Have You Suffered Enough? - Purity 1330

To see today's photo, go to mt4christ.org or follow me, M.t. Clark, on Facebook or Twitter. Good morning. Today's photo of the Hudson River under an absolutely clear blue sky comes to us from yours truly as I captured this scene from the River Walkway and boat launch at Skodak Island State Park on Tuesday, April 16th. Well, it's Friday, thank God, and I am thanking God today for more than just the end of your normal work week. Besides, if I was counting on that to make me happy, I would have been sorely disappointed today because due to my shifted tour, I have to work tomorrow. No, today I'm rejoicing in the Lord because that odd Thursday— Tuesday off seems to have been the demarcation point of a new season of repentance in my life, as I am back on track with my health goals food plan and hope to have experienced a change in my heart about doing what is right with how I comfort myself. During the busy Freedom season of ministry over the past several weeks, I have been going at it earnestly spiritually and discipling others and leading 8 men through the Steps to Freedom in Christ. But somewhere between January 31st and now, I have lost focus on my health goal. I haven't I have plenty of good excuses for seeking to comfort myself with the food over the past few months, including a Disney World vacation in February, increased stress from work and a busy ministry schedule, and another less-than-disciplined vacation at my place down by the river last week. But what was a 5-pound seesaw plateau has revealed itself to totter into a 10-pound weight gain since January 31st. And that's after 4 days of food plan success. So what happened? Life happens. Those vacations were understandable breaks from the norm, but also what was happening was some release of restraint with cheat days, or at least unmonitored days on some of the weekends between my best weight, my best ever weight, and where I find myself today. A couple of days ago on the podcast, I mentioned how I was going to proceed without the crutch of an accountability partner because I think at some point we need to mature and decide for ourselves that we're going to walk in tender— in integrity without having to tell someone else about it. While I firmly agree that to make a breakthrough, we may need the use of a trusted brother or sister in Christ to be accountable accountable to. Self-deception happens all by itself, and we need to be real with someone else to be set free on occasion. But at this point, my battle with food addiction, I feel it is time to take off the training wheels and just be real within myself. My experience over the last several months has taught me what foods I can trust and rely on for a diet, a diet of sustained victory. Knowing is half the battle, and I have learned through suffering this current Setback just how unsatisfying it is to give in to seeking comfort from the flesh with sweet foods that taste good but that do damage to our bodies and souls. Food addiction is a subtle beast, but the cravings and cycles of behavior that make one soulish are the same as an addiction to alcohol, drugs, or sex. That pull of the temptation, that longing, that giving in, that pain of regret, guilt, and quite frankly, the physical discomfort that results from giving in to to food addiction is of the same type as a drunken binge or a lustful escapade into darkness. Anyone who has successfully escaped a sin-confess-sin-confess cycle can tell you of the insanity of repeatedly going back to the things that didn't satisfy them physically or emotionally and only caused them to feel empty spiritually. When you're in those cycles, you wonder just how many more times you will have to learn the same lesson. This behavior, this substance, this stuff doesn't make me happy. It causes me pain. This morning I came across the following verses in 1 Peter 4:1-3 that tell us: Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men. But for the will of God. For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lewdness, lust, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries. And giving into the same old sweets and comfort foods periodically over the last couple of months, I think I have suffered enough. I have spent enough of my quote-unquote past lifetime and doing the will of the Gentiles. And even though this passage seems to highlight the activities of my former ways of darkness, I think they also apply to my food addiction because the cycle of behaviors and emotions of my food addiction seem to be a more wholesome version of my former darkness. I think the principle applies, and the big insight here is that it doesn't really matter what you are comforting yourself with. If you are turning to certain behaviors, activities, or substances independently of God to find happiness, peace, or comfort, you go astray. You sin. And just like the alcoholic who has to hit rock bottom before wanting to get sober, I think we are all capable of suffering enough from our sins and our flesh to come to the point of repentance. After playing games and going around the merry-go-round once again, for a short trip, mind you, I think I may have— I may finally be done with taking my liberty to practice license with the things of the flesh, in this case, food. And believe me, this is a tough cookie to crack because there is nothing inherently wrong or immoral with eating the foods that put me in this cycle. But there is the rub. Just like some, some can drink alcohol and not be tempted into drunkenness, but which was somewhat inconceivable