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Scripture Reading: Exo. 30:31-32; Gal. 5:26; 6:12; Matt. 20:20-27; Phil. 2:14; Matt. 12:36; Exo. 17:8-16; 1 Sam. 15:1-23
I. The flesh having no share in the holy anointing oil — Exo. 30:31-32.
II. Things belonging to the flesh:
А. Vainglory — Gal. 5:26.
B. Outward show — 6:12.
C. Ambition for leadership — Matt. 20:20-27.
D. Self-confidence.
E. Self-righteousness.
F. Self-justification.
G. Self-vindication.
H. Self-exaltation.
I. Being opinionated.
J. Murmurings — Phil. 2:14.
K. Reasonings — v. 14.
L. Gossip — Matt. 12:36.
M. Rivalry — Phil. 2:3.
III. The flesh fighting against God’s people in their journey to attain to God’s goal — Exo. 17:8-13.
IV. God being determined to blot out the flesh and to fight against it from generation to generation — vv. 14-16.
V. God commanding us to utterly destroy the flesh — 1 Sam. 15:1-3.
VI. We will lose the kingship by not utterly destroying the flesh — vv. 4-23.
Now that we have had a lesson on knowing the flesh, we need a lesson on the further knowledge of the flesh. We need to know more about the flesh if we are to be those who serve the Lord according to His desire.
In Exodus 30:31 and 32 the Lord charged Moses not to anoint any flesh with the holy anointing oil. The holy anointing oil, the compound ointment, signifies the consummated and compound Spirit. This indicates clearly that the compound Spirit is absolutely not for the flesh. When we are living and acting in the flesh, we are through with the compound Spirit, the all-inclusive, consummated, life-giving Spirit. Because the Spirit has nothing to do with our flesh, we have to be in our spirit. This is a serious matter. Eventually, the ultimate consummation of the Triune God is the consummated, all-inclusive life-giving Spirit. If we are through with Him, we are through with God. Therefore, we must condemn the flesh to the uttermost because it has no share in the all-inclusive Spirit.
Now we want to see thirteen things belonging to the flesh.
In Galatians 5:26 Paul says, “Let us not become vainglorious, provoking one another, envying one another.” Everything that is considered as a glory today, such as having a position or a name, is vain. It is vainglory. We should not seek for man’s glory today. The real glory is the coming glory of God. Whatever is considered as a glory today is vainglory.
In Galatians 6:12 Paul speaks of those who desire to make a good show, an outward show, in the flesh. People like to make a show of whatever they are, whatever they have, and whatever they can do. Such an outward show belongs to the flesh. Whenever you like to make a show, you have to condemn it. To say this is easy, but in our natural being we make an outward show all the time. Whenever we want to make an outward show, that is fleshly. Of course, this has much to do with vainglory.
It is also absolutely fleshly to be ambitious for leadership (Matt. 20:20-27).
It is very difficult not to have self-confidence. If we did not have self-confidence, our will might be weak. But we have to realize that self-confidence is fleshly.
When we use the term self-righteousness, we do not mean self-justice. Someone who is self-righteous always considers that he is right. We use self-righteousness in the sense of someone thinking that he is never wrong but always right.
Self-justification is another characteristic of the flesh.
The desire to convince others that we are right, to vindicate ourselves, is also of the flesh.
Self-exaltation is another characteristic of the flesh. Thus, we can see that self-confidence, self-righteousness, self-justification, self-vindication, and self-exaltation are all aspects of the flesh. We should not forget that this is a lesson concerning service. We must help the saints to realize that in the church service, we have to condemn self-confidence, self-righteousness, self-justification, self-vindication, and self-exaltation. There should be nothing of the self in the church service. When we have these aspects of the self, we are absolutely fleshly, and the Spirit, the holy anointing oil, has nothing to do with us. If we are so self-confident, self-righteous, self-justifying, self-vindicating, and self-exalting, we lose the Spirit. The Spirit is gone in our experience.
Being opinionated is different from having an opinion. You may have an opinion and not be opinionated. An opinion is a concept. Everybody has opinions, but we should not be opinionated. To be opinionated is fleshly. The friction and the dissension among us come from our being opinionated. These things belonging to the flesh are the roots of the problems in the church service.
