We're all of us sensual beings. We see, hear, taste, touch and smell our world (and each other). It's just the way we are as beings of flesh and blood. What happens, then, when we are confronted with the supernatural, spiritual, incorporeal reality of the Christian faith that is not as readily accessible to our sensual make-up as is the material universe in which we live? Inevitably, we try to bend that spiritual reality to serve, or appeal to, our sensual, fleshly nature. Is this a good thing? Is it okay to wrap the spiritual in a layer of the sensual? Scripture, I believe, teaches us that it is not okay.
Before I continue, let me clarify that by “sensual, I don't just mean “sexual.” By “sensual” I mean “appealing to and/or stimulating the physical senses.” All sexuality may be sensual but not all sensuality is sexual. For example, stubbing your toe, or being poked in the eye, are very sensual experiences, but they are not at all sexual (at least, not in my experience). When I use the term “sensual,” then, I don't generally or primarily mean “sexual” (though this meaning is included) but simply “stimulating/appealing to any/all of the physical senses.” I should also emphasize that our human sensuality is a characteristic of our fundamentally fleshly existence. When Scripture speaks of “the flesh” or of fleshly, carnal living, it is necessarily speaking of sensual living; for one cannot be fleshly or carnal without also being sensual. The reverse is true, too: one cannot be sensual and not also be in some measure fleshly.
What role, if any, ought our sensual nature to play in apprehending and navigating the spiritual realm into which God invites us as His children? Can we be spiritually-minded people and sensual and flesh-oriented at the same time? Can we blend the two together? Can we make our spiritual lives sensual ones? Scripture provides a very clear answer:
Galatians 5:17
17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.
John 4:23-24
23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.
24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."
If the flesh and Spirit are at odds with each other, it is evident that they cannot be mixed to good effect. So it is that Jesus does not say that we must worship in spirit and in a flesh-oriented way. There can be no true, spiritual worship of God when that worship has been made to appeal to the sensual, fleshly part of ourselves.
How contrary to modern worship this is! Sit in on any contemporary “seeker-sensitive” church service and all you'll see is one long attempt to meld the spiritual with the fleshly. Attend any NAR (New Apostolic Reformation) service and hyper-sensual spirituality is practically shoved down your throat! The result of the attempted union of these opposites (flesh and spirit) is always confusion and a serious compromise of the Gospel and of the proper spiritual character of worship.
Does Scripture have any more to say about the contrariness of the flesh and the spirit? Does it reinforce just how opposed these things are to each other? Yes, it does:
Romans 8:5-6
5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
The apostle Paul here establishes the incompatibility of the spiritual mind with a carnal mind. When we use the word “carnal” these days we tend to think “sex.” Is the carnal mind a mind occupied only with the sexual drive? No, sexual preoccupation is just a part of, or a symptom of, a carnal mind. A carnal (or fleshly) mind is fundamentally a mind that is turned from the heavenly realm to the temporal and from the spiritual life centered on Christ to a life centered on Self and the satisfaction of fleshly impulses. It's important to note that in his comments above Paul allows for no middle ground where one can be both spiritually minded and also preoccupied with the things of the flesh. The two states of mind are opposed to each other, fighting for dominance within the believer. They cannot be brought into peaceful co-existence. So, when a believer chooses to capitulate to the fleshly desire for a sensual experience of God, they must, in doing so, inevitably compromise on being spiritually-minded. Paul offers a very serious warning about the carnal, fleshly, sensual mind:
Romans 8:7-8
7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.
8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
The truth of the enmity between the sensual and the spiritual has been entirely abandoned in ever-widening parts of the evangelical Christian community. As the hyper-sensuality of the NAR movement in particular continues to infiltrate the Church and lure young people into its false teachings, more and more the Church is less and less a truly spiritual community of people. Try to convince the young people who've been drawn into this terrible deception of this fact, however, and you'll immediately encounter their fanatic belief that the sensuality of their faith is precisely what makes it superior to the dead, dry, loveless religion of their elders! How powerful the flesh can be in deceiving us! How deeply we desire to be sensual in all things and how greatly we need God to deliver us from this desire!
