3 Are you so foolish and so senseless and so silly? Having begun [your new life spiritually] with the [Holy] Spirit, are you now reaching perfection [by dependence] on the flesh?
The exact same thing can be said of so many of us today. Far too many of us look to works: wear this and don’t wear that, pray this way, go here, but don’t go there, keep this day holy, say these things over communion, tithe this and offer that, and so many other things of the flesh to better our relationship with our Father. These things and all of the other works sound very religious, but the attention and power of these rules all draw us towards man and not towards Jesus. We act as if by us doing these things, Jesus will become closer to us. Here is the Truth: the Head is one with the body, it can never get any closer than that! Perfection is not obtained by works, perfection is just a gift, it is given to us when the Holy Spirit births us, just as He birthed Jesus. Jesus was perfect when He was born. He was perfect because He was born from the Holy Spirit. No work made Jesus perfect, He was just born that way and through Christ so are we. Perfection is all because of the power of the Holy Spirit and we all have the same Holy Spirit as Jesus. We were born of a woman and of the Holy Spirit just as Jesus was. Don’t be foolish, silly, and thoughtless, we are only perfect because our Father birthed us again that way. We are perfect because we are now one with and perfectly united with our Father through Jesus, John 17:21-23, that is the only reason.
If a preacher is continually harping on works, my advice to you is to get away from their teaching. I have honestly never met a happy person who is consumed with works. These people are generally very angry and want to know the specifics of what you are doing and they are usually very quick to judge. Their focus is always directed towards the flesh and what we are doing. They will throw Jesus in here and there to tickle our ears, but what is in the abundance of their hearts, is wanting to know what are we doing? I’d far rather hang out with people that bring all of the attention towards Jesus and what He is doing.
Also, if someone wants to tell you how much they love Jesus by the works that they do, beware. Think of it, what would we think of a child that had to tell us how much they loved their father by the works that they did for him? That would be creepy and we would probably get Children Services involved. Look for fellowship that directs the attention towards the power of our Father that is in us, the works that He will use us to do, the glory that He has, and how He is greater in us than anything that is in this world. The Apostle John always said that he was the disciple that Jesus loved, not that he loved Jesus. There is so much Truth in what John wrote, our glory and power is our Lord’s love for us, not our love for Him, even tough we do live Him.
For we [Christians] are the true circumcision, who worship God in spirit and by the Spirit of God and exult and glory and pride ourselves in Jesus Christ, and put no confidence or dependence [on what we are] in the flesh and on outward privileges and physical advantages and external appearances-- Philippians 3:3
Such [practices] have indeed the outward appearance [that popularly passes] for wisdom, in promoting self-imposed rigor of devotion and delight in self-humiliation and severity of discipline of the body, but they are of no value in checking the indulgence of the flesh (the lower nature). [Instead, they do not honor God but serve only to indulge the flesh.] Colossians 2:23
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