Religion or Relationship?

Does everyone need to “get religion”? Some say, “Yes.” But I disagree.

“Now hold on for just a minute! How can you say that? Isn’t Christianity a religion?”

In one sense, yes. Christianity presents a set of beliefs about the nature and worship of God.

But some have taken Jesus’ teachings and turned them into self-centered religious systems. Sadly, organized religions often ignore a basic truth of the Gospel (good news) of Jesus Christ.

A simple reading of the New Testament makes it clear that one goal of the Gospel is to help us make peace with God. For us to become God’s friends. To re-establish the relationship God had with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. Not to turn us into religious rule-keepers.

That’s a point Timothy Keller makes in his book “The Prodigal God.” Keller notes that most religions operate on the principle “I obey, therefore I am accepted.” But the gospel operates on the principle, “I am accepted through what Jesus Christ has done, therefore I obey.”

Keller says, “Religion isn’t just a little different from the gospel; it is diametrically opposed.”

In the New Testament story of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15), Jesus shows us two basic ways people try to make themselves and the world work. Two different ways they try to relate to God.

One son rejects his father and chooses a path of self-indulgence. He lives for pleasure.

This son represents all who rebel against God. The ones most religions call “sinners.”

The other son in the story chooses a path of moral conformity. He focuses on keeping the rules. He tries to be very good. He obeys his father but doesn’t love or understand his father.

This son represents those who believe that, by keeping a religion’s rules, God will accept them. In fact, they believe he owes them for their obedience and loyalty.

Both groups think they are the only ones who are right. That if everyone would just live like them, we would all be happy. We would all get along.

But Jesus’ message to them is “You are both wrong. You are both lost and far from God.”

The Gospel declares that God is a loving, merciful father. He is waiting for the rebels to come to their senses, to come home and be restored to the family.

But he is also waiting for the “good” person to realize that God seeks not rule-keepers but sons and daughters. He wants children who delight to obey because they are loved and accepted.

Most religions are based on fear. They say, “Do these things or else you will be punished.”

But the gospel is based on love. It says, “For God so LOVED the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” It adds, “How great is the LOVE the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God.”

The mistake many people make is to think the Gospel calls them to be a good person—a rule-keeper—and that God is keeping score. After a while, they discover God isn’t very real to them. Faith becomes drudgery instead of a delight. They wonder if they’ll ever be “good enough.”

That kind of religion cannot transform your life. It doesn’t renew your life. But the gospel transforms and renews. Once you understand it, not only is your whole life re-oriented around a new set of principles—God becomes present in a way that transforms you from the inside out!

That explains the difference between a person who “gets religion” and a Christ-follower.

To a Christ-follower, all of life is worship. What Jesus wants is most important. John the Baptist summarized this mindset best when he said, “He must increase; but I must decrease.”

So instead of “getting religion,” follow Jesus. Believe in him and you will be a child of God.

Listen to the Bible; it’s great for your soul!

Religion Addict

Can a person be addicted to religion?

Andrew Farley was. Farley is a tenured professor at Texas Tech University and the author of “The Naked Gospel: The Truth You May Never Hear in Church.” The book deals with so-called Christian jargon or “Christianese” that people hear in some churches.

Farley says at one time in his life he did all the things he believed a good Christian should do. But he still felt miserable and depressed. Finally he realized he was trying to gain God's favor by becoming addicted to religion.

“Now hold it right there for just a minute! How can you be addicted to religion?”

Easy. The same way you get addicted to anything else. You try it, it makes you feel good, so you keep doing it. The more you do it, the better you feel about yourself—at least for a while.

Who could get addicted to religion? People who like their life ordered. They like rules. They like to know where they stand. Religion gives them a checklist and they can go down the list and either feel good or bad about their performance.

If you feel bad, religion gives you ways to compensate. Ways to punish yourself and be accepted. Say this prayer. Do this or that action to show you’re sorry. Penance.

Religion tells us that if we’re sincere enough and work hard enough, God will accept us. And that’s appealing to some. It’s almost like a contract: I do my part and God does his.

What sets the gospel of Jesus Christ apart from all religions is its message: God already loves you and he accepts you through Jesus Christ’s sacrificial death on the cross. God doesn’t want to be your boss. He wants to be your father and for you to be his son or daughter.

