Asceticism, A Corruption of the Truth

Transcript

GR 983
9/07/1997
Asceticism, A Corruption of the Truth
Colossians 2:20-23
Gil Rugh

Our death with Christ freed us from all obligations to the Mosaic law.

We're in the book of Colossians in our Sunday morning studies together, and I want to return there with you today. Colossians chapter two. At the heart of the book of Colossians is a concern on the part of the Apostle Paul regarding some false teaching, heretical teaching, that is confronting the believers at Colossae and churches in that part of the world, what would have been known as Asia Minor. He's begun to deal with some of the characteristics of this false teaching in verse 16, and really, verses 16-23 give us some of the details of the teaching that was facing the Colossians and threatening to lure them away from faithfulness of devotion to Christ.

We've noted that this teaching has three elements interwoven together to make up the heresy. The first one that we looked at, the first element, was legalism, in verses 16 and 17. And legalism is basically the presentation of rules and regulations as necessary either for salvation or for sanctification. Often it includes attempts to put the Christian under the Mosaic law or parts of the Mosaic law. So what we have are external rules and regulations to which we must conform if we are to be holy and godly.

Another element included in this heresy at Colossae is the element of mysticism, which is covered in verses 18 and 19. And mysticism is basically the belief that knowledge of God and spiritual reality is attained through subjective experience. Mysticism looks for truth, for spiritual reality, in subjective feelings rather than in the objective truth of God's Word. This is a very prominent element being pushed on the church today. People want to share their experiences and make them foundational for conduct and behavior. In the charismatic realm, we have men who claim God spoke to them, an angel told them, and then you are supposed to accept as truth from God what they claim as an experience. This is nothing new. It goes back to what Paul was dealing with at Colossae.


Then a third element that we will be looking at in verses 20 to 23 was an ascetic bent or twist - asceticism. And asceticism is...well, let me read you what one person described it as: "asceticism is that religious philosophy which teaches that depriving the physical body of its normal desires is a means of achieving greater holiness and approval from God." In other words, you become more acceptable to God, you become more holy, more godly by depriving yourself, by depriving your physical body, by even subjugating your physical body to painful experiences. And this would include all kinds of practices - fasting, celibacy, the monastic lifestyle of the monks and nuns who withdraw from the world. All these kinds of things would be included in the asceticism that would say you can be more acceptable to God, you can be a more holy person, if you deprive your body of certain physical things--comfort, food, and so on.

With these elements, you have to mix in a liberal dose of biblical truth and stir it all together like you're making a cake or a salad. And it's the biblical truth that will make it deceptive and alluring to God's people. It will have the ring of truth to it, but it's placed in a mixture, the truth of God, that totally corrupts and removes the power. Paul described such people to Timothy when he said they are "holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power." And then he instructs Timothy: "Avoid such men as these." That was 2 Timothy, chapter 3, verse 5. Obviously, these elements in the heresy that's confronting the church at Colossae were blended together. I don't want to say we're making a firm line between the different elements that I've mentioned, but it seems these characteristics surface in what Paul is saying here. But they overlap; they are mixed together.

In verses 20 to 23, Paul wants to deal with the foolishness and inconsistency of godliness being achieved by some form of deprivation imposed upon the physical body. It is a denial of the finished work of Christ on the cross. It is a denial of the provision of God for godly living. Note how verse 20 begins: "If you have died with Christ..." In the Greek text, this condition does not imply Paul questions whether they have. It's called a first-class condition, and it's a condition that assumes something. It's like I might say to you, "If you came to church today, you probably saw it was raining." Well, obviously you came to church today--you're sitting here. So, I'm not expressing I doubt whether you came, at least, physically. If you did come, you saw it was cloudy, or depending on what time you left, maybe it was raining. That's it. It assumes something. If you did come to church, and you did, obviously, then this is the follow-through. "If you have died with Christ," and they have, because he dealt with this back up in verse 11, where he said “you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ; having been buried with Him in baptism...You were also raised up with Him." That element is true; you died with Christ, you were identified with Him. That's when the body of the flesh was removed. You were identified with Him in His death, and thus buried with Him, and thus raised with Him to newness of life. So if you've died with Christ, and as a believer, you have.

