The Enemies of God... Who Are They?
That might conjure up an image of some fiendish villain like Adolph Hitler, or perhaps an angry atheist media celebrity sputtering forth with accusations, demeaning jokes, or sarcasm. The painful reality is that there are far more enemies of God than you could have ever imagined.
Romans 8:7 the mind of flesh is hostile toward God. It does not allow itself to be ruled by the law of God… nor is it even able to. Let that sink in…it means that every human being … by their very nature, by the very way their mind operates is an enemy of God!
Cuz, Baby you were born that way… [Note: you were not born a wrong doer or under a penalty for crimes you had not yet committed, but you were born with a mind made of flesh that cannot and will not submit itself to the laws of God… so you quickly wandered off into disobedience to God’s laws… and the penalty for that is that you are cut off from eternal life].
Your whole way of thinking and acting is a state of conflict with your creator God. Its a core conflict… it doesn’t just stay in your head… it’s a way of thinking and acting that creates the war, violence, oppression we see in the world. Divorce, anger, bitter disagreement, and resentment are everywhere… even reaching into the church of God.
How Do I Fix This Way Of Thinking?
First, your relationship with God your creator must be fixed. You and God are enemies until that hostility begins to be addressed. But, before God can get to work on you... we have to deal with the penalty stuff [cut off from God, cut off from eternal life]. That’s what the Passover… and baptism are all about.
Colossians 1:21-22 our hostile relationship with God can be set on a path toward, friendship, love, grace, peace… good stuff like that. After that we move to fix our relationships with our fellow humans. But, it begins with Christ. He takes that penalty away… and you are no longer cut off from God. That free access opens up all kinds of wonderful opportunities.
Romans 5: 8-10 - God is the peacemaker. God makes the first move. He sets an example for us of proactive reconciliation which we can [and must] then use to repair and maintain our human relationships.
Matthew 5:9 God’s goal for us is that we become like Him. We become peacemakers at work, in our neighborhoods, in our marriages, in our church, among our friends.
How Can I Identify This Way Of Thinking?
The way of thinking that leads to hostility with God and conflict with others builds on top of our natural needs and desires… but does so in a way that leads to bad results.
- Pride – an exaggerated view of self… to see the rightness or wrongness of a situation by how it affects me, how others are treating me… rather than how am I contribution to this problem or how do I treat others. The only acceptable outcome of a proud mindset is that I get what I want… I win. But, where does that leave the other party? Whether God or man.
- Emotional need to have others heal me and my feelings rather than take the process of reconciliation into our own hands. Who will say I’m sorry first. Combine this with point #1 and you have a you could have a standoff… someone has to make the first move.
- Quest for happiness – looking for others to provide us with feelings of happiness, or emotional satisfaction, a sense of stability and justice…
- Problem because other people fall short of our expectations… and we end up in conflict
- Think of the love languages… you express love through gifts, so you are expecting and wanting gifts. She expresses love through acts of service. She shows you love in a way that is important to her… you are disappointed because you are expecting gifts.
- The emotional needs are legit… but how we seek to fulfill them can drive conflict. Because we start to see that other person as an obstacle in the path towards our personal fulfillment… which we seek by getting our desires met.
- Even God is NOT WHAT WE EXPECTED… God is not providing me with happiness in the way I expect to receive it
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- Control Issues – we get an enhanced feeling or personal security [ or just ego tripping] when we feel in control of a situation, or maybe a relationship.
- I think we are wired to seek control, the Genesis account indicates humans were designed to have dominion over the physical creation. Control over other people, or relationships is where it gets messy.
- Our life experience is filled with things we cannot control… we can’t control the circumstances we are born into, like who our parents are, our nationality etc…. we can’t control the weather, the economy, our neighbors. We don’t get to control much in life so what we can control we tend to go overboard with to compensate.
- Control is a way to protect/project our deeply rooted sense of who we are… and it works side by side with pride, emotional neediness, our happiness quest etc.
- BUT… others around you seeking to exert control too… which leads to CONFLICT.
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Conflict With God
These emotional issues plays out in our inter-personal relationships, in marriage, at work, friendships, with our kids, among our brothers and sisters in the church. This short listing and elaboration also serves as a deeper probe into the mind of flesh. How it establishes priorities.
The pride… the need to get rather than to give… the need to be in control… are the mechanics of how our conflict with God develops. The central theme it is: I, Me, My. What I consider just, what I consider good, what I think necessary proceed from me or from within me. Outcomes, relationships are fair, or good, or necessary depending on how they satisfy me… my physical needs, my emotional needs, my ego needs.
