The Scripture this is based on is Romans 8:6-11
LIVING BY THE SPIRIT
What’s this mean? Sounds vague and weird. The good news is: “To be controlled by the Spirit results in life and peace.” I suggested what being controlled by human nature means. Being controlled by the Holy Spirit is the opposite. The desire to do right, to obey God, exalt God, to put Him in the centre, follow His standard of what’s good, follow His way, to love Him. Paul expressed it in Romans 12:1-2. “Offer yourselves as a living sacrifice to God, dedicated to his service and pleasing to him. This is the true worship that you should offer. Do not conform yourselves to the standards of this world, but let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind.” Watch many tv programmes and you see the standards of the world. Social media can be toxic. Some newspapers and magazines push ungodliness. These influence people much more than the church does. Even Christians fill their heads with junk all week and in normal times we’re supposed to counteract that in one hour on a Sunday! We need to be discerning over whose agenda we let drive us. We can read Christian books, the Bible, and listen to Christian radio and podcasts as a corrective. The resources online are vast. In Galatians 5:19-26, Paul gives as practical a contrast of living by human nature and living by the Spirit as you can get: “What human nature does is quite plain. It shows itself in immoral, filthy, and indecent actions; in worship of idols and witchcraft. People become enemies and they fight; they become jealous, angry, and ambitious. They separate into parties and groups; they are envious, get drunk, have orgies, and do other things like these. I warn you now as I have before: those who do these things will not possess the Kingdom of God. But the Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self-control. There is no law against such things as these. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have put to death their human nature with all its passions and desires. The Spirit has given us life; he must also control our lives. We must not be proud or irritate one another or be jealous of one another.”
Paul was confident his Roman recipients were living by the Spirit, rather than human nature. The Spirit lives in the Christian. The evidence of that should be recognisable to everyone else. We must, however, not view people as mere dummies, controlled by inside or outside forces. We have wills. We can choose. We have no excuses. We can’t say, “It’s not my fault. I was born this way.” Our wills were bent, we were “slaves to sin”, but we’re not without guilt. But in Christ is forgiveness and hope, and if the Holy Spirit is within, we’ve been freed to do what pleases God.
Paul encourages us to use this freed free will to cooperate with the Spirit (in Philippians 2:12-13): “Keep on working with fear and trembling to complete your salvation, because God is always at work in you to make you willing and able to obey his own purpose.” This is what we do when we obey God’s commands - and the Spirit helps us. He makes us want to. He makes us able to. We’re not trying to prettify our human nature; we’re to live out the divine nature.
Our bodies still die because of sin. We’re forgiven in Christ, but that consequence is inescapable. However, those who live in the Spirit, those in whom the Spirit lives, will rise from death as Christ did. Our dead bones will live again. We’ll be raised on the last day. (1 Corinthians 15:42-44:) “What is sown is perishable; it is raised imperishable. It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.” You will throw away that walking stick. You will rise out of that wheelchair. The cancer will be gone forever. No more sickness in the next life.
Whoever believes in Jesus never dies. The body dies, but the person doesn’t. We’re more than bodies. And the body will be raised to pain free, sin free life on the last day!
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