The problem is they were in danger of forgetting the significance of the salvation that they had in Christ. It involved being identified with Him in His death, but that is more than just paying the penalty for our sin, “The wages of sin is death.” Because of our sin, we are the enemies of God, under His just condemnation, doomed to an eternal hell. When I believe in Jesus Christ as my Savior, trusting Him alone as the One who loved me and died for me, I am identified with Christ in His death. The wages of sin is death, but I died. When did I die? I died when Christ died. That's the picture. But the salvation I have in Christ and my identification with Him in His death did more than just pay the penalty for my sin. It set me free from the slavery and bondage to sin, to Satan, to the world. So not only did it pay the penalty for my sin, but it freed me from the obligations that were impressed upon me. It set me free. We'll see more of this as we move along. The point is: the salvation I have in Christ is to have a profound effect on the way I live my life.


I was reading some biographical information on a popular Bible teacher this past week, and it was noting about this man that he has that tremendous ability to make the truth of God practical. Now, I have to say, those kind of statements grate on me. What are we saying? That without the tremendous gifts of this individual the truth of God would be impractical? That is an artificial line that may be helpful in certain situations, but causes great confusion. The truth of God shapes my life, my practice, my conduct. All I do is to flow out of what I am in Christ.

So, "if you've died with Christ", and you have if you are a believer in Him, you've died to the elementary principles of the world; literally, you've died from the elementary principles of the world, you've been removed from them. This expression, "the elementary principles of the world" was used up in verse 8 as Paul gave an introductory warning to the dangers confronting the Colossians. "See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.” We'll see that Paul is picking up the elements he mentioned in verse 8 in these closing verses. The elementary principles of the world we saw there in comparing it with Galatians chapter 4, and it referenced primarily to the Mosaic law and its commandments and instructions and then to the traditions and laws that the Jews had developed out of that law with their own additions. Our death with Christ freed us from all obligations to the Mosaic law, and naturally, if it freed us from all obligations to the law which God had given, it freed us from all obligations to the laws that men had added to the laws God had given, and their elaboration of that whole system.

Turn back to Romans chapter 7. Now it's important we keep these truths before us. I get impressed as we work through the book of Colossians biblically, when we come into this area relating to the law and so on, how much of the New Testament returns to the dangers that confront the church through the imposition of the law and related matters on believers. Romans deals with it, Corinthians deals with it, also Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians, James, Hebrews, Peter. I mean it just pervades the letters of the New Testament. And a warning to us: the devil doesn't come up with new devices, he just recycles the old ones with some, perhaps, different clothes on them. In Romans chapter 7, Paul said, verse 1: "Do you not know, brethren (for I am speaking to those who know the law), that the law has jurisdiction over a person as long as he lives?" Then he gives an example of marriage. "The married woman is bound by law to her husband while he is living; but if her husband dies, she is released from the law concerning the husband. So then if, while her husband is living she is joined to another man, she shall be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from the law, so that she is not an adulteress, though she is joined to another man. Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, that we might bear fruit for God." Verse 6: "But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter." The letter refers to the Mosaic law, which was inscribed in letters on stone.

You see here the picture. When we were identified with Christ--Romans chapter 6, is the fullest elaboration of our identification with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection. When we died with Christ, we died to the law. To impose that on God's people is like taking a person whose husband or wife has died; they have now married another, but you're trying to get them to live under the obligations of the former relationship. Well, you say, that would be foolish, that would be destructive, that would be contrary to what is the intention of the new relationship formed with the new person. So it is in our relationship to Christ. We died to the law. That was the old spouse. No relationship, no obligation anymore. Now joined to Christ, living under a new standard and a new power, by the grace of God.


