Please read all the way through and read the Disclaimer as well!!!
Do you want to hear something profound that will shake your boots and make you want to throw stones at me? OK I will say it. "Jesus was the most RELIGIOUS Man of His days."
Make you mad yet. Jesus was Religious! Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes!! Tick you off yet. LOL Yes He was, you better believe it. There is PURE and IMPURE Religion, we too often are scared to even say the Word RELIGION anymore, but the truth is we are suppose to be religious, not like the religious leaders of Jesus days but like the Religious leader that Jesus was in His days on earth. Pure and undefiled.
James 1:27
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
27 Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained [a]by the world.
People quote this verse left and right and all they get out of it is that it is pure to visit the orphan and widow. Then they make a muck with it by pretending to genuinely care outwardly by their speech to others about the orphan and the widow in order to make others think they are pure. We see this all the time. Doesn't mean they are bad people just means that they have forgotten the last part of the verse indeed.
"...To keep oneself unstained by the world." The Contemporary English Version says, "...and not let this world make you evil." Wow, now that is profound. The Amplified says the word, "uncontaminated", as in contaminated with filth or poisonous material. So to be religious is or almost the opposite of what most in the Church perceive as religious. We see the religion of certain denominations and we say they are religious. Yes we are right about that too, but it is only the impure form of religion. The Pharisees were indeed the religious leaders of Jesus days but Jesus said to the multitude this statement.
Matthew 23:3-39
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
3 therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things and do not do them.
You see Hypocrisy was the Pharisees cup of tea. They were good at it. They were like coffins full of dry bones and they didn't even know it. They looked down upon the downcast of those days, such as the poor, leapers, the sick and the hurting. They wouldn't lift a hand for them instead they demanded everyone's attention as if they were the Greatest in the Kingdom. The exact reason why they wanted Jesus dead, cause the peoples eyes were enraptured with the glory that came with Christ. Their eyes were off the leaders and on the Majestic Ancient of Days, Jesus Christ. Jesus was stealing their show.
Our Lord said do all that they tell you to do, but don't do what they do. So what I am trying to say is that being religious isn't like being a Pharisee or about visiting the orphan and widow. Its about doing the commands of God. The Pharisees had mostly good doctrine they just didn't have revelation that comes from knowing Jesus and they didn't obey their own words either. Most people don't mind saying the word Pure and undefiled religion and then defining it as visiting the orphan and the widow, but that is not the definition, instead that is just two examples of a huge list of things that are pure.
Galatians 5:16-18
New King James Version (NKJV)
Walking in the Spirit
16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
So here is the deal. If you Walk in the Spirit you will not fulfill the Lust of the flesh. You will not be spotted by the world. You will not be contaminated or stained by the world. You would not let this world make you evil. So being led by, or to Walk by the Spirit as Galatians put it, is the answer to being Pure and Religious. Yes there it is again, being religious, I said it again. Most people want to be led by the Spirit all the time, they want to learn to walk in the Spirit, they WANT to BE RELIGIOUS! They want to be religious they just don't know it yet. They don't know that being religious is what Paul strives for when he says, "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me." Our goal is to be Pure Religious Zealots. Zealous about Jesus and about the Kingdom of God. You don't do this on your own, but you have to have fellowship with God, with His Spirit in order to be one that is led by His Spirit. It is almost like learning to swim and your instructor is the Spirit of the Living God, except His Spirit will never leave you nor forsake you, unlike an instructor that is there solely to train you.
Next time you are about to say this statement, "It's not about Religion, its about Relationship" I am sure you will understand that it is quite the oxymoron. It is one in the same. You can't have a relationship with the Lord without being religious. Having a relationship with the Lord is what makes you pure, it is what cleans you and makes you holy.
Bless you today and God's Grace be with you!
