That’s a great question because religion is one of the most misunderstood and abused words in the world of faith. Are you aware that religion can either be a good thing or a bad thing? Yes, contrary to most full gospel, independent Christians there is such a thing as “good religion”. Alright then, what is it? James 1:27 tells us that, “Pure and lasting religion in the sight of God our Father means we must care for orphans and widows in their troubles, and refuse to let the world corrupt us.” New Living translation.
That is “good” religion. Caring for the needs of one another and walking out our salvation in this world through our actions. And yet, even though they are the right thing for a Christian to do, they cannot earn you your salvation. And then there is another, more well known understanding of religion. It’s the ultimate deception, if you will. It’s the ill-conceived thought that man can somehow earn his right to eternal life in heaven by obeying certain rules, performing certain rituals, perfect church attendance and doing enough good works. Not so. And that’s the “religion” most people are familiar with. That is the false religion.
Simply put, bad (or false) religion is man’s attempt to worship the God he doesn’t have a personal relationship with. And he has been led to think that by faithfully performing ceremonial duties God will approve of his efforts, overlook or somehow forgive his sin without coming through His Son, and let him earn a right into heaven. False religion is a deadly form of worship because it never takes into account the sacrifice of Jesus for the remission of sin. They recognize the cross of Jesus but they do not feel Jesus’ sacrifice was enough. They are still trying to earn salvation because without a relationship with the Lord they are not sure they have it.
There are no amount of ceremonies, prayers or rituals that can absolve man of his sin. Only by the blood of Jesus can one become born again. And only by each individual coming to Him, confessing their sin and welcoming Him into their everyday life as Lord and Savior, can this be accomplished.
This is going to raise some eyebrows
I want to share with you a dramatic 180 degree turn in my thoughts toward certain ceremonies and traditions that the current independent, full gospel churches have not only forgotten, but openly dismissed and mocked as dead and worthless. We need to be careful here. It could very well be that we, in our zeal to be free from false religion, have thrown the baby out with the bathwater.
What makes the things we used to do in our former denominational churches so wrong? Shouldn’t we gather together to honor to the Lord, be taught His Word, recognize and celebrate our identity in Christ, rejoice in the heritage of the Christian church that was handed down to us, and expect the ever-present Holy Spirit to move in our services? What transforms a church service from being a boring, lifeless, predictable ritual to an anointed, holy, powerful, reverent move of God that draws people to Christ and brings glory and honor to the Father?
Relationship!
If the Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors, Teachers, church leaders and congregations of today are born again and filled with the Spirit of God I guarantee you pews, beautiful traditional ornate surroundings, candles, stained glass windows, and steeples with church bells ringing will not create a problem. It never was the problem! And I’m beginning to think it may even help us which I will explain as we go. Our problem was the church leaderships lack of relationship with Jesus and not the things we had in our sanctuaries that bring us to a focused unity of purpose. Our problems in the church have always been the neglect of our daily communion with Him, not the furnishings or the ceremonies. I’ve attended many born again, independent, full gospel churches around this country who are no more “alive” than the born again Lutheran church I used to attend and many of them even less so. I’ve been in some full gospel churches that don’t have a spiritual pulse at all and I’ve been in some that are all hype, but no anointing. They want it to appear anointed and work the people up, but the anointing is no where to be found. What worked in the 80′s independent church won’t work today. God doesn’t change, but He does move.
