(This post originally appeared on my blog at Borrowed Light)
Warning! If I am wrong on what I say in this particular post the consequences could be deadly. So, as I hope you always do, read with discernment and test everything by Scripture.
“Flee sexual immorality...” 1 Corinthians 6:18
It has been said, and rightly so, that sexual immorality (lust, etc.) is the only sin that we are told to run away from. Everything else we are typically told to stand firm and fight—but sexual sin can become so ensnaring that we are told to run away from it. I agree.
However, I do believe there is a huge difference between law running and gospel running. One runs out of an overflow of love and grace the other runs out of fear, guilt, and shame.
Law Running
In Romans 7 Paul gives us an interesting picture of what happens when the law meets sin. Verse 7-8 could just as easily have said, “For I would not have known what it is to lust if the law had not said, ‘You shall not lust.’ But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of lust.”
Being told not to lust is almost like telling yourself not to think about penguins. Try it. Don’t think about penguins for the next 5 minutes. What happens with law running is that your focus is turned away from Christ and the power of His gospel. You start focusing on what you are NOT supposed to do and so “the very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me”. Why is that? The law cannot conquer your heart of lust.
Gospel Running
Gospel running is radically different. Gospel running is what happens when you are so blown away by what Christ has done that your affections actually begin to change. You flee sexual immorality much the same way I run away gagging from a poopy diaper.
Notice the motivator that Paul uses in 1 Corinthians 6. “You were bought with a price. Your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit.” I don’t think that is only Paul saying—“how dare you defile the temple”. Although, that is implied. I think Paul is saying even more. He is reminding them that Christ has purchased them and has freed them. He has conquered the power of sin and freed them from the law’s condemnation. They have the Holy Spirit living inside them. They have power to run from this sin.
Law running is simply running away from something. Gospel running is running away because of Someone and to Someone. One will kill you because it lacks power and only ends in fear, shame, guilt and defeat. The other will lead to life—because the gospel actually has power.
Practical Implications
So if you find yourself struggling with lust it’s not a methodology problem—it’s a heart problem. You aren’t fundamentally struggling with lust because you’ve let down your guard and aren’t following your 10 steps to stay away from porn. You are fundamentally struggling with lust because your affections for Jesus are low. If you want to battle lust then do things to stir your affections. Don’t focus on trying to not lust. Focus on Christ—preach the gospel to yourself until your affections start to change and the emptiness of lust is exposed.
But you can also get arrogant with this and stop fighting sin. If you are watching sexually charged movies, magazines, etc. and exposing yourself to temptation, then your problem is that your being stupid. If you really are practicing gospel running then you won’t be having a deep desire for smut. If you’re engaging in these things its not gospel freedom—it’s false freedom. You’ve just stopped fighting sin and made it sound spiritual.
My prayer is that we flee sexual immorality not to the glory of the law and self-effort but to the glory of Jesus who redeems hearts and transforms affections.
Excellent thoughts, Mike. And I think it is safe to say that this might be the first time “poopy” appeared in an SBC Voices post. I can really remember those days. My youngest is graduating high school and heading to college next year, so those diaper days are long gone.
Love it. Thank you. My only objection is that in this case the warning at the top is quite unnecessary. “Excellent thoughts” indeed!
Very good, Mike. You can’t imagine how many times people being obsessed by a temptation that could ruing their lives try to survive on law and self-effort. Well, maybe you can imagine, since you are so on target here. In Christ alone.
Amen and amen. Great stuff, Mike. Good advice and well put. Keep fighting the good fight.
“If you are watching sexually charged movies, magazines, etc. and exposing yourself to temptation, then your problem is that your being stupid.”
Actually you are placing yourself into ‘occasions of sin’ when you knowingly and willingly do those things that you are aware that lead to sin. I agree with you that avoiding the temptations, ‘the occasions of sin”, are an obligation of a Christian person.
We ask Our Heavenly Father in the prayer that Christ has taught us:
‘Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.’
This prayer is in the Holy Gospels.
And we know that there is no part of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ that is not an answer to evil.
We are not alone in our battles. We were not left unaided.
I can’t flee temptation, but I can escape it. God promises that.
I can flee immorality, just because God says to. If you call that “Law Running”, so be it. I see it as obedience to what God told me to do. And because I want an abundant life, and disobeying Him isn’t the way to have one.
We were taught, as counselors at a crusade years ago (40) to not deal with someone’s particular sin, but deal with their relationship with Jesus, as that’s at the heart of sinful activities. So I get what you’re saying. But I see nothing wrong with someone who flees immorality simply because God says to, and in fact that may be the preferred motivation, because we can’t control how we feel (overflowing love), but we can control how we react to temptation.
God promises that.
Bob,
I am arguing that the means that God has provided to escape temptation is Jesus and all the implications of the gospel. Yes, part of that is that we now have resurrection power to say no to the fleeting pleasures of sin.
Honestly, I don’t think we are saying anything too differently. I notice that you said, “I want an abundant life, and disobeying Him isn’t having one”. That statement assumes what I am saying–that at the Lord’s right hand there are pleasures evermore…joy is found in holiness and not sin. That only comes from tasting and seeing that the Lord is good. So, what is motivating your running is not the law (as in I had better not sin because then I will be unacceptable) but the gospel (I had better not sin because Jesus is more precious than porn).
Recalling this verse has always helped me with sinful temptations:
1 Cor. 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.
I think you need to consider what law is and what gospel is. Are you saying that you personally escape sexual thoughts by loving Jesus more?
How much love for Jesus is enough to stop sexual thoughts? I’m not speaking of engaging in externally sinful acts (pornography, adultery, etc) but am speaking of the innate desire for sexual activity.
You’ve described Law Running, and Gospel running, and while I appreciate the effort, I think they both end up being law.
Well said Mike.