Rich Cohrs
Disclaimer:: Although I have written this blog, I only did it with the purpose of teaching Purity. The famous statement that says, "It's not about Religion but about Relationship" truly inspires people to do what is right and to have a relationship with the Lord. I do believe it is not statement that will stand through fire in itself but I will have to say the spirit of the statement couldn't be more true. The purpose of saying it is to get people's eyes off of doing the impure things and on to Jesus instead. The sole purpose of the statement, right in the heart of it, is indeed true. So saying that, I just wanted folks to have a bit more knowledge. There is no need to hunt all down that say the statement, they are only doing good, but there is no problem explaining to them that there is a PURE Religion also. LOL GBU all in Jesus Name
Make you mad yet. Jesus was Religious! Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes!! Tick you off yet. LOL Yes He was, you better believe it. There is PURE and IMPURE Religion, we too often are scared to even say the Word RELIGION anymore, but the truth is we are suppose to be religious, not like the religious leaders of Jesus days but like the Religious leader that Jesus was in His days on earth. Pure and undefiled.
James 1:27
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
27 Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained [a]by the world.
People quote this verse left and right and all they get out of it is that it is pure to visit the orphan and widow. Then they make a muck with it by pretending to genuinely care outwardly by their speech to others about the orphan and the widow in order to make others think they are pure. We see this all the time. Doesn't mean they are bad people just means that they have forgotten the last part of the verse indeed.
"...To keep oneself unstained by the world." The Contemporary English Version says, "...and not let this world make you evil." Wow, now that is profound. The Amplified says the word, "uncontaminated", as in contaminated with filth or poisonous material. So to be religious is or almost the opposite of what most in the Church perceive as religious. We see the religion of certain denominations and we say they are religious. Yes we are right about that too, but it is only the impure form of religion. The Pharisees were indeed the religious leaders of Jesus days but Jesus said to the multitude this statement.
Matthew 23:3-39
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
3 therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things and do not do them.
You see Hypocrisy was the Pharisees cup of tea. They were good at it. They were like coffins full of dry bones and they didn't even know it. They looked down upon the downcast of those days, such as the poor, leapers, the sick and the hurting. They wouldn't lift a hand for them instead they demanded everyone's attention as if they were the Greatest in the Kingdom. The exact reason why they wanted Jesus dead, cause the peoples eyes were enraptured with the glory that came with Christ. Their eyes were off the leaders and on the Majestic Ancient of Days, Jesus Christ. Jesus was stealing their show.
Galatians 5:16-18
New King James Version (NKJV)
Walking in the Spirit
16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
So here is the deal. If you Walk in the Spirit you will not fulfill the Lust of the flesh. You will not be spotted by the world. You will not be contaminated or stained by the world. You would not let this world make you evil. So being led by, or to Walk by the Spirit as Galatians put it, is the answer to being Pure and Religious. Yes there it is again, being religious, I said it again. Most people want to be led by the Spirit all the time, they want to learn to walk in the Spirit, they WANT to BE RELIGIOUS! They want to be religious they just don't know it yet. They don't know that being religious is what Paul strives for when he says, "Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me." Our goal is to be Pure Religious Zealots. Zealous about Jesus and about the Kingdom of God. You don't do this on your own, but you have to have fellowship with God, with His Spirit in order to be one that is led by His Spirit. It is almost like learning to swim and your instructor is the Spirit of the Living God, except His Spirit will never leave you nor forsake you, unlike an instructor that is there solely to train you.
Next time you are about to say this statement, "It's not about Religion, its about Relationship" I am sure you will understand that it is quite the oxymoron. It is one in the same. You can't have a relationship with the Lord without being religious. Having a relationship with the Lord is what makes you pure, it is what cleans you and makes you holy.
Bless you today and God's Grace be with you!
Rich Cohrs
Disclaimer:: Although I have written this blog, I only did it with the purpose of teaching Purity. The famous statement that says, "It's not about Religion but about Relationship" truly inspires people to do what is right and to have a relationship with the Lord. I do believe it is not statement that will stand through fire in itself but I will have to say the spirit of the statement couldn't be more true. The purpose of saying it is to get people's eyes off of doing the impure things and on to Jesus instead. The sole purpose of the statement, right in the heart of it, is indeed true. So saying that, I just wanted folks to have a bit more knowledge. There is no need to hunt all down that say the statement, they are only doing good, but there is no problem explaining to them that there is a PURE Religion also. LOL GBU all in Jesus Name
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