How God Renews Our Desires

We have learned in the last two postings that when God renews us, he begins with our thought life. Our thoughts determine how we feel, and our emotions determine how we act. If we want to change how we act and how we feel, we must allow God to change our thoughts.

A Sunday School teacher was discussing dreams with the children in her class. She said, "I used to have bad dreams. For example, the other night I dreamed that I blew up Preacher Henry's house." One little girl's hand went up, so the teacher called on her, "Do you want to say something?" The little girl said, "My mother told me if you don't have bad thoughts, you won't have bad dreams."

We have learned that if we don't have bad thoughts, we won't have bad emotions. If we don't have bad thoughts and bad emotions, we won't act in bad ways. But our desires also play a role in our actions. We all struggle with inappropriate desires. We all struggle to behave in godly ways. We find ourselves addicted to a thought, feeling, or behavior that we don't like and would like to quit, but we can't seem to find the power to overcome it. Our will, that part of us that makes choices and decisions, must choose between competing desires. Some are wrong, harmful, and sinful, and others are right, healthy, and holy.

How can we tip the balance of the scales in favor of choosing what is right and good and holy?

I. Our Struggle with Desires (James 1:13-16)

Sinful desires dominate us because we seek to control our lives. We place our selves at the center of our lives and expect others to put us at the center of their lives. We think that to be happy and successful we must be in control of everything and everyone. In this grand production of our life, we strive to be the producer, director, screenwriter, lead actor, set designer, costumer, makeup artist, and even the grip (whatever a "grip" is). It's exhausting to be the lord of our universe, but we try nevertheless.

When we feel that our desires are out of our control and are causing us damage, we may try to exert authority over them. We try harder. We call up more willpower. We put forth greater effort. And the result is that we sink deeper and deeper into sin. The more we try to control ourselves, the less control we seem to have.

Because we have failed so miserably at controlling others, controlling our selves, and controlling our desires, we turn to substances that we think we can control. They are concrete things that bring us temporary relief and satisfaction. So we medicate our misery and numb our exhaustion with food, alcohol, drugs, tobacco, sex, video games, and other forms of mindless entertainment. Those pleasures temporarily distract us from realizing how utterly we have failed at controlling anything, so we become addicted to them, unable to resist the momentary release of endorphins that they provide. Ultimately, our attempts to control have gotten us into a big mess.

James 1:13 observes that we might tempted to blame God for our addiction to desires, but "God cannot be tempted and he himself tempts no one." No, we have only our own miserable selves to blame: "But one is tempted by one's own desire, being lured and enticed by it; then, when that desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin, and that sin, when it is fully grown, gives birth to death. Do not be deceived, my beloved" (James 1:14-16, all quotations from NRSV). James is describing the opposite of Christomorphosis. This process leads us farther and farther away from the goal of becoming like Christ.

II. Our Surrender of Desires (Acts 2:37-38)

When John the Baptist appeared, the nation of Israel had failed miserably at controlling its own fate. They had followed their own desires, which led them into idolatry and the eventual loss of their land. Because of that experience of exile, they emphasized faithfulness to the law so that they would not repeat their mistakes, but the result was that they became ensalved to something that they could not perfectly obey. Their attempts to control their own destiny led to their subjugation by Rome.

John the Baptist offered the Jews one remedy for their addiction to their desires—a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins (Luke 3:3). He confronted them with their need to control and called them to surrender to God. He called upon them to prepare their hearts so that they would receive the Messiah who was bringing God's kingdom to earth. He reminded them that there is only God. We too need to be reminded that God is not our self, our spouse, our children, our job, our education, pleasurable substances, money, possessions, or reputation.

He called the Jews to turn away from their desires and turn to God. They were to perform a decisive act of the will by which they would choose to stop living according to their own desires and start seeking God's will in all things. He encouraged them to express this decision to reorient their life by being immersed in water, which symbolized cleansing of sin. This baptism of repentance would remind them of the two most important facts that every person must eventually grasp: There is a God, and I am not he.

Jesus himself submitted to John's baptism in order to express his own commitment to God. After his baptism, he grappled with his desires as Satan tempted him in the wilderness. As he embarked on his public ministry, he announced that the kingdom of God had come near and that all people must repent and believe in the good news (Mark 1:15). Like John, Jesus challenged people to surrender to God and turn away from their evil desires. After his death and resurrection, he instructed his disciples to continue to preach the message of repentance and baptism (Matt 28:18-20).

