171 Equipping Series
Common Spiritual Issues
The Gospel and Our Problems
WEEK 6
Any observer of humans can see the interrelated nature between behavior, thoughts, and emotions. In fact, much of secular psychology centers on arguments regarding which aspect of humanity is ultimately causative.
However, Scripture tells us that what is causative is our heart. The heart is the seat of our deepest desires and is ultimately determined and driven by our worship. What we worship determines how we think, behave, and feel.
Emotions Behavior
Thoughts
WORSHIP
Emotions Behavior
Thoughts
Des ires
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Ultimately, our worship of either ourselves or God is at the root of all of our thoughts, behavior, and emotions. This worship, however, is made manifest in the form of our desires. It is for this reason that the New Testament repeatedly refers to our
“desires” as the cause of our temptation. Our desires determine the different manifestations of our worship.
But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. (James 1:14-15)
His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. (2 Peter 1:3-4)
But that is not the way you learned Christ!—assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:20-24)
In fact, the idea of “desire” is even what is meant when we use the term “lust”
In English the word lust generally connotes lurid sexual fantasies. It is closely associated with the mental pictures of naked bodies to which males are so typically drawn. This English meaning of lust, however has no
equivalent word in New Testament Greek. The word translated lust in Matthew 5:28 (epithumia) means simply desire. On occasion the word, in fact, has a positive meaning as when Jesus tells his disciples that He has
“desired with desire” (as the King James puts it) to eat the Passover meal with them (Luke 22:15). Clearly, Jesus does not mean that He has fantasized about the Passover meal, mentally drooling over the menu. [Desire] is not a sensual fantasy. Jesus means that He has deeply longed for the occasion.
as in, “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor”
(Exodus 20:17, NIV). H e r e w e s t r i k e a t t h e h e a r t o f t h e p r o b l e m o f l u s t a s t h e B i b l e c o n c e i v e s i t : W e w a n t t h i n g s t h a t d o n ’ t b e l o n g t o u s . Leave sex out of it entirely for the moment. We are not content with what we have. We want something more— and that desire drives us. — Tim Stafford,
“Getting Serious About Lust,” JBC (Spring 1995)
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matthew 5:27-28)
As David Powlison summarizes so well:
An immoral act or fantasy—behavior—is a sin in itself. But such behavior always arises from desires and beliefs that dethrone God. Whenever I do wrong, I am loving something besides God with all my heart, soul, mind, and might. I am listening attentively to some other voice. Typically (but not always!), immoral actions arise in connection with erotic desires that squirm out from under God’s lordship. But immorality results from many other motives, too, and usually arises from a combination of motives. — David Powlison, “Making All Things New”
Self-Worship Desires
World Flesh Satan
Idol Idol Idol Idol Idol Idol Idol
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Therefore, at their core, all sexual issues are manifestations of self-worship through the lenses of our complicated and multifaceted desires. The similarities of various sexual issues not only exist in their experience, but exist in their ultimate nature as well. In this way, all sexual issues have the same root and ought to be addressed with the same solution: the gospel.
This is a powerful truth that can help empower all of us to minister to those around us who struggle with sexual issues whether or not our struggles have directly mirrored theirs or not.
Gratefully, in time, I became open and accountable to a small group of Christians with whom I came to live out the truth that I was a sinner like everyone else. It wasn’t enough for me not to stigmatize myself; I needed to be known and upheld by fellow Christians. One male friend’s battle with heterosexual pornography, a woman’s loneliness in the long absence of male suitors, another friend’s need to give up a heterosexual relationship due to its immature, promiscuous nature – all three experiences resonated with mine and caused us to support each other meaningfully without my or anyone else’s being tagged the pervert. — Andrews Comiskey, Pursuing Sexual Wholeness, 24- 25