Just one more passage on this head:
James 3:14-16
14 But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth.
15 This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic.
16 For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.
The apostle James here describes a “wisdom” that is not from above, that does not originate with God. What are the characteristics of this “wisdom”? It is earthly, sensual and demonic, corresponding to the three great enemies of the disciple of Christ: the World, the Flesh, and the devil. This “wisdom” gives rise to “bitter envy,” “self-seeking,” “confusion” and “every evil thing.” In light of this, why would any believer want to indulge in any degree in such wisdom? Horribly, many believers do just this when they impose a sensuality upon their walk with, and worship of, God. And the more they do so, the farther from God they move – not to some sort of neutral ground, some kind of spiritual “No Man's Land,” mind you, but into the confusion, darkness, and sin of the World, the Flesh and the devil. Paul gives a graphic and disturbing description of those who've given way to fleshly sensuality in their living:
Philippians 3:18-21
18 For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:
19 whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame--who set their mind on earthly things.
20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
21 who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.
Do you see the sharp contrast here between the enemies of Christ and those whose citizenship is in heaven? The enemies of Christ have their belly as their god, they glory in shameful behaviour, and have their minds oriented toward temporal, worldly things. The citizens of heaven, though, wait eagerly for Christ who will transform them into glorified creatures under his eternal rule. They are not occupied with the flesh and earthly things but look forward to a heavenly kingdom in which righteousness dwells (2 Pe. 3:13).
Clearly, a sensual approach to the Christian faith is not an aid to godly, spiritual living; it appears instead to be in direct opposition to it! Those whose god is their belly, whose occupation is with the physical and fleshly, are the enemies of Christ.
What sorts of things, exactly, might fall under the category of sensual spirituality? Well, they won't be the sorts of obviously wicked things that Paul and James describe, of course. No, the sensuality that creeps into Christian living is very spiritualized. It looks, at first glance, like holiness, and seeking after God, and ecstatic, supernatural interaction with His Spirit. What am I talking about precisely? Well, I mean anything in the worship, prayer and fellowship of Christians with their God that promotes the sensual, the physical, the flesh. For example, rather than focusing on Christ as our Saviour, Lord, and Life in worship, the emphasis is, these days, commonly shifted to an emotional, even romantic, experience of him. Songs are sung about lying in Jesus's arms, kissing him, feeling his love and protection. Heightening the believer's sense of emotional and physical intimacy is the primary aim of these songs, though ostensibly Christ is being lifted up and extolled. As Scripture makes plain, though, the sensual and the spiritual are contrary to each other, they are not complementary. (Ga. 5:17) We cannot appeal to our flesh in worship and be truly spiritual about it at the same time. When worship of Christ must compete with an appeal to our romantic sensibilities, and emotions, and imaginings, we necessarily begin to compromise on the spirituality of our worship of God.
Another way of sensualizing the believer's walk with God is to introduce “energy play” into the believer's repertoire of “spiritual” experiences. Tingles, electrical shocks, sensations of heat, energy spheres or fields – these are all promoted to believers (and non-believers) as manifestations of God. This energy play, though, has long been part of the occult practices of New Agers, pagans, wiccans, eastern mystic religions and Satan worshipers. Christians are just coming late to the party.
