Jesus Christ—hope for religious people.

Its getting kind of popular to bash religious people, especially Christian religious people, in our modern society.  But, you have to admit, it’s kind of easy, and nothing new.  Religious people, by definition do illogical things.  That is what faith is.  If you talk to someone that can’t be seen, you are either need meds, or a person of faith… and sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference.  Who else asks you to give money to an organization that does nothing except talk about something that is invisible?  Furthermore, religious people will do painful things to themselves, for reasons that are not readily apparent.  Consider going to church.  No other organization would dare to schedule their main event for the most popular sleep in day of the week…the church does. 

Even on its own terms, religion is silly.  Does it make any sense that the God that is strong enough to create the Universe with only his voice would have to beg people for money?  Do we really think that God is more likely to answer our prayers if we punish ourselves by getting up early on Sunday mornings or using a rosary or fancy words?  Is God that shallow?  Can you imagine a God saying something like “Hey, angels, look!  I was going to say ‘No’ to that request, but that guy ended his prayer with ‘I thank thee, thou most holy and benevolent Father.’  Plus he gave us $300 in the offering plate.  I guess I’ll give him what he asked for after all”?

Is there any hope?  Is religion just the “opium of the masses”?  Maybe…but Jesus Christ isn’t.  Jesus was highly critical of the religious people in his day, calling them snakes and sons of the Devil.  Why? The writings of one converted religious person are very helpful.  Paul, one of the writers of the New Testament, before he met Jesus, was a very strict Jewish religious person.  His letters were often written to try and convince people not to make the switch from Jesus to religion. 

Look, for example at Philippians 3:1-11.  First he tells people, “Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers” (verse 2, ESV).  Who are the dogs, the evildoers? They were people that were trying to get Christians to follow specific religious practices.  Christianity, by its essence is an anti-religion.   It makes all religious practices unnecessary.[1]  If a person comes to a church (which is what Paul was dealing with) and says, “In order to be a good Christian you have to do X,” Paul calls them an evil doing dog.  Why?

He goes on to explain how his own story helped him see life differently. He spends the next paragraph explaining just how religious of a guy he was.  (Please allow me the license to translate this passage into modern American religious language.)  Paul was the guy who went to church 52 Sundays a year.  Even when he was on vacation he would find some church and attend.  He also taught classes on Sunday evening and hosted a small group in his house.  He only listened to Christian radio.  He podcasted several notable pastors from around the country and listened to their sermons weekly.  He made sure to have an awkward religious conversation with each of his coworkers each year that included the question, “Do you know what would happen if you died tonight?”  He regularly made fun of liberal Christians (he believed the whole Bible).  His kids were home schooled.  He memorized a verse from the Bible every day. He read through the whole Bible every year.  He had been the state Bible drill champion in grade school for 3 years in a row.  He was that guy.  He actually was, he says, “blameless” (Philippians 3:6).

 

Then he says, “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith” (Philippians 3:7-9 ESV).

Once Paul found Jesus, he lost his religion.  He counted all his attainments in the church as shit and wanted to lose them so that he could be associated with Jesus.[2] Christianity gives hope to the religious because it allows you to be connected to the Son of God by faith alone, and not on the basis of how good or bad you may think you are.  Paul wanted true righteousness, that is, a true moral goodness that allows him to be right with God.   He realized that though he was better at religion than anyone else, he could not attain any standing with God through that religion.  His religion was worthless.  If he relied Jesus, however, he had hope.  Putting faith in Jesus spiritually connects someone to Jesus in such a way that all the righteousness of Jesus is credited to his or her account while all filth of the person is credited to Jesus, who pays it off in his death. 

Suddenly there is hope.  Even for religious people. [3]

---

[1] If this makes you nervous, keep reading, there is hope for you too.

[2] The word translated “rubbish” is actually best translated “’shit’ or ‘crap.’" (see N.T. Wright, Justification, 2009, Kindle location 1738 of 3414). Paul was trying to highlight the foolishness of religion by comparing it to human feces.  To lighten his language shifts his emphasis.

[3] My debt to Mark Driscoll in helping me get over my own religion is difficult to estimate and much of this material can be traced back of his sermons and books.