SERMON: Judges 18:13-31, A Poor Religious Substitute
…But if we start talking about true religion, and poor religious substitutions, there’s significant consequences. When I say religion, I mean that in the biblical sense of the word. People often use that cliché, “it’s not religion, it’s a relationship.” Not true. Religion simply means the beliefs and associated practices pertinent to a deity. So the Christian religion, is the beliefs and practices related to Christ in the context of a relationship. And God requires certain beliefs and practices from his people. God wants more than just a relationship with people. He wants people to conduct themselves as citizens of his kingdom, under the kingship of Christ. So true religion means devoting oneself to the true God, and conducting oneself in all matters of life according to God’s decrees.
And there’s poor substitutes out there for genuine Christian religion. There’s all manner of false religions in the name of some other so-called god.* Those are distinct enough from Christianity to be easily distinguished from biblical Christian religion. But there is another poor religious substitution for Christianity that goes by the name of Christ, but is not genuine Christian religion. Perhaps we could call it, “culturally religious Christianity.”
And by this, I mean a person who outwardly uses the words and terms of Christianity, and even certain practices of Christianity, but does not have any genuine faith and devotion toward God, but has merely adapted the Christian religion to fit their own personal preferences. They have some other orientation in life than seeking first the kingdom of God, fearing God, loving him, serving him, walking in all his ways. This is what has been happening in Israel. The author of Judges so far has shown us the man Micah, the wandering Levite, and the tribe of Dan, all who do all manner of religious practices in the name of Yahweh, but do not fear the Lord, love him, serve him, or walk in his ways…
