When the apostles taught how to serve God, they approached it from two different perceptions. First, they understood the failure of Adam and his transgression against God that brought sin into the world. In that case, Paul taught that the natural, earthy man comes first, then the spiritual man comes second. This example is found in 1 Corinthians 15 when Paul was teaching the difference between the first man Adam, who is of the earth, and the last Adam, the second man from heaven, Jesus Christ.
This teaching allows someone who has sinned against God to experience redemption by living a parable of sin first. In that process, you find repentance by turning to God and away from sin. In essence, you are freed from sin, made new, and leave the earthy perception and go on to attain spiritual living. This is a transformation from the old man of sin, Adam, to a new person born of God without sin, Jesus.
Then there is the other perception where the Spirit comes first, and the natural/earthly comes second. Jesus and His apostles lived in this perception. This perception is for you once you obtain a spiritual awakening. This new way of serving God sees the heavens and the earth through the eyes of the Spirit of God first rather than through the nature of sin. Your spiritual mind is now the mind of Christ, and your life is centered around the will of God continually.
In the first perception of the natural first, then the spiritual, the flesh is always the first thing on your mind while you work through repentance. In this case, you’re always warring against the flesh and fighting to understand the Spirit. In this perception, the Spirit is an afterthought because of the lust of the flesh that works in your heart.
In the second perception, the Spirit is dominant because the new man desires to live for God above the flesh, and therefore the spiritual comes first, then the natural. The war changes sides, and now the Spirit of Christ is at war with the flesh. Now the fruit of the Spirit outways the efforts of the works of the flesh. In this perception, the flesh is the afterthought because the Spirit is the dominant thought that works in your heart.
I serve God with my spirit.
In the book of Romans, Paul discussed this idea in detail. He says he serves God with his spirit in one place, and in another, he serves God with his mind. Paul learned through the revelation of Jesus that his spirit was connected to Christ and not his flesh. He goes on to say that the flesh serves sin, and therefore he has learned that to live in Christ means you have to walk in the Spirit through the mind and not the flesh.
Paul understood that his flesh was corruptible and would always serve sin. Therefore, he knew the importance of the second perception, the spiritual first, then the natural. Living this way meant that he didn’t only serve God with his spirit but also knew the importance of crucifying his flesh. This is why the mind is so valuable to us as human beings and why we must establish the thoughts of God within us. We must take on the mind of Christ, or this second perception is not possible.
This idea emphasizes why the Spirit of Christ is important to the Christian believer. Again, none of this is possible without the Spirit of Christ. Flesh and blood cannot enter the kingdom of God; therefore, we must be filled with the Spirit, walk in the Spirit, and serve God with our spirit that has been regenerated and made new.
My flesh is an afterthought.
af·ter·thought ˈaftərˌTHôt,ˈaftərˌTHät
an idea occurring later. : something (such as a part or feature) not thought of originally: something secondary.
We are all bound by the flesh to take care of ourselves in a physical sense. The problem arises when we get consumed by it, and it takes precedence over the spirit. Because we are human beings living in the earthly realm, we can often forget that the Bible refers to the flesh in two ways; it talks about a body and a mindset—mainly the perception of the first Adam.
Since the focus today is on the mind and not the body, the real secret is seeing that the earthy man Adam is a perception, a mindset just like the mind of Christ is. It’s the difference between the carnal mind versus the spiritual mind. (Earthly versus heavenly.) Too many believers are overcome with carnality and spend far too much time in the world’s consciousness.
Because the first man Adam and the second man, Jesus, represent consciousness and perception, we can experience both today. We are connected to them by the spirit.
It’s time for true anointed believers to rise and put Christ first in their life as a first thought and not an afterthought. We will serve God with our spirit and not our flesh. When we live this way, the Spirit of Christ will be glorified, and our thoughts and desires of the flesh will be secondary.