Releasing the Power of Life, Part 2

Today on Summit Life with J.D. Greer. If you live with any other master besides God, it's going to lead you to spiritual death. It's going to introduce all these insecurities and jealousies and unable to control yourself. Probably the worst of them, or the beginning of them at least, it's just this thing that I can't ever be satisfied. Welcome to Summit Life with Pastor J.D.

Greer. As always, I'm your host, Molly Vidovitch. Have you ever wondered why, even though you asked Jesus to be Lord of your life, that sin still seems so powerful? It's a question every believer asks at some point, and it's a struggle the Apostle Paul understood firsthand. Today in Romans Chapter 6, Pastor J.D. teaches us how we get the power to live up to our new identity in Christ and how, when we give ourselves to Jesus, we actually experience eternal life now.

Doesn't that sound like a great way to live? Now, if you missed any part of the study through Romans so far, remember you can always catch up online at jdgreer.com. But right now, let's rejoin Pastor J.D. in Romans Chapter 6. David Pauluson, the Christian counselor, says, here are four root idols of which all the other idols can be grouped in.

This is helpful for me. He says, firstly, you've got root idols of power. You have people who do things because what they do is going to help them get more power. This could be through status, through achievement, through money. You love those things because they help you get and hold on to power.

Secondly, you've got idols of control. There are people who want everything to go according to their plan, and when they look into the future, they want to know that most of the things in the future are going to go according to their plan. Their kids are going to live where they want their kids to live. Their kids are going to go to the colleges they want their kids to go to.

They're going to retire in the means and the time that they retire to, and their health is going to be a predictable pattern. These people don't like uncertainty. They don't like things that are unstable. They want things to happen on their terms and according to their timetable.

They don't even think about it in terms of retirement. They also think about it in terms of you, right? You felt these people because you're always going to do it their way, and if you mess with it their way, they get irritable. They get impatient, even angry. Those are the idols of control.

He said, thirdly, you've got idols of approval. There are some people who just crave to be accepted by others, to be praised by others. They just can't be happy unless people are happy with them, unless they are attractive to others, and people admire them and praise them. So for these kinds of people, criticism is devastating to them because you're getting at their core identity. Not being affirmed enough is devastating. Feeling like they're not attractive enough is devastating. A lot of times these people are cowards. They're okay. They don't do the right thing, not because they don't know what the right thing is, and not even because they don't want to do the right thing, but because they're afraid that they'll get everybody's disapproval if they do the right thing.

So they'll cave on their convictions because they need people's approval more than they need anything else, and so they can't stand up to their friends. Here's your fourth category is pleasure. Pleasure. Some people long for physical delights, sensual pleasures. Now, again, that's going to be across the gamut. It could be sexual pleasure. It could be a nice house, good food, nice car, power, control, approval, and pleasure. Again, just a little heart check. Which of these four do you feel like is your biggest one?

By the way, okay, just to be clear, there's nothing wrong with any of those things. It's when they become central in your life. It's when they become ultimate, something you can't live without, something that compels your obedience even over what God wants, something that matters more to you than God, and you're like, I can't be happy in life unless I have that.

That's when it becomes enslaving. We always say around here, false worship is when a good thing turns into a God thing and thereby becomes a bad thing. In fact, Paul uses a very illuminating word to describe the nature of sin. Let not sin, therefore, reign in your mortal body to make you obey its passions. Oh, this is such an important Greek word. The word passion in Greek is epithumia. Epithumia means desire. Epi means huge. So it's like big, huge desire.

Now, in fact, the word epi literally means on top of. So what you've got to get this image is of a desire that's stacked upon desire, which is stacked upon desire, which becomes this gigantic tower, and it's so weighty that it just takes over your soul. So, for example, you're like, I desire money. We all desire money.

That's why we have jobs, okay? But you start thinking, unless I make a certain amount of money, unless I have this kind of lifestyle, unless I get to this salary level, unless I got this much in the bank, I can't be happy. I can't be secure. I can't have peace of mind. I'm gonna live a second-class life until I get to this rung there. It's taken over.

It's become an epithumia. It's become a controlling desire. For example, I want a family.