So come back to Colossians chapter 2. "If you have died with Christ", verse 20, "to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourselves to decrees...?" Now, obviously, the Colossians were still physically living in the world. Paul's writing them a physical letter, as a physical church, in a physical city, Colossae. They are living as though they had not been transformed spiritually. They are living according to worldly standards and worldly ideals, not God's. Even though they continue to live in the world, in one sense they are not living in the world, as those who are trying by the methods the world would have, to become acceptable before God. They not only died with Christ, they were raised with Him to newness of life, is the point. Verse 12 of Colossians 2: "having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him...”

Everyone who dies with Christ is buried with Christ, is raised up with Christ. So once you have the penalty for sin paid, you have the transformed life begun. That's what he's talking about. You're raised up to new life. Why are you trying to live the old life, in the old way, with the old obligations, the old relationships? You are a new person, bound now to a new master, to a new husband, Jesus Christ, and thus a new power. Why, as though living in the world, and thus not made new and living in a new realm, as far as motivation and power, do you submit yourselves to decrees? This is what he means by living in the world. Why are you trying now to conduct your life in a manner pleasing to God by obeying external standards, external rules and regulations? We get the English family of words dogma, dogmatize, dogmatic from the word translated decrees here. They are putting themselves under the decrees, the rules, regulations, dogmas, of the law and the regulations of men. This amounts to a return to bondage, trying to return to the old relationship in the analogy of Romans chapter 7.


Back up to Galatians chapter 4. And as you are aware, the whole book of Galatians is given to this issue of the influence of the Judaizers, whom I would understand to be promoting basically the same heresy at Colossae. Galatians chapter 4 uses a little different analogy here--the child, in verse 1: Now I say, as long as an heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave although he is owner of everything, but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by the father. So also we, while we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world.” So you see the picture. Just like in Romans he used an analogy of husband and wife, here he uses the picture of a child and parents. When a child is young, he lives under the authority of the parents.

Now I realize in our society, this is almost a non-understandable illustration because everything is geared around the children. But here we're told the children are no more than the slaves. In fact, sometimes your children will say what? "I'm just like a slave in this house." And what should we say? "Oh, dear, that's not true, we don't want you to feel that way." No, our response is, "That's exactly right. Don't you forget it." At least, that's what Paul says here.

Well, that's aside. “While we were children...” So the spiritual connection is the way God's people were, if you will, before the coming of Christ. This is why in Galatians he uses the analogy that the law was our tutor, our schoolmaster, in chapter 3, verse 24, to bring us to Christ. But now Christ has come, so chapter 4, verse 4: “When the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son...,” to bring redemption to those under the law. So while we were children, verse 3, “we were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world,” a form of servitude; we didn't have freedom. We have verse 6: “God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!' Therefore, you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God. However, at that time, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those things which are by nature no gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again? You observe days and months and seasons and years. I'm worried I might have labored over you in vain.” Maybe you never did understand the grace of God. Were you truly saved? What's the cause of this confusion?

So you see, to want to go back under the rules and regulations of the law or any rules and regulations that man might come up with is to go back under slavery and bondage, which we could never carry out anyway, which was the problem in the law. So we understand the relationship and the change. I scratch my head, and there's Christians today wanting to say, "Oh, we are Christians, now we're under the law." And you can make, you know, an argument that sounds good. Oh, that makes sense, now we're God's people, and the law was a revelation of God's character. And as God's people, don't we want to have God's character, and wasn't the law the revelation of His character? So, it is different. Now that we're God's people, we really want to keep the law, and we should keep the law.

