In the previous two posts we looked briefly at what sinful lust is, seeking ‘goodness’ apart from God and where it is sourced, in our own hearts. In conclusion today I want to equip you with the chief auxiliary in combating lust.
The title of this series may strike some as odd and it is intended to make us think. As we considered in part one, lusts are desires, and in the Scriptures these desires can be good or bad, this depends on how they line up with the will of God. So how do we fight these desires? We do it with desires. Your chief defense against sinful lust is an all out offensive of sanctified lust, if you will. It is to set our hearts upon the supremacy, sufficiency and beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ; and it is in this posture of continual satisfied delight in Jesus that the lusts of our flesh and this world evaporate into vapors like the steam on our morning coffee.
So here are some helpful tools in fighting lust:
Admit you have issues
Too many of us walk around thinking we are glorified. We are sinners who are saved by and absolutely dependent upon divine grace. We need this grace every second of every hour. Our hearts are continually fighting for airtime; we are to be continually waging war on our hearts.
I love to ask people, “How is the battle going?” The battle is for holiness and against the exaltation of self through our own sin. The Christian life is not a stroll through a field to pick flowers and sip lemonade, instead it is a battle; we should be dressed in the armor, progressing through the battlefield, with a single-minded resolve and fully dependent upon our commanding officer.
Agree with God about his beauty
This is the key. God is the very source of beauty. Furthermore, he defines what beauty is. We have God revealing himself in the Scriptures to be the very pinnacle of beauty and in his beauty he eclipses all things. Contemplate the reality that God does not decay or fade, but he is just as fresh, beautiful and glorious today as he was when Paul preached the glories of Christ, when Jesus walked the earth, when David penned his songs of praise, when Moses cried out for a glimpse of his glory, when Abraham believed, when Adam and Eve walked with him in the garden, when the angels sang of his glory during creation, and when the Trinity enjoyed their eternal fellowship and worship prior to the creation of the world. Now add to that that his beauty will never fade away…he will always be this glorious, this beautiful, this appealing, this attractive!! He is the eternal God who’s beauty is eternally untarnished.
The Father has spoken from heaven as to his appraisal of Jesus. We have read of this divine endorsement of the Savior at his baptism,
Matthew 3:17 “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased.”
Further, Matthew writes that Jesus is the eternal delight of the Father with whom the he is “well pleased” (Matt. 12.18).
Friends can we not find ourselves in agreement with God as to his beauty? We must come to the word of God to have our minds shaped and conformed by God. He says he is infinitely beautiful and worthy to be the unceasing object of our satisfaction and delight. Do you agree?
If you do then your cravings and lust for things of this world and of your flesh will be starved out by your relentless enjoyment and pursuit of the glory of God in the face of Christ.
You can throw your computer out the window, but that won’t kill your lust. You can never go to the mall (the vanity fair :/), but that won’t kill your lust. You can cut out your eyes, but that won’t kill your lust. You can move to a cave in Montana, but that won’t kill your lust. You can employ legalism, but that won’t kill your lust. All of these things fall short because they are external amputations when we need a heart transformation.
This is how the Apostle Paul tells believers to put off such things as lustful cravings (Col. 3.5-8). Did you notice what the great word that is used in v.5? “Therefore” Based on what are we to put to death these passion? It is what is found in verses 1-4:
Colossians 3:1-4 Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. 3 For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with Him in glory.
You are putting to death lustful passions with your ceaseless passion for Jesus Christ, “keep seeking the things above”… “Set your mind on the things above..” It is this seeing and savoring of Jesus Christ (as Piper would say) that brings about the holiness that is required.
But there is more here. In Colossians 3.1 there is another “Therefore” statement. What did he just pivot out of? Chapters 1 & 2 declare the absolute supremacy and sufficiency of Jesus over and against everything. Therefore the Christian (and everyone else for that matter) is backed up and all of the apparent competition and rivals to Jesus are completed eclipsed by the resume of Jesus Christ. He is seen to be absolutely supreme and sufficient and so therefore the only choice for your worship. He is it.
To see Jesus as supreme and sufficient is to see everything else as lacking. To see stuff as worthy of your lust (coveting, craving, etc..) is to see Jesus as lacking. To seek goodness outside of what God has called good is to appraise Jesus and find him lacking. We need to think like this. Our lust for selfish pleasure does have consequences. Whether we are talking sexual lust, material lust, professional lust, or whatever, we are talking about the removal of attributes of God and the imputation of the attributes of supremacy and sufficiency to stuff, and this is the height of idolatry (Col. 3.5).
This is why it is so critical to be in the word of God daily. To find ourselves in subjection to the divine word, that we might have our minds transformed and renewed according to the will of God, that we would think his thoughts after him, appraising that which is excellent and rejecting that which is sinful (Rom. 12.1-2; Eph. 5.1-2). Furthermore, we are to drive the word deep into our hearts through prayer and contemplative meditation; for we are people who need are hearts broken and reminded of the absolute beauty and attractiveness of God that we might see and savor his supremacy and sufficiency in all things. There is little doubt that this is what Paul had in mind as he writes these words in Colossians 3:
Colossians 3:16-17 16 Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17 Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.
How do we fight lust? With a ceaseless pursuit of the delight of God, which is, a delight in God, through Jesus Christ our Lord.