40 Days of
Fighting the Flesh
Week 2 Devotions
The Fallen Flesh
Day 6
In Genesis 2:17 God told Adam and Eve, "you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die." The KJV reads, "in the day" you eat of it, which seems to be more faithful to the original text. Have you ever thought about that term? IN THE DAY - you eat of it. At first read most would assume that Adam and Eve would have keeled over and died that very moment? God doesn't lie. So what happened to the death? There are two kinds of death described in Scriptures - a physical and a spiritual death. God threatened a spiritual death - which then results in a physical death. We can see the spiritual death immediately apparent. How so? When the LORD God let His presence be known in the Garden shortly thereafter, what did Adam and Eve do? They tried to hide from God! Instead of enjoying fellowship with their Father, they ran from Him. This was not the way God created them - to live APART from Him. Everything that they did was to be connected to God - to give glory to Him. On top of that, they tried to make clothing for themselves, because their eyes were now focused on themselves instead of their Creator.
The curse continued on, as their flesh began a slow decaying process over hundreds of years. This curse was then handed on to their children. Genesis 5:1-4 This is the written account of Adam's line. When God created man, he made him in the likeness of God. He created them male and female and blessed them. And when they were created, he called them "man." When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth. After Seth was born, Adam lived 800 years and had other sons and daughters. Notice in this text the contrast between Adam and Seth. The image of man no longer had the natural righteousness that Adam and Eve were given - the desire and communion with God.
So God's Word says that we live under a continual curse. John 3:6 says, "Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit." Paul told the Ephesians in Ephesians 2:1-2 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. So Paul also reiterates that in a spiritual sense "there is no one who seeks God."
What a terrible curse we have been put under! Jesus said, Matthew 24:12-13 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. Let's not fool ourselves into thinking that this world is actually filled with good people who have great potential to do great things. We are living under a cursed world of sinners. This is all the result of Adam and Eve's disobedience. Romans 5:19 says, "through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners."
What good does this world view do? When we realize the corruption of the flesh, we will then not think to look to our flesh for salvation. We will realize there is NO WAY we can somehow straighten out this mess we've gotten ourselves into. We will see the need to look to the Heavenly Flesh for salvation. It's the ONLY place left. Hebrews 4:15 says, "we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin."
Key Point: The flesh has been completely corrupted physically and spiritually with sin. Physically, it is under the bondage of decay from the day of birth. Spiritually, it is dead. We need a miracle for salvation to come to us.
Scripture Readings: Read Romans 5. Notice the effects of Adam's sin and Christ's holiness. Read Hebrews 2. Note the importance of Jesus taking on flesh for our salvation.
Day 7
Genesis 6:4-6 reads, "The Nephilim were . . . the heroes of old, men of renown. The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. Moses wrote that "ever inclination of the thoughts of man's heart was ONLY EVIL ALL THE TIME." That's quite a statement isn't it? Could it really be true - that all man thinks about every day is only evil? How could that be? When we examine what great and nice things people do on this earth - how could that be called "evil?" It doesn't seem right, yet God's Word doesn't lie.
In what sense is man so evil? Remember HOW God created man - for what purpose. 1 Corinthians 10:31 says, "whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God." God calls Himself a JEALOUS God - wanting us to fear, love, and trust in Him above all things. This is the 1st Commandment - the basis of all other commandments. If this 1st commandment is broken, then all other ones cannot be kept - even while attempting to keep them. You might compare it to pushing a car down a hill without gas or a key in it. You might be able to coast for some time and direct it so it looks like you're driving it, but in reality, the car is idle - it's not running. In the same way, when people try to live by God's commandments, God still considers their efforts evil, because they are doing it for THEIR OWN GLORY, and not for God's glory. Imagine if you had a worker who - every time they tried to work overtime or did something right - came and asked you for a raise. Imagine if he or she had no concern for the company or never put forth any effort because he or she enjoyed the job. You would not enjoy having such an "employee." You may pay the employee as he does his "job", but you certainly wouldn't consider someone for a promotion.
