CAMPUS: "Enemies Part 4"

Hi, this is John O'Zanting, the pastor of Evolved Church.

And this is the Evolved Church podcast.

Thanks so much for tuning in.

We hope that you find today's message encouraging and full of hope for wherever you're at.

But we're going to jump into talking about the flesh and the spirit.

We are in part four of our enemy series, and I just want to challenge you.

I hope you brought your notebook.

I hope you brought your pen and your Bible because the Lord wants to deposit something in each and every one of you today.

So we're going to read scripture together, but you're you have a challenge, okay?

Do you say, like, do you got that?

You got a challenge.

So, what the challenge is, is there's gonna be scripture on the screen, and there's gonna be some lines that are underlined, and you're gonna only read those, okay?

So I'm gonna read the ones that are not underlined, and we're all gonna read together the underlined ones.

You got it?

Only four of you got it.

You got it?

Okay, cool.

Scripture's on the screen, let's read together Romans 8, verse 1 to 11, life in the spirit.

Romans 8:1–11

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

You ready?

For the law, yes, set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

Great work.

For God has done what the law weakened by the flesh could not do, by sending his own son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit.

For those who live according to the flesh, set their minds on the things of the flesh.

But those who live according to the spirit set their minds on the things of the spirit, for to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace.

For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law, indeed it cannot.

Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

You, however, are not in the flesh, but in the spirit.

Amen.

If in fact the spirit of God dwells in you, anyone who does not have the spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the spirit of life because of righteousness.

If the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you.

Come on, let's pray.

Can you bow your heads with me?

Lord Jesus, we thank you for your word.

God, it is sharper than any double-edged sword.

It cuts through bone and marrow.

And God, I thank you that as I come tonight to speak this word, these are not my words, Lord, but I pray that your spirit is the reason that brings conviction and challenge and brings life.

Lord, I thank you for just the privilege of it that it is that we get to live and dwell in your house, Lord.

I thank you for relationship with you.

I thank you for Jesus and for righteousness and the fullness of life and peace that we have in you, Jesus.

We love you.

In your name we pray.

All God's people said, Amen, amen.

You can grab your seats, grab your Bibles, grab your notebooks.

We are about to unpack some good stuff.

You ready?

Okay, great.

I want to start off by saying this is not a TED talk.

It's not.

It's not a motivational speech.

This is not self-help.

Tonight, I feel a burden for a lot of you in this room that this is gonna be something that transforms you from the inside out.

It's not just something that you're gonna sit through and not think about later as you go home.

It is for you to be transformed from the inside out.

Ephesians 2, verse 1 to 6.

Ephesians 2:1–6

Once you were dead because of your disobedience of your many sins, you used to live in sin just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil, the commander of the powers in the unseen world.

He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God.

All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature.

By our very nature, we were subject to God's anger, just like everyone else, and this is my favorite part.

But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when we he raised Christ from the dead.

It is only by God's grace that you have been saved, only by God's grace.

For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.

So God can point to us, to us, in the future generations as an example of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness towards us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus.

And I want you to note Paul's trifecta here.

One, you used to live in sin just like the rest of the world.

Two, obeying the devil, the commander of the powers in the unseen world, and three, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature.

The passionate and desires and inclinations of our sinful nature.

And I want to read this in a in a couple different um versions.

Ephesians 2, verse 3, in the New King James says, Among whom also we also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and the mind.

Ephesians 2:3

We were by nature children of wrath, just like the others.

In another translation in the NIV, it says, All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts, like the rest.

We were by nature deserving of wrath.

In the ESV, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, we were by nature children of wrath, just like the rest of mankind.

And in the message, we all did it.

All of us doing what we felt like doing when we felt like doing it, all of us in the same boat.

And a lot of this talks about the flesh, and so we're gonna dive into that today.

We're gonna talk about the flesh today.

And the flesh is that self-regarding element in human nature which has been corrupted at the source, characterized by appetites and propensities, which, if unchecked, produce the works of the flesh listed in Galatians 5, verse 19.

Galatians 5:19

And we're gonna talk about what the flesh produces in our life in a little bit.

But let's dive into that meaning of the word flesh.

