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I was just told about an interesting episode that has happened in Oregon. Some posters were put up in malls (with permission) inviting people to a conference in November about the character of God. The large picture on the posters was so provocative to some religious people who cannot accept the real truth about God's love that they demanded the posters be taken down.
Check it out yourself. You can see the picture as well as read the news story here.
But chains simply are not designed to be pushed anymore than humans have been designed to be pushed and forced. Through many illustrations God makes it clear that His ways are not to drive us to Him but to attract us to Him. The good Shepherd does not drive His sheep but leads them. And the main reason they follow Him is not from fear but because they know His voice and they are attracted to it. Any other model comes from the lies of the enemy.
Romans 7:25 clearly describes the arrangement of the life of a person who believes the Law of God is good, who wants to fulfill the requirements of the Law to please God, but is trying to “push his chain” to get to that goal. Paul identifies this arrangement as living in the flesh, serving the Law through the flesh. The way he is pushing the chain is by putting the mind ahead of the spirit part of his makeup. The problem is not because he is using his mind to serve God but is because he is trying to lead or control his life with his mind instead of allowing his spirit to be drawn to the attractions of Jesus. It is the direction of the internal relationship that is so critical here, the relationship between the mind and the heart. Whenever we are trying to operate our life by living more from the mind and intellect than we are allowing our heart to lead us, we are living in the flesh and are trying to push our chain to please God and become righteous. No matter how plausible or religiously correct or morally attractive it may sound, it simply does not end up with the results that we hope for.
Paul makes this even more emphatic in chapter 8. “Because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” (Romans 8:7-8) At first glance many assume that this is describing a person who is not a Christian, who is not even trying to serve God. But that is not the case. This is a description of anyone who is trying to push their chain to serve God, who is trying to lead their life with their mind to serve the law of God.
I think this becomes even more clear when one of the stories of Jesus is viewed in this light. “On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?' Then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers.'” (Matthew 7:22-23 NRSV) Notice that Jesus never denies anything that they claim they did for Him. In Paul's terminology they were serving the Law of God with their mind. Apparently they believed that if they performed correctly that they would deserve to get into heaven and enjoy eternal life.
But the real underlying problem, that they refused to believe, was that they were trying to please God by “pushing their chains” instead of allowing Jesus to “pull their chains” through an intimate attraction to His heart through a vital connection with their spirit. The “knowing” talked about in this instance is the kind of “knowing” that a husband and wife enjoy in their loving intimacy with each other. When we change the direction of our attention and our hearts are allowed to lead us instead of our minds, and Jesus is allowed to lead our hearts, then our chain can tighten up and we will begin to move into the intimacy required to find ourselves in the place described by the other group in Jesus story.
“Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.” (Matthew 7:21 NRSV) If we fall into the trap of externalizing this “will of my Father”, we find ourselves right back into serving the Law with our mind while serving the law of sin with our flesh. “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” (Hebrews 11:6 NIV)
It only makes sense that to live in the presence of God for eternity it would be necessary to live in a way that pleases Him. After all, if we are not pleasing to God but are living in His presence, it would be an impossibility, for to be close to God and yet out of sync with His nature (the Law) is nothing short of pure torture and a description of hell itself. Hebrews says that to please God we must have faith.
But this faith is not the kind of artificial faith that is produced by working very hard with our mind to believe something not willingly embraced with our heart. That is serving the Law with our mind – trying to lead ourselves with our mind instead of our heart.
Real faith is spontaneous and is a result of a growing intimacy of the heart and spirit with the heart and Spirit of God. Faith is simply the natural trust that happens inside of anyone toward someone they have come to know well enough to realize they are worthy of trust. The most obvious exhibition of real, mature faith is found in Revelation chapter 5, one of the glorious worship services indulged in by everyone who sees the real worth of Jesus and responds to the attractions of His love for us.
I choose today to reorient my focus on what is the leader in my makeup. I want to pay much more attention to the condition of my spirit and stay in connection with God's Spirit while containing my intellect to its proper role as supporting advisor. I want to learn by experience what it means to live from my heart with my spirit being led by the Spirit of God. “For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, 'Abba! Father!'” (Romans 8:14-15)
I started out this morning looking for what it means to set my mind on the spirit mentioned so many times in Romans 8. As I scanned down through the verses picking up clues and bits of information to form a description, I came across the very popular text of Romans 8:28. “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” I remembered some people's comments about some of the words not being in the original so I decided to look back at the Greek and see what insights I might find there.
I was startled when I carefully examined the Greek words behind this text and saw a very different picture of what it says here. Here is an alternative wording of this verse from what I find in the definitions of the Greek words from Strong's.
But we perceive that all (things, people, the whole gamut daily) cooperate (mysteriously) at a point in time – because of the totally selfless love (agapao) of God – for the benefit of those who accept the invitation to focus their mind on the Spirit by exposing themselves before God (like the shewbread in the sanctuary).
Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. Romans 5:12.