The way this energy play is made acceptable to believers is by coupling it to the name of Jesus and/or describing it as evidence of the presence of an angel, or the manifestation of the Holy Spirit. This is all that is needed for the immature, ignorant believer to embrace what has long been the domain of the demonic. But James warned of this: The “wisdom not from above” is both sensual and demonic. Simply saying, “This is God,” or “God is doing this,” does not make it so. Satan is the Great Counterfeiter; his specialty is appearing to us as an emissary of God, of making evil duplicates of godly things. We must be extremely wary of accepting anything that in any way runs contrary to the principles, wisdom and truth of God's word. “A little leaven, leavens the whole lump” (1 Cor. 5:6); “Little foxes spoil the vine.” (Song S. 2:15) ”Dead flies stink up the ointment.” (Ecc. 10:1) Too often these days believers are willing to accept a bit of falsehood along with their truth. I hear Christians who, when they are warned of those who would encourage them into a more sensual, fleshly walk with God, respond with, “You gotta take the good with the bad. No one's perfect. He/she does a lot of good and they're very sincere and loving.” But Scripture teaches no such compromise. In fact, it urges exactly the opposite:
Ephesians 5:8-12
8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light
9 (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth),
10 finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.
11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.
12 For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret.
2 Corinthians 6:14-18
14 Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?
15 And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever?
16 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people."
17 Therefore "Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you."
18 "I will be a Father to you, And you shall be My sons and daughters, Says the Lord Almighty."
Compromise – even slight compromise – leads to greater compromise which in turn leads to corruption and destruction. Would you drink from a cup of water to which a drop of poison had been added? Would you drink again from a poisoned cup of water if the first cup didn't kill you? I doubt it. But, this is, concerning their faith, exactly what many Christians are doing today! Knowing that there is the poison of false doctrine and links to the occult in what they are hearing and doing, they continue to remain involved, sitting under the preaching of false teachers and participating in worship that is clearly unbiblical and often grossly sensual.
As I said at the beginning of this blog post, we are physical, material and thus necessarily sensual beings. We can't escape this fact. How, then, do we live as such and properly apprehend and live in the spiritual realm? What are we supposed to do with our fleshly nature, with our strong inclination to sensuality? Paul explains:
Romans 8:12-14
12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors--not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.
13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
1 Corinthians 9:24-27
24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it.
25 And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown.
26 Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air.
27 But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.
Whoa! Quite a sharp contrast to the fleshly, sensual indulgences of a growing portion of the evangelical Church – especially that part under the sway of the NAR movement! Would the apostle Paul be “toking the Spirit,” or “getting drunk in the Spirit,” dancing in a frenzy, laughing or crying hysterically, or thrashing about on the ground as part of how he walked with God? Absolutely not. Do we ever in Scripture see Jesus doing anything remotely like what I've just described? No. Never.
How, then, should we walk with God and worship Him?
Psalms 46:10
10 Be still, and know that I am God...
Isaiah 30:15
15 For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: "In returning and rest you shall be saved; In quietness and confidence shall be your strength."...
Isaiah 32:17
17 The work of righteousness will be peace, And the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever.
1 Corinthians 14:33
33 For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.
When Elijah faced the priests of Baal on Mount Carmel he did not dance, and shout, and cut himself in a religious frenzy after the manner of the pagan priests, but in stillness and quietness simply called upon God. (1 Ki. 18) Being still and quiet is an important part of spiritual living and worship. Doing so silences the flesh, it mutes our natural sensuality, and allows our mind and spirit to commune with God undiverted and in peace.
Romans 7:22-25
22 For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.
23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
24 O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
25 I thank God--through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.
Spiritual living is a mind-oriented activity. Paul makes this plain in his comments to the Roman believers above. It is with his mind, not his flesh, that Paul “serves the law of God.” In fact, his flesh is at war with his mind, bringing him into captivity to sin. We see in this again the opposition in which the flesh stands to spiritual, God-honoring living and its opposition also to a rational, thoughtful faith. We see, as well, that the mind is integral to spiritual living (Matt. 22:37; Ac. 17:11; Ro. 12:2; 14:5; 15:6; 1 Cor. 1:10; 2:16; Phil. 3:13-15; Tit. 2:6); not the emotions, not our sensual disposition as humans, but our mind. Spiritual living, then, ought, first and foremost, to engage and appeal to our minds, to our capacity to think and reason, so that we might assess and distinguish true doctrine from false, true teachers from false teachers, and right worship from wrong. It is only with our minds, regenerated and illuminated by the Holy Spirit, that we can actually know God and understand His truth.
