Recap from Sunday...

Our sermon this morning at the Village was exhausting and exhilarating at the same time. Matt spoke on the difference between religion and the gospel. I have heard this before, maybe even from him, but it never fails to impact me. His scripture reference was Luke 11:37-12:11, when Jesus was speaking to the Pharisees, and they basically accused Jesus of being unrighteous because He didn't ceremonially clean Himself before eating. Jesus told them that they made a big deal about being clean on the outside but inside they were still dirty and pretending that they weren't. Isn't that just what we do? We want people to think that we are good and moral people because of how we act, but inside we are broken and we don't ever want anyone to know it- they might think less of us- and it's "all about us" isn't it?
Matt broke it down pretty clear when he talked about relativism and religion. Our our country used to promote universal lessons to moral dilemas that were true for everyone (like drinking under age is not ok) but now relativism rules the day and people can make choices for themselves and no one can make these decisions for them. Or people use their religion to make decisions for them. Religion says "I obey my god's rules and therefore he accepts me." Christianity, on the other hand, says "I am accepted by God because of Christ and therefore I obey my God out of thankfulness." Religion motivates out of fear and insecurity- if I dont obey god, he will be angry with me. The gospel motivates me because I want to know more of God.
A religious person inherently thinks of themselves as a good person, where their sense of value comes from how moral they are or how hard they work at being good. "I must be successful, otherwise people wont believe in my religion- my failures show my religion to be false- I must keep up appearances." A person whose life centers around the gospel knows that they are inherently a sinner, who can't "be good" on their own- they need Christ and His power. Knowing yourself to be a sinner results in not finding your value in your morality- my value isn't in me, but Jesus. "I'm broken but God loves me anyway, and my failures are because of my sinful nature, and not because my faith is flawed." Christians believe that everything we have- our faith, our salvation and our hope comes from God- I may fail, but God will not. There is such freedom in that . Romans 8:1 says "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus..." Ever since I heard that verse several years ago, it has resonated with me. I keep praying that I would truly, deep in my soul, believe it- because if I did, it would transform me. My religious past, my obsession with ME and what others think of me would fall away. I would understand that religion and sin destroy what I really want- a deep relationship with Christ and to share Him with everyone I meet.