Table of Contents
https://web.archive.org/web/20050215063444/http://homeinzion.com/religion.html
Religion or a Relationship with Jesus?
by Carol Balizet
June 2002
| Are we "in Christ" or are we trying to "be good"? What must we do to reach and to please God - and incidentally to enter heaven? |
Contents:
What Is Religion?
The Random House Dictionary defines religion as: an organized system of belief in and worship of God or gods. This system encompasses all of man's devices for finding, knowing and serving God. Of course, true Christianity is a relationship with a Person, not conformity to some organization. All facets of the deceiving religious system were - and still are - based in a false concept of God, in works, and in the efforts of man. It repudiates the sufficiency of Christ's atonement, and denies grace. It has the nature of a Harlot and its leaders have always been God's fiercest enemies.
Every religion which has ever existed attempts to bring man into a position of pleasing God, of being in right standing with God. The particular route to this end may be as simple as "Just try to be good", or as demanding as "Sacrifice your first born son". But whatever form the command may take, it is always a law; it is always man; it always fails. God's heart is satisfied only by the blood of Jesus. Anything else is a counterfeit.
Here's the first time this contrast was made, the contrast between the works of the flesh and the shed blood:
...Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And...it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering: But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect...
(Genesis 4:2-5)
Of course this doesn't mean that God hates vegetables; it's just that there is no natural thing, no product from this cursed Adamic realm of the earthy, which can atone for our sin. Sin is a spiritual problem, and for that we need blood. Something has to die, shed its life's blood, and then that blood must be applied. And that Something has to be perfect.
The religious system had its beginning in the Garden of Eden. When Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, one of the results was a bondage to religious spirits. Lucifer himself probably had authority in the sphere of worship, and the desire of his twisted heart is to replace God and to be worshiped. Two Scriptures to make this point:
How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! [how] art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
(Isaiah 14:12-14)
Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone [was] thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created. Thou [art] the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee [so]: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire. Thou [wast] perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Thou [wast] perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.
(Ezekiel 28:13-15)
The strong man over this system is Baal, which means both "husband" and "Lord". In his efforts to become lord and husband of the human race - instead of allowing Jesus to fill these roles for us - Baal brings us into a religious system which is the total antithesis of the Cross. He wants us to believe we can work our way into God's favor. He knows this cannot succeed; unfortunately, many of us do not.
It's very illuminating to consider that of all the forces which operate against the God's children - human, satanic, demonic, occultic, angelic, natural - the one which Jesus fought most zealously was the pharisaic concept of self-righteousness. The belief of the Pharisees that we can by our own efforts become holy enough to please God was infuriating to Jesus! He literally screamed at these men: Vipers! Hypocrites! Blind! He knew the subtle appeal of the message, "You're not so bad! If you just try a little harder, pray a little longer, strive a little more, you can make yourself fit for heaven!" And the real convincer: "At least you're better than so-and-so!"
Jesus warned us that this idea, this benighted philosophy, was more dangerous - and more offensive to Him - than any of the sins the Pharisees so proudly despised. Jesus embraced the tax collectors, the prostitutes, the thieves, the world of sinners whom He held so dear, the ones He called "the lost", all those whom He died to save. But He hated the self-righteous, and warned us against their "leaven". The religious system has many subdivisions, some of them "Christian". We don't need to be a Moslem, a Buddhist, a Jew or a pagan to deny the truth of Jesus' atonement. Our false god might not be named something like Allah, Mohammed, Krishna or Ghia. Our false god may bear the name of our denomination, or our pastor, or our pet doctrine, or our many churchy works.
For us Christians, there are numerous subtle ways that our enemy - or our human imperfection - can distort the truth of Jesus' redemption. One thing we may be told is that we need Jesus plus something (some law , like church attendance, a dress code, minimum standards of prayer and Bible reading, food laws, commitment to a particular denomination or church body, or any number of other man-made rules). Or maybe we're told we can get by with something less than Jesus: human efforts and abilities, sincerity, sacrifice, being a "good person", meaning well, trying hard, etc., will do as well as the Blood.
