Rev. Don Campbell
THOUGHT FOR TODAY – WE ARE IMMUNE?
Sometimes a message is preached that implies—and sometimes absolutely affirms—that if we have put on Christ and the Holy Spirit indwells us, we are immune from the spiritual and moral sickness of the world. However, our Christianity does not destroy our humanity and we live in the same world and the same culture as do our neighbors. Paul said, “For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do” (Gal 5:17).
There have been three revolutions which affect how Americans live, act, and think.
Until the Industrial Revolution of the last half of the 19th century, the family served six functions: economic, religious, protective, recreational, educational, and reproductive. These can be combined into two: supportive and integrative—support the child and help the child become integrated into society.
Families are no longer the basic unit of production and closely tied to that (the home school movement not withstanding) the family as the basic unit of education has been replaced by the school. The security function has been taken over by government. The recreational function has been taken over by TV, organized sports, clubs, classes, etc. Religion and morality have become institutionalized—youth ministry, family life centers, etc. Only the reproductive function remains in the domain of the family, but for how long?
The sexual revolution did not just bring more sex or even more perverted sex, but an ego-centric basis for marriage. “Unto-death-do-we-part” has been replaced by “So-long-as-you-make-me-happy-and-my-needs-are-met.”
The epistemological revolution changed the way we approach truth. The key word of this revolution is Postmodernism: All knowledge is relative, subjective, and fluid; all perspectives and interpretations of reality are legitimate; there are no universal truths; we construct our own truths about ourselves and others based on our historical-cultural-social context.
Paul’s warning in Galatians 5:17 was not his final word on the subjection. We are not immune, but we can be treated:
“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. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you” (Rom 8:1-11).
