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In Philippians 3:6-7 the apostle Paul says, “As to zeal, persecuting the church; as to the righteousness which is in the law, become blameless. But what things were gains to me, these I have counted as loss on account of Christ.” The things that were gains to Paul in verse 7 included his zeal mentioned in the previous verse. Formerly, Paul had considered his zeal for religion and his being blameless according to the righteousness that is in the law as gains to him, but now on account of Christ he counted them as loss. Verse 8 goes further to say, “But moreover I also count all things to be loss on account of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, on account of whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as refuse that I may gain Christ.”
Moreover, in Galatians 1:11-16 Paul says, “I make known to you, brothers, concerning the gospel announced by me, that it is not according to man. For neither did I receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation by Jesus Christ. For you have heard of my manner of life formerly in Judaism, that I persecuted the church of God excessively and ravaged it. And I advanced in Judaism beyond many contemporaries in my race, being more abundantly a zealot for the traditions of my fathers. But when it pleased God, who set me apart from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, to reveal His Son in me...” The revelation referred to at the end of this passage should be put together with the revelation mentioned in verse 12. In verse 12 we see that the gospel preached by Paul came through a revelation by Jesus Christ; in verses 15 and 16 Paul says that it pleased God to reveal His Son in him.
Mark 1:32-38 says, “When evening fell and the sun had set, they brought to Him all those who were ill and those who were demon-possessed. And the whole city was gathered together at the door. And He healed many who were ill with various diseases, and He cast out many demons and did not allow the demons to speak, because they knew Him. And rising very early in the morning, while it was still night, He went out and went away to a deserted place, and there He prayed. And Simon and those with him hunted for Him, and they found Him and said to Him, All are seeking You. And He said to them, Let us go elsewhere.”
John 2:23-24 says, “When He was in Jerusalem at the Passover, during the feast, many believed into His name when they saw the signs which He did. But Jesus Himself did not entrust Himself to them, for He knew all men.” Verses 25 through 27 of chapter 6 say, “When they found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, Rabbi, when did You get here? Jesus answered them and said, Truly, truly, I say to you, You seek Me not because you have seen signs, but because you ate of the bread and were filled. Work not for the food which perishes, but for the food which abides unto eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.” Verses 33 through 35 say, “The bread of God is He who comes down out of heaven and gives life to the world. They said therefore to Him, Lord, give us this bread always. Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me shall by no means hunger, and he who believes into Me shall by no means ever thirst.” Verse 60 says, “Many therefore of His disciples, when they heard this, said, This word is hard; who can hear it?” Verses 66 through 68 say, “From that time many of His disciples went back to what they left behind and no longer walked with Him. Jesus therefore said to the twelve, Do you also want to go away? Simon Peter answered Him, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life.”
The Lord’s salvation is greatly different from any religion. Religion has been widely practiced mainly because of three reasons: first, man’s seeking for material blessings, next, man’s pursuit for improved behavior, and last, man’s search for inner satisfaction. From a shallow point of view, everyone hopes for material blessings because everyone seems to need them. At the same time man does not have the power to handle many of the situations of human life, so naturally he tends to seek some other power or way. Under such circumstances religion comes into being. Man pursues religion, believing that there is a supreme being who is above all men and who exercises supernatural power to solve the problems in human life and to meet human needs. Do not think that religion is practiced only by village men and country women. In fact, innumerable people who are famous and successful have also accepted religion in hopes of obtaining the material blessings of human life.
Not only so, as the noblest and highest being among all living creatures, man naturally pays much attention to the question of morality and therefore tends to pursue the improvement of behavior. Thousands of years of human history have proved that religion is the best place for the practice of moral culture. Throughout the generations those who have been occupied with the improvement of behavior have always attached themselves to a religion. People pursue and seek a noble religion to help them with the cultivation of their morality. In human society many upright people have accepted religion for the sake of self-improvement. This is why religion is popular among upper-class people.
