CHRISTIAN DOMINION
OVERCOMING A RELIANCE ON RULES
© Paul Brydson
The Church of God in Williamstown
WEB SITE: http://www.alphalink.com.au/~sanhub/index_.htm

INTRODUCTION: MY WORK SITUATION
A couple of years ago, our federal government introduced new legislation that went under the label of "enterprise bargaining". It allows employers and employees to sit down together and negotiate work-place conditions that are more appropriate to their situations and business, rather than be governed exclusively by the award conditions which were established by unions, business bodies and government, which may retrict a company's operations in various ways.

Over the last 6 months or more, the company for which I work has had its HR department and executive working on a new work-place agreement to define the conditions under which it would now like the staff to work.
One of the main areas revolves around hours of work. In the office where I work, the current standard for many staff is 36.25 hours per week. Up until now, any time by which we exceeded that could be accrued as flextime and then be taken as a day off, at a time suitable to both the individual and the company. But it is perceived (and may in part be correct) that some abuse the system by working additional hours but not really doing much extra work (surprise, surprise!). So how can these abuses be stopped?

The company's response has been to abolish the automatic accrual of extra time. All extra hours have to be agreed to before they can be counted towards accrued time. But there is also the need to clarify overtime, which attracts a higher rate. So when do extra hours count as overtime and when do they count as flextime? Some other issues to be resolved include tea money and taxi vouchers. If a person worked back for a couple of hours then he is entitled to tea money. But should he receive this if he works just a few minutes over 2 hours or should he have to work say, an hour over two hours, before obtaining tea money? With taxi vouchers, the reasoning is that if someone works back late for whatever reason, then it may not be safe to travel on public transport. However, it gets dark later in summer, so maybe there should be different rules for taxi vouchers in summer as opposed to winter?

It seems that the motivation for these changes has been twofold:
1) to stop abuses of the past and
2) to try to introduce a better culture to the company, a culture where people are more responsible, more motivated, more rewarded for their efforts, and less tied to the clock.

But can such measures really stop abuses of the past? Where rules exist, people will always seek ways to twist them to suit their own ends. What will really create a change in work culture such as is desired?

This experience has graphically shown me one of the great struggles that each Christian faces and must overcome. Its principle applies to so many areas of our lives that I doubt if there is any area that it does not touch.

What I would like to discuss is this battle between works of the law and faith. This does not only refer to some problem that Paul faced, one that is now ancient history. It reveals a dilemma that strikes at the very heart of the spirit, of life, of Christian dominion. It is portrayed in some of our great novels, and it is demonstrated in part when many get drunk on the weekend.

THE BOOK OF GALATIANS
Let's consider this dilemma in the Book of Galatians where Paul confronts it. The opening of this letter is markedly different to the introductions in most of Paul's other letters. If we turn to 1Corinthians we will see the common form of Paul's letters to the churches to which he wrote.

This is the common opening to Paul's letters. Let's now consider the opening to Galatians. Quite a standard introduction so far. Yet notice what follows: there is no "I give thanks concerning you" here! So this crisis had the potential to pervert the good news they had received so gladly. Paul then goes on to describe his years in Judaism: He talks of his experience of being called out of its bondage to preach the gospel and about the opposition he encountered. He describes how he went up to Jerusalem to confirm the gospel he was preaching. He describes his confrontation with Peter over his hypocrisy in living by these Jewish customs: So this separation was not according to the law of God, but rather the rules of men, the traditions of Judaism of the time. And in Gal 2:18 he alludes to the tearing down of these rules by which he once lived.

We have therefore this battle: what place have rules, rituals, laws, traditions, work-place agreements (which all define the culture under which we live)?

Then in Gal 3:1 Paul says:

"Foolish Galatians", who has seduced you with this perversion of the gospel?
As the Interpreter's Bible comments on Gal 3:1:
Hence the Galatians were "unthinking", "thoughtless", and therefore foolish; but "foolish" carries overtones of stupidity, whereas the Galatians' trouble was failure to use their power of perception, or as we say, "to put two and two together." In the passive sense [it] means "unthinkable"; in the modern Greek the word is "unreasonable".
Submitting to rules can have the strange effect of diminishing thoughtfulness and understanding in the face of seemingly creating understanding and the ability to act.
When people are given a set of procedures to follow, it can give the illusion that they know what they are doing. They follow the instructions and become productive. But if something goes wrong then their ability to solve the problem can be quite limited. Or if they are given a simple explanation as to how to fix or get around the problem, they can't grasp it because they depend upon rules to tell them what to do, rather than understanding the principles underlying what they are doing. And this is a difficulty we all face. We have strengths and weaknesses, abilities and talents in some areas and not in others. In the areas where we are weak and lack confidence in our understanding, we tend to rely on rules. In areas where we are talented and confident we rely less on rules, and want more to understand principles: why, how, where, and so on.

And so Paul says "You foolish Galatians, your brains are going numb! Why are you going back to blind obedience to rules and customs that did the Jews no good? Why aren't you thinking these things through?"

Having begun to have your spirits perfected with the living principles embodied in the example of Jesus Christ, are you now going to turn back to presenting a mere appearance of righteousness? The Spirit is received by hearing with faith (Gal 3:2), that is, by hearing, listening, thinking the implications through, and then acting. It comes through a conviction about what is right, not by the mindless performance of rules. This is true as much in our work as in our calling. Paul says in 2Ti 1:7 that the spirit of God gives us confidence, power, love and a sound mind.
As Php 4:8-9 says: Understanding, confidence and conviction come by hearing and thoughtful application, not by rigid, simplistic, robotic obedience.

