Romans 7...Flesh & the Past

   Well...after a long break, I'm going to jump back into my study of the book of Romans.  This blog is taken from a great message I heard while leading worship at Lifepointe Church by Dr. Marcus Warner, President of Deeper Walk Ministries.

   Paul writes, "Why do I do what I don't want to do?"  How many times have you asked yourself that question?  We have good intentions to do the right thing, but are somehow "stuck."

   Each one of us has a baggage compartment, a powder keg tucked inside.  We might think we've grown beyond our issues or figured out a way to handle or get around them when, all of a sudden, someone pushes one of our buttons and, BOOM, there it is. One moment we feel fine & normal, and the next we've revealed a bad or flawed part of us that we don't like or want to be.

   Romans 7: The dividing line is the cross - life before Christ vs. life after Christ.

   Every Christian always has two options in every choice.  We can handle it in the flesh or in the spirit; deal with it our way or God's way, in our strength/self or trust God, leaving the results in His care (like we can really control results).

   Before Christ, there was the law; the authority that draws a line in the sand and dares us to step across.  Of course as soon as we do, we become slaves of sin. Sin has a legitimate claim (rulership) in our lives because we've all broken the law (stepped over the line).  Sin then becomes our master with a very powerful weapon - death (Rom 6:23).  Eventually, sin will kill us for our many years of "faithful service" to him.

   Many (enslaved) Christians still live as if this is the way life works.  In our minds, there is a paradigm or model of reality still setup like this: we're under the law, we cross the line, and live under the threat of death and in bondage. But Romans 7 says we've died to the law and sin, and now have hope of heaven.

   After Christ, there is a new covenant, a throne of grace.  Sitting on this "throne"  is the Spirit, a new system for living.

   By living in flesh, we define ourselves by our performance. We measure our identity by the standards we setup, based on talent, looks, achievement, what others say about us, etc.  It's like living with a mirror in our face always judging and comparing ourselves to others.  God wants us to get rid of that.

   So when Paul asks, "Why do I do what I don't want to do?", one of his core answers is it's because we don't know who we are when living in the flesh.  We don't understand the difference between flesh and spirit, thereby taking our identity from living in the flesh.

   Living in the flesh is characterized by its selfish desires.  It's like a 4 years old kid who wants chocolate cake for breakfast.  His mom says no, but he says he really wants it. Then he starts with "but mom," and other excuses.  When the answer is still no, he start bargaining, which turns into tantrums.  This strategy - trying to get what we want to progressive degrees, going from nice to not-so-nice, is motivated by the flesh.  It's also called immaturity.

   We not only have a battle with the flesh, we also have a battle with the past.  These childhood strategies become patterns in our adult life. When we don't get what we want or our way when we want it, these flesh patterns ultimately lead to a wounded/broken heart.  Wounds can lead to lies about who we are planted by Satan (we're not good enough, it's everybody's fault, have to take care of ourselves, this is just how life works, etc.)  When these lies take root, we become protective (controlling).  We makes vows to ourselves and develop strongholds (fruit of wrong decisions).

   This "trauma" causes us to get stuck in our maturity capacity (development).  Maturity (emotional health) is defined as follows: our capacity to handle pressure and still be ourselves; handle the most stress and continue to live with joy (James 1:4), becoming mature and complete.

   Author James Wilder defines maturity as "acting like yourself" (not the person behind the mask causing you to do stupid stuff hiding your true self, or the wall keeping other people out).  Immature people act like someone else, usually like a child.

   Immaturity is characterized by three A's:

1. Avoidance: immature people function at a low capacity (fear of pain leads to avoidance & loss of intimacy) avoiding responsibilities, challenges, conflict, etc.
2. Anger: fear of pain leads to anger that wishes to remove the things (or persons) that just pushed our buttons - causing...fear.  The illusion is "I was fine until you came along."  But they are not the problem. Remember the powder-keg analogy above.
3. Addiction: indulgences that get us through - to feel better.  This is subdivided into three categories.

• Experiences (adrenaline, rush, sexual high)
• Substance (food to cocaine)
• People (using them to get what we need out of them)

   James Wilder says addiction is the catastrophic failure to attain maturity. Immature people are always hitting "the wall" (or lid) leading to one or all 3-A's.  For example, a typical marriage has a man with a capacity lid of a 3 and a woman with a 5; essentially and infant married to a child.  Each person in the relationship handles situations with a me-first attitude.  Once one feels safe, comfortable, and taken care of, then the spouse gets the left-overs.

   We need help to get "unstuck."

   START (tool for consistency in living according to the spirit).

1. Surrender: cannot keep doing things in my strength (flesh) and expect different results (insanity) - daily give God permission to do to me, through me, in me anything for Your glory.  Does this scare you?  It may mean that satan has succeeded in planting lies/doubts in your heart about God and whether you can trust Him.  This is a spiritual battle between flesh and spirit. Victories start with the small, initial battles.
2. Take thoughts captive:  Remember the "Train Principle" - each thought is like a box car on a train. If you try to stop a train one box car at a time, how effective are you going to be?  Not very! You need to recognize that the train is coming and shoot the engineer.  Replace old thoughts with new thoughts and images, etc.  Resist thoughts that come from enemy.
3. Attack the real enemy: Focus on the real war.  Spiritual warfare is not against flesh and blood, but principalities & powers. The enemy wants to destroy you.
4. Reclaim surrendered ground/invaded space. Choose to live "FREE": forgive people who wounded you, repent of bitterness and how you've treated other people, etc., eliminate stuff (patterns) that need to be changed; and evict - no more satan.
5. Treat other people the way you want to be treated - with love and respect (Gal 5:22-23).

   Please note there is no short cut, no magic wand. The process of maturity is daily/hourly choices pressing forward, trusting God, knowing that He loves you, has a good plan for you, has not given up on you, and that there is hope for you because of the power and goodness of God.

Peace