For the past couple of weeks, my heart has been very heavy on a certain issue that deals with the church. Over the past few months, I have talked to several people who once attended church but are no longer attending. Each one had their own reasons as to why they have left the church and have not returned. They told me their stories and I listen to them. As we talked about church, I noticed a common theme that ran through our conversations. I noticed they seemed to be focused on rules and regulation. Or what I would like to call "religion". The reason for this is; religion is made up of legalistic rules and regulations, the do’s and don’ts.
One guy I talked to said he had gone to several different types of church. And with each church came with different lists of do’s and don’ts. He was told that if he was to come to church (but in his mind, this meant being Christian) you had to worship a certain way, act a certain way and do certain things. He would attend another church and they would tell him something completely different and that their beliefs where the only one that were correct, that the other where wrong! He was so confused about what it really meant to be a Christ follower! My heart was burden greatly for his young man.
Then there was this older man who asked me if he could wear bibbed overalls to our church. I told him with a resounding YES, He could them to church! He told me that when he had attended church before, people were focused on his dress instead of him. And that is completely wrong! I am not saying that you can wear whatever you want to wear. I do think there needs to be standard that should be kept in church.
However, the big question that needs to be asked is this: “Are we, the church, causing people to focus more on religion than we are a relationship with Jesus Christ?” I would have to say yes! What I am talking about is the difference between religion vs. relationship. Religion puts the focus on the do’s and don’ts. Think about the religious leaders of Jesus' day. They told Him that He could not pick grain on the Sabbath (Luke 6:1-11). Religion? Yes! They also told Him that He could heal people on the Sabbath (Mark 3:1-6). Religion? Again yes. They said it was wrong to eat with tax collector and sinner because they where not clean to eat with (Matt 9:11-13). Religion? Absolutely. Then we have the men in Acts 15 who said that in order to become a believer you must be circumcised. Religion? I believe so. I remember a time in my life when I was just like those religious leaders. I was focused on the rules. I was twenty one when I became a follower of Christ. Once I talked my younger brother, who was seventeen at the time, into going to church with me. I got ready for church and went into to check on him and he was wearing shorts and tennis shoes. What did I do? I told him that he couldn’t wear shorts and those dirty shoes to church! Was I holding to rules? Yes! Was I being religious? You bet I was! And I believe that if James, the brother of Jesus would have been there that day, he would have told me the same thing that he said in Acts 15:19: “And so my judgment is that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.”
As a church need to stop focusing on religion and start to focusing on bring people into a relationship with Jesus Christ! The only way religion changes people is that pushes people away from the grace that is found in relationship with Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ was all about relationships. The church needs to stop trying to change people through religion and allow Jesus Christ to change them through a personal relationship. I believe the only winner in this is Relationship!
So if you are leader within the church, where is your focus? Religion vs. Relationship?
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