The Spirit of Religion (12/19/11)

Shalom,

Please begin by reading Rom 3:19-24.

The spirit of religion drives people into many forms of religious performance in an attempt to perfect themselves through some sort of legalism rather than following the leading of the Holy Spirit. We have a tendency to grasp onto things which make sense to our finite minds and try to use them to please Yahweh. These things are rituals or specified prayers or legalistic standards or religious duties. The problem is that we elevate them above the Word of God. Instead of learning Yahweh's rules of conduct, we impose harsh directives to ensure that people are living right. The other side of the coin is that some refuse to impose any commands or rules on people, because we're free to decide for ourselves.

The Church has been attacked by the spirit of confusion, which is directly related to the spirit of religion. In our modern world Yahweh is clearly revealing his desire for his followers to become "one new man" (Eph 2:14-16). Those who are seeking him with their whole heart will be the forerunners for this prophetically revealed combination of Jew and Gentile. The Holy Spirit will spur these believers forward to open the way for the stragglers and those who will be saved in the future. Think of these forerunners like the 12 spies sent out by Moses to scout the Promised Land, and determine to be a Joshua or a Caleb. Look with your spiritual eyes and see Yahweh's goodness, not the scary giants.

If we don't overcome our religious thinking we'll get stuck in the past and be unable to discern what lies ahead of us. Once we become a Christian the spirit of religion will try to limit our advancement into Kingdom things. 2 Cor 11:3 warns that we could "be led away from our pure and simple devotion to Jesus, just as Eve was deceived by the serpent." The man-made religious rules move us away from the simplicity of following our Lord and listening to his voice. They complicate things for immature believers and hinder their spiritual growth.

The biggest strategy of the spirit of religion is to preserve the status quo. Many of us love certain traditions within the Church. What we need to remember is that the traditions and rituals are meant to point us to the realities of Yahweh's dealings with us. They're meant to be a dress rehearsal, not the real thing. When the tradition or ritual becomes more important than what it was meant to point us toward, we've fallen into the trap of the spirit of religion. We humans like to build secure places where things never change, so becoming bound in religiosity can happen very easily.

We need to remember that Yahweh works his wonders through change. In our world, if we're not changing, we're not growing. To stop the changes is to limit ourselves. If a newborn baby doesn't continue to grow and gain weight, we quickly take that child to the doctor. If a tree or plant doesn't continue to grow, it's cut down. Our security needs to be in our unchanging Lord God Almighty, not in things we foolishly grasp onto.

To battle this we need to be seeking and listening to our Father's voice. We need to be hearing the Holy Spirit's instructions so we can keep ourselves moving with the rivers of living water. We need to build our spiritual sensitivity so we don't get left behind and become overly attached to what was instead of what's to come. We can't passively sit on the riverbank and watch the good stuff float by. We've got to jump into the water and start swimming. That's where the life and joy and peace promised to us are found. The religious spirit will work to make us and keep us passive, where the only time we touch the water of life is when we dangle our toes in for a few seconds.

So how do we learn to develop true Christianity instead of getting hung up in religious legalism? We first need to avoid the idea that religion is always about a set of rules and regulations which requires our ongoing conformity to be effective. The Law was meant to point the way to Yahweh. It was to be a helper which taught us his principles of how to love and serve him as our Lord. The whole of the Law, not just the Mosaic Law but the Torah, is about how to live at peace with our heavenly Father and mankind. Most legalism only stresses limited portions of the Law.

The Law was never supposed to be about blind obedience done to appease our quick to anger God. It was meant to help us see Jesus when he came and fulfilled the requirements of the Law. It's to be our teacher, showing us Yahweh's guide to right living. Blind obedience doesn't allow us to think about the spirit of the Law, it only leads us to be bound to the letter of the Law. Yahweh never asked for robots who could only respond one way. Our Father desires thinking people who choose to love and serve him.

True spirituality is empowered by the pure love of Yahweh which knows following his commandments is the best way to live. Law-oriented religion is usually more interested in the extras we add to the Law to help us stay on the straight and narrow path. The Pharisees got in deep trouble with Jesus for doing this, so why would we also consider this a good thing to be doing? Yahweh would prefer we follow him because we love him rather than because we're scared to break some rules.

True spirituality knows that the judgments we make aren't about people's souls. We're to judge fruit, to help one another overcome sin, to give a helping hand to someone who's stumbled. Legalism and religiosity don't offer this kind of help and encouragement. They normally only condemn and criticize. A truly spiritual person will do all they can to help a fellow believer when they discern or judge that the person is struggling with a sin.

True spirituality helps us have an assurance of our faith. When we know Jesus as our Savior and Lord and we're working at walking closely by his side, we can feel secure about our salvation. Law-oriented people have many doubts. They often struggle with a sense of insecurity because their religion is performance-based. We do need to know that what we're doing is based in Yahweh's standards of holy living, but not get hung up on performance alone. When we're true seekers of Yahweh, we'll be praying and studying and ministering, walking out our faith in concrete ways. We don't do these things to earn brownie points, but because we love Jesus and want to please him.

True spirituality helps us become more forgiving, merciful, and compassionate. When we're passionately following Jesus, we'll act more like him in all our dealings with other people. Law-oriented people tend to be irritating, pointing out flaws without offering any help in correcting them. They often feel vexed and perturbed about the sinful humans all around them, and they show little or no mercy. Remember, we all used to be lost and spiritually blind, too. We need to be offering the same mercy Jesus gave to us. If we're only negative in our outreach, we'll chase more people away from our churches than we'll ever encourage to join them.

True spirituality helps us be led more by the indwelling Spirit than by our individual will power. Law-oriented people are usually relying too much on their individual will power to overcome sin. One of the most obvious things the Law was given for is to teach us that we can't be made right with Yahweh outside of what he's provided to help us draw near to him. Rom 3:20, "The more we know God's Law, the clearer it becomes that we aren't obeying it." We need the help of the indwelling Holy Spirit to be aware of our sin and to rightly repent. To remain close to the Father, Son, and Spirit requires ongoing confession of our sin. We can't atone for any of it through our religious rituals.

We need to ask our Lord to remove any legalism that stubbornly clings to us. We're made for freedom. We're made for mature decision-making based on our ongoing relationship with the One True Rule Maker. We can overcome the spirit of religion by trusting and obeying Yahweh's Word. This will bring us to the place where we do what's right because we love our Lord, not just because we're afraid of the consequences if we break the rules. Pray and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal any entanglements you have with the spirit of religion. When he reveals them, repent and close off any access you've given to evil spirits, allowing them to influence you instead of the Holy Spirit.

Gal 5:1 says, "It is for freedom that Jesus has set us free." Freedom means liberated from distress, domination, or oppression. We don't have to be confused, we can find full clarity through Jesus. We can be set free from the limitations imposed through legalism. We can walk in obedience out of our love for our heavenly Father and know this wonderful freedom. We can and should be individually strong in the Spirit.

Remember the warning of Col 2:23. "Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility, and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence." Following Jesus and walking in obedient faith is the way to overcome our indulgences, not the imposing of tough standards. If we love our Father, we'll want to please him and we'll do what honors his name.

Blessings & Peace, Mike