Dropping down to Gal 3:10:

Those who rely on works of law are cursed, blind and dead. Those who rely on someone giving them clear procedures to ritually follow are blind. They don't really know what they are doing. These may be helpful to do boring mundane jobs at the office. But if there is a problem they will rarely be able to fix it, unless they try to see beyond the written instructions and seek understanding.

It is terribly frustrating to work where you don't know what you are doing, where all you can do is follow procedures without really understanding why. Paul says that, in a spiritual sense, such people are cursed. They are cursed whether it be in relation to their work, their family relationships, or their calling into the household of God. They are in the dark, without understanding, waiting for someone to tell them what to do, waiting for someone with a sheet full of instructions on how to do this job, so that they can feel productive or right.
However, following rules and procedures blindly cannot make us perfect:

No law can make us righteous. If you really want to do something well in your work, or in a field of interest, you must understand it intimately, not merely follow written rules and procedures. So rules do provide a degree of protection until we are ready for something greater. They do provide some of guidance for us while we are young, immature and lacking in understanding. However, rules can have a strange effect upon the mind. Man tends to feel secure where there are rules and procedures. These give the illusion of guaranteeing an outcome. Like a constitution protecting a body of people from past abuses!

In the workplace, setting a 36, 38 or a 40-hour week tries to guarantee that a certain amount of work will be done for a certain amount of pay. It gives the employer a degree of security that he won't be taken advantage of, and it gives the employee a similar sense of security. But what does it really guarantee? It has an appearance of wisdom (Col 2:23), but such rules must inevitably be limiting and oversimplified. They breed hypocrisy, drudgery, slavery, boredom and exploitation. This is the nature of depending upon rules.

THE STRUGGLE RECOGNIZED BY SOME
Some of our great literature recognises this problem faced by man. There is a conflict between the bondage caused by abiding by externally-imposed rules, regulations, duties and expectations without having any real enthusiasm for them (conforming to the society), and longing for a purpose or person to be passionate about, something or someone worth loving with all one's being (conforming to one's nature).

This conflict is also described as the battle between an externally-imposed morality, followed out of a sense of duty, and someone who acts out of the conviction of his heart in spite of whether others think it is right or wrong. Some glorify this as a more noble state for man. Such people are described as a law unto themselves. However, society fears this because without rules society tends to fall into anarchy.

Lives led from the first state may be decent but dull. Religion can produce this-a rigidity in adherence to rules that make us seem right. Lives led from the second state may be emotion- packed and intense, but can be immoral and destructive. Neither of these is the way for a Christian.

We are to be neither in bondage nor in anarchy. We must learn to love the living principles to which the Words of God point, rather than make of them rituals to be blindly followed. We need to live by the principles-the spirit of the law-rather than by the rigid rules of law. Rules and guidelines can be useful, but knowledge of the laws governing the behaviour is better.

Yet people so often tend to want to return to bondage, to the security of rules (Gal 4:21), I think in part because there is this valid fear that when there is a weakening of rules there will be tyranny. But for us there is only one way:

Liberty can lead to anarchy or abuse. Perhaps this is one reason why people fear liberty.

THE BASIS OF LAW
Let's just remind ourselves what lies as the foundation of the Law which gives life.

So why don't we bind the commandments as a sign on our hands, and as a little ornament drooping down our forehead, or write "You shall not covet my house" on our front door? Because these things are graphically and figuratively telling us that in all we do, in our thoughts and our memories, in our comings and goings, we should love God, remember His mercies, and abide by the living principles of His Words. But the some of the Jews make this into a literal commandment (Dt 10:12-21). Law must not exist for its own purpose. At its basis and its purpose is love for God and love for our neighbour. One example that the legalists hate is that of Rahab. Christians must always tell the truth! But Rahab told a lie when the king's men came to her to inquire about the Israelite spies. The only problem with this is that both James (Jas 2:25) and Hebrews (Heb 11:31) tell us that her protection of the spies was an act of faith approved of by God! (and likewise the Egyptian midwives-Ex 1:15-20). Saving the lives of God's servants was a weightier matter of the law.

THE BOOK OF ROMANS
Righteousness can never be expressed merely by carrying out some action according to a law. Righteousness is the doing of the will of God. Performing law in its own right doesn't produce righteous actions. Faith, which is based on truth and love, is the basis from which any law must be viewed and interpreted.

Moses also wrote about righteousness based on the law and also about righteousness based on faith. Are there two different types of righteousness? Is there one form of righteousness for Jews and another form of righteousness for Gentiles? Obviously not! (Ro 3:22; 10:12). The Jews think the righteous Gentiles don't have to follow the same form of righteousness as they do. But surely they are two different aspects of the same righteousness! These scriptures testify that there is only one path to righteousness.) Moses says that we don't need to turn heaven and earth upside down looking for answers. We don't have to search high and low to discover God's will. We cannot say it is unknowable and so have an excuse for not doing it (Dt 30:11-14). Who will bring the Messiah down? God has already sent Him, why didn't we recognise Him? Who will raise Him from the dead? God already has, why don't we believe it? BELIEF AND CONVICTION
These things are not too hard, neither are they inaccessible to us. God has done what is necessary to make what we need readily available, through the preaching of the apostle Paul. We simply have to take to heart what is there plainly under our noses. We just have to take the time to think about what we are reading, ask for help to understand it, believe it, and be convicted about it. Belief is one of the fundamental works in which God is involved (Jn 6:29). It is the process by which we come to love the Lord with all our heart and soul and mind-by becoming convinced of and convicted by the truth. In this way, deeds that come from a heart that is convicted of that truth are righteous and lead to salvation, not mere observance or the performance of any law.

Go back to our Home Page