Nothing wrong with that, okay? Nothing wrong with wanting to get married and have a family. But you start thinking, there's no way I could be happy unless I get married. There's no way I can be happy unless I get remarried. There's no way I can be happy until we have kids. There's no way that I can be happy if my kids don't live close by. There's no way I can be happy if my kids don't make the decisions I think that they're supposed to make. And so you become very controlling. And if your family is not what it should be, you feel like life is not worth living. You're worried about it all the time. You become resentful and jealous of other people who have the kind of family that you think you want.

Or how about this one? I want to be noticed. Nothing wrong with wanting people to like what you do and like who you are. But you start thinking, I got to have my coworkers approving me. And I got to have my boss say a good thing. And my husband and my children got to recognize my value and commend me.

If not, I'm going to nurse resentment, and I'm going to be insecure and depressed. Again, there's nothing wrong with any of those things I just named. It's when they become your masters that they lead you toward death. Tim Keller says that there are three sure fire tests that will show you when something has become a spiritual master.

These are the first tremors of death in you. Okay? He says, number one, number one, anger becomes epi anger.

Here's what I mean by that. Okay? When something blocks you from getting a good thing, well, you get upset. That's normal.

And it's fine. But if something blocks you from getting an ultimate thing, something you have to have, you get epi angry. You rage. You snap. Because that thing or that person has come between you and the thing that you got to have in order for life to be good. So epi anger.

Here's your second sign. Epi worry. If something good in your life is threatened, right, then you worry.

And that's normal. But if something ultimate in your life gets threatened, you become paralyzed. You don't just worry. You have epi fear. You become anxious, so anxious you can't think right.

Right? You develop all kinds of issues. And I'm not trying to diagnose anything, but I'm saying you develop all kinds of problems. And at least spiritually, if you're just looking in the spiritual realm, what's contributing to that is I just got to have this.

I've got to have this. And without this, life is not going to be worth living. And so you obsess with it. Or thirdly, epi sadness. If you lose something good in your life, you lose a loved one, you lose a job, you lose a situation, even a possession, you get sad and you cry. And that's okay. It's normal.

It's natural. But if you lose something ultimate, you despair. You don't just get sad. You get epi sad. You fall apart.

You feel like life is not worth living. Those three emotions point to where something has displaced God as the spiritual master of your heart. So just ask yourself, where do those three emotions most often get provoked in you? Where in your life have you gotten the angriest, anger that you couldn't shake? And where do you most frequently get angry? What causes you the most worry consistently?

What has caused you the most sadness, a grief that you just cannot shake? I've told you before that those root categories, the two biggest ones that kind of resonate with me are control. I like things to go the way that I want them to go. And money, the proof of that is my first year or two of marriage, like many married couples, our biggest fights were about money. Because I was like, I need to have a certain amount of the bank so that I can feel like we're going to be okay. And I was just afraid I was going to open up the bank account.

There's nothing left. And it was like paralyzing to me. And it led to this because I needed control. I needed to feel like I can promise and guarantee the future if I was going to be happy and secure. Another one has always been approval. I've told you that. Approval. I feel like I just need people to respect me and to look up to me and talk about me being good in order for me to be happy. And so I translated that into success of the church because that was a way that people would admire me if the church was successful.

And so the fact that I depended on approval led me to all kinds of honestly irrational fears. I told you this before. I remember driving up one Sunday morning into church and there's like 3,000 people that are part of our church at this point. And I'm like, this is the weekend where everybody at once decides we're going to go to another church.

Right? Because most of you guys, you're not, I mean, it's like, you can just leave and go to another church if you want. So I'm like, this is the weekend that no volunteer shows up and everybody says, you know what? We are sick and tired of him telling the same stories.

And we're tired. And he's not that good of a preacher. We're going somewhere else to church. And I come in here and on Sunday morning, it's just me, big old room, my wife's sitting on the front row and she's got her headphones in listening to Matt Chandler. Cause he's so funny as a preacher.

And so she likes him better anyway, as a preacher. So I'm like, you know, that's going to happen this weekend. Now that's irrational and stupid, but the reason is because it went back to a kind of a core fear of mine. And that is I really need approval. I need approval.

And the way that I might get approval is by being successful. And it just was controlling to me. It controlled my emotions.