It’s simple. Jesus didn’t come to start a new religion. He came to make us friends of God.

After a person hears the good news about Christ a decision must be made: “Am I willing to give up trying to earn God’s favor and stop working for my salvation? Am I willing to accept the gift of forgiveness God offers to everyone through faith in Jesus Christ?”

If the answer is “Yes,” then you’re ready to give yourself to Christ. You’re ready to cross over the line of faith. To believe and trust in God. To become part of his forever family.

So if you will say, “Father accept me and adopt me, not because of what I have done but because of what Jesus Christ has done for me on the cross--if you will do that, then the Bible says you become a child of God. At that very moment.

Your other option is to pick a religion, stick with it and maybe even become addicted to it. Then hope you are good enough for a perfect and holy God to accept you. (What’re those odds?)

Perhaps some will say, “I opt out of religion. I don’t believe in a personal God.”

Fine. That’s your choice. God doesn’t force people to believe in him. But consider this: What atheists actually do is create their own religion with themselves as gods.

To say there is no God anywhere in the known universe means you’re omniscient—you know everything like God. And if you make the rules for good and evil in your life, that makes you like God. So what you have is a religion for one. And it can be very addicting!

So if you want to avoid the pitfalls of religion or atheism, listen to Jesus. He came to tell us about a better way that leads to peace and purpose. The way of faith in a loving and holy God.

I invite you to explore Jesus’ teaching for yourself. Pick up a Bible and read the book in it called “The Gospel of John.” Then, if you’re tired of religion, believe in Jesus and follow him.

Listen to the Bible; it’s great for your soul!

Gift or Gamble?

Which is better? A present or a lottery ticket? A gift or a gamble?

When it comes to religion, most people seem to prefer a gamble instead of a gift.

“Now hold on just a minute—why gamble your soul for eternity?” Good question.

But millions of people do it every day. Why? Because their religion teaches them to gamble.

Many religions emphasize salvation by works. In other words, when you die, your good works are weighed against your bad. And if more than 51% are good, you get to go to heaven.

But how do you know if you have enough good works? What if you die before that point?

Most people want assurance about eternity, but a false religion gives none. It’s a gamble.

One religion promotes a martyr’s death as the path to paradise. Another religion offers an endless cycle of rebirths. The hope is of one day being able to escape the cycle. Good luck.

False religions offer no forgiveness, only fate and fear of an unknown eternity.

Some religions teach that all paths lead to the same God and the same truth. But that can’t be true when you compare faiths and discover opposite beliefs.

If you’re born into one of these traditions, there is pressure to keep the family faith. To remain true to your religion. So you must decide if you will pursue tradition or truth.

In his book “Jesus Among Other Gods,” Ravi Zacharias compares the claims of Christ with the founders of other major religions. (It is a book well worth your time.)

The book observes that only Jesus claimed to be from Heaven. To be the Son of God. Buddha did not claim that. Neither did Krishna or Mohammed.

Instead of pointing to a “path” of rules to follow, Jesus claimed to be the path. He said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

Zacharias writes, “The message of Christ was not the introduction of a religion, but an introduction to truth about reality as God alone knows it.”

What God wants is a personal relationship with us through Christ, not just rule-keepers.

Some religions teach you must pay for your sins. But the Bible says that, because Jesus was sinless, God accepted his death on the cross to pay for all our sin. What amazing grace!

Jesus paid the price to reconcile man to God and change the human heart by the power of God. He did not come to offer us a new religion. He offers a relationship with a personal God.

The Bible reveals the truth about good works. It says, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.”

Did you catch that? Salvation is a free gift through faith in Jesus Christ. It is not by works.

During this week before Easter, consider this: Jesus’ birth, life, death and resurrection are not just a myth; they are real facts of history. The evidence is there for all who will seek it. And if you will seek the truth about Christ, it will change your life forever.

It did mine. The day I put my faith in Christ is the day I found true peace and joy. I found forgiveness in Jesus. And that’s why one purpose of my life is to point people to the Savior.

The good news about faith in Jesus Christ is for people of all nations. It is for everyone who is tired of gambling on religious traditions. It is for people who want truth.

Only faith in Christ is a sure thing. For everyone. Because it’s a gift and not a gamble.

