There is a grave danger in organized religion which promotes obedience and allegiance to Jesus Christ through the legislation of morality, the performance of good deeds, without stressing this obedience in utter dependency to the voice of the Holy Spirit.
There is an equally great danger in building churches or promoting Christian programs outside the direct leading of the voice of the Holy Spirit.
As Christians, if we seek to build our churches by self-reliance in our mental strategies, or create religious programs without the wisdom which God’s voice affords, we have fallen back in to the law.
As Christians if we expect sinners to repent by legislating morality upon them, we are promoting the law. There is nothing wrong in instructing the sinner in the way that she should go. I do that all of the time. However, we cannot expect the sinner to change until he has a “ born again of the spirit” encounter with the Lord Jesus.
Let us remember the two basic premises of Part One of our Romans seven teaching.
The law, as Paul described it in Romans seven, is the all-inclusive set of principles given to humanity by God, to show it its “hyper sinfulness.”
Without a law to point out a wrong doing, a person remains innocent of it.
Whenever a person chooses to obey God by the flesh, also called human effort, self-reliance, or “independent of God” mental strategies, he energize or activates sin which is pointed out as sinful, by the law.
Only when a person obeys God by the voice of the Holy Spirit is sin NOT activated.
We will discuss this in the days to come.
Galatians 5:16 This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
The danger of organized religion is that it stimulates its parishioners or clergy into religious works, or promoting a life moral conscience, without teaching them utter dependency upon the strategies or grace brought by the Holy Spirit. This approach forces the person to work in the flesh in order to obey God’s laws and energizes the passions of sin which are by the law. I think that one reason why we see such a flagrant abuse of pornography and pedophilia amongst Roman Catholic priests, is this very tenant. God has called very few people to a life of singlehood. To force a human being to remain unmarried in the name of being pleasing to God, without His calling, causes that person to fall back into the law and promotes hyper sinfulness.
To force Christian legislation upon human beings who have not had an encounter with Jesus Christ will shove the law upon them and surely bring out more hyper sinfulness.
For pastors or priests to build churches or ministries without dependency upon the wisdom or heavenly blueprints which the voice of the Holy Spirit brings, is a enormous catalyst for the activation of sin which comes through the law. I would rather not even build a church! To birth something dysfunctional which will beget even more dysfunctionality , is nothing to feel proud of. This is the very thing which causes many to be turned off to God, church, or Christians.
I believe that a church, ministry or any religious organization that does not rely on Holy Spirit or the manifestation of spiritual gifts, is one of the greatest sin manufacturing entities on the globe. It squarely connects with attempting to please God, by the law, in the flesh, thus galvanizing the passions of sins. For those who have this mind set, I would encourage you not to start a church or ministry lest you beget a legalistic sin laden flock that will turn off many.
We will continue tomorrow.
