The fundamental problem with Religion is that it attempts to encapsulate that which the universe cannot contain.
Anyone who is satisfied with knowing about God can be satisfied with Religion.
Anyone who wants to know God personally must step off of Religion at some point and pass from that which is finite (religion) into the infinite ( God).
That step into the infinite is roughly expressed in these passages:
How many Christians know these verses and can maybe quote them but fail to comprehend the import of them?
Religion takes us to the mental knowledge of God.
The Holy Spirit reveals the Oneness aspect of our relationship with, no, our very existence IN God!
In the infinite, eternal One we find the rest that Jesus hinted of:
Come unto me, all you that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. |
In the infinite, eternal One we find the peace that Jesus (through Paul) hinted of:
In the infinite, eternal One we find the joy that Jesus hinted of:
And now come I to you; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. |
The thing that makes Religion so popular is that you can fit it in your life. Whereas, In Christ, we are absorbed into the One and the One is absorbed into us.
This is a totally different concept from "having religion". It is a new state of being which, thank God, we will all come to experience when our minds and bodies are translated from corruptible to incorruptible at His appearing.
In the meantime, we need to consider the exact Words of our Lord to be able to deal with the gradations of faith we see in the believers.
Why do you suppose Jesus talked about life in two different ways? Why did he use the word, "might", on both occassions?
Christ made it possible for us to be born of the Holy Spirit. That is the first possibility of "life" - to be born again into the Kingdom of God - to receive the gift of Eternal Life.
The second possibiliy is for us to experience Abundant Life. Abundant Life is what He operated in. It was not just a function of His Faith in God, but it was a product of Him knowing who He was. We have the possibility of manifesting as Sons of God in the here and now.
Religion is a teacher, a foundation, a home port. But the infinite (our God) cannot be experienced properly through information about Him. Rather the proper experience of God is by immersion into Him and absorption by Him.
Do we know what this verse means? Only by revelation!
That which defines God is not physical, but spiritual. This means that we cannot approach the essence of God through anything physical. We must approach Him in the Spirit.
He has imparted His Spirit to us which is (the only thing about us which is) able to fellowship with His Spirit.
To worship is to value, to exalt, to honor, to appreciate. For what do we value, exalt, honor and appreciate this Spirit?
There must be facts about this Spirit that give proof to His worthiness of worship. Those `facts` are the Truth. It is the evidence of this Spirit`s nature and character. This Truth is Jesus - the fulness of the godhead bodily - who, to the extent possible, manifested the infinite One to us. So, our worship must be in knowledge of Jesus (the Truth) and the fellowship of Oneness by the Holy Spirit.
The disciples were with the Jesus and heard the Truth. On the day of Pentecost the Truth was manifested in them and their Oneness with the One was accomplished by the infilling of the Holy Spirit.
The simplicity and power of what happened on the day of Pentecost was lost to that generation and remains lost to most of Christianity today. There is no condemnation upon us for having lost it because we suffer in ourselves by its loss.
Why was the simplicity and power of the Holy Spirit and Truth lost so quickly by the early church and why is it so rarely experienced today?
For one thing, how many Christians do you know who confess that everything they were before Christ is Dead?
For another thing, how many Christians do you know who see themselves as raised to a whole New Life?
Lastly, how many Christians do you know who understand that they are supposed to purposefully live out the Life of the New Creature?
The simplicity and power of the Gospel was sifted down to accomodate the laziness and self-will of the `believers` resulting in the Christian Religion.
For us to deal with the great disparity between the ideal and the realized we need only look at the parable of the sower and the seeds - .
What determined the effect of the seed?
The ground .
The ground is us - our natural, physicial, soulish selves.
Only good ground produces fruit. Good ground enables the seed to germinate, to produce roots, to press up to the sun, to support the stem, the branch, the leaves and ultimately the fruit. Yes, all this growth happens from the Seed of the Word by the Power of the Holy Spirit but the ground is the environment that makes it all possible.
If you notice, Jesus did not use this parable to condemn. He was just stating Kingdom Truth. This is what has happened, is happening and will continue to happen.
So, what do we do about all this religion and not so much newness of life?
Either how can you say to your brother, Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in your eye, when you yourself behold not the beam that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of your own eye, and then shall you see clearly to pull out the mote that is in your brother`s eye. |
Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which does so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, |
Know you not that they which run in a race run all, but one receives the prize? So run, that you may obtain. |
Paul could not `fix` the Church and neither can you or I. We must run our race, speaking the Truth, loving fervently in the Spirit, knowing that ultimately the Seed will produce in good ground wherever it is sown.