Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share May 25, 2025 – Week 4 – Flesh Perspective
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
May 25, 2025 – Week 4 – Flesh Perspective
OPENING ILLUSTRATION:
The very first night we brought our oldest baby home from the hospital I was changing his diaper and I can remember exactly where I was because in the hospital when I changed his diaper I remember having this thought. “it doesn’t smell! Maybe if you’re the dad it doesn’t smell to you…” Lol, I wasn’t that sharp. What I didn’t know is that it didn’t smell because what I was changing was a substance called Meconium. I didn’t know that Meconium is not the same thing as what would normally meet my faculties as I changed a diaper. It was that day, in the basement of my grandmas house in a blue bedroom - i’m telling you, this is seared into my memory that as I changed that diaper I was like, “Nope, Nope, I can smell it…” Ha
It was unmistakable…. lol
Some of you are like, “Kent, you’re the worst talking about this in church,” ha!
Here’s what I learned that day…
What goes in affects what comes out…
Look, we’re in this series “thinking Biblically” and I want to introduce you to a topic that I think matters so much if you are going to make in this world, this isn’t even just a Christian thing, this is life thing…
Paul says the “what goes in affects what comes out” thing by using a metaphor from agriculture:
Galatians 6:7-8
7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
b
What Does Paul mean by “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked?”
ILLUSTRATION:
I was watching a reel the other day of this lady a “Karen”, does anyone else feel bad for actual Karen’s? Lol, this lady was up in these teens faces yelling at them about getting her food wrong - one of the other employees came up and spilled something on the lady to defuse the situation. As the lady walked out they all started laughing and high fiving each other.
When Paul says “don’t be deceived, God can’t be mocked” He’s saying,
God isn’t some Karen for you to get a clip of and put your nose up at… In other words, God isn’t a joke, and the things God calls people to is not a joke…
A man reaps what he sows. 8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
b
Paul is saying that whatever you put into your life (sow) will affect what comes out of it (reap).
b
What does it mean to “sow to please the flesh”?
b
The flesh is the Bible way to talk about the part of you that is comfortable doing life without God.
Paul describes it in Galatians 5:
Galatians 5:19-21
19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
If you’re going to think Biblically - you’re going to have to start to understand some basic things about this faith..
Not every desire you have is a good desire.
ILLUSTRATION:
You know this, right? A simple illustration is the last thing I need is another Oreo, but when I’m stressed, do you know what my flesh desires? An oreo…
Peter says it this way…
1 Peter 2:11
11 Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul.
b
Your sinful, flesh based desires are literally waging war against your own soul.
Why is that?
Your flesh is you trying to attempt life apart from God. You are trying to find counterfeit versions of the real thing.
When I go to the oreo instead of Jesus - I’m taking my need for God and His mercy to something that cannot really give me any relief.
We all do this…
-some of you run to booze
-sex
-rage against people
-etc.
The flesh is our attempt to do life without God and Paul is saying it will only reap destruction…
So, what’s the answer?
Is it to just try harder? Be a better person?
This is what almost everyone tries to do. I don’t know how many people I’ve had tell me they are “trying to be a good Christian” or they will come to Jesus once they get their life in order…
Christianity isn’t about trying harder…
b
You can’t "out-good" your bad…
The answer is not to try harder, but to do what Paul says at the end of that verse when it comes to sowing and reaping…
Galatians 6:8
8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
The way you overcome the flesh is to change the focus of your life.
Sow to please the Spirit…
ILLUSTRATION:
When I was a kid, I was a goof ball in school, you can probably guess that, right? I was in choir, I know, pretty impressive right? I was actually in the best choirs and never really had to try hard at it. As a matter of fact, I messed around a lot - you’ll never believe this, but I loved the focus on me and my antics… One day, my choir teacher, Mr Anderson called me up after class and he said, “Kent, I’m kicking you out of choir…” I was shocked, I can remember my head kind of spinning, I asked him what I could do, he said, “Kent, you’re a leader and all the guys follow you and when you mess around, they all mess around and I’m done with it…” I begged him to give me one more shot and the next day, I came in and Mr Anderson said, “let’s sing” and all my buddies looked at me to see me mess around and I looked at them and I said, “let’s sing” and they all sung… From that point on, my attention was on pointing everyone to what Mr. Anderson wanted rather than what Kent wanted…
Trying harder is not the answer, choosing who you are trying please is the answer…
b
Are you going to please yourself or God?
