Being the Church (18)

Philippians 3.1-11

The Religiously Dangerous

Some of you will have religious relatives who have strong family ties and traditions in churches long dead. These fossilized churches still exert a strong influence on people. The Spirit of God has long gone. There is no joy, no power, no life – just rituals, routines, special days, hierarchies, rules and obligations. Just an imprint of what used to be there. People are trapped in such systems by guilt and fear that if they let go of their traditions God will judge them. They fail to notice that lifeless religion IS God’s judgement and that they need to flee from it into the freedom in Christ. And some of them, usually your family, will expect you to feel the same guilty obligation they do.

They will exert pressure on you to tow the family line. Resist such guilty pressure. Don’t get drawn into the thinking that God will only bless and accept you if you perform religious tasks.

If you have received new birth, you have already gained Christ. Like Paul, you have laid aside any personal credits and received HIM as your total credit in God’s eyes. You are no longer trying to build a righteousness of your own that comes from keeping rules, but that which is by faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on FAITH (v9). The righteousness that comes from keeping rules and traditions is a standard way too low – it is just people comparing themselves against each other.

Elsewhere, when addressing this problem of religious effort, Paul said:

Galatians 2.1-21 For if I rebuild what I tore down (i.e. if I try to build a reputation based on religious effort), I prove myself to be a transgressor (because I can’t even keep my own standard). For through the law I died to the law, so that I might live to God. I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.

And…

Gal 5:1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.

You must not submit to the slavery of religious duty – even though your family demands it.

However, we are not called to insult these religious people or family members – and although Paul calls them ‘dogs’ he is not using the term as people use bad language to ‘dis’ others they hate. It is the danger that their actions and beliefs pose to your spiritual life that Paul is warning you against. Jesus called Peter ‘Satan’ once. He didn’t do it because he hated Peter or was trying to use the ultimate insult against him. He saw that Satan was at work confusing and tempting Peter’s weakness. Likewise, we are not to call those who trouble us insulting names – but we also mustn't be ignorant fools who fail to recognise the danger when others try to draw us back into religious efforts.