John 4:24
24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."
Genuinely spiritual fellowship with God and proper worship of Him absolutely requires a deep knowledge of, and fidelity to, Scripture. It is in Scripture that God's truth is revealed. The Bible is the fundamental source for all Christian doctrine and practice – or it ought to be. And the writers of Scripture emphasize the vital connection between right worship of God and proper fellowship with Him and a knowledge of and commitment to His eternal, life-changing word.
2 Timothy 3:15-17
15 ...from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Matthew 4:4
4 But He answered and said, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.' "
Psalms 119:11 (NKJV)
11 Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You!
In many churches now the false teachers that have insinuated themselves into positions of leadership within them are urging their audiences to forsake Scripture, to set it aside because it is the catalyst only for argument and self-righteous nit-picking rather than loving one's neighbor. These false teachers exhort their congregations to neglect being well-informed and concerned about the doctrines and theology of their own faith because only divisive servants of the devil pay close attention to every little thing the Bible says. And when their listeners heed them, in the ground of the resulting ignorance, and spiritual juvenility and sin, their false teachings and deceptions grow lush and wild.
If there is not a return to biblical spirituality, if the sensual and fleshly Christianity that has taken hold so widely in modern Christendom is not abandoned, the Church will soon suffer a massive apostasy. There can be no blending of the sensual with the spiritual; there can be no truly Christ-centered faith when it is mixed with constant appeals to the flesh. Those professing to be disciples of Christ must return to Scripture, to a deep care and concern for its doctrines and truth, and to a Spirit-led life that has put to death the deeds of the flesh, and they must reject entirely the sensuality that has overtaken their fellowship with, and worship of, God. Those who have seduced believers into embracing this sort of false spirituality also need to be exposed, and challenged, and rejected. If not, the cause and name of Christ will continue to be brought into grave disrepute, true and right worship of God will vanish, and many will suffer the darkness, corruption and destruction that waits at the heart of “wisdom” and spirituality that is earthly, sensual and devilish.
Galatians 6:7-8
7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.
8 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.
Before I continue, let me clarify that by “sensual, I don't just mean “sexual.” By “sensual” I mean “appealing to and/or stimulating the physical senses.” All sexuality may be sensual but not all sensuality is sexual. For example, stubbing your toe, or being poked in the eye, are very sensual experiences, but they are not at all sexual (at least, not in my experience). When I use the term “sensual,” then, I don't generally or primarily mean “sexual” (though this meaning is included) but simply “stimulating/appealing to any/all of the physical senses.” I should also emphasize that our human sensuality is a characteristic of our fundamentally fleshly existence. When Scripture speaks of “the flesh” or of fleshly, carnal living, it is necessarily speaking of sensual living; for one cannot be fleshly or carnal without also being sensual. The reverse is true, too: one cannot be sensual and not also be in some measure fleshly.
What role, if any, ought our sensual nature to play in apprehending and navigating the spiritual realm into which God invites us as His children? Can we be spiritually-minded people and sensual and flesh-oriented at the same time? Can we blend the two together? Can we make our spiritual lives sensual ones? Scripture provides a very clear answer:
Galatians 5:17
17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.
John 4:23-24
23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.
24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."
If the flesh and Spirit are at odds with each other, it is evident that they cannot be mixed to good effect. So it is that Jesus does not say that we must worship in spirit and in a flesh-oriented way. There can be no true, spiritual worship of God when that worship has been made to appeal to the sensual, fleshly part of ourselves.
How contrary to modern worship this is! Sit in on any contemporary “seeker-sensitive” church service and all you'll see is one long attempt to meld the spiritual with the fleshly. Attend any NAR (New Apostolic Reformation) service and hyper-sensual spirituality is practically shoved down your throat! The result of the attempted union of these opposites (flesh and spirit) is always confusion and a serious compromise of the Gospel and of the proper spiritual character of worship.
