Rules without relationship eventually lead to rebellion.
Recently the spirit of the Lord has led me to study a portion of scripture which has afforded me many great truths that I desire to share with you. It is my intention to bring to you a series of blogs where I will break down Romans 14: 1-5 and detail Paul’s instrumental teaching as it pertains to Christian liberty. I think it will help understand why some Christians only do well in an environment of rules and why others who have such great liberty, may sometimes find themselves struggling to live right while proclaiming they enjoy a “great relationship”.
Because this will be a multi-part blog, I will not spend a lot of time on fancy endings. We will just end at 700 words or so and pick it up again the next time I write to you. With that said, it is probable taht no single blog will hold the entire counsel of God. Please give me the grace in this space to place each truth side by side over the course a few days in order that we may see this truth in it’s entirety for what it should be–illuminating!
In simple terms, there are basically two ways to govern our lives. We can be lead by the liberty of the Spirit-which is granted to us by the Spirit of God, for we know that where the Spirit of the Lord is there is always liberty. Or we can be kept at bay by rules. It is not liberty. It is actually a form of rigidity.
Sometime rules come from the Word of God, and we know that these rules can never be contrary to the leading of the Spirit, for the Holy Spirit would never contradict what the Bible says. We also have rules placed over us by our God-ordained authority, which again are almost always consistent with the leading of the Spirit. However, we often find that others who are not directly over us want to place rules over us or feel that we should personally impose more rules upon ourselves. This is where we must proceed with caution. Why you ask? Because rigidity without liberty is stupidity!
Don’t get me wrong, rigidity (that is to say rules) is good. Having boundaries and setting personal standards that we refuse to compromise are integral to our Christian stability, especially when our walk with God may seem dormant or distant. But they are only beneficial if they are spiritual bumper to keep us IN Christ.
But, again I say, when rigidity infringes upon my Christian liberty it is stupidity. Jesus Christ came to make us free. We are to live within boundaries, but when our freedom is dependant upon those boundaries we are bound, not free. Therefore, it is counterproductive to allow ourselves to be made free by rules that squelch the liberty bestowed upon us by the Spirit of God. We are to be made free by a relationship that leads us to obey all of His rules out of appreciation and selflessness. Thus, we must strive to strike a healthy balance between the two.
Romans 14: 1 says, Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, but not to doubtful disputations. In this verse, is Paul referring to the faith of justification (believing that Jesus died for your sins), or is he referring to the faith of sanctification (allowing Christ to live his life through you)? Well, friend, he must be referring to sanctification because the faith of justification is either all or nothing. You cannot be weak in your salvation! So Paul must be speaking about those who are weak in their ability to yield to the sanctified Christian life. Keeping that truth in mind, Paul goes on to tell us that we are to receive those who are weak-those who struggle. The weak in faith are more often then not those who allow rigidity to dominate over their Christian liberty. That is to say, they focus on obeying rules and boundaries rather than on the intimacy of their walk and the selfless sacrifice of their personal agenda’s. This ultimately hinders their relationship with the Lord and limits the liberty and power that is found in the abundant, Spirit-filled life.
Furthermore, Paul tells us to receive these weak, rules dominated people of rigidity, but not to doubtful disputations. This means that we are to embrace these rigid Christians not for the sake of argument or criticism, but rather to show them something better-a better way! It is our responsibility to demonstrate, and even teach, the Spirit-filled life of liberality to those “weak in faith” (rigidity dominated Christians).
We that strive to live the liberated Christian life can often learn from those who lean toward rigidity, but we do not stand to gain nearly as much as those whom Romans 14: 1 is referring to. It is by our influence that the spiritually rigid will ultimately discover the freedom found only through the liberty afforded by the Holy Spirit!
Are rules wrong? Of course not! Are rules necessary? Of course they are! But rules without relationship eventually lead to rebellion.
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