On the day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples, and Peter preached a sermon to the gathered crowd. The listeners were convicted by the message and asked what they should do to be saved (Acts 2:37). Peter presented them with the same challenge offered by John the Baptist and Jesus: "Repent and be baptized" (Acts 2:38). Unlike John's baptism, however, this baptism was performed "in the name of Jesus Christ." It placed one under the ownership of Christ. By expressing their repentance in baptism, they would become Christ's possession.

Peter promised that two blessings would result from repentance-baptism. First, their sins would be forgiven. Forgiveness would provide the remedy for the guilt of sin. Second, they would receive the Holy Spirit, which would be the remedy for the power of sin. When they surrendered to God in baptism, they would receive divine power within that would help them overcome sin. By giving up control to Jesus Christ, they would receive self-control through the Holy Spirit.

III. The Death of Our Desires (Romans 6:1-10)

Those promises that Peter made on the day of Pentecost are still available to us today. In Romans 6, Paul describes more fully the great transformation that takes place in our baptism. Baptism initiates the process of renewal and frees us from the grip of our evil desires.

A. We are united with Christ (Romans 6:1-3).

Before Romans 6, Paul had just explained that we are saved by grace: Salvation is a free gift we do not earn. We are saved not by our own efforts but by surrendering ourselves to the free gift of salvation in Christ.

In 6:1, he anticipates that some might conclude that it does not matter whether or not they sin since salvation is a free gift: "What then are we to say? Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound?" Their attitude was like that of the young boy who explained to his sister: "You see, it was Jesus' job to die for our sins; it's our job to sin."

In 6:2-3, Paul answers that they cannot sin because, when they were baptized, they were changed in a way that keeps them from sinning: "By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?" Grace does not give license to sin but gives us the ability to obey.

When they were immersed in water as a public expression of surrender to Christ's lordship, they underwent a spiritual transformation. When they were plunged into water, they were plunged into Christ. They became one with Christ; they were spiritually identified with Christ. Baptism is the beginning of Christomorphosis. Galatians 3:27 expresses the idea like this: "As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ." In baptism, Christ wraps himself around us so that we are united with him. The New Testament frequently uses two interchangeable phrases to describe our union with Christ: Christ in me (Gal 2:20; Eph 3:17) and I in Christ. Our union with Christ has produced the following two changes in our inner persons.

B. We have died to sin (Romans 6:4-7).

In baptism, we are united with Christ in his death so that our self has died: "Therefore we have been buried with him in baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For whoever has died is freed from sin." Baptism reenacts Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection in the life of the believer (Fitzmyer, 1993). In baptism, we die with Christ on the cross. In baptism, Jesus' death on the cross is applied to the believer. Ernst Käsemann said that in baptism Christ "has caught up Christians up into his death" (1980, p. 165).

According to Ephesians 2:1-3, the old self was enslaved to sin and had little freedom to choose its actions. Sin was an addiction, a habit ingrained through years of repetition and practice. Sin is used in the singular here as if it is an entity or a power that has enslaved us.

Slaves to sin are like the cartoon character Dagwood. On one occasion, Blondie and Dagwood were dining out when the waiter brought desserts over for them to choose. Dagwood looked at each one and said, "No thanks." Blondie, with a knowing smile, said: "Dagwood knows how to handle temptation." Then the waiter held up one more dessert and Dagwood, with a huge grin, said, "I'll take the Napoleon!" Blondie added, "He yields to it." Slaves to sin cannot resist sin's temptation.

Slaves to sin can relate to Tommy Lasorda, the manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who was struggling to stay on a diet. He told a reporter, "I am a strong man, but linguine is stronger." The power of sin is stronger than the unredeemed person's ability to resist. No matter how strong we try to be, no matter how hard we try, no matter how much we try to control ourselves, sin is always stronger. Sin is like quicksand: The more we struggle to free ourselves from it, the deeper we are sucked in.

But when we are united with Christ in baptism, we are released from sin's power over us. The old self that was dominated by sin dies in baptism so that sin no longer reigns over us. The person that was dominated by sin ("the body of sin") is disabled, defeated, rendered powerless. Martin Luther graphically described our death to sin: "Your baptism is nothing less than grace clutching you by the throat: a grace-full throttling, by which your sin is submerged in order that ye may remain under grace. Come thus to thy baptism. Give thyself up to be drowned in baptism and killed by the mercy of thy dear God, saying: 'Drown me and throttle me, dear Lord, for henceforth I will gladly die to sin with they Son.'"

A story about the great theologian Augustine illustrates this change. He had led a very immoral life before his conversion. One day after he had become a Christian, he was walking down the street of Milan when a prostitute whose services he had used in her former life called out to him. He kept on walking and would not answer. She called out, "Augustine, it is I!" And he responded, "Yes, but it is no longer I."

C. We are alive to God (Romans 6:8-10).

Our union with Christ in baptism also results in a new life, a life centered on God's will for us. What happened to Christ also happens to us. His resurrection guarantees our new life. When we repent and are baptized, the Holy Spirit dwells within us (Acts 2:38). The Holy Spirit makes us alive spiritually so that we have intimate fellowship with God. The Holy Spirit unites us with Christ and gives us new life.

Colossians 1:13-14 describes the transformation that occurs when we are saved: "He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins." The inner transformation we experience when we are baptized into Christ causes Paul to declare: "If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!" (2 Cor 5:17). Baptism initiates the process of Christomorphosis so that we begin anew.

Sometimes restaurants signal that they are changing their bad reputation by posting a sign that says, "Under New Management." Baptism is our way of declaring to others that we are under new management and that the new management is cleaning house and refurbishing our inner self.

Around A.D. 400, John Chrysostom stated this profoundly: "For when we immerse our heads in the water, the old man is buried as in a tomb below, and wholly sunk forever; then as we raise them again, the new man rises in its stead. As it is easy for us to dip and to lift our heads again, so it is easy for God to bury the old man, and to show forth the new."

IV. The Transformation of Our Desires (Romans 6:11-14)

A key to understanding Paul is to distinguish the indicative and the imperative. The indicative refers to Paul's description of who we are in Christ. The indicative describes our identity as Christians. Once Paul describes the indicative, he then proceeds to explain how we should act because of who we are. This is called the imperative because it takes the form of commands and admonitions.

In Paul, the imperative is based on the indicative. God has changed our inward being, and that inner change should be reflected in our outer conduct. We need to "become who we are": Our inner transformation needs to become an outward reality. Christomorphosis is not an internal, invisibile process; it should be visible to others.

In Romans 6, Paul has said that when we believed and were baptized, we were united with Christ so that we died to sin and were raised to a new life. In baptism, we were Christomorphized. This is the indicative. He then gives the imperative: Because of this change, Christians cannot sin. We must "walk in newness of life" (6:4). Sin is not congruent with the transformed nature of a Christian. We might say that our lives and our conduct must be Christomorphic, conformed to the image of Christ in which we have been re-created.

Two men who attended the same church met on the street. One said to the other, "Have you heard about Harry? He embezzled the company out of half a million dollars." The other man said, "That's terrible; I never did trust Harry." The first man said, "Not only that, he left town and he took Tom's wife with him." The other man said, "That's awful; Harry has always been a ne'er-do-well." The first man said, "Not only that, he stole a car to make his getaway." The other man said, "That's scandalous; I always did think Harry had a bad streak in him." The first man said, "Not only that, they think he was drunk when he pulled out of town." The other man said, "Harry's no good. But what really bothers me is, who's going to teach his Sunday School Class this week?" This story is humorous because we see how incongruent that behavior is with the man's identity. When Christians sin, they are acting against their own nature.

Let's examine the imperatives Paul gives us. How do we make our inward identity an outward reality? How can our conduct become Christomorphic?

A. Consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God (Romans 6:11).

Since we have died to sin, we should behave as if we have died to sin. We must make that inward fact an outward reality. This outward change begins by understanding and accepting the inner change that has occurred. "Consider" means to realize and remember. We must make a conscious, ongoing effort to remember that God has made it possible for us to resist sin and live righteously. Sin is not a literal impossibility, but it is a moral contradiction (Stott, 1994).

When I learned to ride a bike, no one told me how to stop. The only way I knew how to stop was by running into something that would stop me. Consequently, I was constantly climbing out of bushes, scraping myself off the side of the house, and climbing down from the hoods of cars. I could have been spared a lot of trouble if I had known the bike had a brake. Similarly, we can save ourselves a lot of trouble if we remember that God has made it possible for us to put the brakes on our desires.

A little boy wanted a pair of skates, so his parents made him save the amount from his allowance. One day his mother overheard him in his bedroom shaking his bank and counting his money. Then she heard the bell of the ice cream truck ringing loudly in the street outside. She knew the boy wanted his skates, but he loved ice cream also, so she waited to see what would happen. It was very quiet in the bedroom until the vehicle was gone, and the bell could no longer be heard. Then she heard her son pray quietly: "Dear Jesus, please don't let the ice cream truck come down my street anymore."

Even though our old self has died, sin is still present, enticing us to depart from God's will. But we can resist sin's allure if we remember that it has no power over us. Robert Mounce said: "For the Christian to choose to sin is the spiritual equivalent of digging up a corpse for fellowship" (2001, p. 163). We must remind ourselves that we are free to choose to live according to God's will for us. Sin is a force that still tempts us, but it is no longer a power that controls us. We can overcome sin by relying on Christ's power to defeat it.

B. Do not place yourselves under sin's power (Romans 6:12-13a).

According to 6:12-13a, we can choose to refuse sin's power over us: "Therefore, do not let sin exercise dominion in your mortal bodies, to make you obey their passions. No longer present your members to sin as instruments of wickedness...." This passage suggests that a believer can succumb to sin's domination, but we can also choose to be free from it. Sin no longer makes us an offer we can't refuse (Witherington, 2004). Lars Hartman said that "baptism meant a liberation not from sinning, but from sin's reign, from living according to the conditions of its power" (cited in Esler, 2003, p. 217).

A saloon keeper sold his old tavern to a local church. The church members tore out the bar, added some lights, slapped on a coat of paint, and installed some pews. However, they kept the parrot that belonged to the saloon keeper. On Sunday morning the colorful bird was watching the proceedings. When the minister appeared, he squawked, "New proprietor!" When the choir proceeded down the aisle, he piped, "New floor show!" Then he looked out over the congregation and screeched, "Same old crowd!" People should see a difference in the way Christians live since they have been freed from sin.

C. Offer yourselves to God (Romans 6:13b-14).

The indicative is that we have been brought from death to life; the imperative is that we present ourselves to God: "Present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and present your members to God as instruments of righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace" (6:13b-14). "Present" means to place ourselves at God's disposal.

We must choose to let God rule our lives and produce righteousness in us. As we surrender to God and experience his transforming power, we will find that

• instead of anger, we will choose patience;
• instead of impatience, we will choose understanding;
• instead of anxiety, we will have confidence;
• instead of resentment, we will practice forgiveness;
• instead of covetousness, we will practice generosity;
• instead of pride, we will have humility (Petersen, 1993, p. 116).

A man always stopped by the bakery to buy some goodies for the staff coffee break, but he decided to go on a diet, so he quit the practice. One day on his way to work he thought, "Maybe I should stop by the bakery and pick up some goodies for the office." So he told the Lord he would stop only if God made a parking spot available right in front of the bakery. And, sure enough, there it was, a parking spot, right in front of the bakery—on his eighth trip around the block! Instead of placing ourselves in temptation's way as this man did, we offer ourselves to God to be used in his service.

Martin Luther summarizes these thoughts like this: "Baptism signifies that the old Adam in us is to be drowned by daily sorrow and repentance, and perish with all sins and evil lusts; and that the new man should daily come forth again and rise, who shall live before God in righteousness and purity forever."

V. Conclusion

A young man was buying a shirt in a department store. The shirt label said, "Shrink resistant." He asked the clerk what that meant. The clerk said, "The label means that the shirt will shrink, but it doesn't want to." Many people view the Christian life like that: We will sin, but we don't want to.

Paul says that we don't have to sin. God has made us sin-resistant. But we must understand the change that has occurred within us. To resist sin, we must remember our baptism. We must remember that we have died to sin and are free to live for Christ. We must continually surrender ourselves to God so that he can continue to change us from the inside out.

"Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and of spirit, making holiness perfect in the fear of God" (2 Cor 7:1).

Reflection Questions

1. What harmful desire do you struggle with the most? What harm does it cause you?

2. According to Romans 6, what happens to us when we are baptized into Christ?

3. According to Romans 6:11-14, how are we to live because of the change that occurred in baptism?

4. How can we surrender ourselves to God so that we will resist sin?

Next Topic: "How God Renews Our Relationships"

Sources:

Bridges, J. (1978). The pursuit of holiness. Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress.

Bridges, J. (1994). The discipline of grace: God's role and our role in the pursuit of holiness. Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress.

Esler, P. F. (2003). Conflict and identity in Romans: The social setting of Paul's letter. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.

Fitzmyer, J. A. (1993). Romans. Anchor Bible 33. New York: Doubleday.

Käsemann, E. (1980). Commentary on Romans. Translated by G. W. Bromiley. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans.

Mounce, R. H. (2001). Romans. New American Commentary 27. Nashville: Broadman & Holman.

Petersen, J. (1993). Lifestyle discipleship: The challenge of following Jesus in today's world. Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress.

Stott, J. (1994). Romans: God's good news for the world. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity.

Witherington, B., and Hyatt, D. (2004). Paul's letter to the Romans: A socio-rhetorical commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans.