The Sacred and the Profane

So is this 24/7 connection to God automatic?  If there is no sacred/secular distinction for the believer is it all smooth sailing on the sin front?  Are our actions always godly by virtue of our identity in Christ?  The short answer is No, No, and No.  There is one distinction that still haunts us, even in our new identity as God’s children.  And it is the distinction between the sacred and the profane.

Profane was a more common word in the days of King James.  Its Greek form bebēlos (βεβηλóς) means, “primarily, permitted to be trodden; hence, unhallowed, profane, opposite of sacred.”  According to Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, “it is that which lacks all relationship or affinity to God.”  It is more commonly translated “worldliness” in today’s versions of the New Testament.

As Paul, Peter, James, and John all make clear in the epistles, it is possible for believers – who have a “relationship or affinity to God” in their identity – to not always show it in their actions.  If fact, we can show in our actions a lack of relationship or affinity to God.  We can look like an unbeliever.  The Bible calls it “walking in the flesh”.  It is walking in a worldly manner.

Christians have a choice.  “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body that you should obey its lusts, and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God.  For sin shall not be master over you” (Rom 6:12-14).  We can choose to serve sin or serve the Lord.  We can choose the sacred or the profane.  And, in an incredible infusion of Christ’s righteousness in us, we have the power to choose the sacred.  “Sin shall not be master over you.”

But the choice still must be made.  May I encourage you walk in the Spirit, to walk in the identity of the Spirit that indwells you, to walk in the Spirit’s power.  It is our one defense against the profane deeds of the flesh.

A Life of Love

Paul continues in Colossians chapter 3 to explain what a life of love looks like.  Remember, Paul has already identified the key to overcoming the flesh.  It is living into all that became new at our salvation.  It is laying aside the old self with its evil practices and putting on the new self with its holy attributes.  And the greatest of these is love.

“And beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.  And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful” (Col 3:14-15).  Two times in these two verses, Paul writes about the unity of the body.  One of the signs of a life of love is the peace that comes in our relationships with other believers.

The peace of Christ is the opposite of strife.  The peace of Christ is the opposite of dissension.  The peace of Christ is the opposite of jealousy.  The peace of Christ is the opposite of all these things that tear down the body of Christ.  Peace is synonymous with unity.  And it is God’s design that we live in peace.  And this peace leads to thanksgiving.

“Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thanksgiving in your hearts to God” (Col 3:16).  In this context, the “word of Christ” is not just referring to Scripture.  It applies to all the ways we hear the voice of Jesus.  We hear His voice in the Bible to be sure.  But we also hear His voice in our Spirit, the Spirit of Christ that indwells us.  In fact, we should expect to hear the voice of Jesus through His Spirit that is alive and active inside us.

In this particular verse, Paul highlights hearing the voice of Jesus in the community of believers that surrounds us.  We are literally the voice of Jesus when we teach and admonish one another; when we sing with and sing to our brothers and sisters in the Lord; when we express our admiration and thanksgiving to God.  Let the word of Christ, in all its different expressions, richly dwell in you.  A life of love is a life of listening to the voice of Jesus.

“And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father” (Col 3:17).  When we set up a rule-keeping system for pleasing God, we tend to separate our lives into the spiritual – following the rules, doing things to earn God’s favor, keeping spiritual disciplines – and the secular – our normal everyday responsibilities.  But when we walk in the Spirit, our connection to God is 24/7.  There is no separation between the sacred and the secular for the believer.

By virtue of who you are in Christ, all you do in word and deed is sacred.  Your homemaking, your 40-hour-a-week job, your visiting a neighbor are all sacred because you are indwelt by the sacred Spirit of Jesus.  Christ in us, living His life through us, sanctifies all of who we are and all of what we do.  This is “doing all in the name of the Lord Jesus” (vs 17).

The Journey to Love

Let’s dive back into our recent topic:  empty religion.  We were working our way through the book of Colossians, when we stopped at Paul’s warning regarding the “empty deception of empty religion.”  The apostle reminds us that setting up a self-abasing, overbearing, tedious, rule-keeping system for living the Christian life is not only inappropriate, but is “of no value against fleshly indulgence” (Col 2:23).  Said another way, “IT DOESN’T WORK!”  The very thing we are trying to defeat is not the least bit hindered by a law-keeping system.  Why?  Because in its empty deception, it lacks true power.

The power to live the Christian life lies instead in our connection to our new nature brought by God’s Spirit within.  Paul goes on in Colossians chapter 3 to explain that we defeat the flesh when we live into all that became new at our conversion.  Our recent posts,  Empty Religion, Indulging the Flesh, and Defeating the Flesh cover this in some detail.  To summarize, we are to put on the “clothes” of our new nature; a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, and forgiveness (Col 3:12-13).

