Philippians 3:20-21
"Our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself."
The apostle Paul is not a perfectionist. He's not suggesting that he has arrived at perfection in the life of Christ. He's saying he hasn't arrived. He's not saying he no longer sins or transgresses against God's will. He's confessing that he has yet to arrive, and he doesn't even suggest that he will get there before he's called home in heaven. He simply continues to strive toward that goal.
Philippians 3:12
"Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own."
He's pointing the church towards the goal which is Christlikeness. He instructs the church to study the scriptures so that the gospel will help us know what Christ is like, so that we can understand what we're striving to become. If we study scripture for anything else we've missed the mark. Bible study is the work of the Holy Spirit changing us into the image of Jesus Christ. When we search the scriptures, we're searching for Christ and understanding what he wills for our lives. And that understanding is available to all who receive the word of God with a genuine and honest heart. A heart softened and readied by the power of the Holy Spirit who is not limited in any way by human traditions or doctrines. No man can distribute that power by his own authority. They can share the knowledge of it, but the heart receives the Spirit that is already at work in the world. No one knows from where it comes or where it is going, except that it came down from heaven above, not by means of any earthbound organism or organization. This Spirit was sent into the world to find those who belong to Jesus Christ.
2 Corinthians 3:18
"And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit."
Objectively we are committed to the deep study of the word of God that teaches us about being like Jesus Christ. Subjectively we are committed to submitting to that word of God. This is the bottom line of Christian living. It should consume us completely. It really should become the one thing we do.
I know, I know, you're saying "how is that possible?"
Let's look at what it is we're striving for and why these things should consume us completely.
The Bible teaches us that the desires of our human life, our so-called flesh, are against the Holy Spirit. And of course, that means that the desires of the Spirit are against the natural patterns of our human life. The apostle Paul is telling us these things are opposed to each other. And he's saying this is the case because our enemies are trying to keep us from doing the Christ-like things we want to do.
How are the enemies working to keep us from doing Christ-like things?
There are these things called "the works of the flesh" and the apostle Paul tells us that they are self-evident. And he's right. And we know it because we know it. We know it because we know the battle within us. And we know the desires that own us. The Holy Spirit is convicting us about those things every day. Not directly, but by instructing us into Christ-like behavior. And so that instruction is obviously against the flesh and therefore stands as a conviction of truth about our own lives, since we are living in the flesh. We know what is good and what is evil because we know good and evil. We have the knowledge of those things. And the Holy Spirit simply reminds us about those things by reminding us about Jesus and what he commands.
So, simply as an academic exercise, what things are we doing that are not Christ-like.
1. Sexual immorality - Jesus told us that a man and a woman become "one flesh". Sexual immorality is trying to have one aspect of that union without committing to the whole. It's trying to isolate pleasure and keep it alone and apart from the whole. It's an incomplete joining of two souls. It's like eating your good food, but before you swallow you spit it out. And believe me I see the insinuation there. It's like "pulling out". It's all flavor, no substance. It does the whole body no good at all. It only feeds the desires, and you're left empty.
2. Impurity - This really includes all kinds of sin and encompasses any activity. It can involve our thoughts, words, and actions. These are things that do not conform to God’s will for our lives. These things cause us to be isolated into a condition of being defiled in some sense. They are aspects of our lives that contaminate and thereby separate us from God. Impurity invites infection by evil spirits, a little leaven effects the whole loaf. The Bible teaches us that impurity is our default human state. There's no one who is good, everyone has some impurity built into them.
3. Sensuality - Simply put, it's our nature unrestrained. Complete indulgence into lewdness. Conduct that is considered offensive to God. An abnormally persistent drive for serving the desires of our flesh.
4. Idolatry - Any act of worship, veneration, devotion, and sacrifice that places a person, object, or concept above the sovereign position of God. It's a condition that occurs when people forsake God and sink into ignorance and moral corruption. Fetishism, worshipping the flesh, hero worship, nature worship, and any other kind of spiritual activity that takes our focus off from the sovereign God and places it upon the material world.
5. Sorcery - Chatting with spirits, casting spells, and practicing pharmaceutical efforts at circumventing God’s natural sources for knowledge and sovereignty by artificially elevating the human mind above the revelation of God's word.
6. Enmity - Provoking hostility towards God's authority in his people and throughout the community of believers.
7. Strife - Discord among the family of God. Maybe competition, and rivalry. All sorts of quarrels.
8. Jealousy - It's a complex emotion encompassing our feelings and suspicions. Often it brings about rage, fear, and humiliation. Sometimes it's a necessary emotion, it can preserve social bonds and motivate people to try harder. God is a jealous God after all.
9. Fits of anger - Angry outbursts that are seen as unreasonable given the circumstances. The person is suddenly overtaken by anger and is unable to control themselves.
10. Rivalries - Rivalry among believers can lead to disagreements, and self-centeredness. Engaging in these conflicts can damage the name of Christ in the eyes of the unbelieving world.
11. Dissensions - Is like discord and strife but specifically it brings about a division among the group. It stresses that division. Its intent is to divide.
12. Divisions - Its mainly about not being unified in Christ. Not finding common ground in Christ. It's tribalism. It's lobbying. It's segregation. It's classism. All sorts of discriminations are happening when the people of God are divided.
13. Envy - This has to do with emotions of discontentment in regard to one's life in comparison to another's.
14. Drunkenness - The Bible sees this from a spiritual perspective and how it reflects upon and impacts our lives. It has moral and spiritual effects. It can lead to a maladministration of justice. It can make us oblivious to our own misery. It can create an imbalance in our understanding. It can provoke anger and many other forms of violence. It is closely allied with indecency, gambling, and licentiousness. It deadens our spiritual sensibilities and produces a callous indifference to godly influences. There are a great many reasons why this is completely condemned by Gods word.
15. Orgies - The term in the Greek refers to a drunken party, a parade, and other means of sin often involving sexual immorality that is associated with exalting a pagan deity. It's not merely wanton group sex; it's more about the purpose of that activity. It's a form of idolatry that gets people together to act out their sexual desires publicly. This can manifest in a multitude of forms. In terms of the church, it's basically Christian's gone wild, “letting loose.”
16. And things like these - Just in case you thought your thing isn't one of the above.
So, there we have it, pretty much everything we do in our daily lives is listed there. Sometimes they're just about ALL that we do. But what is Christ-like?
Galatians 5:22-23
"The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control."
And if you overlay these Christ-like attributes onto the above list of human evils, you'll see that those human conditions can be easily mitigated by these Christ-like qualities. Strife is countered by patience. As is dissent and fits of anger which can also be resolved with a little self-control. Divisions and rivalries are balanced out better when we practice kindness and love for one another. And faithfulness to God's word and obedience to that word will always prevail when dealing with sexual immorality, impurity, debauchery, idolatry, witchcraft, orgies, and drunkenness. If the bible says avoid these things...then avoid them.
We must daily reapply these Spirit fruit in our lives in order to grow towards Christ-like perfection. We're not going to get anywhere if we resist the Spirit. Our spirit is not conformed to Christ-like perfection on its own. We're incapable of achieving that perfection alone. We cannot mediate our flesh away; we cannot not exercise it or pray or fast it away. Not without praying in The Spirit. Repetition doesn't get it done. Asceticism won't whip it out of us. Celibacy cannot overcome it. All those things are the flesh trying to overcome the flesh. We need the Holy Spirit to guide us because we frankly have no idea where to go.
If we are led by the Holy Spirit, we will no longer be slaves to the law of sin that lives within us. We must keep in step with that Spirit, walking in agreement with Him so that we are able to resist the temptations of our flesh. So, we abide in The Spirit so that The Spirit will influence our thoughts and actions. Walking by the Spirit is just living a life in the Spirit. (Inspiration drawn from Galatians 5:16–26 which by the way came from the Holy Spirit)
Jesus describes this Christ-like Spirit influenced life like being grafted into a vine (see John 15). If we abide in Jesus, the spirit is working within us, we are securely and successfully grafted into His root and feeding off of that power to overcome sin. And though we may grow branches of error and sin-sickness from time to time, the Holy Spirit prunes off those things and encourages us to take better care to produce spiritual fruit in our lives.
Friends,
As a horticulture expert I can share this one insight. When grafting we're attempting to get the root stock and the scion to unify as one flesh. The living tissues must be joined together and match up so that the graft will "take". In the beginning the graft is sealed to prevent drying and infection by outside influences. But eventually that graft either takes or it doesn't. Sometimes there is a partial graft but it's weak because some parts of the graft did not take. And in there, in that bad graft is a cancer that begins to rot. Sometimes this graft can hold together for a long time. But in time, as the body of that grafted branch grows stronger and larger, it begins to strain that cancerous weak connection. And soon it breaks off, or cracks and invites infection, insects and bacteria.
The connection to The Spirit must abide in Christ. No other source will do. Christ connects us directly to himself via the Holy Spirit. But it must be Himself. It's either the root or nothing. Without abiding directly in Christ, you might for a time grow out and up, but eventually the rot will prove you out. It will find you out. And you will fall off and shrivel up and die. It's that simple.