Culture vs. Christ -- True Joy and Freedom in Christ // In Rest (Part 2!)

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Are you tired of the relentless chase for joy that the world promotes, only to find it fleeting and unfulfilling? I trust that this podcast episode will elevate your understanding of true joy, which is found in Christ, and guide you on how to experience it by overcoming the Lust of the Flesh and the Lust of the Eyes. We dissect the underlying issues associated with pride, love, and the comparison game that often robs us of our joy and freedom. We highlight the transformative power of the phrase, “There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”, and its pivotal role in understanding true joy and freedom... AND SO MUCH MORE!

Let's get into it!


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our conversation about Christ'sjoy versus culture's joy.
We're going to be getting rightinto the Lest the Flesh and the
Lest of the Eyes and how weovercome those things in our
pursuit of the joy of Christthrough union with Him.
So we left off mostly with thepride of life, lest of the Flesh

(00:33):
, that kind of thing.
But the focus, as we talkedabout, the focus of Jesus in our
issues with, say, the Lest ofthe Flesh or the pride of life,
is actually the underlying issue.
For pride it's love, alovelessness.
There is a relationship tolovelessness in a person who's
struggling with pride, in thesame way that there's a
relationship between humilityand a life of love.

(00:57):
In the same way, with the Lestof the Flesh, there's this
deeper underlying issue that,besides just the struggle with
the flesh that we have anywaybecause of our sinful nature,
whatever, we also have this needwithin us, not just problems
and issues and evil.
Yes, we have evil tendencies orevil desires that wage war

(01:17):
against our soul, and thebiblical writers warn us about
those things.
But we also have needs thatJesus wants to meet and he's
actually more interested inhaving those have a solution
than he is in shaming you formaking mistakes.
So the Lest of the Flesh issomething that we can overcome.
God empowers us through theconnections that we have in
Christian community and throughthe power of his spirit to

(01:39):
overcome sin and our life.
So the more that we grow in him, the more that we get a
stronger sense of our identityin Christ and our place in his
community.
Through our spiritual gifts andthrough connection, through
worship, etc.
We begin to overcome the Lestof the Flesh.
And at the end of the day,there is no condemnation for
those who are in Christ Jesus.
I just really want to pausethere, pause at this point and

(02:01):
just say, hey, there is nocondemnation for those who are
in Christ Jesus.
That's in Romans 8, verse 1.
So if you're struggling with sin, you're having issues with sin.
Listen, you are not alone andyou're not abandoned and you're
not condemned.
John Eldridge says God does nothave one single condemning
thought about you.

(02:22):
So if you're struggling withsin right now, you're struggling
with doubts, you're strugglingwith issues in your relationship
with God or with Lest of theFlesh in any way, in any sin.
Don't be discouraged.
Discouragement is not going tohelp you.
Discouragement is the devil'sway of numbing you so that he
can rip out your heart.
Don't let him.
Let the encouragement thatcomes from being un-condemned as
a follower of Jesus Christ giveyou hope and encouragement.

(02:44):
Now, if you're not a followerof Jesus, then there's no hope
for you unless you put yourtrust in Christ.
So if you've been listening tothe Unrest podcast, you don't
trust Jesus as your savior andas your Lord.
God wants you to know Him.
You have a brighter, beautifulfuture with Him.
So put your trust in Him sothat you can enter into that
place of being un-condemned.

(03:06):
But as it stands, all those whodon't put their trust in Jesus
have no hope.
They have no future.
They have no way of fighting inany significant way for any
lasting freedom in the Lest ofthe Flesh and the Pride of Life.
You don't have to become veryspiritual people.
Somewhere deep inside there'salways going to be that
emptiness and that struggle Withthis eternal longing for God's

(03:27):
presence and God's love in yourlife.
So if you want joy, fulfillment, follow Jesus, put your trust
in Him today, and if you haveany questions about that, please
send me a DM at inrestinsta.
Just type Jesus or I want toknow more about Christ.
I would love to have thatconversation with you.
Let's continue.
So the next thing is the lust ofthe eyes.