And and we know that in the English dictionary, there's just like so many words with countless meanings, you know.

I I've never had to like learn English, I just like grew up like speaking it as like a child, whatever.

I don't know what you grew up like learning, but if someone like was learning the English language and had to like learn the meaning of the word set, like you can set a volleyball, and then you can set the table, and then you can get a set of dishes, and and and there's just like so many meanings of the word set.

So we know there's words that have different meanings, and flesh is just one of those words.

And so the word flesh has a couple meanings, but I'm gonna touch on them too, two today, just to get our our thoughts going.

You ready?

Okay, cool.

One, flesh, the material that covers the bones of a human or animal body.

Anyone like studying like body things in school?

Just a few of us, okay.

Well, I mean, you're probably learning about that type of flesh in in your classes.

Cool.

We're not talking about that one tonight.

I just wanted to let you know that's cool that you're studying that in school.

Um, but tonight we are talking about a different meaning for the word flesh.

And in this commentary, it says, flesh, the psychological aspect of human nature, which actually contrasts with the spiritual nature.

In other words, that aspect of human nature which is characterized by or reflects typical human reasoning and desires in contrast with those aspects of human thought and behavior which relate to God and the spiritual life.

Human nature, human aspects, natural and human.

And so that's just one commentary on flesh, but what does like flesh look like in our lives?

If we are people and have this flesh nature in us, what does it look like when it's produced in our lives?

And that's where we're gonna run to Galatians 5, verse 19, like I messaged, like I um mentioned earlier.

Galatians 5:19

And so it says, it is obvious what kind of life develops out of trying to get your own way all the time.

Repetitive, loveless, cheap sex, a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage, frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness, trinket gods, magic show religion, paranoid loneliness, cutthroat competition, all-consuming yet never satisfied wants, a brutal temper, an importance to love or to be loved, divided homes and divided lives, small-minded and lopsided pursuits, the vicious habit habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival, uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions, ugly parity parodies of community, and I could go on, is what Paul says.

And and this is what flesh produces in our life.

And for some of you, you might be looking at that list and seeing seeing your life beside it and seeing some things that actually are you're living and producing in your life, and we're gonna get to that later.

But the world's mantra is you do you.

Do what your heart wants.

Oh, if it makes you feel good, then I'm sure it's fine.

Be true to yourself, speak your truth, just do it.

All of all of this, all of this stuff, raising the question, which self?

We just learned that we have more than one self, the flesh, the spiritual nature.

What which self do we do we follow?

Which self do we do we do we allow to direct our lives?

And my first point tonight is to thine right self be true.

Romans 8, 5 to 8, we read it earlier.

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh.

But those who live according to the spirit, the spirit, set their minds on the things of the spirit.

For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace.

For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does does not submit to God's law.

Indeed, it cannot.

Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

And and so to which self?

And to that I want to tell you, to thine mind set on the spirit self be true.

To thine mind set on the spirit self be true.

And we know from Galatians 5 what flesh produces.

If we're set on the flesh, this is what our life produces.

If it provides, um, I mean, it produces trying to get your own way all the time, repetitive, loveless, cheap sex, a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage, frenzied and joy and um and joyless grabs for happiness, trinking gods and magic show religion, all of this stuff that we just read, that's what the flesh produces in our life.

And and and like I said, it's not difficult to identify with Paul when we look at the church today with the flesh being produced in people's lives.

It's not hard to relate to our campus right now, people, as we as we look around and see the stinking accumulation of wealth and and of identity and all of this stuff of cheapless sex and identity rooted in the flesh.

And this is this is the world that we live in.

And so Romans 7, verse 18 to 20 says, For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is in my flesh.

Romans 7:18–20

For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out.

For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do want, the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing.

Now, if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but the sin that dwells within me.

Romans 7, verse 18 to 20, in another translation, and I know that nothing good lives in me.

Romans 7:18–20

Who can relate to that?

There's a lot, there's a lot of stinky stuff in here.

And I know that nothing good lives in me in my sinful nature.

I want to do what is right, but I can't.

I want to do what is good, but I don't.

I don't want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway.

But if I do what I don't want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong.

It is the sin living in me.

