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When pastors or spiritual leaders want to keep their constituents from misbehaving, sinning, or holding wrong thoughts and motivations, they often place a virtual fence with a threatening admonishment to warn people not to cross beyond it. I worked at church that was so concerned about teens having premarital sex that they even forbid dancing. For reasons like this, it may be that you’ve never heard a talk like this.

I share this because I too am going to point out a fence. Whereas religion places the fence so far back from the cliff that if we cross over, we remain on safe ground, I am going to put the virtual fence at the literal precipice. So if you are like me, and tend to push boundaries, be prepared to smack the valley floor like the coyote in the roadrunner cartoon. Just how far over the cliff can you get your toes without falling? This is only learned by going too far. To the best of my knowledge, there are two types of “too far.”

1. Conscious Too Far. (rebellion)
2. Unconscious Too Far. (deception)

We recently concluded a series on Romans where Paul required us to trade in our religion for a living faith. That deconstruction is not incidental. It mandates a reconstruction project that liberates us. In other words, Paul would rather there be no fences in the first place. He would rather we live soberly and conscious of where Too Far exists for each of us…which isn’t the same for everyone.

“Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.” (Romans 14:5)

“Everything is indeed clean…” (v.20)

“The faith that you have, keep between yourself and God.” (v.22)

“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything.” (1 Corinthians 6:12)

Clearly, the teaching of Paul is very different than what religion gives us. If the Church would be mature and not behave as toddlers in daycare, then we must grow up in our faith, and truly understand the dynamic upon which Paul builds his thesis, namely, the relationship between the flesh and the spirit.

“So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members.” (Romans 7: 21-23)

“For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do.” (Galatians 5:17)

Most of us grew up in a religion that vilified our flesh, and for good reasons.

“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. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.” (Romans 8:5-7)

The problem with the way religion has taught us to live this out, has been from applying the law externally and measuring our behavior in the binary of either compliant or not, sinner or saint, faithful for backslider, believer or apostate. I understand this natural tension, but the deeper error is that we are following Plato rather than Jesus. Platonic dualism is the quagmire of a living Hell that religion promulgates as a means of behavior modification. Jesus’ path is for the Spirit to be fully embodied, not seeking to be a disembodied spirit.

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair…” (2 Corinthians 4:7-8)

According to Paul, the body is not sinful, but is used as an instrument of sin.

“Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness…” (Romans 6:13)

This is in line with Jesus teaching about these two powerful forces within us. This is why the biblical teaching is superior to religion. Religion puts a fence down and says crossing it is a sin (i.e. drinking, cussing, smoking, sexuality, gambling, etc…) This gives us the false illusion that if we don’t cross the fence, we have not sinned. Jesus takes this “junk drawer of sin” into which religion puts a million behaviors, and he dumps it all out.

“There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.” (Mark 7:15)

“Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him…” (v.18)

Now I’ll stitch this all this together. First off, if you are in a community that classifies certain behaviors as sin, and then threatens you (with Hell, punishment, etc…) in order to gain compliance, then they aren’t in step with Jesus or Paul. Let that sink in. Yes, behaviors become sinful, but they in themselves are not the sin… the idolatry within the heart is the sin. All sinful behaviors are first a violation of the first commandment, or idolatry. Once we relocate sin to the same place as Jesus and Paul, we realize the foolishness of policing the behaviors of others, because we recognize how idolatrous we are at heart. The biblical word “epithumia” (evil desire) is not understood. It isn’t that desire is evil, it is the “over” desire that makes something sinful.

So how does this relate to embodiment?

A few weeks ago I led you into a contemplative experience where we gave our conscious attention to the life we possess in the Spirit. This is a necessary practice that I hope we all embrace as often as possible. Yet, this is not the only practice….there is the opposite experience, not of unhitching from the body, but of going into it.

This too has two forms of embodiment:

1. Unconscious embodiment.
2. Conscious embodiment.

Unconscious embodiment.

This is the default mode of how most of us live. We conflate ourselves entirely with our body. The biblical tension is that we are not our bodies, but we are also not other than our bodies. Our bodies are important, purposeful, beautiful, and are required for each of us for eternity. When our present bodies die, we are given new bodies that can endure forever (2 Corinthians 5:1-2). The body is so necessary, that God Himself was please to be robed in humanity.

“For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell…” (Colossians 1:19)

The unconscious embodied person is functioning on a creaturely level. When it comes to sin (for illustration, let’s call it cheesecake) this is the person who craves cheesecake, seeks out cheesecake and consumes as much cheesecake as possible, with no thought of what that cheesecake is doing to their body nor their inner self or soul. The Spirit within them is suppressed by the bodily devotion for cheesecake, which is on a course of ruin.

Conscious Embodiment

This next type of existing within our bodies has two forms which function like variations of two positions, like a teeter-totter that not only has up or down, but a full range between. It is this continuum of conscious embodiment tha distinguishes this way of life from that of the two-story Platonic dualism. So long as we remain consciously aware, there can be no separation between the sacred and the secular, all of life comprises both spirit and flesh.

