I remember once after officiating a funeral service and speaking with the family, when someone made a statement about me being a religious man. This person meant nothing bad by it, and I took it as a compliment. Still, I wondered why the words "religious" or "religion" always felt negative to me.Could it be because it was very religious people who put Jesus to death? I mean you won't find a group of people more religious than the Pharisees were. These days when the word religion pops up in a conversation it is usually done so in a negative context. I've heard phrases in church where a preacher would be talking about a "spirit of religion" and this would be speaking of the demonic, not anything of a Godly nature.
I do believe that Satan always has a counterfeit up his sleeve to attempt to deceive people, and of course he has aspired to be like God from the beginning, for he said in his heart, "I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God, And I will sit on the mount of assembly In the recesses of the north." (Isaiah 14:13)
When Jesus was tempted by Satan in the wilderness, Satan saved his biggest attack for last when he showed Jesus all of the kingdoms of the world, and told him it all would be His if only He would bow down and worship him (Satan). Satan wants more than anything to be worshiped as if he himself were god. Of course this means he has the tactic of using a spirit of religion as a counter to the Holy Spirit.
If Satan can get a person to fall into his trap, set by his spirit of religion, then he can get them to follow a bunch of legalistic, man-made rules and obligations. This would be done with the overall purpose of winning god's approval and affection. The spirit of religion puts the deceived person on a hamster wheel of duties, and they run themselves ragged while never going anywhere. After so long they either will give up and go back into their own sinful ways, or they will serve this defiled, impure, and satanically inspired version of religion themselves. This could be anything from mandates about their clothing to any number of other doctrines that don't have a sound biblical basis.
So what does the real thing look like? The word religion itself is not a bad word, for the bible tells us that there is a pure and undefiled religion. James 1:27 says, "Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world."
It seems that the heart of God can be found when you love the most helpless and hurting people. Certainly this is summed up for us again when we read in Matthew 25 is Jesus' parable of the Sheep and the Goats.
Matthew 25:31-46 says,
31“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. 32All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 34“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ 37“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ 40“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
41“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ 44“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’ 45“He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’ 46“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”To sum up this lengthy passage, there will be people standing before God one day. I honestly believe these people will all consider themselves to be Christians as well. God will then sort them out by who showed compassion toward those who were "the least of these" and who did not. The Lord will equate this as being either done for Him, or not being done for Him. I believe one could easily place the widow and the orphan under the category of the "least of these."
In essence then the people being separated as either a sheep or a goat, will be the ones either practicing pure and undefiled religion, or practicing the corrupted version of religion. They were either following the Holy Spirit, or they were following the counterfeit - the spirit of religion.
Another sobering passage is found in Matthew 7:21-23 where it says,
21“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’In other words, to quote another parable, the wheat and the tare will grow together in the same field, and even if people in the church were to practice the gifts of the Holy Spirit it wouldn't by itself be enough to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. This isn't to say that doing works will earn our entry into Heaven for, "it is by grace are we saved through faith; and that not of ourselves, for it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast." (Ephesians:2:8-9)
By loving one another people will know that we are His disciples.This identifies us as belonging to Christ, but it is Jesus, who knows all hearts that will one day harvest His wheat, and burn the chaff. During His last hours with His disciples before He would be taken away to be beaten, mocked, and crucified Jesus did this... He knelt down with a towel and one by one, washed His disciples' feet. In doing so, He displayed perfectly an illustration of love. It required Him becoming a servant onto those around Him. Jesus then gave a new commandment to His disciples, telling them love one another. He told them that if they did this then people would know they are His disciples. (John 13:34-35)
As we serve others in need, and especially those who cannot possibly repay us (the least of these), then we put on display a reflection of the One we ultimately serve - our Lord Jesus, and others can see Him in us. When this happens He is glorified and lifted up, and people are drawn to Him. (John 12:32)
People who have not yielded their life to Jesus will not be seeking to see Him glorified, but would rather get the glorify for themselves. It would not be an uncommon thing to see them receiving the praises of men right in the church, and loving every minute of it. I've heard a few preachers, and others within the church tell of all the good things they have done for the Lord, and then wait as if they are expecting some kind of verbal praise for it.
When watching a football game sometimes we see a touchdown and the player goes immediately back to his men and prepares for the next play. I've always admired players like this for that player knows that he performed his expected service for the team. Then there is the player who will make a touchdown and do his little dance in the end zone to hype up the fans a little more. This guy likes to showboat. This is what it looks like when a Christian would pump themselves up. The sin is called pride! Should we not instead boast in the Lord, and in what His church (the team) is doing?
It comes down to whether or not we have submitted our life to God, and we want to see His will be done instead of our own. If we are willing to lay our own dreams, goals, and ambitions upon the alter of doing His will on the earth, then we will find that He has an even better plan for our life. (Matthew 6:33)
So with a humble heart, and a willingness to do His will instead of our own, let us reach out unto the least of these, show the heart of God, and lift them up in love. In doing so, maybe we can take back religion, and show it in it's true form - pure and undefiled.
