No Going Back
Galatians 2:20-21
“The life you see me living is not “mine,” but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going back on that. Is it not clear that to go back to that old rule-keeping, peer-pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in my relationship with God? I refuse to do that, to repudiate God’s grace. If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily.” Galatians 2:20-21 from The Message
Rule-keeping…Peer-pleasing…religion?
Ouch!
And yet it hits home.
Based on findings in a national study released this week, USA Today reports, “When it comes to religion, the USA is now land of the freelancers. The percentage of people who call themselves in some way Christian has dropped more than 11% in a generation. The faithful have scattered out of their traditional bases: The Bible Belt is less Baptist. The Rust Belt is less Catholic. And everywhere, more people are exploring spiritual frontiers — or falling off the faith map completely.”
To be honest, we didn’t need the study to tell us what is going on. We can see and feel it for ourselves. In a lot of key ways, we have made Christianity, and Church something other than what they were intended to be. It is the way of things – to drift from the place it started. We get that. Everything evolves, people evolve.
But it’s what we have made it. See, Paul was writing long ago to the believers in Galatian churches, already then, warning them not to lose sight of what it’s all about. How interesting that back then, in the first century, that within years, following Christ – a living relationship with God, had become “rule-keeping and peer-pleasing and religious.”
Good news, bad news. Good news – it is a human thing – it is hard (not impossible!) to live a Spirit-led life – it is easier to cling to rules and traditions and to please others rather than pleasing God first. Bad news – we are doing the same thing today.
See, the way Paul taught Christianity was about it being an exciting, freeing, loving adventure based on the fact that the Son of God loved us and gave himself for us. Not a religion, but a relationship. And in His giving of Himself, we learn to leave ourselves behind and live for Him. And yet it quickly fell away from that.
And here we are today, with Christianity hemorrhaging people and “more people…falling off the faith map completely.” Why? Because, we have made or allowed Christianity and Church to become about things that aren’t faithful to its origins. We have made it about institutions instead of people. It’s about money instead of being “living sacrifices.” It’s about appearances instead of the heart. It’s about pleasing people instead of pleasing God. It’s about being safe instead risking. It’s about control instead of passion. It’s about telling instead of teaching. It’s about “my” truth rather than “The Truth.” It’s about performance instead promise. It’s about ease and comfort instead of challenge and growing. It’s about going our own way rather than sharing life together. It’s about pretending to be perfect rather than being open to God and others. It’s about judgment instead of grace. It’s about maintaining instead of reaching out. It’s about us instead of Christ.
Then or now, there is a phrase used to describe when something definitively falls away from its origin or intention. It’s called “Jumping the Shark.”
“Jumping the shark” is a colloquialism used by critics and fans to denote that point in a TV show, movie series’ history, or music band, where the plot or music veers off into absurd story lines or out-of-the-ordinary characterizations, particularly for a show or band with falling ratings apparently becoming more desperate to draw viewers and listeners in. In the process of undergoing these changes, the TV, movie series or band loses its original appeal. Those that have “jumped the shark” are typically deemed to have passed their peak (Wikipedia, CW additions).”
Has Christianity in North America “Jumped the Shark.” It certainly looks like it. Haven’t we “veered off into absurd story lines” so to speak? Haven’t we done desperate things to draw people in? Haven’t we lost our original appeal? Does it seem like we have passed our peak (especially in comparison to Africa and South America’s explosion of Christianity)?
But all is not lost. We know what this faith is really supposed to be about. At some point along the way, we have caught glimpses of what it is…what it could be.
We have seen it when Christianity and Churches are at their best – a people on fire for the Lord and His Word, boldly loving, forgiving, growing, welcoming others and sharing their lives together. We have seen it when Christians and Churches have broken through routines and pretenses and put their focus back on being a living body of Christ. We have known it when we have caught just a hint of how God sees us and all that is possible in the midst of our sinful natures and brokenness and warped world.
Because, once you have even had just a taste of the freedom, of the passion, of the joy, of the unconditional love, of the power, of the hope, of the perfect grace in Christ, there is no going back. There is nothing like it. A real, personal, alive, unpredictable, but always purposeful relationship with God…
We all fall off the path at times. But the path is still there…waiting. C’mon, there is no going back now.
Amen.
Discussion Questions
- Do you agree that Christianity has fallen away from its origins? In what ways?
- Do you agree with my description of what it has become about? What are some of your thoughts?
- Can we reverse this trend of Christianity decreasing? How?
- How is your relationship with God? Is it alive? Is it through Christ? Is it just based on a church?
Living Water 