The Rut of Religion

“Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God.” (Isa 58:1-2 AV)

It is very easy to get into a rut wherein we ignore our sin but are faithful in our religious duties.  This is the situation above.  Judah had become religious and ceased to be spiritual.  They felt the practice of their religion was sufficient to the needs of spirituality.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Just because they faithfully discharged the duties of religion did not mean they forsook sin.  Having a religion of form makes it too easy to fall into the trap of ignoring sin due to the convenience of religion.  Confession of sin over the sacrificial ox did not necessarily atone for sin.  A heart of repentance was needed.  Not a mere confession with the mouth.  The form of religion does not, in and of itself, absolve sin.  Confessing and forsaking does. 

When we talk of such things, we often use examples of religions built on ceremony, rites, or sacraments.  This fault does not lie strictly with them.  Whether we point to a liturgical form of worship, or a much less formal tradition of worship, the principle is the same.  We can get into the rut of living our walk out in mere actions of duty and service, ignoring our sin what lies un-confessed.  One of the failures of fundamentalism over the last generation was the temptation of service, soul-winning, our outward standards as sufficient to the definition of sin.  The reason they so many fundamentalists fell into serious sin was their service, soul-winning, or standards became the only means to cover a sinful inward condition.  The thinking went something like this.  If I show up to all the meetings and soul-win on Thursday night, then the sin of which I am involved isn’t really all that bad.  Or, if I dress right, speak right, listen to only the right kind of music, and never darken the doors of places I shouldn’t go, then the rest is not worth the examination.  Nothing is wrong with these things.  In fact, they are principles or commands of scripture.  However, if we only limit the definition of spirituality by things that can be seen, we are headed for disaster.

The Christian walk is a constant examination of the heart as well as the actions.  Both have to be held under the microscope of the word of God.  This is what Israel failed to do and this is what fundamentalists failed to do a generation ago.  One of the reasons emotionalism is taking root is this present generation saw the hypocrisy of orthodoxy and rejected form for feeling.  Yet, they are making the same mistake of which they accuse their forefathers.  Assuming emotionalism is true spirituality, sin is ignored as well.  The law doesn’t change.  What is sin is always sin.  God has not changed.  Israel failed to see the inward man matters.  They failed to see obedience matters.  They failed to see God doe care what we do, what we say, where we go, and what we think.  Unless we deal with our very nature, then we are failing just as Israel did.