What will you trust for your eternity—God’s gift or man’s religion?

Listen to the Bible; it’s great for your soul!

Counterfeits

Would you know a counterfeit if you saw one? Many do not.

Counterfeit money is a real problem. A bogus bill looks like real cash but it isn’t. It seems valuable, but when you need it most, it lets you down.

Counterfeit religion is just like that, only worse. It’s an eternal let down.

Well hold on just a minute. What’s counterfeit religion?

The purpose of a counterfeit is to deceive—to make you think you have the real thing when, in fact, you have a worthless substitute. Counterfeit religion looks good but it’s a sham.

The Bible says true religion is a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. True religion transforms your heart, not just your behavior. It changes your will from a “have to” faith to a “want to” faith. Your obedience to God springs from desire rather than duty.

A good example is the difference between living under Old Testament Law and living under New Testament Grace. Under the Law people trusted religious rule-keeping to save them. But they had to obey every rule. To fail in even one command was to be a complete failure. Law-keeping led to legalism and that led to worry and fear. Law breaking brought punishment.

It’s humanly impossible to obey God’s Laws perfectly. Plus keeping the Old Testament Law never made anyone righteous. God declared Abraham (revered by Jews, Christians and Muslims) righteous because of his faith in God, not because of his moral behavior.

Living under Grace is completely different than living under Law. A good way to understand Grace is God’s Riches At Christ’s Expense. Jesus alone kept God’s Law perfectly. He paid the penalty for our sin through his death on the cross. So salvation is now a free gift.

Through Grace, we can become children of God by trusting in Jesus Christ—by believing the Bible when it says his death provides forgiveness for all our sins. As his children, God declares us righteous. We enjoy the full benefits of God’s promises, protection and provision.

Want to know how to identify a counterfeit religion? Remember the four math processes.

Counterfeit religion MULTIPLIES law-keeping. It says faith is good but you must also keep that religion’s laws, ordinances and sacraments--or you lose. It’s faith plus works.

Counterfeit religion DIVIDES your loyalties. You must be loyal to God AND absolutely loyal to the religion’s leaders—no questioning allowed. The Bible says our loyalty is to be to God alone. It warns of false teachers who seek to build a following for themselves.

Counterfeit religion ADDS to the Bible. Its leaders may say the Bible is good but they add that their special book, teaching or revelation is absolutely necessary for your salvation. God warns anyone who would change the Bible, add to it or take away from it. He will judge them.

Counterfeit religion SUBTRACTS from the person of Jesus Christ. It says Jesus was not God but was merely a prophet or a man who became a god. However the Bible clearly declares Jesus Christ to be fully God and fully man. That he is our only hope of forgiveness and salvation.

Counterfeit religion always leaves out Grace—that salvation is a free gift from God through Jesus Christ. True Biblical faith depends completely on Grace. Without it we’re lost.

God warns us through the Apostle Paul, “I am astonished that you are so quickly… turning to different gospel—which is really no gospel at all…. Evidently some people are… trying to pervert the gospel of Christ. But if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned.” Enough said.

Listen to the Bible; it’s great for your soul!

Do It Yourself Religion

There are only two kinds of religion in the world: Jesus Saves and “Do It Yourself.”

All of the world’s religions, except one, are of the “Do It Yourself” variety. The down side to a DIY religion is that you can never be sure you will make it to paradise, nirvana, reincarnation or whatever it is you hope for.

Well hold it right there for just a minute. Are we without hope? How can a person be sure of what they will find on “the other side” after death?

Most religions offer a “maybe”—and that’s if you do everything you should just right. Interestingly, radical Islam tells its followers that there is one way they can be certain.

Walid Shofrat, a former Muslim PLO terrorist, describes it like this: “In the case of Islam, the way to assure yourself to go to Paradise is by dying yourself as an offer to God.”

Muslim suicide Jihadists believe that, by killing themselves, they are offering Allah their most precious gift: their soul. The problem is that no suicide Jihadist has ever come back from “the other side” to tell if they made it.

There is only one book and one person that offer the promise, proof and assurance of an eternal life in a true paradise called Heaven. The book is the Bible and the person is Jesus Christ.

In the fourteenth chapter of the New Testament Gospel of John, Jesus promises that he will prepare a place in Heaven for those who believe in him. He offers his word, as the Son of God, that he will take believers to be with him forever. Then he proved his power over death by one of the best-documented events in history, his resurrection.

