January 22, 2017: Overcoming the Lust of the Flesh by Every Word of God Overcoming the Lust of the Flesh, by Every Word of God is a truth, I hope to convey today. Willingly putting yourself into voluntary suffering for this 21-day period of fasting and prayer isn t easy. When we do, we join the ancient practice of saying no to food, and saying yes to God, by saying yes to God s Word, God s Will and God s Ways. Recapturing this ancient spiritual discipline will also help us regain a close personal relationship with God, deepen our relationship with others, and begin to enjoy the life, God has given us. Will you choose to be the vessel that God can work in and through during these very, very challenging times? I am having prophetic dreams. Dreams, in which God speaks. I am learning to get up and write them down and discern what the Lord is saying. One dream, showed to me the focus for today. The Level One Leadership Team was at a retreat and for a fun moment we went to a fair or an outdoors concert. Part of the price for parking was that we would all get a box lunch of barbecue sandwiches, chips, cookie and a drink. When it got to our turn in the line, the fellow said, they just ran out of food, and would get some more. We were in a field, and were parking the vehicle. What happened in the vehicle was amazing. All of us, were hungry, and instead of getting hangry, we all took it in stride, and overcome the lust of flesh and just peacefully took our place. It isn t just children who have meltdowns, when it is time to eat and your don t get to eat. But in the dream, we all by self-control, temperance, long suffering, and moderation, didn t become like Esau, who sold his birthright for a boxed lunch of barbecue pork. 1
Looking back in time, we can learn from the mistakes and failures of others. Stand for the reading of the Word. You may want a snickers, bar, except many of us are fasting, sweets of any kind. Deuteronomy 8:3 Yes, he humbled you by letting you go hungry and then feeding you with manna, a food previously unknown to you and your ancestors. He did it to teach you that people do not live by bread alone; rather, we live by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. Matthew 4:1-4 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil. 2For forty days and forty nights he fasted and became very hungry. 3During that time the devil came and said to him, If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread. 4But Jesus told him, No! The Scriptures say, People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Genesis 25: 29 One day when Jacob was cooking some stew, Esau arrived home from the wilderness exhausted and hungry. 30Esau said to Jacob, I m starved! Give me some of that red stew! (This is how Esau got his other name, Edom, which means red. ) 31 All right, Jacob replied, but trade me your rights as the firstborn son. 32 Look, I m dying of starvation! said Esau. What good is my birthright to me now? 33But Jacob said, First you must swear that your birthright is mine. So Esau swore an oath, thereby selling all his rights as the firstborn to his brother, Jacob. 34Then Jacob gave Esau some bread and lentil stew. Esau ate the meal, then got up and left. He showed contempt for his rights as the firstborn. The word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Prayer. Lord, 2
We want to overcome the lust of the flesh. We don t want hunger related meldowns. We don t want to be like Esau who showed no self-control, no temperance, no spiritual discipline of fasting, and sold out his future, for instantaneous gratification. Help us, in Jesus name, Amen What would overcoming the lust of the flesh by total immersion in the Word of God look like for you? Setting aside some Holy Time for a focused time on the Word. And, while you are doing normal stuff. There is a time to focus ONLY on the Word, and other times, just have it playing in the background WHILE you are doing stuff. I pray you find a way to have single focus on the Word, and having the Word playing in the background while you are doing other stuff. It remains a constant battle of exercising one s faith, so that one won t yield to the lust of the flesh, and the primary lust we are speaking to is our lust for food and drink. 1 John 2:15-18. 15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. 16 For everything in the world the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. Satan tempted Jesus by appealing to the same human lusts as listed by John: 3
(1) Lust of the flesh tell the stones to become bread, (2) Pride of life throw yourself down and (3) Lust of the eyes all this I will give you. In each instance Jesus is victorious because He chose to use his free will to obey God. Lust of the flesh, is: To desire food, to crave food, drink, and other bodily appetites. Also flesh is understood as one s selfish nature and our, human nature. Here are numerous scriptures, read in rapid order, to help us grasp in our soul this issue of the Lust of the Flesh. Galatians 6:8 (KJV) For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. Galatians 6:8 (NLT) Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. Romans 8:12 (KJV) we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. 2 Corinthians 10:3 (KJV) we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: John 3:6 (KJV) That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Romans 8:5 (KJV) For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. Romans 8:8 (KJV) So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. 4
Galatians 5:16-24 in the NLT really and fully describes the battle of faith against yielding to the sinful nature. Let us read out loud, to help us stay focused. This passage in Ga. 5: is the best explanation of overcoming the lust of the flesh by every word of God. 16 So I say, let the Holy Spirit guide your lives. Then you won t be doing what your sinful nature craves. 17 The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. 18 But when you are directed by the Spirit, you are not under obligation to the law of Moses. 19 When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, 21 envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God. 22 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things! 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Nailing one s passions and desires of their sinful nature and crucifying them, is a road less traveled. The Road Not Taken Two roads diverged in a wood, and I I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. Robert Frost Biblical suffering is this nailing the passions and desires of our sinful nature to the cross and crucifying them. That is the road less traveled. 5
