Week 11: Religion or Relationship - Which One Are You Following - Part 2

Last week we looked at religious legalism during Jesus' day (John 9). We will take a closer look today.

There are times when I have seen this very mentality creep up into my own life and also the lives of other fellow Christians. Now, I don't believe we have or are going to lose our salvation, but I do believe we lose out on being a blessing to others and receiving a blessing from others as well as from the Lord. I have personally witnessed this legalistic religious mentality many times throughout my life. I've seen arguments over denominations,over translations of the Bible, over church budgets, over the way the church should be ran and a whole list of other things split the Body of Christ. I often wonder if Christ were to physically walk among us as He did in the Pharisees' day what He would think of the Church today. Would He be pleased or appalled?

Friends, I don't believe Christ is concerned with what denomination we choose to fellowship among; He wants unity among the Church. Furthermore, as long as His doctrine is not compromised, I don't believe He gets hung up on what Bible translation we read and study from. (Although, a good rule of thumb is to have one translation as your primary foundation for studying and be sure that the translation you are reading is God's Word and not man's...I prefer the KJV but I do study from other versions for comparisons; and to make sure I gain the actual meanings of the words, I look up the original Greek and Hebrew definitions.) I do, however, think He is concerned with His gospel being spread to all the world. He tells us in His Word (and He is the Word - John 1:1) that He came to seek and to save the lost (luke 19:10). Furthermore, He commands us to go into all the world and preach the gospel (Mark 16:15).

I recently heard of an evangelist who cancelled preaching a revival meeting at a particular church because some of the members in his sending church had past grievances with some of the members of the church hosting the revival. The evangelist stated that his pastor said their might be members of their church who would have a problem with this meeting. So, in an effort to not have his pastor left to answer questions about why he, the evangelist, was preaching the revival meeting at the other church, he canceled his attendance.

I don't know about you, but I feel this is no different than the way the Pharisees acted toward Jesus and His works. Instead of canceling his attendance at the revival, the evangelist should have taken a lesson from the former blind man and stood his ground for Christ. If he is truly called by God to preach the gospel, then that is what he should do...regardless of whose feelings may or may not be hurt. His attendance at the revival meeting may have been the very thing that the Lord would have used to help heal old wounds. Now, no one will ever know. You know, it is one thing for the world to be offended at the gospel of Christ (the Bible said the world would be), but it is another when the offenses are happening among fellow Christians. Furthermore, should the people of the church holding the revival learn of this event, as is likely to have happened, may they choose not to become prideful or fall into gossip over the situation.

Friend, I could tell you other stories of people being discouraged from crossing denominational lines to go and preach a service or revival or of people refusing to be blessed of God because a Bible study or greeting card had scripture that was not from their preferred translation and so on, but time will not permit. Nevertheless, we all need to examine ourselves and see if there is any religion in us that is hindering our relationship with Christ. If there is, we need to confess it, turn from it, and ask Christ to help us choose Him every time over man's ideas, feelings, or traditions. God forbid that we should get so caught up in religious P.P. (piety and politics) that we consider our thoughts and feelings superior to the Word and Will of God. If any decision we make in life does not line up with the Word and the nature of Jesus Christ, then it is wrong. May God help us always choose to bring all things under subjection to Him and may we never be a stumbling block to people who are for Christ, even if their means are different from ours.

And John answered and said, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name; and we forbad him, because he followeth not with us. And Jesus said unto him, Forbid him not: for he that is not against us is for us. (Luke 9:49-50)