But our true Doorway into the presence and favor of God is a Person; we need Jesus only and we need Jesus utterly! We need to embrace Him with passion and total abandonment. He is our Sun, the Giver of all life. (Why do we need to light a tiny candle when the Son is shining?) And He is our Shield, the Protector. He is all we need. In Him, we are the righteousness of God. If our righteousness has any ground but the shed blood of Jesus, it isn't good enough.
A New Religion In America
Before we address coming out of what might be called "regular" religion, all the easily recognized religions of American culture, I want to make an important point. We need to realize that we have a new state religion in America. It is a non-official but widely accepted, state-supported religion, infiltrating and permeating our society, supported by all the systems of man.
It is the religion which worships man. Man is the god who is to be loved with all the heart, soul, mind and strength. It is man whom we must obey, sacrifice for, adore. It is man whom we serve.
And man is also the believer who worships this new god.
We were told this would happen. Paul wrote, " ...Because that, when they knew God, they glorified [him] not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man... Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen." (Romans 1:21,22,25).
Man is the god, the source, the wisdom, the goal and the empowerment of this new religion. Man will meet man's needs by the power and wisdom of man.
This religion has its truth determined by the latest research and statistical studies; its teachings and sermons are delivered through the latest pronouncements of experts and professionals.(One example: a sermon of humanism is preached each Sunday in Parade Magazine. We are told about service to mankind and how great this is, about how to be healthy, about how to raise our children, and overarching all else, how to agree with, believe like, approve of and be in unity with, all other people.) And these "truths", this new "gospel", is routinely preached in the schools, the media, the medical systems, even in churches.
And it's utter folly! When God was taken out of our society, we needed a new god, and over the past thirty or so years, this nation has been evangelized by a new religion. This was the process, in chronological order:
- We forgot God.
("God" used to mean Jehovah; but no longer. We're told all gods are alike, and it doesn't really matter which god we serve. And we must respect all of them equally.) - We forgot His laws.
(Tolerance replaced "right and wrong". We must "respect" all religions and all gods because of course the world considers them all equal.) - We made a new gods.
(The "evolved" human is now his own god.) - We made new laws.
(Political correctness - their code of acceptable thought and behavior.)
This code of what is now "correct" according to the powers-that-be means we must align ourselves with such ridiculous positions as these: we can be homosexual but we can't disapprove of homosexuals; our teens can commit fornication (if they are "responsible" and use a condom) but they can't smoke; we can abort our offspring but we can't spank them. We can take any drug a doctor recommends but we may not eat white sugar or animal fat, etc. etc. etc. It is almost schizophrenic!
One note of interest, which will serve to affirm my premise here: during the publicity about a prominent politician's fall from grace I heard a group of people on a news program discussing his morality - or his lack thereof. One of the panelists made this statement, "Maybe he doesn't have a lot of the old morality of right and wrong, but he cares about the poor, and about education, and protecting the environment and about people's lives. That's a kind of morality, too." So we have come from "One nation, under God..." to "One country of fractured and antagonistic little groups, under no god but themselves..."
I am fairly sure that no one reading this is a true believer in the "First Church of Man", but I'm also fairly sure that few of us are totally free of all its doctrines and practices. But let's turn now to address the question of "religion or a relationship". How can we tell the difference? Isn't our relationship with God worked out through church attendance and service to man? Let's examine that concept. We can begin by realizing that "Jesus" and "the church" are not synonymous. Of course we don't give up "church" to enter Jesus, but some of us do pretty well have to de-throne "church" before Jesus can take His rightful place. Because it's easy to stop there, with church membership and attendance, and go no further.
And also we need to realize that we are the church. It is not a building we enter, nor a club we join, nor a charity we support. It is not an organization: it's an organism. It's not a corporation: it's a living entity. The Bride of Christ, the Body of Christ, the Army of God; the living, breathing, growing, fighting, praying, anointed representation of God on this side of the veil. It is eternal, unique in all the world and in all of history, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. But it's what we are, not what we go to.