It made me epi angry and every worried and epi sad when things didn't work out. Paul would shake his head. If he hearing me say that he'd be like, yep. And everybody's got one of those. Everybody's serving somebody. You got to serve somebody. Don't you understand that if you present yourself to anybody as immediate slaves, your slaves are the ones that you obey either of sin, which leads to death or of obedience, that leads to righteousness. In other words, every spiritual master besides God is going to lead you to death. I don't mean death like hell.

That's ultimate death. What I mean is death like if you're enslaved to approval, your life gets plagued by constant self-pity, envy, hurt feelings, feelings of inadequacy. Like I said, you will always be a coward.

You're not going to be willing to do the right thing if it gains you disapproval. If you're enslaved to pleasures, you won't be able to say no to the pleasures of food or sex or pornography or shopping. So you'll spend yourself into debt. You'll get hooked on pornography. You become an alcoholic.

Again, I'm not trying to unpack complex things. I'm just saying that part of what contributes to some of these things is I've got to have that to be happy. And it's death being worked in you because you become addicted to it. If you are enslaved to power, you become domineering. You become vengeful. You become self-promoting. You become harsh. You even become abusive. If you are enslaved to control, you worry all the time. You're obsessively worrying.

You're losing your temper a lot. People around you start to feel manipulated. They start to feel like you're just using them for your purposes. And that feeling, by the way, is true because you are. You've got people even in your family that you're like, I need you to play this role in my life. And if you're not doing that, I'm going to hate you.

Right? And I need you to be this. I need you to be there.

And they start feeling control because you desperately depend on them. Question from listeners just like you about life, relationships, theology, the Bible, and so much more, along with wisdom-filled answers from Pastor JD. You can listen on your morning commute, during your afternoon workout, or any time that you want to hear honest questions and quick answers from a biblical perspective.

To listen to the Ask Me Anything podcast, visit jdgrier.com slash podcasts, or search for it on your favorite podcasting app. Now, let's get back to today's teaching with Pastor JD Greer here on Summit Life. Again, I just want to be clear. I realize that I'm in some pretty complex emotional stuff. And a lot of times, it's not just spiritual factors. A lot of times, there's emotional and there's trauma and there's even physical factors.

So please don't take this as any kind of diagnosis of you or anybody that you know. I'm just saying that when you're looking at it through this spiritual lens, what Paul is saying is a lot of what is behind some of these things is ultimately, it's an ultimate thing to you. And you've become its slave. It is your master.

And you got to have it. And that has introduced the power of death into your life. So he comes to verse 23. He says this.

Watch this. For the wages of sin is death. Now, verse 23 is a verse many of us know. And we think of it as a perfect little summation of salvation.

And it is. But in context, Paul is talking about death in you right now while you're alive. In the book of Romans, listen to this. Death and life are not just conditions that you go into in the afterlife. Death and life are things you experience right now. And what Paul is saying is if you live with any other master besides God, it's going to lead you to spiritual death. It's going to introduce all these insecurities and jealousies and unable to control yourself.

Probably the worst of them or the beginning of them at least, it's just this thing that I can't ever be satisfied. You know Joby Martin who preaches here sometimes? He said, when I first moved to Jacksonville, Jacksonville, Florida, he said one of the first things that I got invited to do was go to the dog races. He said, I've never been to a dog race. He says, so I go there and there's all these people with money out and they're gambling. He says, and I'm just sitting there.

I'm trying to figure out what's going on. He says, they got all these dogs, these greyhounds that are behind these gates on what looks like a miniature, you know, horse racing track. He says, and then all of a sudden, the announcer comes on and says, here's Rusty.

He says, and I look and everybody just goes crazy. And this little mechanical rabbit, you know, starts getting dragged around the court. He says, and those dogs, those dogs lose their minds. He says, they're starting to beat against the gate trying to get out of that rabbit. And then they open that gate and these dogs tear off after that rabbit. And then they're just chasing that rabbit and that rabbit's going around.

They're chasing that rabbit. He says, and then right before the finish line, he says, Rusty just sort of magically disappears. He just disappears. He said, I didn't even see where it went.

Just disappears. He said, now imagine those dogs back in the kennel that night. And one of them's like, man, I almost had Rusty. I almost had, I was right there. Another one was like, me too. I almost had Rusty. Man, one day we'll get it. And the one says, hey, you think Rusty will be back out tomorrow?

