All My Religion
Notes
Transcript
False Religion
False Religion
32 You shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.”
This verse means so much more to me then it did before a year ago.
This verse is absolutely true.
When you know what is true, your inner most being is liberated.
When yo realise that you’re not a mistake, and that you have a reason to live, you’re liberated.
And there are so many levels and instances where you realise that this is so true.
But what I also realised is that the opposite of this verse is unfortunately very true.
That when you don’t know the truth, you’re in bondage.
Let me explain:
Your theology about truth, and who God is and what He requires modifies how you behave.
Theology/belief system is so powerful that it alters the very quality of your life and experience.
When that theology/belief system is right, man, your life experiences will be so beautiful.
But when your thelogy/belief system is wrong or warped your life experiences are compromised and you don’t experience the abundant life that Jesus promised.
An example:
I used to believe that SDA people in general were equivalent to Israelites worshipping the golden calf at the bottom of Sinai.
You have all this knowledge and you have inspired writings, but you’re allowing things to go on that are not what the texts says.
You’re ignorant about God’s will and important doctrines like the sealing message and vegetarianism.
You officially disacourage war and yet there are thousands of Adventists who currently serve in their countries military force which seems opposite to the position that Jesus taught in Scripture.
Adventists are worldly.
Some of the styles of worship are like the big Pentecostal churches.
Etc.
And if I ever was around SDA people it was always in my mind how can I share with them the “truth” and get them to come over to my side. Because the side that I’m on is the right side.
Share experience of coming out of Reform.
Jesus broke down barriers that had been erected through false system of belief.
Christ breaks down barriers in our hearts when we receive His Spirit at the beginning of our experience and if we build on our experience with wrong theology then we build back up the barriers that Jesus once destroyed.
This is an experience of false religion.
There are different signs of false religion that preachers pick up and write about but I’ll share the ones that I know to be true.
Religion see people as the enemy. Jesus sees sin as the enemy.
This is what leads to the “us” and “them” attitude.
Religion makes God the boss and you the employee. Jesus makes God the Father and you the son.
Love is conditional.
Do the right things and you’ll make it to heaven.
Do the wrong things, and God will give you the DCM (Don’t Come Monday).
Can you see the huge anxiety potential this type of religion creates?
Religion is fueled by fear and punishment. Jesus is fueled by love and mercy.
Religion tends to motivate its followers with fear and punishment.
This can be done in a very subtle way like the belief in perfectionism which says that you must be perfect in every way and if you’re not you’ll be lost.
This is type of religion/belief system is the breeding ground for cults and manipulation of people’s vulnerabilities.
I’m reminded of the scripture that says,
18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
Religion is safe and practical. Jesus is radical and unpredictable.
With religion, there is no need to take risks.
Maybe go on a mission trip once in your lifetime. But, generally speaking, just do the right thing.
Religion is very practical. It makes sense.
There are no surprises. Five steps to salvation. Church the same time every week.
Religion doesn’t ask much from you. It doesn’t deliver much either.
But Jesus religion is radical and real.
Jesus interceded on behalf of prostitutes. (People that no one with sensibilities wanted to be around)
Jesus ate with people who cheated and stole from the common people (tax collectors)
He scolded religious leaders for their hypocrisy.
God cannot be put into a box.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.
Religion is real and practical.
It asks real questions and is Spirit led, not tradition led.
Naaman story is often our story.
15 Then Naaman and all his attendants went back to the man of God. He stood before him and said, “Now I know that there is no God in all the world except in Israel. So please accept a gift from your servant.”
16 The prophet answered, “As surely as the Lord lives, whom I serve, I will not accept a thing.” And even though Naaman urged him, he refused.
17 “If you will not,” said Naaman, “please let me, your servant, be given as much earth as a pair of mules can carry, for your servant will never again make burnt offerings and sacrifices to any other god but the Lord.
18 But may the Lord forgive your servant for this one thing: When my master enters the temple of Rimmon to bow down and he is leaning on my arm and I have to bow there also—when I bow down in the temple of Rimmon, may the Lord forgive your servant for this.”
19 “Go in peace,” Elisha said. After Naaman had traveled some distance,
We often have questions whether if something is right to do in a situation or if we’re comprosing principles but Jesus religion is not scared of these scenarios and can make decisions based upon God’s principles being written on the heart and the Spirit of God guiding our conscience and decision making process in the moment.
Religion says come to church and serve. Jesus says go into the world and serve.
This point here ruins local church mission when it’s not understood what God wants us to do.
