¶The claim that "Christianity is not a religion" usually comes from those who don’t want to be accused of being religious, but do cling to Christianity. Is Christianity a religion?
¶By claiming that it is a relationship they try to exalt it above religions of this world. If it is a relationship, what relationship is unique to Christianity?
¶Let us begin with words associated with religion and being religious. Fanaticism comes to mind. Nobody wants to be passionately irrational. Fanatics have the image of feverishly operating from their emotions without engaging their minds.
¶However, the Apostle Paul was passionate about what his disciplined study of the Scriptures revealed to him. He was passionate about what he knew of the teaching of Christ as he witnessed it and as Christ’s disciples repeated it. He could be said to be a fanatic the same as a person is a fanatic about football. However, he didn’t disengage his mind in his fanaticism. When I look at this accusation, I don’t see anything which a Christian should fear. A fanatic can be thoroughly convinced after careful investigation to passionately pursue his convictions.
¶Perhaps Christians fear having strong convictions. A religious person operates according to a system of values or doctrines. He adheres to these assumptions in such a way that they sometimes radically affect his talk and his walk. In an era of skepticism it is not popular to be fully persuaded about anything except the necessity of being skeptical. The religious person becomes an oddball because there are some values or doctrines that he no longer questions.
¶Fanatics with strong convictions often become cultish. A religious person associates with people of like mind. In that manner they are no different than other people. However, cults have the reputation of being misguided by charismatic, religious fanatics. It is more acceptable to be a fanatical political minority than it is to be a fanatical religious minority. Being religious still carries the stigma of irrationality.
¶When being religious carries the connotations of fanaticism, irrationality, strong convictions, and cultish, many Christians say, "That is not me!" They want to be known as having a sound mind which operates on a set of reasonable principles resulting in respectable and acceptable behavior. My conclusion is that Christianity is a religion and more. It is also a unique relationship.
¶The key ingredient of a relationship is the idea of connection. Usually, to have a relationship implies having some kind of a family connection; a kinship, as in relatives having a family or blood connection. A relationship is having a common connection.
¶There does exists a common connection among participants of Christianity. Participants include God of the Old and New Testaments in the Bible; Jesus Christ, his Son, as portrayed especially in the New Testament but also in the Old Testament; the Holy Spirit mentioned throughout the Bible but particularly active after the resurrection of Christ; and the believers in Jesus Christ. Some have called this the family of God, hence the idea of a relationship. There is a common connection among the participants of Christianity.
¶As an example, God is often referred to as the Father. Jesus while on earth claimed him as Father due to his unusual conception and birth. He obeyed God as a son would obey his father. He was united in purpose with his Father. Jesus taught his disciples to also call him Father when they prayed as in the Lord’s Prayer "Our Father, who is in heaven." There is also the reference to those who believe in his (Jesus) name as being born of God thus becoming the sons of God. Another place speaks of these believers as brothers of Jesus. When Jesus’ physical mother and brothers tried to see him, Jesus pointed to his disciples and said that those who hear God’s word and put it into practice are his mother and brothers, or family.
¶This is not a loosely knit family. The family of God is bound by love. God, the Creator, was pleased with man and came to the Garden to talk with him. When man disobeyed God, sinned, God began an ageless endeavor to reach out and bring man back into the family. This climaxed when God gave his only Son to be the ultimate sacrifice for the sins of man which have, since man’s disobedience in the Garden, separated man from God. God loves all men that much.
¶There is a special relationship to those who believe in his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. They are born anew of God and become truly his children. All mankind is loved by God as the crown of his creation. However, those who receive Jesus, believing on his name, have a special love which those who reject Jesus do not receive. God has offered man a gift, some graciously receive it and others scorn it. That gift is eternal life through believing in Jesus Christ.
¶Those who have received God’s love gift are grateful to God. They love God in return. Jesus taught that these believers were to love one another just as He loved them. The family is bound together by love, not fear. A diverse ethnic, multi-cultural people from all over the world are bound together by the love which God has demonstrated to them.
¶Love is a unique relationship connecting the family of God. Christianity is not just a set of values, a book of doctrines, a work of discipline. All these may be present, but it is the love of God flowing within the family of God that makes Christianity different.
THE LOVE CONNECTION
( I John)
¶Let’s work our way through the First Epistle of John to learn more about this unique relationship within the family of God.
¶Our first stopping place is in chapter 1, verses 3 and 4. After describing the basis for what he is writing John says, " We proclaim to you what we have seen and heard, so that you also may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ." The key word here is "fellowship." In the Greek it is koinonia. "Communion" is another English word used to translate koinonia.
¶John is writing so that others may be included in the relationship that connects the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ to those who have witnessed the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Here we have the first indications of the family of God. It consists of the believers in Jesus Christ, the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ. They are a community which have Jesus Christ in common. He is the focal point for the believers and for the Father.
¶"This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son purifies us from every sin." (Ch.1, vs.5-7)
¶In his Gospel, John uses the metaphor of light to describe purity of the Father and the Son. "This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly what he has done has been done through God." (John 3:19-21)
¶We see that this fellowship of the family of God is living in the light where deeds are exposed for what they are. Evil deeds are exposed in the light as well as good deeds that have been done through God. This fellowship is not shared with those who are unwilling to live in the light. For those willing to have their deeds exposed to the light, although they have done evil deeds, there is forgiveness of sins and a purifying of the person. (See Ch. 1, vs.9 ) To experience the fellowship of the family of God, a person must be continually cleansed of his evil deeds by the blood of Jesus Christ. Sin disrupts the fellowship in the family of God.
¶In Chapter 2 God’s love is introduced in verse 5. In verse 10 loving your brother is introduced. These are two critical attitudes/behaviors that are explained in more detail in Chapters 3 and 4. Chapter 2 also uses the family terms of children, fathers, and young men.
¶"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us; that we should be called the children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are the children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." (Ch. 3, vs.1-3) God’s love has adopted us as his children.
¶"This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do right is not a child of God; neither is anyone who does not love his brother." (Ch. 3, vs.10) Living in the light with sins forgiven and loving your brother, loving one another within the family, identifies the children of God.
¶"This is the message that we have heard from the beginning: We should love one another." (Ch. 3, vs.11) In his Gospel, John writes quoting Jesus, "A new commandment I give you: Love one another. All men will know that you are my disciples if you love one another." And again, "My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you." (John 13:34 & 15:12)
¶How critical is love? "We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know than no murderer has eternal life in him." (Ch. 3, vs.14-15)
¶What is love? "This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers." (Ch.3, vs.16) In a round about way John says more of what love is, "Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, [in regards to evil, sin] we have the confidence before God and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him." (Ch. 3, vs.21-22) Jesus Christ obeyed his Father’s commands and laid down his life for us. Obedience to God’s commands and doing what pleases him is what love is all about. That is a pretty big obligation! "Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them." (Ch. 3, vs. 24)
¶Moving on to Chapter 4, beginning with verse 7 and reading through verse 13:
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. [This is a tough one. Is the love from God different from natural love?] This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No man has ever seen God; but if we love each other, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
¶Wow! The love for one another within the family of God is intertwined with the love which comes from God which was exemplified for us when God sent his Son into the world as a atoning sacrifice for our sins. God’s love is a sacrificial love. The only way people will "see" God is by the love we have for each other in the family of God. "We love because he first loved us." (Ch. 4, vs.19)
¶There is much more about this love connection in I John, the Gospel of John and throughout the Bible. I will conclude with a paragraph from Chapter 5 of I John.
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God has overcome the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
¶Read and meditate on John’s First Epistle to learn more about this unique connection binding those who believe that Jesus is the Son of God.
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