(AFTER I HAD COMPLETED AND POSTED THIS TEACHING MY SON CAME TO ME AND TOLD ME ONE OF HIS FRIENDS HAD FORWARDED AN ARTICLE TO HIM FROM CHRISTIANITY TODAY MAGAZINE. CHRISTIANITY TODAY HAD TAKEN A POLL AND FOUND THAT BORN AGAIN, SPIRIT FILLED CHRISTIANS ARE LEAVING THEIR FULL GOSPEL CHURCHES AND GRAVITATING BACK TO THE DENOMINATIONAL CHURCH THEY HAD COME OUT FROM. I FOUND THAT INTERESTING AND RELEVANT TO THIS TEACHING SO I HAVE OPTED TO LET YOU KNOW. IT NOT ONLY DID NOT SURPRISE ME, I’M EXPECTING IT TO INCREASE. MY PRAYER IS THAT THE CHURCH THEY’RE GOING BACK TO IS BORN AGAIN AND OPEN TO THE HOLY SPIRIT)
Over the years of serving Jesus I have come to know and understand that it’s a born again relationship with a living God and daily communion with Him that makes all the difference in a Christian meeting. And we need to get back to honoring our Christian heritage by putting our focus back where it belongs, on Him. Does anything do that more than walking into some of our older denominational churches? Our modern day sanctuaries have lost the atmosphere of holiness and reverence they once held. No longer do they capture our attention and turn our focus to Him. I often imagine how much fun it would be to have our style of born again, Spirit filled worship service inside my childhood Lutheran church! How awesome will that be! Yes, I said “will”, not would. You watch. God is coming back into His traditional church buildings as we get closer to His return. Maybe not all of them, but a lot of them and I believe quite possibly the majority of them. These church buildings were designed and constructed to honor Him, and they will! I recently spoke with one precious sister in the Lord who told me she had once attended the largest independent , full gospel church in Omaha and was not impressed. Not at all. Oh, they had the people alright. And they said all the right things. But something was missing. She said she felt like she was “walking into a converted warehouse of some sort”. To her it was not a sanctuary. It did not reflect a holy God. She returned to her born again denominational, traditional surroundings where she faithfully attends and worships the Lord as a born again daughter of God.
Our sanctuaries will once again return to reflect a holy God and proclaim to both the saved and the lost: “This is holy ground saturated with the power and presence of God and is more than able to change lives!” Most independent church sanctuaries, and I’ve seen a ton of them, do not reflect that at all. Immediately upon the close of the service the “sanctuary” turns into a 3 ring circus while people are at the altar seeking the Lord in prayer.
The Holy Spirit lives in His people, yes, but God still deserves His “set apart” place in the local assemblies. A place that is reserved for Him. He has a place set apart for Him in heaven and it is called the Throne Room, so why shouldn’t He have that here among His children? And there is still a holy altar in heaven as well. And as we look at it in awesome reverence we will see the precious blood of our Savior, Jesus Christ covering it. The sanctuary of God and the altar of Christ will always be a sanctified, holy place whether it be in heaven or on earth.
Please don’t dismiss these things I’m telling you. The Lord has been dealing with me concerning this issue for some time now.
We see in James 1 that there is such a thing as “good religion.” The word “religion” simply means “ceremonial observance.” The modern born again, full gospel, independent churches have lost this. We view all ceremony as bad an as such, with the exception of communion, we threw it out as irrelevant. But James informs us that there is such a thing as “good” religion or perhaps better said, “good” ceremonious observance. (It is the Greek word “threskeia”. Where we got the idea that the word “religion” meant bondage I’m not sure). And I believe the Lord is going to open our eyes and lead us to return a holy sanctuary to Him fill it with appropriate, relevant ceremony, celebration, dance, praise and worship that will once again reflect His holiness and compel the lost to flood the altars for salvation. It’s not the ceremonies that we were so anxious to throw aside that were the problem in the church we wanted to leave when we became born again. That wasn’t our problem at all. Nor was it the traditional atmosphere or even the ceremony. The problem with the church was the absence of a personal relationship with our Father, the Lord God Almighty!
Yes, there is good religion and bad religion. The only difference between them is that one is based on a born again, Spirit filled relationship between God and His children while the other is not. “Good” religion honors God and takes care of one another. “Bad” religion is man still seeking that personal salvation and acceptance through meaningless repetition of lifeless attempts at appeasing God. Let’s stop blaming our heritage, traditions and ceremonies. It’s not their fault. They can be a meaningful part of good religion when we bring “life “into them.
This is the way I see things, at least concerning the different Christian denominations, I want to close by all of us looking at what took place in Luke 9:50. The disciples had come to Jesus complaining about “other believers” who were not a part of “our group” that were out there, apart from their little group, that we’re doing Christian things. What did Jesus tell them about this?……
“He who is not against us is on our side!” Christian denominations should not be against “us” (the independents) and we should not be against them (the denominations)! Come on, Christian believers! We can do this! We will do this!