And it - the church - can assume too much power and influence; it can rival God Himself for our loyalty and focus. In many case, the relationship with a church, either a denomination or a local body, can be so all-consuming, so demanding and so fulfilling, so significant and so profound in the life and worship of a believer, that he can go for years without realizing that Jesus Himself is not a very big factor in his spiritual life.
The primary problem with religion is: man is at its center. Man is working his way into favor with God by his own good works, and the goad of never being sure we've done quite enough to actually accomplish our goals continues forever. Unless of course we compare ourselves with others, make them the standard, and because we don't do the particular naughty things that they do, we feel pretty safe. But in this pitiful striving for safety, we find that the sovereignty of God, His plans, goals, desires and such are seldom even considered. In the implacable thirst to meet man's needs and improve his condition - and thereby become holy, satisfying the demands of a righteous God - the Lord takes a back seat.
Commitment to other Christians, singularly or in groups, must always be secondary to our commitment and faithfulness to God. This is the priority: "Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second [is] like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." (Matthew 22:40) [Emphasis mine].
Our priorities are - at least should be - God first, then man. I am convinced that this fact, this focus, this assignment of priorities, is the most significant difference between religion and a relationship. Here are some other distinctions; and I want to say clearly that all of us are a mixture in this religion or a relationship question.
Religion | A Relationship with Jesus |
| focuses of the needs of man | focuses on the will of God |
| meets God most powerfully in a group setting | meets God most powerfully in private |
| wants God to bless a natural life | wants to die to the natural realm and live in the Spirit |
| works from the outside in to become righteous; self effort, striving, disquiet | rests, obeys; allows the Holy Spirit to work from the inside to produce righteousness |
| is focused on here and now | is focused on eternity in heaven |
| receives most input from other people's teachings, books, tapes, sermons | receives most teaching from personal study and rhema |
| talks about the church ministering to mankind | talks about the individual believer worshiping God |
| considers "success" as getting prayers answered; we get what we want | considers "success" as obeying God; He gets what He wants |
| talks about rules and principles | talks about the Ruler and the Prince |
| sings to each other, "Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face..." | sings to God, "I'll keep my eyes upon you, Lord, look full in Your wonderful face..." |
| does a lot of good works | grows a lot of spiritual fruit |
I am not advocating an exodus from organized religion; I am merely encouraging all of us to be sure we don't stop there. We must move beyond the structure - denomination, building, hierarchy, programs, organization, traditions, people - into Him. Into Jesus Christ, whom to know is life eternal. We need to know Him - His Word, voice, nature, principles, goals. We may have to fight to get through the clutter which hides Him, through the people who might filter and diminish His intimacy with us.
But we must know Him for ourselves and hear from Him personally. We can't depend on anyone else to be our intermediary. The cry of the laity is: "And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die." (Exodus 20:19). How appalling! They didn't want to hear Him!
Instead we must believe, and live, the reality of: "...He that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out... And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me..." (John 10:3-5,14,27).
As Christians, we are heir to many past covenants which God has made with others.
- Like righteous Noah, we have been chosen to enter an Ark to save us from a dying world. (Genesis 6:18, Genesis 9:9-12).
- We are inheritors of the blessings of faithful Abraham, our father of faith. (Genesis 15:18, Genesis 17:7, Galatians 3:6,7).
- Like Moses, the friend of God, we can know His ways, not just His acts. (Psalms 103:7).
- We can partake of the "sure mercies of David", God's chosen, beloved son. (II Samuel 7:3, Psalms 89:20, 34-36, Isaiah 55:3, Acts 13:34).
- But more than any of these, we are eligible for the role of Bride. Our blessed covenant, by far the highest, is that of marriage.
Let me quote from the best-known and most revered of all the marriage rites in our language:
"I,___________________, take thee, Jesus,
to be my lawfully wedded Husband;
to have and to hold from this day forward;
for better or for worse;
for richer or for poorer;
in sickness or in health;
forsaking all others;
keeping myself only unto You,
so long as we both shall live."
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