This is how God feels about those who seem to attempt to do good things and have seemingly good thoughts. Without faith in Christ, it is only done for self glorification. It is only when God gives us holiness in Christ that we can start serving Him without a concern for a reward. It is only through faith that God acquits us of our evil motivations, and frees us to serve in righteousness and holiness. Evil in the sight of God is not just based on whether I'm helping an old lady across the street as opposed to robbing her. Whereas one may be "more evil" in regards to the outward morality, they are both still deemed "evil" when the help of the old lady is done to earn God's favor. Why? Because God sent Jesus to earn His favor. To try and earn God's favor is like slapping God's Son in the face. No matter what you try to do while slapping Jesus in the face is still evil. The 1st Commandment is only kept through faith in Christ. This is where evil ends and goodness begins.
Key Point: Evil - in God's eyes - is anything that is not done to the glory of God out of faith in Christ. It is not measured with what can be done with the hand, but what is done from the heart.
Scripture readings: Read Matthew 20. Note how Jesus' parable restrains the desire for self glory by pointing to grace. Read Ephesians 4. Note the contrast between the life of unbelief and faith.
Day 8
When Job was going through some serious boils and suffering intensely, he was approached by Eliphaz, one of his seemingly "spiritual" friends. Eliphaz saw the difficulties Job was going through, and he didn't feel it was right. He felt in his heart that if Job were really a believer and he had led a pious life, then he would have hope and confidence. He said to Job in 4:6, "Should not your piety be your confidence and your blameless ways your hope?" Eliphaz is what I would call a theologian of glory. He thought that piety, confidence, and hope were the true signs of a believer. He equated suffering and despair as weakness and unbelief. He felt that true believers never suffer and are always confident and joyful.
This is a common misconception and unhealthy application of the promises of God in Scriptures. These theologians of glory ignore what Paul and Barnabas said to the believers in Antioch, "we must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God." Paul also said in 2 Corinthians 4:10, "We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body." God works life through death - makes us weak physically so we can be strong spiritually. When we despair the most, we have to trust the most. In order to build, God first has to tear down.
Apply this to the life of sinful people under the curse of sin. If this is how God works, then who would recognize their need for salvation the most? Would it be the high and mighty, the moral and strong, or the low and the scum of society? Jesus said it loud and clear, "it is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick."
One of the strongest deceptions of the flesh comes from the deception of success and morality. Paul once wrote in Romans 7:9, "I was alive apart from the law." He meant that he felt great about himself because of his Pharasaical lifestyle. If anyone was a "moral" person, he was. He thought he was doing great to follow everything God required. Ironically, when someone is at the top of the moral heap of society, they are often times the farthest from God. This is because God says in Psalm 5:5 The arrogant cannot stand in your presence; The sacrifices of God are a HUMBLE and CONTRITE heart - not a heart that is full of itself. Why else do you think that Jesus occasionally ate with what was considered the "scum" of society?
Eliphaz thought that Job's PIETY should be His CONFIDENCE. This is the exact OPPOSITE of what God declares. He tells us to DESPAIR of our piety and to solely trust in the righteousness of Christ. Don't let your flesh deceive you into thinking otherwise - that your good deeds will somehow give you the hope of salvation. Ephesians 2:8-9 couldn't make it any more clear, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-- not by works, so that no one can boast."
Key Point: Be careful not to trust in your piety. When you see those who are living a more moral life, it doesn't mean they are going to heaven. One of the ugliest manifestations of the flesh is pride and arrogance in it's own sinful works.
Scripture Readings: Read Matthew 19 and Acts 6. Note the different answers to salvation. Why? It gets down to the attitude in the hearts of the two men. One was arrogant, the other humble.
Day 9
Acts 17:26-28 says, "From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.'" This sounds completely opposite to Romans 3:10-11, There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. Do you see the difference between the two? One says that people can and do seek God, and the other says that there is no one who seeks God. So what is it?