He who has ears to hear, let him hear!
12 Comments
I do understand where you are going with this. I spent many years in the church called Glad Tidings and at first is was great. But the congregation was so judgemental and I started picking that up and it is wrong. I go to a Catholic services only because me and my husband and daughter want to be evenly yoked. It does not fulfill me all the way but I have my personal relationship with Jesus and I can get my bible readings in and still keep peace in the family. Until we are all ready to move on.
We can all become judgmental if we’re not careful. One of the devil’s names is “accuser of the brethren” for a reason. Jesus will get us all on the same page. He will. I know He will. Give your hubby a hug for us. Love you!
I agree with what you say about the good works idea. I think that it is really great that people do good works but they should do them because God’s love and sacrifice inspires them to do so, not because they feel that they have to to be saved. I’m not saying that people who believe that you need to do good works don’t do them for the right reasons, but I think that the bible is clear that belief in Jesus is all that you need but that everyone should be able to tell blelievers apart because of their actions.
Also, the church that I go to is very old fashioned in its customs, and I like it that way kind of for the reasons that you mentioned. You said that God should have his own place on earth and I feel that my church is unlike any other place that I go. I feel solemn being there and really feel like I am in God’s house.
I love it, Hollie! You are right on. That’s what I’m talking about sister! I was raised in a Lutheran church much like yours, Missouri Synod and all. And believe it or not I’ve been inside your church on many occasions. What I wouldn’t give to have an opportunity to preach a message of Jesus unifying His church from that pulpit!
You rock, honey. Keep on keeping on.
Rich
P.S. Say hello to your mom for me. I miss her face.
Once again “THANK YOU”..You are so right about after pastor’s sermon the sanctuary turn’s into a 3 ring circus…So I will be one who will help corect this problem..Starting with myself….Our sanctury is “Holy ground”….and we all need to be reminded of that……..
Don’t get me wrong. We have a great church filled with wonderful, caring people and I intend to do all I can to serve them in any way I can. My point was that if, after the conclusion of the service, you feel like you’d like to remain in the sanctuary and enjoy some quiet time with the Lord your chances are slim of being afforded that. Even if no one approaches you the noise in the room can at times be distracting.
But, in my opinion, we have the best church in town and the best Pastor. I’m staying put!
I agree 100%…I love our Pastor and all the congregation…we are a blessed body of Christ and I’m stayin put too! Love Ya.
[...] 4, 2010 I borrowed this dialog from my friend Richard Glenn. His blog Truth From the Hip. He is an avid blogger and purveyor of truth. Thought you might like this discussion on religion. [...]
“Religion” can be both good and bad. The basic idea of meaning “faith in God” is good. However, we have seen that over the years religion has come to mean “faith in our religious way of thinking”. And religion has a tendency to get quite stiff and laden down with man’s ideas (rules) of what it takes to be pleasing to God. “Yokes of bondage”, Jesus called them. Over time religion loses it’s focus on the sacrificial blood of Christ for salvation and concentrates on an ever increasing list of laws, rules and regulations that are not scripturally based and have absolutely nothing to do with salvation. This presents impossible burdens that people are expected to carry. Thus, it loses it loses it’s power because it dismisses a lack of a personal relationship with our Savior and replaces it with unrealistic expectations. In this way, religion is bad for the soul as well as misrepresenting the grace of God to a world that desperately needs it.
Hey Rich. I’m a little late getting here, but enjoyed the dialog. I’ve been known to say religion makes God gag. I was in error. Religion as it currently is defined makes God gag. True religion as you have defined, I am sure makes God smile…. Thanks. archie
THumbs up! Nothing sweeter than being alone while lights are out sitting in the pew with sunshine streaming thru stained glass windows at our church. Beautiful, simple, tall wooden cross hanging on the wall. Definitely feels like holy ground to me.
I agree. My home church does not have stained glass, candles or even pews and I must admit that sometimes I miss that traditional Lutheran sanctuary I loved as a boy. And yes, the sun shining through the stained glass bathes the sanctuary with color and warmth that cannot be matched! That church was cool, but there was no life in it. If we could get an atmosphere like that and infuse it with real Spirit-life? Priceless!