Greetings!
Flesh talks a good game!
Flesh works hard, but gets nowhere. Flesh talks a good game, but comes up empty. Flesh flails and thrashes and gives the appearance of action, but ends up unable to produce life or power. The writer of Hebrews calls it “dead works” (Hebrews 9:14 NASB).
Using the ceremonial levitical laws and sacrifices of the Old Covenant as his setting, the writer of Hebrews is addressing Jewish Christians who have started going back to the old ways of obtaining renewed standing with God. They have started trusting their own efforts — performing rituals now rendered empty by the sacrifice of Christ on the cross. What would the attraction be? Why would anyone, once freed from the onerous dictates of making sure that every sin was atoned for through his own efforts by bringing a satisfactory sacrifice and offering it on the altar, willingly return to the burdensome ritual? Tada! See flesh work. Even though it was harder; even though it was burdensome; even though it was costly, still it was under the control of the person who sinned.
Flesh says:
“I’ll take care of everything. Yes, it will cost me. But I’m up to the task. When I offer that sacrifice, I’m the one doing it. I can look at it and say I did it. Then I would deserve my forgiveness.” Effort that has its roots in flesh, no matter how well-intentioned or rule-following it may be, is dead work. Life will never come from it.
The Power of Death
Death is more than the absence of life; it is a power that operates in and through the flesh. Death is an active force that works in Adam’s race to produce fruit, just as life works in the children of God to produce fruit.
“For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” (Romans 8:5-8) “For while we were in the flesh, the sinful passions, which were aroused by the Law, were at work in the members of our body to bear fruit for death.” (Romans 7:5)
Flailing Flesh
Flesh is powered by the force of death. Anything that is not life is death. Death is the “not life.” “He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 John 5:12). May I paraphrase? He who does not have the indwelling Jesus has the “not life” — death.
If you are reading these articles, my best guess is that you do have the indwelling Jesus. You do have life. But, we all have pockets of flesh still active because we keep them on automatic life support. We have areas in our lives that still run by flesh power. Every action, thought, attitude, or belief that grows out of that ground produces fruit for death.
Dead Fruit
So as not to be too esoteric, let me clarify what I mean by death in this context. Not physical death, but the state of being and the operating power that is anything other than Jesus, who is the Life. Anything other than Jesus, operating in you by the power of His Spirit, is death. At best, it produces nothing. At worst, it brings chaos and destruction.
Let’s imagine a scenario. I’m going to make these characters up, but they will be based on reality. Imagine Jane, who does indeed have Jesus indwelling, and His present power has changed her life in many ways. For example, she no longer lies or misleads to make herself feel more acceptable to others. She used to enjoy gossiping about her neighbors, but no longer finds it pleasurable. In many areas of her personality, Jane has experienced the crucifixion of her flesh that has set her free and now allows her to be a vessel through which Jesus can work. But Jane is still a person with sin and still has pockets of flesh active in her personality. Jane has a teenaged daughter. We’ll name her Mary. Mary is not a compliant teenager. Let’s say that she has some tattoos and piercings, and that she has a combative relationship with her mother. Jane is concerned about Mary on several levels. She honestly wants Mary to become the person God means for her to be for Mary’s sake. Much of Jane’s concern does revolve around her love for her daughter. But, truth be told, she also has a concern about what people think of Jane when they see Mary. Jane has always had trouble with her concern about what others might think of her. That’s why she used to mislead, or why she found some relief in putting others down through gossip. Now that same pattern of flesh rears its head again, massaged into viability by daughter Mary and her tattoos.
Jane’s flesh is convinced that if she can just get Mary to look and act and think like Jane thinks she should, all would be well. So she pulls out all the stops. Falls into patterns modeled for her for generations. She shames, she puts down, she compares Mary to other girls her age, she makes herself out to be a martyr. And what does she accomplish? Mary dies inside a little more. Their relationship dies a little more. Mary’s sense of who she is gets anchored more strongly to her outward appearance. Mary believes her behaviors define her. Flesh gives birth to flesh. Dead works result in giving the “not life” more access. When Jane acts from her flesh, her actions bear fruit for death.
Here’s the problem.
Jane’s flesh has responded to Mary’s flesh. First, Jane needs to look past Mary’s flesh. “Therefore from now on we recognize no man according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer” (2 Corinthians 5:16 NASB). Paul is saying that at some point we responded to Christ from the perspective of our flesh, but we are past that. We realize that our response to Christ has to be from the Spirit because Christ is now glorified. Then Paul takes it a step further. Anyone who is in Christ is a brand-new creation. Since that newly created person is in Christ, that person responds through Christ, who has no sinning flesh. So, we don’t interact with people based on flesh — our flesh responding to their flesh. Now we see right past their flesh and respond through the Spirit.
Jennifer Kennedy Dean
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Jennifer Kennedy Dean 2019
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