For Real

I get it. I really do. Maybe you do too.

It’s much easier and safer to follow rules or a checklist than it is to have a living, breathing relationship.

Take friendship for example. To be a good friend, one can call regularly, budget time to spend together, remember special days, say prayers, and so on. That would make for a good friendship, right? A safe, superficial, appearance of a friendship.

But think of your best friendships. You’ve fought and forgiven, you’ve loved and laughed when it didn’t make sense, you’ve cried and been silent together, you’ve prayed and wondered late at night, you’ve learned to trust beyond doubt and appearance, you’ve faced weathering storms together and shared the best of times. Now that’s friendship, right?

I know you see the difference. Yes, it might be easier to work off a checklist in anything. And things might be accomplished efficiently and effectively. If that were the goal.

How about the difference between religion and a relationship with God? See, loving God and people involves risk and pain, but also unspeakable wonder and joy. Checklists, well, one can get a great sense of accomplishment 😉

I thought the goal with this was to passionately follow Christ and to be Christ to one another – which takes Word and Spirit working through our confused, sinful, oft-misdirected lives. And yes, following rules and checklists might clean it up a bit and package it nicely, but will they come anywhere near what was intended? No.

Paul warned of this in his letter to the Galatians who like us, wanted to slip back to more comfortable ways shortly after learning about the new life in the Gospel. “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 easily come by rule-keeping then Christ died unnecessarily, Galatians 2:21, The Message.”

Unfortunately, many churches and Christians today seem focused on the rule-keeping and peer-pleasing kind of religion. Little to no transformation, keep it safe, no risk, no loss (no real gain) but very assuring. Please hear me. The church is of God – it is Spirit-born and led and I love it. As much damage as we sinful human beings can do to it, it’s still holy and it’s the body of Christ. And assurance is a good thing too; it’s the foundation for transformation in a life of faith.

But you and I know when churches and Christians squeeze and box out the Holy Spirit and desire a religious club that provides mostly assurance – the emphasis and the fruit simply cannot be on what Paul called above, “a personal and free relationship with God (through Jesus).” Also, grace will be at a minimum. Because as Paul explained, “rule-keeping and peer-pleasing religion…repudiates God’s grace.” Rules and check-lists – if followed sufficiently produce self-righteousness or “perfection” rather than needing and thirsting for the grace of God – won at the cross – to flow down and wash away our sins.

I guess what I am saying is that it often seems like we are putting religion before or over and above a living, breathing relationship with God – and then at the same time, wondering why so many churches in America are declining or dying.

And I get it. I really do. Many think that in a seemingly unraveling world that grows more and more chaotic, can’t we keep one thing or one place that is sacred and safe? It’s a valid question and comes from a good place.

But the assumption or foundation is a misread. Religion, and more specifically the church, whether in the first century or twenty-first century, is to be both the magnet and vehicle – is the engine to draw, save and equip people for the life-altering, mystifying, exhilarating, always moving toward good roller coaster adventure of daily following Jesus and further revealing His Kingdom. It’s not supposed to be the brake nor the merry-go-round.

To paraphrase the song “The Heart of Worship” – “We’re sorry Lord, for the things we’ve made it; cause it’s all about you, all about you Jesus.” Well today, we’re sorry Lord, for making this more about personalities, ministries, styles, exclusivity, agendas, traditions, performance, programs, and budgets.

The question for you and I – and for churches is this – is it first about a relationship with Jesus or not? Is that the starting point?

It’s the difference between an attractive, safe, preserved, routine shell of a relationship, and the real thing – which is a flesh and blood, Spirit-ual, transforming, shared, saving, eternal union.

Amen.

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No Going Back

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

1. Do you agree that Christianity has fallen away from its origins? In what ways?
2. Do you agree with my description of what it has become about? What are some of your thoughts?
3. Can we reverse this trend of Christianity decreasing? How?
4. How is your relationship with God? Is it alive? Is it through Christ? Is it just based on a church?

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