The third reason for the widespread acceptance of religion is that man has an inner need. Within man there is a spirit, and within the spirit there is a need. In the beginning God created man with a spirit for man to receive God. To illustrate, for man to drink water, he needs a stomach to contain water. Without a stomach, man would have no need for eating and drinking. According to the same principle, there is a need deep within man, which can neither be touched nor seen. We all have this kind of experience. We may be rich in outward material things and may have sufficient psychological enjoyment, yet in the deepest part of our being, we are still not satisfied, and we still have a need. That need is the need of our human spirit. Throughout the generations many people who were thoughtful, moral, and idealistic have repeatedly discovered this need deep within man. In seeking to satisfy this need, man continually seeks after religion. People seek religion not merely for outward blessings and not even for the cultivation of morality. Rather, their seeking religion is for the need deep within their being.
With a little effort, we can easily discover that in every religion there are people with these three types of needs. Generally speaking, in every religion there are crowds of people who are seeking to obtain material blessings. They worship and even fear a supreme being, and in their fear they turn from doing evil to doing good, lest they incur misfortunes or retributions for their evil deeds. Their religious piety is for the purpose of pleasing God in exchange for His blessings. Their religious pursuit is for nothing but happiness, longevity, peace, and prosperity. These people are relatively shallow in that they seek only the outward things.
Those who are a little deeper study their religion to a great extent. The purpose of their study is mostly for the cultivation of their morality. Those who make an effort to meet the need in the deepest part of their being are very few; rarely is there even one among a hundred.
This is religion. Regardless of whether the object of worship is true or false, and regardless of whether the way of worship is right or wrong, the above three points are the main reasons for religious belief. In light of this we can ask, “Do Christians receive a religion, or do they receive the Lord’s salvation?” As Christians, do we have a relationship with religion, or do we have a relationship with the Lord Jesus?
Please remember that when the Lord was on the earth, He was not here to give people material blessings. Perhaps some will ask, “Does not the Bible tell us that the Lord healed the sick, cast out demons, and fed people? Are not these things for the welfare and peace of the people?” We can use three portions of Scripture to prove that the Lord did not come to the earth to provide people with material blessings. The first portion is in Mark 1. There we see that one day, when the sun had set, all those who were ill were brought to the Lord (v. 32). Yet the Bible does not say that the Lord healed all of them; it only says that “He healed many who were ill” (v. 34). The next day, rising very early, the Lord Jesus went away to a deserted place, and there He prayed until the crowd came looking for Him. The disciples, out of their good heart, pitied the crowd and went to report to Him, “All are seeking You” (vv. 35-37). How did He react? He went away. The Lord did not heal the sick all the time, and if we think He did, we are wrong. Many times, because of our weakness, the Lord will sympathize a little with us, and He will heal us to demonstrate His power and to prove that He is God. However, if we keep considering Him as a healer and keep asking Him to care for our own welfare, then the Lord will not do it anymore but rather will depart.
It seems that the Lord should not have departed on that morning because that was a rare opportunity. All the crowds had come to seek Him; it was certainly a good opportunity. He should have come out to heal them of their diseases and to save them. Instead, He went away. Why? It is because He came to the earth not to heal people. Even if He had healed them, one day they would be sick again. The Lord did not come to the earth for this.
The second portion of Scripture is in John 2. Many believed into the name of the Lord when they saw the signs which He did (v. 23). Yet how did the Lord react? The Lord did not entrust Himself to them (v. 24). They believed in the Lord, but the Lord did not trust them. Why? It is because their faith was not a genuine faith but a faith for their own well-being, for their sicknesses to be healed. Hence, it was a faith that was not trustworthy. Therefore, the Lord did not entrust Himself to them. The situation is still the same today. Many have believed in the Lord because they were healed of their sickness. This believing, however, is not reliable. Believing in the Lord due to miracles, blessings, or benefits is not trustworthy. When trials come and those who have this kind of belief do not see any blessing or any answer to their prayer, they may no longer believe.
The third portion of Scripture is in John 6. The Lord Jesus fed five thousand with five loaves and two fish. Thousands of people saw that miracle. The next day the crowd came to look for the Lord Jesus and found Him on the other side of the sea. Then the Lord said to them, “You seek Me...because you ate of the bread and were filled” (v. 26). The Lord told them not to seek the food which perishes but to seek the food which abides unto eternal life, which He could give them. When they heard this, they did not quite understand, but within they knew that there is a kind of food which is eternal and which lasts forever. Therefore, they asked the Lord to give them this food. Then the Lord immediately said to them, “I am the bread of life” (v. 35). This meant that this food was the Lord; it also meant that aside from the Lord there was nothing else to be given to them. The Lord is the bread of life. He who comes to the Lord shall by no means hunger, and he who believes into the Lord shall by no means ever thirst. If they truly wanted to be satisfied in their human life, they needed to gain the Lord. Material blessings could not satisfy them; only the Lord could satisfy them. The Lord came to the earth not to give people blessings; He did not come to feed people with bread or to heal people of their sicknesses. The Lord came to the earth to dispense Himself into people so that they may gain Him instead of religion.