I bet you he will. And we're like, what dumb dogs, right? Like, like, come on. I mean, you know, you never get Rusty. You never catch Rusty. Rusty, you're never going to catch him, right?

And Joby says, not so fast though. Because every single morning, some of you, your alarm goes off and your alarm might as well be, here's Rusty, right? And you jump out of bed and you're like, today's the day. Man, I'm going to get that promotion and I'm going to get that level income.

I'm going to meet that person and things are going to be awesome. And every day you go through it and you never quite get Rusty, but every day you get back up and you run again. Joby said, maybe the saddest part is there are situations where something goes wrong and one of the dogs actually catch the little mechanical rabbit. He says, now imagine that experience for that poor dog, right? Because for his whole life, he's been running after this rabbit. He finally catches it. He tears into that thing. He's like, this ain't a rabbit. And Joby says that people who do these things say that if that ever happens to one of those greyhounds, the greyhound will lose a significant amount of motivation to run the next time.

And that, that's where we are dumber than dogs. He said, because some of you have found that rabbit. Some of you caught it, right? You're like, you're like, I did it assistant manager, assistant to the regional manager. Boom. I got it.

I made it. I'm at the top and you're chewing through it. And you're like, it's just not what I thought it was.

Or, or, you know, you're with that person and you're like, huh, I thought, but it's just not what I thought it was. But being dumber than a dog, which sin makes us dumber than dogs. You're like, well, I must have just caught the wrong Rusty.

So I'll just get a new Rusty. And then that'll be the one that fills me. And even the dogs aren't that dumb. But you and I constantly give ourselves to these idols that just lead us to greater and greater depths of death. You see what Paul says in verse 21? Go back to your verses.

What fruit was produced then from the things you're now ashamed of? Right? I mean, the outcome of these things was death. Can't you look and see that?

Can't you see that Rusty wasn't even a rabbit? Can't you see that you gave your whole life chasing something that you probably wouldn't find? And then if you did find it, it wouldn't be what you want it to be to begin with. No, he says, see the free gift of God though, the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Paul says, see, there's another master that actually gives you the life you're looking for. He's what your soul was created for. The best part, he doesn't even require you to work to obtain him. He gives it as a gift.

He gives you his love and his acceptance and security as a gift. You see, every other master besides God, every other one has a condition. If you will work for me and if you can't obtain me, I'll bless you.

Right? So here's what money says. Money says, work hard enough, get into the right school, get the right job, get the promotion, hold on to me, be wise with your money, choose wisely, win the lottery, whatever it is, and I'll make you happy. And if you don't do that, if you fail me, I'll make you miserable. You see, every other master besides God is miserable. You'll live a second-class life and you'll never be happy.

Romance says, hey, find me, make sure you meet the right person, make sure you're married to the right person, and if you're not skinny and pretty enough, you're never going to find me and I'm going to curse you because you're going to be without me. Paul says, but Jesus is the one God, the one master that says, no, you don't have to work for me. I'm going to give you everything I have as a gift. I'm what your soul was created for and you don't even have to work to obtain me, just receive it like a gift. The free gift of God is eternal life, not in heaven only, but now. It's eternal life right now, and it's in Christ Jesus our Lord, and it's received through a gift that is eternal life. Eternal life is not a condition in heaven. Eternal life is a condition you experience today.

Paul says, this is the only spiritual master that'll satisfy you. Because see, God is more secure than money, right? Because God can give your life more meaning and give you more security than money ever could, and God never crashes or dips below 10,000. And God is more fulfilling than romantic love.

In fact, the tenderness that you long for, the specialness that you long for, the security you long for, the arms you long for were actually his arms. That's what you were created for. Knowing God is better than having earthly power, because what greater power could there be than to know that the sovereign God who controls every molecule in the universe has commandeered all of them for your good and his purpose? God is better than physical health and wellness.

Why? Because he says, I'll give you abundant life no matter the condition of your body, and I'll give you eternal life that can never be taken away. God is better than achievement, because I promise you hearing well done, good and faithful servant from Jesus enter into your reward is better than 10,000 trophies made out of plastic that nobody's gonna remember anyway. No matter what you compare God to, he wins every time.