(03:50):
Whoa, here's the thing.
This is next level stuff thatJohn gets into in 1st John.
But the thing is with the lustof the eyes is that it's not the
way that we think about thelust of the flesh.
The lust of the flesh isusually the pursuit of pleasure,
the pursuit of bodilygratification, of short-term
satisfaction of our desires,especially as it pertains to our

(04:13):
body's longings.
The lust of the eyes is likeEnvy, it's coveting, it's
looking at somebody else's lifeand playing the comparison game
with them and Saying I want whatyou have and I'm not.
I think that you have greenerpastures over there and I'm
gonna.
I'm gonna run after that stuff.
That lust is this like verystrong desire For something that

(04:37):
is probably not good for you,right?
And so nobody is happy withthat.
The, the, the word.
I can't.
I actually don't know who wrotethis.
I'm just not gonna.
I'm not gonna lie yet, but Iheard, I've heard, we're seeing
it.
I've heard the quote, but itsays comparison is the thief of
Joy.
Do you want joy in your life?

(04:58):
Well, you can't play thecomparison game and have joy.
You can't have your comparisoncake and eat joy to.
You, just can't have it.
It's just not gonna work.
So if you want to experienceFreedom and joy, if you want to
fight against the lust of theeyes and the lust of the flesh,
the only way to find freedom inthat Is to choose joy from Jesus
perspective.
So that's cultures, joy,cultures.
Joy comes from the satisfactionof those things.

(05:20):
It comes from the satisfactionof pride, the satisfaction of
the lust of the flesh and thesatisfaction of the lust of the
eyes.
The lust of the eyes is thepursuit of basically, you know,
emotional or socio-social orsocio-psychological or
socio-economic Status, whatever,right, like it's something
mental, right, like the lust ofthe lust of the eyes.

(05:42):
Then the lust of the flesh isthe pursuit of pleasure and the
satisfaction of that pleasure.
And then the pride of life isthat like self-centered drive
and Ambition and hustle withinus and hubris when within us
that wants to just accomplishthings or Make sure that other
CSS good or get the attentionfrom others, and it's basically

(06:03):
an obsession of self.
So if there's any, if there'ssatisfaction in any of those
things, you are absolutely goingto feel happy temporarily.
Whoa plot twist, didn't seethat coming to jail, yeah.
But the truth is, I mean, youare gonna feel happy for a
little while.
Of course you will.
Of course you will when youbecome the spiritual person.
Other people See that you wantother people to see you as if

(06:27):
you would become the pastor orthe man or the husband that you
want other people to think youare.
Of course you're gonna feelhappy why wouldn't you?
But it's not gonna last.
If you, you know, watch thatvideo or sleep with that girl or
that guy, if you get into arelationship with someone who

(06:49):
you know is just like you know,not your spouse, or If you
become friends with that socialgroup, you know you get that car
, you get that, whatever.
This is just basic stuff.
I mean, like we're not gonnafind Satisfaction there.
Augustine wrote you know oursouls do not find resting at
home, but maybe it was blazePascal, I don't know.

(07:11):
Somebody important said Oursoul does not find rest until it
finds its rest in God.
If you're gonna pursueshort-term happiness, get ready
to be weary and Burdened becauseyou're not gonna feel they're
gonna feel a lasting joy.
There.
However, there is hope, there'san alternative, there is a

(07:31):
solution.
The solution is Christ's joy.
Now I'm gonna spend less timetalking about this, only because
it's so simple.
It's so beautifully simple toexperience Christ's joy.
Here's what it is, okay.
So earlier I talked aboutsatisfaction of Our desires,
whatever, right, this is alittle about fulfillment the
fulfillment of your purpose, thefulfillment of God's oh God's