That may make great logic, but as we're going to see, the wisdom of men is not the wisdom of God. It's bad theology, because if you really understand the work of God with the law, the law served its purpose. Its purpose was complete when Christ came. And we've already studied the law, that it was a unit, so you can't break off pieces and say, well, this part of the law continues, and we're still under this part. The law was a unit. It served its purpose. It's done. The Mosaic law is complete. So to want to go back is to want to go back to a time of slavery. You know, it's like, you're here as an adult, and you say, I want to back to when I was four. Well, it just isn't possible. Relationships have changed. That can't be. And so we as Christians need to realize that that is the case.

You know, this appeals to all of us. When I used to go to Philadelphia, when my folks were still in Philadelphia, I'd say, "We're going back home to Philadelphia." I mean, I've been living here for 28 years. I mean, I've lived away from there far longer than I lived there. So what do you mean, you're going back home? Well, there's something in our heart, isn't there? Home is home. I've found this with people in the religious realm as well. I'm interested to track people, how often people tend to go back to their former church, or their former religious experience. There's something they identify with that. There can be a good sense in that--places where we were saved, where we were first taught the Word. That has a place in our heart. I think of our home church. “That was the place we first were taught the Word of God and grounded there.” But if we're not careful, those kind of tugs that are “natural” to our physical realm lead us astray when it comes to spiritual reality.

And so it is, when wanting to go back to the comfort of the rules and regulations. Oh, I like the form that we had when we were Lutherans. I like reciting the Lord's prayer every day. I don't feel like we've worshiped if we don't do these things. I say, wait a minute, grow up. And I just use Lutherans, please. That's true for any of our backgrounds--that's not the issue. We understand these physical things and physical forms are not the issue any longer. But there's comfort in the form, in the regulations, in the rules. The problem is, it's not God's plan. It's man's ideas.


Come back to Colossians 2. He gives some examples of what he is talking about here, and it moves beyond just legalism and the law that he's already dealt with or the creeds he's focused on. He gives some examples: "Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!" And it gets into the realm of food primarily, food and drink. The Colossian heresy included more than this, as we saw up in verse 16. It included observing certain days and festivals, and so on. But here he uses food as the example and the depriving of the body. These are all negative things here. Don't do this, don't touch this, don't eat that, as though you become more spiritual, more acceptable before God, by abstaining from certain foods, depriving yourself of certain things that your body might enjoy or desire. I would enjoy this food. Well, then you become more spiritual by denying your body that food. That's discipline. That has an appearance, of wow, yeah. And we do admire people. Boy, look how disciplined they are. And boy, they don't give in to their body, they don't eat dessert, they don't eat red meat, they don't eat vegetables, they don't eat, you know, and somehow limiting certain foods or drink become a mark of spirituality. And if you would eat like I eat, you would be more spiritual. And sometimes we look with people who “aren't in shape,” we say, Boy, their body's the temple of the Holy Spirit, and they've let it go, I would never do that. And we're proud we're not like other people.

My goodness, is this what it's about, me being proud that I don't eat certain things that other people eat, or don't drink certain things that other people drink? Pride's fine? The issue is not eating certain foods, as though depriving my body made me more spiritual, when it's pride that defiles me on the inside. We'll come back and tie these together. I think you see the point, but let's move through the text.


He says in verse 22 which shows the foolishness of this, referring to things which you handle, you taste, you touch, they all refer to things destined to perish with the using. These are rules and regulations relating to the perishable. I mean, you eat the food, it's done, it's gone. Its usefulness is over; it's a perishable item. Now, how can that make you better spiritually? It can't.

Jesus used the same argument. Come back to Mark chapter 7. Jesus was even more blunt in His use of the argument. Mark chapter 7 is the foundational passage on this subject in the gospels. Jesus addresses the issue of traditions, laws, food, drink, things related to the body in Mark chapter 7. We've been here a number of times, but just look at verse 15. "There is nothing outside the man which going into him can defile him..." So that takes care of all food and drink, right? Don't tell me, when I have apple pie a la mode, fat-full—no no-fat ice cream on it--the real stuff, that I have defiled myself spiritually. Now, I'm not saying it's good for me physically or not, that's not an issue in the spiritual realm. It's not a spiritual issue. It doesn't make me more holy or less holy. What you put in your mouth does not defile you spiritually. We're not saying that therefore everything is good for you physically. But it doesn't defile you spiritually. Smoking may be bad for your health, but putting a cigar or a cigarette in your mouth doesn't defile you spiritually.

