2-20-2005

How to Escape Enslaving Sins Part 10
“Weaken the Flesh”

Summary: Step 5 – Weaken the flesh through starvation and not catering to the body in decision making (but not asceticism). 

Review
How to gain a position of strength in the war: 
STEP 1 Accountability & Exposure
STEP 2  Get divine firepower – the Holy Spirit. (through Scripture, prayer, fellowship & worship)
STEP 3 Amputation (secure a perimeter) Cut off the things that draw you into sin. Keep to a path far from temptation.
STEP 4 Depose the idols of the heart (greed). Greed is when you’re so devoted to something that you’ll sin to get it. Deposing the idols of greed in the heart is a very painful process, and so we will need to learn perseverance and develop a willingness to accept suffering.
STEP 5: Weaken the flesh
	Now that we have removed the idol from the throne of our heart, we have a fighting chance. Now we can move on to step 5. It will still be a battle, but the flesh will be attacking from a position of weakness rather than a position of strength. But we still aren’t quite ready to jump into the individual battle with temptation. There is still too much chance of losing. Yes, we have deposed the idol from the throne of your heart, so it doesn’t have near the power it had, but it still has a fair amount of power. We need to weaken it even more.
	In modern warfare, if you want to have a successful invasion of another country, first you carry on an air war. You bomb them in strategic places to weaken their defenses. And once their military is crippled from the bombing, then you go in with the ground troops to finish them off. Before there were airplanes this same strategy was done through a siege.  The attacking army would cut off all the sources of food going into the city, so when they attacked, everyone in there was so weak and emaciated that they couldn’t put up any resistance.  That’s the same way we carry on the war against the flesh. First you weaken its ability to fight, and then you go into battle. When Paul tells us how to fight against greed and the idols of the heart in Eph.5, he points to gratitude. When he addresses the issue in Colossians 3, he offers another principle we can use.

Col.3:5 
Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. 

lit Kill the parts that are upon the earth: sexual immorality, impurity…
  The solution to idolatrous greed in the heart is to kill (nekroo) the parts that are upon the earth. The word parts refers to body parts. So he is picturing our greedy idolatrous desires as body parts – body parts that have to do with this world. Even after you become a Christian, and you receive your new nature, you still have sinful desires that are so much a part of you they are like body parts. Those desires get their power from this world. And so the goal is to cut those limbs off. Any part of you that is stuck to this world – cut it off. Notice the motive he gives. Verse 5 begins with a therefore. He’s drawing a conclusion from what he said in the previous verses.

Col 3:2-4 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. 5 Therefore kill the parts that are upon the earth: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.

Do you see what he’s saying?

3 you died,…5 Therefore kill the parts that are upon the earth
On the day you became a Christian, at that moment you died to the old life – you made a decisive break with the world. But now as you live your Christian life, you find yourself having to take all kinds of further steps to cut your ties with the world. When you were an unbeliever, you were committing adultery with the world. When you became a Christian, you officially broke it off with the world. Imagine a married man who is having an affair. He realizes he is in sin, so one day he repents, and officially breaks it off with the other woman – calls her and says, “It’s over.” But in the days that follow, he may find that there are some other ties to her that still have to be broken. Maybe he sees her phone number in his book, and has to blot that out.  Later he comes across a photo of her – has to throw it away.  Then he realizes his job requires that he go to her office from time to time, so he has to get a different job. That’s how it is for the Christian. You have already broken it off with the world, but now you still need to sever the remaining ties. And those ties are desires.
How Do You Kill A Desire?
So how do you kill a desire? The answer is in the command he gives right at the beginning of the verse. We are to put it to death. That’s how you kill a desire. Paul is giving us an idea of how it’s done by the word he chose for put to death. It’s not the normal word for killing. It’s the word is nekroo (nekrow). That word is used only two other times in the Bible: Ro.4:19 & Heb.11:12.  Both refer to the same thing: Abraham’s body.

