Episode 7: The Religious Spirit
I know many would not have heard this terminology before, so I will unpack it. But any believer who decides to go deeper in their faith will inevitably face this belief system because it absolutely permeates throughout the body of Christ. So much so that people look at what it produces and mistakenly believe it’s Jesus, when all it really is a deception.
So what exactly is a religious spirit?
It is a spirit that deceives believers into minimising a loving relationship with God and instead focuses on tradition, rituals, acts and works in the expression of faith. Now I don’t actually know for sure if it is a spirit or a demonic force for instance. It could be a mindset, a belief system or even a culture. But its main goal is to reduce the Christian faith to a set of behaviours, void of love. Now it is true that when believers are seeking God they will produce certain behaviours that are reflective of the love and worship that is in their heart. But this spirit prioritises the behaviours above all else, and very rarely is it motivated by goodness. It can be motivated by self-righteousness, pride, status and even power. The way you can discern its presence is that the traditions and behaviours will become of greater importance than opportunities to truly love people. It will conflict with love. The very quality for which we are meant to be known.
We can see evidence of this conflict in Matthew 15 where the Pharisees are asking Jesus why His disciples ignore the traditions as passed on by their ancestors of washing their hands before they eat. Now, this was not done for cleanliness, but for ceremonial purification. Rabbi’s around that time referred to the failure to wash hands as the equivalent of laying with a prostitute in terms of its defilement level. It was an intense rule, and it assumed that any contact made with the outside world could defile the person...and therefore they had to wash to purify themselves.
So check out Jesus’ response to their question about the disciples not washing for a ceremonial cleansing in verse 2-9:
“And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,” he need not honour his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:
“‘This people honours me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’”
That last statement is a doozy. These rules that they had devised, were taught as though they were doctrine...and yet they were man-made. And this is the crux of the religious spirit, it deceives believers into thinking that God required something of them that was merely a social or man-made rule.
If you are hearing all of this for the first time, it might be hard to reconcile that this kind of deception could exist in the body of Christ, but we are warned about this in scripture.
2 Corinthians 11:13-14, says:
“For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light.”
Then there is Matthew 7:15-20
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits.”
These two verses point to the fact that there will be people who look like they love God, and will encourage others to live their way, but whether they realise it or not, their intentions are not honest nor do they reflect God’s heart. Now the fact is these false prophets and the like can obviously deceive you into anything. But the religious spirit has a very specific goal. Its goal is to draw you away from a life that seeks to love God and other people, and lives by the spirit...and lead you back to work for your salvation. Even though you’ve been saved!
So why would a works-based faith as in those observable righteous behaviours be the goal? Why would that be a deception? Wouldn’t a deception that leads to sin be far worse?
The underlying assumption of a person or community with a religious mindset is that they believe that works or activities are needed in order to be acceptable to God, and for this reason it is often searching out more rules and rituals to add to the list. It reasons that if we do good works, God will accept us. If we sacrifice, God blesses us. But this is not the order of the Christian faith. The order of the Christian faith is God sacrifices, God loves and accepts, we receive His invitation to a new life. God does want us to do good things, but never to earn our salvation. He wants us to do good works because of love and worship, that is an overflow of the relationship we share with Him. Good works aren’t the primary goal, the primary goal is the relationship...and by default when your love for God grows, you will want to serve and love. It says this in 1 John 4:17 -
“And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect.”
But when we pursue works and those behaviours above all else, even above a relationship with God it is often more for ourselves than it is for God. And if we are successful at adhering to these rules, it can very soon morph into a self-centred desire to show our ‘goodness’ to others, as Jesus demonstrates in Matthew 6.
In Matthew 6, Jesus talks about giving to the needy, prayer and fasting. He encourages His followers to do all of these things in secret, in contrast to the hypocrites at the synagogues who were doing so to receive status and praise. Because when you do something in secret, it’s the only way you can be absolutely sure that you aren’t doing it for any personal gain.
It is part of this tendency we have toward self-centeredness that even something that originally starts for good, can turn into an act we perform for our self-image. There are literally thousands of people every day who give to the poor, and their motive is to feel like a good person. Not because they actually care about the poor! Fundraisers know that, and will often appeal to the part of you that wants to feel like a ‘good’ person. This is why Jeremiah's statement in chapter 17:9 is so profound:
“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?”
