For 40 years I've heard that Christianity is not rules, it is relationship.  OK.  But some teachers have objected to any rules, any "thou shalt nots" as if relationship precludes all rules.  We are led by some to believe that, if we love Jesus, we can dispense with "don'ts” and “thou shalt not's"; and we are often told that some parents are brutes who impose clear rules for moral behavior and obedience upon their children.

This is contrary to the New Testament.  For instance, in Ephesians Paul gives a bunch of "Don'ts" as well as "Do's":

• Eph 4:17--don't live like Gentiles (= pagans)
• 4:25--don't lie to one another
• 4:26--don't be angry and sin
• 4:28--don't steal
• 4:29--don't talk rotten talk
• 4:30--don't grieve the Spirit, don't be bitter
• 5:17--don't be foolish
• 5:18--don't be drunk with wine

I'm afraid that the truth in the statement "relationship not rules" has been exaggerated into a dangerous half-truth.  Remember, a half-truth has the force of a lie.

The mad contemporary philosopher Eckhart Tolle, whom Oprah has promoted so heavily, has combined Hinduism, Buddhism, evolutionism, theoretical physics and astronomy, along with sayings of Jesus (thrown in and misinterpreted to deceive simple people who want to think they can be Christians while believing his pantheism or panentheism).

In his book, A NEW EARTH, Tolle says that YOU are the Truth.  You must say, "I AM."  Most of us, Tolle adds, are cut off from that reality and do not realize that the Truth is in us.  When we return to the “stream of consciousness” that puts us in touch with the “Source of all Life,” then we no longer need rules.  "Laws, commandments, rules, and regulations are necessary for those who are cut of from who they are, the Truth within"  (p. 72).

Tolle and his followers are fond of saying that they are "spiritual but not religious."  Have you ever heard that before?  This has become a mantra for postmoderns, who don't know or don't care that they are drinking at the fountain of eastern mysticism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and New Age thought popularized by Oprah and Tolle and their crowd.

Let's be careful to be more biblical than we are "kewl" or contemporary.  Popular communicators are not the standard for teaching and preaching.  The New Testament is our standard.  Instead, let's honor the Word in all we say.  In so doing, we honor the authority of Christ.  “Christianity is not rules; it is relationship” sounds kewl when shouted by a contemporary communicator (they are not “preachers” anymore).  But it makes enemies out of friends.  Moral and ethical principles are not alien to the gospel.  Biblical morality is not at war with faith in Christ.

We cannot keep repeating the slogan that rules are not important.  We should teach our children that fire will burn them and that sexual immorality will hurt them and that lying is ungodly.  They should know that fire burns long before they understand the relationship between combustible materials, oxygen, and heat.  They can also learn that there are abiding and non-negotiable moral principles that have a two-fold function:  to reveal the character of God (and consequently what our character should be since we are image-bearers) and to protect us from harm.

The law of God is still very much operative, revealing God’s standard for moral and ethical behavior and convicting us of our sin and our need for Christ.

Law cannot save--but the Holy Spirit uses the law to show us our failure.

But the law can save us a lot of pain.  It is healthier and safer to honor our parents, to honor the property of others and to refrain from adultery.  That’s a fact.  

It was Paul who said that the Law is the paidagogos or schoolmaster to lead us to Christ.  It was also Paul who gave all the "don'ts" I listed above.  Indeed, he inculcated all but one of the Ten Commandments--the Sabbath commandment.  The other nine remain as ethical and moral standards for the believer today, and they stand as the will of God for all humanity, saved and lost, for all time.

Bottom line--we need Jesus in order to obey the law.  We also need law, rules, apodictic commandments, so that we can clearly understand what is expected of us.  We have the Holy Spirit to enable us to fulfill the moral requirements that God prescribed and Jesus modeled in his manhood.

Regeneration is the reception of the Life of Christ by the Spirit.  Sanctification is the growing influence of the Life in us.  The principle of Law ensures that we don't completely subjectivize our obedience.  Without law a person can say, “I love Jesus” while he lives in flagrant disobedience of the moral principles of the gospel.  We are obedient and like Christ when we "speak the truth in love," know the truth, obey the truth, honor our parents, love other people, refuse to lie, work for a living, give our money, act kindly and refuse to slander other people.   Loving Jesus is not an emotion.  He said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15)

Be careful whom you quote without explanation and a hearty "caveat emptor."

Alan Day, Senior Pastor