Ro.4:19  
Without weakening in his faith, [Abraham] faced the fact that his body had been put to death-since he was about a hundred years old-and that Sarah's womb was also dead. (see also Heb.11:11-12)  

It’s referring not to literal death but to impotence, as a result of old age. That word comes from a root that was a medical term that referred to a part of the body that no longer functioned as a result of atrophy.  So idea is not so much to actively kill something, but to just neglect it to the point where it just withers on the vine. So the way we are to fight against the greedy desires in our hearts is to cause them to whither. How do you cause them to atrophy and wither?  Starve them. Remember the bully named Sarx? (Sarx is the Greek word for flesh.) Imagine you are back in school, and there is a big, mean bully that always terrorizes you.  He is far bigger and stronger than you, and totally dominates you. So you complain to the principal, and he responds by giving you Sarx’ meal ticket.  So unless you feed him, he can never eat.  After a couple weeks without eating, Sarx is no longer any problem.  As long as you have that meal ticket, you can keep him as weak as you want. 
That’s the way to fight against the desires of greed in the heart. If you refuse to feed the flesh, it will weaken.  But if you do feed it just a tiny bit, you just stoke the fires of those desires. It amazes me how overwhelmingly powerful my flesh can get if I just indulge it the slightest bit. I’ve told you before – one of the worst things for me is watching TV alone. Even if there’s nothing overtly sinful. If you just watch regular network programming, everything about the shows and the commercials is designed to feed the flesh. So you watch a couple hours of TV at night, and the next day all day long your flesh is just having field day with you. And there may not have even been anything direct enough to make the connection in your mind. You don’t know why temptation seems so overwhelming today. You don’t realize it’s because yesterday you fed and strengthened your flesh – Whether it was by what you watched or a magazine you picked up or some conversation you got into, or some music you listened to, or maybe just because yesterday you allowed your mind to run unchecked in thinking about the pleasures of the flesh, or thinking about things from an earthly point of view.
I beat my body
So now you have deposed the flesh from the throne of your heart – that took away most of its power. Then you began the process of starving it. Now it’s staggering around in dazed weakness. But it’s still too dangerous to do battle with it just yet. Sarx is a huge, big bully, and he can be somewhat dangerous even after going without food for several weeks. You need to finish him off. You can’t afford to take any chances – you need to just lay him out. And so now it’s time to do one more thing to weaken him. And that is…beat him black and blue. Paul warned the Corinthians about 5 enslaving sins in 1 Cor.10. #1 Indulging lustful desires

6 Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did. 

#2 The activities of idolatry (drunkenness, etc.)

7 Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: "The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in pagan revelry."   

#3 Sexual sin

8 We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did 

#4 Testing God
9 We should not test the Lord, as some of them did — and were killed by snakes.

Testing the Lord is when you dictate your terms to God.  It’s when you say, “God, if You are good and you love me, this is what You will do.” That is a very common enslaving sin, and it is especially detestable to God. And it’s a very dangerous way to live. It puts your agenda on the throne without regard for God’s agenda.

#5 Grumbling
10 And do not grumble, as some of them did — and were killed by the destroying angel.

Grumbling is the verbalizing of a discontented heart. Discontent is that attitude that God isn’t doing a good job in arranging circumstances. It’s when you are so consumed with what you want that you care more about that then about what God is doing. Those are 5 deadly enslaving sins that Paul warns us about. And when I say “deadly,’ I mean deadly. The context of the passage is a warning against apostasy. Those enslaving sins, if left unchecked, will drag a person right into ultimate apostasy. That’s the image of 1 Cor.10. These people experienced salvation – deliverance from Egypt (which is an illustration of conversion and deliverance from sin). And yet most of them didn’t make it into paradise – the Promised Land (which is an illustration of heaven). Notice the adjectives in vv.1-6:

1 Cor 10:1-6
For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea. 2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3 They all ate the same spiritual food 4 and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.   5 Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert. 6 Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did

The point is clear – all experienced deliverance from Egypt, but not all made it into the Promised Land. And that’s an example for us. Now take a look at the very first word in ch.10. For. That means he’s explaining what he just said at the end of ch.9.

