Religion Getting in the Way

By William R. Cunningham
For Sunday March 2, 2008

Introduction

“…Nor stands in the way of sinners” (from Ps 1:1)

I remember in a bible study given by Pastor Blumentoe in my youth that we were asked to explain that statement.  We were given various answers, but we couldn’t come up with the one Pastor Blumentoe was thinking of.  We were interpreting it to mean being as the sinners or in the same way of life as the sinners.  Though that is how the scripture should be interpreted, it is not what Pastor Blumentoe wanted us to see.  She went on to say that “standing in the way of sinners” is to hinder them from coming to Christ, i.e., we are standing in their way and blocking them from seeing the truth.

I never forgot that lesson.  It was a kind of pun on words, but we got the point.  Sometimes we indeed stand in the way of sinners and even some Christians.  One main way that we may stand in the way of sinners is through religion.  There are many situations where our own bias, traditions, philosophies, and religion get in the way of the well being of others.  For example, there have been many occasions in church where people were more concerned about someone missing a church service or two than they were of why that person missed that Sunday or Sundays.  I have seen the pastor become concerned that someone wasn’t giving as much as they used to with regards to offering instead of wondering why the person wasn’t giving as much.

We should not allow religious beliefs to hinder the love that should be expressed for others.  We should be very much concerned for the well-being of others, namely to love one another.  However, many in an attempt to adhere to religious dogma have forsaken the love for one another.  Just consider some of the arguments that exist in churches today.  One group says you should tithe, speak in tongues, attend church regularly, and more.  What is really important is that we have a relationship with the Lord and not that we adhere to any particular religious standards.

We are going to look at just an example from the Bible.  We are going to investigate the dispute between an invalid who was healed and the Jews.  Our lesson will come from John 5:1-18.

The Man is Healed

John 5:1-8 records the healing of an invalid who was at the pool of Bethesda and who was in that condition for thirty eight years.

John 5:5-9 (NKJV) -- {5} Now a certain man was there who had an infirmity thirty-eight years. {6} When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he already had been in that condition a long time, He said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” {7} The sick man answered Him, “Sir, I have no man to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; but while I am coming, another steps down before me.” {8} Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” {9} And immediately the man was made well, took up his bed, and walked. And that day was the Sabbath.

Notice that Jesus saw the man lying at the pool and knew that he had the infirmity for 38 years.  He then asked the man something that I thought was quite strange.  He asked the man if he wanted to be made well.  In my mind the simple answer was yes.  However, the man went on to explain why he hadn’t been able to get into the water to be healed.  The bible declares that an angel would come down and stir the water and whoever was first to get in after that was healed of whatever he had.

John 5:4 (NKJV) -- {4} For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.

After the man gave his explanation to Jesus about why he couldn’t get into the water first, Jesus told him to get up, take his mat and walk.  The healing power was solely in the words of Jesus Christ here because there was no indication of faith from the man at all.  As a matter of fact, the man had faith in the pool to be healed, not Jesus.  Furthermore, he didn’t even know who it was that told him to walk as we will see shortly.

Healed on the Sabbath

Now things begin to get quite interesting.  Jesus had compassion on the man. Jesus healed him because of his own will and not because of anything that the man did.  Now it just so happened that Jesus did all of this on a Sabbath day.  This presented many problems for the Jews at that time—at least those who began to criticize Jesus.

The Jews observed more than the Mosaic Law.  They added burdensome and complicated traditions to the Mosaic Law.  Jesus was in opposition to such traditions throughout his ministry (e.g., see Matthew 15:6).  As a matter of fact, according to the Bible Knowledge Commentary the Jews’ traditions taught that if anyone carried anything from a public place to a private place on the Sabbath intentionally, he deserved death by stoning.  This meant that the man was in danger of losing his life because he picked up his mat and carried it on the Sabbath.

John 5:10 (NKJV) -- {10} The Jews therefore said to him who was cured, “It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your bed.”

Notice that the Jews were more concerned about their traditions than they were of the fact that the man was healed after 39 years of infirmity.  They were more concerned about their religion than the man’s well being.  This is the same thing that happens many times with professed Christians (religious folks).

The interesting thing is that the man didn’t know who it was that healed him.  It was later that Jesus found him in the temple and identified him as the one who healed the man.  This man went back to the Jews and reported to the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him.

John 5:15-16 (NKJV) -- {15} The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. {16} For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath.

