If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations-"Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch" ( referring to things that all perish as they are used)-according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh. Colossians 2:20-23 (ESV)
Mankind's ingenuity is at its best when trying to find a religious practice that will stop the indulgence of the flesh. Beset by the unsatisfied longings of a soul cut off from God, who grants us all things to enjoy (1 Timothy 6:17), we devise complicated strategies to curb the monster Paul calls the flesh. Asceticism focuses on prohibitions and avoidance. Legalism focuses on man's standards that are imposed on others in order to be acceptable. These can look good to the outsider as the practitioner appears to be denying the body's demands in favor of spiritual gain. If we are only concerned about how we appear to significant others, then self-made religion will work just fine. But if we are at all interested in enjoying and displaying the life of Jesus, we will not for a minute put up with such nonsense.
Expecting rules which prohibit the external use of temporal things to change the heart is foolish, yet so much of man-made religion rest on these regulations. I grew up in the Bible-belt where there was a strong emphasis on temperance (as it related to alcohol...though evidently not to food). The temperance movement had chosen as its philosophical base the idea that "the devil was in the bottle." If society would outlaw the bottle, then drunkenness would no longer plague the lives and families of the community. It didn't work. The devil was not in the bottle. The problem was in the heart. (There is merit for civil government making laws that protect vulnerable people from devastating drugs and practices, but that is not the same as self-made religion that ties obedience to acceptance with God.)
I suppose we have all responded to personal failure that brought pain by recommitting ourselves to the rules. We reason that if we had stayed within the boundaries of the rules, we would not have made such a colossal blunder. So we bolster our wills and even raise the bar. We begin creating rules to protect the rules. Someone has called these "fence-laws." They are little fences we build to protect us from crossing the real fence. As a Baptist I was taught that dancing was wrong. It is wrong because adultery or fornication is wrong and dancing could lead to either. The problem is that dancing became the issue of righteousness. Those who danced were sinners and those who didn't were good kids -- even though most of us wanted desperately to engage and found other ways of yielding to the temptations of lust.
We have a better situation than self-made religion assumes. We have died with Christ to the elemental rules of religion. God gave Israel many of those, but they proved once and for all that no matter how hard you try, no one can live up the righteous law of God. So Jesus as the Christ lived up to the law and then died to pay the penalty of violated law. He transfers that life to us when we believe in him. So we are not under obligation to regulations and man-made schemes to get control of the flesh. We have another power in us that is greater than the flesh. We have a relationship with God through Jesus that satisfies the longings of the soul. Being fed by the very source of life, we are not pushed by our unmet appetites to find satisfaction in illegitimate places.
I know it seems too good to be true. Maybe that is why so many never engage the gospel for living. They are still locked into what looks good to the outsider: humble action, self denial, asceticism, special revelation. God-given life is the answer for self-made religion.
SYNERGY - Better Together: October 01, 2010 click for more > Five Pillars of New Testament Discipleship: : October 15, 2010 click for more > Family Reunion Retreat: December 03, 2010 click for more >