(07:54):
law in your life.
And when I say God's law, bearwith me.
Okay, it's.
It's living a life of love andfeeling the deep joy that comes
from having God's spirit leadingyou and keeping you in step
with God and his will, and it'sa joy that comes from from, from
obeying Jesus and getting toknow him and being his friend.
So that's fulfillment, allright.
So if it's a pride of life onone side, you that satisfaction,

(08:18):
on the other side it's thefulfillment of Our purpose.
Okay.
So, instead of pride, itspurpose, okay so, the
fulfillment of our purpose wereceive Christ's joy.
Jesus said if anyone is going tocome after me, they're going to
deny themselves.
They're going to pick up theircross daily and follow me.
Okay.
So where is our purpose in thatstatement?
Well, all of us desire to bethriving, and the only way that

(08:39):
we do that is actually by livingout the example of Jesus.
He says if anyone's going to begreat among you, they're going
to first become your slave oryour servant.
But what is Jesus saying?
He's saying okay, if you wantto, if you want to be a disciple
of mine, an apprentice of mine,if you want to live a life of
love the way that I do, if youWant to live out the purpose of
a purpose in God and in the God,the Father, you're going to do

(08:59):
that by living as I do, as aservant.
So if pride is all making lifeall about me, fulfillment is all
about forgetting me in exchangeFor living the life that Christ
has for me means leaving behindthe old and choosing the new,
and doing that every day, doingthat as often as Possible, every
day, every moment of the day,choosing Jesus over us and what

(09:21):
that does for us is not actuallycompletely Forgo all of our
needs.
It doesn't mean that we alwaysdeprive ourselves, we refuse to
take care of ourselves, which,by the way, is actually more
self-centered than you realize.
It actually puts us in aposition where we may not get
the satisfaction of our pride,but we do feel, and maybe even
if we don't feel it, we alwaysreceive a level of Joy in Christ

(09:45):
through the letting go ofourselves and choosing not to be
self-seeking and self-serving.
So we receive a confidenceinstead of a pride or a prideful
arrogance.
We receive a confidence, agenuine confidence, living in
between this, this overblownArrogance, and this totally
crazy insecurity, this, thisdownward spiral of insecurity.

(10:06):
We live in the middle ofConfidence, where we don't think
too highly of ourselves and yet, at the same time, we
understand that we are loved byGod.
The fulfillment of our purposeis To know that we exist to love
God and love others in arelationship of of love with him
.
If we live in love the way thatChrist does, it means we live

(10:26):
the life of love that he lived.
Jesus said I've given them theglory that you gave me, that
they may be one as we are one, Iand them and you and me.
And then later he says so thatthey, so that the love that you
have for me may be in them and Imyself may be in them.
And so fulfillment throughChrist instead of satisfaction
is fulfillment instead ofself-centeredness, its service

(10:47):
and the reception of love, reallove, and a love in which we are
loved to love others and, infact, an actual, a genuine love
for self is expressed moreheartily in the fulfillment,
self-forgetnessself-forgettingness, if that's
word and the humility and theservice that's.

(11:09):
That's that's seen in Christ.
Joy, Self-love the way that theculture talks to us about it is
actually like, really, this ear,this gross, like self obsession
, where is in Christ?
It's a real understanding thatwe're living our best if we're
living in Christ and we'reliving the way that he wants us
to live, even if that means wedon't always get what we want.
So let's.

(11:30):
So.
Self-love is actually a gap ais defined by a gap a and then
it's expressed by loving ourneighbor Effectively and
hopefully in the same way thatwe would care for our own needs.
So I'm gonna get into that in alater episode.
The bottom line is, instead ofthe pride of life, we have the
service of love, the fulfillmentof our purpose.
So the next thing is the book ata lesson, the flesh versus what

(11:53):
it's, the denial of self, right.
So self-denial and living inaccordance with God's command,
right, the gods, god's law, okay, law.
Getting back to it now.
Circling back is about living alife of love, even if that
means we Intentionally choosenot to satisfy the flesh, even
if that means we choose to fast,even if it means we choose to

