Over the weekend I was asked to preach the second message in a series at a church in Mount Vernon on "following Jesus." Luke 9:57-62 was my text and after studying this passages and others like it, I am convinced that Jesus was at war with religion. I'm fascinated with how others have defined religion. Here are three examples of how other have defined religion.
Tim Keller -
1. Religion is "obey God in order that you would be accepted by him." (Moral performance narrative.)
2. The Gospel on the other hand says, "you are accepted now therefore go obey." (grace narrative)
Larry Crabb - definition of Religion
1. Religion is the god of convenience combined with the god of cooperation. Therefore, the god that we've created is designed to conveniently and cooperatively give us what we desire. And if the end is desire, then god as we know it will lead us to that end.
2. Also know as the law of linearity.
- Reference 1 Kings 12. Jeroboam was the king that divided the Kingdom and known as evil because he reduced the God of holiness and love to the god of convenience combined with the god of cooperation by setting up alters at Dan and Bethel. The evil wasn't in his divisiveness so much as it was in his view of God which led into the divisiveness.
Civil Religion - Reference can't remember name. (in a book I read on the Kingdom a couple years ago.)
1. Civil Religion is defined as "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." If formation then in the church becomes "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" what happens when life throws you the inevitable curve ball? If then the base line civil religious narrative drives an individual, then the outcome would naturally lead to multiple layers of entitlement.
As I looked at the life and teaching of Jesus, I started to see in multiple locations that he was simultaneously destroying religious narratives while establishing His narrative which is consistent through out the met narrative.
I am fascinated with multiple angles of the multiple religious frameworks with in our culture. If Jesus was a war with these frameworks, then I want to be as well.
Tim Keller -
1. Religion is "obey God in order that you would be accepted by him." (Moral performance narrative.)
2. The Gospel on the other hand says, "you are accepted now therefore go obey." (grace narrative)
Larry Crabb - definition of Religion
1. Religion is the god of convenience combined with the god of cooperation. Therefore, the god that we've created is designed to conveniently and cooperatively give us what we desire. And if the end is desire, then god as we know it will lead us to that end.
2. Also know as the law of linearity.
- Reference 1 Kings 12. Jeroboam was the king that divided the Kingdom and known as evil because he reduced the God of holiness and love to the god of convenience combined with the god of cooperation by setting up alters at Dan and Bethel. The evil wasn't in his divisiveness so much as it was in his view of God which led into the divisiveness.
Civil Religion - Reference can't remember name. (in a book I read on the Kingdom a couple years ago.)
1. Civil Religion is defined as "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." If formation then in the church becomes "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" what happens when life throws you the inevitable curve ball? If then the base line civil religious narrative drives an individual, then the outcome would naturally lead to multiple layers of entitlement.
As I looked at the life and teaching of Jesus, I started to see in multiple locations that he was simultaneously destroying religious narratives while establishing His narrative which is consistent through out the met narrative.
I am fascinated with multiple angles of the multiple religious frameworks with in our culture. If Jesus was a war with these frameworks, then I want to be as well.
