And so, Part 3 of this controversial series, "Dead to Religion" beckons us to examine another fly in the ointment. If you haven't caught up on the series thus far, I outlined in my last post how pride is a sure-fire sign of a religious approach to God. In this post, I'm going to tell you about another distinctive "fly" of religion is exclusivity.
More often than not, it seems those preoccupied with a religious view of God make spirituality out to be a country club instead of a public park. They point to rules, standards, and exceptions that keep out the subjectively-perceived riffraff. That's why Jesus went off on the Pharisees so often - they acted like God's doormen. "Excuse me, sir...ma'am...do you have reservations to meet with God?" They acted like key-holders, claiming knowledge of the "only way" to God...when the Way himself was standing right in front of them all along! How ironic. Jesus said in Matthew 7:13-14:
"Don’t look for shortcuts to God. The market is flooded with surefire, easygoing formulas for a successful life that can be practiced in your spare time. Don’t fall for that stuff, even though crowds of people do. The way to life—to God!—is vigorous and requires total attention."
Religion does a very good job of taking the truth and packaging it nice and pretty in a steel-reinforced, padlocked box with the seals welded shut. It's impossible to arrive at the truth through a religious mindset. Why? Because it's the polar opposite mindset of God's. He brings life, hearts formed by religion only carry bondage. The religious people of Jesus day even made a something as simple and intimate as a conversation with God (commonly called "prayer") something complicated and overbearing. Here's what Jesus had to say about all that:
"And when you come before God, don't that into a theatrical production either. All these people making a regular show out of their prayers, hoping for stardom! Do you think God sits in a box seat?..."The world is full of so-called prayer warriors who are prayer-ignorant. They’re full of formulas and programs and advice, peddling techniques for getting what you want from God. Don’t fall for that nonsense. This is your Father you are dealing with, and he knows better than you what you need. With a God like this loving you, you can pray very simply." (Matthew 6:5, 7-8)
You may be thinking, "Yeah sure, but I've seen some pretty dedicated people who wave the flag of religion AND live in a Godly manner." Ok, so even if someone who claims to be "religious" has pure motives and operates in their religion with feverish commitment, as commendable their heart may be, they are ultimately like a horse with blinders on: religion focuses all our energy and effort on God alone, leaving the broken and wounded hearts all around us in our blind-spot. That's a trademark of religious plodding: a self-and-God obsession, no room for others. Do you really want to label Mother Teresa "religious" just because she was a nun?
I'll go one step further and say she wasn't religious at all! Remember, religion vs. relationship. Her intangible approach had no signature of religion to it, no trace of the dysfunctional heart-issues inherent in a religious approach to God. She didn't nurture the disenfranchised in the name of the Catholic church. She didn't show compassion to the hopeless for the sake of wrestling to maintain a pristine standing with God. She didn't feed and clothe hundreds of orphans to put her holiness on display. She did all those things in the name of Christ Jesus, for the sake of hope, to put his heart on display.
To even use the term "religion" to describe Christianity just sickens me now because the term fosters so many different perceptions. Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism are all considered major world religions, and all of them have one distinctive quality that differs from what Christ came to establish: God's kingdom is others-focused. Not worried about living a good enough life to deserve a bunch of virgins in paradise, not focused on channeling and sustaining inner peace, not obsessed with achieving a higher level of spirituality than those around me. Jesus' life and sacrifice established an "it is finished" standard: no more struggling and straining for salvation and perfection. Christ already did it.
You may be asking, "What do I have to do to experience real life?!" Jesus gave a young man a hard answer when he asked that same question. Check it out here. His disciples were like, "Say what?! Who then can be saved?!" Jesus' response sums up the problem of religion: "With [humanity] this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." Our human efforts to get "in" with God were nailed to the cross; we never have to struggle our way to God anymore. As the old saying goes, "The ground at the foot of the cross is level ground." There's nothing we can do to deserve God's grace, no unreachable spiritual level we have to power-up to so we can get to heaven...or get a better seat in heaven.
You may be asking, "What do I have to do to experience real life?!" Jesus gave a young man a hard answer when he asked that same question. Check it out here. His disciples were like, "Say what?! Who then can be saved?!" Jesus' response sums up the problem of religion: "With [humanity] this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." Our human efforts to get "in" with God were nailed to the cross; we never have to struggle our way to God anymore. As the old saying goes, "The ground at the foot of the cross is level ground." There's nothing we can do to deserve God's grace, no unreachable spiritual level we have to power-up to so we can get to heaven...or get a better seat in heaven.
So if Christ did the heavy-lifting, the Scripture that culture has made into a cliche really is true: all we have to do is believe. Jesus said it himself - believing is the main ingredient in the recipe, remember John 3:16? Other than that, when asked to sum up what God's looking for, Jesus said 1) Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and 2) Love other people, just like you love yourself (Luke 10:26-28).
That's it, simple as that. We make such a big deal out of being a Christian - putting unreal expectations on ourselves and others...no wonder people think twice when considering Christianity! Remember that old saying, "You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar" - well, religion is the vinegar. Religion is the judgmental approach to "loving people," critiquing them and guilting them into church rather than embracing them for who they are (like Jesus embraced the whores and thieves). Seems like more people are scared into the arms of God than escorted. As a result, people view God's open arms as those of a maniacal dog catcher or legalistic truant officer, rather than seeing his arms for what they really are: real peace, real rest, real love...unconditionally.
Religion misrepresents God, and so do we if we choose the religion route. So go against the supposed archetype. You already have God's attention, sinner or saint. We are all his children, we just need to come home. Religion is not the way home; that route will only keep you going in circles. Relationship with the Father is the only way to access his heart and reflect it in your own life, shining God's grace into the lives of others. I leave you with one final comment from the Christ, this invitation by Jesus, and I pray that you examine your own life for the wounds religion has left you with. This is my prayer: that you would be dead to religion...and alive in Christ...
“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” ~ Jesus of Nazareth, as recorded in Matthew 11:28-30
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