Self-Made Religion

1 Corinthians 3:7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth (ESV)

    In this verse Paul is addressing the people of Corinth, simply trying to put things back into perspective. They had allowed divisions to occur, over their opinion, some had put their hope and trust in Paul and some Apollos. But in doing so they have forgotten what they were hoping and trusting in. I think Paul sums up his thoughts in chapter 2, “that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.” They had taken God out of the picture, and human nature had set in. When we say I follow Calvary Chapel, or I follow Assemblies of God, we begin to identify in a denomination rather than in Jesus Christ. The reason the sect exists, is lost within the beliefs and opinions of the distinctive. Christ is taken out of the picture when we start to identify in the belief of another human being. For as Paul says, “when one says, ‘I follow Paul,’ and another, ‘I follow Apollos,’ are you not being merely human?” We use biblical teaching as means to divide, dividing the very purpose of the bible along with our lofty speech and opinions.
    Lets look and see what the bible says we have teachers for. “And he (Christ) gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ” (Eph 4:11-12). I don’t see anywhere in this verse where it says they were given for the reason of dividing the body of Christ. And actually you wont find this anywhere in the bible. We are warned to be aware of false teachers, and by all means we need to be on guard and alert to all words that are proclaimed in the name of Jesus. But, bible fearing evangelicals should not look for reason to divide over an opinion or matter of preference. Actually we are told, “as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him” and “see to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ” (Col 2:8).
    Philosophy, means literally, the love of wisdom. In this case it would be a worldly wisdom, the same wisdom that Paul addresses those of Colossae, “If with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the world, why, as if you were still alive in the world, do you submit to regulations— “Do not handle, Do not taste, Do not touch” ( referring to things that all perish as they are used)—according to human precepts and teachings? These have indeed an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-made religion and asceticism and severity to the body, but they are of no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh” (Col 2:20-23). I think there is such an important truth revealed in these verses. What might seem to have the appearance of wisdom, is actually what is giving a foothold to the flesh, that there might be further indulgence through self-made religion.
    As someone who is seriously called to a lifetime of ministry, I take this lesson very seriously. For I know my opinions and beliefs are very strong. Strong enough that in them I could easily remove Christ from the picture, add my own two sense and forget my reason for ministry in the first place. Instead of building up the body, I would be toiling to tear it apart, thinking as I built my way up I would be getting closer to God. As well as bringing others closer to God, only to realize once I made it to the top I had left God out of the picture, and had a whole crowd of people following my own self-made religion, creating a divide between them and their relationship with the Lord.
    So how can one be sure to avoid self-made religion? “And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power” (1 Corin 2:1-4). Keep the main thing the main thing, all else will trickle down from there.