These attributes, these qualities of the new nature, look a lot like Christ.  The new self we are to put on is essentially putting on Christ.  And putting on the new self, the life of Christ in us, is the answer to the flesh.

The final attribute of the new man that Paul commends here is love.  “Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity” (Col 3:14).  Love is the overarching quality – “beyond all these things” – that energizes all the others.  Love is the motivation for living into all that we are in Christ.  And this love dwells inside you right now.

Love is not waiting for some new level of spirituality.  It is not waiting for some new attainment or enlightenment.  It is in you by virtue of the Holy Spirit who has taken up residence inside you.  In Romans 5:5 we learn that the Holy Spirit is literally “pouring God’s love into our hearts.”

There is no law to follow for the New Testament believer, but there is a journey to take; the journey to love.  As we experience the deep deep love of God, it will begin to flow out of us as we learn to love as God loves.  It will empower and inform your relationships, activities, and thoughts.  It will become a unifying bond for your church and family.  Throw off the chains, throw off the sin that inhibits its fullest expression.  You are a saint, holy and beloved by our Lord (Col 3:12).  Because of who and whose you are, you can do it!

Breaking Radio Silence

Greetings friends.  When we moved to Tennessee several months ago, my intention was to keep marching forward at Fanning the Flames with my usual one or two posts per week.  But a funny thing happened on the way to the keyboard.  I ran out of things to say.  Well, not exactly.

That is to say, I did not run out of ideas.  My mind still races with thoughts about encouraging each other to live into all that became new at our salvation.  I still have a passion to explain what the supernatural Christian life looks like under the provision and promise of the New Covenant.  But the process of writing it down has not been the free flowing experience of the past.

As Rhonda and I were discussing my “writer’s block”,  I think she zeroed in on what is missing; it’s YOU!  I miss you!  When we lived in Houston, you and I were sharpening each other discussing these ideas.  We would meet for breakfast or lunch.  I would see you at church or in our small group.  This blog was not just about online writing and comments.  It was about living these principles with you in community.  I miss you.

Now when I try to restart the blog engine, I wonder if I am just sending thoughts out into cyberspace.  Will these posts encounter signs of life?  Is this turning into a one-way conversation?  As you know from the tennis ball illustration, a one-sided conversation is no fun.  I don’t know what this means going forward.  I just wanted to let you in on what I was thinking.

To end on a positive note, Rhonda and I have connected with Fellowship Bible Church Franklin as our new church home.  This church of maybe two to three hundred attenders is very focused on community-building.  We have joined a small group and are excited to be moving ahead in what God has for us here.  The Bible teaching is expository in style, very solid, and application oriented.  And the music is…(it’s Nashville, what did you expect me to say?)  The church is a smaller campus offshoot of Fellowship Bible Church Brentwood and is already feeling like home.  But that does not lessen the impact or point of this post:  We miss you!

Defeating the Flesh

Paul makes clear in Colossians chapter 2 that legalism in the church has the appearance of wisdom but in reality is “of no value against fleshly indulgence” (vs 23).  So how do we approach our struggle with the flesh and how do we win?

Our victory over sin is expressed throughout the New Testament as a laying aside the old self and putting on the new.  “In reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self…and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth” (Eph 4:22,24).

That is why it is so crucial that we understand the new man; understand the new creation we are in Christ.  The New Testament writers constantly refer to who we are in Christ as the motivator for walking in righteousness.  Paul captures this connection with, “Therefore I implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph 4:1-3).  And, “Therefore as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him” (Col 2:6).

Seeing our new identity in Christ as our motivator, we return to Colossians 3 and Paul’s answer to the flesh.  After again reminding us of who we are in Christ (Col 3:1-4), the apostle writes, “Therefore consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.  For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience, and in them you also once walked, when you were living in them.  (Notice the past tense here.)  But now you also put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive speech from your mouth.  Do not lie to one another, since you laid aside the old self with its evil practices” (Col 3:5-9).

The answer to the flesh?  Consider it dead and lay it aside.  The attributes of the flesh are here described, and we are to consider ourselves dead to them (vs 5), having cast them aside (vs 9), because they represent our old self (vs 7).  (One sentence does not nearly do justice to this powerful passage, but we must move on to our main point.  A more detailed explanation of this passage can be found here.)

In verse 10, we move to the new self.  “And having put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the One who created him – a renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and freeman, but Christ is all, and in all.  So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.  Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity” (Col 3:10-14).

The instruction moves from the negative focus of laying aside the old man and his attributes and on to the positive focus of putting on the new self.  And when you see these attributes that accompany the new self – compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, and love – you realize they look a lot like Christ.  The new self we are to put on is essentially putting on Christ.  Putting on the new self is the answer to the flesh.  And while we acknowledge that it is easier said than done, the key point is that it is not impossible.  We have the power to rein it in.  We will talk more specifics next time.