We are often convincing ourselves that we are good when we are being totally selfish. Without a relationship with God, we really can’t be sure that the things we do are doing are motivated by selfishness versus a product of love and kindness.
Interestingly, we see the first instance of rule making all the way back in the Garden of Eden. God has advised Adam that he can eat the fruit of any tree in the garden, besides the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. However, when the serpent asks Eve, she responds by saying that not only can they not eat from the tree, but they can’t touch the tree. She’s actually added to God’s instruction. Now there is much speculation as to why Eve responded this way, by including this additional rule. And the truth is, we may never really know the answer to that question. But what we do know, is that sin had not entered human existence. So it couldn’t have been done out of some sinful desire. It probably was out of a desire to be faithful.
It wasn’t necessarily wrong for her to have thought “well it might be best to just stay away from the tree altogether”. In fact, we would often call it wisdom. When I’m trying to be healthy and reduce how much chocolate I usually eat, I just don’t buy it. I make sure our house is chocolate-free so that it removes the temptation. Now, I know it’s slight, but her relaying of God's instruction was not accurate. She claimed that God said something, that He never did.
Fast forward a couple of hundreds and thousand years, and the Pharisees had not taken one rule and added another like Eve...but they added hundreds to the law of Moses. Many of these laws were concentrated on external rituals and behaviours, to be holy. But most of them had never been prescribed by God.
Fast forward again, post-crucifixion and the same issue is rearing its ugly head. Instead, the matters for much debate were abstaining from certain foods and circumcision.
Why is this so bad? There are so many negatives to this mindset of religiosity. But worst of all, is how it convinces people that this is what God wants. In the Old Testament, the Israelites began to believe that God's highest priority was the sacrificial system, and not what the system was created to achieve. In Isaiah God makes these very direct remarks:
“The multitude of your sacrifices - what are they to me?” says the Lord. I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals. I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats.
Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations - I cannot bear your worthless assemblies.” (Isaiah 1:11 and verse 13)
God is explaining that the sacrifices did not bring Him any pleasure. The people of God had again misunderstood the purpose of the system. Yes, there was atonement required for their sins. But this was so that God could continue to be present and walk with His people. It was supposed to encourage them to live righteously. It was intended so that sin would not prevent communion with Him.
Instead, they had turned it into a ritual that did little to honour God's presence with His people. And what is the point of a ritual that holds no significance for the individual? That’s what we would term obligation. And we generally do obligatory acts for 1 reason: self-preservation. An obligation is rarely founded on love, desire or worship.
The interesting irony is that when we add rules, often intended for good, they increase the distance between God and us. Because whilst it seems like wisdom at the time, rule-keeping, and traditions can become a substitute for a real relationship.
For some having real intimacy can be scary. Especially intimacy with God. To be completely vulnerable about every fear, sin or bad intention you have had, to a God who is perfect and powerful...can be intimidating. Especially if we don’t believe we are worthy of being loved. Keeping rules is actually much easier for the person afraid of intimacy. It is very possible to perform righteous acts, without ever putting your heart in a vulnerable position.
On the flip side, for those who are willing to be vulnerable with God but struggle with keeping the rules, we can interpret God as an authority figure that is making it hard to approach Him. Look at the case of Eve. Instead of an entire garden filled with luscious fruit, including the fruit from the tree of life, that she was free to eat from. She saw 1 tree and 2 rules. It should have been 1 tree and 1 rule. That’s a 50% increase in rules. Now I don’t know if that factored into her decision, but imagine if she had chosen wisely. Would she eventually have made up other rules too? You can’t go near the tree. Don’t even look at it. That whole section of the garden is off-limits. Now you can’t eat any of the trees that are near that tree. Also, you can’t say its name. I could go on. Where is the line for us? And at what point did we just turn God into a creator who cares little for His creation and only seeks to disqualify us?
There is a very interesting passage in Exodus 20. God is about to reveal Himself to His people. The most epic of all epic reveals. The people that He has chosen, that He has rescued, that He wants to walk faithfully with, are about to meet Him. The whole scene is very special. Let’s take a look. It says:
“When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke. They trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, “Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die.”
Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. God has come to test you so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning”.
Of course, such a scene would be frightening. But how much could the Israelite people have misinterpreted this situation? Why would they think He brought them all the way from Egypt out into the desert to kill them?
