Jesus Contends with Religion

by Donald Miller

Jesus pulls no punches in calling the Jews on their own self deception. They are a people steeped in religious tradition. They go to temple. They observe the sacred holidays. They perform rituals. It would be very difficult to then transfer a sense of security based in sacrifice and action to a security based in faith, even if the man making the request was performing miracles.


As Christians, we are, of course, not Jews, we do not slaughter animals or perform rituals. Our faith, supposedly, is in Christ. And yet we have developed our own sense of security outside of Christ that we call church or christianity or Bible study or discipleship. There is, of course, nothing wrong with this, but it’s hardly the source of our security. Our security is in Christ and Christ alone.

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The great crisis of the church goer is that his action does not save him. He must base his faith on someone outside his control. He cannot make Christ redeem him, or manipulate Christ into redeeming him. He cannot trick Christ or impress Christ into giving him what he wants. He can only trust Christ. And this is a frightening reality.

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So let me ask you this. If you stopped going to church for years, and never picked up your Bible again, would you still believe your eternal security rested in the good and gracious heart of Christ, despite your lack of ritual? If not, then part of your security is based in religion, and it’s a false security.

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