The Bible does not say that God punished the human race for one man’s sin; but that the disposition of sin, viz., my claim to my right to myself, entered into the human race by one man, and that another Man took on Him the sin of the human race and put it away (Heb. 9:26)—an infinitely profounder revelation. The disposition of sin is not immorality and wrong-doing, but the disposition of selfrealization—I am my own god. This disposition may work out in decorous morality or in indecorous immorality, but it has the one basis, my claim to my right to myself. When Our Lord faced men with all the forces of evil in them, and men who were clean living and moral and upright, He did not pay any attention to the moral degradation of the one or to the moral attainment of the other; He looked at something we do not see, viz., the disposition.
Sin is a thing I am born with and I cannot touch it; God touches sin in Redemption. In the Cross of Jesus Christ God redeemed the whole human race from the possibility of damnation through the heredity of sin. God nowhere holds a man responsible for having the heredity of sin. The condemnation is not that I am born with a heredity of sin, but if when I realize Jesus Christ came to deliver me from it, I refuse to let Him do so, from that moment I begin to get the seal of damnation. “And this is the judgment” (the critical moment) “that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light.”
Chambers, Oswald: My Utmost for His Highest : Selections for the Year. Grand Rapids, MI : Discovery House Publishers, 1993, c1935, S. October 5
“This disposition may work out in decorous morality or in indecorous immorality... He did not pay any attention to the moral degradation of the one or to the moral attainment of the other; He looked at something we do not see, viz., the disposition.” This is a very good way to describe the two groups of people I see addressed in Romans. The first group displaying moral degradation is presented in Romans 1 and again primarily I think in Romans 6. The second group who focus on moral attainments are found in Romans 2 and primarily again in Romans 7. The commonality between both classes of people is the root problem of the condition of their spirit, what Chambers describes as the disposition.
This also helps me understand more clearly the issue of inherited sin that makes so many people very upset and mad at God. When we think of sin as primarily external oriented bad things we do that make us guilty before a Judge, then we get a strong reaction of feeling like a victim of unfairness by the Judge and we resent God's right to judge us.
But when we come to realize that the deeper issue of sin is our disposition that demands our rights for ourselves and our right to self-actualization independent of our Creator, then the issue of sin takes on a whole new color. In fact, it may not even appear as sin anymore but may seem to be a very legitimate attitude or belief.
Our obsession with rights may have caused us to embrace within ourselves the very core of the sin problem without our even realizing it, which in turn causes a great deal of confusion when trying to understand what God wants to do for us in salvation. Based on our country's Constitution document, many of us believe that our rights are inherent in just being a human being, but that is not really the case. It is true that our legitimate, God-given rights supersede the interference of any government or group of people trying to dictate and micromanage our lives. Governments can only give privileges, not rights. Rights must be respected by others but cannot be endowed on us by them.
But our relation to God is quite different than our relation to government by other humans. Our “rights” as human beings in relation to each other are really privileges when viewed in relation to God. And while rights cannot be granted, but only respected by other humans, they cannot be viewed in the same way when we think about our relationship with the One who created us.
“The disposition of sin is not immorality and wrong-doing, but the disposition of selfrealization—I am my own god. This disposition may work out in decorous morality or in indecorous immorality, but it has the one basis, my claim to my right to myself.” Self-fulfillment, actualization, realization are all very popular ideas today that run cross-wise to the design we were originally created to live by. Salvation places us “in Christ Jesus” where we are not self-actualized or realized but find our highest joy and fulfillment in realizing His character and beauty, love and power flowing through us while lost in complete self-forgetful focus on others.
Many religious people rightly denounce the inroads of popular philosophy about self-actualization. But they fail to realize that in their attempts to achieve righteousness themselves they have simply replaced one symptom of sin for another; because sin, at its core, is not in the external manifestations but is a condition of the heart and the spirit causing us to focus on ourselves while the rest of the universe lives in the condition of selfless, life-giving attention on others. The life of all creation is the necessary circulation of the life-giving blood of selfless love – receiving to give. When we get caught in the trap of focusing more on our selves than in being open channels to pass through grace from God then we begin to stagnate and become poisoned with the lies of sin.
I believe that Oswald Chambers and Paul are saying the same thing. The disposition inside of us, the condition of our spirit, is what we need to pay most attention to. When we realize that we are born with the natural problem of idol worship – the craving to be our own god and run our own life apart from God – then we can recognize more clearly that the real problem is inherent in our natural disposition of selfishness. This is the deepest place inside of us that must be transformed by God's grace for us to enjoy the Redemption provided for us in Christ.
Romans 8 is Paul's description of the condition of connecting our spirit to be led by God's Spirit so that we can become reoriented to live the selfless, other-focused life we were designed to live and enjoy the satisfaction and fulfillment that our hearts deeply crave. How do we get into that relationship with God? By surrendering the very core of the problem to Him – our right to ourself.
While I do not believe I should surrender my God-given rights to be controlled or manipulated by other humans, at the same time I cannot find success and fulfillment by demanding my rights. My only hope is to surrender my rights back to the One who gave them to me to begin with, trusting that He will look after me and care for me while at the same time setting healthy boundaries in my relationships with others.