(12:15):
stay up later to take care of achild or to take care of a
friend, or to take care of Evena stranger, maybe even if that
means going out of our way,going out of our way not to have
our needs fulfilled for a timein order that someone else's
maybe more, prioritize more.
Maybe that means actuallywaiting to engage in sexual

(12:37):
relationship until it can bedone properly and healthily in
the context of marriage, andmaybe that means Leaving behind
a struggle with internetpornography.
Maybe that means getting into a, getting into a group where you
feel so vulnerable anduncomfortable and yet you find
victory because you're inconnection with others.
That is, that is, that ishelpful and wholesome and good.
So Jesus talks about how the,the law, from his perspective,

(13:00):
is really hung on these twocommands Love the Lord, your God
, with all your heart, with allyour soul, all your strength,
with all your mind, and loveyour neighbor as yourself.
If those are the two laws thatEverything else hangs on from
Jesus perspective, that's thelaw that you, that that is
expressed in and through us whenwe put our faith in Christ, and
Paul even calls it the law ofChrist love your neighbor as

(13:21):
yourself, right?
So it's interesting becausethis, this, this obedience to
God's law, is what Jesus talksabout directly.
And when I say God's law, he'stalking about himself, too,
right.
He's talking because he isfather, son, holy Spirit, he's
God, right.
So, jesus, he's talking abouthis love and his love and his
love and his love and his loveand his love and his love and
his love.

(13:41):
And so, when we obey the law oflove, we deny our flesh its
constant gratification inExchange for union and remaining
in Jesus.
Just like I said, jesus saidI've given them the glory you
gave me, that they may be one aswe are.
When that I myself I'm.
But in that, like when we obeylove, we do what love tells us

(14:05):
to do.
When we do what Jesus calls usto do, we, we grow as his
friends, we get to know himbetter and we remain in him, we
begin to abide in his love.
The it's amazing, in a YouTubevideo that I did not too long
ago, ignite your igniting yourfaith is predicated on this
relationship of love and obeyingwhat God has put into us.
And if that, oh that, that lawis Love one another, love your

(14:28):
neighbor, love God and love themin this specific way, then you
begin to ignite your faith.
And so, instead of the death,the deadness, the deadening that
comes from giving into oursensual desires, we have the in
the living, in the, in liveeningthe end of the, the, the
vibrant bringing State thatcomes when we obey the law of

(14:49):
love.
Instead, when we obey our lusts, we die.
When we obey love, we live, andwe live forever.
We live in a way that is just,that's just so well connected to
loving and knowing God, the waythat I talked about last
episode with yada.
Knowing this connection, thisintimacy is built on love.
And so Jesus says in John 15remain in me, just as I remain

(15:10):
in my father and obey my command, just as I obey my father's
commands.
And I'm telling you this.
So you, this is that my joy maybe in you and your joy may be
Complete.
So Christ's joy, but from hisperspective, is about obeying
him and finally, it'scontentment.
So, instead of the less of theeyes, right.

(15:30):
So that is faction of oursocial, socio economic Vision of
the American dream, or ofhaving that car or having that
thing, having that greenerpastor, jesus is like I'm.
I become your shepherd.
I'm the one who's taking careof you, instead of you
constantly focusing and forcinglife to go your way.
You can let go of that burden.
Let me be responsible for you,let me be the good shepherd

(15:51):
that's taking care of you.
You can hear my voice and letme lead you, let me guide you.
And so, instead of you knowSatisfaction of the lust of the
eyes, the satisfaction of youknow earthly stuff, we have the
fulfillment of our Need forcontentment.
We have the fulfillment andcontentment that comes from
knowing that Jesus is the onethat's taking care of us.
And Actually that's what Paulis talking about in Philippians,

(16:14):
chapter 4, when he says I cando all these things through
Christ, who strengthens me.
He's talking about contentment.
He says I have learned thesecret of being content in every
circumstance, whether in plentyor in want, bottom-line or
hunger, thirst, whatever.
I can experience Joy in Christ.
I can do these things ThroughChrist, who strengthens me.