And this is something we all deal with, even if you didn't put up your hand saying there's stinky garbage in you.

There's some stinky stuff in you, okay, people?

You can be honest with yourself.

That's what I really want for tonight, is just to be honest with the areas of the flesh that are in your life.

Um, and and and that point that I talked about, to thine right self be true, it is the mantra of the Jesus follower today when it comes to winning the war against the enemy of our flesh.

And we and we know what it produces in us.

And from that same chapter in Galatians, we know with all certainty what a mind set on the spirit self produces.

And we spent some time in a series this summer called Witness at our main campus at Evolve, examining the evidence of a fruit of the fruit of living lives with our mind set on the spirit.

And Augustine of Hippo or Saint Augustine was a fourth-century theologian and philosopher.

And I love this, really catch this, you guys.

According to Augustine, the basic problem of the human condition is that of disordered desires or loves.

In his view, human beings were created in love and for love.

So we are lovers first and thinkers second.

We live primarily from desire, not our rational mind.

Through Augustine's lens, the real problem of the human condition isn't that we don't love, it's it's that we love either the wrong things or the right things, but in the wrong order.

And John Mark Homer says in the past, it was the responsibility of all people to restrain the desires of their flesh.

And today, it's the right of all people to follow the desires of their authentic self.

And this, of course, is an ethical minefield.

What is morality if not a place to stand against our desires?

Any affected morality will must draw lines that desire can't cross.

We must draw lines that desire cannot cross.

And and there's so many beautiful things.

There's so many beautiful desires.

It's okay to love or desire hard work.

But if that desire becomes disordered and and your desire for work and and and um money becomes more than your family or your marriage one day, then something's out of order and your family's gonna see the front of that.

And it's okay to love sex.

God designed it for beautiful intention, but created order and best practice in mind.

But if the desire for sex becomes disorder and seeks to give framework to your longing for identity and need for community or acceptance or colors outside the lines of the Father's intentions for sex, then that desire is out of order.

And as countercultural people, but not of this world, followers of Jesus, we are invited to push against the world's mantra of be true to yourself, do what you want, and allow the Holy Spirit to lead and convict us in a life that is honoring and true to our right self, our right self that is set on the Spirit of God.

And we are lovers first, so let's make sure that our loves are in order in a way that gives credit to the way and to the truth and to the life of Jesus.

And Michael Timmith says, the way I define love, and I love this, the way I define love is by using the fruit of the Spirit, which starts with love.

I believe that joy is love rejoicing, peace is love at rest, patience is love waiting, kindness is love interacting, goodness is love initiating, faithfulness is love keeping its word, gentleness is love empath empathizing, and self-control is love resisting temptation, and to follow in the way of Jesus, to practice his practices and overcome the war with our sin nature or flesh.

He invites us to order our desires in a way that is congruent with the Father's will, his created order and best practice to his sons and daughters.

And so to wrap up my first point to thine right self be true, set your mind on the Spirit of God, not on your flesh.

We are in a series called Enemies, talking about the enemy, and he's been mentioned a few times, and his only job is to steal, to kill, and destroy your life.

And one of the ways he does that is by using your flesh, using your garbage, your desires, your loves, your insecurities.

He uses it all.

And it's one thing to understand the realness of the enemy, but it's another thing to know that you have authority because you have Christ.

And my second point is that it's easier to blame the devil than to take ownership over setting your mind on the spirit and putting off the flesh.

Romans 8, verse 1 to 11, there is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Romans 8:1–11

For the law of the spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.

For God has done with the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do.

By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin he condemned sin and flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not according to the flesh, but according to the spirit.

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to their spirit set their minds on the things of the spirit.

For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace.

For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's laws.

Indeed it cannot.

For you for who are in the flesh cannot please God.

You, however, I'm talking to all of you.

Paul's talking to all of you.

You, however, are not in the flesh, but you're in the spirit.

In fact, the spirit of God dwells in you.

Anyone who does not have the spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

But if Christ is in you, although the body, your body is dead because of sin, the spirit is life because of righteousness.

If the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his spirit who dwells in you.

And sometimes we'd rather blame the devil and stay a victim than do the hard work of setting our minds on the spirit and experiencing experiencing his life and peace.

