Is your Christian life and church life boring, ritualistic and monotonous or are you part of a vibrant flow of the Holy Spirit? Jesus came to link us with dynamic ‘invasion’ of earth by heaven. He came to take us out of formalistic service to God and connect us with the river of His own mercy and life giving Spirit. Having begun in the spirit it is easy for all of us to settle into Christian routines that have lost touch with the Spirit and presence of God.

A phrase in the writings of Paul may give the key to unlock this trap. The phrase, used at the very beginning of the Book of Romans and at the very end of it is “the obedience of faith.” “… we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles.. who are called to belong to Jesus Christ, (Romans 1:5-6) “Now to God, who is able to strengthen you … and to bring about the obedience of faith be the glory forever! Amen.” (Rom. 16:25-27)

The thrust of the gospel is to bring about a new kind of obedience to God – the obedience of faith. In the past we either walked in obedience to religious rituals and rules (believing that by this kind of obedience we were serving and pleasing God) or we walked in rebellion towards God, ignoring Him and following our own way.

Christianity is a “new and living way”. It does not consist in replacing Jewish ritual and ordinances with Christian rituals and ordinances. It is following Him in a life of faith as Abraham did. Each believer relates to Him directly and follows Him by faith in the power of the Spirit. Each community of believers is directed by the Spirit to become a team of love, hope, truth, salvation and healing in their local area.

The Kingdom of God is not a switch from the rituals of Moses to the rituals of the New Testament, or from the rituals of The New Testament to the rituals of the Catholic Church, or from the rituals of the Catholic Church to the rituals of The Protestant Church, or from the rituals of the Protestant Church to the rituals of the Pentecostal Church or the latest denomination or movement. Similarly to follow the latest popular teaching by mere imitation of what others are doing or saying, without seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit or leaning on His power, is simply another form of Christian religion. What others are directed to do is not necessarily a universal direction to all believers. Let’s be inspired by everyone but let’s not imitate anyone. Our Christianity can become stuck, unfruitful, and lifeless when we settle into a pattern of rituals such as just showing up on Sunday and singing a few songs paying our tithe etc. (all of which are valuable) rather than also pressing on to know God and giving our lives and time to fulfill the Great Commission. We can easily settle into obedience to “form” and routine rather than constantly seeking to be led and guided by the Resurrected Jesus through His Spirit. The solution to this formalism is the obedience of faith mentioned by Paul in Romans. He challenges believers to come into a new kind of obedience that is appropriate to their personal relationship with God and new status as sons of God and bearers of the divine nature. This new obedience is no longer obedience to ritual and form but to the leadership of the Holy Spirit, the Word of God and to the ways of Jesus. It arises out of the new relationship of close fellowship with God, created by faith in the Atoning sacrifice of Jesus and by the gift of His Spirit. The way of religion is an effort to restrain and train separated man as he seeks to please God. The new obedience is obedience to God from a restored relationship with Him. The Gospel reveals that our relationship with God is not established by obedience to religious ordinances but through faith in the work of Jesus on the Cross, and participation in His Resurrected Life. The old obedience was meant to be a temporary state of affairs until the Kingdom of God was revealed and the life of the Spirit had come. As Luke writes “the law and the prophets were until John the Baptist and since then the Kingdom of God is preached. ” (Luke 16:16) “The law was our custodian until Christ came.. but now that faith has come, we are no longer under a custodian.” (Galatians 3:24-25) We are no longer under the custody of religion – we are under the custody of Jesus Christ and His life-giving Spirit. Jesus did not preach obedience to the ritual of the Temple but He calls us all to follow Him, receive His life and live His ways. The obedience of faith is a life not limited to or by ritual. It is a life of total dependence on the life of the Spirit to fulfill His moral teachings and the direction of the Spirit to carry out His living directives.