Now, some of you are going to go away, saying, "I'm done with Gil, he advocates smoking." I'm saying what you put in your mouth does not defile you spiritually. And, no, I don't have a secret habit of smoking. So I'm not trying to justify that. And, yes, I did have ice cream yesterday, so... Look in Mark 7 to verse 18: “And He said to them,” (the disciples don't understand what He's talking about) it's not what goes in your mouth, but what comes out of your heart that defiles you. The disciples say, Explain this. What's Jesus' response? Verse 18: He said to them, Are you too so uncomprehending? “Do you not see that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach and is eliminated?” Literally, is passed into the latrine. Is it clear? The food you eat passes through the physical, the digestive process, and out. It never goes into the heart, the spiritual person, the inner man. So it can't defile that. These are things destined to perish, that's what Jesus said. You put them in your mouth, their usefulness is done, they become waste. So things destined to perish do not impact you spiritually to make you more holy or less holy. Material things like food and drink don't have the power to change you spiritually, for better or for worse.

Listen to what Paul said to the Corinthians, same kind of battles. "But food will not commend us to God; we are neither the worse if we do not eat, nor the better if we do eat,” 1 Corinthians 8:8. Spiritually, it's a non-issue. Now, that doesn't mean you have to eat everything. Fine. You want to be a vegetarian, fine. If you want to only eat red meat, fine. And you can argue over whether this is good for you physically or not; you can't argue over whether it's good for you spiritually. Be careful. We tend to convolute it around, because I think my convictions ought to be your convictions. And if I can relate them to spiritual reality, I can impress them upon you more strongly. But the fact of the matter is you're not better or worse on the basis of what you eat or drink. It's not a spiritual matter. So keep it out of that realm.


Back to Colossians chapter 2. So the depriving of the body will not make you more spiritual. We're going to get into some areas here that I hope we track with because we tend to bring the physical in--if you are a disciplined person in the physical realm, you will be a more spiritual person. If you've got your body disciplined, you will be a more spiritual person. There is a place for discipline in the spiritual life, but the physical things are not the matter. Discipline in spiritual things are important. He goes on: “(these all refer to things destined to perish with the using) --in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men," Colossians 2:22. Now that last statement connects back to verse 20. “If you've died with Christ...why, as though you were still living in the world, do you submit yourselves to decrees... And all these decrees are in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men?” I mean, men have come up with these decrees, and they are imposing them. This statement goes back to Isaiah 29:13. You don't have to turn there because we have the reference here, but Isaiah 29:13 particularly quoted from the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, says: “But in vain do they worship Me, teaching the commandments and doctrines of men.” Jesus quoted that in Mark chapter 7, verse 7. “In vain do they worship Me, teaching the commandments and doctrines of men.” So Paul picks it up. What's the problem here? Well, these rules and regulations are according to the commandments and teachings of men. And as Jesus developed it out of Isaiah, it was a problem in Isaiah's day, 800 years before, it's a problem in Jesus' day, and it's a problem now as Paul writes. You can't worship God according to the doctrines and traditions of men.

I was reading an article in the morning paper, editorial page of the Omaha paper, and the man was saying, 'Finally, we're coming to resolve some of our differences, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church has just entered into an agreement with some other denominations.' Finally, they have retracted a position taken in 1514 in connection with the Reformation. This is wonderful. No, it's tragic. We are accepting the traditions and rules and regulations of men, and everybody agrees this is better, so it becomes the pattern rather than the authority of the Word of God. “In vain do they worship Me, teaching as precepts the commandments and teachings of men.” These things are in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men.