But I can only live in this kind of relationship with Him if I see enough of His goodness to be able to trust Him with my right to myself. The worse my picture of God is twisted and distorted by the lies of the enemy the more difficult it is for me to rest in His love and entrust Him with the management of my life. Because of this I have found it most helpful to fill my mind with more and more clear truth about what God is really like. As I do this the faith and trust awaken naturally and I don't have to force myself to trust Him. The more I see His trustworthiness the more naturally my faith flows from a heart drawn to His genuine love for me.
There are a number of elements brought into these verses from points of emphasis by religious flesh. But it is shown that these goals cannot be accomplished by a religion of the flesh.
Fulfilling the requirements of the Law – righteousness – obedience to God's rules.
Accomplish this by firmly setting your mind to it – determination.
Attaining to eternal life – getting life for ourselves.
Becoming like God – godliness.
Subjecting ones self to the Law of God – just surrender to obedience.
Pleasing God (by implication but unarticulated – appeasing God).
Belonging to God, His chosen people (or maybe God being on our side).
Living under a sense of obligation to keeping the requirements of the Law through hard work (deeds). This could include a sense of obligation for “speaking in tongues”, getting the “spirit”, or any number of other denominational preferences and demands.
This is the spirit of slavery motivated by fear.
I now see a direct connection between this passage and Romans 2:17-29 where he describes explicitly the kind of religious thinking that he labels as “according to the flesh”. It might be easy to think this doesn't apply to us since he started out with the name “Jew”, but that is not going to cut it. Even his reference to circumcision can sometimes become a distraction, but again that is only the particular issue that is a symptom of a deeper human problem in our view of trying to get right with God. These passages apply just as strongly today to our familiar routines and forms of religion just as much as it applied to Christian Jews in Paul's day. All we need to do is replace a few words that are unique to their time and tradition with our own favorite issues and doctrines and we will find that this book fits our situation all too well. The underlying principles in the heart and mind have not changed at all.
It is becoming apparent that the more I look at these passage the more questions I come up with. I guess its a good thing I am not on a hard time schedule with any deadlines to meet. That allows me to continue to explore for answers to these questions even though that process produces even more questions. I find that asking questions is a wonderful form of freedom that maybe I have not long indulged in because of the atmosphere of suppression usually surrounding religion. Typically religious people prefer to simply tell others what to think and believe instead of encouraging questions. But I believe that real spirituality thrives on questions, at least if the spirit of the questioner is honestly seeking for truth and not just using questions as a smokescreen for animosity.
Questions in the spirit realm are like hunger in the physical body. The more intense and focused our hunger is the more tasty food becomes when the hunger finds its desire. The same is true in emotional things and I suspect in every area of life. If we do not feel our need (question) we do not appreciate the fulfillment supplied for that need.
One of the biggest problems with typical evangelism is that we are most often trying to present “answers” to questions that most people are not asking. We are trying to supply something for which there is no hunger so we find a great deal of resistance to our force-feeding techniques. Any surprise there? I find the same principle in methods used to study the Bible. Nearly every form of “Bible study” that I have ever seen is generally a regurgitation of someone else's beliefs imposed over a string of proof texts and pre-arranged answers to which the studier is expected to conform. This is simply becoming a clone of another person's thinking and disengaging our own faculties for stimulating use of our own brains. It was never God's design for us and I am continually baffled as to why religious people continue to use this kind of methods. The very term “Bible study” or “prayer meeting” carried an immediate sense of heaviness and dread for me for most of my life whenever I heard it suggested. It was not until I began getting involved in a dynamic group using inductive-style thinking for study did I get really excited about the Bible and have enjoyed it increasingly ever since.
Here are a few more questions that I am wondering about as I look at this passage. I don't have time right now to explore them, but I like to at least get them out into the light so I can ponder them and listen for any suggestions that the Spirit may bring to my mind throughout the day.
8 why would a person want to please God? Not appease God. For a growing, bonded relationship.
9 He does not belong to Him. It is not clear who each of the pronouns belongs to. It may work equally well either way.
10 the spirit is alive because of righteousness. Not our righteousness – that is the deeds of the flesh in verse 13. Our spirit comes alive because of His righteousness. How/why is that?
Adam and Eve were tempted to live according to the flesh instead of the spirit.
Several references to dwelling. Goes back to John 15 – abide.
11 He who raised Jesus... will give life to your mortal bodies. Notice it is not Jesus who is doing this. And also notice that Paul says mortal bodies as opposed to flesh. What is the difference?
13 ...by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds... Notice that this activity is done by the spirit – in the spirit realm, not something the flesh can do. Also note that what is put to death here is deeds. This brings up the idea of any dependence on deeds of the Law by which to change God's mind about us.
14, 15 Spirit of God is opposite the spirit of slavery. Could it be that in 6:16 the second kind of slavery mentioned is legalism resulting in legalistic righteousness? Not according to 19 & 22. In 8:15 he moves the analogy up a step to go from a slave mentality in chapter 6 to adoption and a spirit of loving a kind and generous parent.
16 The Spirit testifies with our spirit... The more synchronized we get with God the more His Spirit reinforces the truths we are discovering and internalizing.
