Conflict with the Religious

 If you are a follower Jesus and walk as He walked it is absolutely inevitable that you will experience conflicts with the hypocritical and/or institutional religious people of your day.   

The greatest opposition and very enemies of Jesus were not the Roman authorities like Pilate, even though this was the case for most of the Jews who saw the Romans as their greatest enemies. This was not the case with Jesus. In fact, when he was brought to trial, Pilate wanted to let him go declaring him an innocent man. It wasn’t the Romans, but the Jewish religious that insisted on him being put to death, just as Jesus Himself prophesied:  "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life." Luke 9:22  Which was also in accordance with the principle Jesus taught that:  "a man's enemies will be the members of his own household." Mt 10:36  The Corrupting Effect of Institutionalism Throughout the history of Christianity, its greatest enemy has not been the “world's” leadership, but its own institutional religious leadership. Who is going to tell you this? Not the institutional leaders! These are those who pose there own ideas as to what constitutes legitimate Christianity, instead of those who pose the Biblical ideas as to what constitutes legitimate Christianity. As in Jesus' time, so even is it throughout history and even up to the present day. It seems almost inevitable that movements will become corrupted through their institutionalization. It is inherent in our sinful nature that power corrupts. Institutionalism established positions of power which inevitably becomes sources of corruption.

Conflict with the Religious

 If you are a follower Jesus and walk as He walked it is absolutely inevitable that you will experience conflicts with the hypocritical and/or institutional religious people of your day.   