(16:37):
So, through Christ, whostrengthens us, instead of you
know service to our worldly, youknow visions for success.
We live in a state ofcontentment, and that brings us
joy, the joy of Christ, becauseJesus didn't force anything to
go his way.
He didn't force things tohappen the way he wanted them to
go.

(16:57):
He had submission.
And so, instead of satisfaction, we have a submission and a
fulfillment of our need foranything, our needs being met,
because we know that our deepestneed is already met in Christ.
So hopefully that made sense.
But the bottom line is worldlyjoy is found in self
self-satisfaction, and Christ'sjoy is found in the fulfillment

(17:19):
of God's law in my life, througha love relationship with Jesus
and through union with Jesus.
Yeah, if you have any questionsabout this, by the way, feel
free to shoot me a message, oreven shoot me an email, if you
want, at Noah, atinrestlivingcom, send me an
email.
I dare you to send me an email.
Good one, don't just spam me.
You can, I guess, if you want,but you know, don't.

(17:41):
Anyway, I would love to hearfrom you if you have any
questions about this, because Ibelieve that this is so crucial
to our understanding of thegospel is union with God.
It's so amazing.
I love it.
Just this last weekend Ipreached a retreat in Nova
Scotia and I talked about unionall weekend long, and it was
amazing.
So I just love to talk aboutthis.

(18:02):
I love the gospel of union thatcomes to us through Christ.
The restoration of ourrelationship with God through
Jesus is an amazing thing and itreally does bring us joy.
I'm not lying here.
The Bible tells us that theHoly Spirit who comes into us as
we put our faith in Christ, godhimself lives in us.
Just like Jesus said, the lovethat the Father has for him is
in us and he himself is in us.

(18:23):
How, through the spirit of God,and the byproduct of the Holy
Spirit being in our life is thislove, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control.
And against such things thereis no law.
Why?
Because it's based on the lawof love, yo.

(18:44):
And then he says what is hesaying next?
He says don't envy and biteeach other up and hurt each
other.
Be content with what you haveand love your neighbor as
yourself.
Anyway, all of those things tosay.
If you keep in step with theHoly Spirit who gives you love,
joy, peace, et cetera, you willnot gratify that it's ours or
the flesh.
So I am just giving you thisencouragement to tell you Jesus
loves you so, so much, and so doI, and that means because Jesus

(19:08):
loves you, you can live thelife that God's called you to
live by tapping into that love,through the fulfillment of him,
his love, and your purpose foryour, god's purpose for your
life, through trusting in Jesus.
So if you are not a follower ofJesus and would like to become
one, I invite you right now tosay Jesus, yeah, seriously,

(19:29):
repeat after me.
If you're listening to this inthe car, you're watching this on
YouTube, I don't care howawkward or weird it is, just do
it.
And maybe it's just under yourbreath, that's fine, or maybe in
your heart, but pray this withme, jesus, I want union with you
, I want life with you.
Give me love, forgive me of mysin, forgive me of my life of
hate and lovelessness.

(19:50):
Give me joy, true joy, your joy, and help me to have your
forgiveness and peace in my lifeforever.
Give me eternal life and unionwith the Father.
Amen, amen.
Hey, if you pray the prayerright now, you better tell me.
I wanna know.
So you send me an email noa atinrestlivingcom, or a dm at

(20:11):
inrestinsta, or leave a commentor anything at all.
I just wanna know.
Please tell me and I'll bepraying for you, but as we go,
let me pray for you and we'llclose this episode, this
two-parter episode.
Dear Jesus, I thank you so muchfor my listeners today.
I pray that you bless him orher and fill them with your
peace and help them to know justhow much you love them, and

(20:33):
help them to choose Christ's joyover the culture's joy and
experience, not a satisfactionof self, but a living of
fulfillment in Jesus, throughfaith in him and through union
with him.
In Jesus' name, amen.
All right, hey, thank you forleaving a five-star review.
Jesus loves you, so do I Liveyour best in Christ.
Okay, bye.