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0:20 There's a great scene in the movie Master and Commander where Russell Crowe, the Master and Commander, he and his men are able to disarm and defeat the most feared ship in Napoleon's fleet. 0:33 And they destroy its mainmast, board the ship, fight their way down to the hull, and there in the bowels of the ship are all these British sailors who've been held captive. 0:42 And so in a moment they break the chains, open the cell, these men run free, and as they run free, they're each handed a sword because there's still a fight up on the deck. 0:53 And so they've been liberated not from the struggle, but for the struggle. 0:58 Before they were victims. 1:00 Now they're welcomed into the fight. 1:02 And I mention that because, friends, that's a great picture of the Christian life. 1:06 And we talked about this last time that Jesus Christ fought for us. 1:10 Colossians 1.13 says he delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of our sins. 1:20 We've been fought for that Jesus' arrival was a landed invasion and a rescue operation. 1:27 But now it's an ongoing mission. 1:29 And so as you struggle against your sin, before you were just a victim. 1:32 You were powerless to the struggles in your life. 1:34 But now you have the opportunity to be a victor because you've been forgiven, you've been cleansed, and you've been born again, your sin cast away and the very Spirit of God in you. 1:44 And C.S. 1:45 Lewis said, enemy-occupied territory. 1:48 That is what the world is. 1:49 And Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed, you may say have landed in disguise and is calling us all to take part in a great campaign of sabotage. 1:59 We fight because we've been fought for. 2:10 But to start in this session, let me say this. 2:12 Once you've put your faith in Jesus and been born again, true spirituality is one movement with two parts. 2:20 It's one movement with two parts. 2:22 It's a movement away from ways of thinking and ways of living that isolate us from the intimacy with God you were made for. 2:30 And it's a movement towards ways of thinking and ways of living that promote the intimacy with God that Christ purchased on the cross. 2:37 It's one movement but two parts, away and towards. 2:41 Paul told his young protege, Timothy, in 2 Timothy 2.22, flee youthful passion, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call out to the Lord from a pure heart. 2:54 Flee and pursue. 2:56 One movement, two parts. 2:58 Old school theologians had a word for this. 3:00 They called it sanctification. 3:03 Sanctification or sanctifies, built off the same Greek word is the word holy, which means set apart. 3:09 And you hear those two pieces even in that. 3:11 To be holy or set apart is to set apart away from some things and toward some other things. 3:17 In the Old Testament, there were utensils that were holy. 3:20 They were to be used only in the temple, they were not to be used in ordinary life. 3:25 My wife is holy unto me, separated from all other men, no other man may touch her. 3:32 Some of you guys have a coffee mug like this. 3:35 It's holy unto you. 3:36 No pagan lips may touch it. 3:37 That's the idea. 3:39 And in this, old school theologians had words for each of these two parts. 3:44 The movement away from ways of thinking and ways of living that are part of our old life, they called mortification. 3:51 There are certain things I used to do that I mortify, I kill. 3:54 I don't walk like I used to. 3:56 I don't talk like I used to. 3:58 And then that other piece they called vivification. 4:01 But there's other things in my life I want to vivify or help bring to life. 4:05 I want to cultivate. 4:06 If you're going to use a gardening imagery, mortification is like the pulling of weeds. 4:12 There's certain ways of thinking, there's places I would go for entertainment. 4:15 There's ways I used to joke that I am uprooting from the soul of my life. 4:20 They just don't belong in my life anymore. 4:22 And yet there are other things I never used to do, like pray, like read the scriptures, like encourage my brothers or serve at my church. 4:30 I'm going to plant these things in the garden of my soul and I'm going to cultivate them so that they come to life, that I'm the man I'm meant to be. 4:37 If you put it in a relationship context, vivification with my wife would look like doing the things that promote the intimacy our covenant affords, like taking her on dates, preferably to a place without TVs, so I can listen with my face. 4:51 Mortification looks like not doing the things that isolate me from the intimacy our marriage gives us. 4:56 Like I don't yell at her or avoid her, away and towards, flee and pursue. 5:02 Not to earn God's approval, but because we have it. 5:06 I want to fight for the unrestrained intimacy with God that Christ purchased for me, and I want to fight to be the kind of man he made me to be. 5:14 And so true spirituality looks like one movement and two parts, fleeing and pursuing, away and towards. 5:22 So as we close, let me ask you, just right now, pray and ask God, what are some things I need to uproot from my life? 5:28 What are some ways of thinking or some habits that I need to mortify? 5:31 I need to kill. 5:32 They just don't belong in my story anymore. 5:34 And then what are some things that you need to add that you go, you know what? 5:38 I'm going to pray every morning. 5:40 I'm not just going to listen to this podcast, I'm going to pray right afterwards. 5:42 I'd encourage you to do that. 5:43 I'm going to read the scriptures after we quote them. 5:45 2 Timothy 2.22, I'm going to memorize it. 5:48 What are some of the things you can add? 5:50 Mortification, vivification. 5:52 That's true spirituality. 5:53 And the implications of it, we'll keep working out as this week progresses.