And C.S.

Lewis in Screw Tape Letter says, in the first place, I have always found that the tough periods of the human undulation, ebb and flows, ups and downs provide excellent opportunity for all sensual temptation, particularly those of sex.

And this may surprise you because, of course, there is more physical energy and therefore more potential appetite at the peak periods.

But you must remember that the powers of resistance are then also at their highest.

The health and spirits which you want to use in producing lust can also, alas, be very easily used for play or for work or play or thought or innocuous merriment.

The attack has a much better chance of success when the man's whole inner world inner world is drab and cold and empty.

And I want to ask you today, Evolve on Campus, how's your inner world?

How's your mind?

How's your heart?

Is it drab?

Is it cold?

Is it empty?

And if so, what are you doing about it?

What are you doing about that emptiness and that brokenness?

Sometimes, again, we'd rather blame the devil and stay a victim than do the hard work of setting our mind on the spirit and experiencing his life in peace.

And I'm not just here talking today like I haven't been in it, okay?

We're gonna get real vulnerable here because today isn't just just just a just a TED talk.

It's not just self-help, but I believe that there is full transformation, there is full freedom in a person called Jesus because he's done it in my life.

See, in high school, I was living walking in sexual sin.

I was.

And I had never told a soul about it.

I had never told a friend, I had never told my parents.

I was just just by myself, riddled with this shame and this condemnation, and I thought I was alone.

The enemy was lying to me, saying, You're the only one who has ever struggled with this in the planet.

And I just believed this lie until one day the Lord, I heard him just say, I need you to be free from this, and I desire to be free from it.

And I was like, Lord, I'm stuck in this cycle of shame and condemnation, and I don't know how to get out.

And I just felt the Lord really put on my heart confession.

And um, I had this friend that I trusted, and and we were on a walk, and and of course I was like, okay, I have to tell her that I um I struggle with sexual sin.

That's cool.

Like my heart was beating really fast, and I was like, okay, how to do this?

Like, what the heck?

Uh you know, I don't know, has anyone else done this?

Uh you don't have to put up your hand, it's okay.

Um, but I I um I talked to this friend and I was like, hey man, I struggle with this.

You wanna know what she said?

Dude, me too.

And from there, we started weekly accountability with each other.

Being honest about the weeks that we had slipped up, being honest of the weeks that we were strong, running from that desire.

The desire was really just to be loved, and that's what it was rooted in.

And you want to know what?

I'm standing here today completely free of that sexual sin because of that encounter and because of that moment of confession.

And I'm standing here today to tell you that that is for you too.

And so if you are struggling with something in This room today, I want to challenge you and I want to encourage you that this is to be transformed from the inside out.

It's not just an idea to set your mind on the spirit, but it is a full inward transformation that the Lord wants to do.

And so that's where I'm speaking from today, and that is my burden for you today.

So if there's something coming up for you, we're gonna have response time later.

But I want to challenge you if that's what it is, if if it's pride, if it's insecurity, if it's sexual sin, if it's a relationship, if it's a past, whatever it is.

The stinking accumulation, whatever the Galatians' flesh um producing is talked about, that there's a reason that that's being highlighted to you today, and the Lord wants to set you free from that thing.

I believe that in this place.

Ephesians 4, 17 to 24.

With the Lord's authority I say this: live no longer as the Gentiles do, for they were hopelessly confused.

Their minds are full of darkness, they wander far from the life God gives because they have closed their minds and hardened their hearts against him.

They have no sense of shame.

They live for lustful pleasure and eagerly practice every kind of impurity.

But that isn't what you learned about Christ.

Since you have heard that cheese about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception, and instead let the spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes.

Put on your new nature, created to be like God, truly righteous and holy.

And it is easier to blame the devil because he's so stinking annoying when he comes in with that temptation.

It's easier to blame him than to do the work of setting your mind on the spirit, on God's word, in confession, in all of those things.

And so I want to speak to you whether you are sitting on a peak today or in the in the deepest valley of your life, taking ownership over setting your mind on the spirit and putting off the flesh remains at the same importance.

What in every single um high or low of your life?

And so stop blaming the devil for your lack of ordered love and disordered desires.

