Recently, we made a page on the website about our mission. This included our mission statement and the four core values that we call “pillars” for our brand. Here is a link to that page if you’d like to learn more. In this post, you’ll learn all about the first one, which is to crucify the flesh.

I know that sounds very extreme, so to those who have not heard that term before, we simply mean to deny ourselves and our flesh of what they crave, which is typically sin.

This is crucial part of living out the Christian faith, as are the other pillars, however, this concept really helps us. Let’s start by really breaking down the flesh and getting to the root of the issue.

The Flesh

The word flesh is sort of an extreme sounding word, but what it really is, is our imperfect selves.

At our core, we are made up of three parts. Spirit, soul, and body. But we are also made up of two things that are very opposite one another. Our flesh and the Holy Spirit. We’ll get into all of those later, but for now, we must focus on the corruptness of our flesh.

Here are just a few verses that talk about the flesh.

• “But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires” (Romans 13:14).

• “For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption” (Galatians 6:8).

• “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matthew 26:41).

• “Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these” (Galatians 5:19-21).

I believe it’s very evident that the flesh is shown to be evil, corrupt, and not something we want to follow. It should also be clear that the ways of the flesh are built into us, they’re natural for us. Which makes things a little complicated.

The Fight

When we accept Jesus into our hearts, our spirits are made completely brand new and perfect. Essentially, we have the same spirit that rose Jesus from the dead living inside of us. That’s great news!

But, when we make that decision, and the Holy Spirit begins to dwell inside of us, it doesn’t perfect our mind or our bodies. We still think the same way, until our mind becomes renewed. And believe it or not, our bodies don’t change. That means if the pre-born-again you had a gut, so will the post-born-again you.

This begins a major struggle for the high ground in our spirit, soul, and body. Our spirit is perfect, our body is corrupt, and our soul has the opportunity to decide which to agree with. We can either fight off the flesh or agree with it.

This begins the very complicated part. In order to fully fight our own corruption, we have to fight off the natural part of us. We have to fight off the part of us that has been around for our entire lives.

If you’ve been sinning for 30 years and become a born-again Christian in year 31, then your flesh has been winning for three decades. To give up whatever sin you had in your life for so long would be a major challenge. Luckily, we don’t have to go through it alone, and the reward is greater than we can imagine.

Flesh v. Spirit

I want to focus on that last sentence for a moment. We don’t have to go through it alone, and the reward is great. The passage of scripture that best reflects this is found in Galatians 5 and it most likely something we all are familiar with.

“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23).

This is one of the most famous passages of scripture and for good reason. It truly helps us to recognize where we’re at in our faith walks. That is, because the fruits of the spirit and the fruits of the flesh work like an apple tree does.

Think of the apple tree. It gets planted, and then it grows fruit. An apple tree wouldn’t grow pears or oranges or tomatoes or lemons. It only grows the fruit that is in the DNA of the seed, which of course, is apples.

Now relate that concept to the flesh and the spirit. The fruits of the spirit like love, joy, and gentleness only grow because the seed of the spirit has been planted in one’s heart. In the same way, the fruits of the flesh like idolatry, envy, and sexual immorality grow because the seed of the flesh is planted in one’s heart.

I heard a message series on this concept recently, and the pastor pointed out that the fruit doesn’t grow because it works, but simply because it’s connected to the seed. The same goes for the flesh and the spirit.

Connected to the Flesh

If the fruit is connected to the seed, which is causing it to grow, we must stop the connection and remove the seed from our lives.

In order to do that, we have to find out where the seed is, and where we’re letting it in. For instance, if you exhibit some envy in your heart, that is an area of your life where you allow the flesh to take root. What is an area of your life that you are allowing the flesh to run wild? Ask yourself that question.

Let’s look at another verse that we referred to earlier.

“But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires” (Romans 13:14).

