Like it or not, all humans are always submitting to something. The enemy of our souls will often try to present us with a false choice:
Option 1: Manmade Religion
The problem with manmade religions (including the many and various sects that regard themselves as ‘Christian’) is that they are all different in some way, but all claim to be right. To anyone believing in the Christian concept of one God who has one standard of right and wrong, common sense tells them that all the various sects of Christianity can’t all be right at the same time. So which one is right? Are any of them 100% right?
Where manmade religion goes wrong is when it insists on submitting to someone other than God, and following their rules and regulations.
No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other.
Matthew 6:24
Religious leaders normally claim authority from God and the bible, and while the idea of submitting to church elders is a biblical idea, when church elders subtly introduce doctrine that is not based on scripture, they should be regarded as the ‘grievous wolves’ that Paul warns about in Acts 20:
For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
Acts 20:29 KJV
Option 2: Self-indulgence and Godlessness
This is often portrayed as ‘freedom’, but in reality, you are led captive to your own will if you take this route, your god is your own desires.
One only has to look at the world around, where godlessness and self-indulgence has become widespread, to see the terrible depravity this brings – wars, riots, and ever declining standards of ethics are the hallmark of this line of thinking:
For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy
2 Timothy 3:2 KJV
3 Choices, Not 2
In reality there is a 3rd choice. The focus on the above 2 choices – do you want to submit to a manmade organisation with lots of manmade rules, or do you want to do your own thing and submit to no-one but your own desires – is a horrible choice, neither option has a good outcome.
It is easy to get so distracted by arguments about which of these 2 options is correct that you overlook the 3rd option, which involves submitting to Jesus and those Jesus has appointed, but being careful to keep free of submission to those who claim to be appointed by Jesus but are not.
Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.
Acts 5:29 KJV
Option 3: Submitting to Jesus
If you have found Jesus as your saviour from the depths of your helplessness, then a sense of limitless gratitude should naturally lead you to submit to Him as you respond in love:
For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
2 Corinthians 5:14-15 NIV
Submitting to Jesus is done in love, with the power of the Holy Spirit, from the depths of the heart:
clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart
2 Corinthians 3:3 NKJV
Alongside the newfound liberty that Jesus and the Holy Spirit bring, the fear of God, in reverence and awe, remains:
You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but tremble. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.
Romans 11:19-21
Without this fear of Jehovah, you wouldn’t feel your need of Jesus, and wouldn’t find the salvation and blessing that comes with believing on Him and being filled with the Holy Spirit:
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.
Proverbs 9:10 NIV
Conclusion
The danger of slipping away from your liberty in Christ, into a false choice between bondage to your fleshly desires, or bondage to religious rules and regulations, is highlighted particularly well in Galatians chapter 5.
In verse 1 the apostle Paul says:
It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be encumbered once more by a yoke of slavery.
Then, speaking of those who were trying to introduce rules (the old testament Jewish concept of circumcision), in verse 2 Paul says:
if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all
In other words, if you rely on your works, things that you can do like circumcision, then the work of Christ becomes valueless to you – you need to rely on Christ alone for your salvation – this is the danger of manmade religions, that are not firmly rooted in the bible and in Christ.
Later in the chapter, Paul explains that it is not necessary to submit to rules and regulations in order to remain clear of the bondage of serving fleshly desires, because we have the Holy Spirit to guide us. See verses 16-18:
So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh craves what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are opposed to each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