This was the mother of all encounters, and the Israelite people’s response was...distance. This was not at all the kind of relationship they wanted with God. They were still trying to keep with the Joneses, watching all the other nations who also had their own sacrificial systems. They didn’t want a relationship, that would have been too vulnerable. Just tell us what to do, that was their mantra. Imagine that mantra in a marriage. I don’t want to know you, just tell me the bare minimum I have to do to keep you. I don’t see that marriage lasting, do you? Moses was right, having seen God in this way would have changed so much for them. The commandments would have made more sense. The relationship between God and His people was the context from which obedience would flow. See time and again, God continues throughout the narrative of scripture to draw us back to this truth: To have our hearts in devotion, is his greatest priority.
Why is this such a significant problem? Why do we have this tendency to revert to law instead of relationship? In Colossians 2:23 Paul says:
“Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules: “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.”
This passage demonstrates something so fascinating. Paul considers this habit of accumulating rules, a worldly behaviour. What? Most of us would call this religious behaviour. But He is essentially saying that what we would deem a religious behaviour, rule-keeping...is in fact worldly. What in the world is Paul talking about? When I hang out with non-Christians they don’t seem conscious of pious behaviour? They don’t tell me not to taste or not to touch? So where did Paul get this idea?
The idea that the power is in our hands to be good, as we define good, is a worldly idea. Even if it is in a religious context. In principle, it is no different to the person who rejects God because they believe they are good enough without Him. It is no different to the creation of every other religion that outlines the key ways to find God or enlightenment. It is this subtle deception, because we may have received God's grace...but it still encourages us to want to earn our standing.
Okay so here are a few of the kinds of behaviours typically seen in a religiously minded or spirited person:
1.They are very preoccupied with image.
Not just for themselves personally, but how their families are presented, how their church is perceived. It’s all about maintaining the air of superiority.
Jesus expresses this in Matthew 23:27-28 when addressing the Pharisees:
“What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity. Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness.
It makes sense right? Because all of their efforts are going toward external observable behaviours.
2. They are not compassionate.
In fact, they can be harsh and judgemental. They can’t tolerate failure or struggle in other people.
3. UNINTERESTED in a relationship.
They may want to teach you, advise you, correct you, mould you, change you, enlist you and judge you...but they don’t want to know you. Because when you have deemed yourself superior, you don’t want to fraternise with those below you. You need that gap, you need that distance. Because that’s what keeps you above them.
4. They are punishment focused.
This is probably one of the most significant traits. They see the world through a punishment paradigm. This means that when someone makes a mistake or sins, they will think that the answer to that problem is punishment. That punishment resolves every unwanted behaviour. They have a tendency to view their own world through the lens of punishment. When their plans didn’t come to pass, they might assume that God is punishing them. Because they assume God has a punishment paradigm just like them.
5. They are controlling and hierarchical.
Most of this is due to pride's contribution. Pride tends to control and be power-driven. Because the person who is proud actually believes that everyone else should surrender to their will. They actually believe that everyone should please them. Because of that, it has no problem controlling others to get what they want. And they are hierarchical because they interpret power as the key ingredient to getting everyone else to do as they desire.
6. They cheapen the truly sacred.
In one of the dreams I had, I was in a church and the minister who was dressed in some kind of ministerial robes was leading the congregation to take communion. Instead of bread, representing the body of Jesus, He ate a McDonalds sausage and egg McMuffin. Now I’m sure it sounds quite humorous, but I knew what this image was really portraying. God was showing me how the religious person or leader, in this case, can cheapen the gospel message. Someone who already believes they are righteous, that they can earn their standing, and that faith is a set of observably righteous behaviours cheapens the sacrifice Jesus made.
7. They fear the outside world
Which you might have noticed in the example of washing the hands. They are wary of non-believers, and they see any outside force that could upset their delicate environment as a threat. Christians who were initially worried about the internet, or leaders who don’t allow their people to visit other churches or other denominational gatherings…all represent a fear of the outside world.
You might have thought that these behaviours just sound like someone who is self-righteous. And you would be right! Self-righteousness is essentially the same thing. A self-righteous person believes they are holy, but in actuality they are prideful. Because they believe that they have arrived at some height of spirituality and they have deemed themselves righteous and by default, they act superior.
This podcast is all about trying to go deeper into our faith, and address this sense that something is missing. Well if you have been on a hamster wheel, trying to be a righteous person, and you are tired and empty...it could be because you too have assumed that this man-made righteousness is the crux of faith. It could be that like so many others, your faith is not in Jesus...but in your works. And you can be assured that this would validate why you feel hungry still, even though it feels like you are doing everything for God.
