From the TeachingtheWord Bible Knowledgebase

Only the believer in Christ can have this conflict, because only the believer has two natures at war within him. The absence of this conflict within many self-professed evangelicals demonstrates their lost condition.

If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. (Colossians 3:1-4)

Let me particularly call your attention to the words at the end of verse one: "Where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God." We are commanded here to "seek those things which are above," and we are told where they are to be found. They are to be found "where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God."

The reason we have such an exhortation is simply this: The Christian individually, and the church as a body of believers, both have a constant tendency to be focused on the things of earth, rather than setting our minds on things above. We have a constant tendency to be focused upon the things of the flesh rather than the things of the Spirit. Romans chapters 7 and 8 and Galatians chapter 5 speak especially of this conflict. And so the Word of God constantly reminds us of this tendency, this conflict between the things of heaven and the things of earth, within ourselves and within the church.

Much of Today's Church Is Focused on Earthly Things

Many Christians today, and much of the nominally evangelical church, are focused on the things of earth. Much of the church is unplugged from its source of authority and power, the Word of God. Two developments lie at the root of this: According to reliable surveys, fewer than 15% of self-described evangelicals read the Bible even once a week outside of church, and there is a famine of expository, chapter-by-chapter, verse-by-verse preaching of the Scriptures within the church.

The church unplugged from the Word has become the church uncertain of what it believes. According to reliable surveys, fewer than 40% of self-described evangelicals believe the Bible is entirely accurate. 45% do not believe Jesus Christ was sinless. Nearly 60% believe that good works play a role in gaining eternal life, and only about 40% believe that Jesus Christ is the only Way to eternal life.

The church unplugged from the Word of God and uncertain of what it believes has become the church ineffectual in carrying out the Great Commission to evangelize the world and edify the saints. In fact, those who hold beliefs such as those in the previous paragraph demonstrate that they are not truly Christians at all. They cannot proclaim a Gospel they have not believed themselves. And so they have no true conflict between the things of earth and the things of Heaven.

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world - the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life - is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever. (1 John 2:15-17)

A Conflict Only a True Believer Can Have

Only the true believer in Christ can truly experience that inner conflict. That is because only the believer in Christ has two natures at war within him. The unbeliever is at peace with the things of this earth. The unbeliever is at peace with the ways of this world, and the thinking of this world. But the true believer in Christ - the individual who has been regenerated by the Holy Spirit, who has the Spirit living within him - can never again be at peace with this present world. There is a constant warfare within every true believer in Christ between the flesh and the Spirit. It is the warfare between the things of earth, and the things which are above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God the Father.

Yet Scripture makes it clear that we can take great comfort in this irreconcilable warfare, because it is a sign of two things: First, the Holy Spirit in fact does live within every true believer as the guarantee or down payment against the day of our ultimate redemption from these bodies of sin (Ephesians chapter 2). Second, the presence of this warfare in our lives demonstrates that the Holy Spirit is indeed at work conforming us more and more to the image of Christ (Romans 12:1-2; 2 Corinthians 3:18).

Through the grace of sanctification, the Holy Spirit will have the ultimate victory over the flesh. Those whom God justifies, He inexorably sanctifies, and ultimately glorifies. The "golden chain" of Romans 8:30 cannot and will not be broken. Our sanctification is not complete in this life, but we have the assurance that God will "deliver us from the body of this death...through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 7:24-25).

The Believer's Duty in the Conflict

God calls upon believers individually, and the church as a body, to submit to the work of the Spirit in sanctifying us:

But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.

Therefore, brethren, we are debtors - not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father." The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs - heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. (Romans 8:9-17)

Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.

But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all. (Colossians 3:5-11)

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