03-31-13 Beyond Religion

It was one of those times in human history

when being religious was good enough.

It was all anybody expected,

it was all most people knew.

The priests,

the teachers,

the religious leaders explained the rules,

the requirements,

the things that God expected.

Then they took it upon themselves

to patrol the population,

encouraging the masses to follow those rules

and reprimanding those who fell short.

That’s the way it was in Israel 2000 years ago -

a time when being religious was good enough,

when being religious was pretty much all there was.

Not that everybody was all that religious, of course,

but everybody knew the rules -

what God liked,

and what He didn’t,

what things should be done

and what things could be done

and what things should never be done under any circumstances.

No one’s life really changed much, of course,

but at least everyone knew the rules,

and knew what was expected,

and knew where everyone around them stood.

It made a nice, neat, secure system,

a predictable controlled world in which to live.

A predictable system,

a controllable system,

a system that seemed to answer all the important questions

and strongly discouraged

anybody from asking any new ones.

But of course that’s what religion always does -

it provides the adherent with a tidy little system that answers all the important questions

without ever even having to think,

or to churn,

or to wonder why the answers that are offered

never seem to make the pain go away.

And in exchange for all these answers

you simply give up your freedom

to question those answers you’ve been given

or to think up new ones

that weren’t covered in the package.

And 2000 years ago

religion was doing very, very well

in the land of Palestine.

The lines were all drawn,

and the rules were all written,

and people were well educated,

and the rulers were well respected

and the business of religion was booming.

And then some things began to happen,

things that were unsettling to this carefully controlled religious system.

It began with an apparently self-taught preacher by the name of John.

Weird sort of fellow.

A powerful man

with a powerful message,

but very unsettling to the tidy world of religion.

Just when all of the people

had been carefully trained,

taught by word and example

that form and appearance were the important things,

this John came on the scene

and started talking about motives

and inner attitudes of the heart.

He seemed to think the whole nation

was desperately in need of repentance.

How ridiculous...

the most religious group of people on the face of the earth

in need of repentance!

He kept talking so openly,

so specifically about people’s sins,

calling them to turn away from their

heart rebellion against God.

And that wasn’t the worst of it -

he also kept saying that there was another Man coming after him,

One far greater than Himself,

One who would put everything back the way it should be.

This John simply wasn’t good for the world of religion.

He created unrest in the people.

It was all very unsettling.

He had to be removed, of course.

And he was.

They chopped his head off

and carted it around on a platter.

That should send a clear message

to others who attempted to tamper with the system.

Tampering with religion

has often been a very dangerous thing

for a person to do.

But John was only the beginning

of the disturbance in the world of religion.

There was another who followed after John,

another who also disrupted things,

another who put ideas into people’s minds,

another who caused them to think,

and even to question

all of those carefully crafted answers

provided by the rulers of religion.

His name was Jesus - a common enough name in the first century Jewish world,

but there was nothing common about the man.

It was clear to everyone surrounding Him that this was no ordinary teacher.

He had...

well, He had this power.

He could do things

no one else could do,

things no one else had ever done.

He had the ability to heal

with just a word or a touch of His hand.

And He took on Himself the authority to forgive sins.

He would walk up and command people

to follow Him

as though He had the absolute right

to direct their lives.

Some of those close to Him

believed He had come from God

as the MESSIAH of Israel,

the One who would restore Israel

to its past glory and prominence in the world.

And the real problem came in His

attitude towards religion.

He simply refused to submit

to the accepted religious practices of the day.

He had a flagrant disregard

for the accepted rules governing

the observance of the Sabbath, the holy day each week.

He didn’t follow

the prescribed times of fasting and prayer.

And when selecting men for His disciples,

He passed over the studious young men

who were under the training of the established Jewish leaders

and chose men from several of the dirty little holes in Jewish society,

working men of questionable character

and even more questionable submission to the world of religion.

In short, He broke numerous religious rules

that He could so easily have kept.

Like His predecessor, John,

He too had to be dealt with.

He had to be silenced.

He had to be removed.

It was a delicate business getting rid of this One.

He had some extremely loyal followers,

and His tricks had won Him a lot of friends.

But in the end it was accomplished.

The Roman political leaders

were enlisted for the purpose.

Some comments were made about this Jesus

wanting to set Himself up as

a self-proclaimed King of the Jews.

It was enough -

self-appointed Kings could not be allowed to live.

Politics and religion

have often held hands throughout history.

They seem to understand one other -

and they so often share the same basic goals,

goals of power and control over people’s lives.

And when it came to this Jesus

both the religion and the politics of the day agreed -

He really did have to go.

In the end it was accomplished -

not beheading this time,

crucifixion.

They nailed Him alive to a couple of crossed wooden beams

and let Him hang there for hours

until He finally died.

It was all very unsettling,

but then of course tampering with religion

has often been a very dangerous thing for a person to do.

But then something happened

for which religion had no answers.

Something happened

that religion could not control.

Something happened

that simply could not happen.

Something happened that had never happened before,

something devastating to the neat,

tidy,

controlled world of religion.

This Person,

this Jesus,

this Man of Miracles from Galilee

refused to stay in His grave.

The Apostle Paul put it this way:

he said that Jesus was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead...(Rom. 1:4)

And through His resurrection

Jesus Christ offered the world

an amazing alternative to the world of religion -

He offered the world Himself.

With His life,

His death,

and His resurrection He said to the world -

“Listen! No longer must you live

in frustration, fear, and futility

trying to reach your God

through obedience to all your rules

and lists

and rituals.

See what I have done.

Through My death for your sins

I have opened a way for you

to stand forever free

forever holy

in the very presence of God Himself.

