Motion or Emotion

“All this I have told you so that you will not go astray. They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God.” John 16:1-2

How could people who worship the same God kill each other? And even more, how can they kill each other thinking it is an act of service to God? Something is dreadfully wrong here. As we read history, we find that indeed most of the disciples died at the hands of the religious rulers. John was the only one who died of old age. And he suffered at the hands of the religious authorities, but they did not kill him.

“They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me.” John 16:3 Apparently, it is possible to worship a God you do not know. It is important to me at this point to once again reaffirm that I know the Father and the Son. I don’t want to become one of the religious ones worshipping a God I do not know. That gets people into trouble!

Jesus came to this earth to show the way to the Father. Their religion had become something to practice and obey rather than a relationship with Yahweh. They no longer understood how much he loved them. They were full of judgment and hate rather than love and caring. No wonder they didn’t recognize Jesus as the Christ. He didn’t fit the mold they had made for God. In fact, they were so set in their belief system they had conjured up that they couldn’t recognize the Scriptures that were fulfilled by his coming.

As I think about the church today, I look at the difference between a new believer and one who grew up in the church and knew no different. A new believer doesn’t know all the rules yet. They have just come to faith. They are full of joy and peace and excitement. They can hardly believe how much God loves them and they love back with enthusiasm. If they hang around long enough, they may get ‘dumbed down’ with everyone else, get into the grind and lose that joy. Certainly there are exceptions, but so many people on our church rolls are so good at following the rules, but they don’t have a real and active relationship with the Father or the Son. They are struggling hard to make it on good behavior rather than understanding grace and love. They don’t experience joy and peace. Religion is a ‘somber’ thing.

Oh how God’s heart must ache! He doesn’t want us going through the motions without emotion. He has so much for us to experience in terms of relationship with him. He is ‘Prince Charming’ and we can choose if we are going to be ‘Cinderella’ or the ‘Ugly Step Sisters’. According to the surveys done by The Barna Group, too many have chosen to be the Ugly Step Sisters. David Kinnaman, President of The Barna Group, wrote the book, “unChristian,” based on the research which shows that the church is seen as judging and uncaring by many of the young adults both in and out of the church.

It is not that I believe that we all have to be highly emotional in a worship service, jumping around and shouting, ‘hallelujah!’ I think we can have a quiet, but real heart-felt relationship with God. But I’m pretty sure that God likes when we rush at him with a big bear hug as well – when we show some emotion in our relationship with him. I like it when my kids do more than nod their heads in my direction when I enter the room or they come in my door. Our relationship is based on a lifetime of shared experiences and interactions. We are glad to be together and love to be in each other’s presence. I am more than a set of rules to them that they must follow. I think God wants us to experience that with him as well – to look forward to spending time with him and enjoy sitting with him and learning from him. He wants a real, live relationship with us.

It’s pretty cool to have a friend that is so full of knowledge and wisdom that I can benefit from and to know that he loves me and there is nothing I can do that will make him stop loving me. Now that’s a friend! I’m so grateful to Jesus for coming and opening our eyes to the real Father and not the one conjured up in our religious practices.