However, the Holy Spirit does not work in us by Himself; He works through the cross. We may liken the cross to the scalpel used by a surgeon to operate on a patient. In the church life, the Holy Spirit is the Surgeon who operates on us every day by means of the cross. Many things in our being need to be cut off by the Spirit through the cross.
The first item that needs to be crucified is the flesh. Galatians 5:24 says, “But they who are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts.” Our flesh is full of lusts and passions, sinful desires. Passions are evil, and lusts are sinful. All these need to be cut off. This verse shows that our flesh with its passions and lusts needs to be crucified. We need to put our flesh on the cross through the Spirit.
The next item to be dealt with is the practices of the body. Romans 8:13 says that by the Spirit we must put to death the practices of the body. The practices of the body refer to the activities of our body. For example, our mouth spontaneously talks in a natural way, even in a gossiping way. If two brothers come together, it is difficult for them to sit quietly without speaking for five minutes. Spontaneously they may begin to discuss the condition of the church in their locality. We may consider this kind of talk to be rather good, but it comes from the natural activity of our mouth. This is the practice, the activity, of the body.
Our eyes also are a problem. Our eyes may be accustomed to looking into department store windows or reading newspapers in an unrestricted way. Through these kinds of things our eyes become contaminated. Therefore, we also need to put to death the practices of our eyes.
Furthermore, we must also by the Spirit put to death the practices of our ears. Perhaps a sister attends a meeting and hears a message concerning Christ as the embodiment of God and the Spirit as the reality of Christ. Although the speaker may repeat these points many times, after the meeting the sister may be unable to remember the content of the message. However, if she overhears some gossip after the meeting regarding a brother and a sister who are engaged to be married, her ears hear this talk clearly and she cannot forget it. When she returns home, she immediately tells her husband about the young couple who plan to be married. However, she cannot tell him what was spoken in the meeting about Christ as the embodiment of God and the Spirit as the realization of Christ, because she has already forgotten these things. This is because our ears are accustomed to listening to gossip, rather than listening to the word of God. We remember the things which are not pleasant to the Lord, and we forget those things which are pleasant to Him. Although we may try our best to remember the word that was spoken in the meeting, we still cannot do it. This again shows the need for us by the Spirit to put to death the practices of the body.
Often our body seems to be too tired to go to the church meetings, but it is full of energy to participate in worldly activities. When we think about going to a church meeting in the evening, we may feel quite tired and may even decide to stay home in order to rest. But when we hear that a particular sporting event will take place the same evening, we may suddenly feel strong enough to attend. Similarly, if we are offered a Life-study Message, we may not show any interest in reading it. But if someone gives us a novel, we may be quite eager to read it. Again, these are the practices of the body.
The way we spend our money is also related to the practices of the body. If a husband talks to his wife about offering something to the Lord on the Lord’s day, she may say that it is not necessary to do it this week, since they made an offering last week. But if she reads in the newspaper about a certain item which is on sale, she may insist that her husband buy it for her immediately. All these activities are the practices of our body. Every part of our body is accustomed to doing things apart from God. Our mouth, eyes, and ears do things apart from God. Even if these things are not sinful, they are nevertheless the practices of the body. Today in the church life we must cooperate with the Spirit to put to death all these practices of the body.