for me, I likewise have to recognize the craving, that the craving, lustful behavior that latches onto otherwise wholesome foods I have to recognize that and see the error of my ways and realize that I can't avoid being pulled into the cycle of behavior. I can't avoid being pulled in that cycle of behavior by indulging in certain foods. It is best for me not to go there at all. So yeah, like, I, you know, if I give in, I suffer. So I think I may have had this insight before, but it didn't stick, obviously, and I let stressful or restful circumstances allow me to think I could go back to the well food-wise. But just like in my drinking days, no matter how long I had been sober, if I went back to the well, it led to disaster. With food addiction, the disasters aren't as dramatic, but the pain to my body and soul that results from not doing what is right food-wise tell me that it may be best just not to go back to the well ever again. The verse in And 1 Peter does say, "He who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin." And I know I have suffered, and I think I understand now how foolish I have been in thinking I could have peace by doing anything other than ceasing my sin. I have such an abiding peace within me this morning from walking in victory for 4 days, and it is my intention not to disrupt it by indulging in the flesh. 1 Corinthians 10:23 says, "All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful for me, but not all things edify." And the NLT puts it this way: "You say, 'I am allowed to do anything,' but not everything is good for you. You say, 'I'm allowed to do anything,' but not everything is beneficial." Well, I have, I have the freedom to eat anything and could attempt to do so in quote-unquote moderation, it may be wiser to see that these foods that give me my taste buds pleasure are not beneficial to my soul, and overindulging in them addictively causes disruption in my spirit because I sin. I miss the mark by seeking comfort from the idols of food and filling my belly rather than being content with the food that provides for my needs and relying on God to give me peace. So today will be day 5 of another day of victory in the war against the flesh, and I am hopeful that I have suffered enough and won't go back to the well again. Christ came to set the captives free, not to allow the captives to freely indulge in the things that kept them in chains. So keep walking and talking with God and allow him to show you that you have suffered enough and you can now walk free from the ways of the flesh. To experience true peace and joy with Him. Today's Bible verses come to, to us from the Quick Scripture Reference for Counseling by John G. Cruis. This morning's meditation verses come from the section on death and eternal life, and today's verses are Romans 8:16-17, where the Word of God says, the Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. Today's verses fall under the 12th point of our Counseling Reference Guide's resource section on death and eternal life, and that 12th point is: Believers are co-heirs with Christ. Uh, today's verses remind us of the good news that we are indeed children of God and we will inherit a king— a piece of God's kingdom. Provided we suffer with him. Whoa, whoa, whoa! Did you see that? It's like good news, good news, good news, and oh yeah, by the way, provided that we suffer with him. Now don't get this twisted. There are some well-meaning, well-meaning faithful believers who have taken this quite literally and will actually try to reenact the sufferings of Christ by being beaten and crucified, and I think they're a little off base. Or at least I hope so. Uh, although being more like Jesus could be interpreted as suffering the same things he did, I don't think we have to start with flogging and being hung on a cross. My attempts at sanctification have been painful enough, and I would suggest that trying to overcome the flesh and to remove sin from our lives is more than enough suffering to meet the requirements of today's verse. But seriously, our faith is countercultural and counterintuitive of the ways of the world that we were raised in. And so if we want to be able to claim our piece of God's kingdom as co-heirs with Christ, we can attempt— we can attempt to follow Christ's example and be holy, and the suffering will follow after, just like it came into Jesus's life. So we don't have to seek suffering. It'll come all by itself when we follow Christ. Anyway, uh, as always, we invite all to go to mtforchrist.org where we always share insights from prominent Christian theologians and counselors to assist our brothers and Christ— brothers and sisters in Christ with their walk. Today we continue sharing according from According to Your Word: Morning and Evening Through the New Testament by Stephen F. Alpert. And today's devotional, he Alford prompts us to read Acts chapter 1, and from Acts chapter 1 he cites verse 22 and quotes, "A witness with us of his resurrection." And Stephen Alford writes, it is very obvious from this verse and the surrounding verses that the fundamental qualification of a true witness is the knowledge of and conscious responsibility to to testify concerning the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. The resurrection of the Lord Jesus is the foundation stone of all Christian doctrine. For if Christ is not risen, our faith is futile, we are still in our sins. 1 Corinthians 15:17. The crucifixion of Jesus could be the martyrdom of a good man, but the resurrection of Jesus seals the death as being the atoning death