The Spirit = Life.

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. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. – Romans 8:9-10 ESV

According to verses 5-8, we have choice. We can either set our mind on the things of the flesh or on the Spirit. We can be earthly-minded or heavenly-minded. We can live with our ambitions focused on this world or on the world to come. We can act as if we are purely physical beings living in a material world or we are spiritual creatures whose true essence is not of this world. The flesh and the Spirit are at odds with one another. Paul writes, “for the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God” (Romans 8:7 ESV). Those who choose to live according to the flesh refuse to submit to the law and the righteous reign of God, ultimately proving to be displeasing to Him.

But Paul reminds us that a change has taken place. Those who have placed their faith in Christ are no longer “in the flesh”. In other words, the physical realm is no longer to be our primary focus. We have been placed in the Spirit’s domain, which is why he states that we have been placed “in the Spirit”. We now live under a new set of criteria, a new law, the “law of the Spirit of life” (Romans 5:2 ESV). We have been set free from the law of sin and death. Paul says, “to set the mind on the flesh is death”, but “to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace” (Romans 5:6 ESV). When we fail to remember that we are spiritual creatures living in a spiritual realm, under the influence and control of the Holy Spirit, we risk falling back into our old ways, giving in to our old nature. But not only are we spiritual creatures living in a spiritual dimension, we are filled with the power of the Holy Spirit Himself. We who were once dead have been made alive, spiritually alive, and given new life and a new capacity to live righteously and obediently.

It is the Spirit within us that enables us to have new life and to live in a new way. The very same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead now lives within us. He has made His home in our hearts. “Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you?,” Paul asks. “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?” (1 Corinthians 6:19 ESV). The Holy Spirit lives in us and lives through us. It is through His power that we are able to fight against our own sinful flesh. It is with His help that we stand against the temptations of the enemy and the attacks of the world. Without His presence and power, we would find ourselves totally helpless against our own flesh. And even with Him living within us we can still find ourselves giving in to the flesh and falling easy prey to our own sinful passions and desires. That is why it is so essential that we set our minds on the things of the Spirit. We must make Him a top priority in our lives. We must learn to trust in Him and lean on Him.

It is the Spirit who makes possible the new life we have been given in Christ. He is the one who equips us to say no to sin and yes to righteousness. Paul reminds us, “no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except in the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 12:3 ESV). We can't live obediently without the Spirit’s help. We are incapable of producing fruit without His divine enablement. In his letter to the Galatian believers, Paul wrote, “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20 NLT). The Holy Spirit, also referred to as the Spirit of Christ, lives in us. It is His presence that makes possible the new life we have been called to live. Paul’s prayer for the believers in Ephesus was that “ according to the riches of his [God’s] glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith” (Ephesians 3:16-17 ESV). It was his desire that they know and comprehend the full love of God as expressed in the gift of His Son and to experience the fullness of God Himself. The Spirit is the one who makes it possible for us to comprehend the love of God and to know what it means to experience the fullness of God – which is true life. There is nothing this world has to offer that can compare. The flesh is dead, but the Spirit IS LIFE. Life without the Spirit is impossible. Not only is eternal life impossible without the Spirit, but so is life on this planet. We may live, breathe, walk about, interact with others, accomplish great things, accumulate great wealth and rack up a lot of years, but we will never know true life apart from the Spirit of life.

Set Apart.

They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. – John 17:16-19 ESV John 17:1-26

As followers of Christ, we don’t belong here – on earth, that is. Yes, we have been required by God to remain here and He has assigned us a task to perform until He calls us home or His Son returns, whichever comes first. We have been given the ministry of reconciliation, telling others about the good news concerning Jesus Christ and His desire to restore men to a right relationship with God the Father. But our very presence and our God-given assignment do not sit well with the world in which we live. In fact, Jesus said the world hates us, just as it hated Him. They prefer darkness over the light. They are not particularly open to the message of the Gospel. And because the world is under the influence of Satan, the prince of this world, it is an atmosphere filled with lies, because Satan is the father of lies. Deception and deceit are common place. Falsehood masquerades as truth. And we are tasked with living within this less-than-friendly environment as salt and light, sharing the truth regarding Jesus Christ and salvation.

So Jesus, knowing that things would not be easy for us, asked His Father to set us apart in the truth, the truth as found in the Word of God. In the Scriptures, we have a big picture portrait of what is really going on in the world. We have a sin problem. It has been that way from the beginning. Well, almost from the beginning. Adam and Eve were created by God and placed in a perfect environment, free from sin, disease, and death. But because they had free will, they were capable of either loving God and serving Him faithfully or rejecting Him and deciding instead to serve themselves. They chose the latter. Rather than accept God’s authority and trust His will for them, they decided that they knew best. Rather than worship God, they listened to the lies of the enemy and decided to be like God. God had told them the truth regarding the one tree of the garden from which they could not eat. But Satan got them to doubt God’s word. He tempted them to question God’s authority. And they sinned. From that point forward, sin has had a dramatic impact on the lives of men. Sin separated man from God, creating an unsurpassable barrier through which man could not pass. Access to God was denied. Fellowship with God was broken. And the penalty for sin was death, both physical and spiritual, including eternal separation from God.

But God stepped in and provided a solution to man’s sin problem: His Son. Sin came with a price tag. The penalty for man’s rebellion against God was death. Either man must die or come up with a way to do the impossible and live a sinless life. Man couldn’t live up to God’s standard of perfection. Sin became unavoidable and, as a result, death was inevitable. But God sent His Son to pay the penalty for man’s sin. He became the means by which men might be restored to a right relationship with God. His death, because He was sinless, satisfied the righteous demands of a holy God. And all those who believe in Him as their Savior receive forgiveness of sin and freedom from condemnation – forever. But there’s still a sin problem. Because we have been left in this world, we find ourselves surrounded by sin, and we still find ourselves susceptible to our own sin natures. The lies of the enemy resound in our ears every day. He attacks us relentlessly. He seeks to destroy us. So Jesus prayed that we would be set apart in the truth. The truth of God’s love. The truth of our forgiveness. The truth of the reality of Christ’s death, burial and resurrection. The truth of our redemption. The truth of our new nature and our capacity to sin less. The truth of our future glorification. The truth is, we need to be set apart each and every day to the amazing truth of all that God has done for us in Christ Jesus. Jesus died so that we might live. He gave His life so that we might never fear death again. The world would have us doubt all of that. The enemy would have us question everything we have been promised by God. Which is why we need to be set apart in the truth. We must immerse ourselves in the confidence-building, strength-producing, soul-fortifying truth of God’s Word. It tells us of the reality of sin. It reminds us of the impossibility of ever living righteously on our own. It teaches us of the holiness of God and the rebellion of man. It graciously reveals to us the wonderful solution God provided in His Son. It encourages us to place our trust in Christ’s righteousness and not our own. It provides us with the exciting news that holiness is not only possible, but normal for all those who place their faith in Jesus as their Savior. It is the truth that sets us apart. It is the truth that sets us free. It is the truth as found in Jesus, the way, the truth and the life.