We kicked off a brand new Wednesday and Thursday PM teaching series this week titled SIMPLY JESUS: Detox For Recovering Religious Addicts Like Me.
Here's the gist. In his book, Divine Nobodies, author Jim Palmer makes a statement that nails me:
"Somehow, somewhere along the way, my Christianity had become a hamster’s squeaky wheel of dos and don’ts (which I commonly referred to as discipleship) that were wearing me out but not getting me anywhere. I wasn’t addicted to crack; I was addicted to religion in a vain attempt to get God to like me, bless me, or at least 2spare me from hell when it was all over. It’s funny how one can talk a good grace game, but for all practical purposes live by the law. I’ve learned that the “grace but…” mentality is as lethal as anything you can sniff, toke, or shoot up."
Have you ever felt like that? Aren't you ready to get off the treadmill of religious performance and just fall in love with Jesus?
A couple of weeks ago I heard Mark Driscoll talk about the difference between religion and Christianity. His thoughts put into words most of my feelings... I'll paraphrase:
Here’s what I’ve discovered about religion… Religion is about ME… It’s about MY good works… MY good deeds… MY personal effort…
Christianity, on the other hand, is about JESUS… Plain and simple... JESUS.
Here’s the problem with religion. IT DOESN’T WORK! IT JUST DOESN’T WORK. You can take it from a guy who has been doing the “religious thing” for most of my adult life...
Why doesn't it work?
Because it inevitably ends in PRIDE or DEPAIR… It ends in pride when you make the list, try hard to please God, be a really good person, earn your salvation and then stand back and think to yourself, “Hey! I’ve done a stinkin' good job…” Unfortunately, what happens is that you usually end up becoming some kind of arrogant, self-righteous religious jerk…
I can only speak for myself… I hate to admit it, but there have been times when I’ve taken on this judgmental arrogance and looked at people with this kind of attitude that says, “I’m so glad I’m not like them…”
But the reality is, PRIDE IS A SIN… It’s the sin that caused Satan to get kicked out of heaven… And whenever I stand back, point fingers, take on the attitude that I’m holier than everyone else, look down my nose at people because I don’t believer their my peer morally, that's PRIDE… And it's wrong!
Religion doesn’t work because it ends up leading to PRIDE. If it doesn't end up leading to pride, then it ends up leading to DESPAIR…
DESPAIR because I try really, really hard… I want to read my Bible, but I end up falling asleep… I want to pray, but I get distracted… I mean to go to church, but I forgot to set the alarm clock… Or maybe I do all of this stuff, but still feel this gnawing in my gut that reminds me, "SOMETHING’S MISSING. You haven't done enough, given enough, prayed enough or read enough... You need to try harder..." But regardless of how hard you try, you never feel that you've tried hard enough... That’s DESPAIR…
Jesus, on the other hand, leads to HUMBLE, CONFIDENT JOY!
JOY because I understand, IT'S NOT ABOUT ME, IT'S ALL ABOUT JESUS! It’s not about what I have to DO; it’s about what He has already DONE…
There’s no room for PRIDE, because I understand that without the cross I would be completely hopeless…
And as for DESPAIR, it’s difficult to sink into despair when you realize that your relationship with God doesn’t depend on your efforts… It’s all about JESUS…
I've been on the religious treadmill! As jim Palmer writes, it just ended up making me tired. I'm ready to FALL IN LOVE WITH JESUS.
SIMPLY JESUS!
2 comments:
Hey Chris,
I found helpful asking myself what the 'end game' was. What God wants for me and everyone else; to experience the kingdom of God 'now' (i.e. unconditional love, acceptance, peace, freedom, well-being, contentment, etc). Since, I've jettisoned all that hinders that reality. It's required I change my mind about lots of things...but changing my mind about them is allowing me to experience the 'end game' now.
<--there's my two cents ;)
Rick
That's some amazing stuff! It's really been on my mind alot lately, the whole pride thing. You'd think it'd be very difficult to become prideful when you've been saved by GRACE, but somehow it can become very easy if we're not careful.
And even if were not prideful about knowing Jesus, we gotta be careful not to get prideful about how were not prideful like others that are prideful! It never stops! haha. But....I think all we need as our example is Christ, constantly! Phillipians 2 talks about how Jesus emptied himself and "made himself nothing." How much more should we, being dust and ashes, make ourselves nothing! We've done nothing to deserve Christ!
If we've been chosen in him before the creation of the world like Ephesians 1 talks about, then that means this whole saved by grace thing has nothing to do with us, but everything to do with Him! God loving us says alot about God, not alot about us.
We just have to remember where we were when he rescued us, and even remember the hang-ups we all still have, because it's hard to get prideful when we realize our own depravity apart from the king!
Thank God for Jesus! :)
-davie
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