We are familiar with the teeter-totter tilting upward where we are in our bodies but living life in the Spirit. This feels really good. It’s the objective experience to which the scripture aspires to lead each of us. In this place, the consciousness of the spirt empowers us to have victory over our sins in the heart. It fills us with the desire for purity, obedience, love of God and others, perseverance, and all the fruits of the Spirit. It’s the higher experience of life in this body, and our practice must be such that this remain our goal.

But we all know what goes up, must come down…and this is where I show you the cliff.

Once conscious, we realize that there is more to life than cheesecake. We grow up to realize that our bodies were not designed to live on cheesecake alone. Religion places a fence here which says: “No more cheesecake.” And this sets us up for failure. The other form of conscious embodiment is the complete and perfect enjoyment of cheesecake within its most optimal context. Unlike religion, faith provides the freedom to have the maximum amount of cheesecake before it becomes a problem.

So is this a slippery slope, or a huge relief?

Anyone with life experience knows this is begging the question, namely, how do we know when we’ve reached maximum cheesecake? Certainly this means that for some, there can be no cheesecake, while for others, multiple slices are fine.

“Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him.” (Romans 14:3)

What I really want to offer you today is for you to experience the full freedom of being embodied in your enjoyment of life’s cheesecake, yet without sin. You see, if the sin isn’t ultimately the behavior, but the heart through which the behavior comes, and if there is nothing outside of us that can defile us, then it dramatically alters how we live, move, and exist in relation to the cheesecakes of this world.

I also know that by inviting you into this experience that I am also inviting some of you to a painful splat of going “too far” either consciously or unconsciously. I am painfully aware of the deceitfulness of sin, and the law of sin which Paul describes which is at work in our bodies. To the degree that we have a cavalier or even semi-conscious relationship to the inner working of the unredeemed aspects of our humanity, to the same degree we will find ourselves beyond the threshold of the cliff with nothing to support us. The question is: What can be gained by exploring the limits? Is it worth the risk of the consequences of “going too far?” Go too far and something dies…always.

“For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23)

Would you rather discover the intricate nuances of how your own heart is deceived, and where its true affections lie, so that these can be rooted out and transformed in the scourge of humility? Or would you prefer to not scour the depths of your humanity and live in denial and superficial falsehood? The good news is that we don’t get a choice. Until we face the depravity of our own heart, we will sin (go too far) both consciously and unconsciously, and reap the life of our own self delusion. This is why:

“God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.” (Romans 11:32)

“The steps of a man are established by the Lord, when he delights in his way; though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the Lord upholds his hand.” (Psalm 37:23-24)

There is a tremendous beauty in the embodiment of our failures. We get to experience not only the discovery of self and God by these means, but we also get to experience cheesecake. Never waste these. It’s really important to own these failures completely. To learn where the tripwire was upstream in our misinformed thinking. It’s really important that we perceive a distance between ourselves and God that our sins have enlarged. There is a spirituality that is only discovered by feeling like Esau who sold his birthright for a bowl of soup.

“Be not overly righteous, and do not make yourself too wise. Why should you destroy yourself? ¹⁷ Be not overly wicked, neither be a fool. Why should you die before your time? ¹⁸ It is good that you should take hold of this, and from that withhold not your hand, for the one who fears God shall come out from both of them.” (Ecclesiastes 7:16-18)

Embody the pitiful sinner when you go too far, but not the self-pity which follows it. When delusional frames of reality come and create an alternative reality where our sin is minimized…see them because by the time you do, you can no longer flee them… and then instead hold them, own them, embody them as Paul does:

“The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.” (1 Timothy 1:15)

Just as the spiritual highs of embodiment do not last, you must remember that the spiritual bottoms also do not last. There is no sin for which Christ did not cover with His sacrificial death. Yes, experience the stern anger of God… embrace the consequences that come form your sin (which may be severe)…but know this is only a place to visit, you are not to dwell there.

“For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.” (Psalm 30:5)

Embody it all. Experience it all. And you’ll discover you are living in a waveform from which you cannot escape. This is the pattern of all of God’s creation of which we are the foremost. We are breathed in and out, we are lifted high and brought low, we are drawn near and displaced far. Thank God for this gift of flesh that has within it the very Spirit of God. Like Tool sings:

“We are spirit bound to this flesh, go around with one foot nailed down, bound to reach out and beyond this flesh, become pneuma.” (Pneuma)

I know this teaching places you on a precarious place. But if we cannot experience the full bandwidth of your embodied experience of both flesh and spirit, then I fear we can never show the world what true freedom really is, and the Gospel of Christ remains unbelievable and ultimately unlivable. Freedom in Christ is to be fully human just as He was and experience His Spirit just as He promised. The evidence of growth is the expansion of our grasp of God’s love in and as our love and grace toward others and ourself, which causes us to mortify our sin. The evidence of ruin, that we’ve gone too far, is the loss of our desire for God, His word, His Spirit, and we live unloving toward others and ourselves, and our love of sin increases.

Contact me if you need help sorting this out.