May 12, 2006

Religion or Relationship?

Philippians 3:1-9

Today in our service we have witnessed the baptism of 8 individuals.

I would like to ask the question: What is it that these people have found? What have they discovered that would bring them forward to participate in such a seemingly bizarre ritual? And the second part of that question that I would like to challenge you to consider is this: Have you made that same discovery?

One answer that some might propose to this question: They have found religion.

Would that be the correct answer? To explore this matter, I would like us to consider the words and writings of the Apostle Paul. (Read Philippians 3:4b-6)

Let me use a word picture. Religion can be represented as a ladder which reaches up toward heaven. And we get to heaven by climbing the ladder. Now different religions may have different concepts of heaven. And different religions may construct their ladders differently. Some ladders are very simple. Some are very elaborate. Some may have only a few rungs. Others may have hundreds of steps or rungs. Some may get their ladder from a holy book. Others may get their ladder from the teachings of a particular person or organization. Some derive their ladder by attempting to listen to some inner voice.

But all these ladders have something in common. They are based on human effort and human achievement. They are based on who we are or what we have done to please God. The concept of God may differ, and what God requires may differ from ladder to ladder. But the bottom line with religion is always the same. Religion is always based on what we do to please God and satisfy his requirements.

Some people do not even identify their ladder as a religion. People like this might say: “Oh, I am not very religious. But I am a good person. At least I have never done anything really bad. I have lived a pretty good life. I never killed anyone.” Now that is a pretty simple ladder, but it is a ladder nonetheless.

But religion or ladders leave us some troubling questions.

1. Am I on the right ladder? Now that is a scary thought isn’t it? To think that you might spend a life-time trying to satisfy the requirements of a particular religion – only to find that it’s the wrong religion. Increasingly today, people get around this scary thought by concluding that all ladders are basically the same. They all lead to the same destination. It doesn’t really matter which ladder you climb, just as long as you are on a ladder and you are sincerely climbing your ladder.

But that leads to a second question.

2. Have I climbed high enough on the ladder to please God and to reach heaven? Underneath the surface, most ladders are based on some kind of trade-off, in which good deeds must outweigh bad deeds, or certain religious observances must somehow compensate for our wrong actions. It is like an old-fashioned balance scale. On one side are placed all our sins and short comings. What we have to do is put enough good deeds or religious actions on the other side of the scale to tip the balance in our favor. But if we are honest, ladders and scales leave us with a lot of uncertainty. “Have I climbed high enough? Have I placed enough good deeds on this side of the scale to outweigh the bad things that are on the other side of the scale? Will God accept me into heaven or not? I hope so. I think so. No one knows for sure. At least I have a better chance than this person next to me.”

The essence of religion is captured in the opening words of the passage I read in verse 4: confidence in the flesh. Paul says that he had more reason for confidence in the flesh than anyone. Paul had religion! Paul had a great ladder, and he had gone a long way up that ladder. Paul says of himself in Galatians 1:14: I was advancing in Judaism beyond many Jews of my own age…In other words, “I had a great ladder and I was climbing faster and higher than most of the others on the ladder.”

The details may differ, but the essence of Paul’s words are very common. We need to understand something. Religion is pervasive. People like religion! It makes them feel good about themselves. We did it – ourselves. We are in control. In some ways, the harder the religion, the better we feel about it.

There was a TV commercial in the U.S. some years ago, advertising the services of a respected investment firm:  We make money the old-fashioned way. We earn it. Religion says the same thing: I am getting to heaven the old fashioned way. I am earning it.

So what was wrong with Paul’s ladder? It is the same as the problem with all ladders. Paul’s ladder didn’t reach high enough. And it is essential that we hear this truth from God this morning. No ladder reaches high enough. It’s no good changing ladders and joining another religion. And it’s no good redoubling your efforts and trying to climb higher.

Let’s look as some other verses on this subject. (Read Romans 3:20 and 23)  Let’s think in terms of the law being a ladder and what it means to fall short. Let me ask you a question: How much good is a ladder that falls short?