Proverbs 14:12; 16:25 you can follow that way of thinking and living… you’ll live your allotted number of years then you will die. It does not lead to anything everlasting… it does not lead to life everlasting.
Genesis 3:6 Eve bit into the fruit after she was told not to. Why? It appealed to the senses: it was nice looking, it held forth the promise of good sensations on the tongue and satisfied feelings in the tummy. But there is more packed into that verse. The prospect of eating it against God’s specific instructions appealed to something else… let’s call it self-determination.
“I will decide what is right for me based on my priorities, my needs, and my desires. Your instructions might be good but I am going to do the opposite just to show my independence!” Anyone who has ever raised a child has seen this operation of the mind of the flesh at work.
That is why the mind of the flesh is an enemy to God. Anyone who sets themselves up as the decider of what is good and what is evil puts themselves in the place of God… or in competition with God… and is hostile to God.
Can’t God handle competition? Why the conflict? Why can’t God let it be?
Those first humans took the prerogative to know good & evil. And we all have the same problem. A mind that will not… and cannot remainsubject to the commands of God. Our thoughts and actions built on a foundation of pride and selfishness… that leads to disastrous results.
Problem: With God There is No Mixture
God does not want those bad things you bring along with you in His Presence… in His plan for the eternal future has no place for conflict… our eternal relationship with Him has no room for hostility… there is no place for alternate lifestyles in eternity. So, we are excluded from the presence of God and from partaking of eternity until we can admit that.
Changing Our Human Nature
Ephesians 2:1-3 I am designed to have a relationship with God my creator. But I’m fundamentally hostile, furthermore, I am excluded from His presence and excluded from His plans for eternity. I’m stuck, because of the way I think [my desires and thoughts] and because of what I have done as a result.
I want God to love me and help me but I also want to do according to what seems right to me… pride, control issues, desire for God to make me feel happy… it’s a broken relationship, we are in conflict [ we are children of wrath], something has to change.
Most humans want God to change to suit them [that’s how the mind of the flesh works]… change your law to suit me, loosen up those sex rules to match my desires, be flexible about the Sabbath to suit my schedule, fulfill my emotional needs, pronounce social justice on my terms.
Change is going to happen in a completely different manner. Better. More Positive. Everlasting.
Ephesians 2:4-10 God makes the first move [also the right move] to reconcile us to Himself, to bring peace to the relationship. Note: grace is God taking the initiative in a positive, life building direction which establishes an excellent model for us to follow in our human relationships [more on that in the near future].
You’re guilty, you’re hostile… and God says, let’s fix this thing!
Christ’s Sacrifice Starts a Process
That’s the process the Passover and baptism kick into action… and for those of us already baptised its a reminder and a renewal of what has already begun in us.
Christ’s sacrifice cleans us up and allows us back into the presence of God so He can begin to teach us and build a new mind in us which is a very different nature than the one we were born with.
We were banished from His presence because of our pride, dishonesty, evil thoughts, disobedience. Not only were we banished from His presence, we were cut off from the tree of life. Without access to that life force we will die in the flesh and live no more. That was our penalty.
You have full access to that life force [the holy spirit] when you commit to change and are baptised.
To remove the penalty God and Christ do not overturn the principles of judgment… law is not abolished… rather the penalty is paid by Christ. Christ’s death satisfies the need for justice in the universe… simply that evil deeds be punished.
Justice is satisfied by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ … but that change of status from guilty to innocent does not change your human nature.
How Does My Human Nature Change?
Your change will be the result of a life long process made possible by Christ.
Romans 10:14-15 first, you have to be told about it. You have to receive the “gospel of peace”. That’s a big part of what the church and its ministry is here for. We spell it out for you… we teach… but the will to act upon it is yours.
Romans 8:9-11 the holy spirit works in you leading you into righteousness. Conviction of what is right, courage to do it, commitment to stay the course.
Hebrews 2:14-18 through Jesus Christ God seeks to understand... so He can better help you along the way. another important step in the process of ongoing reconciliation and one that we can use in our human relationships as well.
You do not have to be an enemy of God. For His part, God wants to count you as a friend. To make that happen we have to deal with the obstacles in the way… the mind of flesh that is hostile to God… the way of thinking that leads to conflict with God and man… and for some, the unpaid penalty that puts a barrier between you and God… and the tree of life.
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