©1998 Larry Huntsperger
Peninsula Bible Fellowship
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6/28/98
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The Two Faces Of The Flesh
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II Cor. 3:5-6
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6/28/98 The Two Faces of the Flesh
I know I concluded last week
with strong assurances
that we would return to our study
of the Book of Revelation today.
But you know, too,
that I always reserve for myself
the right to reconsider such promises
if something more pressing
captures my thinking during the
week.
When I began my preparation for this morning
it occurred to me
that we had some unfinished business to
take care of
from something we were looking at
three weeks ago.
So we'll tuck Revelation away
for a few more days
in favor of something
I don't want to leave unfinished.
Those of you who were here 3 weeks ago
may remember that we began the morning
by talking about the two witnesses
presented in Revelation 11.
But from those 2 witnesses
I then lunged off on a side-track
that took up most of our morning.
I was talking about the way in which
every generation of Christians
seems to feel as if
the truly great men and women of faith
all lived in the past
and that those of us alive today
are sort of the residue
at the bottom of the Christian barrel.
We find ourselves say
or thinking,
"If only we had an Elijah today,
if only we had another John the Baptist
or Martin Luther,
or John Wesley,
or Apostle Paul or Peter."
We tend to believe
that it is simply impossible
for truly great men and women of faith
to come out of our generation.
It told you then that
I believe our prevailing concept
of effective Christian living
has been shaped not by the truth God
reveals to us about ourselves in Scripture,
but by the definition our culture has given us
for mental health
and effective living.
Our modern American culture tells us
that we are a mass of emotionally
and psychologically scarred individuals,
suffering from the victimization and abuses we
experienced
in our dysfunctional home backgrounds,
and that the best we can hope for
is to find some effective tools
that will help us to cope with
and overcome those damaged areas in
our lives.
We live in a culture
that takes great pride in facing honestly
the baggage we are packing around from
our past.
The problem is
that as Christians we have bought into
our culture's mentality
that that baggage is the key factor
that really determines who I am
and what I can expect out of life,
even life with God.
We see ourselves as severely damaged goods
doing our best to cope with our damaged areas
so that they don't destroy us.
It is impossible for a person
ever to live beyond
their own self-perception.
In other words, I will always ultimately become the
person I really believe I am.
The thing that troubles me so deeply
about what I see going on
in our Christian culture today
is that we have given the society around
us
the right to tell us who we are
and who we can become
rather than reserving that right
for the only One who has the ability
to tell us the truth - God Himself.
God says to each of us:
"You are my holy one,
you are my ambassador.
You are my royal priest,
filled with my Holy Spirit,
a member of a chosen race of people.
I have already made you adequate
as a servant of the new covenant in my blood.
I carefully selected you
for this time,
and this place in history."
Now here is the tricky part -
As Christians we are to face honestly
who we once were
with whatever baggage that involves
while at the same time
allowing God and God alone
to tell us who we now are.
We are not the tragic victims
of an abusive past,
we are the sons and daughters of the living God,
chosen by Him to represent
His life,
His healing,
and His power to this generation,
indwelt by His spirit,
well equipped for the work assigned to us.
Now, that's where we were
and pretty much where we stopped
three weeks ago.
Following those comments
I realized that we had looked
at only one face
of the two faces of the flesh.
I had presented
only half the picture.
So this morning I want to present the other half.
You see,
I think when I made those comments
in our time together three weeks ago
some of you strongly identified
with what I was saying.
You understood that kind of battle
that grows out of
a tremendous sense of self-doubt
fed in part from our personalities
and in part from events
and influences from our past.
When I talked about
our viewing ourselves
as the residue at the bottom of the Christian
barrel
you understood what I was saying.
You understood because
that is the way in which the flesh
expresses itself through you.
For you FAITH is reaching the point
where you can say to yourself,
"By the grace of my Lord Jesus Christ
and the life of His Spirit within me,
I CAN do this,
and do it well."
But what I didn't share with you then
but want to this morning
in order to complete the picture
is that the flesh within us
has two opposite
but equally evil faces.
In some of us the flesh will look at the calling God
has given us
and will respond by saying,
"I CAN'T do that!"
In others the flesh will look at the calling God has
given us
and will respond by saying,
"I CAN do that!"
And both responses
are equally destructive
to the true life of Christ within us.
And to try to help explain
these two faces of the flesh
I want to take us back
to that passage in II Cor 3:5-6
that I closed with 3 weeks ago.
In verse 5 Paul says,
2 Cor. 3:5 Not that we are adequate in
ourselves to consider anything as coming
from ourselves, ...
Depending upon which face of the flesh
we feel most comfortable with,
left to ourselves
apart from the work of God's Spirit
within us
we will tend to come up
with one of two personal responses
to that statement.
If we have the fearful flesh
we were talking about 3 weeks ago
we will hear Paul saying
that we are not adequate
to consider anything as coming from ourselves
and we will respond in side
with a hearty, AMEN!
We will affirm with certainty
that there is certainly nothing we can offer
to the true work of Christ.
And even though our response
sounds like whole-hearted agreement
and affirmation of the Word
it is really simply an expression
of our own fear-generated sense of inadequacy.
And when Paul goes on in the next phrase
to say, "but our adequacy is from God,
who has also made us adequate...
those of us who wrestle with fearful flesh
tend to reinterpret that phrase to read,
but our adequacy is from God
who also WILL make us adequate
or CAN make us adequate.
