"Religious" People

This morning my pastor spent some time going through a portion of Scripture from Matthew chapter 23. Basically, the chapter is a discourse Jesus has with the "religious" people of his day. If you don't know, Jesus and religious people didn't get along very well. Actually, they murdered him. Shortly after Jesus rebukes the religious people in chapter 23, they begin to organize their plot to have Jesus arrested and put to death. Here is a summary my pastor gave called "6 Timeless Characteristics of Religion." And just so you know, "religious" people are found in every religion, and they are characterized as follows.

1. Religious people are obsessed with recognition.

Religious people want to be praised by others, seen by others, and recognized by others. Their religious action is propelled by motives of self-glory.

2. Religious people substitute religious ritual for knowing God.

Rather than seeking a personal relationship with God, religious people are more concerned with their rituals. They mistakenly think the ritual is they're relationship with God.

3. Religious people elevate secondary traditions above love for God.

They become extremely unbalanced on what is important. They make minor issues central and neglect the weightier matters of justice, mercy and faithfulness. They care more about the outward appearance than the inward reality. They focus on buildings, clothes, music styles and order of services instead of life change.

4. Religious people elevate religious ritual over a love for others.

Unfortunately, in North Carolina, there are more churches than homeless people. I realize not all homeless people desire another lifestyle, but is Southern Christianity focused on the right things? I'm afraid not. It's unfortunate...and I am to blame.

5. Religious people are more aware of the sins of others than they are of their own sins.

6. Religious people think we're talking about someone else.

You probably have been thinking of all the religious people you would like to receive stoning, but before we throw the first stone, we're probably more religious than we think. It's true. I'm more religious than I think. You are more religious than you think. I thank God He allows me to see my religiosity, and doesn't let me walk blindly.

Twitter

After I reasoned to never be a part of something called, "twitter," I must admit, I'm totally hooked to this new social networking phenomenon. Although it started in 2006, I just found out about this new networking tool. At first I was skeptical and considered it to be immensely egocentric (in which it can be), but I decided to use it rather to find links, books, blogs, and to stay connected with my community of peeps. Today, I'm actually sick at home, and my two small group leaders have used Twitter to encourage and pray for me. That's awesome!

Basically, Twitter is similar to Facebook status updates, telling people what your doing, think, reading, etc. You can only write up to 140 character per "tweet" to inform people, so that makes it concise and short. You choose who you would like to follow, and others choose whether or not they would like to follow you. It's a brilliant concept already used by our church, small group, staff, and other ministry networks. On the left side of my page, you can read my latest "tweets."

If you aren't on Twitter, jump on board. I'm sure you'll love it!