All day long yesterday, I felt the Lord pressing into me concerning the topic of religion vs. relationship and I think that this is one of the key issues with the church, at least from my perspective. The more I thought about it, the more clearly I saw the distinction and the vast need in the Body of Christ for this message. We talked about it briefly last week in church, and I have been plugged into this thematically for the last few years, but there was something about my meditation yesterday that really brought this issue into focus.
It think that the single greatest aim of the enemy, through a false spirit of religion, is to make the Lord irrelevant. If you think about religion, you don't really need a God who is present, engaged, or alive. If we look at history, we see that man will always find something to worship, something to elevate to a level above him, something that he calls a god. Man has developed elaborate rules and ceremonies to try and connect to these gods, or at least draw their attention and hopefully their blessing. These rules and ceremonies and devotions don't require a god at all, for they are empty of life, and only appease man's longing to connect with God.
I was listening to a speaker recently, and one of the things he said was pretty scary. He said that in most churches today, they don't need God to show up to have church. Think about that statement and the implications. The one thing about Christianity is that we worship a God who is alive and present, yet most of our churches today operate as if this isn't necessary. Other than being the founder of Christianity, most churches don't need Jesus in their services. They might speak like they do, they might welcome Him, but if He isn't present they can still have a service, pretty much like any other Sunday. The focus has become the service or the sermon, not the person Jesus, not our relationships wth our living Savior. In other words, in many places He has become irrelevant for the day to day life and operation of the church.
I guess the foundation of this all is unbelief. We don't really believe that the Lord will show up and be present in a manifest way. We don't really believe that He desires an intimate and loving relationship with us. We don't really believe that He is present in our midst when we gather, or if we do, its a nice warm thought not an experiential reality. We don't really believe that He will move in power and authority like He once did, like they experienced in the early church. We develop teachings to explain the lack of His manifest presence and miracles, because we don't really believe He does them any more. If you think about cessationism, what they are teaching is that the gifts of the Holy Spirit were only really needed to get the organization, that is the church, up and running, and after that His gifts, nor His manifest presence were no longer needed. In other words, God is not really needed for the continued running of the organization that the church has become.
It is not enough for us to be part of an organization that was founded on Jesus' teaching. It is not enough for us to do good things, to think good thoughts, to have good intentions. It is not enough to have good teaching, good worship, or a good service. It is not enough to remember and celebrate the historical events, like His death and resurrection or His birth. It is not enough to go to church every Sunday, or even every time the church gathers. If we are not in relationship with the Lord, experiencing His touch, His heart and His day to day interaction, we have missed the whole point of Christianity. He is alive! He is present! He loves us! He wants relationship with each of us.
The Apostles and disciples understood this and taught this and lived this. When Jesus said He was going back to Heaven, there was a major panic, because He was required for church! Jesus totally understood their concerns and spoke about how it would be better for them, the church, if the Holy Spirit came and was present to them all (John chapters 14-17). The Holy Spirit came and filled the church and then every member of the church had God inside them, present in the most intimate of ways, and that was normal, and is still supposed to be normal. We must have relationship with God, for He is the only source of life. We must make Him relevant in our lives and in our churches. We must have Him present, alive, full of power and authority, mercy and compassion. We must learn to invest in this relationship, to live in this relationship and to treasure this relationship. Our relationship with Him is what He came to earth to make possible, it is the joy that was set before Him. Our relationship with Him is the treasure!
I know I have only scratched the surface of this topic. Lord, help us all! We want to know You alive in our hearts and alive in the church! Amen!
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