Religion vs. Relationship: Sitting at the Feet of Jesus

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome And Winter Snap
• 3:31 Religion Defined Versus Relationship
• 5:27 New Birth And Knowing God
• 8:32 Fruit, Abiding, And Grace
• 11:57 Pitfalls Of Rule-Keeping Faith
• 14:17 Guardrails: Scripture And Community
• 16:32 Mary And Martha Revisited
• 20:12 Choosing Jesus Over Expectations
• 22:17 A Call To Seek And Listen

Transcript

Audrey: 1:12

Hello friends. Welcome back to Grace for My Home. I'm Audrey McCracken and I am so blessed to be back with you again this week. I hope that you're doing well. We are doing great. It has turned cold here in coastal South Carolina. This week the temperature dropped 25 degrees from one day to the next, and it just it was a shock to the system. There was even reports of snow flurries not too far from our house. I didn't see I didn't see any personally. My kids told me that they saw some, but I was in bed by the time that happened. But that's just unheard of here to have snow in November. So it's it's forced me to go into my closet and dig out warm things to wear. So um so that's been interesting. Um at the coffee shop on that day that it turned so cold, we were extremely busy. I guess people were looking for something to um to warm them up. So we had a busy day that day, which was fun. We got to see people we had, we got to meet new people and see people we hadn't seen in a long time. This week I want to share with you on the topic of religion versus relationship and what that means to me, and hopefully give you some things to think about this week. I've often heard religion defined as man's way of getting towards God or man's way of reaching God, and I think that's a good way to define religion. But Jesus was God's way of getting to man. You know, religion, there's many different religions, there's many different ways that mankind tries to reach God and to get close to him. But God actually made a way for us to get close to him. But God made a way for us to get to close to him, and that way is through the cross, it's through Jesus. The safe thing about religion is religion answers all the questions. You know, every religion, every denomination has its own theology. It has its way of seeing the world and its way of seeing God and explaining how man gets to God. And they it's always tied up with a nice bow on top. You know, this is what we think, this is how we believe, and of course, everyone thinks theirs is the right way and the correct way, but really it has all of the answers, all of the questions answered, and that feels comfortable, you know, that feels safe. And there are a lot of answers. We have a lot of answers. God has given us a lot of answers, but there are always going to be questions, loose ends, that we as humans that we may never know, that God is not obligated to tell us, that we can't figure out because we are earthly, we are we are in these human bodies, and God is divine, he is spiritual. And we don't have to know all of the answers to have a relationship with God. And I believe that that's his desire for us, and I think that's when that's where we as people are truly satisfied when we are in relationship with Jesus and with God through Jesus. That is what satisfies the hunger in our in our souls. That is what we were created for, is to be children of God, and God made a way through Jesus. John 3.16 is the simple gospel. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life. So God's desire is for us to come to him through Jesus, and not just to come to him one time, but to be born again into the kingdom of God as a child of God to draw near to him. There is a mentality in a lot of denominations that when we get saved, that's it. You know, that's that's the pinnacle of our religious experience. But guys, that's just the beginning. You know, when you are born again, you're born into a new kingdom. You're born and have now become the person that God created you to be. You're this is what you were born for. And so that's just the beginning of life. When you were born again, you are a new creature in Christ, and your life is just starting. And that doesn't matter, it doesn't make any difference if you're five years old or if you're 85 years old. When you're born again, you just started living. And God desires a relationship with you, and a relationship is personal. A relationship is based on knowing each other, getting to know each other. It's there's personalities involved. You know, we have a personality and we come to God, and he is a person. We can know him, which is mind-blowing, right? He's not a person as in he has a he has flesh and blood like we do, but he is God in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. And he's knowable. We can know him. We can't know everything about him because, like I said before, we don't have the capacity. But he sent Jesus to come down on our level that we could know things about him. Jesus said, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father. And so Jesus reveals the nature of the Father, he shows us what God is like, and he draws near to us, he invites us to have a relationship with him. And that's what true Christianity is all about. It's not about a list of do's and don'ts. It's not about doing all the right things so that we can climb the ladder and finally reach heaven. It's not about that at all. It's about becoming a new creature in Christ. It's about believing the work that God's already done and receiving the gift of salvation that he gives those who believe. And that's the beginning of our walk with him, of our relationship with him. And we can get to know him. There's an old hymn that says it gets sweeter and sweeter as the day goes by. And that's because