It's easier to say it's the devil's fault than to ask, What am I allowing into my mind?

Shows, music, if you're struggling with pornography, you have access to it every single second of your day.

It's walking around in your pocket.

If you're struggling with wanting a relationship in this place, but you but you keep like watching movies about about this dream person that you could have.

If it's pride and you just keep getting stuck in yourself, whatever it is for you, what are you allowing to fill your mind when it comes to the to the flesh that is rising up inside of you?

What habits are you feeding is are feeding your sinful desire?

Exhaustion, burnout?

We read that quote.

It's the easiest, easiest time for the enemy to attack when we are weak, when we are tired.

How's your rhythms for sleep?

Are you struggling with sexual sexual sin and the enemy comes in at 3 a.m.?

Well, that's gonna be hard, dude.

So so how's you how what are what habits are feeding your sinful desires?

Are you making God, making room for God in your daily life?

Reading scripture, bringing friends in that that are real friends that are gonna challenge you?

Are you taking responsibility for your own choices?

For the things you do, for how you how you talk to your friends, how you show up for your family?

Am I are you allowing the Holy Spirit to change you?

Are you allowing him space in your life to speak to you, to challenge you, to convict you of these things?

And so, so how how do we do this?

We can ask all the questions, we can we can have this conviction in our heart, but but I want to give you some practical today of how to set your mind on the spirit.

And so, first is confessing and find accountability.

Just like I did, it changed my life.

And it was scary, okay?

It's not easy, it's not easy to be like, hey, this is the deepest vulnerable part in my life, and I'm gonna tell you, and you could be a poop head or something and be rude about it, or you could actually like be an honoring friend, right?

We don't know, we don't know.

The enemy like brings lies into your head, whatever he can to get you out of it.

So confessing and find accountability.

If that's something that is tugging on your heart, I want to challenge you to do that tonight with someone that you trust, or one of our leaders, any one of our guy leaders, Raffin, um, Luke Wilkins, any of these guys, go talk to them tonight.

If that is something that you want to do, they will pray for you and set up accountability.

And that accountability isn't gonna be them checking in, it's gonna be you being honest.

And you are keeping yourself accountable in that.

You get to let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes.

How are you reading scripture?

How are you allowing the living word of God to speak to you in your daily life to challenge you, to be so aware of where he's speaking to you?

Next is to put on your new nature, to be created like God.

Do you see yourself as a son and as a daughter?

Do you see yourself beautifully and wonderfully made?

The way that the Lord sees you, put on your new nature, righteous and holy in the eyes of God.

You are in the spirit.

Christ is in you.

The same spirit that raised Christ from the dead gives you life.

And and and so we're gonna we're gonna step into a moment of response.

And and I know this was like a heavy thing, and I hope you're hope the Lord is speaking to you.

Actually, know He's speaking to you and challenging your heart of where you can set your mind on the spirit and not on the flesh.

But I have homework for you and for and for me, for all of us this week.

And I want you to pull out your phone and write this down so that you remember if you have to put it in your calendar, do that, whatever you have to do to remind your heart uh that this is important for you.

And so I want I want us all to practice 12 minutes of silence and solitude.

Silence and solitude is just sitting, and that might be a hard one for a lot of you.

So if you have to do three minutes, go for it.

But would you practice silence and solitude this week and allow the Lord, like just give the Lord space.

God, what do you want to speak to me?

He might speak tremendously to you, it might be a small whisper, it might be a big challenge.

I don't know what it's gonna be, but if you give him space, he will speak to you.

Practice 12 minutes of silence and solitude with scripture twice a day, every day for the next week.

Begin with prayer, invite the Holy Spirit to renew your thoughts and attitudes.

So, can we stand in this place all across this room?

I don't know what the Lord was speaking to you tonight, but I believe that there's freedom in this place, that the Lord wants to set you free from whatever you're holding, from the cycle of shame, from the cycle of not feeling enough, from the cycle of insecurity, the cycle of pride.

The Lord wants to set you free.

So, would you close your eyes all the way to this room?

Thank you so much for listening to today's message.

If you're ever in the Edmonton area, pop by for a visit.

And if you need any more information, visit EvolveChurch.com.