Jesus Christ is the only one to ever bring himself back from “the other side” –and have many witnesses to prove it!

When man attempts to create a religion, it is always of the “Do It Yourself” variety. You must keep certain laws, observe sacraments, or do “penance” for your sin. In every case you die in uncertainty. There’s no assurance you “did it right” or proof you attain “paradise.”

God’s plan in the Bible is far different. His plan involves the perfect Son of God, Jesus, dying on the cross in our place for our sin. Then God offers forgiveness for sin and salvation from sin’s penalty as a free gift to those who accept it. It’s free to all with no strings attached.

Like a condemned prisoner on Death Row accepting a pardon, all you have to do is believe it’s true and put your trust in the one who pardons you. Sadly, some find that hard to do. They choose instead to believe that eternal life is “Do It Yourself.”

It goes against our pride and self-reliance to accept a gift as valuable as eternal life. That’s why God sent Jesus Christ into the world. The Bible says, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

When Christians announce that “Jesus Saves,” they are not trying to judge other religions. They are not being religious bigots full of hate and intolerance. It is simply a joyful announcement to other seekers that what they are seeking is found in Jesus Christ!

The truth of Christianity is that the assurance, joy and purpose of life--both life in the here and now and eternal life in the “by and by”--is found in Christ alone. And the best part of all is that it’s a free gift. No assembly required. It’s by faith alone. Faith in Jesus Christ.

Life has many choices. Religion has two: Jesus Saves or “Do It Yourself.” Think it over and then choose carefully because you will live with your choice for a very long time.

Listen to the Bible; it’s great for your soul!

Truth Freedom

Just imagine if God allowed George Washington and Thomas Jefferson to see what's become of their country. Would they recognize it?

Today we're a nation where rights replace responsibility. Licentiousness (the unrestrained pursuit of one’s desires) replaces liberty. Diversity is celebrated instead of dignity. We do things out of convenience instead of conviction.

On top of that, the American Civil Liberties Union seems hell-bent to give us freedom FROM religion instead of the freedom OF religion. What’s going on?

Well, hold on just a minute.

If you didn’t know otherwise, you might think America was founded to give us a government and schools that are religion-free zones. Sadly most Americans have no concept of the religious heritage that helped make America great.

What Americans need is a refresher course in American History. Christian thinking was a major influence on our founding fathers. If you take a tour of Washington D.C.’s main monuments, you will see a multitude of quotes from Holy Scripture used by our founding fathers. Even the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia is imprinted with a quote from the Bible.

George Washington said, "I am sure there never was a people, who had more reason to acknowledge a Divine interposition [intervention] in their affairs, than those of the United States; and I should be pained to believe that they have forgotten that agency, which was so often manifested during our Revolution, or that they failed to consider the omnipotence [complete power] of that God who is alone able to protect them."

Thomas Jefferson was defending religious instruction at the University of Virginia when he said, "The relations which exist between man and his Maker, and the duties resulting from those relations, are the most interesting and most important to every human being and most incumbent on his study and investigation."

Theodore Roosevelt recognized the need for religious instruction when he said, “To educate a man in mind and not in morals is to educate a menace to society.”

But it was Jesus Christ who said “You will know the truth and the truth will set you free.”

Usually you hear that quote from politicians around election time and they take it completely out of context. Interestingly it’s not even about political or social freedom!

In the New Testament Gospel of John, chapter 8, Jesus talked about being set free from sin. He said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” After pointing out that we are all slaves to sin, he added, “So if the Son [Jesus] sets you free, you will be free indeed.”

The truth of Christ brings freedom from sin.

This week, as we celebrate the blessings of freedom, don’t neglect the greatest freedom of all: freedom from sin. America cannot provide that freedom. No government can.

Freedom from sin can only be found in the Kingdom of God.

The Bible says that people are set free from bondage to sin by putting their trust in the truth that Jesus Christ died in their place. And that his death, burial and resurrection provide forgiveness of sin, a new heart and the beginning of a new life. It’s a life of true freedom.

Real freedom starts with The Truth. Not just any truth but the truth about Jesus Christ.

Listen to the Bible; it’s good for your soul!