John 5:17-18 (NKJV) -- {17} But Jesus answered them, “My Father has been working until now, and I have been working.” {18} Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.  

Notice the reason that the Jews began to persecute Jesus and why they sought to kill him—Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath (See also John 7:19, 25).  Forget about the fact that the man was healed of an infirmity.  The Jews put their tradition over the will of God.  Jesus had mercy on the man and the Jews weren’t concerned about that at all.  They were only concerned about their traditions that Jesus broke.

• Cure of a blind man on the Sabbath (John 9)
• The grain-picking (Mark 2:23-28)
• The healing of the shriveled hand (Mark 3:1-5)
• Curing a woman who had been crippled for 18 years (Luke 13:10-17)
• Healing a man with dropsy (Luke 14:1-6)

It is evident that Jesus’ philosophy/theology about the Sabbath was much different than that of the religious leaders of his day.  They were more concerned about adhering to a set of religious rituals and laws whereas Jesus was more concerned with the people directly.  He at one point said that the Sabbath was made for man not man for the Sabbath (Mark 2:27).

Even to this day people argue about rules pertaining to the Sabbath.  People are taught that they are to go to church on the Sabbath and that they should be willing to spend all day at church services.  However, that is not the purpose of the Sabbath day.  The bible states that God rested from the Sabbath.  He rested from the things he was doing during creation.  He in no way stopped working because if he did that then I would imagine everything would cease to exist.  It is not possible to stop working since we will always have something to do.  Whether we cook or warm our food, clean something, or do something around the house.  We will always do something even on the Sabbath.   Therefore, it is unreasonable to develop elaborate rules about the Sabbath.  God apparently did not intend for it to be that way if we looked at Jesus’ treatment of it.  Remember that Jesus is the revelation of God to us.  So we can learn the purpose of God about something by examining what Jesus revealed about it, in this case the Sabbath.

In any case, we find that the Jews were not really concerned about the man.  They were only concerned about their religion and that everyone adhered to it.  How many times have you been part of a church that didn’t seem to care about you at all?  As long as you had something to offer and was offering it then things went well.  However, if something happens that in any way caused you to go against the grain so to speak, then you were criticized.  There were many occasions when I was reprimanded because I did something that was not consistent with what the religious group demanded.

Religion over Love

I recall a church that my wife and I belonged to many over ten years ago.  We both worked very hard in that church.  My wife was head of the children’s ministry and I was the church administrator.  I also played keyboards for the praise and worship team and I taught.  In addition to all of that we had a full time job and worked a commercial cleaning business on the side.  We worked very long hours and it became evident that the church leaders didn’t care about us.  We started to withdraw from church activities because for the most part we were just tired.  We were sick all of the time and we hardly spent quality or leisure time together.  In the end we realized that there was never anyone reaching out to us to see how we were doing.  We were reprimanded if we did not do what we were expected to do.  My job treats me much better than the church.

I have witnessed many situations where church leaders demonstrated more concern for their religion than they did for the well being of the people.  As long as people paid their tithes (or didn’t object to it), attended church, and did whatever the pastor said then all was well.  However, anyone stepping outside of that dogmatic environment was in trouble.  This really demonstrates the power of religious oppression because most of the people that have to endure persecution for opposing the religious dogma of a church organization are volunteers.  That is the real strange thing.  These people could simply walk away and find someplace that isn’t oppressive.  However, they are brainwashed to believe in their oppression.  People are so conditioned that they believe the lies that they are told from ministers and the like.

We saw in our lesson that the Jews were more concerned about their religions and who followed it than they were about the people.  We should be concerned about each other.  God loves us so we should love each other.  The love that we have for each other should be evident in deeds and not just words.  We should not allow religion to hinder care for others.

Conclusion

Many times religion gets in the way of true ministry.  We allow our religious beliefs and tradition to affect our interaction with others.  People get hurt in churches because of traditions that mean nothing with regards to Christianity.  For example, women are ridiculed or forbidden to enter sanctuaries because she is wearing pants.  We take our traditions and worship them and preach them instead of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We need to ensure that we are not a hindrance to those seeking the truth and that we are not allowing our religious beliefs to come before the true ministry of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  We also should be sensitive to those who have been hurt by such things and do “damage control.”  We should comfort the hurting people and minister the truth to them so that they would be free of the religious dogma that has hurt them.  Let’s stop religion from getting in the way of truth.