of the Son of God. How important then to be a true witness to the resurrection of my blessed Lord. Alfred concludes by praying, Lord, help me never to leave it out of my preaching. Amen. And yeah, it's not just the suffering on the cross and paying for the sins, it's the raising of the dead. It's, you know, it's the resurrection that matters. Otherwise, like, uh, Alfred points out, the suffering of Jesus is just the martyrdom of a good man. And it's the fact that he rose from the dead that proves that Jesus was the Son of God and God the Son, and that he came for a special purpose: to pay for our sins and to give us a new life. That's what the resurrection points to, the new life that we have in Christ. And while we don't have to physically die on the cross, when we put our faith in him, we become alive spiritually, where our old man is crucified with Christ when we put our faith in him in the spiritual realm. So we suffer death and become a new creation. We are baptized in the Holy Spirit, meaning we go down in death when we put our faith in Jesus and we rise in new life. When we put our faith in Jesus. So we are new creation spiritually, um, the moment we put our faith in Jesus. And we have to be conformed to the image of Christ by walking in his ways and crucifying the flesh and turning from our sin. And like I said, that's enough suffering for anyone to go through, um, but that's the great hope that we have. Is that, uh, you know, because we have new life, all things are possible with God, and we can become more and more like Jesus progressively when we follow him. Now, it doesn't happen automatically. Any walk requires one step at a time, and God calls us to follow after him in a walk of faith. And so that's what we're doing, and that's what we're trying to do increasingly. And we don't stop, quite frankly. We keep going. We have eternal life in Jesus. Eternal means forever. So we don't— there's no rest. There's no rest in sight. I mean, it'll be a— there'll always be a burden, a light one according to Jesus, and we'll have something to do in the kingdom. Uh, which is amazing to contemplate that our lives will continue on. And, uh, you know, when we think about it in earthly terms, we're like, whoa, I don't know if I want that. Um, but in spiritual terms, that's— it's going to be a different ball game. It's eternal life without suffering, pain, tears, you know, death. That is promised in the Bible in Revelation 21. That's the new life, new and eternal life that's waiting on the other side when Christ— after Christ returns and takes control of the earth. And after the new heaven and new earth, there's another, another realm altogether. So stay tuned and keep walking and talking with God until we get there. It's great hope. And yeah, and you know, in our walks we suffer enough. And usually we— what do we suffer from? We suffer from lack of knowledge. That's what we don't know the Word of God. Um, and we suffer when we go against it, you know. So you got to know it and you have to obey it. And when we notice something in the flesh is causing us pain and discomfort and takes away our peace, we have to recognize that we've gone astray. Like I said, that can be really any activity or behavior or substance that can cause us to sin. You know, you're using it wrong. You know, so we just have to use it right and follow after Jesus. You know, when you do that, you have an amazing sense of peace because you're in harmony with God. Through your Holy Spirit. And I feel great after 4 days of actually following my food plan and living simply, just doing my job and doing the things before me. And today will be day 5, and we're going to continue. And, you know, I know from my battles with the flesh that the 10-pound weight gain will be gone if I— if, if, provided that I suffer with him, right? Yeah, provided I keep going the way I should go in terms of my body. Quite frankly, I didn't, you know, even though I set a milestone with my health in January, I didn't attain my goal. So we're going to keep walking. The more physically fit I feel, the more the more peace I have. I feel great. So you put the pounds back on, it's more stress on your body. So yikes, you know, you're only hurting yourself by giving yourself indulgence. So don't do that. That's what I'm telling myself today. Anyway, um, that's all I got to say today. Um, I'm gonna wrap it up with prayer. Let's do that. Lord God, Heavenly Father, thank you for another day in your kingdom. Lord, thank you for showing me that I've suffered enough and that instead of giving in to mild indulgences of the flesh, I should walk in the Spirit and do what's right, um, whatever that is. For each one of us, Lord, we need your help to show us that we've suffered enough and that we can cease our sin, whatever it might be, when we trust in you. So Lord, we pray for you to help us today We pray for you to help anyone who's reading or listening to Zanay's message. We pray for you to come alongside them and their prayer requests, Lord, and to lead them in the way they should go. And Lord, while you're at it, you can help me too. Every day I need you. Show me the things I need to see. Lead me in the way I should go. Because all I want to do is be faithful to follow you and to represent you here on the earth. Lord, you're helping me greatly in this season, and I, I thank you for what you've shown to me. Um, and I just pray for you to guide me every day going forward. Um, Lord, we thank you, we praise you, and we love you, and we pray all these things in the mighty name of Jesus. Amen.