Does Scripture have any more to say about the contrariness of the flesh and the spirit? Does it reinforce just how opposed these things are to each other? Yes, it does:
Romans 8:5-6
5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
The apostle Paul here establishes the incompatibility of the spiritual mind with a carnal mind. When we use the word “carnal” these days we tend to think “sex.” Is the carnal mind a mind occupied only with the sexual drive? No, sexual preoccupation is just a part of, or a symptom of, a carnal mind. A carnal (or fleshly) mind is fundamentally a mind that is turned from the heavenly realm to the temporal and from the spiritual life centered on Christ to a life centered on Self and the satisfaction of fleshly impulses. It's important to note that in his comments above Paul allows for no middle ground where one can be both spiritually minded and also preoccupied with the things of the flesh. The two states of mind are opposed to each other, fighting for dominance within the believer. They cannot be brought into peaceful co-existence. So, when a believer chooses to capitulate to the fleshly desire for a sensual experience of God, they must, in doing so, inevitably compromise on being spiritually-minded. Paul offers a very serious warning about the carnal, fleshly, sensual mind:
Romans 8:7-8
7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be.
8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
The truth of the enmity between the sensual and the spiritual has been entirely abandoned in ever-widening parts of the evangelical Christian community. As the hyper-sensuality of the NAR movement in particular continues to infiltrate the Church and lure young people into its false teachings, more and more the Church is less and less a truly spiritual community of people. Try to convince the young people who've been drawn into this terrible deception of this fact, however, and you'll immediately encounter their fanatic belief that the sensuality of their faith is precisely what makes it superior to the dead, dry, loveless religion of their elders! How powerful the flesh can be in deceiving us! How deeply we desire to be sensual in all things and how greatly we need God to deliver us from this desire!
Just one more passage on this head:
James 3:14-16
14 But if you have bitter envy and self-seeking in your hearts, do not boast and lie against the truth.
15 This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic.
16 For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there.
The apostle James here describes a “wisdom” that is not from above, that does not originate with God. What are the characteristics of this “wisdom”? It is earthly, sensual and demonic, corresponding to the three great enemies of the disciple of Christ: the World, the Flesh, and the devil. This “wisdom” gives rise to “bitter envy,” “self-seeking,” “confusion” and “every evil thing.” In light of this, why would any believer want to indulge in any degree in such wisdom? Horribly, many believers do just this when they impose a sensuality upon their walk with, and worship of, God. And the more they do so, the farther from God they move – not to some sort of neutral ground, some kind of spiritual “No Man's Land,” mind you, but into the confusion, darkness, and sin of the World, the Flesh and the devil. Paul gives a graphic and disturbing description of those who've given way to fleshly sensuality in their living:
Philippians 3:18-21
18 For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ:
19 whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame--who set their mind on earthly things.
20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
21 who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.
Do you see the sharp contrast here between the enemies of Christ and those whose citizenship is in heaven? The enemies of Christ have their belly as their god, they glory in shameful behaviour, and have their minds oriented toward temporal, worldly things. The citizens of heaven, though, wait eagerly for Christ who will transform them into glorified creatures under his eternal rule. They are not occupied with the flesh and earthly things but look forward to a heavenly kingdom in which righteousness dwells (2 Pe. 3:13).
Clearly, a sensual approach to the Christian faith is not an aid to godly, spiritual living; it appears instead to be in direct opposition to it! Those whose god is their belly, whose occupation is with the physical and fleshly, are the enemies of Christ.