Philippians 2:14 charges us to do all things without murmurings, which are of the flesh. Murmurings are of our emotion and come mainly from the sisters.
Philippians 2:14 also charges us to do all things without reasonings. Reasonings come from the flesh. They are of our mind and come mainly from the brothers. We do not care for finding out the reason for things; we simply desire to live Christ. The four Gospels tell us a number of times that the disciples of the Lord Jesus were trying to find out the reason for certain things. But the Lord Jesus would not let them know the reason. The disciples would ask “why,” but the Lord Jesus would not tell them why. If He had answered them, He would have been taking care of their reasonings. To take care of people’s reasonings is to take care of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The Lord Jesus always took care of the tree of life. He did not care for people’s reasonings.
Murmuring and reasoning both frustrate us from carrying out our salvation to the fullest extent and from experiencing and enjoying Christ to the uttermost. In the church service we must learn to reject murmurings and reasonings.
Gossip is another item of the flesh. It can be considered as an unnecessary exchange of information. Gossip is idle talk with idle words. In Matthew 12:36 the Lord said, “I say to you that every idle word which men shall speak, they will render an account concerning it in the day of judgment.” The Greek word for idle means “not working.” An idle word is a non-working word, an inoperative word, a word that has no positive function and is useless, unprofitable, unfruitful, and barren.
Paul tells us in Philippians 2:3 to do nothing by way of selfish ambition, or rivalry. Rivalry is different from competition. In a school the students compete. In athletics the athletes compete. Competition is not bad, but rivalry is evil. Rivalry is negative competition. Someone may give a good testimony, and another saint may want to give a better one. Someone may bring three persons into the recovery, and another may see this and want to bring in six. If you always want to be higher and better than others and have something more than others, this is rivalry. Rivalry is of the flesh.
If the saints in the church service, by the Lord’s grace, exercise to avoid all the thirteen items of the flesh listed above, we will have a wonderful church service. It would even be good if some of these items could be on our wall as frameable quotes, such as “No vainglory,” “No outward show,” “No ambition for leadership,” etc.
Exodus 17:8-13 speaks of Amalek fighting against the children of Israel while they were journeying to attain to God’s goal. Amalek signifies the flesh. This reveals that the flesh fights against God’s people in their journey to attain to God’s goal. As we follow the Lord on His way, the biggest subjective and inward frustration is our flesh. The flesh always frustrates, hinders, and fights against us in our journey. The church is delayed from going on mainly because of the flesh.
Exodus 17 tells us that the Lord is determined to have war with Amalek from generation to generation (vv. 14-16). The children of Israel overcame Amalek through Moses and Joshua. Moses was praying on the mountain, while Joshua was fighting Amalek. Moses and Joshua are two aspects of Christ: the ascended Christ interceding and the indwelling Christ fighting. We have no other way to overcome the flesh except by the living Christ, who is the ascended One interceding for us and the indwelling One fighting within us.
This warfare cannot be settled once for all. It is a warfare that continues from generation to generation. Day after day and all day long, while we are still in the old creation, we have to fight against the flesh. God is determined to blot it out, but this is not easy. In the fight against Amalek, Moses built an altar and called the name of it Jehovah-nissi, which means “Jehovah is my banner” (v. 15). This means that Jehovah is the banner for fighting. God is determined to blot out the flesh and to fight against it from generation to generation.
In 1 Samuel 15:1-3 God charged King Saul to destroy Amalek utterly, and He told Saul that this was because of what happened in Exodus 17 when Amalek frustrated the journey of God’s people to reach His goal. God commanded Saul to destroy everything belonging to Amalek, but Saul did not do it.
Saul lost his kingship because he did not utterly destroy Amalek (1 Sam. 15:4-23). This tells us that we also will lose the kingship if we do not utterly destroy our flesh.
In Galatians 5:19-21 fifteen items of the works of the flesh are listed. Fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, bouts of drunkenness, and carousings are related to the lust of the corrupted body. Enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, factions, divisions, sects, and envyings are related to the fallen soul, which is very closely related to the corrupted body. Idolatry and sorcery are related to the deadened spirit. This proves that the three parts of our fallen being — body, soul, and spirit — are all involved with the corrupted, evil flesh. Thus, in order to deal with the flesh, we have to deal with the lustful body, the corrupted soul, and the deadened spirit. We need to deal with the flesh by the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit.
