One of the conundrums of a “New Believer” is the “New” spiritual fight they find within their minds. The Apostle Paul refers to it as the “Flesh lusting against the Spirit” in Gal. 5:17. And for many of those delivered from the darkness of the old sinful habits and into the “…the kingdom of the Son of His love,” Col. 1:13, the war is very pronounced and real. The temptations coming in remembrance of the life from which they have been delivered will subtly sneak up on them at inopportune times, seizing the moment, and begging for attention. If they fall they experience guilt and the lie that God’s forgiveness is no longer available for them; they often fall very hard as they accept this lie. If they do not recover, as God desires they do, in the aftermath what I often hear is, “I am just not good enough” and or “I cannot make commitments to God.” This is sad for the wisdom found in the glorious gospel of the grace of God teaches us that we are to get back up and persist onward in the battle for the weakness of the flesh does not necessitate a weakness in the Grace of God. On the contrary, “where sin abounded, Grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” Rom. 5:20-21. That statement—that wisdom is a big chunk of the greatness that is the gospel!
In the aforementioned passage, James tells us of the two characteristics that all fleshly lusts which war against the believer are rooted in, “Bitter envy” and “Self seeking.” Just this morning I was listening to a conversation where a man who does not have a relationship with Jesus was boasting of the “fun” he had over the weekend at a drinking party. When I hear these things my soul gets an empty sick feeling. I liken it to the Spirit of God telling me of the emptiness and futility that characterizes the life of those who live to fulfill their fleshly gratifications. We will call this lost person, whom I know very well, Cal. If I were to follow Cal around I would find that he lives a life that centers on trying to find what he calls fun. Fun to Cal is drinking, pornography, and electronic gadgets. That said he, hops from one self seeking desire to another trying to find that one special thing that puts all others to shame. Meanwhile, the clock of his life keeps ticking away, tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock, as the precious time God has given Him in order to begin the life he could have in Christ is squandered away.
Cal is typical of billions of people who live the self-seeking life—hopping from one gratification to another. But what will happen when the clock stops ticking, tick-tock, tick-tock, tick….? When asked about this the common empty response is, “At least I have lived a life well-pleasing to me.” That is true, and if Jesus were speaking to them face-to-face He would tell them “they have their reward,” cp. Matt. 6:2, 5, 16. Personally my soul cannot rest unless I persist in preaching the gospel and trying to “pull some from the fire,” Jude 1:23. My desire is that all people know Christ, the joy of the Lord, and the power of His resurrection. So the question bubbles up, “Why do some Christians get fired up and stay fired up while others seem to lose their fire, if they ever had one?” The answer is in Jesus’ Great Commission, discipleship. We are failing miserably at discipleship in the churches. Maybe it is because we have never been discipled ourselves. Discipleship involves, teaching others the whole Gospel, spending time to listen to them, loving them, helping them out, and modeling the “Christ-Life” for them. Christians need to see that there is “Joy” in serving the Lord. And the consecrated life is not going to result in the Lord saying, “They have their reward, but rather, “Enter into the joy of the Lord,” Matt. 25:21, 23, and receive the “treasures you have laid up in heaven,” Matt. 6:20. Discipleship is being willing to say I will deny myself, take up His cross and follow, Mark 8:34. That is a sore spot in Christendom.
God Has Not Left Us Wanting
We have all the resources and the power of heaven, at our fingertips if we will only decide to use them. In praying for the believers at Ephesus Paul stated the following request in prayer:
Wisdom from above is what dictates the outcome of decisions made in the life of Spirit-filled believers. But just as a baby needs to be nurtured and fed in order to learn to walk so must all believers at one time or another. Yes, there are self-taught Christians who learned early through avid Bible reading and much prayer to listen to the Holy Spirit as their lives were transformed; but most are not.
Today’s church is going to continue to decline until we begin to build one another up in the wisdom that comes from the Word of God and walking in the Spirit. Discipleship and self-sacrifice—being serious about the call Christ places on our hearts—is one of the keys.