What Does Life in the Spirit Look Like? How Might I Live Like That?

 

Let's ask Jesus.  In John 6:63 (ESV), he says

It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life.

So it ISN’T the flesh, and it IS Jesus’ words.  Sometimes it helps to focus on what something ISN’T in order to understand what something IS.  What other guidance does the Bible offer?

Rev. Paul Beckingham will be reflecting on Romans 8:1-9 this week.  This letter from Paul to the church in Rome contrasts flesh and spirit.

Romans 8:1-9. ESV

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 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 set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 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. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

Without the benefit of Rev. Beckingham’s explanation, I found this passage a bit difficult to decipher.  I don’t find that the word “flesh” makes the meaning clear to me, so I turned to other translations for other words.  The Common English Bible (CEB) uses the word selfishness.  Here is the full passage:

So now there isn’t any condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death.  God has done what was impossible for the Law, since it was weak because of selfishness. God condemned sin in the body by sending his own Son to deal with sin in the same body as humans, who are controlled by sin. He did this so that the righteous requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us. Now the way we live is based on the Spirit, not based on selfishness.  People whose lives are based on selfishness think about selfish things, but people whose lives are based on the Spirit think about things that are related to the Spirit. The attitude that comes from selfishness leads to death, but the attitude that comes from the Spirit leads to life and peace.  So the attitude that comes from selfishness is hostile to God. It doesn’t submit to God’s Law, because it can’t. People who are self-centered aren’t able to please God. But you aren’t self-centered. Instead you are in the Spirit, if in fact God’s Spirit lives in you. If anyone doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ, they don’t belong to him. 

The MSG translation says something similar; it contrasts focusing on ourselves rather than focusing on God:

Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God. That person ignores who God is and what he is doing.

I know that I can only focus on one thing at a time.  If I focus on myself for too long and then switch my focus to God, I find that my spirit lifts.  Might that be Life in the Spirit?

I hope you can join us in the Dogwood Room (behind the stage in the Lower Hall) for Worship this Sunday.  Rev. Beckingham will be reflecting on life in the spirit and gathering us at the Lord’s Table.

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