Listen to audio for complete lesson and illustrations..
SOUL
DETOX:
RELIGION GONE BAD
Time
to toss out moldy legalism, spoiled churches and sour Christians!
“The
tendency to turn human judgments into divine commands makes religion one of the
most dangerous forces in the world! ~Georgia Harkness
My Story
Pastor C’s story on a flight. “I’m not
religious, and I can’t stand religious people!”
He
came so we could learn to love through Him. He didn’t come for the
self-proclaimed righteous people – He came for sinners (Luke 5:32) “I have not come to call the
righteous, but sinners to repentance.”(A) . Christianity is supposed to be about
relationship not about religion!
Relationship with the one, true, living, loving God thru His Son, Jesus.
Pic
of triangle – Father, Identity, Obedience illustration
The
purity of the gospel has been tainted by poisonous human beings – people who
refuse to live by faith.. so.. when they are afraid of trusting God and the
power of His love, they usually resort to some formula or set of rules. Religion:
def. any system, set of rules, expectations, or regulations that promises God’s
acceptance in return for human effort.
Religion causes us to ‘return to bondage’. Isn’t the freedom we
experience and the relationship we have with God supposed to set us apart from
all other spiritual systems/ occults?
Toxic
religion – Biblical example – church in Galatia… Judaizers added to the
word.. added to Paul’s teachings. They taught and believed that all the Jewish
laws were still in force. Paul’s
response: Gal 1:6-7 “I am
astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called(A) you to live in the grace of Christ
and are turning to a different gospel(B)— 7 which
is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion(C) and are trying to pervert(D) the gospel of Christ” The Greek word is
translates as ‘to pervert” means “to taint, corrupt, distort, or poison”. The Judaizers’ additional rules polluted the
purity of the gospel with religion.
Toxic
Religion has 2 poisoning problems:
1.
leads us to focus on
externals rather than the internal. Behavior oriented path toward pleasing God.
Focus is on the outward expression rather than inward transformation. Examples.
Reduces the gospel to a check list of do’s and don’ts.
Inside
of the dish –Matthew 23:25 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you
hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish,(A) but inside they are full of greed
and self-indulgence.(B) Pharisees – prayer…
wanted to be seen and heard by people rather than God. Long showy prayers to
impress. God really hates the outward
show.
Sadly
it’s not just behavior that is the focus.. also how you look (example from
Citadel of Faith: Pastor H. Carey) – homeless person. Why do we focus so much on what people
wear and how they look when they come to church instead of the fact that their
heart is searching for God and that is why they are there.
I
long to see Christians portrayed as healthy, compassionate, loving, accepting
human beings. Have you noticed how Hollywood
portrays Christians? Think of some television or movie examples… sheesh even
the Christian movie Letters from God had the typical stereotypical portrayal of a pastor and
congregation – what!?
2.
Internal Pride – the external emphasis
produces internal pride. Rules following religious people believe their
behavior and beliefs are right and everyone else is wrong. Jesus told this
story in Luke 18:10-12 ““Two men went up to the temple to pray,(A) one a Pharisee and the other a tax
collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself(B) and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I
am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax
collector. 12 I fast(C) twice a week and give a tenth(D) of all I get.’
Pharisees were outwardly religious and tax
collectors were the opposite. Actually, tax collectors were despised and
society put them in the same class as murderers. A Pharisee wouldn’t even allow
the hem of his robe to touch a tax collector. In these passages we find that he
could not even see his own poisonous pride. Spiritual pride is almost
impossible to see in the mirror. L When we are convinced that we are right about
religion, any correction from others is seen as wrong. Toxic religion puffs up
and it pollutes and infects those it touches. It causes closed mindedness and
lack of teach-ability which is the opposite of being humble. Humility = teach-ability….. it is
understanding who we are in relation to who God is.
Why do you think so many non-Christians can’t
stand Christians? Because our spiritual pride often makes it impossible for us
to get along with each other. We disagree among ourselves and then venomously
defend it creating conflict and discord. Where’s the unity Jesus prayed for
before leaving this earth? He didn’t come to make religious people.. He came to
bring good news – good news of eternal life.
So what’s the
good news and what’s the bad news? There’s a difference between ‘head
knowledge’ and ‘heart knowledge’. The good
news: Romans 3:20-22 Therefore
no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law;(A) rather, through the law we become
conscious of our sin.(B) 21 But now apart from the law the
righteousness of God(C) has been made known, to which the
Law and the Prophets testify.(D) 22 This
righteousness(E) is given through faith(F) in[a] Jesus Christ(G) to all who believe.(H) There is no difference between Jew
and Gentile,(I)
3 foundational elements:
1.
We cannot earn God’s acceptance by observing the law. Observing
the law will never make us righteous and the good news frees us from attempting
to earn God’s favor by our hard work. NO ONE can earn it!!! NO ONE can be good enough on their own!
2.
The purpose of the law is to show us that we need a Savior. The
law makes us aware of our need.. makes us aware of our sinfulness. It shows us
that we are not good enough and we need help.
Ray Comfort asks a series of questions to help us get this point (Pastor
Craig’s version from Soul Detox): a. have you ever told a lie? If you say no,
you just lied. Telling a lie makes you what?.. a liar. b. have you ever put something ahead of God?
I am sure you have. What does that make you? Idolater Feel bad yet? c. have you
ever stolen something? Ever take something that didn’t belong to you? If you
have, that makes you what? Correct.. a thief… so that makes us lying,
idolatrous, thieving sinners and the list could go on and on…. We are not good
enough. We need a Savior. We don’t need religion with a bunch of rules, we need
Christ!
3.
Righteousness from God comes by faith in Christ alone. Romans 3:22
This righteousness(A) is given through faith(B) in[a] Jesus Christ(C) to all who believe.(D) There is no difference between Jew
and Gentile,(E)
Clarify
good vs bad… all of us – have both
The
Hope:
Robes
of righteousness Isaiah
61:10
“I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.”
“I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.”
2 Corinthians 3:18
And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
Relationship
is what it is all about!
Luke 18:13 – 14 13 “But the tax
collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat
his breast(A) and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a
sinner.’(B)14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”(C)
Instead
of having pride in himself, the tax collector cried out to God for mercy. What
an amazing response from Jesus.
Christ
has taken his robe of righteousness and covered the tax collector’s sins, just
as he does with yours and mine.
The
gospel is Christ plus nothing.. that is the equation. It is not Christ plus
tithing, Christ plus saying the right words and the right prayers, Christ plus
doing and wearing the right thing.. The
gospel is Christ plus NOTHING!
Toxic
religion is all about what I do. The gospel is all about what Jesus did.
Religion is about me. The gospel is about Jesus. Religion highlights my efforts
to do right. The gospel highlights what Christ has already done. Religion lures
me to believe that if I obey God, He will love me. Religion puts the burden on
us. A relationship with Christ puts the
burden on Him – because of what He did for us, we get to do what is right.
Instead of an obligation, our right living becomes a response to His gift.
SOUL DETOX – RELIGION GONE BAD
GROUP WORK
1.
Has there been a time that you fell into practicing
‘religion’? Share.
2.
What have some of your experiences been like in dealing with
people that are ‘religious’? Have you
gone through times where you felt judged? Why?
3.
Why is practicing religion so toxic?
4.
Share some of the portrayals you have seen of Christians in the
media. How are we different? Are we?
5.
What was the most valuable point you are walking away with from
tonight’s lesson?
No comments:
Post a Comment