If you build enough moral fences around a person, can you make them holy? Saint Benedictine thought so. Benedict, who established numerous monasteries in the 6th century A.D., created a detailed set of rules for those living in his monasteries. Those rules included:
- Seven appointed times of prayer and devotion, including one at 2 A.M.
- Monks were forbidden to own any property except what was given to them by the monastery.
- Eating meat was forbidden except in times of illness.
- The daily meal consisted of only two cooked dishes.
- Monks were to practice silence at all times, especially in the hours of the night.
- Monks were to fight the great enemy of their souls, idleness, by filling their time with manual labor and “sacred reading”.
Benedict ignored the fact that holiness is not simply a matter of do’s and don’ts, but a matter of the spirit. In Galatians 5:16, Paul said:
“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.”
Sin can only be killed by the power of the Holy Spirit. Fences aren’t enough, because our flesh can find ways around fences.
So often our first step in fighting against sin is practical: no television, no Internet, only checking email three times a day. These are important steps, but not the first step.
The first step in overcoming sin is getting down on our knees and asking God for power to fight the flesh.
Fences aren’t the ultimate solution. They didn’t work for monks and they won’t work for us.
+photo by pasotraspaso
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
So very true! I’m so good at building fences, a.k.a. I can do sanctification through my own self-sufficiency. It’s scary how easy it is to take your sights off the Savior (and onto yourself and your own “merits”) and forget the Gospel.
On a purely random note…how did they expect the monks to be quiet at night? What if they snored???
I’m very good at climbing over fences! I need a daily reminder of how desperate and sinful I truly am. If I could construct my own righteousness I wouldn’t need Jesus, and I do need Jesus desperately! Instead of moral fences we need to as Jerry Bridges puts it so nicely, preach the gospel to ourselves everyday.
Great reminder today, I shared this with my worship team to pass along the encouragement!
Blessings
Ron Reffett
Great point!
No! I can never be a monk! I am not a hermit either, and I got to be involve with another body of godly Christian fellowship to encourage and love one another. I would die or being drying up, if I am a monk and not getting any encouragment. Let go to Hebrews 10:24-25 ESV “And let us cosider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day dawing near.”
Fence can’t keep sin or temptation out . We can climb over the fence or dig a big hole under the fence like my dogs does.
We need Christ’s help as we battle sin. Also we need other believer too. Let go to James 5:16 ESV “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that ou may be healed. “The power of a righteous person has a great power as it is working.” This passage does help me to be able to have confidence that we can talk about the problem and pray for the victory over the problem. Also they would check on me to see how I am handle it after the confession. Of course, we all need to confess to Him as 1 John 1:9.
Never be a monk! I can understand when we do need to have our quite time or have a spiritual retreat to get our mind on Him and focus on Him alone. I love spiritual retreat and am looking forward to that soon this summer, Lord Willing. But we all do need to have our daily quite time with the Lord as we are eating His Word and meditating His Word daily.
Sorry, this is long but worth it.
Hungry to eat His Word,
‘Guerite ~ BoldLion
What a shallow reading of the Rule of St. Benedict! Monasticism is not about building “moral fences” but about a specialized call to serve God in community. I couldn’t disagree more with the assumptions you’ve made in this post.