The Grace of God Is Immoral? – by Greg Albrecht
A familiar captivity is frequently more desirable than an unfamiliar freedom. – C.S. Lewis
When many who are comfortable with their cherished religious practices and ceremonies hear about CWR (Christianity WITHOUT the religion) and how we as a ministry champion “religion-less” Christianity, they often accuse Christianity WITHOUT the religion and “religion-less” Christianity as being nothing less than permissiveness and immorality.
It’s a serious accusation – one the organized religion of Jesus’ day used to condemn him. As you know, the religious leadership of Jesus’ day insisted that Jesus was spending too much time with the low-life dregs of society (as labeled by the religious establishment). Jesus was accused of being a drunkard and of not being serious enough about religion. It’s a grave accusation to claim that the grace of God is immoral – one to which Paul resoundingly responds:
For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age… – Titus 2:11-12
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is not about freedom to express and rapaciously indulge our physical appetites and senses – the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is about freedom from artificially imposed contrivances that allow religious institutions to manipulate us with fear and human authority rather than faith and trust in God.
The Israelites in the wilderness whom God had rescued from slavery and the religious superstitions of Egypt yearned for their familiar captivity in Egypt rather than the unfamiliar freedom given them by God. The Israelites discovered that it is far easier to be given physical freedom than it is to embrace spiritual freedom, and therefore live free, by the grace of God. They were physically free, but they remained in spiritual bondage.
The Latin word religio means “bind fast” – religio has the sense of holding things together, keeping everything under control. The emphasis within Christ-less religion is about obedience and keeping all the rules – law will save us. By contrast, Paul assures us that we are free in Christ, and exhorts us not to allow ourselves to be burdened again by a yoke of slavery (Galatians 5:1). Jesus saves us.
Within Christ-less religion, structure, standards and procedures invariably take the focus away from Jesus so that humans begin to worship form rather than substance. Like the Israelites who had been granted their freedom by God, humans enslaved by Christ-less religion quickly return to golden calves for their security and safety, rather than rest in Christ.
Structure, standards and procedures of Christ-less religion often morph into concrete, dogmatic, unquestioned legalisms, and those legalisms then become the focus of faith. Captives of Christ-less religion define their relationship with God based on attendance in a specific building, saying the right prayers, performing the correct rituals and observing the right days, months and seasons (religion that Paul condemns as spiritual slavery in Galatians 4:9-10).
As Christ-followers, Jesus is our identity. When we embrace God’s grace, Jesus is the heart and core of our faith. On the other hand, the identity of prisoners and slaves of Christ-less religion is found and expressed in the golden calves of religion, which are cheap counterfeits – cheap trinkets – baloney, balderdash and double-talk.
Christ-less religion makes mountains out of molehills – Christless religion places a premium on ornamentation, appearances and baubles, so that, as Jesus said, the outside of the cup (either an individual, congregation or denomination) glistens and sparkles all the while greed and self-indulgence grows like untouched, leftover contents of a coffee cup (see Matthew 23:25). Christ-less Christianity appropriates the name of Jesus Christ and identifies itself more with the power of its hierarchy and its rules and regulations and less by the content of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Christ-less religion is all about form and appearance, rather than the substance and inner life of Jesus Christ.
Religio is attractive and it works because, as noted in our initial quotation from C.S. Lewis, “a familiar captivity is frequently more desirable than an unfamiliar freedom.” When the focus turns from Jesus toward religio – like that golden calf Aaron made for the nation of Israel, Christ-less religion makes its own golden calves to bind (religio) people under its institutional controls and authorities.
Many find themselves in bondage by religio – in captivity and addicted to the way they have always done something – always prayed, always studied the Bible, always “attended” a brick-and-mortar church and “always” performed cherished ceremonies and rituals. They are in bondage to wrong-headed notions of who God is and what he is like.
The following story illustrates how easy it is to assume God is in the hip pocket of a particular church or denomination.
A Pentecostal Christian was once invited by his friend to attend a staid Presbyterian church, where the services resembled a quiet library. The Pentecostal man was used to exuberant services at his church, which resembled an enthusiastic crowd at a basketball game. When the Presbyterian pastor made a particularly inspiring point in his sermon, the Pentecostal man yelled out “Praise the Lord!”
This passion troubled the solemn Presbyterian congregants. When the high-spirited visitor continued to voice his agreement with compelling statements made from the pulpit by yelling out “A-men” and “Hallelujah,” the Clerk of the Session (like a deacon in less severe and liturgical churches) came down the aisle and whispered to him, “You have to keep quiet! The pastor is right in the middle of his sermon.”
The Pentecostal man responded, “Keep quiet? How can I do that? I’ve been given the Holy Spirit!”
The Clerk of the Session said, “Well, you didn’t get it in this church.”
Our identity as Christ-followers is not primarily because we are members of an earthly religious institution – our identity in and with Jesus is directly related to his incarnation. He is for us and with us – the Son of God, God of very God, of the same substance of the Father, crucified for us and raised from the dead for us. He and he alone is our faith, our peace and our rest.
Religion-less Christianity is all about faith alone, grace alone and Christ alone – ALL JESUS ALL THE TIME! Jesus Christ is the head of his universal body – all who believe him, trust him, live by his faith in and through the grace of God (whether members of an institutional church or not) are part of his body.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is a “thunderbolt from heaven” (to use one of Luther’s phrases) against all religious programs, prohibitions, priests, propaganda, prescriptions, procedures and performances (ran out of “p” words – feel free to suggest others!). Grace and peace are given to us by the grace of God, a grace which itself invests us with divine faith, that we might trust and be assured of our relationship with God, against all religious attempts to dislodge or disorient us. The good news is that God has come to be one of us, with us, and he has done for us what we can never do for ourselves. The good news is that the righteousness of Jesus has been given and applied to us by the grace of God, who has qualified and rescued us and brought us “into the kingdom of the Son he loves” (Colossians 1:12-13).
If every church building on earth were destroyed, if every Bible were confiscated, if no professional ministry or priesthood were able to officiate at baptisms, catechisms, weddings and funerals, if no pastors or priests could deliver sermons – Jesus would still be here.
The kingdom of heaven exists, grows and thrives because of the King of the kingdom. Even if all that we visibly associate as being “the church” suddenly ceased to exist, the universal, invisible body of Christ would still be alive and growing on planet earth.
As Christ-followers our responsibility is to point toward the cross of Christ. Our job is to help bulldoze all religious walls that divide and separate us from Jesus. Our job is to call big business religion into question and to accountability. Our job is to insist that always and forever Jesus is at center stage, in the spotlight, for Jesus alone is our foundation and our core. God does not live in temples made by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything (Acts 17:24-25). By God’s grace, we are centered in Jesus… in him we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28).
Your brother in him and because of him,
Greg Albrecht
Friend and Partner Letter from June 2017
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