Bible

[excel]

The Bridge Christian Fellowship
The Pastor’s Pen
Steve Farnworth


One of the things I really love about Jesus is the simple, straight-forward way in which He communicated eternal, transformational truth. He never beat around the bush, buttered people up, tried to tone down the truth, or cloud things up with pseudo-sophisticated, religious mumbo-jumbo. He simply spoke the truth, and, as He reminded us, “It is the truth that will set you free.”
The religious elites once asked Him (in a vain attempt to trip Him up), “Which is the greatest commandment?” His response? “Love God; love others.” With four words, He summarized both tablets of the ten commandments. It was simple, understandable, undeniable, powerful, and transformational truth. And those religious elites who asked the question, they were not doing either one. They had substituted their elaborate, cumbersome, expensive, self-focused religious baggage for the simple, intimate, powerful, Christ-centric faith that transforms the vilest of sinners into a godly, Christ-honoring saint worthy of His calling. Now that is transformational truth!
But before we go off on the Pharisees, Sadducees, and religious rulers of Jesus day, we may want to pause a moment and take inventory of our own modern-day collection of religious baggage. Never has the Church possessed so many resources, programs, and gimmicks than it does today. If someone wanted to, there is at least one Christian Conference offered each and every week of the calendar that they could attend. At these conferences, one would hear awesome presenters, worship to fabulously talented, well-equipped bands, and meet all kinds of “Christians” from all over the world.
We now have at our disposal an amazing array of curriculum for any age, often featuring amazing video technology, exceptional speakers, and top-end graphics. It is extremely well done. We have banners, we have state-of-the-art websites, we use Facebook, we have, we have, we have.
And, Oh, do we offer programs! For the children, we offer Children’s Church (some congregations now have theme-park type Sunday morning children’s “ministries”), Harvest Festivals, Christmas Pageants, Easter Egg hunts, VBS, and summer camp, just to name of few. Teenagers experience Sunday morning rock concerts in many churches, week night activities, snow camps, Spring mission trips, camps, mega-week-long music festivals, and on and on and on. For adults, we have weight loss programs, fitness programs, Bible studies, social gatherings, addiction recovery programs, divorce recovery programs, men’s breakfasts, ladies’ luncheons, marriage seminars, child-raising seminars, and on and on and on.
Our calendars are crowded with endless activity, but is all of this activity our way of protecting ourselves from facing the gaping hole in our own hearts? You know, the hole that only genuine intimacy with Jesus can fill. I am not saying that all of these activities are wrong. However, if they have become a substitute for genuinely “knowing” Christ, then they are in reality idols. And religious idols must be rooted out if we are to ever truly “know” Christ.
What was wrong with the Pharisees? They cherished their religion more than they cherished Christ. Jesus always pressed them with truth, and, for this, they killed Him. They rejected intimacy with Him and clung to their religious baggage to the end. What are you and I going to do? Like the Pharisees, will we cling to our religious stuff and resist true intimacy with Jesus? Or, are we willing to put everything on the alter for His Name’s sake, and place our faith and focus squarely on Him? “Love God; love others.” Simple? Yes, if we are willing to forsake our stuff and put God and others first!