Eternity Daily Bible Study: No. 537 Romans 1-8 - A Righteousness That Is By Faith Verses: Romans 8:12-13 Topic: Mortifying The Flesh Date: 8th November 2005 Romans 8:12-13 MKJV Therefore, brothers, we are not debtors to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. (13) For if you live according to the flesh, you shall die. But if you through the Spirit mortify the deeds of the body, you shall live. How can a Christian "mortify the deeds of the body"? The answer is "through the Spirit". Mortifying the body is often incorrectly associated with extreme penances such as flagellation, extended fasting, or even self-castration. But Paul says that these practices are of "no value". Colossians 2:20-23 HCSB (20) If you died with Christ to the elemental forces of this world, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world? Why do you submit to regulations: (21) "Don't handle, don't taste, don't touch"? (22) All these regulations refer to what is destroyed by being used up; they are human commands and doctrines. (23) Although these have a reputation of wisdom by promoting ascetic practices, humility, and severe treatment of the body, they are not of any value against fleshly indulgence. So Paul's idea of mortification does NOT involve things such as: 1.Asceticism 2.Overdone humility 3.Severe treatment of the body 4.Taboos - such as do not handle, do not taste, do not touch These belong to the religion of those who "still belong to the world" and have not ascended into heavenly realms with Christ and known His power and the filling of the Holy Ghost. It is no coincidence that the Church has been weakest and worst when Christians have most assiduously practiced such things. They have the "appearance of wisdom" but are in fact a useless waste of energy. True Christian mortification is "of the Spirit" and simply involves "stopping dead" certain sinful practices and substituting them with righteous practices. Colossians 3:5-10 HCSB Therefore, put to death whatever in you is worldly: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry. (6) Because of these, God's wrath comes on the disobedient, (7) and you once walked in these things when you were living in them. (8) But now you must also put away all the following: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and filthy language from your mouth. (9) Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his practices (10) and have put on the new man, who is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of his Creator. The "putting to death" is of the deeds of the body, not of the body itself. For instance we are put to death "greed". So when greed rises up within you, you are to stop it, to refuse it, to kill it in its tracks, and to do this over and over again. Now one of the best ways to "kill" a practice is to make a definite decision to stop it and then to retain yourself in a different and better direction. For a very simple analogy, when I moved to the USA I had to "put to death" my habit of driving on the left hand side of the road. I did not go around saying "I must not drive on the left" or wrestling against "leftness" instead I simply made a decision not to drive on the left and concentrated on driving on the right hand side instead. Now I am in the "right" habit! If we redirect ourselves from the wrong way to the right way then the wrong path will gradually become extinguished. It is like the grass that grows on a track that is not used. The old way, the old life path will slowly fade away. Soon we will be left only with the righteous habit. This is why Paul often combines the two statements "put off X" and "put on Y". This is in two parts: a) Putting Off- involves realizing you have a problem and making a definite and clear decision to quit from X. This is the "dying", the stopping, the decision that it will never be a part of you again. b) Putting On - involves adopting a new behavior and moving towards the opposite of X which is Y. This is using the power of Christ in you to adopt a better lifestyle. To stop lying make a decision to quit lying, and then concentrate on speaking the truth at all times. To stop worrying make a decision to quit worrying and then focus on presenting your needs to God in prayer. To stop being greedy make a decision to quit coveting, and then focus on living simply and lightly. To stop being angry make a decision to quit from your rage, and then focus on being cool and in control. To stop being lustful make a decision to quit your wild imaginings, and then concentrate on treating women as sisters in all purity. To stop being stingy and mean make a decision to quit such selfishness, and then set your heart on being generous and kind. To stop being timid make a decision to quit your fears, and then ask God to make you bold by the power of the Holy Spirit. To stop being resentful make a decision to quit digging up old bones, and then work on resolving your issues and forgiving others quickly. Now making the decision to quit can be tough. Again let us take the case of greed. It can be hard to give up being a shop-aholic, and the thought of living simply and in a godly fashion may seem terrifying. But when a enormous credit card bill looms, and when someone is 60 days behind, then a person may see the folly of their ways. They may say 'enough'! Once they have really genuinely said "enough" then they have put greed to death and can start putting on simplicity and godly living. Or take the case of resentment where it may take an ulcer or a divorce or even a nervous breakdown to get someone to be aware of how resentment is ruining their life. But once they decide to deal with it, and perhaps even see a pastor for counsel, and irrevocably decided they will no longer be resentful, then they have "put it to death" and they can move on to being loving and merciful and forgiving. Now it is the Holy Spirit who gives us the insight to see that we have a problem, and the will to deal with it and who shines the light of the Scriptures on it and who points out a better way. So it is the Holy Spirit who helps us to put to death the old nature and put on the new nature, which is Christ. One great mistake made by many Christians is to try to replace the Holy Spirit with human will power or rather won't-power and to make "resolutions" not to do such and such ever again. This rarely works. Fighting against sin is futile. You have to kill it stone dead. You need to make a cold-blooded decision that you are finished with it, then leave it behind, without another thought or even a look back. And then simply move on to the right behavior. Just as if you were simply choosing to drive on the other side of the road. So we do not have to fast on top of a flagpole for forty days or cut off parts of our body in order to defeat sin. We just have to calmly decide to quit. Then we replace the old sinful behavior with a better righteous alternative. The Bible often places the righteous alternative right next to the sin we need to stop. Ephesians 4:28-29 MKJV Let him who stole steal no more, but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, so that he may have something to give to him who needs. (29) Let not any filthy word go out of your mouth, but if any is good to building up in respect of need, that it may give grace to the ones hearing. So we see in verse 28 above - don't steal instead move to the positive and replace it with constructive work. And in verse 29 don't let any filthy language go out of your mouth and instead move to the positive - gracious edifying speech. Today's Eternity-DBS has been a bit longer because this is so important and people get it so wrong so often. You need to put sin to death, but all the willpower in the world will not do it. You need inner power, the power of the Holy Spirit, to convict you, to give you insight, and to enable you to adopt a holy and good replacement behavior for that context. Pray now and ask God to fill you with the Holy Spirit so you can mortify the deeds of the body. Galatians 5:16 MKJV I say, then, "Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh." Blessings, John Edmiston (johned@aibi.ph) REFER OTHERS: If this devotional is a blessing to you, maybe you have a friend or family member that would like to start receiving this daily bible study. You can forward this to them, and they can use the following link to subscribe. http://www.aibi.ph/eternity/ or they can just send a blank email to: eternity-dbs-subscribe@strategicnetwork.org BLOG: If you missed a day or would like to read the bible studies online you can catch up using the new Eternity Daily Bible Study Blog at: http://aibi.gospelcom.net/eternity/wordpress/ EBOOKS & ARCHIVES : http://www.aibi.ph/eternity/ - includes free ebooks containing each series of Eternity-DBS bible studies. 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