Religion in the Bible.

 Religion in the Old Testament. 

The danger of being religious can be seen as early as our first parents. Adam and Eve's fatal mistake was an attempt to be more like God. Their error was not that they stopped believing in God, but that they began believing in a way they shouldn't have.

 

Their first son also tried to trust God on his own terms. The lord rejected Cain's sacrifice but honored the sacrifice offered by his younger brother. Burning with anger, Cain became so jealous that he killed Abel and ruined how own life in the process. But this issue isn't just something for an unfortunate few. The whole nation of Israel got in trouble for trying to serve and worship God on their own terms. Barely a month after God miraculously led them out of Pharaoh's clutches in Egypt and assisted their crossing the Red Sea, the people tired of not being able to see God. Although they had fervently agreed to do all God said, in Moses absence, they pooled their golden jewelry, melted it down, made a golden calf of gold, and began to party. The result? - God was angry, Moses was furious, and thousands of Israelites died (Exodus 32). 

Saul, the first king of Israel, was no different. He lost his kingdom by making religious errors. When Samuel, the priest didn't show up on time to offer a pre-battle sacrifice, Saul thought it was necessary to offer the sacrifice himself. He was wrong (1 Samuel 13:8-14 see also chapter 15).

 

God is concerned about what we believe and how we serve and worship Him because He is looking for those who will worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:23-24), not ritualistically, superstitiously, or ignorantly. God wants to be worshiped from a heart that is responding to the truth about His love and grace. 

 

It may sound complex, but it isn't. All God really wants is for us to Know and Love His Son. Good religion will follow (James 1:26-27).

Christ and the Pharisees

Jesus Knew the problems of religion. He was hated by some of the most religious people in Jerusalem. While the sinners and outcasts of society were attracted to Him, the religionists of His day - the Pharisees, scribes, Sadducee's, and priests - were, with few exceptions, His bitter enemies. The Sadducee's and Pharisees of Jerusalem were always trying to discredit Jesus. They had no use for Him and His "radical" ideas that challenged their well-established traditions. And they were convinced that the world would be a better place without him.  

 

But the Pharisees were not all bad. Many of them were craftsman and tradesmen, and they identified with the common man while being respected as some of the most godly and spiritually committed Jews. They believed in the God of Israel, advocating a God-centered life, 

 

and were determined to protect Israel from being compromised or absorbed into a Gentile world. The Pharisees also believed that Israel's future depended on whether or not they honored and practiced the law of God; they not only struggled with what the law said but how it applied to the smallest details of life. They also held tightly to the traditions of their spiritual forefathers, carefully memorizing, repeating, and entrenching themselves in the ancient practices.  

The Pharisees, however took some wrong turns in their attempt to make the law of God relevant and and practical to Israel. As they made an effort to show what the word of God "looked like" in daily life, their concrete applications became an end in themselves. Before long, they were lost in specifics and, according to Jesus, were "teaching as doctrines the commandments of men" (Mathew 15:9). They focused solely on the details and lost the purpose of the Law - to Love. 

 

The Problem with Jesus. 

Religionists saw Jesus as dangerous. He was a threat to them because anyone who accepted Him would never need the religion of the Pharisees. 

 

While the Pharisees were good at detailing obedience to the law, Jesus taught that God would forgive the worst sinners. Jesus also caused a commotion that threatened to destabilize the delicate religious and political balance of power in Israel. He had a reputation for doing explainable things. He taught with an air of authority and shifted attention from external matters of religion to internal attitudes of the heart. In his Sermon on the Mount (Mathew 5:1-11), Jesus taught that God is not looking for people who are doing well in their religion. He's looking for people who depend on God in every area of life, who grieve for the nature and results of sin, who willingly live under God's authority, who accept God's rightness, who care for others, who have clean hearts and motives, and who work towards reconciliation between people and with God. 

Jesus dis not flatter these religious leaders, He didn't leave room for the nothing that they were godly men who had merely made a mistake about Him. He said that if they had known His Father, they would have known Him. To their face, He called them hypocrites (Mathew16:3) and blind leaders of the blind (15:14). This isn't the storyline many of us might expect. We might expect Jesus' enemies to surface among the atheists, secular thinkers, and criminal elements of society. That wasn't the case. Street people were attracted to Jesus. Sinners were among his friends. Even Pilate, the pagan Roman governor of Judea, was inclined to give Jesus more consideration and benefits of the doubt. 

Jesus also took the time to teach His followers about the Pharisees were their leaders, and they must do what they told them to do. Then He said, "But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach" (Mathew 23:3NIV). He then told the Pharisees where they had gone wrong (Luke 11:37-52): They looked good on the outside but their hearts remained filthy with pride. 

Book share Discovery Series. Following Jesus - Relationship or Religion? by Mart DeHann.