we get to know him more and more, and we get to find out that the riches in Christ are they're not they're inexhaustible. And to know him is to love him. So we were created not for religion, but for relationship. God greatly desires us to know him and to be in an intimate relationship with him. Now, I'm not against religion, I'm not against organized religion or denominations. I think that human nature needs some kind of a structure to put our belief in action. You know, I think that we need community and we need teaching and we need to learn and draw from each other. And I think that you know Jesus established the church himself. So I'm not definitely not against religion or denominations. But I do think, and this is my opinion, I do think that things tend to go south when we put our religion above our relationship with Christ. I think we all have to fight that battle and stay alert so that we stay in relationship with Jesus and we're not serving him through rules or regulations or through a religion that is dead. See, when we stop seeking him, when we start and just start practicing the traditions that have been handed down that are good traditions, then we can substitute the real presence of God in our lives for religion. Religion, it cannot satisfy us. We were made to know God, we were made to enjoy God and to serve Him and to hear His voice and to be in communication with Him. You know, Jesus said, I am the vine and you are the branches. Abide in me and let my words abide in you, and you will produce much fruit. God's presence will be obvious. You know, fruit is obvious. It's you can't hide fruit, you know, and and God's presence in our lives, flowing through our lives, automatically produces fruit. His life in us is evident to us and to other people. And it's his will for us to produce much fruit. And he even said, and he also said in that same passage, apart from me, you can do nothing. We can't produce godly fruit without God. If unless he is living in us, unless he is moving in us, unless his spirit is dwelling inside of us, then we cannot do the things that please God. Religion without relationship, it's it's dead. It leads to a lot of things that are not God's plan for us. One thing it can lead to, you know, if we're walking in religion instead of relationship and we're depending on our own ability to serve God and not his grace, then we have a tendency to become self-righteous during the seasons when we feel like we're getting it right. You know, if we're getting it right and we feel like we're knocking it out the park, then there's a part of us, our human nature, that is puffed up and feels like, look at me. And that is self-righteousness, and religion produces that. And then there are other times when we feel like we just can't get it right. You know, no matter how hard I try, I just can't get this right. I can't keep the rules, I can't do the things the right way, I keep I keep messing up, and that leads to condemnation. And the Bible says that there's therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. See, we can't take credit for the good things that we that we do, for the times when we get it right. And God, He covers us for the times when we get it wrong, because it's not about us and how good we are and how great we are, or even about how bad we are. It's about what Jesus did on the cross. That is the gospel. The good news is God did what we couldn't do because He desired relationship with us. So he made a way where there was no way. That is the good news, and it is good news because I couldn't do it, you couldn't do it, and he said, I will do it myself. I will send my own son, I will extend my own hand to save those who are lost. And God promises that if we will seek him, we will find him. If we will seek him with all of our heart. Am I going to seek Jesus? Am I going to seek him? Or am I going to rest on the traditions that may be trying to replace, that I may be leaning on, that are replacing my relationship with Jesus. Now, for some of you, that may sound scary that I would even say that, you know, that I would even go there and say such things. It may feel like I'm just saying, throw caution to the wind, you know, do what feels right. I'm not saying that at all. He's given us guardrails. You know, God has given us guardrails for safety because he cares about us. He doesn't want us to fall in a pit. He doesn't want us to go off on a tangent. He doesn't want us to be in deception. He's given his word. He's given us his word, and his word is truth. And we, that's why we need to know the word so that we can know if something is true or not. So we can know if we are being deceived, when we know the word, when the truth is in us, it will guide us and it will lead us. The Bible also says that there is safety in a multitude of counselors. That's why it's so important that we not separate ourselves from the body. You know, it it says when you see that day approaching, gather yourselves together all the more. Don't separate yourself from the body of Christ, from the church. There's wisdom in the church. There are people there who will pray for you and care for you and show you the way. And just that sometimes we don't have the answers. They're just staying with you when you're going through hard times and we we need each other. God placed us in a family, in a body of believers called the church. And he gives us each other. So I'm all for the church. My husband and I pastored a church for 16 years, and we still attend that church, and that's our family. So I'm all for church. But the church can't replace Jesus. The church can't fill that spot that he reserves only for himself. We must seek him. We must make him number one. There's a story that Luke tells us in chapter 10 