So I love that Tim Keller has a quaint little way of saying this. Jesus is the only master who, if you find him, will satisfy you. And the only master, if you fail him, will forgive you. Every other master says, if you fail me, I'll curse you. And then when you find him, you find out they weren't really rusty. They wasn't really a rabbit.

They were just this empty kind of thing. So Paul says, turn your heart to Jesus, because he's the master you're created for. So again, in conclusion, there are two things Paul tells you to do to have the life that you want to have versus wrecking yourself dead to sin.

Wrecking that God has told the truth about you, even when you don't feel it, believe it. And what will happen, watch, is all of a sudden sin's power over you will begin to evaporate. It won't be able to hold you captive. It won't threaten you. It won't be able to say, this is who you are. This is all that's in your future because you'll say, no, yes, that is my past.

That is true Satan. But God has declared that I am a cherished son or daughter. God has declared that I am dead to sin. God has declared that resurrection is in me and resurrection is my future. So sin, you don't hold captivity over me anymore because I am a child of God and all the promises of God for me are, yes, in Christ Jesus.

And I promise you, you'll approach situations differently. There's a place up in Lake Gaston and my family and I will sometimes go for R&R. You know, it's right there by the lake and there's, you know, around lakes there's like ducks and flocks of geese or whatever. You know, geese, even out here in the parking lot, they act like, like, this is our place.

Y'all just visited, right? And usually, usually it's sort of live and let live. We all get along, you know, us and the geese. And sometimes my family, like my kids and I, I remember one time we're out there and we're feeding, you know, bread to the geese.

Everybody's happy. And all of a sudden one of those geese kind of bows up a little bit. You ever had this? And they got some long wings and all of a sudden one of them will kind of, you know, he just sort of, he starts strutting toward us and he's got his wings out. Me and my four kids, all of us instinctively are like, you know, we run, we run back. I get about four steps.

Okay. And I'm like, wait a minute. This is a goose. It doesn't have fangs.

It doesn't have talons. So I get about four steps. I'm like, I'm scared because I've forgotten who he is and who I am. Now I'm remembering you're a goose and I'm a man. All right.

So I got about four steps. I turned around. I was like, and I went back at that goose.

Okay. I was like, I know who I am. And I know who you are. And I don't care how wide your wings are. You don't threaten me anymore.

What Paul is saying is sin puts those big wings out and you're like, who are you? You don't threaten me because this captivity is not, it doesn't belong to me anymore. And this is part of something Jesus put on the cross. It used to terrify me. It used to hold me captive, but Jesus has spoken a stronger word.

And I believe him, not you. And you reckon yourself dead to sin. Then you present yourself to God and you say, God, show me how to live in ways that are consistent with life because this greed and insecurity just didn't go with my new life anymore. You and Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead, really curious little thing. He says, he says, take off his grave clothes.

Why, why would he take time to say that? Because he's trying to show us living people shouldn't wear dead people things. What Paul is saying in Romans six is very similar. Jesus raised you from the dead. Take off those great clothes of insecurity and greed and anger and worry and all that stuff because they don't belong to a living person who's been raised with Christ. So present yourself as somebody who is alive to God. You want the life that God has for you. You reckon yourself dead to sin. You present yourself to God as alive to him.

Jesus is the only master who if you find him will satisfy you. And if you fail him, he will forgive you. Great news from pastor JD Greer on Summit Life. As we journey through this teaching together, we'll grow to understand God's righteousness, our unrighteousness apart from him, the significance of God's son, Jesus Christ, and the implications of the gospel message for our everyday lives.

In fact, that's the subject of our newest Bible study. Starting this week, our featured resource is the first of a two-part study through the book of Romans written by the late Tim Keller. To receive your copy, simply give a gift to support this ministry.

You can call us at 866-335-5220, or you can give online at jdgreer.com. While you're on the website, be sure to sign up for our email list. You'll receive ministry updates, more information about our featured resources, and Pastor JD's latest blog posts all delivered straight to your inbox. It's the best way to stay connected with Summit Life throughout your week. Sign up when you go to jdgreer.com. I'm Molly Vidovitch. Be sure to join us again tomorrow as we tackle the lifelong struggle right here on Summit Life with JD Greer. Today's program was produced and sponsored by JD Greer Ministries.