Yes we are in a type of spiritual exile at the moment, in spiritual Babylon waiting for God’s deliverance but what do we do in the mean time while we’re here?
Should we rebel and be antagonistic toward the world?
Should we shelter ourselves and our families and live like hermits so that we don’t become tainted by the world?
7 Seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, and pray to the Lord for it; for in its peace you will have peace.
False religion is indifferent the practical necessities of people around it.
We are to be people that are making a positive difference to the lives around us and the communities that we live in. This is Jesus religion.
Jesus had a conversation with lady by a well who was not regarded by anyone because of her sinful life.
She is the first one that is allowed to proclaim that Jesus is the Messiah.
But while they were talking, she was very suspicious of this Jewish Rabbi sought to bring Him into a debate about worship and whether it should be in Jersualem or in Samaria.
Jesus answers very briefly but is quick to remind her that the day has come when religion will not be regarded by what is done outwardly but that religion is spirit and truth.
Temples won’t matter because YOU are the temple of the living God and He will dwell within you. Yes you with 5 husbands. What matters is that you will repent and worship Him in spirit and in truth.
What does it look like to worship God in spirit and in truth?
What does Jesus religion look like?
Jesus Religion
Jesus Religion
27 Real religion, the kind that passes muster before God the Father, is this: Reach out to the homeless and loveless in their plight, and guard against corruption from the godless world.
Muster = Critical examination.
1 Now seeing the crowds, He went up on a mountain. And when He sat down, His disciples came to Him.
2 And He began speaking and taught them, saying:
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.
7 Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
11 “Blessed are you when men revile you, and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.
12 Rejoice and be very glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in this manner they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Who is Jesus talking to?
Matthew 4 gives us the proper context.
Toward the end of chapter 4 Rabbi Jesus begins to preach “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
Then, as He typically does, walks by the beach and calls Simon Peter and his brother Andrew to follow Him.
20 They immediately left their nets and followed Him.
Then He sees another two brothers with their dad, John and James and He asks them to follow Him.
22 They immediately left the boat and their father and followed Him.
So Jesus asks these lowly margainlised people to follow Him. Society doesn’t think much of them. These guys are rough.
Then Jesus goes through all Galilee teaching, preaching and healing all sorts of diseases.
24 His fame went throughout all Syria. And they brought to Him all sick people who were taken with various diseases and tormented with pain, those who were possessed with demons, those who had seizures, and those who had paralysis, and He healed them.
25 Great crowds followed Him from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.
So when we read in Matthew 5 that “His disciples came to Him” who is it talking about?
Not all the 12 disciples have been called yet.
A disciple is one who is following Jesus. Who did we just read is following Jesus?
4 fisherman
Sick people
People with tormenting pain
People who were possessed with demons
People who had seizures
People who were were paralysed.
People who were trod down, beaten, crushed by society.
These guys were the margainlised of society.
No one cared about them. There was no welfare system in the Roman empire.
No medicare.
As far as Rome and Jewish leaders were concerned, who cares about them!
Apparently Jesus does.
It’s to these people that Jesus says “your blessed, the kingdom of God belongs to you first.”
Blessing
What does it mean to be blessed?
It means that you have a relationship with Him that is transforming you to live like He lives. This is His favour and His grace.
But pronouncing blessings was not a new thing in Matthew 5.
It has history throughout the Hebrew Scriptures.
Just think of Psalm 1 and how it starts?
“How Blessed” ‘is the one who doesn’t act like jerk, but delights in God’s ways revealed in Scripture and meditates on them continually.’
The group that wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls in the first century AD wrote a book of blessings.
They were so convinced that Juda was going to hell in a hand basket they withdrew to teh desert, took their Bibles with them and wrote copied texts and wrote weird literature and prayed for everyone to be destroyed and go to hell except themselves.
One of them was like reading Proverbs:
Blessed are the pure in heart, who doesn’t slander with their tongue.
Blessed are those who adhere to the commands of the Torah, who don’t adhere to perveted paths.
Blessed are those who rejoice in wisdom, who don’t run into paths of folly.
Blessed are those who search for wisdom with pure hands, and don’t pusue her with treacherous hearts.
Blessed is the man who attains wisdom, and walks in the law of the Most High.
But this is a community who believed that they were the only actually living like this and that everyone was destined to destruction under the wrath of God.
These were a way of these people in this group holding up their ideals and declaring that they were the blessed ones because they were the only ones doing this.
Then you have another example of well known Jewish teacher who walked around pronouncing blessings about 150 years before Jesus and his name was Jesus too!
