Religion vs. (Real) Christianity

In my one native tongue, the word “religion”, when translated directly into English, means “God-service”, i.e. serving God. If we were to ask a number of people to define religion I am certain several will say something along the lines of “rituals or systems for pleasing God.” The idea of religion being the act of “serving God” seems to be core to what we understand a religion to be. There is one exception though, and that is true Christianity. In real Christianity the focus is not on us serving God, but rather on God serving us.

Does the idea of God serving us, of God being our servant, bother you? That is a normal reaction. In this world the custom is for the weak to serve the powerful. The powerful seldom serve the weak.

Keep in mind that according to Christianity, Jesus is the Incarnation of God; in other words, Jesus is God in human form. Therefore, when we study the character of Jesus, we in fact have a case study of God’s character. What do we see when we look at the ministry of Jesus? Jesus served the people. Sometimes we think that Jesus did what He did merely as an example to us. While it is true that we can learn from Jesus’ example, that is not the reason He served the sad, the hungry, the lame, the blind, the sick and sin stained souls. He served them, because that is His character – that is God’s character.

On one peculiar occasion, Jesus started to wash the feet of his disciples (John 13). Washing someone’s feet was considered the job of the lowest servant. One of Jesus’ disciples, Peter, vehemently protested. “Lord, are you going to wash my feet? You will never wash my feet!” Jesus interrupted his tangent, explaining that if He doesn’t wash Peter’s feet, the disciple cannot be part of Him. Why? Because, accepting Jesus (i.e. accepting God), is accepting this inverted role of power: God serving us, not us serving Him.

To be a Christian is first and foremost not about us serving God, it is about accepting God’s service to us. Firstly by acknowledging God’s redemptive deed at the Cross (however we understand it); and secondly, by accepting God’s continual service to us even now. That is an essential principle of true Christianity. Flowing from this is a remarkable transformation. When we comprehend how a Being of such unfathomable magnitude and power could become our “servant”, we respond with active gratitude. Because God serves us, because God demonstrated such undeserved love to us, we want to respond in loving service back to God.

This is the difference between true Christianity and other religions that worship deities. Worshipping God, serving God, is never in an attempt to appease or influence God. It is always in response to God’s goodness toward us: “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 8:5).

As Joyce Meyers like to say: Jesus did not die on the cross so that we could have a religion. He died on the cross so that we could have a relationship with Him.