Overcoming Sin By a Superior Satisfaction

[NOTE: This is the full version of "Don't Be Sensual, Feel!"]

"This I say, therefore, and testify in the Lord, that you should no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their mind, (18) having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart; (19) who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lewdness, to work all uncleanness with greediness.

(20) But you have not so learned Christ, (21) if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught by Him, as the truth is in Jesus: (22) that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, (23) and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, (24) and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness." -Ephesians 4:17-24

When the Bible tells Christians to do something good or to not do something bad, it's really easy to misunderstand those commands as nothing more than calls to moral decision-making. ["Wait, did he just say, 'biblical commands to do good and avoid evil aren't commands to make moral decisions?'"] Yes, I did. Well, kind of. They are commands to make moral decisions, but they are not fundamentally commands to make moral decisions. And this is massively important. As in, life-and-death important. Let me explain.

When we read commands we very often assume a certain train of thought:

1. "This passage says to not to bad stuff, but to do good stuff."
2. "I choose to do bad stuff or good stuff by an act of my will."
3. "Therefore, this passage is essentially an appeal to my will."

I believe that this is over-simplified, flawed logic. Yet, this is usually our subconscious mental framework when reading commands. Read the passage at the top again. When you boil it down to its essence, does it sound like, "Don't do bad things like the bad people (17-19), do good things like a good Christian (20-24)," or said another way, "make good moral choices"? I think that misses the point. Even adding, "make good moral choices, because God deserves obedience," or "because you owe it to God for forgiving you" is deeply missing the point.

In fact, the difference between hearing commands that way and hearing commands biblically is the difference between the Old "of the letter" Covenant and the New "of the Spirit" Covenant. (2 Cor. 3:6) I didn't say it's as drastic a difference as the difference between the Covenants, I said it is the difference between them. If that's true, then according to 2 Cor. 3:6, to present the Bible's commands the first way is to kill, while to present them rightly is to give life. Many genuine Christians wonder why so much of the preaching they hear sounds like death. I think this issue is near the heart of the answer.

The Old Covenant was external, (written on tablets of stone outside the listener,) and was addressed primarily to the will, ("Obey these rules!") While it had divine authority to command men's hearts to be different, (Deut. 6:5-6) it was powerless to make them different (Rom. 8:3-4). The New Covenant is internal, (written by God on the hearts of His children,) and is addressed primarily to the affections, ("love is the fulfillment of the law!" Rom. 13:10) It not only commands us to live heavenly lives from new hearts, it gives heavenly life by giving new hearts (Ezek. 36:26-27).

Rightly understood, biblical commands are to stir the heart - our love and joy and satisfaction in Christ - before they are to direct the will - our obligation to live a certain way. The the will is essential, and it is commanded to behave a certain way. But the New Testament commands the will to choose in ways consistent with the new heart's new affections! It flows from the internal Spirit, not from the external letter. The following is just one example of how this works from just one thread of our opening passage.

Ephesians 4:19 says that those who don’t know God give themselves over “to lewdness to work all uncleanness with greediness”… because they’re “past feeling!” This is huge. Paul starts v. 17 by saying, “don’t be like them.” They plunge themselves into sensuality, not because that’s a fuller experience of real pleasure, but because they can’t feel, and they’re trying everything under the sun to make them feel. They want to be happy, but apart from God, they’re beyond real feeling, so they indulge in booze and sex and drugs and money and pride – desperately trying to fill the void.

So Paul’s command in 17-19 says (among many other things) that the way to “no longer walk as the rest of the Gentiles,” is not to deprive yourself of pleasure, but to cultivate pleasure, to cultivate real feeling – in God. That’s what I think 20-24 is about: “this [cultivation of sensitivity and satisfaction in God] is consistent with the way you learned Christ. This is how He taught you in salvation: to put off [repent of] the old dead, decaying self that corresponds to deceitful desires, (deceitful because they promise satisfaction but can’t deliver, so they leave you wanting more,) and to put on by faith the new man, who instead of decaying by lusts, is continually renewed by knowledge of God in righteousness.” This is a call to satisfaction, real pleasure, real life! It addresses the Spirit-given affections, to create a Spirit-directed will. Godliness is the denial of smaller pleasures for the enjoyment of an infinitely greater One!

This is New Covenant life. This is the life of faith. It takes faith to believe that the unseen God satisfies more than tangible booze and overeating and sensuality, (even more than self-righteous, external law-keeping). So, trusting that God is more satisfying than everything else is “living by faith,” the life that pleases God. Faith is responding to the Gospel of Christ by trusting that God is everything He says He is for you, and embracing Him as the supreme delight of your soul. To be sanctified, prefer Him over sin! To those who seek Him wholeheartedly, He promises to give the desire of their heart: Himself.

"But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." -Hebrews 11:6