Jesus is greater than religion

Nathan Harding

1st April 2012

1. Jesus is greater than religion

*All human beings are religious
*"We cannot do that"- a moral statement
*Not traditional but internally a type of system
*Religious ties you down to rules and regulations
*We live by someone's rules before
*We feel good when we tick the boxes
*We wish that we do not need to tick the boxes
*How different is Jesus' idea from us

Romans 8:1:

Life Through the Spirit

 ¹ Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,

*"If you have faith in me, throw the ten commandments away"

John 10:10: ¹⁰ The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

*For us, there is no condemnation

Jesus is greater than our own personal religion

2. Jesus is Greater than your concept of God's love

*Conditional love
*We sometimes shape God's experience for our own comfort

Ephesians 3:18-19: ¹⁸ may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, ¹⁹ and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.

*Personal perception of love may altered our ability to love God
*God's love is not instinctive to us
*"My ways are not your ways"

3. Jesus is Greater than our church experience

*Jesus is not our church experience
Romans 3:4: ⁴ Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written:
   “So that you may be proved right when you speak
   and prevail when you judge.”
 
*Instead of combining truth of God and experience, we should separate them because experience and his character has nothing to do
*Jesus offers totally distinctive ways which are not our own ways
*He is giving an opportunity for us to be free
 


**Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path**