The Lord came to the earth for man to gain Him; everything outside of Him is just religion. We should not consider prosperity as a small thing; to be prosperous is a very personal matter. Many have believed in the Lord for prosperity, but little do they know that prosperity is a matter of religion. The Lord’s salvation is not a matter of prosperity; rather, the Lord’s salvation is altogether apart from prosperity. In the first century, because of their faith in the Lord, countless Christians suffered the loss of their homes, their loved ones, and even their precious lives. Were they for their own prosperity? Of course not! The more faith they had in the Lord, the less prosperity they had in their human life. In the end they even sacrificed themselves and were martyred. Not prosperity, but martyrdom — this is the Lord’s salvation. Prosperity belongs to religion. The Lord’s salvation is the Lord Himself.
Now let us go on to the matter of the improvement of behavior. Many people believe in the Lord because they find it difficult to conduct themselves properly in a human society that is so dark and fallen. Not knowing what to do, they want to find a better environment and seek better protection so that they may enjoy peace and stability, both physically and spiritually. From the viewpoint of society, Christianity is the best place to have such an environment. People who go to church are very proper. During the week they work hard on their jobs and study diligently in school, and then on the Lord’s Day they go and sit in the church to worship. This lifestyle is quite refined and quiet. The unbelievers think that they can benefit greatly by being with such a group of people, so they accept the Christian religion. Afterward, they go to listen to sermons regularly. They may not understand what they hear, but they feel quite good and seem to profit just by sitting there. Then one day when the pastor announces that the church is ready to receive new members, they feel that since they have been coming to worship services regularly, they ought to join the church as members. Therefore, they become church members. However, they are totally ignorant of where God is and who Christ is. So why do they believe in Jesus? It is simply because they want to be good persons. Each one of us more or less has this kind of concept, the concept of improvement of behavior.
Even in our prayers we often say, “O Lord, my temper is so bad; I really have no way to deal with it. I cannot change it; I cannot improve myself. But, Lord, as the almighty One, You are omnipotent; nothing is impossible with You. Please help me.” It is so strange that the more we pray this way, the worse our temper is. This is because when we ask God to change our temper, we are not being Christians but religious people. Christ is different from religion. Whereas in religion there is improvement of behavior, in Christ there is no such thing. In Christ there is only Christ, and there is only salvation.
Paradoxically, when we preach the gospel, we often begin with personal prosperity, saying, “Oh, it is so good to believe in Jesus! If you believe in Jesus, you will have peace and joy.” This is the first step. What is the second step? Very naturally it is the improvement of behavior. We may tell those who have believed in Jesus, “Since you have believed in Jesus, you have to be proper in your conduct and walk. After believing in Jesus, your temper has to be changed, and you have to start a new life.” When we preach the gospel to others, we often cannot avoid the concept of being prosperous and the idea of improving our conduct, as if it is hard to preach the gospel unless we attract people with these two things. The gospel seems to have become a bitter medicine, requiring it to be sugar-coated not only with prosperity but also with improvement of behavior. Therefore, up to the present time many Christians still have not escaped from the concept of self-improvement.
In addition to the concept of obtaining material blessings and the thought of improving our behavior, the third reason that religion came into existence is man’s need for inner satisfaction. A person who seeks for inner satisfaction is a person with more depth; this kind of person seems to be more noble. However, besides Christ Himself, there is nothing that can satisfy our inner being. These three things — seeking for material blessings, pursuing the improvement of behavior, and searching for inner satisfaction — are the three main reasons why man produced and practices religion. Even up to now we still may not have freed ourselves from these three things. This is a very pitiful and serious matter.
