To be Spiritually Minded is Life and Peace.

< Romans 8:4-11 >

“That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk 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, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”

Overseas mission is effective when done through literature, which is what we are doing right now. We are blessed when we read the Word of God and our faith grow because we believe in His Word.

People have been suffering for the past five centuries, deceived by such false doctrines as the Doctrine of Incremental Sanctification, the Doctrine of Justification, and others that claim that redemption is possible through prayers of repentance.

Romans 8:3 tells us that God did what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh. God sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, condemned sin in His flesh, and judged Him to deliver us from all our sins.

Today, we turn to Romans 8:4-11 for God’s truth. Romans 8:3-4 says, “He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” The question, of course, is this: what does this mean?

First, what does it mean to not live according to the flesh? 

This means to not seek the profits of the flesh. It is to discriminate between the wishes of the Spirit and the lusts of the flesh, and to stay away from those who do not obey the word of God. Verse 5 states, “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh.” What does “the things of the flesh” mean? This means that there are those who, even as they attend church, seek after their own desires.

To put it simply, Christians should not go to church for the purpose of profit-seeking businesses in the world. This is living according to the flesh. These people go to churches with large congregations to introduce and advertise their businesses, in the hopes of acquiring regular and loyal customers. They attend church and believe in Jesus for the sake of their own flesh.

There are others. Those who teach sectarianism within the Christian community, and those who teach their followers to pursue only material blessings are also the ones who live according to the flesh and who have set their minds on the things of the flesh.

We can easily encounter sectarianism in our Christian community. Who are these sectarians then? These are the people who deceive themselves with their misplaced faith in the superiority of their denomination. They say that their sect was established by so-and-so, that they have such-and-such theologians, that they are this big and greatly known over the world and have this strong a tradition, and so on. All these boastings are what make up the vanities of these people and build up their own faith. There are many with such faith in this world.

Sectarians believe in Jesus for the benefits of their own flesh. Those who live according to the flesh still boast of their churches and of having been materially blessed by attending their large churches. Some churches have such common community goals as “love your wife.” But this is what “those who live according to the flesh” means. Should churches set their eyes on loving one’s wives as their goal? They should not. Am I then saying that we should not love our wives? Of course not! But such goals, however nice and attractive, cannot be the fundamental purpose of our Church.

Those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh. Too many ministers today have turned themselves into such people by being interested only in increasing the size of their church membership, offerings, and building—these have now become the main purpose of their faith. Build a bigger, taller, and larger church has become their greatest goal. Even if they outwardly say that gathering more followers is to lead them to Heaven and offer other such excuses, their ultimate purpose is to raise more money in order to build bigger church buildings.

To make their churches to follow the things of the flesh, they had to turn their followers into religious fanatics. Some pastors have built their success on their ability to turn their congregation into fanatics, half-crazed, delusional, and utterly misguided.

Those who live according to the Spirit of God 

However, there are those who really live according to the Spirit of God among the Christians. These who live according to the Spirit live according to the Word of God, believe what is written in the Scriptures while denying their own thoughts, do as God pleases, and preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit.

The Bible states that those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. If we have been forgiven for all our sins by believing in God’s righteousness, we should not live thoughtlessly, but live meditating on the work of the Spirit. Those who live by the Spirit think spiritually and set out to do the things of the Spirit by faith. Happy are those who pursue the things of the Spirit. These are the people who please God, save others from the sins of the world, and live by faith. We have been forgiven for our sins and therefore must set our minds on the things of the Spirit and live according to Him.

The goal in our lives is to fulfill the work of the Spirit, which is to preach the gospel of the water and the Spirit. We should set our minds on the things of the Spirit. How much have you set your mind on the things of the Spirit? We are waging a spiritual warfare and must practice the things of the Spirit by believing in God’s righteousness and by preaching it. We must always think of what pleases the Lord and challenge the work of the Spirit by setting our minds on God’s work, even if we may be weak and full of shortcomings. When a particular work is done, we must yet strive again for more work that would please the Lord.

We are now preaching the gospel of the water and the Spirit to the whole world through literature. About 200 to 300 persons receive our free Christian books and e-books daily by visiting our website. By striving with faith for the preaching of the gospel of the water and the Spirit to everyone in every country in the world, we are serving the gospel with you in His Church. If we had not set our minds on the things of the Spirit, we would not have been granted these fruits of the Spirit. We should carry out His work one by one with our minds set on the things of the Spirit. Then we will please our spiritual bridegroom, Jesus Christ, like the virtuous wife found in Proverbs chapter 31.

Verse 8 states, “Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.” This refers to those who have not received the forgiveness of sins. “The carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God” (Romans 8:7-8).As such, sinners who do not have the Spirit in them can neither do God’s work nor please Him.

Sinners do not subject themselves to the Law of God. Nor do they subject to the righteousness of God. They cannot please Him. This is because they cannot understand what the will of God is, as the Holy Spirit does not dwell in them. What pleases the Lord is to forgive all the sins of humankind with the gospel of the water and the Spirit. He is not pleased with the praise and worship of sinners.

God is not pleased when sinners praise Him. No matter how much sinners raise their hands to praise Him and shed tears in worship, they cannot please Him. Sinful Christians try to please God by being intoxicated with emotions. They cannot please the Lord. Those who are with sin cannot please the Lord because they are sinners. No matter how much they try, sinners can never please the Lord. It is not a matter of how willing they are to please the Lord; it is a matter of how impossible it is for them to please Him.

Would God be pleased if people built bigger churches? He would not. If it is necessary to move into a bigger church building, by all means a bigger church should be built. But building a bigger church just for the sake of building it does not please God at all.

A church in my town, for instance, recently spent over US$3 million to build a new church building, even when the previous building was standing right next to it and still in excellent shape and accommodations. When the size of the congregation was only 200-300 at most, was it really necessary to build such a church? God’s church is not built of bricks. God tells us that we are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in the hearts of the righteous.

It is right to build a bigger church as a necessity, but does building bigger churches by itself give glory to God? No, it does not. Does gathering more people into a church give more glory to God? No, you cannot please God by just doing that. Those who are in the flesh cannot please the Lord.

Sometimes, there are even righteous people who pursue only the profits of the flesh. These people cannot please the Lord. Among the righteous, there are some who are still bound by their thoughts of the flesh like sinners. These people cannot please God. They, in reality, are not unable to lead a healthy life of faith in the church, complain, and resent God’s church, and eventually leave the church.

Therefore, we who are righteous should lead a life that is righteous and pleasing to God, not a life that seeks only the profits of the flesh. We should think on the works of God and His righteousness, serve the works of His righteousness, and use our bodies, minds, and belongings as the instruments of the righteousness of God. We should lead a life that is pleasing to God.....  GOD BE WITH US.  (Amen).