Issue: God’s Will-Faith, not Religion
Yesterday we began praying for our neighbors who are under the bondage of various religions. We looked at some staggering statistics for a metro area of between two to three million people. Our prayer focus was for salvation to come. That is God’s clear desire, or will, for our neighbors. I want to go a little deeper into what a will is and look at what it takes for an answer to the prayer “your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” to come to pass over the next week or so. Let’s talk about religion for a second to start our conversation.
To begin, let’s define religion. This is important because we can talk past, or over, each other. Religion is a term that has become pretty relative in the U.S. We need to pick a source to define things for us so we are on equal footing. The Greek word for religion in the Bible is threskeia. This is word is related to ceremonial observance—religion, worshipping.[1] Webster’s did a pretty good job of explaining this concept: “(1): The service and worship of God and the supernatural. (2): commitment or devotion to religious faith or observance 2: a personal set of institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices.” “Religion” or “Religious” is only addressed directly as a specific word in three books of the Bible.[2] Acts and James, the two main books that address the word(s) deal with this same idea, not of an organized religious system, but of religious actions. These religious actions are done in accordance with what we might call a religious system. At the heart of both of these depictions is the truth of God’s will and what religion misses.
Religion is about action(s). James deals with internal beliefs (objects of faith) that comes out in religion. James teaches us that all religion is not the same. Some religion is not of God. Human anger is not good religion. It lacks the fruit that faith produces (patience, slow to speak, quick to listen). On the other hand, James commends true religion. Listen to James 1:27, “Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.” So religion is not necessarily bad, nor is the claim of religion necessarily true based on what God teaches in His word about it. Acts follows a more general path. The term typically refers to Jewish laws or a reference to the observation of a culture that builds lots of shrines. Both of these refer to expectations or actions that are worship or in line with the authority of the deity or the overseers or rulers of the people. Point to take away: religion does/acts in a certain manner. There is an expectation to be properly religious within the religion’s context.
Religion says, “do this because it is right or you will get what you are after” or “don’t do this because it is wrong or because you won't get what you are after”. Christianity is not a religion in the sense that Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Wicca, or any other religion is. Christianity begins with “I cannot do”. That statement comes from the work of God in what we call “faith” or “belief”. Religion will tell you that you can just say that statement to people, act as though you really mean it, and then you can be saved. But that’s not what God says. God says that only those who repent (turn away from their self-dependence and their way of life) and believe (put all of their trust) in Christ (the suffering servant King) Jesus who has died on their behalf so that they might live will be saved. You can’t fake faith, at least not to God. God is the final judge. Religion says I can do, but faith says I cannot do, but Jesus has done it all already. HUGE difference. No other belief system can claim such a statement. All other belief systems define good and bad and act in accordance. All other belief systems offer solutions grounded in what you do. All other belief systems rest on the individual, but not Christianity. What a burden lifter! Those who are in Christ are no longer under the weight of failure, but are instead alive in Christ. We live in His finished work!
A quick clarification about repentance: Repentance comes from a realization. You realize that the way you are living is wrong because God has graciously shown you the error of your ways. It is not simply that one reads a verse and doesn't necessarily believe what they have or are doing is wrong, but externally acts as though it was wrong. There has to be a heart and mind change that comes by God's gracious work which brings forth faith in Christ, not one's self or what they trusted in before this new desire and belief.
Here’s a sad reality worth noting though. All “Christians” aren’t those who have faith in Christ. There are people who live in the same bondage to sin, but claim to follow Christ. They spend their whole lives trying to be good and acceptable before God and men. They are not free from the works of religion. They have distorted the Scriptures to be one of two major responses: 1) “If I do…God will accept me.” Or 2)“if God has saved me, then I will do….and only when I do…do I have peace.” Both of these are off. The focus is not Christ. The focus is sin or cleanliness. Both responses really get at the same thing, just different ways. One is working to get clean enough to get salvation. The other is working to stay clean enough to not lose salvation. But God says our salvation is by faith alone apart from works. That statement kills the religious heart.
Religion produces hate and hopelessness, but faith produces joy and overflowing hope. Religion requires, but faith responds or overflows. You can see two acts that look the same on the surface (Example: feeding the poor), but when you really dig into their source, you find one comes from the mind and the other comes from the heart. One person feeds the homeless because they believe they will find rest or secure their approval by feeding the homeless. The other is so satisfied by what God has done that they cannot help but overflow (in this case by bringing or sharing food) with others. Quick note: I’m not saying Christians are mindless, for we are blessed with a desire to read and understand God’s word which results in renewed minds. Beyond that, following Christ is the most rational and logical option of all belief systems. I truly believe that. What I am saying is a Christian desires to share the grace and freedom they have received by faith despite whatever judgments men or false “gods” might say because of what the true God has said and done on their behalf. Religion is slavery, but faith in Christ is freedom. Religion is dead, but faith is proof of life!
My prayer is that God’s salvation would come to North Minneapolis in a mighty way to all religious men and women that dwell here. I pray it come day after day in my own heart as God wars with the old man who wants to be right on his own good works to lay claim to some good in me. I pray that it would spread and continue to transform my household. I pray that it would penetrate the darkest areas of darkness in Near North and that people who have been broken and bound by religion would break every chain religion has on them by the gift of faith in Christ Jesus. I pray that the true gospel would go forth. I pray that men and women would submit to the authority of God’s word, not the interpretation of men outside of it (those that do not accord with it) and would be freed by faith in spite of their sins. I pray the doctrine of unconditional election would go forth in power and that those who distort the doctrine of perseverance of the saints into “religion”, a system of expectations regarding worthiness or unworthiness” would be brought to repentance and God’s people preserved. I pray God would fill our neighborhoods with Spirit produced joy and hope.