HOW TO DEAL WITH THE PROBLEMS OF MAN
1.Some people are entangled by MORAL PROBLEMS and it’s affecting their spiritual walk.
Christians are called to a life of moral purity – godly thinking and holy living.
Some get involved in sexual entanglements that are really BONDAGES that produce guilt and secret lives – more people than we want to admit get caught in this trap.
Sexual activity is pure, wholesome and righteous within God’s design – that means within marriage.
Outside his design, it damages our heart, our mind, our spirit, our conscience, and our relationship with the Lord.
Whether it’s sexual relations BEFORE marriage, sexual relations OUTSIDE our marriage, pornography or of any other sort – it hinders and entangles and it’s not God will for us.
1 Thessalonians 4:1-8, “Finally, brothers, we instructed you how to live in order to please God, as in fact you are living. Now we ask you and urge you in the Lord Jesus to do this more and more. For you know what instructions we gave you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.
“It is God’s will that you should be sanctified (live lives holy unto God): that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him. The Lord will punish men for all such sins, as we have already told you and warned you. For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. Therefore, he who rejects this instruction does not reject man but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit.”
2.Some people have become involved in FINANCIAL ENTANGLEMENTS and it’s affecting their spiritual walk.
God wants us to keep ourselves financially free so we can do the will of God as he directs.
God wants us free to provide for our family, to help the poor, to help others in need, and to support God’s gospel work locally and worldwide through their local church.
Some have gotten caught in a web of debt and financial deals that are hindering them.
Some believers are trying to get rich quick and it’s damaging them > some are getting involved in shady deals and it’s affecting their conscience and reputation > some have been overtaken by materialism and it’s destroying them spiritually.
1 Timothy 6:6-10, “Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”
3.Some Christians are being hindered by FALSE PHILOSOPHIES that draw attention away from the simplicity of knowing Christ – they are entangled by wrong thinking and even false teaching.
Colossians 2:6-8, “So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.”
We are to keep a clear head spiritually – not being infected by false philosophies and false spiritual teaching.
Some Christians go from “experience to experience” in their spiritual walk but their spiritual foundation isn’t strong. When they aren’t having the same kind of ecstatic experiences, they begin to flounder. They aren’t really GROUNDED IN THE TRUTH.
Some Christians start out well but aren’t progressing well, nor will they finish well unless they change. Their spiritual understanding is a “mish-mash” – they have been infected by all kinds of worldly philosophies tat are NOT BASED ON CHRIST.
This is one reason why we are to keep ourselves learning from God’s Word and surrounded by godly, spiritually growing people – they both help keep our minds clear and focused on what’s true and what leads to godly living.
The Lord doesn’t want any of us entangled and hindered by things that are not from him.
Listen to Paul in 1 Timothy 6:11-16, “But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which God will bring about in his own time – God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever.”