In Acts 15, the early church was experiencing division from both Jews and Gentiles. Both groups were being challenged to step out of their familiar culture and change to meet together and build something new.

The Jews were being asked to come out of their past “religious culture” and relinquish their demands and expectations on others to follow the Law and be circumcised. The Gentiles were being asked to come out of their past “religious culture” that included sacrifices to idols and sexual indulgence as part of idol worship.

The new believers were spared from RELIGION, without being given LICENSE to do whatever they desired. Both of these exist within the “church” today, and and to function in community we must not let our pendulum swing into either LICENSE or RELIGIOSITY.

Why Religion Doesn’t Work

When I say “religion” or “religious” or “religiosity”, I mean when I become concerned with appearance more than substance, and I carry the heavy burden of performing FOR God, and earning favor and forgiveness FROM God.

When we add anything to the COMPLETED WORK of Jesus, we remove the offensive nature of grace and forgiveness…

What I mean by that is this: Nothing offended the religious rulers of Jesus’ day like him giving away for free what they had controlled for centuries…and NOTHING frustrates Paul like people who know better placing hurdles in front of people coming to Jesus (Matthew 10:8 – “Freely you have received; freely give…”).

• In Acts 15, Notice how QUICKLY people showed up to impose external performance and restrictions ON believers…

Have you experienced this ULTIMATE BAIT AND SWITCH?

We come to Jesus powerfully and in our freedom, and then? RULES!  

• Gal. 3:3 – “How foolish can you be? After starting your Christian lives in the Spirit, why are you now trying to become perfect by your own human effort?”
• Gal. 5:1 – “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” (Gal. 5:2… “Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all…”

The Lie of Religion

1. Misrepresents God – What else can be said? He is a good Father, in a good mood. 

2. Allows me to emphasize outward behaviour over my internal condition – Rules and laws above relationship and intimacy.

3. (which) Allows me to judge others – If people don’t measure up to my standard of behavior, I can categorize them, label them, and dismiss them…or, withhold love/affection/friendship until they change.

4. (And) Invites fear into my relationship with God and others – Fear of change. Fear of anything that might undermine or deconstruct my religious systems (if this, then this…), and more devastating, I walk around under the fear of disappointing God. There is no joy and victory present in me, and that leaks out onto others…

How? If we lack the sense of freedom that should come from Jesus making us entirely new, entirely whole, and entirely released from our own inability to earn His attention, favor or LOVE – we MAY resent others who have grabbed onto that way of life – and when that happens, we inflict them with the same SHAME INDUCING DOCTRINE that has INFECTED US. 

Overcoming Religion

1. Confront it DIRECTLY (v. 2) – Paul – “sharp dispute” – He wasn’t having it and pushed back immediately.

2. Convict us SPECIFICALLY (v.24-29) – When we adopt a ‘religious’ attitude, we will only see sin, faults, and wrong behaviors in people, but IT DOESN’T SEE PEOPLE’S SPECIFIC STORIES or lives like Paul saw them.

PAUL IN JERUSALEM – ”why are you imposing restrictions that have nothing to do with them? If you knew them, you’d know that the real danger lies in their previous religious example of sacrificing meat to idols, drinking blood, and using sex as a part of their worship experience.” 

When you are known, the ‘RESTRICTIONS” God puts on you aren’t just “perform this way” – rather they see to the heart of your life and where you are stuck or hurting, and speak WISDOM right to that area. 

Religion doesn’t care about you, it only cares about APPEARANCE – But God’s Spirit knows you – and coming to Jesus doesn’t mean you get to do whatever you want, it means that He will CONVICT you of the things in your life that need to change that are HINDERING and HURTING you, and others around you, in a way that is PERSONAL and POWERFUL to see change take place. 

The Church is God’s mandated agency for world transformation…but too often we have laid a heavy religious burden on people rather than teaching them to live “fully alive” in Jesus (John 10:10) – (which includes CONVICTION and changed LIVES…IN HIM).

Think about how Jesus discipled – “Come, follow me” and people left their familiar lives behind and followed Him – then he lived life with his disciples for the next 3 years. He taught, he demonstrated, he challenged/rebuked, and he never threw them away for mistakes, missteps and dumb questions. When they didn’t get it, he had massive patience. 

Now think about how we disciple – Someone says, “I want to follow Jesus” – awesome. 

But, what’s our response? “Here, read this. Memorize this. Come to this class. Don’t do this, don’t do that…Here’s the handbook we wrote.” (If your discipleship journey involved more classes than community, I’m sorry. Paul said it like this “imitate me as I imitate Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1), or said another way, “follow me as I follow Jesus”. 

Some of us are here because we have been discipled by Jesus followers and you didn’t even realize it! But they followed Jesus, and you couldn’t help but follow them. They were doing it right, and you saw and sensed the life of Jesus in them, and they didn’t have to try to convince you or convict you. They swept you up in their relationship with Jesus. We need more people who disciple people INTO relationship with Jesus, rather than turning it into a behavior modification program for people AFTER they decide to follow Jesus.

A Community of Transformation

Living Waters is a Religious Detox Center. We say “This is a community where those who have been overly churched, disengaged, disenfranchised, or deeply wounded (by “organized religion or church/church leaders) – can heal, have hope and joy restored, and return their yes to Jesus – in an environment free from performance, judgment, coercion, comparison, or competition. 

We are not irreligious, or immature in our faith. We are safe, intentional, and zealous followers of Jesus who choose not to control people, manipulate outcomes, or lift appearance over process. We are okay with messy, awkward, uncomfortable conversations, and creating space for people to learn to steward their freedom, be convicted by the Spirit and lean into emotional, spiritual, mental, and physical health.

It’s important to Kate and I that we don’t build our Living Waters community on what we aren’t or what we don’t do.  For example “we don’t want to be religious place” isn’t as powerful as “we want to show people how to follow Jesus apart from shame and performance…” You could hear us stand up here and rail about what we aren’t, and what’s wrong with everything “out there”, but if you never hear us express (and model) what we are building, run away. 

A community established on what you are against will inevitably grow apart. A community established on what we want to BUILD and BECOME will grow together!