Up in verse 8 that was the contrast. “See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ.” All of that stands contrary to what God intends to accomplish in Christ. Verse 23: "These are matters which have, to be sure, the appearance of wisdom..." These external restrictions of the body, this discipline of the body, has the appearance of wisdom. Paul warned about not being taken captive through philosophy in verse 8. Philosophy is the love of wisdom. Here there is the appearance of wisdom. That's why human logic does not necessarily build good theology. Theology has to come from accurately handling divine revelation.

I used to go over to one of the groups in the city here once a year to a class that I was invited to, to present my position and our church's position on certain basic doctrines. This is a group that adheres to portions of the Mosaic law as binding upon people. I have to say, I looked at the teacher, and he was in better physical condition than me and very restricted in diet and didn't eat and drink certain things and that. There's a certain admiration of them. There's a certain wisdom there. Maybe that does evidence a discipline of life. I mean, maybe these rules and regulations aren't required, but they can't hurt you, can they? And that kind of discipline would probably help you, and pretty soon we find reasons to join the two together. They have the appearance of wisdom. It makes sense. It's logical, but it's not good theology. It has the appearance of wisdom because anything that moves you away from just the foundation of what you have in Christ, "in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge," according to verse 3, is contrary to Christ. These are matters, to be sure, that have the appearance of wisdom.


Three descriptions here: "in self-made religion" means willful religion, religion of the will. Self-made religion gives you the idea. These people worship according to their own desires, what they have devised. The worship of the religion they have chosen. "Self-abasement." We saw this word in verse 18. It's a normal word for humility, but it's a humility that they have taken on themselves. Let's face it, we just had a major Roman Catholic nun die. It gives all the appearance of humility because of the way she deprived herself and what she devoted herself to. Now there is truly a humble person, but the doing of these physical things does not make you a humble person. That is not the mark of true humility. What she chose to give up and deprive herself of, the way she chose to live, does not necessarily mean she was a godly or a humble person. In fact, she's one of the leaders in the Roman Catholic Church for encouraging the pope to appoint Mary as co-mediatrix, co-redeemer, with Christ. And, yes, there are more than one in the evangelical camp who have promoted her as a godly person, a true believer. I say, something's wrong here. You know what happens? We begin to confuse self-made religion, self-humility, the deprivation of the body, this form of asceticism, a nun's withdrawing from the normal life, doing without and say, That's godliness, that's holiness. But we must accept God's description. “Self-made religion and self-abasement.”

"Severe treatment of the body" gets into this whole realm. And again, we are impressed with people who discipline their body. They whip themselves into shape. They will do without--cults and sex--deprive themselves. I mean you go to lunch with someone, and they don't even drink coffee or tea. You say, Boy, they've got it over me. And all this other stuff and you say, well boy, if we could only have some of that kind of discipline in Christianity. For what? As Christians, we begin to forget what true holiness, what true godliness is. We say, Boy, we need that kind of discipline. Why? If my body was in better shape, would I be more godly? If I had rippling stomach muscles instead of the present condition--there's ripples, but they're more like the waves, not like muscles--would I be more godly? Would I be more holy? It has nothing to do with it. Absolutely nothing. If I don't drink coffee because it has caffeine, will I be more holy? It has absolutely nothing to do with it.

So the “severe treatment of the body.” If I would go home now and sit at the bottom of the steps and meditate and not move for the next four hours, would I be more godly? No. Well, that would be hard on my body. So? You keep in mind, your body is ultimately destined to perish, unless the Lord intervenes, is it not? Dust to dust. That's what's going to happen. There's a proper use of the physical body, I'm not denying that, but I'm saying godliness is not produced by doing physical things. So in the severe treatment of the body, these things “are of no value against fleshly indulgence.” That summarizes it. They are of “no value against fleshly indulgence.”


