I treasure the call of the Lord on my life and the privilege of loving and guiding people into an ever-deepening and transforming relationship with God. My heart is filled with joy when people connect with the Lord and gain greater understanding of his love and will for them to receive and live the abundant life by grace through faith. I am so blessed, because I know God has positioned me to help people understand the difference between a religious life and the Christian life. Trust me, there is a difference in the mindset.
A religious life is about: A) Rules—God is honored when we ALL APPEAR HOLY on Sunday); B) Regulations—God is OK WITH SOME SINS and the religious hierarchy will let you know which ones; and C) Reputation—what we alone can do for God because he DESPERATELY NEEDS our help. Religious goals are based on human cognition and consumption: 1) How many members can we gain for funding a big building? 2) How many programs for all ages can we offer to make everyone happy so they keep coming? 3) How big can we grow the campus, because size makes a statement others in the community respect and more people will come which brings more funding? My comments may sound critical or even judgmental and I don’t mean them to be so, but religion is always focused on inward desires and gratification for our human achievements that we think will please God and, therefore, take us upward in holiness. It doesn’t work that way! It is possible to hold a worship gathering of thousands of religious people who are going nowhere with Christ.
A Christian is a person who places faith in Christ alone to make one holy and seek a growing relationship with him—the one who died and paid the penalty for the sins of the world as the Living Lord and Judge of all creation. The Christian life is about what God has already done for us and how we can spread out in the community to share and model his message of love (agape) with others. Christianity is focused outward as we each connect by grace through faith while Christ himself lifts us upward. Then, Christ is exalted in our lives. The Christian life is about being led by the supernatural Spirit of God into revealing the Truth of God with us!
In our passage today, we see an example of the religious life, because Satan and human flesh tends to try and highjack God’s real purpose for his children which should be to bring glory to God. The people built a tower to draw attention to human achievement, but it was not a monument to glorify God. Instead, the efforts of the people actually displaced God’s vision and replaced his glorious power. So, God divided them up by confusing their languages.
On Sunday, we celebrated Pentecost—the Feast of Weeks—when the Father sent the Holy Spirit to indwell his children. The Spirit would now provide a way for God’s children to be connected in his will, purpose and power; to live the Truth that actually honors and glorifies the Lord. “Unless the LORD builds a house, the work of the builders is wasted” (Ps 127:1). The Christian life is about Christ building a spiritual family—the Church!
Genesis 11:1-9 NLT The Tower of Babel
1 At one time all the people of the world spoke the same language and used the same words. 2 As the people migrated to the east, they found a plain in the land of Babylonia and settled there.
3 They began saying to each other, “Let’s make bricks and harden them with fire.” (In this region bricks were used instead of stone, and tar was used for mortar.) 4 Then they said, “Come, let’s build a great city for ourselves with a tower that reaches into the sky. This will make us famous and keep us from being scattered all over the world.”
5 But the Lord came down to look at the city and the tower the people were building. 6 “Look!” he said. “The people are united, and they all speak the same language. After this, nothing they set out to do will be impossible for them! 7 Come, let’s go down and confuse the people with different languages. Then they won’t be able to understand each other.”
8 In that way, the Lord scattered them all over the world, and they stopped building the city. 9 That is why the city was called Babel,[confusion] because that is where the Lord confused the people with different languages. In this way he scattered them all over the world.
Prayer: Lord, there is a temptation to blur the lines between the Christian life and a religious life, but they can be so very different in focus and purpose. Please help us to stay focused on Christ and the work of the Spirit to grow us in Christlikeness. We are called to live in a way that glorifies you and only you can provide a lasting change in us. We do not need to pretend to follow religious rules, because you regulate grace as we need it to produce godly and eternal spiritual fruit. May we live by faith in an obedient way that honors and glorifies your amazing and holy reputation. In Jesus’ name. Amen.