In the context of Acts 17, God is talking about His general presence in the world. This is evident through creation. When you look at a sunset, you know there is a God. When you see a beautiful mountainside, it screams of divinity. These natural phenomena are meant to make people think to themselves, "there must be a god out there." Even the Tsunami brought people to the realization and recognition that there must be a god, as they were very quick to blame God for the disaster. These things were designed to make people seek Him - and perhaps find Him. Yet people are limited in their ability to actually find God. How so? As they search through this universe, they are only able to use their feelings - their eyes, ears, reason - things that fit in the brain. They can only make conclusions based on what they think is right according to their eyes. What ends up happening is that people fashion a god according to their liking. If they want to believe God doesn't care about sin, that's the god they form in their minds. If they want to believe different gods are in charge of the land and the sea, that's what they decide to believe. As much as they study nature and creation, they are still - in reality - spiritually blind and dead.
This is why God can still say, "there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God." Understanding and seeking go side by side. Reason cannot fathom a God who would allow us to be born into this world sinful and yet demand perfection. Reason cannot understand a God who would condemn someone to an eternity in hell. Reason cannot dream of a God who would become a baby. Your eyes won't tell you about the God who died on the cross. This kind of God - the God who dies, cries, sleeps, and eats at His mother's breast is not the type of God that people would ever seek. They want the God of power - but not the God of weakness and death.
Therefore, as much as people may like to acknowledge the power of God or say "in God we trust," we ultimately have to wonder, what God are they talking about? What God do they want to trust in? If it is the unrevealed God - they are talking about the God of power - of the conscience - of nature. Those are only shadows of God. Whereas we can be thankful when people look for God - we need to reveal to them the true God. Natural knowledge isn't enough. It isn't "foolish" enough for salvation. 1 Corinthians 1:22-24 says, "Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." Thank God that He has revealed His true self to our hearts, even though we didn't seek this God.
Key Point: The world is full of seekers of God. It looks good to the human eye, they still aren't seeking the God of mercy and love. They can't seek that God - because He doesn't make sense to the senses.
Scripture Readings: Read 1 Corinthians 1-2. Note how God has to reveal the cross in order to save.
Day 10
Psalm 51:5 says, "Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me". We call this teaching the doctrine of Original Sin. It means that sin is naturally passed down from generation to generation. You might compare it to when children inherit their parents looks, heart diseases, and many other problems. The apple doesn't fall from the tree. The child of a drug addicted woman has to suffer the rest of his or her life because of what his or her parent did while pregnant. This is true spiritually as well - as it is also written in Romans 5:16, "The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation."
It seems so unfair - that we should have to "pay" for something Adam did thousands of years ago. This is what we might call "natural results" of being the offspring of Adam and Eve. God pronounced the judgment before Adam and Eve committed the sin. Adam and Eve triggered the judgment. Whose fault is it? Adam's and Eve's and Satan's, but not God's. It's not that God is punishing us for Adam's sin - He judges us for our own sins. We are siimply living under this same judgment as Adam because we inherited his sin.
The real question comes in with infants and children. It seems offensive to our reason that God would hold an infant accountable for being born into a dead end situation. So some try to reason their way out of it. They say infants aren't really sinful until they choose to sin at age 7 or 8. Others try to downplay Psalm 51 by saying that this sin really isn't that "bad" to God because it isn't a sin of words or actions or thoughts. These don't mesh with Scriptures, however. How could the holy God who demands perfection loosen his standards and still be just? All sin is an abomination to the holy God. It also doesn't make sense to our own senses. How could anyone say that toddlers aren't sinful? You don't have to teach them to be selfish - "mine" comes rolling off their tongues soon after they are born. They know right from wrong much earlier than 7 or 8. Any parent of a toddler knows this in his or her heart. God's Word instead talks about degrees of hell, according to how many opportunities you had to hear the Word or see God's miracles.