Biblical suffering is the suffering we experience when we struggle with overcoming the lust of the flesh, by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. But what of other suffering? Short story is Jesus died and rose again to give us power to overcome all sufferings except those sufferings that come as a result of war between the flesh and the Spirit. The sufferings of Christ we are to identify with is the sufferings we experience when we choose God s Will over the will of our sinful, selfish, human nature that craves food, drink and other bodily appetites. When you chose willingly, to join the Daniel of the bible, and say, Please test us, you have put yourself into the position to willingly suffer, in the sufferings of Christ, and resist a particular food, or drink or other bodily appetite so you can be open to God s Will, God s Word and God s ways. Suffering long contrasts with fulfilling the lust of one s flesh. And our food and drink choices characterize the lust of our flesh, or the crucifying of our flesh. What we do about food and drink, speaks volumes about our understanding of our relationship with God. Our relationship with God has seasons of celebrations and seasons of moderation. The Jewish Feasts all were celebratory, and would be accompanied with an excess of food and drink. There would be lots of joy, including communal dancing and rejoicing in the Lord. The celebratory nature of God imparted to His people, means that when it is the season to celebrate, and then celebrate we should. Without guilt. In our culture, that seems to fall between Thanksgiving and the first week of the New Year, and extends into College Bowl games, and for some, extends into NFL Playoffs and Super bowl. 6
And for some, it goes on year round, but we are not called to live in feast mode year round. We are to follow seasons of celebration with seasons of moderation, and occasionally a season of fasting. I enjoyed the celebration season, and did so and will do so without guilt. I also willingly choose a season of moderation with food, drink and other bodily appetites. And, during these seasons, God wants to impart to his people the spiritual formation to feast on His Word, and find satisfaction for our flesh. Like manna from heaven in the wilderness, every word that comes from the mouth of God is like food for our body, our soul, our spirit, and literally everything that makes a person human. A few years ago someone coined the phrase hangry. A hunger induced anger. As we grow in maturity in our relationship with God, there is to be a growth away from hunger induced anger, and a growing into embracing God s Word as food. Food and drink in moderation is not a bad thing. Philippians 4: 5Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand. It is a good thing, that we join in the ancient practice of saying no to even a good thing, for a short season to deepen our resolve to suffer long for God s kingdom and God s ways. As a community of God s people, we wouldn t expect an infant, to fast anything. We would expect to allow the infant to be fed, whenever they wanted to feed. The older a person grows, that expectation of moderation should grow as well. The bible told the story of how Esau as an adult, had not learned the discipline of feasting on God s Word, Will and Ways, and felt like he was about to die if he didn t eat. He was so undisciplined, that he paid a very high price for one fast food meal. 7
One can not even estimate in actual dollars, the cost of his hunger induced state of mind. On that day, he was more like a nursing infant, than a mature man. A hunger-induced state of mind led Esau and others to do things they would later regret. Esau would later ignore his parent s counsel and date women outside of the community of God s people. Esau was undisciplined in his food and drink as well as his relationships. He would not be known for moderation, temperance, and self-control, longsuffering. Esau felt so hungry that he thought a thought that then led to words, that then led to the action that cost him millions of dollars, a great relationship with a woman from the community of God s people, a family relationship with his parents. He was exhausted and hungry, and said; I am, dying of starvation! What would have changed if from heart flowed a thought, and from that thought flowed words that were similar to the words that Jesus told the devil. What would have changed, when Esau was exhausted and hungry if from his heart, he thought and then said, I do not live by bread and lentil stew. I live by every word that comes from God. I am NOT going to starve to death; I am going to trust God for my food, my drink and all my bodily appetites. Imagine, if Esau had not yielded to the lust of his flesh. But did as Isaiah wrote in chapter 40: 30Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion. 31But those who trust in the LORD will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. 8
They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint. What do you want to be known for? Moderation, temperance, self-control, long suffering, patience. Trusting in the Lord. Will you be known as a person who crucifies their flesh, or fulfills the lust of the flesh? Will you be known as a person with a healthy approach to food and drink? Too much attention on anything will cause a dysfunction. A time of fasting helps a person determine a balance. A time of fasting can also, develop a food dysfunction if one s focus is on the food, or the lack of it. Our focus for this time of fasting is not the Breyer s Ice cream inside Susan Gonchar s freezer, but for the Word of God found in the bible. This time of saying no to all food, or to certain meals, or to specific food is not to create in us a desire to over indulge or to under eat, but to feast on every word that comes from the mouth of God. Food, drink, and bodily appetites are NOT to be our focus. If it becomes your focus, you will lose focus and be worse off after a fast. Our focus in on our personal relationship with God, through Christ Jesus. Let me say absolutely. God doesn t care about what you eat or don t eat, drink or not drink as much as we may think he does. He does care about anything and anyone that hinders a deep, connected relationship with Him. 9
God loves you, whether or not you go 24 hours without food, or 21 days with sweet tea or ice cream. He will still love you, if you sneak of to Popeye s, for some cane sugared sweet tea. What he really wants for everyone is to be saved. 1 Timothy 2: 4 who wants everyone to be saved and to understand the truth. 5 For, There is one God and one Mediator who can reconcile God and humanity the man Christ Jesus. 6He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone. Now, that is a word that proceeds from God, We are to overcome the lust of the flesh, and if we become hangry we may miss the opportunity to evangelize and share that there is one God, and one mediator, between God and man, the man Chris Jesus. To have your way, is to yield to the lust of the flesh. And God is testing us, and Satan is tempting us on whether or not we will choose God s will, God s ways, and God s Word over our own thoughts, feelings and desires. Esau sold out, for one meal of bread and lentils. It cost him millions, if not billions of dollars and broken relationships. It wasn t even over ice cream, or a big steak. Bread and Lentils? Choosing to continue the battle to live by faith, not sight, or by food, drink or bodily appetites is and will be ongoing. Let us choose to overcome the lust, the desire, and the cravings for food, drink and other bodily appetites, by every Word of God. Let us recommit to joining the mission of God, to bring others into a relationship with God, through Christ Jesus. 10