1 Cor 9:27
I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified. 

There is a lot of debate about what Paul means by disqualification.  Is he just talking about disqualification from ministry, or from salvation altogether? The problem with assuming that he’s just talking about ministry is that word “for” at the beginning of ch.10. That word means he is explaining further the statement he just made. So what he’s saying is this: “I take extreme measures to make sure I’m not disqualified, and what I mean by that is this – all the Israelites experienced deliverance from Egypt, but not all made it to paradise.” So the connection with the following context, as well as the meaning of the word translated disqualified has caused most scholars to conclude that Paul is talking about disqualification from salvation. The word translated disqualified is adokimos. And in other passages it’s translate “depraved” (Ro.1:28), “rejected” (2 Tim.3:8), “worthless” (Heb.6:8). And in 2 Cor.13 it’s used to describe those who fail the test of salvation. Paul’s words are incredibly severe.  And lest we miss the severity of them, he goes on to explain. He’s saying “The reason I beat my body and make it my slave is because I don’t want to become adakimos – worthless, depraved, rejected.
Because all the Israelites experienced salvation from Egypt, but most didn’t make it to paradise because of idolatry. And that’s an example for us. So if you think you’re strong, take heed lest you fall!” In other words, if you think you’re so strong that you’re not in danger, think again. Because Paul was an incredibly spiritual man, and he wasn’t so strong that he was out of danger. Even Apostles face the very real prospect of being found to be adokimos. 
Now, I realize there are a variety of views in this church regarding eternal security, and that’s fine. We don’t have time to even begin to explore that topic this morning. But I need to tell you that most commentators agree 1 Cor.9:27 is talking about apostasy – even the ones who believe the doctrine of once-saved-always-saved. For example, Gordon Fee, in NICNT commentary, says, “
”This has been the point of the metaphors from the beginning, that the Corinthians exercise self-control lest they fail to obtain the eschatological prize…But does Paul actually mean that one can fail to obtain the prize? Some would say no, but usually because of a prior theological commitment, not because of what the text itself says. While it is true that in 10:13, after the severe warnings spelled out in vv.1-12, he once again pts his confidence in God to “keep them,” it would be sheer folly to suggest thereby that the warnings are not real. Paul keeps warning and assurance in tension.” (p.440)
David Garland in the Baker Exegetical Commentary of the NT:
“Paul’s statement about being disqualified…is rather startling because it suggests that ‘his conversion, his baptism, his call to apostleship, hs service in the Gospel, do not guarantee his eternal salvation.’ Any implication that one may forfeit one’s salvation may cause theological dyspepsia for some……The immortal crown to be won is not a good job approval rating as an apostle, but salvation. (p.444)
C.K. Barrett in the Black’s NT Commentary: 
“Paul clearly envisages the possibility that, notwithstanding his work as a preacher, he may himself fall from grace and be rejected.” 
Then he goes on to quote another ancient Greek source that used that same word to refer to a man going to hell even when all his disciples go to heaven, because he is adokimos.Then he goes on: 
“His conversion, his baptism, his call to apostleship, his service in the Gospel, do not guarantee his eternal salvation. By repeating this truth he begins to work back to the dangerous situation in which the Corinthians had placed themselves in relations to idolatry.” (p.218)
Charles Hodge, the great champion of Calvinism:
“He made these strenuous exertions, lest, having preached the gospel to others, he himself should become adokimos, a reprobate, on rejected. What an argument and what a reproof is this! The reckless and listless Corinthians thought they could safely indulge themselves to the very verge of sin, while this devoted apostle considered himself as engaged in a life-struggle for his salvation. This same apostle, however, who evidently act3d on the principle that the righteous scarcely are saved, and that the kingdom of heaven sfferethvilence, at other times breaks out in the most joyful assurance of salvation, and says that he was persuaded that nothing in heaven, earth or hell could ever separate him from the love of God. The one state of mind is athe necessary condition of the other. It is only those who are conscious of this constant and deadly struggle with sin, to whom this assurance is given.” (p.169)
Are there any major, scholarly commentaries on 1 Corinthians that take the view that Paul is not referring to salvation?  I was able to find four: Raymond Collins and Anthony Thiselton. Leon Morris also agrees with them, as does Calvin.  But generally Fee is right – those who take that view tend to defend it based on their theological system, rather than on any argument from the text itself. I really debated about whether to go into all that, because I knew it would be a huge distraction to the point we are making in this class. Now many of you are wrestling in your mind over the debate about eternal security, and you’ve lost sight of the point being made about enslaving sin. Not only that, but whenever I bring up the issue of eternal security, someone leaves the church, which is a bummer. So I’m very, very hesitant to bring this up. In fact I eliminated it from my notes twice. But I finally decided it had to be included, because it’s the foundation of Paul’s argument in 1 Cor.9:27-10:13, which is a major passage about idolatry and enslaving sin. It’s an important point. 
Becoming enslaved to your body is an extremely serious matter – it can lead to ultimate apostasy.  From the worldly point of view it seems like addictions to cocaine or alcohol are really serious, but addictions to overeating or caffeine aren’t. And it’s true that some enslaving sins have more severe earthly consequences than others, but any enslaving sin is extremely dangerous. Because once Satan can enslave you to anything, he will be able to lead you by the nose pretty much anywhere. Once Satan can condition you to always obey the impulses of your body, he’s got you. He will be able to use that to keep you from effective ministry, and to lead you down a road that ultimately leads to apostasy. And so it’s worth paying any price to escape them. So wherever you come down on the debate about eternal security and apostasy, you need to find a way to take passages like this seriously. If you invent a doctrinal system that says passages like these don’t apply to you – they are only intended to warn phony Christians about falling away. And so you don’t heed these warnings, then you are violating v.12 in ch.10 

