Was Jesus Religious or Relevant?

John 4:24 “God is Spirit and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” I once heard that if you have all truth you will dry up; if you have all spirit you will blow up, but if you have spirit and truth you will grow up. For our purposes in this article, I would like to state it another way. If your focus is mainly on the truth, you will become religious. If it is mainly on the Spirit, you will become radical. But if it is on both the truth and the Spirit you will become relevant.

Does God want us religious, or does He want us relevant?

What is the difference? Let me give you a couple of definitions that I have come up with. Being religious is to take action motivated by principle that is applied to a situation to maintain an approved standard. Being relevant is to take action motivated by principle that is then fitted to the situation to maintain a person. In other words, the religious are primarily concerned about the standard and the relevant are primarily concerned about people.

To be religious is to behave like Christianity is an outside job; that it is about what you wear, how you act, where you go and the appearance or your life. The relevant know that it is an inside job. It is about your heart, how you relate to others, how you love, and what you do.

The religious believe people do the work; the relevant know that God does the work. The religious believe that it is man’s job to earn it; the relevant know it is man’s job to accept it. The religious are trying to get things from God; the relevant know that they have all things in God.

The religious try to catch fish by creating a nice clean pond and hope the fish will jump in; the relevant go to the dirty watering holes, for that is where the fish are. The religious brood over the ninety-nine; the relevant leave the ninety-nine and go after the one.

The religious dream of a better life; the relevant dream of a better world. The religious use their faith to insulate themselves from the world; the relevant use their faith to impact the world. The religious attack the world; the relevant love the world.

Being religious makes you approval hungry. It will cause you to conform. Conformity isn’t fun, but it is safe. The uniform of religion doesn’t fit most people, but it is approved so you wear it.

Being religious will cause you to do what is right; being relevant will cause you to do what is needed. Did Jesus, when He was here on earth, do what was right? Or did He do what was needed?

Was it right for Jesus to leave the throne of heaven and enter the earth on the floor of a stable through the womb of a teenager and in the presence of a blue-collar worker? No, but it was needed. Was it right for Jesus to forgive and excuse a woman caught in the very act of adultery? No, but it was needed. Was it right for Jesus to send and anoint a promiscuous, five-time divorcee, Samaritan woman back to her city in order to bring about an area-wide 3 revival? No, but it was needed. Was it right for Jesus to heal on the Sabbath? No, but it was needed. And was it right for the Creator to allow the creation to crucify Him for crimes they had committed? No, but it was definitely needed.

John 2:1-11 tells us about Jesus’ first miracle, turning the water into wine at the wedding feast. This gives you a beautiful example where relevancy took precedent over religiosity. Turning water into wine was not the miracle that had been planned in eternity for the inauguration of Jesus’ ministry. Verse 4 implies that Jesus was on a timetable, that He had a predesignated plan. Weddings were significant events back in Jesus’ days. To run out of wine would bring a lot of shame on the family of the bride.

Plans are important, timetables are important, but for Jesus, people are more important. Slowly the significance of His plan is eclipsed by His concern for people. Can you imagine? The schedule of heaven is altered so that some people, who planned poorly, won’t be embarrassed. This miracle should tell you that what matters to you matters to God. And that God will at times forego what matters to Him in order to attend to what matters to you.

Mark 2:27 “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man tor the Sabbath.” Man doesn’t exist to serve truths; truths exist to serve man. God’s covenant is with people, not with doctrines. Doctrines are important, but people are more important. God’s faithfulness is with people. Jesus, who was the truth, died for people.

Are you more concerned about maintaining a standard, or are you more concerned about people?

Jim Newsom

Diane’s Updates

My ankle surgery is scheduled for April 9th. Jessica is taking a few days off work to take care of me after my surgery. Since I will have to be non-weight bearing for 8 weeks, my son Jason will be coming to help out for a week. Then my sister is flying up to help out for 10 days. That covers the first three weeks, so hopefully after that I won’t need as much help and can be more self-sufficient. I know taking care of a 10-month-old baby in the midst of this will definitely be a challenge! As they say, where there is a will there is a way.

Riker is now standing up and starting to take steps while holding on to the furniture. It won’t be long before he is fully walking. Riker loves to play with his big brother; and Ronan is so good at entertaining him. They have so much fun together. I get so much joy watching them and enjoying their laughter.

Ronan competed in another local ice-skating competition last month. He skated to the theme song from “Mission Impossible,” and dressed in all black like a secret agent. It was a lot of fun to watch.