So let's just think about this a little bit deeper.
There are a lot of people out there that really hate God. But sadly, it’s not the God that we see in Jesus that they have rejected. They were simply rejecting the image of God that is created when its believers have endorsed and worshipped a religious spirit. In Luke 15:1, there is this staggering verse that we probably glaze over. It says:
“Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus.”
The most hated and rejected people in the society of that day were intrigued by Jesus. These were people who would have endured mockery and exclusion, just to get to Jesus. They wanted to hear what He had to say. If you’ve ever been a church leader you have probably sat around a table trying to work out how we could engage people who don’t know Jesus. But Jesus wasn’t trying to gather them, they were coming of their own accord. What accounts for this? Imagine if all the people who hated church were to just show up one day, intrigued. What would have changed for them? What would be happening for them to leave behind years of history and presumptions about church and God?
Jesus attracted them because He was doing something that the Pharisees and the Sadducees couldn’t and wouldn’t do:
He made God accessible
Whilst the religious leaders of that day were trying to work out more and more hoops for people to jump through to be righteous, Jesus came to help us find God. The righteousness levels of the people He walked with, were not His concern. He wanted to show them what God was like. What He is like. The Pharisaical community still believed that God was this one-dimensional God of thunder and lightning and the power to destroy, and therefore He was one to be afraid of. They elevated His holiness to such a degree that it diminished His personability. The fact is Jesus is still trying to make God accessible to us today. He has given every believer the Holy Spirit so that we can go out into the world and testify His goodness.
So anything that encourages you to jump through hoops, to approach God...is probably not Jesus. Anything that suggests that some, including you, should be held at arm's length because of their sin, is probably not Jesus. Because if the Jesus that you seek extends favour to the good, you have the wrong impressions of Jesus. Jesus extended kindness to everyone, the sinner, the tax collector, the rich, the poor, children, Roman, Samaritan, and Jew. He was not stopping anyone from coming to Him. Everyone had an equal chance of meeting Him. What might be missing about your impressions of Jesus if you think faith is for the Holy?
In the first chapter of Job, there is a scene in which Satan and God discuss the righteousness of Job. God praises Job in front of Satan, to which Satan alleges that Job is only good because God has given him a good life. Satan basically incites God to prove Jobs righteousness, by allowing Him to endure unfavourable life circumstances. Even though Satan kills off his entire family, Job still remains righteous.
There was a time, because of Satan, that we had to PROVE our righteousness. He held the power of death in His hand, and the only way we were redeemed was if we could prove that we were good as God defined. Otherwise, Satan could claim the same consequence to us that was given to Him. But then Jesus comes along, and we are given His righteousness as our defence. When our faith is reduced to rules, ones that God never asked us to have, it is as though we remain in the seat of slander. We are basically allowing the accuser to continue accusing us. We are mistakenly continuing to demonstrate and prove our innocence. Have you ever had someone ask you to prove yourself when you know you don’t have to? Well following the precepts of a religious spirit, means that you still think you need to answer Satans request for proof.
So why are we still trying to prove ourselves?
And who benefits from this proof?
Because God doesn’t benefit from it. You don’t benefit from it. So who benefits?
And another thing why is Jesus’ righteousness not satisfactory for us? Is that not what we are saying when our priority is proving through behaviour that we are righteous? God isn’t asking us to demonstrate our righteousness, He already knows that we can’t achieve the level of righteousness that He has. And he has thousands of years of history as evidence of that.
Jesus’ righteousness is our final and conclusive defence against this burden of proof.
You might have been told that God hates sin. And yes he doesn’t like sin, because of the cyclical trap that it entices us into. But that does not mean he is disgusted or repulsed by you, and that you need to perform righteous acts to regain His approval. God declaring you righteous through Jesus is not dependent on whether you feel righteous.
No God doesn’t ask us to prove anything, He asks us to REMAIN. John 15 says “remain in His love”. Remain in the vine. When Christ is the vine and we are the branches, as long as we stay grafted in, He is the source of all goodness that comes out of us. Don’t be distracted by how you feel, and how everybody else is doing. Stay in a relationship with Him. It says that He will trim and prune you to make you even more fruitful. If you remain in Him and remain in his love.