1 Cor 10:12 So, if you think you are standing firm, take heed lest you fall! 

Whether you believe Paul is saying, “There is a real chance I could lose my salvation,” Or whether you believe he’s saying, “There is a real chance I could get to the end and find that I was never truly saved to begin with,”  Either way we need to take this as a serious warning. The consequence of enslaving sin can be so grave that it’s worth any price to break free. And in 9:27 Paul describes the price he paid to keep himself from them.

1 Cor 9:27
I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified. 

He made his body his slave. There are only two options – you can enslave your body, or it will enslave you. You can make it your slave, or it will make you its slave. Paul realized it was possible even for him to become enslaved if he didn’t have right control over his body. And how does a person gain full control over his body? What did Paul do? How did he make his body his slave? He beat it.

1 Cor 9:27 I beat my body and make it my slave 

He just got done giving the metaphor of a boxer in the games, and so it’s a little tricky to pin down exactly what he’s saying here. Some say he’s continuing the boxing illustration. So he would be saying, “I don’t fight like a boxer beating the air. I land every punch – and my opponent is my body.” 
The other possibility is that Paul is moving on to a new illustration.  First he uses the illustration of a runner, then a boxer, and then to an athlete who disciplines himself with harsh training. So then he would be saying, “I run like an Olympic athlete, I box like an Olympic athlete, I train like an Olympic athlete.”  Paul tends to be so fluid in his metaphors, I tend to lean toward that second view. (Although the first view would end up meaning something very similar.) His point is that the stakes are so high that in his effort to control his body, he punishes his body to the same degree that a world-class athlete punishes his body in his training. Now obviously that’s very different from asceticism. Asceticism is the idea that you can achieve godliness just by inflicting pain on your body. That’s why the Catholic monks used to do things like whip themselves. That is not what Paul is talking about. Do the great athletes inflict tremendous punishment on their bodies? Yes. But it’s not random punishment.  They don’t whip themselves. They don’t just cause pain for the sake of pain under the illusion that that will make them better athletes. The pain they inflict on themselves is only pain that is necessary for their training. That’s how it was for Paul too. 
If you want to know what kinds of pain he’s talking about, just look back at the rest of the chapter. All through ch.9 Paul has been talking about the things he deprived himself of – not just for the sake of asceticism – but in the pursuit of his ministry. If it made his ministry more effective if he went without a salary – he refused a salary. If it made his ministry more effective to become like a Gentile, he would do it (even though that resulted in persecution). That’s what it means to beat your body. As you go through the day every day, be on the lookout for times when you make a decision that factors in bodily comfort as a significant factor even when there are spiritual issues involved. And for most of us that happens hundreds of times a day. It usually starts with the very first sound you hear in the morning.  Your alarm goes off. If you are living your life as a Christian, there are spiritual, eternal reasons why you set that alarm. Maybe you set it so you could get to work on time – to carry out your calling and do your work as unto the Lord. Maybe you did it so you could get up and care for your family. Maybe it’s so you can spend some time with the Lord in prayer and Scripture. Maybe it’s so you can exercise, because you want to be the best servant you can be, and good health is part of that. All those are spiritual issues. If you are a Christian, you should have had some spiritual motive for setting that alarm. And the moment it goes off, you immediately have a decision to make.
-	You can hit snooze.
-	You can unplug it.
-	You can put it through the bedroom window.
-	You can stay in bed and listen to the alarm for a half hour.
-	You can get up and fulfill the spiritual purpose you had when you set the alarm.
When you go through that decision-making process, how heavily does your body’s opinion weigh in?  Beating your body and making it your slave means your body’s comfort is not a factor at all. The same goes for all the decisions you make throughout the day. The decision about whether to
-	shovel the walk
-	sweep the floor
-	put your dishes away
-	get up and answer the phone
-	write a letter
-	go to bed
Beating my body and making it my slave means learning how to make those kinds of decisions without bodily comfort being a factor.