of his gospel that most of you listening probably know. And it's the story of when he visited two sisters and a brother, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. And it there's so much in this story, and there's so many lessons we can draw from this story. But today I want to just share with you some of my thoughts on Mary and Martha. And as you know, Martha was not happy with Mary because Jesus was visiting. I'm sure there were many people there, lots of work to do, and Martha was preparing a meal for all these people. But Mary plotted herself down at the feet of Jesus to hear Jesus teach. And Martha didn't like this at all. And she was offended. And she told Jesus, she didn't hold back, she didn't, she didn't bite her tongue. She said, Tell her to get up and help me, Jesus. And Jesus said, Martha, Martha, you are troubled about many things, but Mary has chosen the best part, and it will not be taken from her. But I want to remind you that this not only was it uncommon, it was unheard of. In Mary's day, women did not learn from rabbis. Women could not learn. They only had a a very limited education. And when a rabbi came, the men would sit at Jesus' feet and the men would learn, while the women prepared the meal. So what Mary was doing was just unheard of. As far as the religion of the day went, Martha was right. She was telling Jesus, tell Mary her place, remind Mary of her place. But Jesus was giving Mary a new place. Jesus was calling Mary to be a disciple, more than just a worker, a disciple. Now there's a time to work, there's a time to serve, but there's also a time to sit at the Lord's feet, especially when He's given you permission. And He gave her permission. And so this story takes on a whole new meaning when we remember that Mary was, she was radical. She was doing something that was against the religion of her day because there was a higher authority, because there was a higher calling, and that calling was Jesus. She was seeking the Lord. She wanted to hear from him. I believe she knew in her heart he is not going to be with me for with us forever. You know, he had a limited time on earth. And while he was on earth, she pushed away everything else, all the distractions, and she sat at his feet to learn from him because one day he was not going to be available. And while he was here, she was going to learn from him. And she did not listen to the naysayers or the ones who were trying to tell her to get back in her place, or those who were just offended that she would think that she could sit at the feet of a rabbi and learn as a woman. And he did not rebuke her. He did not tell her, Mary, you know better. Get back in the kitchen, go do what you're supposed to be doing. He said she has chosen the best part. It will not be taken from her. And I'm sure Martha was not the only one in the room that was shocked to hear this coming from the rabbi's mouth. Sometimes Jesus will do things, say things that we just never expected because it doesn't fit in with the flavor of religion that we follow. It doesn't mean that your religion is bad. Doesn't mean that that's not where God's placed you. I'm saying follow Jesus. Choose Jesus. When you hear him calling, choose him. And he will work out the details. He will defend you. Maybe not at that moment. Maybe at that moment you feel like I've made everybody mad and nobody understands that my heart is to hear the Lord. That's my heart is to obey him, to hear his voice. But he's calling us. He's calling us back. He's calling us to his feet. He's got things he wants to tell us. And if we're so busy pleasing everybody else by doing the things that they think we should be doing, and maybe we even we think we should be doing. If we're so busy doing those things that we don't actually hear what he's saying, if we don't get to his feet and hear his voice, then we'll miss our opportunity. And God's He has good things. He has good things. And he says, Seek me and you will find me. Sit at his feet and you will hear his voice. Press through the awkwardness, press through the opinions of others, press through the things, even in your own mind that says, Who am I? Who am I? to hear from Jesus. He has the good things in store for you. He wants to speak to you, he wants to give you clarity in some issues. But he needs your attention. So this week, I encourage you, give him your attention. Put some things aside. Even if it doesn't feel right, say, no, I'm carving out this little bit of time to hear the Lord's voice, to sit at his feet, and to give him opportunity to speak to me and to believe that he wants to speak to me. I hope somewhere in there God spoke and it hit the place it was supposed to hit. But before you go, I want to pray for you and let you know that I love you, that I pray for you guys, that I appreciate you coming each week and listening. And um, reach out to me if you have been blessed by the podcast. Reach out and say, hey, Audrey, I'm out here listening and just let me know your name and and your situation and where you're from. I I love getting messages from my listeners. I love it. So let me pray for you before we go. Father, I thank you for these precious ones that you have allowed me to encourage this week and to speak into their lives. And I pray, Lord, that you would teach us how to seek you, how to find you. Lord, I pray, God, that you would show us how to get to the place, Lord, with the voices that are just screaming at us from this world and telling us who we are and what we should do or what we shouldn't do. That God, you would help us get along with you and push those voices out of our minds and just concentrate on you. If only for just a few minutes, Lord. Give us clarity, I pray. God, we honor you in Jesus' name. Amen.