Spirit of Religion

"Now to the one who works, his wages are not counted as a gift but as his due. And to the one who does not work but believes in  him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted as righteousness." - Romans 4:4-5

"I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose." - Galatians 2:21

For a long time I have struggled with trying to earn God's pleasure. In fact, there is still a tension in my thinking that causes me to wrestle with the fact that from Isaiah 64:6 I learn that all my own righteous deeds are as filthy rags and yet God is my father and I want him to be proud of me. I want to hear Jesus say, 'well done good and faithful servant.' Is not the faithful servant in Matthew 25 the one who gets a good return for his labours? The one who works harder than his fellow servants?

I believe that many times when I have thought that my motivation was to please God there was actually something much more sinister at work in my heart. And I believe that many times in Christian ministry when saints are pouring themselves out with blood, sweat and tears, there is a veiled darkness hard at work. I am speaking about the spirit of religion. Just to be clear I am not meaning the religion of Christianity as opposed to the religion of Islam or Hinduism etc. What I mean by religion is the attitude or belief that we are good because of what we do. In this sense, religion is a terrible plague that was one of the innumerable things nailed on the cross when Jesus died. Religion even exalts itself against the work of Jesus on the cross and scoffs at the righteousness which he purchased for us by his own blood. Religion says to God, "you owe me, look at me and all my effort."

However, the Bible is abundantly clear. Salvation is a gift. Our righteousness is actually Jesus' righteousness placed upon us. There is nothing we can do to earn God's forgiveness.

If while serving in the Kingdom of God we think that we are better than our fellow servants because of what we do we have got it wrong. If we find ourselves comparing our service with others or if we find ourselves complaining about other ministries or other churches, beware! A spirit of religion may be creeping in the dark. Was the 'good and faithful servant' commended for his hard work? No, he was commended for his faithfulness! "His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master" (Matthew 25:21).

What are we to do if we recognize in ourselves a dangerous religious attitude? I think we should repent of having a religious attitude and rejoice in the mercy of God for highlighting our sin so that we can repent!