We see our being fully equipped
and completely adequate for the Christian life
as being a distant hope -
something we may one day achieve,
but certainly not a present,
living reality.
But there is a flip side to the flesh,
a second type of flesh response
that on the surface
appears to be the kind of response
God really wants from His people.
Rather than being the response
of the fearful flesh
it is the response of what we'll call
the boastful flesh.
On the surface the boastful flesh
looks very different.
It looks aggressive,
confident,
productive,
capable.
When those afflicted by the boastful flesh
hear Paul saying,
2 Cor. 3:5 Not that we are adequate in
ourselves to consider anything as coming
from ourselves, but our adequacy is from
God, who also made us adequate...
what they hear is this:
"Well, of course I recognize
that all of my gifts,
and talents,
and abilities,
and strengths
have been given to me by God.
They are a sacred trust,
given to me by my Creator,
and I have a sacred obligation
to use them for the Kingdom."
The boastful flesh has no problem
with that second phrase affirming
that God has made us adequate...
And the boastful flesh
has no problem charging in
and attempting great things for God
and challenging others to do the same.
Those who suffer from fearful flesh
tend to gaze on in amazement
at those who are afflicted with boastful
flesh,
believing that they should be more like
those aggressive, confident brothers and
sisters.
But the problem with both groups
is that they are both looking to their flesh
for the resources to live the Christian life.
The fearful flesh looks to their flesh
and is overwhelmed with their inability
to pull it off
because they are keenly aware
of their own failures
and limited gifts and talents
and tremendous load of baggage from the
past.
The boastful flesh looks to their flesh
and is overwhelmed with their obvious ability
to pull it off
because they are keenly aware
of their superior gifts and talents
and tremendous load of potential for
success.
The fearful flesh
looks to the flesh
and sees all those things
that disqualify the person from success.
The boastful flesh
looks to the flesh
and sees all those things
that qualify the person for success.
And both groups
are absolutely wrong.
I believe every one of us
have a natural tendency
to fall victim to one or the other
of these two traps.
If you would like a little test
to know which one
you are vulnerable to
ask yourself
which of these two statements
you would be most likely
to say to yourself.
#1. "If only I were more like so-and-so
I would be able to live
a truly effective Christian life."
#2. If only there were more Christians like me in the
Body of Christ
we would be able to get
a lot more done
a lot more effectively."
If the first comment
sounds more like something you would say to
yourself
you probably have fearful flesh.
If the second comment
sounds more like something you would say to
yourself
you probably have boastful flesh.
Which, of course, brings us to the question,
"SO WHAT?"
Why spend a whole morning
examining the two faces of the flesh?
If you are a Christian,
If you have entered into an eternal father/child
relationship with God
through faith in the death of Christ
as full payment for your sins,
then there are some things
happening in your life right now
- that will be far easier for you to deal with if
you understand
why they are happening.
When you became God's child
He began a growth process in your life
designed to conform you
more and more to the image of Jesus
Christ.
Paul says simply,
Rom. 8:29 For those whom He foreknew,
He also predestined to become conformed
to the image of His Son, ...
Part of that rebuilding process
involves freeing us from our flesh-based
approach to life
and replacing it with life in His Spirit.
All I'm saying here
is that right now God is working in the life of
every Christian afflicted with fearful flesh
to free them from the bondage
that fear brings,
and He is working in the life
of every Christian afflicted with boastful
flesh
to free them from the bondage
their flesh-based foundation breeds.
The goal God has for both groups
is not complicated.
It is to bring each of us
to the personal understanding
...that we are not adequate in
ourselves to consider anything as coming
from ourselves, but our adequacy is from
God, who also made us adequate...
The basic approach He takes with each group,
however,
is exactly the opposite.
The goal for each group
is to bring us to the point
where we rest in the reality
of the life of Christ within us.
The great enemy of that goal
for those with fearful flesh
is to disqualify themselves
because of their personality type
or baggage from the past.
The enemy of the that goal
for those with boastful flesh
is to consider themselves already qualified
because of their confidence
in their own natural abilities.
And so to the first group
God's growth message is, "My child, you CAN
do this."
And to the second group
His growth message is, "My child,
you CAN'T do this."
Or more accurately,
to the first group He says, "I truly have made
you adequate
for the life I have called you to live with Me.
I can and I will
express Myself through you
in just the way that fits perfectly
with the work I have called you to do."
And then, very likely,
He will thrust them into situations
where they feel completely helpless
and over their heads
and then allow them succeed through
the life of His Spirit within them.
And to the second group He says,
"My child, I know you possess talents
and have developed techniques
that work well in the world of the
flesh.
But those talents
and those techniques are incapable
of producing one ounce
of true life in the Spirit.
Flesh can only beget flesh.
If you are to ever discover
true fulfillment and productivity in your walk
with Me
your confidence in your abilities
must be replaced
with the discovery of My ability
to live through you."
And then, the training program for this second
group
will very likely involve
the Lord placing them into situations
where they feel well qualified for success on the
basis of their flesh gifts,
and then allowing them
to crash and burn big time.
Usually that's the only way
we can ever let go
of our confidence in the flesh.
I've gone through all of that
simply because I thought you'd like to know
what your Lord is doing in you
and why.