Now there's a place for learning discipline. We raise our children; we want them to learn discipline. And that's all fine, but something happens, I'm afraid. Sometimes we begin to blur the issue and imply that we want them to learn discipline because they'll be more godly people. Well, it's only discipline applied in the right sense.

I played baseball when I was growing up. That was the sport. I learned a certain discipline doing that. That did not make me a more godly person. Quite frankly, it didn't even help me be a more godly person because godliness is taking place in a different realm. It was fun to do. It was relaxing. I need to keep that in mind as I encourage my kids and grandkids. Oh, I want them to get involved in everything they can like this. Well, those things aren't necessarily wrong. Just like it's not wrong to decide not to eat something. It's not wrong if you want to run three miles a day, but it won't make you more spiritual. It doesn't contribute to godliness. We have to keep things on the proper track. That's how the church gets off track. People think, oh good, my kids are involved in all the sports they can get in, and that kind of discipline will really be good for their Christian life. No, that kind of discipline will do nothing for their Christian life. Only discipline in the realms that the Scripture talks about will deal with the Christian life.

Turn over to 1 Timothy, chapter 4, quickly. You only have to agree with me where I'm biblical. 1 Timothy, chapter 4: “But the Spirit explicitly says” (verse 1) “that in the latter times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron...” You get the idea Paul feels strongly about this under the inspiration of the Spirit? “Men who forbid marriage, advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude; for it is sanctified by means of the Word of God and prayer.”

So you see, I set myself against God when I tell you, You'll be a more spiritual person if you don't eat that. You'll be more godly if you maintain a celibate life. That is not only foolishness, that is contrary and opposed to the will of God and promoted by those who are opposed to God. “In pointing out these things to the brethren, you will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, constantly nourished on the words of faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following." That's where I do apply discipline--nourishing myself on the Word of God and the spiritual realities that He has placed as obligatory upon me that are carried out in the power of the indwelling Spirit. Not conforming to external rules and regulations of men. “Have nothing to do with worldly fables fit only for old women. On the other hand, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness..." Now note the contrast. “...for bodily discipline is only of little profit...” Paul doesn't see bodily discipline and godly discipline as overlapping. He sees them as different things. The church today has lost the biblical distinction. "Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness; for bodily discipline is only of little profit, but godliness is profitable for all things, since it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come."

I say this because I want my children and my grandchildren to grow up knowing that just because you discipline yourself in the physical realm, doesn't mean you're disciplining yourself for godliness. The two are not related. And just because you have discipline in the physical realm doesn't mean you'll be disciplined godly. And some of the most effective and most godly people I've known were flabby. So, I'm trying to emulate them. Without intending it, we have adopted a heresy that the Bible clearly condemns, and we raise our children in this mold, and we are thankful that they are involved in these wholesome things. And that's fine. It didn't do me any damage to go play ball, but I'm glad my dad didn't imply that that had some kind of spiritual benefit. In fact, he said I couldn't play on Sunday morning or evening, or Wednesday night, or Saturday night because the youth group did something on Saturday night. And you have to learn that the things that are important in your life are the things that will contribute to you spiritually. But now we've got it all blended together. And we're raising a generation that thinks somehow godliness and physical soundness and discipline are intertwined. So we raise a generation that's better in athletics than they are in the Word of God. I wonder, something seems wrong. Something's desperately wrong. We've adopted the Colossian heresy. These things are of no value in dealing with the flesh.

What do you have to do to deal with the flesh? Kill it! That's the only solution. Kill it! Galatians 5. Galatians 5 talks about the battle that goes on between the flesh and the spirit. He talks about the deeds of the flesh, beginning in verse 19. Talks about the fruit of the Spirit in verse 22. Well, how do you get rid of the deeds of the flesh and produce the fruit of the Spirit? Discipline. Wrong. Death! Verse 24. “Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have disciplined the flesh?” No! “...have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.” We've come into life through the ministry of the Spirit, and we walk by the same means. You're not saved by the Spirit and now kept by your bodily disciplines and obeying rules and regulations. Same pattern. We live by faith, both in our initial salvation and our ongoing life. Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh. That's what has to be done. So, we come around. These things are of no value against fleshly indulgence. We just think they do.

