Jesus and Religion

Humans are so naturally religious. We like ritual, sacredness, celebration. As followers of Jesus, we believe that most of the world is religious in ways that do not lead to salvation, because their religious activity has nothing to do with the gospel of Jesus Christ. 

But we need to be careful with our own religious commitments. Some things we are explicitly called to observe regularly, like baptism and the Lord’s Supper, meeting together for worship, and holding one another accountable. Other things have become religious institutions within Christianity that have no explicit command but serve the purpose of worship and mission: the general order of our worship services, services for ordaining deacons, Vacation Bible School, or seminaries. Sadly, in other ways, we can depart entirely from what Christianity truly is for the sake of some display of religious fervor: creating emotional experiences without real teaching and discipleship to grow numbers and leader influence or making a church building or even church ministry sacred to the point of causing division. 

Right Religion

We have a habit of believing so strongly in our practices that we forget or abuse their design. Now some are indeed wolves among the sheep who abuse purposefully. But many others just need simple awareness of the real reasons behind what we do. As an example: Why do we have our church building? Is the building indeed sacred? Or is it expendable if that better serves the local church’s ministry and mission? 

The final authority rests with God, and He has spoken to us in His Word. We must hold everything we do up to the light of Scripture and check our practices for impurities—for things which ought not be as well as for things which can be discarded when circumstances change. Pastoral shepherding, sound doctrine, prayer, worship, evangelism, instruction and equipping the saints, fellowship, encouragement, accountability, humility, gentleness, patience, brotherly love, and making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace—these things must always remain, for they are dictated to us by the Lord in the Word. But our buildings are not sacred. Our way of doing VBS is not sacred. These are all things that are expendable. We need discernment on what’s what. God’s Word and God’s Spirit will grant us wisdom. 

Jesus and Religion

In Jesus’s day, the Judaism of the 1st century also had religious problems—many of them. We see one prominent example in John 2:12–17. Jesus comes into Jerusalem as the Passover feast was approaching. What He finds there is a desecration of the sacrificial system and of the Temple. So, He drove those selling animals for sacrifice out of the temple courts, and turned over the tables of the money changers. 

The Jewish leaders responded by asking Him, “What sign can you show us, since you are doing these things?” And Jesus said, “Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up again” (2:18–20). John notes for us that Jesus was speaking about the temple of His body (v. 21). 

The Purpose of Religion

When God came to man in the person of Jesus—the proclamation of John’s prologue a chapter before—He was forging a major progression in temple worship and function in the “religion” of His people, for all people. Jesus announces to these Jewish leaders that they are missing it. To understand the Temple, they must understand that the building itself as they knew it was not God’s ultimate design, and it was expendable. It may have been hundreds and hundreds of years old as a fixture of their religious practice, and it may have been given to them by God. 

But Jesus is taking them to school on the reasons for the Temple. First, the Temple was given to Israel (both the original and the rebuilt and expanded structures) as a site on which they would meet with God. The Presence of God within the Temple is what made it holy and demanded utmost reverence. Therefore, turning the sacrificial system of the Mosaic covenant into a marketplace opportunity was intolerable. Second, in announcing a new Temple which He would rebuild, Jesus is showing that God’s Presence dwelling in a man-made structure—in accommodated form in which one representative each year could encounter Him—is not what God had in mind forever. This is not what God dwelling among man was supposed to be. 

Don’t Miss It

For those willing to abuse it, the Temple at Passover was an opportunity for self-gain. For those who were missing it, a grander-than-ever Temple building enabled and entitled their religious gratification. It was their birthright as the people of Israel, and the oppressors of the people would one day get their comeuppance.  

But the Temple was a revelation of God with forward movement implied: it was God’s preservation of His former covenant promises, and it foretold a future reality of God dwelling with man, no veil between. At the incarnation, and climactically in the crucifixion and resurrection, Jesus moves the Temple forward as God dwelled in flesh among men. At the establishment and commissioning of the Church, Jesus moves it forward again as the Temple continues as His “body” (v. 21): when the Holy Spirit descends upon them and the Church is born, the body of Christ now houses God’s indwelling presence. Onward that story goes until that wonderful day when He will dwell with us in full, for eternity. 

Your church, your ministry, your cultural practices have a role to play. But don’t lose focus on the grander story in which these reside—your church is meant to expand God’s kingdom only; your ministry is meant to make the name of Jesus great; and your practices are meant to draw people in, ever deeper, to the reality of what’s to come. 

Jordan Wilbanks

Jordan Wilbanks serves as the Director of Church Partnerships at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Missouri. He also oversees The Timothy Track, a church-based mentorship program for residential MDiv students.