This is a follow up episode addressing the half-and-half strategy of Nehemiah, in which builders are called to carry a sword while they build. In like manner, believers in the body of Christ should actively engage in ministry but also adopt a defensive posture against their own residual evil. But the struggle against the flesh should never be waged alone. Just as the trumpeter along the wall of Nehemiah alerted other builders to come to "hot spots" on the wall, so every believer should avail himself of the assistance of other Christians in their struggles with sin. The alternative strategy of maverick Christianity, where builders struggle against sin alone, is often based on presumptuous self-confidence and leads to a "sifting." A half-and-half strategy is ultimately more effective in building the kingdom.
Don’t Be A Romans 7 Christian
This episode challenges all believers NOT to be Romans 7 Christians. Many believers correctly observe that half of Romans 7 describes the struggle between flesh and spirit in gory, pessimistic terms. Paul even states that he is a "prisoner of the law of sin and death."
Have you Really Changed Your Mind?
This episode states that the purpose of putting on the helmet of salvation is thinking and acting like Christ. This holistic description of salvation helps distinguish its purpose from that of the breastplate of righteousness, which primarily deals with positional righteousness, the gift of imputed righteousness to every believer. The helmet of salvation builds on the double transfer of 2 Cor. 5:21 (Christ took on our sin while we take on His righteousness), with a view to addressing the believer's actual condition, one in which believers still struggle with sin. This struggle is the theme of Romans 7:21-25, which presents the challenge of thinking and acting like Christ in light of residual evil. The solution, which amounts to taking up the helmet of salvation (thinking and acting like Christ), is Romans 8:2: "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death." Coupled with the subsequent passage, "the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace", both supply the means by which all believers can substantially have the mind of Christ. Donning the helmet of salvation is radically life-changing.
I want the Truth..But not Yet
This episode calls believers to put on the belt of truth, fully cognizant that much of us still embraces the lie. Consequently, the life of sanctification is one in which our fleshly natures are subject to being offended and injured by the Spirit of Truth. The episode develops the dynamics of the flesh/spirit conflict in the context of receiving and being injured by the Truth. "The old self which is being corrupted by the lusts of deceit" (Eph. 4:22) is always threatened by God's "desire for truth in the inward parts." (Psalm 51:6) Realistically appreciating this dynamic in our own lives is essential to fully putting on the belt of truth. Christians are better off and safer by being injured by Truth than they are if they embrace the lusts of deceit, which eventually bring forth excruciating pain. The episode is a sober primer for anyone suffering from addictions, in which the lusts of deceit hide a harvest from hell.
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