CHURCH DIGS PEOPLE INTO SPIRITUAL RUTS

Reason Two:

CHURCH DIGS PEOPLE INTO SPIRITUAL RUTS

Besides, who are they worshipping there today, in the institution? I know they say, "We’re worshipping Jesus." But is it the real Jesus they’re worshipping? Or is it a caricature of Christ, painted with the particular brushstrokes of the institution? I know they’re getting very excited and out-of-breath about something. I’m just wondering what it is. I know they say, "It’s Jesus." Perhaps so. But they act the same way at football games.

Tonight it’s football, tomorrow it’s Jesus. It makes me wonder if excitement is the goal, rather than Jesus. For many, Jesus is the way to a fuller, more well-rounded me. The crosses around the neck suggest a hip religiosity, as if to say, "Jesus is my thing."

Look around you at the T-shirts, posters and Jesus jewelry; the carpenter from Nazareth is very, very cool today. This should be a red flag that something is very, very wrong.

What will you lose by fleeing the man-made walls? The truth? Just as trees do not grow in alleys, truth does not live between man-made walls.

Walls come and go, but truth endures. You can run and jump and live your happy life without worrying about losing truth; the real truth. This is not like the "truth" you had in the institution. That "truth" used to wait around to see what you would do with it, to see if you were worthy of it or could live up to its standards. And then, based on your behavior, it would adjust its opinion of you. It could damn you as easily as bless you, scare you as easily as comfort you. It all depended on—you.

Real truth is not like that. It's stronger and more sure of itself. Human foibles cannot hope to alter it.

In 29 A.D., you did not join Jesus Christ by signing a statement of faith. You did not go to Jesus Christ’s church, because it didn’t have a settled location. What you did was you started following Him down the road.

In Jesus's day, people who wanted truth came outside Jerusalem, to the hillsides and the fishing wharves - Or to the bars, or to the "bad" side of town where the prostitutes lived. This is where the action was; I speak of truth. Truth was here because the people here were real. Their "crime" was: they distrusted the religious establishment. They could smell hypocrisy ten cubits away. The didn't fall for the temple paint job because they knew what was behind it.