ll are a super thoughtful bunch.
The people in this room are coming from all sorts of different walks of life.
Scientists, Electricians, Missionaries, Activists, Cops, Musicians, Students, Farmers, Doctors, You even have an ordained assistant to the associate pastor of announcements, John Simon.
Despite all of these differences, as I have gotten to spend time with you guys, I have never met a (missionite, missionary, missional person?) I’ve never met one of you who isn’t thoughtful, discerning, and interested in knowing about truth!
3 Cheers for Mission!
But here’s your warning, and this Paul’s warning, but I’ll stand right behind him and nod in approval...
Living in step with the Spirit as a community will mean that it will become obvious to you when others, whether they in your community or not, are living out of step with the Spirit.
And the potential failure lies in saying
“those people over there, they don’t have the Spirit of God.”
The correct response to seeing failure in the lives of others can be found just a few verses before
13 For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
How can you serve someone who is living according to the flesh?
Wash their feet.
Maybe literally, I’m sure some of you are rockin some toe fungus that needs some help.
But proverbially, spiritually wash each other with the Word of God.
Feed each other with true food.
Give spiritually thirsty people true drink.
This isn’t calculus. It’s day one arithmetic.
Dirty people need clean water given in kindness to wash.
Hungry people need good food to nourish their bones.
Thirsty, weary people need rich, smooth wine to quench their thirst and warm their stomachs.
We don’t offer this to each other in a vacuum. We invite each other to the table in love.
We offer each other Christ.
I can think of no better way to follow a reflection on the Fruit of the Spirit than to dine together at the table of the Lord.
At Mission church we worship together through 3 primary ways.
Singing
Giving
Communion
Elaborate
One of the ways we prepare for these things is through a brief time of confession.
This confession doesn’t involve you entering into a booth with a priest, and spilling your guts.
But it does involve you approaching a holy God in prayer, with a heart posture of submission and desire to draw near to Him.
God delights in repentance, and is ready to bind your wounds, weep with you, and feed you true food and drink.
Reflect briefly again on communion.
promises to be with us until the end of the age
Pray