I was reading an account of H. A. Ironside. Some of you are familiar with him through his writings. For years he pastored Moody Memorial Church. He relates an account where he was struggling with pride. Someone told him that he ought to print out Bible verses, have them like a sandwich board, in front of him and behind him, and walk down the street, proclaiming these verses out loud, and Ironside did it. He said after he did that, the first thought that came to his mind, "There is not another man in this city committed enough to do what I just did." What is he saying? Pride overwhelmed him. He was going to discipline himself to defeat the flesh by doing something physical. The first thought that came to his mind when he's done, was what? I'm the most spiritual man in the city. How often have I done something like that? You've done something like that? You've done something, you've been used of the Lord, and immediately the thought comes across your mind, what? Nobody else in this church is spiritual enough to have done that. Lord, I just washed it all away. You don't take care of the flesh by physical means; the flesh has to die. Now, if you've died with Christ, why are you trying now to live by men's rules and regulations?


You understand what we're saying here pertains to salvation. You can't be saved by coming to this church. That's a physical form. You can't be saved by being baptized at this church. That's a physical form. You can't be saved by giving your money. That's a physical form. You can't be saved by disciplining your body and going to prayers every morning. That's a physical activity. You need spiritual transformation. You've got to die. How do you do that? You recognize the truthfulness of what God has said: that you are a sinner, separated from God, and under condemnation; that God's Son Jesus Christ came to earth to pay the penalty for your sin, which is death, and He did that when He died on the cross. You must recognize you are a sinner, turn from your sin, and place your faith in Christ. When you do, you are identified with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection. You quit trying. 'I'm going to clean up my life. I'm going to do better. I'm going to stop doing this. I'm going to start doing this.' Forget it. You have to die. You die when you come to believe in Jesus Christ and trust in Him. And then we want to be careful we continue to live that out as God's people. I don't want to get confused by the wisdom of men and their deceptive doctrines and dogmas and teachings, that oh, I could be a more holy person, I could be a more godly person. What we need are some rules and regulations in our life. No. What I need is the discipline of the inner man to submit to the indwelling Spirit of God, to take in the truth of His Word as the food for my soul, and walk in obedience to Him. That's God's plan. He leads us from within, not from without. The difference is overwhelming. The difference is eternal in its importance.

Maybe you're struggling. It's a constant battle. I try to please the Lord; I try to do what I should. It's just, you know, I keep failing. Maybe you need to back up. Maybe you're trying to do what Paul says--you're trying to discipline your body. Maybe you're trying to make yourself do what you think you ought to do, but you realize you can't. God says you're a failure. The very fact you continue to try to do it your way is an evidence of your rebellion against God. God says you've got to stop. The pride that tells you "I can do it, I will do it" is at the root of your sin. You've elevated yourself to God's place. You've said you'll do it your way, not God's way. You need to stop and say, "Lord, I've struggled, I've tried, I've done my best. I have to submit to You, allow You to do in me and to me what I cannot do for myself. I must die with Christ." And then as God's child, you must live your life on that same basis, “by the faith that you have in the Son of God, who loved you and gave Himself for you.”

Let's pray together:
Thank you, Lord, for the richness of the salvation that we have in Christ, that truly does set us free, make us new, provide for our forgiveness. Lord, may we be a church that is careful to live according to the truths that You have given. We so easily drift toward men's wisdom, toward the rules and regulations which would seem to be such a help to keep us on track. Lord, we need to be reminded again and again that in Your wonderful Son are found all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. We need to remind ourselves that in Him we have been made complete, that in Him You have provided for us everything necessary for life and godliness. Lord, for those who are here who are not yet in Him, I pray that by Your grace You might become light to them, that this might be the day of salvation. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.