{"id":2853,"date":"2015-04-20T09:25:29","date_gmt":"2015-04-20T13:25:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/?p=2853"},"modified":"2015-04-20T12:27:06","modified_gmt":"2015-04-20T16:27:06","slug":"when-its-good-to-be-in-a-gang","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/davidcprice.com\/when-its-good-to-be-in-a-gang\/","title":{"rendered":"When It’s Good to be in a Gang"},"content":{"rendered":"
Paul tells Timothy that if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, \u201che will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work.\u201d (2 Timothy 2:20-21<\/a>)<\/p>\n This is a concept I\u2019ve been dealing with a lot lately in messages at The Gathering<\/a>, though it\u2019s a concept I\u2019ve not mastered.\u00a0 I certainly struggle, not so much with the concept or idea of \u201ccleansing oneself\u201d, as much as the practice of it.\u00a0 The concept basically addresses the outworking of sanctification (the process by which the Holy Spirit begins making changes and also empowers us, through discipline, to bring about changes, as well).\u00a0 Whereas salvation\/transformation is solely the work of the Holy Spirit, sanctification is a divine partnership, in which I have responsibility.\u00a0 Admittedly, it would be much easier if God just DID IT all, Himself, but that\u2019s not the way He\u2019s chosen.\u00a0 Instead, He has equipped me to do battle within myself and those deep-seeded sins that \u201cso easily entangle\u201d (Hebrews 12:1<\/a>).<\/p>\n Because of the work Christ has already done in my life to change my position before the Father to that of Holy and blameless, I have the power to say no to conditional sin that, before, I could not.\u00a0 Before, sin had me chained\u2026I was under it\u2019s power, fulfilling all the things that my flesh dictated to me (Ephesians 2:1-3<\/a>).\u00a0 Now, the Word tells me I\u2019m no longer a slave to sin and that the only reason I am under any authority of sin is that I, willingly, place myself under it\u2019s control, wrapping myself again with the chains that once held me, choosing the sin from which I\u2019ve been freed.\u00a0 In short, I sin now because I want<\/i> to, not because I have<\/i> to (Galatians 5:1<\/a>).\u00a0 That\u2019s what is troubling.\u00a0 I want<\/i> to sin. Man, I hate even saying that, because I really don\u2019t and, yet, if sin ever dominates my life, according to Scripture, it\u2019s because I let<\/i> it.<\/p>\n I think this is why Paul encouraged his young son in the faith to \u201cFight the good fight of faith.\u201d (1 Timothy 6:12a<\/a>)\u00a0 It is most certainly a fight, but it\u2019s a fight that involves retreating\u2026running away from an enemy.\u00a0 Sounds crazy when talking about standing firm and fighting, but being an overcomer, in this case, involves running away from enemies we cannot beat if we remain in their presence.\u00a0 Samson was the strongest man in the neighborhood, but the only way he could have beaten the Philistines was by running away from that which tempted his heart\u2026the great temptation of Delilah.\u00a0 He was defeated, not by the brute force of an army, but by remaining under the influence of a single individual who offered him all that he wanted\u2026momentary pleasure.<\/p>\n Wow, that\u2019s it right there.\u00a0 Momentary pleasure<\/i>.\u00a0 Even though it doesn\u2019t last, it still has the ability to train wreck our spiritual lives.\u00a0 This is why Paul kept encouraging Timothy to run away from it.\u00a0 Don\u2019t try to stay and fight because, eventually, you\u2019ll let your guard down and the fight is over.\u00a0 Clean knock-out.\u00a0 As a matter of fact, right after Paul encourages Timothy to cleanse himself, he tells him how:<\/p>\n So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. 23 Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. 24 And the Lord’s servant[e] must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, 25 correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, 26 and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will. (2 Timothy 2: 22-26<\/a>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n In this passage, there is both a \u201crun away from\u201d and a \u201crun towards\u201d.\u00a0 Both words used, \u201cflee\u201d and \u201cpursue\u201d, communicate both an urgency and an exertion of effort.\u00a0 One involved running away from as hard and fast as you can while the other involves chasing after something as to catch it.\u00a0 In other words, we should never be standing still!<\/i>\u00a0 The question is where should the most emphasis be placed, on fleeing or pursuing?\u00a0 Which one do I focus on more?\u00a0 The great news is that they are in opposite directions, but only sort of.\u00a0 Here\u2019s what I mean: I can flee from unrighteousness, but that doesn\u2019t mean I\u2019m necessarily<\/i> pursuing godly<\/i> righteousness.\u00a0 It might mean that I\u2019m simply pursuing self<\/i>-righteousness.\u00a0 I might still be trying to overcome sin under my own power and that will just lead to a pride that is nothing more than unrighteousness in disguise.\u00a0 So, in truth, I\u2019ve never actually run away from anything!<\/p>\n The key, then, to dealing honestly with sin, is to chase after godly<\/i> righteousness \u201calong with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart<\/i>.\u201d\u00a0 In other words, I will never actually overcome sin in my life using a \u201cLone Ranger\u201d approach because I\u2019ll just drift towards self-righteousness and never even notice.\u00a0 It\u2019s actually a great weapon of the Enemy, \u201cthe Father of Lies\u201d.\u00a0 However, if I am in a community of humble people who are honestly seeking these same things, we can ” gang up” on sin, keeping each other in check, moving towards true godliness together, pointing out that slow drift away from our godly pursuits.<\/p>\n This is why \u201cGospel friendships\u201d are so important, where we are deliberately speaking into each others lives; where almost every conversation contains some level of Gospel conversation, encouraging and challenging each other and simply \u201cchecking up\u201d.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t happen by accident and takes a great deal of cultivation.\u00a0 If, though, I want to overcome sin in my life, sin that my flesh really wants to give in to because I like the momentary pleasure it offers, I have to pursue such relationships with everything I have, knowing that it\u2019s worth the effort.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n