Our Christian Heritage has had us participating in and dealing with religious structures. Most, if not all, of these religious structures we have erected ourselves and have to spend generations tearing down. We do it to ourselves.
"The Lord God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may freely eat; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for on the day that you eat from it you will certainly die.”" Gen 2: 17-17
When the serpent came to tempt, he did not tempt Adam, who heard the command directly from God; he tempted Eve, who likely heard it thirdhand from Adam. Scripture says that the serpent was cunning; how cunning is it to test the student rather than the teacher?
"Now the serpent was more cunning than any animal of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God really said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’”" Gen 3: 1-3
Notice that God said, "do not eat," and Eve replies, "do not eat or touch." This may well be the first religious structure. If I do not touch it, then I cannot eat it. Religious structures can add rules that may be well meaning but get us in trouble in the long run. While Adam was also told to tend the garden, how do you tend without touching the tree? It seems to help in one way and can have a more significant effect in another.
Jesus dealt with thousands of years of established religious structures in God's people. He was seen as a threat to those whose lives relied on those structures. Through scripture, we see the constant testing by those most invested in the religious structures of the day. They would often tag-team when trying to catch Him in some violation of the religious structure.
"One of the scribes came up and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, “What commandment is the foremost of all?” Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘Hear, Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” And the scribe said to Him, “Well said, Teacher; You have truly stated that He is One, and there is no other besides Him; and to love Him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices.”" Mark 12: 28-33
Of course, everyone listening knew that Jesus was quoting Deuteronomy 6:4-5,
“Hear, Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. And you shall repeat them diligently to your sons and speak of them when you sit in your house, when you walk on the road, when you lie down, and when you get up. You shall also tie them as a sign to your hand, and they shall be as frontlets on your forehead. You shall also write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. " Deu 6:4-9
They know the scripture because it was taught in their home, in the frontlets they wore on their heads and hands, and contained in the mezuzah on their doorposts that they touched when leaving and entering their homes.
However, today, some religious structures teach that Jesus was writing a new law to effectively replace the Ten Commandments—something new that says we just need to LOVE—love God and other people (however, we may define those people in a limited sense also). This religious structure ignores that Jesus was quoting scripture, not rewriting it.
If Jesus told us anything, it was the law was not external as for slaves or mercenaries but would be written on our hearts, internally, as with friends. We follow God's law because it is who we are, not just what we do.
It is Our Heritage!
Dietrich Bonhoeffer experienced some of the same threat issues as Jesus on his first assignment in Barcelona. He was assigned to the children's ministry, but the Pastor took an extended trip for several months. He started several programs for the children and young adults who were not getting much from the church, and it seems that when he spoke at church, the attendance was larger. Of course, when the Pastor returned, he was concerned about having to keep the programs running when Bonhoeffer left and maybe a bit threatened by his attracting a larger audience.
It is Our Heritage!
I guess it comes with the territory. Bonhoeffer did not seem to be much for religious structures.
""Factually speaking," he said, "Christ has given scarcely any ethical prescriptions that were not to be found already with the contemporary Jewish rabbis or in pagan literature." Christianity was not about a new and better set of behavioral rules or about moral accomplishments. He must have shocked his listeners, but his logic was undeniably compelling. He then aggressively attacked the idea of "religion" and moral performance as the very enemies of Christianity and of Christ because they present the false idea that somehow we can reach God through our moral efforts..."Thus," he said, "the Christian message is basically amoral and irreligious, paradoxical as that may sound."" Bonhoeffer, Metaxas, page 83
How often does our investment in religious structures get in the way of what God has planned and wants to do in our lives? A prophetic word from Chuck Pierce in 2014 referred to these religious structures.
I will send an awakening shaking against the last main religious structures that will topple that which is stopping the promise from manifesting.
We are not talking about religious denominations but religious structures that can twist the word of God and prevent the purposes of God from coming forth in your life, in a business, city, state, region, or nation. These religious structures can prevent us from entering into an intimate, vital relationship with God. We need to spend time examining areas of guilt, rejection, fear, and pride in our lives and the lives of our leaders, as that is where a religious structure can develop. As Bonhoeffer discusses, calling out and removing religious structures is who we are as Christians.
It is Our Heritage!!
No comments:
Post a Comment