‘Faith which works by love’
Religion, whatever that religion
may be called, demands obedience to a strict set of rules. It obliges you to
conform to certain regulations and expectations both in what you believe and
how you carry out the instructions and directions of its leaders.
If it is an idol-based religion
such as Buddhism, Hinduism, or Roman Catholicism, then you are expected to
honour the idols of choice, and bow before them in due reverence and respect. You
will also be required to obey the demands and orders of the priests, the monks,
and the officials in the temples of religious buildings belonging to that
particular faith.
Even though the idols are made from stone, wood, brass, or even gold, they are fashioned and manufactured by the hands of men and women from the natural resources found in the earth or growing from the ground.
They have no life of their own, cannot breathe, talk,
eat, or even think, for they are but inanimate objects. Nonetheless, it is
demanded that the followers place their faith in them as though they had a secret power, and actually had the ability to hear. They do not even walk, but you have to carry them
everywhere and place them on a shelf or elsewhere yourself.
Of course, this is all
superstition driven by the fear that if you do not do what is expected of you,
some terrible calamity will befall you, or the priest will curse you.
Sad to say, but even ‘Christianity’
has fallen into a similar trap, except one may suppose it does not entertain idols as such. However, it has actually created a form of idolatry in its rituals, conformity, and idolization
of leaders and platform performers. The ‘ritual’ is as much an idol as the
plaster ‘Ganesh’ that gets thrown into the sea in India each and every year.
You know exactly what is going to
happen during the service each Sunday the moment you walk through the doors.
The ‘chorus or hymn sandwich’ has pretty much the same ham and cheese filling
as it does every week! Somewhere in the middle they will pop in the
announcements and take up an offering of your cash. A cup of tea afterwards,
and we can all go out and do whatever it is we do for the other six days in
front of us.
Even the flowers on the stage, the embroidery, drapes, posters hanging around the walls, and the white cloth over the communion table, have become idols.
If you don't believe me, try throwing them all out and see what
happens! There is so much paraphernalia stashed around church buildings (new
and old) that amounts to nothing at all except yet another form of revered indulgence.
If perchance the minister invites a radical speaker who refuses to conform to the norm, then the congregation mostly will be very upset that somebody has come in and turned over their nest, and made them to feel most uncomfortable. They will demand that the man never returns to spoil their normal programme (and a programme, sadly, is what it mostly is).
Even the seat that the regulars sit on has become part of their ritual. Woe-betide
anyone who comes in and beats them to their cherished chair.
The robes and processions, along
with the dog-collars and elevated name-tags given to the ‘men of God’ and ‘women
of God’ (so-called), is all a part of the idolatry. It is no wonder that Bishop
Nazir-Ali recently swopped sides and went back to his Catholic roots. He felt
the Church of England had lost its way totally, so might as well join the idol
worship openly, and stop pretending that there was any difference.
Jesus sat on a hill and had church.
The disciples stood in the market place and had church.
Two or three gathered together in their friend’s house and had church.
Some workmen on a
building site in Cheshire sat down for lunch with a friend of mine and had
church.
Faith in Christ, true
Christianity, has nothing to do with a denomination or a church building. It
has nothing to do with a set of rules and regulations. It is not an
institution, but a living, vital, life-transforming faith, wherever there is a believing individual, or where two or three meet together in the name of Jesus.
It needs no ‘worship leader’, no priest,
no fancy band or flashing lights.
You can be lost on a desert island with nothing but the monkeys, and still have church.
Hebrews 12:22-24
tells us that we are come to Mount Zion, the church of God made up of all the
faithful who love Jesus who have gone to be with him, the living congregation
all over the world (whether that be just one alone or thousands gathering
together in truth), and a multitude of angels that surround the throne of God
above.
Whenever we call on the name of
the Lord we come to the church of God, for it is one body, one Spirit, one
faith, and one Lord.
Now, I am not saying that we should not go to church (as in local church), for the Bible instructs us not to forsake the coming together (as the manner of some is), but to meet for the purpose of encouraging one another, especially, and more-so, in the light of the Lord’s soon return.
I am a great believer in the local church, but it can be in a cave, a slum, a bedsit, as well as a building made specifically for that purpose.
(I so miss my first church when I
was converted. It was a place where reverence was felt and known, and God came
with his presence. People did not gossip before anything started, but began
to pray and worship as soon as they were seated. What days they were!)
The teaching and preaching of God’s word is paramount in these evil days in which we find ourselves.
Forget all the
chorus-singing for an hour at the start! Let’s pray, sing a simple song, and
get straight into the Scriptures. You can sing all the way home afterwards,
because your heart will be full of truth and assurance.
In Galatians chapter 5, Paul speaks of the incorrect belief that our faith is only as good as the ritual and habits we adhere to. He spoke of those who were getting circumcised so as to fulfil the Old Testament law, and trusting in this practise as a way for pleasing God and attaining salvation through merit.
They may even have considered themselves
a little bit more holy in going through the somewhat uncomfortable procedure.
He told them that if this was
what they were thinking, then they had better obey every single commandment
without fail; and if this is what they choose, then they will never be free,
but slaves to their own form of idolatry.
Christ came to set us free from
the curse of the Law being made a curse for us, for according to that same law,
‘cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree’.
(Galatians 3:13)
He brought us into liberty and freedom in the Holy Ghost. The gathering together each week is unto him, for ‘unto him shall the gathering of the people be’.
What was intended to be a meeting in
the presence of the Almighty Saviour, has been turned into a ritualistic
chit-chat where nothing really happens, but everyone feels a bit better for
coming and singing some songs, doing the hand-raising thing, and listening to
the amusing anecdotes of their pastor for 15 minutes.
Honestly, is that what Christ
intended the church to be when he was hanging upon that cross dying for us?
‘Faith that worketh by love’, is the true freedom that Christ built his church upon.
Faith that is subservient,
that is simply a list of do’s and do-not’s if you want to get to heaven, is no
faith.
The faith of God (because the only
true faith is that which comes as a gift from him), is a faith that operates on
a different level. It works by love. We love him because he first loved us. We
love his ways because he has put a new spirit within us. We do not do what we do because it is our duty, but because we love him with the love that
made us free.
He has shed abroad in our hearts
the love of God. Our motivation, our living, our employment and all that we
believe is based on love, and not works.
If Christ has made us free, then why
do we try to force upon new believers a list of ‘must do this’, and ‘must not do that’s’?
If their hearts have been
changed, and the Spirit of God dwells in them, then they shall know the truth,
and the truth will make them free. God’s word will take effect in their lives,
and through the reading and teaching of the Bible, they will grow in grace and
in the knowledge of God.
In Joel and in the book of Acts, it says, ‘It will come to pass, that whoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved and delivered.’
It is a matter of fact; a statement of
Scripture; the work of regeneration that makes a person a new creature, a new
creation, delivering them from the kingdom of darkness, and translating them into the kingdom of
light.
It is the work of God. It is the
call of God. It is the eternal transformation of a human soul.
We become his workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God has fore-planned (pre-ordained) for us to walk in. (Ephesians 2:10)
I know that this is perhaps a bit lengthy, but sometimes it is good to take a look at things from a different angle, to re-adjust our focus, and bring things into perspective.
JGM 2022 Telling it like it is
