Sun, Jan. 15, 2012 Posted: 10:42 AM EDT
A lot of attention has been paid to Jefferson
Bethke’s video "Why I Hate Religion But Love Jesus". Jefferson is a great,
humble, teachable brother who loves the gospel. But the response to his
video has been varied. Many love it. Others hate it. And still others
have raised a caution flag – uncomfortable with the way “religion” is
often contrasted with the gospel.
Wary of the trend amongst younger evangelicals to justify their
jettisoning of the institutional church and theological traditions and
the importance of obeying God in favor of a vague, individualistic,
a-theological, a-historical, version of modern licentious spirituality
by saying “All of that other stuff is religion…and Jesus hates
religion,” is a point of contention for those who questioned the
fruitfulness of Jefferson’s video. If that’s what people think when they
hear the word “religion,” then I understand the concern. I too am
concerned by the individualistic, church despising, “moralistic
therapeutic deism” that seems so palatable and popular amongst some
younger evangelicals today.
But, this does raise some important questions. For example, in the
Bible, is the word “religion” ever opposed to the gospel? Or, is the
main idea of “religion” opposed to the main idea of the gospel? What
about what people hear when they hear the word “religion”? Do they hear
the word and understand something different than what the Bible says
about the gospel? Good questions. Obviously words have their meaning in
context and thankfully Jefferson provided context for his use of the
word “religion” in the video by writing on his website:
[This is] a poem I wrote to highlight the difference between
Jesus and false religion. In the scriptures Jesus received the most
opposition from the most religious people of his day. At it’s core
Jesus’ gospel and the good news of the Cross is in pure opposition to
self-righteousness/self-justification. Religion is man centered, Jesus
is God-centered. This poem highlights my journey to discover this truth.
Regardless of what you think about the video, Jefferson’s definition
of “religion” above and Tim Keller’s definition of “religion” below does
highlight a crucial distinction between “religion” and the gospel (a
distinction that, ironically, even those who raised concerns about the
video agree with).
Justifying the contrast between religion and the gospel, Tim Keller
has pointed out that the Greek word for “religion” used in James 1 is
used negatively in Colossians 2:18 where it describes false asceticism,
fleshly works-righteousness, and also in Acts 26:5 where Paul speaks of
his pre-Christian life in strict “religion.” It is also used negatively
in the Apocrypha to describe idol worship in Wis 14:18 and 27. So,
according to Keller, the word certainly has enough negative connotations
to use as a fair title for the category of works-righteousness. In the
Old Testament the prophets are devastating in their criticism of empty
ritual and religious observances designed to bribe and appease God
rather then serving, trusting, and loving him. The word “religion” isn’t
used for this approach, but it’s a good way to describe what the
prophets are condemning.
Keller goes on to tease out this distinction with this helpful comparison list:
RELIGION: I obey-therefore I’m accepted.
THE GOSPEL: I’m accepted-therefore I obey.
RELIGION: Motivation is based on fear and insecurity.
THE GOSPEL: Motivation is based on grateful joy.
RELIGION: I obey God in order to get things from God.
THE GOSPEL: I obey God to get to God-to delight and resemble Him.
RELIGION: When circumstances in my life go wrong, I am angry at God
or my self, since I believe, like Job’s friends that anyone who is good
deserves a comfortable life.
THE GOSPEL: When circumstances in my life go wrong, I struggle but I
know all my punishment fell on Jesus and that while he may allow this
for my training, he will exercise his Fatherly love within my trial.
RELIGION: When I am criticized I am furious or devastated because it
is critical that I think of myself as a ‘good person’. Threats to that
self-image must be destroyed at all costs.
THE GOSPEL: When I am criticized I struggle, but it is not critical
for me to think of myself as a ‘good person.’ My identity is not built
on my record or my performance but on God’s love for me in Christ. I can
take criticism.
RELIGION: My prayer life consists largely of petition and it only
heats up when I am in a time of need. My main purpose in prayer is
control of the environment.
THE GOSPEL: My prayer life consists of generous stretches of praise and adoration. My main purpose is fellowship with Him.
RELIGION: My self-view swings between two poles. If and when I am
living up to my standards, I feel confident, but then I am prone to be
proud and unsympathetic to failing people. If and when I am not living
up to standards, I feel insecure and inadequate. I’m not confident. I
feel like a failure.
THE GOSPEL: My self-view is not based on a view of my self as a moral
achiever. In Christ I am “simul iustus et peccator”-simultaneously
sinful and yet accepted in Christ. I am so bad he had to die for me and I
am so loved he was glad to die for me. This leads me to deeper and
deeper humility and confidence at the same time. Neither swaggering nor
sniveling.
RELIGION: My identity and self-worth are based mainly on how hard I
work. Or how moral I am, and so I must look down on those I perceive as
lazy or immoral. I disdain and feel superior to ‘the other.
THE GOSPEL: My identity and self-worth are centered on the one who
died for His enemies, who was excluded from the city for me. I am saved
by sheer grace. So I can’t look down on those who believe or practice
something different from me. Only by grace I am what I am. I’ve no inner
need to win arguments.
RELIGION: Since I look to my own pedigree or performance for my
spiritual acceptability, my heart manufactures idols. It may be my
talents, my moral record, my personal discipline, my social status, etc.
I absolutely have to have them so they serve as my main hope, meaning,
happiness, security, and significance, whatever I may say I believe
about God.
THE GOSPEL: I have many good things in my life-family, work,
spiritual disciplines, etc. But none of these good things are ultimate
things to me. None of them are things I absolutely have to have, so
there is a limit to how much anxiety, bitterness, and despondency they
can inflict on me when they are threatened and lost.
So let’s not lose sight of the fact that,
as defined by these two brothers,
there is an antithetical relationship between religion (the burden of
achieving rescue and right standing with God) and the gospel (the
blessing of receiving rescue and a right standing with God in Christ
alone).
One final thought: as I mentioned above, for a thousand different
reasons people hear different things and draw different conclusions when
they hear the same words (Cornelius Van Til). So, let’s not forget as
missionaries that if the gospel is ever going to reach people in our day
it’s going to have to be distinguished from religion (as described
above) because “religion” is what most people outside the church think
Christianity is
all about-rules and standards and behavior and
cleaning yourself up and politics and social causes and ascetic
appeasement and self-salvation and climbing the “ladder”, and a whole
host of other things that Jefferson rightly points out.
Soli Deo Gloria!
I recently posted this video on The Princess Warrior Ministries Facebook page. The other day I saw a negative reaction to the video in another area of the internet so I decided to do a little research and came across this article. I thought it very informative as to the thoughts behind the creation of the video. I think this article gives a great explanation, but I would like to give you my thoughts as well on the word, "Religion".
Religion is an attitude and intent of the heart and is driven by either faith in God or faith in "self". In Jesus Christ, our religion is pure and motivated by our love and devotion to Him. When self gets involved it is motivated by our need to be in control and make our own way to God instead of the way He has pointed us to...through His Son, and His Son only. God is not the author of confusion. There are not many ways, there is One way, and Jesus tells us that HE is the way, the truth, and the life, and NO ONE comes to the Father, but through Him (John 14:6) No amount of "good deeds" will ever bring us to God. It doesn't matter if we feed a thousand widows or give clothing to ten thousand orphans...there is still only One way.
If you've never realized that before today, then now is a good time to make it right. Every person on their own journey comes to the crossroad of life. There is One way, leading to glorious life eternal and another, leading to destruction and eternal separation from God. To go down the road of life eternal a few things must happen -- we must realize and comprehend that WE have sinned against a holy and righteous God. "For ALL have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23) And God says, "There is none righteous, no, NOT ONE." (Romans 3:10) We have broken His laws and He is the Righteous Judge, who being a good judge, must bring us to justice. God said, "For the wages of sin
IS DEATH!" (Romans 6:23a) God means spiritual death (an eternity in hell, away from His presence...forever). BUT, because of His great love for us, He offered up His own Son in our place. Jesus Christ, the perfect, spotless Lamb of God was slaughtered and paid the sin debt for the whole world -- for all sins: past, present, and future.
In the second part of Romans 6:23, it says, "But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. God has given us the most precious gift we could ever receive. It is a free pardon through the sacrifice of His only Son, BUT this gift (pardon) MUST be accepted and you must place your trust in Jesus and what He did to acquit you of your sins. So, when we accept God's Pardon we receive eternal life and will have a home with Him forever.
Our belief leads us to repentance (
turning from the things of the world to God), and confession (
laying our sins out before God and asking Him for His forgiveness). So, now our changed heart causes us to do good works, not to earn our way to God and not to make ourselves look righteous, but because the Holy Spirit of God now resides in us, imparting to us the love and compassion of the Savior.
But, we can bypass this road and choose the other by opting to "not believe" or we can try to make our own way to God. This road, however, does not end well. God is not there. This road ends in our destruction, torment, and separation from Him forever and ever. It will end in a place where there is weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. It will end in a place called hell.
My friend, it is VERY important, that we examine ourselves. Do we belong to God? Are we on the right road? Are there signs in our lives that we have accepted His Pardon? I pray so!
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Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture references are taken from the King James Bible.
