Christianity is based on an event

Isaiah 66:1-2

“Thus says the LORD: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest?  All these things my hand has made, and so all these things came to be, declares the LORD. But this is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.”  (Isaiah 66:1-2 ESV)

It is my opinion that humans have in their DNA the call to worship; and worship can be problematic; both difficult and challenging.  The other night Jan and I were watching Andy Stanley and he made this statement; “Believe deeply enough and any religious system becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.”  Andy makes it clear, as children we are told to believe certain things by our parents, teachers, priest, or preachers, and most of us say yes and it forms our belief system.  

So what you believe, especially about God, has much to do with the DNA of your faith, if you see Him as a grandfather type who gives you everything you want, you will have doubts when prayers are not answered and you don’t get what you want.  Andy made a great point, when Jesus died on the cross what did His disciples and followers believe?  They believed He was dead.  They forgot much of His teaching, like John 14:6, where Jesus claimed to be the only way to God, what they believed was lost in the observation of being a witness to His death.  So why did they give their lives to a dead man?  At this point His followers drew this conclusion, we hope He was the Messiah, but we were eyewitnesses to His death, and we believe He is dead. 

And yet three days later some of these same people who had a crisis of faith saw Jesus, some touched Him, some talked with Him, and some ate with Him.  When He went to His Father, over 500 witnessed the event.  Andy explains that Christianity is based on an event, not a system.

When God makes the statement in Isaiah 66:1-2 that you read above, many are still trying to build a building for Him or even falsely believing God has made their place of worship more holy than all others.   We would be wise to look to the Scriptures; the apostle Paul states in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, “Don’t you know that your body is a sanctuary of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God in your body.”  If you by faith have entered into Christ, He has also entered into you.

As a follower of Christ your belief system should be based on an event of God’s grace, when you by faith entered into a relationship with Jesus.  And the hard work began the day you entered into that relationship, and let me be clear, we all came into our relationship with idols.  It is referred to as flesh in the Bible and we are told it wars against the Spirit.  Billy Graham and the Pope have the same problem as you and I have, to live and walk guided by God’s Holy Spirit means that death to the flesh and its desires is required. This is what our Father in heaven has made clear to us: “O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.”  The prophet Isaiah also stated in Isaiah 57:15 this insight; “For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.”

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice