Pulling Weeds

In my yard there are many weeds. We label plants as weeds when they exist only for themselves. They provide us no fruit, and worse, they choke out the plants that do. As I’ve undertaken rooting out my weeds by hand, I’ve noticed how many weeds closely resemble the good plants that they destroy. This close resemblance gives them more time to work their damage before they can be identified and dug out.

This is how sin works in our lives and in our church. It mimics spirituality. It makes us feel spiritual and righteous, or at least more spiritual and righteous than others, while in truth it is not spiritual at all. It is living “according to the flesh.”

For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace (Romans 8:5-6).

The Scriptures reveal many ways in which we can live “according to the flesh.” I think of it as a continuum. On one end we find legalism, which is especially good at mimicking the spiritual life. It fits in by outward appearance, external conformity, and rule-following. The problem with legalism isn’t necessarily its rules, which may or may not be appropriate, it’s the heart. It is a weed of pride or fear digging deep into the soul of an individual which, left unchecked, will work its way outward into the church and choke out every vestige of the grace and love of the gospel.

For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit (Romans 8:3-4).

The other extreme of life “according to the flesh” is licentiousness. In Christian circles this sin is more subtle than in the world. Donning the mask of Christian freedom, it turns the grace of God into a license to sin and makes us slaves yet again to our flesh. Any attempt at correction is seen as condemnation, judgmentalism, and legalism.

For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’ (Gal. 5:13-14).

Like weeds in my garden, any combination of these spiritualized sins are guaranteed to erupt in my heart and in yours. In fact, we can harbor both legalism and licentiousness in our hearts at one and the same time, as it suits our personal bents and our pet sins. We need to be able, by the power of the gospel, to recognize them in ourselves and diligent to remove them. If we don’t, they will destroy us.

I first learned to identify weeds by becoming familiar with the desirable plants they hide among. Likewise tending our hearts requires us to set our “mind on the Spirit.” The Holy Spirit inspired the Scriptures for just this reason: that we can know Christ. Only through a deep and ever-growing intimacy with His word, and through open relationships with others who are likewise growing, can we recognize the deceptiveness of our personal and public sin and begin to uproot it.

The Continuum of the Flesh