Is Your Mind Hostile To God?

I want to take a moment to look at Romans 8:7 very closely. Here is what this very important verse says: For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Romans 8:7 There are very many people in the world that claim to be Christians, but use the grace of God as an occasion of the flesh. They would misquote scriptures pointing out that all things are permissible yet not all things are profitable as an excuse to indulge in activities very clearly pointed out as sin in the scriptures. I will give three examples here of this type of activity. These activities, that are clearly pointed out in scripture, as being sin should not be done under any circumstances. Yet if we say that we should abstain from these sins we are accused of legalism. So as we work through this keep in mind what Paul said when he stated the mind that is set on the flesh (sin) is hostile to God.

Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. 1 Corinthians 6:18 Sexual immorality would be considered unlawful sexual conduct. This could be sex outside of wedlock, adultery, pornography, lust, homosexuality, etc. We are told to flee from this sin, yet many people say that they can commit these acts and God is still pleased with them. Yet Paul is clear in Romans 8:8, the verse that follows the one we are looking at, that those who are in the flesh (sinning) can not please God.

Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices Colossians 3:9. Lying would be telling people anything that is not true with the intent to deceive. We can look at lies from one end of our human spectrum to the other. From lying to your boss about why you are late to work, lying to your spouse about where you have been, or even lying to your children when they ask you a hard question that you don’t want to tell them the truth about. If the intent is to deceive then it is a lie. I know a lot of people are going to really be blown away by this, but do you deceive your kids into believing a fairy puts money under their pillow when they loose a tooth? Well it is a lie, because you tell them that with the intent to deceive them into believing it. And it means that you are hostile to God in your mind.

What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he? "All things are lawful," but not all things are helpful. "All things are lawful," but not all things build up. Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor. Eat whatever is sold in the meat market without raising any question on the ground of conscience. For "the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof." If one of the unbelievers invites you to dinner and you are disposed to go, eat whatever is set before you without raising any question on the ground of conscience. But if someone says to you, "This has been offered in sacrifice," then do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you, and for the sake of conscience-- I do not mean your conscience, but his. For why should my liberty be determined by someone else's conscience? 1 Corinthians 10:19-29

This last passage of scripture, which is the oft misquoted scripture where people say that all things are lawful, clearly points out that you can do all things, but not all things build up, but it also says that if you know that it was offered to idols DO NOT EAT THE FOOD. People use this passage to say that they can read books such as Harry Potter, which is about sorcery which is forbidden in scripture (I can hear the cry of the multitudes shouting at me LEGALISM!), or have Indian fetishes such as dream catchers or other such things. When we do this we are ignoring the part where it says if you know that it is pagan DON”T DO IT. I think we do it not so much to disobey God intentionally, but because it has been taught wrong to most people. So let me address this passage quickly in light of Romans Chapter 8:1-8.

John Piper once stated in a book he wrote that when he finds things in scripture that seem to disagree it is then that he really digs in trying to find out what it means, and how to reconcile the apparent contradiction. 1 Corinthians 19-29 seems to say you can do all things, but then say you can not. I think the key to really understanding this is in Romans. In Romans 8:1 we are told that those who are in Christ are no longer condemned. We no longer have to feel condemnation and guilt, for we are free. Free to sin, or free not to sin. Not free to do what we want and free to ignore God’s law. And if we do something sinful, such as eating food offered to idols, or having a fetish in our house that we didn’t know was a fetish, or other such things then we don’t need to feel condemned for it, and lay down and die. We just need to say I am a child of God, set our mind on the Spirit, repent (and get rid of it because repent means confess and forsake), and continue to grow in holiness. If the bible says it is sin, it is sin, and no amount of God’s grace is going to make it not sin. It is not legalism to submit to God’s laws and obey them out of love, because Jesus said himself that if we loved him we would keep his commandments.

Dear God,
May I see that obeying your law and submitting to your holy requirements is not legalism, but rather it is my love for you in action. May I not use your grace as an occassion to sin, but rather may I use your grace as a means to stop sinning and learn to live holy.