What sorts of things, exactly, might fall under the category of sensual spirituality? Well, they won't be the sorts of obviously wicked things that Paul and James describe, of course. No, the sensuality that creeps into Christian living is very spiritualized. It looks, at first glance, like holiness, and seeking after God, and ecstatic, supernatural interaction with His Spirit. What am I talking about precisely? Well, I mean anything in the worship, prayer and fellowship of Christians with their God that promotes the sensual, the physical, the flesh. For example, rather than focusing on Christ as our Saviour, Lord, and Life in worship, the emphasis is, these days, commonly shifted to an emotional, even romantic, experience of him. Songs are sung about lying in Jesus's arms, kissing him, feeling his love and protection. Heightening the believer's sense of emotional and physical intimacy is the primary aim of these songs, though ostensibly Christ is being lifted up and extolled. As Scripture makes plain, though, the sensual and the spiritual are contrary to each other, they are not complementary. (Ga. 5:17) We cannot appeal to our flesh in worship and be truly spiritual about it at the same time. When worship of Christ must compete with an appeal to our romantic sensibilities, and emotions, and imaginings, we necessarily begin to compromise on the spirituality of our worship of God.
Another way of sensualizing the believer's walk with God is to introduce “energy play” into the believer's repertoire of “spiritual” experiences. Tingles, electrical shocks, sensations of heat, energy spheres or fields – these are all promoted to believers (and non-believers) as manifestations of God. This energy play, though, has long been part of the occult practices of New Agers, pagans, wiccans, eastern mystic religions and Satan worshipers. Christians are just coming late to the party.
The way this energy play is made acceptable to believers is by coupling it to the name of Jesus and/or describing it as evidence of the presence of an angel, or the manifestation of the Holy Spirit. This is all that is needed for the immature, ignorant believer to embrace what has long been the domain of the demonic. But James warned of this: The “wisdom not from above” is both sensual and demonic. Simply saying, “This is God,” or “God is doing this,” does not make it so. Satan is the Great Counterfeiter; his specialty is appearing to us as an emissary of God, of making evil duplicates of godly things. We must be extremely wary of accepting anything that in any way runs contrary to the principles, wisdom and truth of God's word. “A little leaven, leavens the whole lump” (1 Cor. 5:6); “Little foxes spoil the vine.” (Song S. 2:15) ”Dead flies stink up the ointment.” (Ecc. 10:1) Too often these days believers are willing to accept a bit of falsehood along with their truth. I hear Christians who, when they are warned of those who would encourage them into a more sensual, fleshly walk with God, respond with, “You gotta take the good with the bad. No one's perfect. He/she does a lot of good and they're very sincere and loving.” But Scripture teaches no such compromise. In fact, it urges exactly the opposite:
Ephesians 5:8-12
8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light
9 (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth),
10 finding out what is acceptable to the Lord.
11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them.
12 For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret.
2 Corinthians 6:14-18
14 Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?
15 And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever?
16 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: "I will dwell in them And walk among them. I will be their God, And they shall be My people."
17 Therefore "Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you."
18 "I will be a Father to you, And you shall be My sons and daughters, Says the Lord Almighty."
Compromise – even slight compromise – leads to greater compromise which in turn leads to corruption and destruction. Would you drink from a cup of water to which a drop of poison had been added? Would you drink again from a poisoned cup of water if the first cup didn't kill you? I doubt it. But, this is, concerning their faith, exactly what many Christians are doing today! Knowing that there is the poison of false doctrine and links to the occult in what they are hearing and doing, they continue to remain involved, sitting under the preaching of false teachers and participating in worship that is clearly unbiblical and often grossly sensual.
As I said at the beginning of this blog post, we are physical, material and thus necessarily sensual beings. We can't escape this fact. How, then, do we live as such and properly apprehend and live in the spiritual realm? What are we supposed to do with our fleshly nature, with our strong inclination to sensuality? Paul explains:
Romans 8:12-14
12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors--not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.
13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
1 Corinthians 9:24-27
24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it.
25 And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown.
26 Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air.
27 But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.
Whoa! Quite a sharp contrast to the fleshly, sensual indulgences of a growing portion of the evangelical Church – especially that part under the sway of the NAR movement! Would the apostle Paul be “toking the Spirit,” or “getting drunk in the Spirit,” dancing in a frenzy, laughing or crying hysterically, or thrashing about on the ground as part of how he walked with God? Absolutely not. Do we ever in Scripture see Jesus doing anything remotely like what I've just described? No. Never.