Jesus Ben Sira.
He wrote a famous collection of wisdom literature. You can read them.
Let’s read them: Ben Sira 25:7-11
7 I can think of nine whom I would call blessed, and a tenth my tongue proclaims: a man who can rejoice in his children; a man who lives to see the downfall of his foes.
8 Happy the man who lives with a sensible wife, and the one who does not plow with ox and ass together. Happy is the one who does not sin with the tongue, and the one who has not served an inferior.
9 Happy is the one who finds a friend, and the one who speaks to attentive listeners.
10 How great is the one who finds wisdom! But none is superior to the one who fears the Lord.
11 Fear of the Lord surpasses everything; to whom can we compare the one who has it?
These blessings are steeped in the values system of the world where status and position are the evidence of blessing.
Jesus surprsises their expectations of Jesus pronouncing blessing upon the healthy, wealthy, and wise.
It’s a reversal of everything you thought was true of your position, identity, purpose, and your place in the family of God.
Stanley Howrawatts Commentator: Too often these characteristics of the blessings have in Christian history been turned into ideals and virtues that we must strive to attain, “poor in spirit, meek, hunger and thirst” when we do that, we turn them into formulas that help us gain status and favour with God which is of course precisely the opposite of what Jesus is trying to say. Rather they are descriptions of the kinds of people to whom Jesus brought the kingdom of God.
Each blessing is connected like a stained glass window.
3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Their poor economically and on a social status level.
Their spiritually. They realise that they’re sinners, but they’re really attracted to this Man Jesus. They feel like He loves them and regards them.
Are they poor? Yes
Are people looking for them for leadership and insight? No!
People don’t care about them.
These kinds of people that are “poor in spirit” are usually the most honest about their own condition and openminded to receive help from someone totally outside of themselves.
15 For thus says the High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place and also with him who is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
5 Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.
4 Alas, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a brood of evildoers, children who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel to anger, they are estranged and backward.
10 Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom; listen to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah:
11 For what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices to Me? says the Lord. I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed animals. I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of male goats.
12 When you come to appear before Me, who has required this at your hand, to trample My courts?
13 Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to Me. New Moons, Sabbaths, and convocations— I cannot bear with evil assemblies.
14 My soul hates your New Moons and your appointed feasts; they are a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them.
15 When you reach out your hands, I will hide My eyes from you; even when you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood.
16 Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil from your deeds, from before My eyes. Cease to do evil,
17 learn to do good; seek justice, relieve the oppressed; judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
They mourn over their own sin and corruptions.
How they have been partial in their dealings with others.
They mourn over the broken relationships in the land.
They don’t separate themselves from others pain but they internalise it as if it happened to them. Then they can sympathise and help those in need.
5 Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Unimportant.
Opposite to those who gain advantage in this world through assertiveness and aggressiveness.
In spite of people around them seeming to have the upperhand Jesus says YOU are blessed. You will inherit everything that the kingdom of God is bringing in.
The meek, the lowly, the gentle tend to be the ones that listen to God and His messengers when they speak.
3 Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land, who carry out His judgment. Seek righteousness, seek humility. Perhaps you will be hidden on the day of the Lord’s anger.
Interstingly righteousness co-exists with humility.
8 He has told you, O man, what is good— and what does the Lord require of you, but to do justice and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?
7 Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
20 The poor is hated even by his own neighbor, but the rich has many friends.
21 He who despises his neighbor sins, but he who has mercy on the poor, happy is he.
These people are unimportant and don’t have a say in society, but they will announce the kingdom of God by regarding the unimportant and having mercy on the poor.
Turning the world upside down by helping in small and seemingly insignificant ways
8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
They are treasuring the riches of Jesus’ love and living out the kingdom principles.
It doesn;t matter if no one regards them because their Father in heaven does and they will continue to offer sacrifices of praise and acts of mercy.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God.
They have an interest to insert themselves into broken relationships and reconcile people with people, people with God.
10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
They tend to be misunderstood for their actions and at times will be stand against principalities and powers working through men to oppose and overthrow the Jesus kingdom movement.
11 “Blessed are you when men revile you, and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.
12 Rejoice and be very glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in this manner they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
The Way
The Way
What is religion?
Religion is not a name you write down on a piece of paper.
It’s Jesus.
It’s living the way He lived.
It’s refelecting His beautiful person through your humble, loving, thoughtful words and actions no matter how small they are.
Religion is radical and dynamic not routine and easy to predict.
I’ll leave you with the words of Jesus:
6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.