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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The Right Relationship

 

 

 

“The Word of God became flesh and dwelled among us.” John 1:14

 

In many ways, our lives are defined by our relationships. Certainly we are all individuals. But our times, the substance of our lives can be seen through our connections or lack thereof with others. Relationships at their best can literally be life-giving; relationships at their worst can be heartbreaking or worse.

 

For me, I have been shaped and influenced by so many relationships. Loving others, being loved, sharing the highs and lows of life, learning together. Obviously, my parents and brother Ryan to aunts, uncles and cousins; friends, teachers and coaches. All the people I have worked with at many different jobs. From my first girlfriend (second grade) Christina (who is a faithful Living Water reader today) to all the people I’ve had the privilege to serve as their pastor in a church or from a distance. And, of course, my wife and my children. And that is just in nearly 40 years. I have been very blessed with these key human relationships. Bu there is one relationship above them all…

 

See, so much of our time revolves around relationships – building them, protecting them, putting them back together, enjoying them, and figuring them out. We are frequently wondering how are relationships are doing or seeking the “right” one. Most of the joys of life flow through relationships – life enjoyed through and with others. We are relational by design – by God’s design.

 

Which is why, with the sending of Jesus into this world – God got personal.

 

The whole idea of the Word became flesh and dwelled among us was that God became fully relational with human beings by becoming a human being. No more pillar of fire, no more voice from the mountain, not speaking through prophets, but in the flesh…

 

From his birth, the child in the manger – to his personal encounters with people – healings, teachings and attending weddings – to the last supper, where he asked his friends (and us to this day) to remember him – to the crucifixion and his death and then his bodily resurrection. All lived out by a person who was God and human.

 

I keep thinking about how he was sitting at the Passover meal with his disciples and transforms that sacred meal from a remembrance of the saving power of God during the Exodus into this simple but powerful and personal, “Remember me.” God getting personal.

 

Or I think of this liturgy I use at funerals that includes, “Through his death, Jesus sanctified the graves of the saints (those who believe).” Despite the sadness, it is a beautiful thought and only possible by God becoming flesh and living and dying among us. God getting personal and enduring all things human.

 

Not a theology, not an idea, not a theory, not a hypothetical, not a building, not a tradition or denomination, not a doctrine; but a person. All the things we have made God and religion often make us miss the point that God became flesh and dwelled among us to invite us into a saving and sustaining relationship with him.

 

He came in the flesh for two main purposes – he assumed flesh to assume the sin of the world so by going to the cross and dying – the power of death and sin – that which separated us from God – would be destroyed and the door to a relationship with God could be restored. “It is accomplished,” as he said.

 

And when we think of relationships, it is the most important one. I mean, if you we don’t have this relationship right, then what do we have? Whether you liked or agreed with the book The Shack, one clear message that came from readers was a reminder that God desires a living relationship with us.

 

Relationship involves unconditional love, trust, communication, sharing, serving, encouragement, authenticity, presence. Jesus was and is God to us in all of these ways.  

 

But there was another purpose to his coming “in the flesh.” And it was demonstrate how to be Christ to one another and to the world.   

 

Think about that for a moment. To be Christ to someone. What does that mean?

 

Because he lived in the flesh among us…we can live…because he was divine as well as human, we can see what it was to be human in the best terms as well as to be Christ to one another.

 

To love others sacrificially, to serve them, to open ourselves fearlessly, to see the best in others, to want the best for others, to be instruments of God’s healing and grace – this is to be Christ to one another.

 

But it all starts with a relationship. A few years ago Chase Bank’s slogan went something like this, “The right relationship is everything.”

 

And so it is for us. God got personal with us through Jesus – he initiated the relationship. And it’s about having the “right” relationship with God by believing in his son Jesus, and from that saving and sustaining, primary relationship, all of our other relationships can be “right” by being Christ to others – to embody him to others, from his flesh through ours.

 

Amen.

 

Discussions Questions

1. How is your relationship with God? Is it healthy or dysfunctional? Is it through Jesus? Would you like to know more about this?
2. How are you relationships with others? How do you evaluate relationships? What is that based on?
3. What do you think of being Christ to others? How can we do this?
4. How has God been personal with you in your life? If you feel like he hasn’t, how would that look if he did?

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