RELIGION OR
RELATIONSHIP?
I have often
heard Christians state, “It’s not religion; it’s a relationship.” I believe
this, however, only states half the truth, for surely, there is a religious
aspect to our faith, although many professing Christians do not enjoy
acknowledging that part of Christianity. I have personally heard people make
this statement with the idea in mind of abandoning the church, which
perpetuates the false assumption that one can love Christ but neglect the
church. My question then is this: how is it possible to love the groom but hate
the bride? It is obviously not possible. As frustrating as Christians can be in
our imperfection, the church is, nonetheless, the bride of Christ whom he died
for and bought with his own blood. If Christ loves the church, shouldn’t we
also love her? Regarding the topic of religion and relationship, if we neglect
the religious aspects of our faith, we essentially rid ourselves of the methods
by which God chooses to form us. Based upon biblical substance, I submit that
we must acknowledge both our relationship with Christ as well as our religious
practice to truly honor our faith. In that way then, I have three imperative
thoughts regarding religion and relationship.
God Chooses to Form Us through Relationship with Christ
First, we
are saved by grace through faith in Christ (Eph 2:8-9), which places us in a
relationship with the Son. If the reward for salvation in Christ is an eternity
with Christ in heaven, the penalty for not trusting him as Lord and Savior is
the eternal judgment and wrath of God. In Matthew 7:23, Jesus said that he will
say to some on the day of judgment, “Depart from me; I never knew you.” For an
omniscient God, it is apparent that he does not mean he knows not who these
people are but rather than he did not have a relationship with them. Upon our
call of salvation, we place our hope and faith in Jesus Christ, and a formation
begins that continues until the day of completion (Phil 1:6) when we are with
our Lord. The (both) good and bad circumstances in our lives are part of that
formation, which occurs in the context of a relationship with Christ. Without a
relationship with Christ, all religious duties are futile, for he must be the
substance of our actions. We are formed through a relationship with Jesus
Christ.
Relationship with Christ Is Developed through Religion
Additionally,
our relationship with Christ is developed through religion. This is the aspect
people do not like to often consider. Religion and relationship are not
separate but are, in fact, closely linked. You may have worthless religion
without relationship, but you cannot have pure and undefiled religion without a
relationship with Christ (Jas 1:26-27), i.e. as much as many believers despise
admitting it, there certainly is a religious aspect to our faith. The religious
practices we participate in on a continuous basis are used by God to develop
our relationship with Christ. We could easily list many of those religious
practices such as Scripture reading, prayer, and weekly worship. We must ask
ourselves, however, if our hearts are prepared to allow God to use these
religious practices to develop our relationship with Christ. Without a
relationship with Christ, religion is worthless, according to James, but in a
relationship with Christ and with the proper purpose, religion is a good
element to our faith. The Lord uses religion to develop us and to develop our
relationship with Christ if it is employed properly and with a humble and
sincere heart.
Religion Must Be Pure, Not Defiled
At this
point, it should be evident that there are two types of religion: pure religion
and worthless or defiled religion. What is the difference though? To answer,
pure religion is linked explicitly to a relationship with Christ, i.e. pure
religion is a derivative of relationship; relationship is not a derivative of
pure religion. Furthermore, if we feebly attempt to attain a relationship with Christ
through religion, we participate in defiled religion. Without our relationship
with Christ as the foundation for all our actions, our religious acts and deeds
are worthless. For religion to be pure and undefiled, one’s heart, soul, mind,
and strength must be in right standing with God, which entails a personal
relationship with Jesus Christ.
