Wanting it All || Sins of the World #3

Wanting Everything

Welcome back to “Sins of the World” I’m taking a deeper divine into the words of Galatians 5:19-21 to talk about what we need to avoid and how they can lead us to the Fruits of the Spirit. In Part 2, we talked about impurity. The word that Paul uses in Galatians 5:19 describes any state that makes a person morally unclean before God. I also share come common purity teachings including: no sex before marriage, no casual dating, and emphasizing traditional gender roles. Reading through Romans 6:19, we learned that our bodies were hosts to impurities of the world. Paul’s audience struggles with idolatry and moral corruption, and Paul calls on them to live righteously according to God’s will. For us, we learned the at the ancient purity laws seemed to carry forward to Jesus, and us, centered around idolatry, sexual relations, and disreputable behavior. To learn about how we can be cleansed from the impurity, we landed in 1 John 1:9. The goal of cleansing is to acknowledge our sins, restore our relationship with God, and be transformed through His righteousness and holiness.

In Part 3, we’re moving to lust. Now, I have done a whole study on lust called: “I Want to Understand” which looked at the different aspects of what lust is about. We landed on this definition that incorporates it all: lust is a focused passion that properly builds on what a person truly wants. We’ll look more into what Paul describes as lust in Romans 13:13 and what we need to avoid in order to keep from being tempted into it.

REFLECTION CHECKPOINT: How did you first understand lust? What did those leaders teach in regards to lust (sex, relationships, greed, etc.)? How did those teachings show in your life?

Understanding Lust

The Greek word that Paul uses is aselgeia (as-elg’-i-a). It describes an unchecked sensuality that flaunts moral restraint. It’s a shameless indulgence in our bodily appetites that goes against God’s created order and despises our neighbors. In the Gospels, it’s taught that they are evils comes from our hearts, proving it’s an inward custom. It goes against the Spirit-led life that Jesus calls us to live. In the early church, they rebuked against the pagan entertainments and the heretics of the false teachers. For us, it’s rebuking against porn, public sexualization, and the teachings that rejects God’s design. The goal is crucify our flesh, walk by the Spirit, and proclaim grace.

It’s allowing our desires to go after the things that fulfill them. It doesn’t matter what they are, how we achieve them, and who is affected. It’s giving us the ability to achieve whatever satisfaction we’re searching for. We often lust after the things that can bring us joy, company, happiness, wealth, or something else entirely. The morals and ethics don’t matter in how we achieve them. So, how we manage these temptations? How do we keep us from going to porn sites when we feel bored and alone? How do we keep from gambling when we don’t have the money to survive? Let’s head to Romans 13:13.

REFLECTION CHECKPOINT: What things do you lust after? How do you manage your desires and temptations?

Paul’s Code of Conduct

AMP – Let us conduct ourselves properly and honorably as in the [light of] day, not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual promiscuity and irresponsibility, and not in quarreling and jealousy.

NRSVUE – let us walk decently as in the day, not in reveling, drunkenness, not in illicit sex and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy.

VOICE – May we all act as good and respectable people, living today the same way as we will in the day of His coming. Do not fall into patterns of dark living: wild partying, drunkenness, sexual depravity, decadent gratification, quarreling, and jealousy.

Christians are called to live in a way that is honorable and respectable. The call to live in this decency reflects the transformation expected in believers. Carousing and drunkenness were seen as losing control and indulging in excess, opposite of self-control. Drunkenness would lead to a lack of discernment and moral compromise. Christians are called to reflect a life of sobriety and discipline. The early church held a high standard of sexual purity, as we’ve talked about in Part 1. Debauchery – an excessive indulgence in sensual pleasures – rejects God’s order and want of fleshly desires. The call to purity reminds us of our identity as a temple for the Holy Spirit. The early church saw many divisions that came from ethnic, social, and doctrinal differences. Jealousy lead to conflict and strife, which undermined the goal of love and harmony amongst believers. The call for us is to pursue peace and unity.

REFLECTION CHECKPOINT: Pay attention to the term debauchery. How do you see that used in our modern culture?

Modern Lusts

For our conversation today, we need to walk down the path of debauchery. Again, debauchery is known as the excessive indulgences in sensual pleasures. A big that I think not many Christian leaders recognize is that it’s SENSUAL pleasures, not SEXUAL pleasures. Those two sets of pleasures are not the same. They can be related to reach other, but they are not the same as each other. Let’s talk about that.

A sensual pleasure comes from the enjoyment and satisfaction that it felt through our physical body and our five senses. It not only includes sexual pleasures, but it overall describes any intense bodily gratification. This can include eating delicious food, listening to music, or feeling a warm breeze. These are experiences that give us an intense bodily, physical reaction. Eating delicious food excites our smell and taste. Listening to good music excites our ears. A warm breeze can excite our sight and touch. We don’t consider these sins by nature, it’s when these things get out of hand. For example, too much food can be referred to gluttony.

The thing that humanity tends to struggle with the concept of portions. Good food is great, but too much can make us sick. Sexual relations can be healthy in a relationship, but too much sex could lead to an addiction. Having a drink is fine, but too much can lead us to alcoholism. It’s when we bypass these restraints is when we move into this path of lust. What causes this? Like I’ve talked about, it can be to fulfill a hurt that we’re recovering from. We’re upset by news we receive at work that we’re going to go to the bar to drink until we forget about it. We’re going through a breakup, so we may go to OnlyFans or hook up with someone to manage our loneliness and urges. We may have lost our jobs, so we go to the casino or FanDuel to gamble a quick high to get more money. These things can be fun when done within healthy realms.

Often, our struggle comes from when we’re feeling unhealthy. When we’re mentally struggling – these things, that can be fun in moderation, tend to get out of hand. We don’t even recognize the impact of the damages until after the fact. These moments are often filled with regret, shame, and breaking down our self-esteem. After while, we break the boundaries that keep us healthy and use these paths to create our new identity. How we stop that before it even happens? What can do we do now to protect us from lusting after things? I will share with you some ways that we can set boundaries with ourselves. Before that, I want to remind you that I am not a therapist or psychiatrist. I am not an official pastor with a theology degree or license. I am a Christian sharing examples based of Scripture’s teaching and personal experiences.

Let’s use the examples of eating, porn, and gambling since these are fairly common things that most people, Christians and non-Christians, tend to struggle with.

• In regards to eating, I encourage you to practice mindful eating. Slow down and eat without any distraction to fully embraces the tastes and textures of your food and to help you feel when your body is full.
• In regards to porn usage, I encourage you to channel that energy creatively. Whatever you’re feeling that is pulling you to use porn, redirect into something else. This could be art, exercise, community service, or a simple walk.
• In regards to gambling, I encourage you to practice gratitude for what you already own instead of chasing quick money. (Note: if you are going to have fun and not expecting a return on what you spend, that’s a healthier mindset. If you are going with the intent on winning and walking away rich, then that mindset needs to be studied.

Now these are the common cliché lusts that we tend to focus on, but there’s also a lot more that’s happening right before our eyes:

• Chasing clout through likes and views.
• Obtaining the lest technology
• Following trends
• Self-optimization

This list continues. Let us be aware of what we chase after and, more importantly, why we chase after it. Recognize if it’s for healthy or unhealthy reasons. Pause and reflect when you understand why you are acting in such a way, and create a reasonable path with God and trusted safe people around you to help guide you in the path that leads you to be your best self.

REFLECTION CHECKPOINT: What are you lusting after? How can you turn from your lusts and practice self-control?

Next part of the series: Wanting it All || Sins of the World #3