11 Aug Mortifying the Flesh with Fullness
Last Sunday, Pastor Jason Finley opened our new series: Worship Exalts God, with a sermon from Isaiah 6:1-8. Jason taught us that worship that exalts God is shaped not by our preferences but by the gospel.
Read: John 4:1-42
This Sunday, Ronnie Morris will preach from John 4:1-42 and will show us that Jesus supremely satisfies authentic worshipers. Also, we will partake in the Lord’s Supper together. As you prepare for our Sunday gathering, let this devotion from Milton Vincent lead you to mortify your fleshly desires with the fullness of Christ.
Reflect: “Mortifying the Flesh with Fullness”
Though saved, I am daily beset by a sinful flesh (Galatians 5:19-21) that always craves those things that are contrary to the Spirit (Galatians 5:17). These fleshly lusts are vicious enemies, constantly waging war against the good of my soul (1 Peter 2:11). Yet they promise me fullness, and their promises are so deliciously sweet that I often find myself giving into them as if they were friends that have my best interests at heart.
On the most basic of levels, I desire fullness, and fleshly lusts seduce me by attaching themselves to this basic desire. They exploit the empty spaces in me, and they promise that fullness will be mine if I give in to their demands. When my soul sits empty and is aching for something to fill it, such deceptive promises are extremely difficult to resist.
Consequently, the key to mortifying fleshly lusts is to eliminate the emptiness within me and replace it with fullness; and I accomplish this by feasting on the gospel. Indeed, it is in the gospel that I experience a God who glorifies Himself by filling me with His fullness. He is the One, Paul says, “who fills all in all” (Ephesians 1:22-23). He is the One who “fill[s] all things” with the gifts He gives (Ephesians 4:7-10). And He lavishes gospel blessings upon me with the goal that I “be filled up to all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:14-19). This is the God of the gospel, a God who is satisfied with nothing less than my experience of fullness in Him! The first command God spoke in the Garden was, “eat freely” (Genesis 2:16). And with similar insistence He says to me now, “be filled” (Ephesians 5:18).
What happens to my appetites for sin when I am filled with the fullness of God in Christ? Jesus provides this answer: “He who continually comes to Me will never hunger or thirst again” (John 6:35). Indeed, as I perpetually feast on Christ and all of His blessings found in the gospel, I find that my hunger for sin diminishes and the lies of lust simply lose their appeal. Hence, to the degree that I am full, I am free. Eyes do not rove, nor do fleshly lusts rule, when the heart is fat with the love of Jesus!
Preaching the gospel to myself each day keeps before me the startling advocacy of God for my fullness, and it also serves as a means by which I feast anew on the fullness of provision that God has given to me in Christ. “Eat[ing] freely” of such provision keeps me occupied with God’s blessings and also leaves me with a profoundly enjoyable sense of satisfaction in Jesus. And nothing so mortifies fleshly lusts like satisfaction in Him.
“Mortifying the Flesh with Fullness,” in A Gospel Primer for Christians, by Milton Vincent.
Sing: Song List for Sunday
1. “All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name,” Arr. Lifeway Worship
2. “In Christ Alone,” Arr. Passion
3. “When We See Your Face,” by Sovereign Grace Music
4. “Jesus, Thank You,” by Sovereign Grace Music
5. “It Was Finished Upon That Cross,” by CityAlight