Before we continue into today’s message, I’d like to clarify something from last week’s message.

I had taught that like Jesus, we have a soma (physical body) and psyche (soul consisting of our mind, will, emotions, personality, intellect, and conscience).  I mentioned that I was still studying it, but hadn’t found any evidence yet that Jesus was born with a sarx (flesh, which I defined as our sinful nature), but only with the pneuma (spirit).

Well, I’m not sure if anyone else dove into that study, but I did find it this week in the book of John. 

John 1:14

The Word became flesh (sarx) and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

We could argue that this was just John being his poetic self, but he also recorded direct quotes from Jesus where He taught:

John 6:48-52

48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. 50 But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh (sarx), which I will give for the life of the world.”

52 Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh (sarx) to eat?”

Jesus goes on explaining this throughout the rest of the chapter, but He always uses the Greek word sarx when referring to His own flesh.

It turns out that the Greek word sarx can take on different meanings depending on the context that it is used within.  It can either mean the soft tissue parts of our physical body OR our sinful, earthly nature.  In the contexts found in John concerning Jesus, it always refers to His physical body like the Greek word soma.  Jesus still was certainly not born into sin as you and I were and did not have the sinful, earthly nature of sarx like we do.

So, continuing on this week…

How do we win this battle within for our souls?  How can we have a soul, psyche, that is full of life and peace and joy and is no longer consumed by fear and worry and drama and rage and every other life-stealing thing out there?  We learned last week from the musical chairs example that it’s a matter of who sits on the throne of our lives.  Who is going to be the boss of our souls?  Our flesh, sarx, or the Holy Spirit, pneuma?

Romans 8:5-9

5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God. 9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you.

But…  How do we practically do this?  How do we walk in the Spirit and allow the Holy Spirit to be the governor of our minds?  How do we live not in the realm of our sinful flesh, but in the realm of the Spirit?  Well, as I prayed about this, I felt the Spirit say, “You are what you eat.”

What do we choose to consume in our everyday lives?

What do we offer up and devote our time to?

Especially when the pressures and stresses of this life come our way, what do we turn to?

Food, alcohol, drugs, entertainment, sex; things that satisfy our fleshly, sarx, cravings?

OR

The word, prayer, worship, testimonies, fellowship; things that satisfy our spiritual, pneuma, cravings?

If we’re going to be truthful and honest with each other this morning, we’d likely find that most of us are quick to feed our souls from the buffet of our flesh instead of the feast of the Spirit.  It reminds me of this account after God’s people had been overcome by the Babylonians