It could be said that religion is man's attempt to appease God by ceremonial practices, but relationship is God's method of demonstrating that he is already pleased with man. Religion encourages us to manipulate the system to please God but it doesn't cause any inward change. Relationship establishes that we are already in God’s good graces (through Jesus) and drives us to inward change because we know it brings us closer to the heart of God. Our fallen human nature tends toward religion as a formula to make God happy. It appeals to our personalities as creatures of habit. God hates religion because it tricks people into thinking they are okay when they are not okay. In an attempt to communicate this to us clearly, God very often offends our religious sensibilities to stir us out of the lethargy of religion back into relationship with him. We will look at a few examples briefly to see how God offends us, and how the quality of our response can affect those around us.
The story that got me thinking about this is found in Acts 10-11. It is the account of Cornelius the Roman Centurion and Peter. To summarize, God tells Peter to go preach to the Roman gentiles, and then they get baptized with the Holy Spirit. This was an absolute shock to Peter and the other apostles, because Jewish laws forbid them to associate with gentiles or visit them. Peter had to break Jewish law to preach to the gentiles. This was unheard of, but through his relationship with God, he was told to do it. Many times when we follow God by having a relationship with him, we will break the rules that "religious" people are depending on to make themselves righteous before God. When we cross those boundaries, we will find that we are persecuted in the same way that Jesus and the Apostles were persecuted. Just Google Rick Joyner, and you will see what I mean. All kinds of false accusations are leveled against him in the Internet because so many people are offended by his relationship with Jesus. They want him to conform to the "old religion" (old traditions) that they hold sacred, but traditions which hinder us from moving on in God.
One of the ultimate ways in which the religious spirit affects us is in our relationships and associations with others. Relationships and acquaintances are our primary means of advancing the gospel, and the Deceiver will use this deception to hinder a potentially fruitful relationship. This is evident in Jesus life. So much of his ministry time was spent having meals and hanging out with sinners, that the Pharisees accused him of being a glutton and drunkard. But it was as Jesus spent time with sinners and broken people that he was able to minister to him.
Scriptures are full of instances where godly people broke the law to do God's will. Jesus spoke with a Samaritan woman (forbidden) and led the entire town to salvation. He allowed the prostitute Marry to anoint him with oil and wash his feet bringing the scorn of every religious person watching. Elisha laid on a dead boy's body to bring him back to life. You just couldn't touch dead bodies according to Jewish law, especially if you were a minister. David and his men ate the holy bread and God blessed them instead of killing them. The point is that each of these situations would have drawn the scrutiny of law abiding Jews, but each of them were acceptable and pleasing to God.
These examples display a principle that will help us in our ministry and daily life. Very often the fruitful relationship that God has for us will offend our minds, or the minds of religious folks around us. And many times those relationships will bring us into very un-sanctified surroundings, because it is in those un-sanctified surroundings that there are people who really need to meet Jesus. Lights are only noticed when they shine in dark places. Go shine!
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