What we need to do is lay reason aside, and just take God at His Word. Sin begins at conception - therefore so does judgment. The cure is not in denial, but in the Scriptures. Therefore, God's Word talks about the cure. It is only found in the death and resurrection of Christ. Jesus died for the world, including infants. Salvation comes through faith - which is given through the Gospel. The Gospel is found in the Word and sacraments. The Scriptures therefore emphasize the need for even infants to be baptized in the New Testament and circumcised in the Old Testament. The cure for our sinful world is not to sit around and complain about how unfair God is. The cure is to go to the cross, and expose our infants and toddlers to the cross ASAP. The mother of the demon possessed girl prayed to Jesus for delivery - so we can pray for our children in the womb. John the Baptist leapt for joy at the sound of Mary's voice - in faith. God the Holy Spirit can work a miracle of faith even in the womb through the Word. The jailer had his whole family baptized as did other people in Scriptures - and so we see the need for baptism of all ages.
You see, when we recognize the seriousness of sin from day one, then we will also recognize the importance of baptism, prayer, and the Gospel. Our God is a God of grace. He doesn't want anyone to perish - infants included. He wants all people to be saved - even though they are all sinful. Knowing this, we will want to fulfill God's great commission to us in Matthew 28:19-20, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
Key Point: Even infants are born into sin and deserving of God's judgment. Therefore, God calls on us to give them what they don't deserve - God's grace - as found in His Word and sacrament.
Scripture Readings: Read Acts 16. The "family" often included slaves and slave children as well. Luke 2 - note the reaction of John in the womb and who Mary sings about in her song.
Day 11
No two thumb prints are the same. Every single person in this world has their own unique individual prints. This is just a microcosm of the variety that God has provided us with in this world. Take for instance garlic. Garlic is garlic, right? However, did you know that there are said to be over 600 cultivated sub-varieties of garlic in the world?
You could say the same for sin, right? It comes in all kinds of varieties - even more than Baskin Robbins. Paul made a list of them in Romans 1: "Since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them." That's quite a variety, wouldn't you say?
Does that mean that God looks at all sin the same? Yes and no. He condemns it all - sends unbelievers to hell for anything from slander to adultery. Yet God's Word does mention some sins that occur as a result of God's specific judgment on people - like earlier in Romans 1 Paul specifically mentioned homosexuality as a judgment on people who reject the true God. He calls it "handing them over to their desires." In other words, when God hands down judgment on people, He gives them what they WANT. People become so selfish that they are willing to hurt others, themselves, and even hate God in order to get what they want. So we see in this world a wide variety of selfish people. A rich man selfishly hoards his wealth and doesn't give any money to charities. A selfish husband only thinks about getting a promotion and leaves his wife and children alone at home while he works many more hours than he should. A selfish wife spends all of the family's money on clothing and jewelry while her kids live in rags and their budget is down to nothing. A young man is willing to tell a young woman anything as long as she can relieve his sexual tension and desires. A young woman uses her emotions and anger in order to manipulate her boyfriend into doing whatever she wants. Sin comes in all varieties.
Imagine if three pigs were at one pig sty, and one pig looked across the sty and said to the pig next to him - "boy, that guy sure is a slob isn't he. Look at him, mud all over his feet, corn falling off of his face, slobber lathering his teeth - how disgusting! " Isn't that what we do when we say, "how disgusting those homosexuals are! I can't believe how he could be such an idiot! She's just a drunk!" Granted, some of these sins can become more "ugly" as they become more addictive - but that doesn't mean that one pig is any "better" than the next. The sad fact is that some people are not given as good of self control as others. Some are more tempted to anger, while others are more tempted to sexual sin, and others are tempted to greed.
What can we learn? Realize that everyone has their own "taste" for different sins. Some - while tasting their sins - have become addicted to them - and become even more disgusted. You may not be tempted to homosexuality or addicted to methamphetamine, but your taste may be to greed or slander. Know what your weak spots are. Don't look down on others because their temptations may seem more "disgusting" than yours. Thank God you don't have that temptation. Pray for them. Repent of your own pet sins so that you don't become addicted to your own vice. Ask God for strength in His Word and sacrament. Be ready to fight against it for the rest of your life.
Key Point: Sin comes in all kinds of varieties. It's all disgusting to God. Be aware of your own weaknesses and work on that, while praying for others with different weaknesses.
Scripture Readings: Read Romans 1 and Matthew 5. Note the variety of ways sin comes to play.
Day 12
Come to class at 9:15 to learn more about the limitations of the flesh after the fall!