Thoughts By Mike Di Maria

This letter was sent to me from one of our sisters in the fellowship. Thought it was a good follow up on the message Sunday.

Mike,
I had already been thinking along this vein last week. It's
interesting that your sermon yesterday was about religion.
This thought had been going through my mind:

If, hundreds of years from now, someone read an account of the 21^st
century Church (in America specifically), like that in Acts about the
1^st century Church, what would the account say?
Would we, like the people in Acts, be in harmony with one another?

Would they say of us that we shared all things in common and gave up
possessions, time and energy to care for one another?
Would we be praised for being devoted to teaching and true doctrine?
Would it be known that we met DAILY together for prayer and fellowship?
Would the evidence of our faith be miracles, healing and many souls
added to the Church daily?
Would they proclaim that we turned the world up-side-down?
OR,
Would we sound a bit more like those described in 2 Timothy 3?
Would we be proclaimed as selfish, greedy, disobedient, divisive,
wormy and lovers of money and selves?
Or, worse yet, would be described like the churches of Revelation 2 & 3?
Would we be known for leaving our first love, the Lord Jesus Christ?
Would they say we held to superstitions, idolatry and paganism?
Would it be true of us that we tolerated sin and sexual immorality in
our midst?
Would we look alive, but in truth be dead and worthless? Would our
work be known as /incomplete/?
Would we be known as the church God vomited out of his mouth because
we were neither hot nor cold, but Luke-warm?

What will be written about us? What will we be remembered for?
How do we want to be remembered?
Do we want those yet to come to say we were religious or that we were
*righteous*?
I've wanted to share this poem with you for awhile now. I wrote it
about 2 years ago.

So, here it is, finally.

In Our Image

Conjured up from our own devices,
We sat him in the second pew
Of First or United something church
In the anyplace town we chose.
Told him to behave,
Just sit and wait for our visit
On Sundays -
Maybe Wednesday nights-
Surely at Christmas and Easter
Because Mother would insist.
Temper-tantrum prayers we end,
"Don't call us; we'll call you."
Every intention demanding our
Demands should be met - and pronto!

Name it; claim it!
Blab it; grab it!
Childish, the mantra conjures him
More or less to our will.
This convenient religion so
Easily stomached when served
With chicken soup recipes
From the Book
Turned most appealing by
Our lack of conviction,
Becomes a tickling of the ears,
Willingly compromised,
Socially acceptable,
Politically correct.
Pretended that idol,
Our imagined god, could
Hear us, see us, touch us.
Conjured up from our own devices,
A something - a tool,
Creation of our selfishness,
We imprisoned him in
Pretty stained-glass packages.
Yet, we question (stupid us!),
"Why is the world still going straight to hell?"
All the while insisting
- Our only true conviction -
In the worship of a god,
Created in our own warped image.
March 2006

What is religion? Religion is of the flesh.
It is man's foolish attempt to make himself good enough for God, or
worse, an equal with God.

Are we religious? Well, the Buddhist is religious. The Hindu is
religious. Muslims are among the most devoutly religious group in the
world.

Pagans and animists are religious. Wiccans and scientologists are
religious! Mormonism has exploded into a world-wide "religious"
movement, stemming from a despised cult 100 years ago.

All practices of something or someone supernatural is qualified as
"religion."

So, do you want religion? Do you want the works of the flesh?

Personally, I feel that religion does not come from God. It is of
man's flesh; it is from the pit of the enemy.

Religion, in and of itself, denotes ritual, standards and rules
instituted by men, not by God. (Check out the Pharisees and Sadducee's
of Jesus' day.)

It is man's way of making himself feel better, of making himself good
enough, of making himself less guilty of his known state, the state of
sin.

Man inherently knows, deep in his gut that he is sinful and separated
from God.

Religion, whether it is the religion of Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam,
Scientology, or Christianity, or whatever, is merely man's way of
trying to ease his own conscience.

He wants to feel better about what he is, so he institutes a set of
beliefs, rituals, etc. and becomes very religious.

In this way, he looks good to other men, and in turn, must look good
to God. How untrue! How deceptive! How fleshly!!!

Religion creates rules, but God clothes us with righteousness.
Religion forces the will of men on others, Christ came to set us free.
Religion causes division, but Christ came to break down the dividing
wall of hostility.
Religion puffs up the flesh, but Holy God leads us to repentance.
So, do we want religion? Do we want people who come after us to say
that we were very religious?
Do we want to be a people who have a form of godliness, but deny its
true power? (2 Tim 3:5)
As for me, I choose righteousness over religion!
I want religion to die in myself and in my local fellowship.
Amen. Let Jesus and His justice and righteousness and holiness reign!
Okay, I'm done preaching now.

Shalom, dear brother,