Back in the late 90s I bought a
t-shirt that said “Reject Religion, Embrace Jesus.” I was still
in high school. When I wore it out I got some funny looks from both
Christians and non. This shirt helped me engage in many conversations
and more than one argument. It was an edgy idea. It was the idea that
religion and God were not one and the same. I loved that shirt.
Now I see those shirts all the time.
There are sermon series, books, bumper stickers, podcasts, viral
videos, Tumblr, Pintrest, and Facebook posts all about this. It's
borderline become the mantra of Western non-Orthodoxy: God is a
Relationship not Religion. The church is not a building. Shrug off
the old and bring in the new. Reject religion, Embrace Jesus.
I still agree with this philosophy.
Nothing that I just said is untrue or un-Biblical. God desires a
relationship and not empty religion (Mark 7:8-13, Isaiah 29:11-16).
But like all things that get put on a t-shirt, bumper sticker,
Tumblr, and Facebook, this whole idea has become trite. It's fun to
say. It's a great thing to drop on people when we talk to them about
Jesus and they say, “I'm not religious.” It becomes the next fad
and it eventually dies out.
Anybody out there rocking their WWJD?
bracelet?
The thing that gets lost in all of
this is the source of the main problem. Religion is easy, but
relationships are difficult. Rejecting the standard way of living in
favor of something that most people would find crazy is not an easy
way to live. One of my atheist friends acquainted my relationship to
God to his “relationship” with the invisible leprechaun who lives
in his bathroom. It is a lot easier to say, “I follow the teachings
of Jesus, and go to church to be a better person” then it is to
say, “I have surrendered all of my will to Jesus, and I love Him.”
To be fair it is just as easy to say, “I reject all the trappings
of religion and I follow Jesus” without actually doing it.
A relationship with Jesus has a lot
more riding on it then talking to the invisible leprechaun in your
bathroom. Jesus puts some pretty clear boundaries on the relationship
(before you get all arrogant remember the very nature of
relationships is boundaries). Jesus says to follow Him in His
sacrifice (Luke 9:23). Jesus tells us if we love Him then we show
that through our obedience (John 15:9+10). Jesus promises us that
with a relationship with Him we will have trouble with the world at
large (Matthew 10:33-35).
When we tell people it's about a
relationship and not religion we leave all that stuff out. It sounds
to religious that Jesus would want us to live differently. It sounds
so constricting to have Christ be the center of our lives. It's hard
to seal the deal when we reveal that following in Christ's sufferings
means discomfort, and no longer being able to be true to oneself.
Nobody likes to be a disciple when the Romans come in with torches
and clubs.
Religion sounds so sweet at this
point. That's why we've turned all this into the Religion of
Rejecting Religion. A lot of us like the idea but few of us like the
execution. For those of us who don't like rules we just turn this
into the rule of no rules. We drop this line so we cannot be judged.
We are quick to jump on all the issues with organized religion
without mentioning the plights of unorganized religion. We've become
what we hate. We've become rote.
This is not a condemnation it is a gut
check. If we consider ourselves religious or not we need to see if
we're hiding behind what we've built or standing firm on what Christ
has done.
No comments:
Post a Comment