Transforming Church

The Hebrews were not willing to let God do that, and insisted instead they could hold up their end of the bargain if they just knew what was needed. Their assumption, however, was doomed from the start and Judaism slipped more and more into being a religion. Today it is in deadlock as a religion and for most of the Jews in the world, especially those in Israel, it has evolved into a matter of nationalism.

Regardless of all the water that has gone under the bridge so to speak, God remains faithful and He still keeps His covenant promise with the Hebrews. He always will. Simultaneously, even before 2,000 years ago they frustrated his purposes so much, He went on to establish a new covenant with the entire world, a covenant even more clearly established in Himself. He chose to enter creation Himself, come as a human in Jesus Christ, the faithful obedient Son. This is critical to understanding since Christianity is not a religion. Christianity is a person, Jesus Christ, and a relationship to Him. That is the covenant relationship and it is not a religion. We have become connected to Him by promise in Baptism.

Today however, a full 80% of those who call themselves Christian and worship regularly in our pews do not understand that. Even though most all of them verbally identify with Jesus as their Savior, where they live their daily lives they see themselves as followers of Jesus Christ, emulating to the best of their ability His love for others. These more than 80% have for all intents and purposes compromised Christianity as a religion. As huge a segment as this is, they are moving in the wrong direction when they try to take what God has done for them and make it into a religion.

Those intent on this, making Christianity a religion, take the focus off of God and put it on themselves. What they do becomes what defines them as members of the church. Faithfulness and accomplishment are measured, but modestly no one presumes to claim heavenly reward. Even though for five hundred years or longer the status of good works has been raucously disclaimed, Christianity as a religion, nevertheless, becomes following the rules and striving to live like Christ.

Although they have become His followers, apart from verbalizing that they are, they do not belong to Christ. Much of their daily life is lived without Him. If the covenant relationship is to be preserved, it is not just a matter of verbalizing that we owe everything to Jesus, we must totally belong to Him. We are not just followers; we are disciples. We don’t just try to live like Him, we let Him live through us.

Mohammed shares with Abraham the roots of Islam but this faith has been a religion from the start. At the center of the Islamic faith is a way of life. And like those of the Jewish faith they also view Christianity as a way of life. Even further, Judaism and Islam are both willing to recognize Jesus Christ as a great teacher and prophet, one who advocates for a more God-like way of life. If we were to focus on that as a kind of ecumenism, for all intents we would be jumping ship from Christianity and going with it as a religion. Jesus as a divine personal Savior without whom salvation is impossible makes no connection in the minds of Jews and Islamists.

The bottom line here, one that we as Christians need to be clear on, is that Christianity is unique in a world of religions. We do not see world religions as false, rather most all of them as having many truths within them. This would include the religion into which so many professed Christians have tried to reshape Christianity. But we must be careful not to compromise the covenant in Christ. No religion can be an alternative to the covenant relationship God has graced everyone with through Jesus Christ.