The life of Paul prior to his salvation may be considered the best illustration of this. Paul was one hundred percent a religionist. As a religionist, he did not pay much attention to being prosperous; rather, he was a person with ideas, wisdom, a future, and accomplishments. He paid attention not to prosperity but to two other matters. One matter was improvement of behavior. He exerted great effort in this matter; hence, he dared to boast that he was blameless according to the law of the Old Testament (Phil. 3:6) and that he was more zealous for the God of the Jews and for their traditions than anyone else (Gal. 1:14). No one could find fault in him. By this we can see the extent of his improvement of behavior. However, as such a one, Paul was an opposer of Christ and a person who persecuted and devastated the church of God.
One day on the road to Damascus, Christ met him and said to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads” (Acts 26:14). As a person chosen by the Lord, Paul should have taken the way of the Lord; instead, he took the way of religion. He was a religionist in the Jewish religion, and he was opposing the Lord. He thought that he was serving God; little did he know that he was actually offending God. Paul was not a person who did not believe in God and who did not fear God. On the contrary, he believed in God with all his heart and kept the law of God. He was actually very zealous for God. However, such a man who was so zealous for religion was one who opposed Christ. Besides being a person pursuing improved conduct, Paul was also a person who sought for the satisfaction of his inner being, yet ultimately he was a person who offended and opposed Christ.
A person might be zealous for religion, fear God and pursue God, keep the law of God as Saul did, and be very zealous for God, yet he may be the person who offends Christ the most. Never think that to fear God, to seek after God, and to be zealous for God is to be a Christian. Although as Christians, we fear God and are zealous for God, our living might not be the living of a Christian because we might actually be merely a religionist. We may have proper conduct, we may be zealous, and we may do our best to keep the teaching and commandments in the Scriptures, but can we be more zealous than Saul was in those days? Can we be more earnest in keeping the words of the Scriptures than Saul was in his time? Even if we were able to do it, we still would not be a Christian. Instead, we would be those who offend Christ.
Often when atheists oppose Christ, their opposition is obvious and easily seen. But very often those who are apparently zealous Christians are actually enemies of Christ in the eyes of God; they are opposing Christ every day. We have to see that anything that is not Christ is against Christ. Whether zeal, good deeds, or the righteousness of the law, as long as it is not Christ, it is against Christ. Please remember that everything outside of Christ, everything that is not Christ Himself, is against Christ.
What then is religion? In brief, anything that is outside of Christ yet appears to be rendering worship to God is religion. Anything that is not Christ yet teaches people the teachings of God is religion. In the universe, only Christ Himself is not religion; only Christ Himself is the salvation of God. What is religion? Religion is any kind of worship and any kind of work outside of Christ. If our worship to God is not related to Christ, is not mingled with Christ, and is not Christ doing it with us from within, then it is religion.
Then, what is the salvation of Christ? And what is real worship to God? The salvation of Christ is Christ mingled with us. The real worship to God is the Christ who is in us, who puts us upon Himself, and who fills us with Himself, worshipping God with us. In this worship we are mingled with Christ. In this worship Christ is there. This worship not only comes from Christ but also contains Christ. Christ is in this worship. He is mingled with us, He fills us with Himself, and He puts us upon Himself. To illustrate, we may say that a cup of tea is water, and we may also say that it is tea. Since tea has been blended into the water, the water is no longer pure water but tea-water. The true Christian living is also like this. A Christian still conducts himself as a man, but he has Christ mingled with him. Although a cup of tea is water, the element of tea has been added into the water; hence, if someone drinks this cup of water again, the taste will be different because the element of tea has been added into the water.
Please remember that a Christian is a person who has Christ mingled with him. Christ has entered into this person to be his center, his goal, his content, and his everything. Christ is within him living out a mingled living, a mingled human life. Christ is in his worship, his conduct, his humility, and his love toward others. This is to be a Christian. Sometimes we may meet someone who is so proper and upright and who is a genuinely good person, but in him we cannot sense Christ or taste God. Other times we may meet someone, and as soon as we contact him, we touch Christ. That person is not only good and proper; he is more than good and proper. Within him there is an element that is not found in others and that is hard to describe. This is the salvation of Christ. Christ being mingled with man is the salvation of Christ. Worship without Christ and improved behavior without Christ are religion. Worship with Christ mingled within and improved behavior with Christ mingled within are the salvation of Christ. If we can discern this matter, we are blessed.
