The Fog of Religion

1 Corinthians 8New International Version (NIV)

Concerning Food Sacrificed to Idols

8 Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that “We all possess knowledge.” But knowledge puffs up while love builds up. 2 Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know. 3 But whoever loves God is known by God.[a]

4 So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that “An idol is nothing at all in the world” and that “There is no God but one.” 5 For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”), 6 yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.

7 But not everyone possesses this knowledge. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat sacrificial food they think of it as having been sacrificed to a god, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled. 8 But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.

9 Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak. 10 For if someone with a weak conscience sees you, with all your knowledge, eating in an idol’s temple, won’t that person be emboldened to eat what is sacrificed to idols?11 So this weak brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge.12 When you sin against them in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. 13 Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall.

A couple weeks ago, I heard something so authentic and honest that it has stuck with me.  I have heard this phrase before, but my recent audio books put these words into a much different context.  Guthrie said, “I love you, daddy” as I walked out of his room one night. Something he has said before but in that moment it stopped me in my tracks.  The light switch went on and it has to do with our own relationship with God and how we speak to him.  Think about it.  How do you speak to God?  It has made me think about our invocations and most likely you noticed a difference today.  We usually address God with words that create a sort of distance between him and us.  For example, “O Wondrous and Eternal Father” or “Your Majesty on the Most High” or “Holy and Glorious King Almighty”.... You get the idea.  Think about it.  How close do you feel to someone when you talk to them like that?  How silly does it seem to address someone you care about in such a way?  True, these phrases are demonstrations of respect.  But I ask you, does God want your respect more than your love?  More than your heart?  More than your attention throughout the day?  Throwing this out there but I doubt it.... What if we spoke to him more like Guthrie’s tender and authentic voice spoke to me that night?  What if we said simply, “I love you, daddy.”  Seems strange doesn’t it?  Seems incredibly odd, right?  Trust me, I have been practicing this week and my goodness, it’s borderline awkward.  But why? And why change it if it’s working for us?  That’s a fair question.

Think about it this way, how many of you would rather hear from your spouse, your children, your loved ones “I respect you” over “I love you.”  Sure respect is nice, it keeps culture and society functionable but respect only goes so far without love.  I think you can have respect without love but can you have a sincere love without respect.  Things like respect, honor, and trust come along with a sincere kind of love.  Do you see the difference?  I can be respectful to God and even all of his creation without loving her.  Without being in love with him.  One of the most common break-up lines is “I love you but I’m not in love with you.”  And I think this is the state of the American Church today, we love him but we aren’t in love with God and I think we are seeing the effects.  Generation after generation after generation has chosen to respect God more than really, really love him.  And I don’t blame them... You know why?  An authentic and genuine love like that makes us vulnerable, not only to God but to each other.  Why do issues in our home lives affect us so much?  That’s why, we have poured so much authentic love into those relationships that it hurts so much when they are gone or when those relationships are broken.  When we take a cold, hard look into our relationship with God is it more of a distant love or are we really in love with her?  

Knowing the difference is essential.  A distant love allows us to fill the void with “religion.”  Let me explain, in that void we get to argue about music, ministries, pastors, policies, budgets, committees, and decorations. The void allows us to compare piety with our neighbors and pew mates.  The void allows us to think toys and bouncy balls do not belong in the sanctuary.  It allows us to be annoyed by that crying baby instead of embracing that family that takes on the anxiety to bring children into the public eye.  Religion is what causes members to leave and churches to die.  Let me clarify through the words of a friend, “We can’t love the practice of faith more than the one we directing our trust toward.  That is like saying we love the idea of being married more than the one we are actually married to.”  Religion brings with it a sort of fog that makes it more and more difficult to focus on the reason we are here in the first place.  We get upset over which songs are being sung instead of using that moment to get closer to God.  Religion tells you that when your pastor takes a moment to be vulnerable and share their personal struggles with you that you think they should be able to overcome those struggles alone.  Which seems counterintuitive to the very things said pastor is preaching on.  After all, I doubt this pastor expects you to get through such struggles alone.  Church isn’t about religion.  Church is about a relationship with God and with one another.  When we are more worried about telling God that we love him instead of that we respect her, we will find ourselves with much less time correcting everyone else’s religion.  The ritual of religion isn’t bad... the love isn’t bad... and when combined they are beautiful.  But ritual alone is empty without love filling it.  Think of an almost empty balloon floating aimlessly across the floor.   

This religious fog isn’t new.  It’s really what Jesus killed.  He healed a man on the Sabbath! Gasp! O. M. G.  Right? The religious fog said this wasn’t right.  Those who persecuted Jesus were so emboldened by religion that didn’t pertain to loving God or loving their neighbor.  It’s the very reason Jesus had to stay on the move throughout his ministry.  The religious fog is the exact thing that Paul is speaking about in our scripture for this morning.  If it weren’t for these odd “rules of religion” then Paul wouldn’t be writing about what someone eats effecting someone else’s faith.  Paul also uses it as an opportunity to say that the freedom that our faith enables us to have comes with responsibility.  Which is another aspect to what I have been talking to you about this morning.  You see, this religious fog not only keeps us from getting truly closer to God but it also handicaps our interactions with one another.  However, we have a duty and responsibility to not harm the faith of others.  It seems like it is a never ending cycle of trying to see through the fog but doing so may harm the faith of someone else.  Frustrating.  So rather than getting caught up in all that mess, we are all better off if we choose an intimate kind of love with God rather than a distant one.  Be in love with God rather than simply loving him.  When we bring God closer to us, there is less room for the things that divide us.  

I am going to reread verse 4-7 from the Message translation to see if it helps us to better understand what Paul is saying:

Some people say, quite rightly, that idols have no actual existence, that there’s nothing to them, that there is no God other than our one God, that no matter how many of these so-called gods are named and worshiped they still don’t add up to anything but a tall story. They say—again, quite rightly—that there is only one God the Father, that everything comes from him, and that he wants us to live for him. Also, they say that there is only one Master—Jesus the Messiah—and that everything is for his sake, including us. Yes. It’s true.  In strict logic, then, nothing happened to the meat when it was offered up to an idol. It’s just like any other meat. I know that, and you know that. But knowing isn’t everything. If it becomes everything, some people end up as know-it-alls who treat others as know-nothings. Real knowledge isn’t that insensitive.  We need to be sensitive to the fact that we’re not all at the same level of understanding in this. Some of you have spent your entire lives eating “idol meat,” and are sure that there’s something bad in the meat that then becomes something bad inside of you. An imagination and conscience shaped under those conditions isn’t going to change overnight.  Sometimes this religious fog has been called “knowledge” but as this translation points out, true knowledge is sensitive to the fact than an imagination and conscience shaped under the religious fog isn’t going to change overnight.  It’s important that we don’t forget that in all aspects of life.  So that leaves us with setting an example, no matter how awkward at first.  Practice by addressing God more intimately.  The scriptures tell us that he knows us that way but do we know him that way?  We have the ability to shape the future generations of church, and I don’t mean just this church.  The people of this church have the ability to change the way many, many people view their own relationship with God and neighbor.  Jesus only started with 12... and there is more than that here this morning.  I encourage you to work on yourself to become closer to God by speaking to her like you do in those precious moments with loved ones and just watch how much closer to God you will feel.  Fall in love with God.