| The Yoke of Religion |
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In their book, Breaking the Missional Code, David Putman and Ed Stetzer write that “instead of biblical Christianity, spirituality appears to be the preferred ‘religion’ of North America … Both the media and academia have firmly embraced and clearly promote the idea that spirituality is good and religion is bad.” In this context, religion can be interpreted as organized religion or the “church.” Has the church driven people into this belief? Have our rules … or worse, preferences … made becoming a part of the church (or wanting to be a part of the church) too difficult.
This isn’t a recent phenomenon. In Luke 11:46, Jesus said to the religious leaders of his day, “And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them.” We even see the early Jerusalem church forcing its rules on the new Gentile believers in Acts 15. “Some men came down from Judea to Antioch and were teaching the brothers: ‘Unless you are circumcised, according the custom taught by Moses, you cannot be saved.” Where does that come from? Where did Jesus ever list the “rules” as a requirement to be saved? Paul and Barnabas went to confront the Jerusalem church leadership. We see the source of the issue in verse 5: “Some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, ‘The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses.’” While these Pharisees had become believers, they did not fully grasp the grace through faith in Christ. They were still "stuck" in their belief system of Judaism.
In their book, Putman and Stetzer add, “Breaking the code is the recognition that there are visible and invisible characteristics within a community that will make its people resistant to or responsive to the church and its gospel message … we all have to remember that it is not about me, it is not about you. It is about Jesus sending us to peoples to proclaim the gospel in a way that they can understand. Our churches often struggle because we put our preferences over our call – our preferences over our mission.”
Jesus addressed the “yoke” of the religious leaders in Matthew 11. Rabbis invited people to learn to keep the Torah. This was called taking the yoke of Torah or the yoke of the kingdom of heaven. Rabbi’s … would have a new interpretation or yoke. Torah teachers would teach the accepted interpretations or yoke of their community (From: That The World May Know Ministries). Disciples of a rabbi would commit to accepting the yoke of a specific rabbi learning, teaching, and living according to their specific theology, believe system, and rules. Jesus felt that this had become oppressive loading people down with burdens they could hardly carry. He said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Let’s recognize that Jesus introduced the truth of a “yoke” that was built on grace through faith and be careful not to allow our preferences to get in the way of others coming to life in Christ. |
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