We are all born into the sea of life. The trouble is that we can’t swim and we have no flotation device. The weight of our sin is what causes us to drown. Quickly, we learn that we need something to aid us in the struggle for survival, so we go shopping. The only real solution to our struggle is to look on the One, Jesus Christ, who walked on the sea of life and can't be purchased. Unfortunately, we seek alternate solutions that only add to the weight dragging us under.
Some of the other options are ‘feel-good’ used oxygen tanks that promise life under water; but the promises are as empty as the tanks themselves, and the hope is short lived. These are like drugs that convince us that it is okay to drown; since everyone else is also drowning, it can’t be so bad. Sin is an empty oxygen tank.
Another type of option is religious interest, but any religion, as an end in and of itself, is merely idolatry. Unless Christ is the heart or central focus, religion is just like a pair of cement shoes. No matter how expensive, attractive, or comfortable the shoes may be, they cannot help you walk on the sea of life; their end is to speed your “sleep with the fishes.”
Worse than an empty oxygen tank of sin which can be shed with a struggle, these cement shoes of religion are much more difficult to remove.
James 1:27. Only pointless, and "untrue" religion weighs us down. Pure and undefiled religion, as defined by James, keeps us from being useless. Watch after widows and orphans, and keep yourself unstained by the world. That religion is worthwhile.
ReplyDeleteI believe the next to last paragraph pretty much sums that up, do you disagree?
ReplyDeleteYes - very good... After I went back and read that paragraph again, I caught the, "Unless Christ is the heart or central focus."
ReplyDeleteI'm just so wary now when people say things like. "I love Jesus, but not religion." Or "I love Jesus but not the church." There is concurrently some kind of a movement going on that is an outcry against established religion. "They love Jesus but not the Church" is actually the title of a book. Ann Rice recently claimed that she is a Christ follower, but not a part of the Christian religion.
The church is Jesus' church. He established it, He gave Himself for it, and He sustains it and uses it to accomplish His purposes. He's the One who established the religion of Christianity. But because we can't handle conflict, or because we'd rather duck and run than work to reform or reconcile from within, we're willing to throw the baby out with the bath water, so to speak.
When Christians criticize religion today, they usually draw a non-Christian crowd who is not interested in Jesus, but is interested in piggy-backing on the criticism of the hypocrites and bigots. They LIKE to see us fighting within ourselves, because that makes them feel better about themselves.
Personally I would rather explain what true religion is, and hold up the church as God's own institution than criticize religion openly and publicly right now. There's just too much confusion in the terminology and too many lost people who love to hear us fight amongst ourselves. The stakes are high.
I was listening to a sermon online yesterday from "Healing Place," a non-denominational, multi-campus church in Baton Rouge. The pastor actually said in his sermon, "Jesus didn't doe for an institution. He died for a movement." I'd like to see him explain away Eph. 5:25-27.
Well, I agree with you. The Church is the Bride of Christ. The church is an organized subgroup of the Church; it is the functional arm of Christ in this present earth.
ReplyDeleteReligion itself, however, (consider Joel Osteen's following, Jehovah's Witness religion, Mormon religion, Catholic religion, even in some contexts the Protestant religious groups) is empty promising great things but accomplishing nothing for one's spiritual salvation.
Even what James describes in the quote you present is contrary to man's natural incliination. Man is naturally self-seeking, self-serving, self-interested. James presents religion as being self-less which the natural man cannot motivate himself to accomplish. It is only with the supernatural influence of the Holy Spirit that one can practice "true and undefiled religion." That's why my statement that religious interest and religion in and of themselves (divorced from Christ) are only a burden that cannot be carried and worse will drown us - think back to the examples I just listed and perhaps you'll see my logic.
I understand. My point was, "What does the lost person think of when we mention the word, 'religion?'" Surely, it's Christianity, or at least "Christianity" is in the group of religions that come to mind. So when Christians downplay the importance of "religion," what we're communicating is often not what we're trying to communicate. It's all about truth vs. perceived truth and semantics. We've got to use the language of our culture.
ReplyDeleteThat's all I was saying.