Those Promoting Self-Made Religion

[Christsfreeservant]

“Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.​

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“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 2:16-23 ESV)​

Now, in context, this is speaking of the Judaizers who were trying to convince the Christians that they needed to add on to their faith in Jesus Christ some of the Old Covenant liturgical, ceremonial, and dietary laws and restrictions, including the requirement for circumcision. And Paul addressed this much in the book of Galatians, but also here in Colossians, and I know in Romans also, and perhaps in some of his other writings, too. For it was the time of the transition from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant.

Now we are way past that time in our day and time, and yet we still have Judaizers among us who are trying to convince Christians to be more like Jews and to participate in some of the Old Covenant laws and customs to enhance their Christian faith. But that is anti-biblical. And a modern-day term for this might be “legalism,” i.e. the practice of doing things not required by God and not by the Scriptures, which are external only, and which have nothing to do with a change of heart and mind toward the Lord.

I am going to include here the practice of attending weekly “church” services if those services are based in the traditions of man and culture and religious practices not of God, but of man, some of them which are carry overs from the Old Covenant and some from the Roman Catholic church. For many are still seeing the building as the church, the house of God, but God doesn’t live in buildings. He lives in human hearts. So we who believe in Jesus are that building, and we are its living stones with Jesus as our cornerstone.

Therefore, the church is not a building. It is not a church denomination. It is not a business. It is not a corporation under the state. It is not a civic center and/or a social club. But this is what the church, the body of Christ, has largely been turned into in practice, at least here in America. And so many of them are following liturgical and ceremonial customs which God does not require. And many of them, too, are marketing these “churches” to the world and thus they are altering the gospel to make it more acceptable to flesh.

And one of the tricks (deceptions) that they use in the altering of the gospel is to use passages such as this which are clearly speaking on the subject of the liturgical, ceremonial, and dietary laws and restrictions of the Old Covenant, including circumcision, which the Judaizers were trying to push the Christians into adding on to their faith. But they take these Scriptures out of context to teach that we no longer have to obey the commands of the Lord and that no works are required of us by God. And that’s not true!

So, on one end we have the Judaizers and the legalists who are trying to convince us that we need to hold on to some of those Old Covenant ceremonial laws and customs or that we have to participate in certain legalistic religious customs that have been passed down from generation to generation, usually based on Scriptures taken out of context. And on the other end we have those who are trying to convince us that God requires nothing of us in the way of obedience and in the way of works at all.

And neither end has any value in stopping the indulgences of the flesh, which was the whole purpose for why Jesus died on that cross. For he died so that we would die to sin and live to righteousness, and so that we will live for him and no longer for self. And he shed his blood for us to buy us back for God (to redeem us) out of our slavery to sin so that we will now honor God with our lives in walks of obedience to his commands and in holy living. For if sin is what we obey and not God, we will not inherit eternal life.

So don’t be taken captive by legalism and by this idea that we need to be more like Jews in following some of their religious customs and ceremonies. And don’t be taken captive to libertinism, either, which is telling you that you can believe in Jesus once, have all your sins forgiven, be on your way to heaven, that nothing can take it away from you, but regardless of how you live. Both are wrong! Both are anti-biblical and not of God. Both are self-made religion and not the pure religion of the truth of the gospel.

So, please know that faith in Jesus Christ requires obedience to our Lord and holy living if we want to be in relationship with the Lord and have the hope of salvation from sin and eternal life with God when our Lord returns to take his faithful ones to be with him for eternity. And we who believe in Jesus Christ are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared in advance that we should walk in them. So there are things that God says not to taste and handle, but they are things which are sinful.

[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]

Draw Me Close To You

Donnie McClurkin

Draw me close to You
Never let me go
I lay it all down again
To hear You say that I'm Your friend

You are my desire
And no one else will do
'Cause nothing else can take Your place
To feel the warmth of Your embrace

Help me find a way
Bring me back to You
Bring me back, oh Jesus

You're all I want
You're all I've ever needed
You're all I want
Help me know You are near

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