Your sins have become my sins,

and I have paid your debt in full.

All I ask from you

is that you come

and choose to receive what I freely offer.”

Do you see what happened?

Religion took Jesus and placed Him in a grave.

And then Jesus took Religion

and did the same.

JOH 20:11 But Mary was standing outside the tomb weeping; and so, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb; [12] and she beheld two angels in white sitting, one at the head, and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had been lying. [13] And they said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him." [14] When she had said this, she turned around, and beheld Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus. [15] Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?" Supposing Him to be the gardener, she said to Him," Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have laid Him, and I will take Him away. " [16] Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to Him in Hebrew, "Rabboni!" (which means, Teacher). [17] Jesus said to her, "Stop clinging to Me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to My brethren, and say to them, 'I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.'" [18] Mary Magdalene came, announcing to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord,"

That’s John’s account of Mary’s first encounter with the risen Christ.

I love that account because

it pictures so well

what so often happens in the lives

of those who ultimately discover that He’s alive.

It starts out with Mary coming to the tomb,

the tomb created by the religion in her world.

Religion had taken the only hope she had ever known

and crucified that hope,

killed it dead

and then sealed it in a tomb.

And that’s what religion always does.

“Do you want peace with God?”, it says.

“Do you want peace with yourself?

Do you want hope beyond the grave?

Well, then,

just follow these rules -

keep these commandments,

obey and you will have

what you so desperately long for.

Come,

don’t be afraid,

I will show you the way.”

And so we come -

and we try,

and we work very hard to be good enough,

long enough to get the peace

with our God and with ourselves.

But in the end

what looked like hope

turns into a tomb -

because its so hard to keep the rules -

sometimes we forget,

and sometimes we didn’t know,

and sometimes we just don’t care.

And religion just keeps saying, “Try harder,

try harder,

you can do it... just try a little more!”

And Mary stood and stared into the tomb

created by her religion

just like we stare into the tomb

created by our own.

But then she turned around,

and discovered to her amazement

that the One she thought was dead

was really, truly,

honestly,

literally alive!

And it was that knowledge,

that glorious, amazing,

wonderful knowledge

that changed everything forevermore.

She went away from that encounter

with just one incredible message:

"I have seen the Lord".

When she met other followers

of Jesus,

and they called her a fool,

and told her to hush up -

it didn’t matter because she knew,

because she had seen the Lord.

And when the religious leaders around her tried to get her to play their games

it had no power over her

because she had seen the Lord.

He was alive

and with His life He had put to death

all religious systems

and replaced them with Himself.

There are so many remarkable events

that accompanied the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ.

One of my favorites

is a single line comment

tucked into the gospel account that says,

Mat 27:51 And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom...

That took place at the instant the body of Christ died on the cross.

The veil being talked about

was the massive curtain that separated the holy place from the Holy-of-Holies,

the heart of the temple that symbolized the presence of God.

No one was ever allowed within the Holy-of-Holies

except the high priest,

and then only once a year,

and only to bring the blood of a perfect sacrifice

into the presence of God as an offering for the sins of the nation.

But when Christ died

that veil was torn in two from the top to the bottom,

torn by God Himself

to proclaim to the world

that, through His death,

Christ had now opened the way for everyone to enter into the very presence of God,

without fear,

knowing their debt was paid forever.

Now and forever more

all that mattered was Jesus -

hearing His voice,

following His lead,

choosing to trust Him each step of the way.

And that same pattern has been lived out

again and again in the lives of God’s people

for the past 2000 years.

It happened to an 18 year old kid

in the fall of 1966.

He too had gone to the tomb of religion

looking for life.

He knew the rules,

he knew the importance of obeying them.

And he tried - he really did.

But sometimes he forgot,

and sometimes he wasn’t real sure what the right rule was,

and sometimes he found he just didn’t really care.

And after trying very hard

for what seemed like a very long time,

he just sort of gave up.

What he thought would bring him life

brought him only death and condemnation.

And then he turned around

and found himself confronted with the very real and living Christ.

And just as that Christ had walked up to men and women

2000 years ago and asked them

to turn their lives over to Him,

so He asked that confused, frustrated teenager to do the same.

I said, “Yes”,

and from that day nothing has ever been the same again.

It didn’t all get fixed in an instant...the big messes in my life.

In truth, some of it will never get “fixed”.

But from that day forward

He’s always there,

bathing His son in grace,

immersing him in love,

and carrying him through life one day at a time.

All the rules of religion

were replaced by this Person,

this Person who couldn’t be real,

and yet who was

and who is

and who will forever be.

I think some of you here this morning

have spent much of your life

staring into the tomb of religion.

You’ve seen there rules you should keep,

things you should do,

and things you really should stop doing.

And you have tried.

But in the end

it all looked like what it was -

a huge, horrible doorway to death.

On this Easter morning

let me share with you an alternative -

the Person of Jesus Christ.

He doesn’t hand you another list,

He offers you Himself -

His death to deal with the messy business of your sins,

and His life

literally lived in you,

through you,

with you one moment, one step at a time.

He will not take your life

if you refuse to give it,

but He will transform it from the inside out

one day,

one step,

one issue,

one agony at a time,

if you choose to place it into His hands.

And this I can assure you absolutely -

He knows the pathway from death to life,

from hopelessness to hope,

from fear to freedom.

He knows because He’s traveled it Himself,

and He now seeks to show you the same path,

and not just to show it to you,

but to walk it with you,

and, when the way gets really rough, to carry you through it

until you too can proclaim with absolute certainty,

“He’s alive! And wonder of wonders so am I...forevermore!”