What I think you’ll find is that as long as you’re just trying to please yourself you are going to continue to hit walls and barriers in your life, you are going to feel alone and miss true joy, you are going to experience failure, rejection, shame, guilt and so much more because your aim is off.
What’s crazy is as you start to try to please God, ask anyone who knows Jesus well, you find you start to be pleased as well. Because it turns out what you needed all along was not little salvations from the sin and pain of life, but you needed God Himself walking with you… His freedom and joy cannot be robbed from you..
---------
Galatians 6:7-8
7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
1 Corinthians 6:12-20
12 “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything. 13 You say, “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.” The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! 16 Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.”[b] 17 But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.[c]
18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. 19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.
You were bought at a price… Most of us think of ourselves and our body as our own. It’s a huge concept in American culture. But the reality is when you were bought by Christ, you were choosing to say “I trust you with even my body” You are trusting His way is the best way, that what He says is trustworthy even if you don’t understand it. Our world is all about decadence and doing what we feel like and we have this sense that the things we do are separate from who we are, that is an ancient lie called Antinomianism: Believing that moral laws and physical actions don't affect the spiritual realm, leading some to indulge in behavior considered sinful by other religious standards, under the belief that it had no bearing on their spiritual state.
STUDY:
ILLUSTRATION:
I'd like to some how capture the idea that people behave in a way as though consequences don't exist. We act as though the law of sowing and reaping is not a reality and then are confused when we reap what we sowed - even blaming it on God...
View all episodes
By Harmony Christian Church
5
33 ratings
OPENING ILLUSTRATION:
The very first night we brought our oldest baby home from the hospital I was changing his diaper and I can remember exactly where I was because in the hospital when I changed his diaper I remember having this thought. “it doesn’t smell! Maybe if you’re the dad it doesn’t smell to you…” Lol, I wasn’t that sharp. What I didn’t know is that it didn’t smell because what I was changing was a substance called Meconium. I didn’t know that Meconium is not the same thing as what would normally meet my faculties as I changed a diaper. It was that day, in the basement of my grandmas house in a blue bedroom - i’m telling you, this is seared into my memory that as I changed that diaper I was like, “Nope, Nope, I can smell it…” Ha
It was unmistakable…. lol
Some of you are like, “Kent, you’re the worst talking about this in church,” ha!
Here’s what I learned that day…
What goes in affects what comes out…
Look, we’re in this series “thinking Biblically” and I want to introduce you to a topic that I think matters so much if you are going to make in this world, this isn’t even just a Christian thing, this is life thing…
Paul says the “what goes in affects what comes out” thing by using a metaphor from agriculture:
Galatians 6:7-8
7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
b
What Does Paul mean by “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked?”
ILLUSTRATION:
I was watching a reel the other day of this lady a “Karen”, does anyone else feel bad for actual Karen’s? Lol, this lady was up in these teens faces yelling at them about getting her food wrong - one of the other employees came up and spilled something on the lady to defuse the situation. As the lady walked out they all started laughing and high fiving each other.
When Paul says “don’t be deceived, God can’t be mocked” He’s saying,
God isn’t some Karen for you to get a clip of and put your nose up at… In other words, God isn’t a joke, and the things God calls people to is not a joke…
A man reaps what he sows. 8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
b
Paul is saying that whatever you put into your life (sow) will affect what comes out of it (reap).
b
What does it mean to “sow to please the flesh”?
b
The flesh is the Bible way to talk about the part of you that is comfortable doing life without God.