We can’t make it. We can’t measure up. This is why all ladders are ultimately useless in terms of getting us to heaven. That it is why it is so useless to sit around comparing ladders: “mine is more aesthetically pleasing than yours, mine makes me feel good, mine is older than yours, mine is newer than yours with more recent innovations,” and so on.

The bottom line is that all ladders fall short. And a ladder that falls short is ultimately useless. So if ladders don’t work, if religion won’t work, where do we turn? If these folks being baptized haven’t found religion, what have they found? To answer that question, let’s consider what happened to Paul.

The story is told in Acts 9. Paul was a rising and influential religious leader on his way to Damascus to arrest more Christians. He was high on his ladder and climbing, when suddenly, God knocked him off his ladder with a blinding light. He lay there, blinded on the road, with his ladder lying in pieces around him.

I find the words spoken on that occasion to be of great significance. A voice spoke: Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? Why is this so significant? These are the words of a person speaking to another person. These are relational words. He called him by name and then said, “I am a person (he uses a personal pronoun), and you are persecuting me. Why?”

And Paul’s answer is equally revealing: Who are you? In other words: “I am a person, and I recognize you are a person speaking to me, but I don’t know who you are.”

The voice responds: I am Jesus whom you are persecuting. Underlying the drama of that exchange, we have very simple words. They are the words that signal the beginning of a relationship. Who are you…I am Jesus.

What happened on that road? Paul met Jesus and entered into a relationship with him that turned his life upside down. And the first thing Paul did was to reassess his religion, his ladder, his confidence in the flesh and his own achievements.

Read v. 7: I looked at all those things, all my religious achievements and I came to a conclusion that they were useless, a total loss. What were those things? The things he mentioned in v. 5-6. All of his religious accomplishments. Paul didn’t find religion on the road to Damascus. He lost religion. He gave it up!

Tell me, do you think that was an easy thing to do? No! That is not an easy thing to do. It is a very painful thing to do. And the higher you have climbed on your own particular ladder, the harder it is. In fact for many people, giving up their ladder is more difficult than giving up their sins. We like our ladders. We like relying on ourselves.

Once Paul had put his “confidence in the flesh”. Now he places himself among a different group of people: (Read v. 3). You have to choose. You can not do both. When Paul met Christ, the first thing he had to do was give up his religion, give up his ladder, give up his confidence in his own ability to please God and earn his way to heaven.

When Paul met Jesus, he not only gave up his ladder, but he also lost all the human prestige and privileges that went with it. Paul lost everything: his social, economic and family status. Following Christ involved incredible loss for Paul. But the amazing thing is that Paul could never think about what he lost without thinking in terms of what he gained that day on the Damascus road.

Read v. 8

I lost it all.. But I consider all that I lost as utterly worthless compared to what I gained.

So what did he gain? What did he find on the Damascus road? What have these who were baptized today found?

The answer is: HE FOUND A RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST. What Paul refers to in v. 8 as the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

And with that relationship with Christ, what else did he gain?

Read v. 9.

A right standing with God which comes not from a ladder, not from what we do. But a right relationship with God that depends on what Christ has done for us.

Isaiah says it this way: All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Is. 53:6)

In II Corinthians 5:21, Paul states: God made him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

Our sins were placed on Christ, so that when we enter into a relationship with Jesus Christ, his righteousness can be placed on us. So that, as Paul says here in Philippians, we may be found in Christ, not having a righteousness of our own, but a righteousness that comes from God by faith.

So, what have these people who were baptized found? What have they discovered to bring them to this action of baptism?

Have they found religion? No. In fact they had to give up whatever religion they had. They had to give up their confidence in the flesh.

No they haven’t found religion. They, like Paul, have found a relationship with the person of Jesus Christ.

I would ask you: Have you made that same discovery?

Prayer: God, I recognize that I am a sinner. I have been trying to satisfy you with my own efforts, but I now acknowledge that I can never live up to your standards. Jesus, I believe that you are the Son of God. I believe that you died for my sins. I ask you to be my Savior. Forgive my sins. Come into my life. Amen