We are Spiritual Beings - Biltmore Baptist Church

Scripture: Romans 8:1-17 (NIV)

Introduction

I was watching Drew Barrymore interview Ben Vereen on the television the other day
You remember Ben Vereen right? He is an American actor, dancer and singer now 75
He made a comment that got my attention when he said: “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience, we are spiritual beings having a human experience.”
These were not his own words, he was quoting Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
Teilhard who lived from 1881-1955, was a French Jesuit priest, philosopher, and a paleontologist who was present at the discovery of the Peking Man in 1926
Teilhard is also quoted to have said: “The physical body is not truly ours, it belongs to planet earth. We can call it our own while we reside in it but it does not belong to us.”
Are we really born into a human existence just to live and die a physical death? NO
God said in Genesis 1:27: “Let us make man in our image” What is God’s image? Jesus
How did Jesus FIRST come into the world? As a human baby
How did Jesus leave the world? Died a human death on the cross
How did Jesus come back into the world the NEXT time? He appeared in human form
So, although Jesus wasn’t born of a human the second time, He did assume human form
He was recognizable; and ate and drank; and talked and fished; and taught the Apostles
Luke said in Acts 1, that Jesus spent 40 days with the apostles then disappeared in the sky
Clearly, Jesus was a spiritual being having a human experience
Now, ask yourself : “why would Jesus model and demonstrate this for us if it’s not real?”
Jesus lived the original “Purpose-driven life” Everything He did was for a purpose
The purpose for Jesus’ human experience was to save all of us from eternal death
There are three things that Paul is teaching us today about our spiritual life:

The law is powerless
The flesh is hostile
Separate from the flesh

1. The law is powerless

When we think about God’s Word, it is very important to consider the context of writings

As you read the Bible, you should always consider several questions:

Who wrote the passage?
Who was it written to?
What is the setting of the passage? What was going on in the setting?
What passages surround the passage? Chapter/paragraph/sentences?

Most importantly, though, you should let the Holy Spirit who lives inside you answer these questions for you – because if you are truly a believer, you have the Holy Spirit

This book was written by the Apostle Paul to the newly-formed Roman Christian church

This church was unique in that it had not been planted by Peter or Paul or any other Apostle

We think, this church was formed on its own by pilgrims returning from the Holy Land

We think they heard the bold preaching by Peter at Pentecost and brought it back to Rome

This letter to the Romans is meant to instruct and prepare them in the most concise way

In the previous chapter, Paul is telling the Romans that the law exposes our sin

In this chapter, Paul is giving them important theological understanding that is very new

You see, the ancient Hebrew people had no real clear understanding of eschatology, a term that refers to life after death

They viewed their life and existence almost entirely in terms of their limited human life

Paul is opening their minds to a whole new way of thinking and that is “a spiritual life”

David writes to us from Psalm 139:13-16:

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

Each of us was created, individually, in the spiritual realm, by God – PERSONALLY

Billions of individual spirits – all created by God Himself

And then, after God creates us in the spiritual realm, what does He do next? We are born

We are born into the world as infants and there begins our life in the flesh

God allows evil to enter into the flesh as well because He allows free will

So God sent the LAW through Moses to bring order to the flesh

But the law was powerless because the law was made for the SPIRIT within us

The flesh wars against the spirit because the flesh is under the influence of the ENEMY

Paul said: “the law was powerless because it was weakened by the flesh.”

Even though God already knows what will happen with each of, He allows us to choose

The law is God’s will for mankind, but the flesh provides tempting alternatives

Because, we are living, temporarily, in fleshly human bodies, so we have human desires

The enemy, and an army of fallen angels, a third of the total number of heavenly angels according to Daniel, exploits every human weakness and desire

It is a constant attack that becomes all the more efficient as technology advances

Most of us here can remember the very early television and some maybe remember a time before television and yet look where we are now.

A key point today is: “how long it takes to get information”
I love walking to Colonial Williamsburg from the Visitor Center because the sidewalk has markers showing the regression or progression of American lifestyle depending on which way you are going.

In the past 100 years, the speed of information has increased exponentially

In Colonial days it took a month to get news; in the 19^th century, a week; in the 20^th century maybe 24 hours with the advent of the telegraph and telephone

Today, it is instantaneous. How could it get any faster than that?

The enemy has usurped that technology and used it to become better and faster

We can sin and fall harder and faster than ever before and the LAW just can’t keep up

The Law was made to appeal to the SPIRITUAL being that is living inside each of us

The Law has become powerless because it is weakened by the flesh

2. The flesh is hostile

Paul said: “The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.”

God created a beautiful and glorious world for us to live in as humans – purely good

But, from the very beginning, evil has existed and is intent on destroying God’s world

At any given moment of our lives, we make choices – hundreds of choices every day

And any one of those choices can come from the realm of our spirit or the realm of flesh

Paul warns that “Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.”

Choosing to take that next drink; do that next drug; watch that next porn; have that next affair; steal that next thing; hurt that next person can never please God

However, enjoying good food, maybe having a drink and living life in a wholesome way does please God

Jesus says so Himself in John 10:10: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”

Paul said in verse 6: “The mind governed by the flesh is death,”
The key point here being that the “MIND is GOVERNED” another word is “control”

What thoughts control your mind? Is it governed by fleshly thoughts?

Or, as Paul suggests otherwise, “but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.”

Where are you? Where do you find your thoughts wandering? What rules your mind?

3. Separate from the flesh

If we agree with the notion that “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience, we are spiritual beings having a human experience.”, than that changes our perspective

If I was a spiritual being before I stopped off here on earth to live, why would I let this brief experience bring me down?

I was valuable to God long before I became a human so shouldn’t I still be valuable to God when I’m done being a human?

Imagine if you will that we are all travelers through space and time

We have landed on a planet that is hostile to our way of life and seeks to destroy us

Now imagine further that the God Who created us knows we are trapped; marooned here

What does He do? He sends search and rescue to save all of His people

He takes the same route to get here that He sent each one of us through – birth to a woman

He lives and grows and becomes a man of healing and peace and love and throws a lifeline of rescue

He says “follow me” and if we do, He gives us a constant companion and helper in the Holy Spirit

When we turn to Him and accept Him as our Lord and Savior, we RECONNECT our spirit-being back to the spiritual realm

Does this mean we will never sin or fall short of the Glory of God? NO we are all sinners

It is in this way, with His help and ONLY with His help that we can separate from the flesh and truly be a “spiritual being having a human experience”