Paul describes it in Galatians 5:
Galatians 5:19-21
19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
If you’re going to think Biblically - you’re going to have to start to understand some basic things about this faith..
Not every desire you have is a good desire.
ILLUSTRATION:
You know this, right? A simple illustration is the last thing I need is another Oreo, but when I’m stressed, do you know what my flesh desires? An oreo…
Peter says it this way…
1 Peter 2:11
11 Dear friends, I urge you, as foreigners and exiles, to abstain from sinful desires, which wage war against your soul.
b
Your sinful, flesh based desires are literally waging war against your own soul.
Why is that?
Your flesh is you trying to attempt life apart from God. You are trying to find counterfeit versions of the real thing.
When I go to the oreo instead of Jesus - I’m taking my need for God and His mercy to something that cannot really give me any relief.
We all do this…
-some of you run to booze
-sex
-rage against people
-etc.
The flesh is our attempt to do life without God and Paul is saying it will only reap destruction…
So, what’s the answer?
Is it to just try harder? Be a better person?
This is what almost everyone tries to do. I don’t know how many people I’ve had tell me they are “trying to be a good Christian” or they will come to Jesus once they get their life in order…
Christianity isn’t about trying harder…
b
You can’t "out-good" your bad…
The answer is not to try harder, but to do what Paul says at the end of that verse when it comes to sowing and reaping…
Galatians 6:8
8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
The way you overcome the flesh is to change the focus of your life.
Sow to please the Spirit…
ILLUSTRATION:
When I was a kid, I was a goof ball in school, you can probably guess that, right? I was in choir, I know, pretty impressive right? I was actually in the best choirs and never really had to try hard at it. As a matter of fact, I messed around a lot - you’ll never believe this, but I loved the focus on me and my antics… One day, my choir teacher, Mr Anderson called me up after class and he said, “Kent, I’m kicking you out of choir…” I was shocked, I can remember my head kind of spinning, I asked him what I could do, he said, “Kent, you’re a leader and all the guys follow you and when you mess around, they all mess around and I’m done with it…” I begged him to give me one more shot and the next day, I came in and Mr Anderson said, “let’s sing” and all my buddies looked at me to see me mess around and I looked at them and I said, “let’s sing” and they all sung… From that point on, my attention was on pointing everyone to what Mr. Anderson wanted rather than what Kent wanted…
Trying harder is not the answer, choosing who you are trying please is the answer…
b
Are you going to please yourself or God?
What I think you’ll find is that as long as you’re just trying to please yourself you are going to continue to hit walls and barriers in your life, you are going to feel alone and miss true joy, you are going to experience failure, rejection, shame, guilt and so much more because your aim is off.
What’s crazy is as you start to try to please God, ask anyone who knows Jesus well, you find you start to be pleased as well. Because it turns out what you needed all along was not little salvations from the sin and pain of life, but you needed God Himself walking with you… His freedom and joy cannot be robbed from you..
---------
Galatians 6:7-8
7 Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. 8 Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.
1 Corinthians 6:12-20
12 “I have the right to do anything,” you say—but not everything is beneficial. “I have the right to do anything”—but I will not be mastered by anything. 13 You say, “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.” The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! 16 Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.”[b] 17 But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.[c]
18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. 19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.
You were bought at a price… Most of us think of ourselves and our body as our own. It’s a huge concept in American culture. But the reality is when you were bought by Christ, you were choosing to say “I trust you with even my body” You are trusting His way is the best way, that what He says is trustworthy even if you don’t understand it. Our world is all about decadence and doing what we feel like and we have this sense that the things we do are separate from who we are, that is an ancient lie called Antinomianism: Believing that moral laws and physical actions don't affect the spiritual realm, leading some to indulge in behavior considered sinful by other religious standards, under the belief that it had no bearing on their spiritual state.
STUDY:
ILLUSTRATION:
I'd like to some how capture the idea that people behave in a way as though consequences don't exist. We act as though the law of sowing and reaping is not a reality and then are confused when we reap what we sowed - even blaming it on God...