How, then, should we walk with God and worship Him?
Psalms 46:10
10 Be still, and know that I am God...
Isaiah 30:15
15 For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: "In returning and rest you shall be saved; In quietness and confidence shall be your strength."...
Isaiah 32:17
17 The work of righteousness will be peace, And the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever.
1 Corinthians 14:33
33 For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.
When Elijah faced the priests of Baal on Mount Carmel he did not dance, and shout, and cut himself in a religious frenzy after the manner of the pagan priests, but in stillness and quietness simply called upon God. (1 Ki. 18) Being still and quiet is an important part of spiritual living and worship. Doing so silences the flesh, it mutes our natural sensuality, and allows our mind and spirit to commune with God undiverted and in peace.
Romans 7:22-25
22 For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man.
23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.
24 O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
25 I thank God--through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.
Spiritual living is a mind-oriented activity. Paul makes this plain in his comments to the Roman believers above. It is with his mind, not his flesh, that Paul “serves the law of God.” In fact, his flesh is at war with his mind, bringing him into captivity to sin. We see in this again the opposition in which the flesh stands to spiritual, God-honoring living and its opposition also to a rational, thoughtful faith. We see, as well, that the mind is integral to spiritual living (Matt. 22:37; Ac. 17:11; Ro. 12:2; 14:5; 15:6; 1 Cor. 1:10; 2:16; Phil. 3:13-15; Tit. 2:6); not the emotions, not our sensual disposition as humans, but our mind. Spiritual living, then, ought, first and foremost, to engage and appeal to our minds, to our capacity to think and reason, so that we might assess and distinguish true doctrine from false, true teachers from false teachers, and right worship from wrong. It is only with our minds, regenerated and illuminated by the Holy Spirit, that we can actually know God and understand His truth.
John 4:24
24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth."
Genuinely spiritual fellowship with God and proper worship of Him absolutely requires a deep knowledge of, and fidelity to, Scripture. It is in Scripture that God's truth is revealed. The Bible is the fundamental source for all Christian doctrine and practice – or it ought to be. And the writers of Scripture emphasize the vital connection between right worship of God and proper fellowship with Him and a knowledge of and commitment to His eternal, life-changing word.
2 Timothy 3:15-17
15 ...from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
Matthew 4:4
4 But He answered and said, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.' "
Psalms 119:11 (NKJV)
11 Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You!
In many churches now the false teachers that have insinuated themselves into positions of leadership within them are urging their audiences to forsake Scripture, to set it aside because it is the catalyst only for argument and self-righteous nit-picking rather than loving one's neighbor. These false teachers exhort their congregations to neglect being well-informed and concerned about the doctrines and theology of their own faith because only divisive servants of the devil pay close attention to every little thing the Bible says. And when their listeners heed them, in the ground of the resulting ignorance, and spiritual juvenility and sin, their false teachings and deceptions grow lush and wild.
If there is not a return to biblical spirituality, if the sensual and fleshly Christianity that has taken hold so widely in modern Christendom is not abandoned, the Church will soon suffer a massive apostasy. There can be no blending of the sensual with the spiritual; there can be no truly Christ-centered faith when it is mixed with constant appeals to the flesh. Those professing to be disciples of Christ must return to Scripture, to a deep care and concern for its doctrines and truth, and to a Spirit-led life that has put to death the deeds of the flesh, and they must reject entirely the sensuality that has overtaken their fellowship with, and worship of, God. Those who have seduced believers into embracing this sort of false spirituality also need to be exposed, and challenged, and rejected. If not, the cause and name of Christ will continue to be brought into grave disrepute, true and right worship of God will vanish, and many will suffer the darkness, corruption and destruction that waits at the heart of “wisdom” and spirituality that is earthly, sensual and devilish.
Galatians 6:7-8
7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.
8 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life.