This verse tells us to make no provision for the flesh. To not provide a way into our lives. To not provide a way for it to stay. Therefore, this step is one of the most important in fighting and crucifying the flesh. To cut the root of sin and flesh from your life is the ultimate way to live in the life that Jesus has called us to.

So, how do you do that?

Connected to the Spirit

I’ve found that the best way to cut out the bad, is to bring in the good. That verse shows us that as well. We’re told to put on the Lord Jesus Christ, which in simpler terms, means to connect ourselves to the Spirit.

Walking in the way of the Spirit is another pillar of ours, so we’ll save the majority of this topic for that post, however, it holds an impact in this topic. In fact, the major way that we cut off the root of the flesh thus crucifying it in our lives, is by continually walking in the Spirit. If we walk in the spirit, we make no room for the flesh and thus make no way for it to come in or stay in our lives. How great is that!

Lucky for us, we have a great helper in this process, Jesus. He’s always willing to help and is a great friend in times of trouble. We can always count on him to give us aid and speak to us! He also gives us a great resource in the Bible. This is his word, and it’s mighty! With those two tools, the Holy Spirit and the Bible, we have everything we need to be connected to seed of the spirit and stay away from the flesh!

You can tune in next week to hear all about walking in the spirit, which is our next pillar we will discuss!

Why is this a Pillar?

I’m always interested to see why people choose certain things to be their core values, mission, and brand. To see what caused them to think and be passionate about the things that they value. You may be wondering the same thing about my mission and pillars, perhaps this one specifically.

I believe that crucifying and denying your flesh is one of the most important and critical steps to real Christian living. It’s from a place of denying your own desires to allow for more of the Lord that you can grow and fulfill the purpose that God put you on the Earth for.

In terms of the mission and the brand, the pillar of crucifying the flesh is one of the things that defines us to the world. When God gave the commandments, the law, and the popular laws found in Leviticus, He wanted a people that were for him. He wanted a people that were set apart, and you could see it by their devotion to the Lord in compliance with the Laws.

In order to really be a light in the world, we need to forsake sin, and show the world that a life without sin is greater than a life with sin. We do that by denying the flesh.

Practical Applications

One of the great things about the pillars of Lighthouse Teaching is that they are all found in one book. That is, the book of Galatians. The book of Galatians and a wonderful teaching on our grace and freedom in Christ. It also gives us some of the best teaching on walking in the spirit and denying the flesh.

One of the most practical things you can take from this teaching is to read through Galatians. It’s one of my personal favorite books and it teaches us the basics of living in the new.

However, if you were looking for some real practical ways you can crucify the flesh, look no further.

• Find the areas where you portray the flesh. We either are connected to the spirit or the flesh, and the fruit we bear reflects that. Look at the areas of your life and try to distinguish which of those you apply to!

• Know the word. In order to really be able to recognize the fruits and be connected to the spirit, you have to know the spirit. This is best done by becoming more familiar with the word. Bonus Tip: Read Galatians.

• Don’t provide for the flesh. We all know that there are certain areas where we provide for the flesh, Areas where we allow room for it to spread or where we think we’ll get to it later. These are typically areas where the flesh really has the power in your life, and you must work to take away that power.
  • For instance, we allow our laziness to grow when we stay in bed all day. We allow dishonesty to grow when we give make excuses for it. Deny the provisions.

Final Thoughts

Once again, the act of crucifying the flesh is so crucial to Christian living, and to being the light in our communities, workplaces, schools and homes.

When we start to understand how to do it, the next step is to start doing it, which we’ll discuss more next week! For a brief review of what we discussed,

• Disconnect yourself from the flesh
• Don’t provide provisions for the flesh
• Connect yourself to the spirit by walking in the spirit
• Read the book of Galatians

I believe that by following these simple steps, we can truly live the way that the Lord wants us to. Besides, how will we ever be fulfilled living in the flesh, when we’re called to the spirit?

Join us next week to hear more about the pillars, the book of Galatians, and walking in the way of the Spirit!