The greatest opposition and very enemies of Jesus were not the Roman authorities like Pilate, even though this was the case for most of the Jews who saw the Romans as their greatest enemies. This was not the case with Jesus. In fact, when he was brought to trial, Pilate wanted to let him go declaring him an innocent man. It wasn’t the Romans, but the Jewish religious that insisted on him being put to death, just as Jesus Himself prophesied:  "The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life." Luke 9:22  Which was also in accordance with the principle Jesus taught that:  "a man's enemies will be the members of his own household." Mt 10:36  The Corrupting Effect of Institutionalism Throughout the history of Christianity, its greatest enemy has not been the “world's” leadership, but its own institutional religious leadership. Who is going to tell you this? Not the institutional leaders! These are those who pose there own ideas as to what constitutes legitimate Christianity, instead of those who pose the Biblical ideas as to what constitutes legitimate Christianity. As in Jesus' time, so even is it throughout history and even up to the present day. It seems almost inevitable that movements will become corrupted through their institutionalization. It is inherent in our sinful nature that power corrupts. Institutionalism established positions of power which inevitably becomes sources of corruption.  Whatever is popular at the time tends to be deviant from the truth and against true Biblical Christianity. The majority of people in the world and especially in the west who call themselves "Christians" don't actually treat Jesus as Lord and Master. Most of these so called “Christians” don't take the Bible seriously, like the food the eat and air they breath. Now what happens when you put such a majority in charge of an institutional church? The church will look just like them. Who are they going to vote for in choosing leadership? Someone just like them who will tell them just what they want to hear. The remnant doesn't have a voice. The majority -- the nominal Christians -- have taken away the voice of the true Christian by establishing a "lecture" format in which they are not allowed to speak. Rules, regulations, ritual and tradition are established whereby the unpopular “Biblical believers” are not allowed to disagree with the popular “un-Biblical leadership“. This has been the case for the past 2000 years of Church history and is still the case of modern Christianity today. So, what happens as a result? Often the true Christians simply leave and the majority nominal Christians are left to die in the pews. I am not trying to suggest all that institutional churches have been established by a bunch of nominal Christians. This is not the example of church history, but rather what happens goes something like this:              1. True Biblical Christians comes out of a corrupt church that refuses to change and             refuses listen to them.             2. They establishes a new church.             3. It becomes popular and therefore it becomes corrupt.             4. Over time, as the Church grows, nominal Christians become dominant.             5. The remnant minority lose their voice, many of whom leave starting the process all             over again.             6. The nominal Christians become even more dominant in the institution. The             institution becomes a monument to nominalism.  This is the answer to the question: Why are their so many denominations? This pattern is not necessarily what needs to be fixed. This is just the fact of what history tells us happens. Historically, Christian leadership and theology has been obsessed over establishing the perfect institution. That is not Jesus Christ's objective. It was not His objective then and it is not His objective now. Institutionalism was established to quickly facilitate the maturing of individual believers to the end that every single believer would be sent out themselves to establish their own ministry. But, sad as it may be, institutionalism has becomes an end itself.  "It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." Eph 4:11-13 Today if you use the word "church", most people think of a building or an institution. But Christ' church is people. Biblical Christians are living stones that make up one world wide church or body of Christ. If you were to destroy every church build on the planet, you haven't even touched the church of Jesus Christ. But those concerned with buildings and building projects and building funds often don't understand Jesus at all.  "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days." John 2:19 Jesus was involved in the Jewish religion and synagogues, but he was often treated contemptuously by the religious leadership, and he prophecies:  "Be on your guard against men; they will hand you over to the local councils and flog you in their synagogues." Mat 10:17  "They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, a time is coming when anyone who kills you will think he is offering a service to God." John 16:2 This is still generally the kind of experience you will have in Christian churches if you follow the example of Jesus and walk as He walked. Just try standing up in your local Christian church in the middle of the sermon and explain using Scripture the un-Biblical message or hypocritical teachings being preached by the pastor. Criticism of Religious Leadership"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!"Matt 23:13 Hypocrisy is the effect of spiritual pride. Pride is the root hypocrisy is the branch.  The hypocritical attitude of spiritual superiority is a condescending judmentalism of others, coupled with little to no self judgment. Jesus warned us sternly to judge ourselves first and then to judge others. Jesus himself was judging others (the religious leaders in particular) in his statements throughout Matthew 23, for example. Religious leaders often feel themselves superior in knowledge of and closeness to God, neglecting judging themselves at ease in the mists of their spiritual or religious Zion.. Paul, himself a Pharisee, also made the following observation:  "Now you, if you call yourself a Jew; if you rely on the law and brag about your relationship to God; if you know his will and approve of what is superior because you are instructed by the law; if you are convinced that you are a guide for the blind, a light for those who are in the dark, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of infants, because you have in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth-- you, then, who teach others, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal? You who say that people should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who brag about the law, do you dishonor God by breaking the law? As it is written: "God's name is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you." Rom 3:17-24 Pride causes one to ignore one's own sinfulness! Pride causes one to ignore one's own sinfulness! Pride causes one to ignore one's own sinfulness!  Why is pride so characteristic of religious leaders and their institutional religious followers? For three reasons:             1. Positions of leadership attract proud people.             2. Humble people who become leaders often become proud. This is the almost             universal corrupting affect of power.            3. Leaders will always produce like followers. When we study the Bible we discover that God often arranges for the humble to take positions of authority. Look at Moses, for example. Moses was a humble man at first, but he was not allowed to enter the promise land because of a prideful and vain act he committed. We find it is similar with King David. David started off well, but finished poorly. This is quite common throughout Scriptures. The next logical question would be: How does Jesus deal with religious and proud people? He universally humiliates them. Jesus did not do this for their destruction or to be mean, but for their benefit. As a father chastises his son for his own good, so Jesus humiliates the proud to develop in them the essential character quality of humility, without which they cannot be saved. He humiliates them by:  -- Pointing out their personal sins and particularly their hypocrisy. -- Revealing their poor understanding of the Bible. -- Revealing their lack of love for individuals, putting symbolism and ceremony over meeting people's actual needs. -- Pointing to himself as Lord and therefore a higher authority than they. -- Revealing their sinful behavior to others by using them as paradigms in his parables.  The Reaction of the Proud 1. Hostility: Proud people do not respond well to criticism, but wise men do respond well.  Do not rebuke a mocker or he will hate you; rebuke a wise man and he will love you. Pr 9:8  Solomon is not giving a command, but instead he is making a wise observation. This type of figure of speech must be understood when interpreting Proverbs and much of Jesus' teaching, such as "Judge not and you shall not be judged" Mat 7:1, which is also not a command, but a proverbial and wise observation. If you judge others, they will judge you. Jesus judged and criticized others and so others judged and criticized Jesus even to the point of murder. The proud will often act hostile when confronted with their sins, especially their pride and hypocrisy. 2. Deaf, Dumb & Blind: Pride is fast moving path to spiritual blindness. Jesus’ numerous miracles -- healing a man born blind and even raising Lazarus from the dead -- are not even enough to convinces the proud religious people of His day. The proud are blind to the evidence, they are seemingly incapable of thinking reasonably. The proud are blind most of all to their own sinfulness, even to their own hypocrisy.  And they are deaf to the teachings of Christ. They can't understand what he means. They are dumb in that they can't speak the truth, but rather they utter lies and slanders against Christ.  What to Expect & What to do "Remember the words I spoke to you: 'No servant is greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also." Joh 15:20  As you follow Christ, don't be surprised when the greatest source of hostility against you comes from institutional religious, the proud and hypocritical and/or those who think themselves the religious elite of your day. This nothing new and inevitable for anyone who follows Jesus and walks as Christ walked. What should you do? Just what Jesus did. Fearlessly humiliate the proud. There was a popular saying a few years back among Christians: WWJD: What Would Jesus Do? As followers of Jesus (living by His example)  we need to concern ourselves with WDJD: What Did Jesus Do? It is obvious that many Christians do not have in their mind the historical Biblical Jesus, but a "Jesus" whom they make up in their own mind. When you walk as Jesus did you will see how other Christians really view the Biblical Jesus. When you are a true follower of Christ, living as He lived, you will quickly see how many professing Christians truly have hatred in their heart and hold in contempt the true historical Biblical Jesus of Nazareth. Be a true follower of Jesus of Nazareth, walk as the Biblical Christ walked and renounce the “Jesus” you have made up in your own mind! Don’t let your pride blind you to your own sinful behavior! Remember: If you are a follower Jesus and walk as He walked it is absolutely inevitable that you will experience conflicts with the hypocritical and/or institutional religious people of your day.  "Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." Heb 12:3