No. 60, July 2003

 

WAS JESUS RELIGIOUS?

 

       It may come as a surprise to most people that religion does not fare well in the Bible. It is not mentioned at all in the Old Testament. No prophet ever calls people to religion or to be religious, and no psalmist extols religion as such. While the word religion or religious appears five times in the New Testament (KJV), there is only one instance where it is treated favorably. Even in that passage   James 1   “pure and undefiled religion” (v. 27) is contrasted with “useless religion” (v. 26). The other instances refer to either Jewish religion (Acts 25:19; 26:5) or the “very religious” Athenians (Acts 17:22), which some versions render “superstitious.”

 

       It is noteworthy that while Paul referred to his life as a Pharisee as “the strictest sect of our religion,” he never refers to his faith in Christ as religion. While he at least once referred to pagans as religious, he never describes Christians that way. No writer of the New Testament even hints of Jesus introducing a new religion.

 

       This may be because religion is usually seen in terms of dogmas, systems, priestly sacrifices, altars   with emphasis on outward forms, often to the neglect of the heart. Jesus showed an adamant indifference to all such   including fasting and the sabbath, which were part of the law of Moses. He in fact exposed the religion of the Jewish clergy as “you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves” (Mt. 23:15).

 

       Our Lord used “righteous” and “righteousness” where others might use religion. “Except your righteousness exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees. . . (Mt. 5:20). “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness. . (Mt. 6:33). Jesus urged that we seek righteousness, not religion.

 

       That is a vital distinction   righteousness rather than religion. Jesus defined righteousness at his baptism. When John was reluctant to baptize him, he said, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Righteousness is the heart’s resolve to do God’s will.

 

       Jesus pointedly drew the distinction in the story of the tax collector and the Pharisee in Luke 18. The Pharisee was religious   he fasted, tithed, and was not a sinner like other men, including the despised tax collector. The tax collector did not presume even to approach the altar, nor to lift his eyes toward heaven. He stood afar off, and smote his breast, saying, “God, be merciful to me a sinner.” Jesus said it was the tax collector who was righteous. It was the other guy who was religious   religious but not righteous.

 

       It is a sobering distinction. I sometimes think of it as I “go to church”   a very religious thing as the world sees religion. I join others in such forms as praise, prayer, alms, and breaking of bread. Religion! But am I righteous in what I do?

 

       Jesus must have been thinking this way when he taught that relationships are more important than ritual, as in Mt. 5:23-24 when he said, “If you bring your gift to the altar, and remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.” Reconciliation before religion!

 

       Billy Sunday, the great evangelist, had a way of slapping his knee with his Bible and crying out, “Don’t forget that it was religion that killed Jesus!” He would never have said that righteousness killed Jesus. That may be what is “killing” the church today and confusing the world   religion. It is righteousness that exalts a nation   or a church   not religion.

 

       We live in a world where there is much religion  whether in Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Afghanistan, Russia   and it is often practiced with fanatical devotion. But where is the righteousness   hearts devoted to doing God’s will   love for God and love for neighbor?

 

       Jesus was righteous (Acts 3:14), but was he religious? Look at the crowd he ran with! Many of us in the church today are religious. Look at the crowd we run with! But are we righteous?   Leroy

  

 

A FAREWELL TOUCH

(Last essay after 51 years)

 

       Even though several prophets were touched by angels, Daniel is unique in being touched thrice, all in one episode. In chapter 10 of the book that bears his name he is depicted as overwhelmed by the visions that unfolded before him. He “lost his strength” and his “vigor was turned to frailty.” An angelic visitation finds him in a deep sleep with his face to the ground. He was suffering from too much revelation   apocalyptic revelation!

 

       Then came an angel’s first touch, but this compounded his anxiety. His knees knocked together and his hands trembled. The angel spoke tenderly, assuring the prophet that God loved him “Stand upright,” the angel told him, “for God has sent me to you.” Daniel managed to stand upright before the angel, but he stood there trembling and speechless.

 

       The angel tells him not to be afraid, for he had come in response to his prayer to God. The prophet had prayed for an answer as to what was going to happen to his people then suffering persecution. The angel was soon to reveal what was to happen to God’s chosen people over the next four centuries, which is outlined in chapter 11.

 

       The second touch was on Daniel’s lips, enabling him to speak. He explains to the angel that he is something of a basket case, that because of the vision “my sorrows have overwhelmed me, and I have retained no strength.” He wants to know how he can be expected to stand there and converse with an angel from heaven!

 

       We can all identify with Daniel’s problem. Not many of us could all that easily stand in the gap and carry on a conversation with an angel!

 

       Then came the third touch   and it was as beautiful and it was brief. The prophet simply says, “Then one having the likeness of a man touched me and strengthened me.” The angel again speaks of God’s love for him, and tells him not to fear, but to be strong.

 

       Daniel   touched by an angel the third time   was now ready to hear the breathtaking revelation about the future. “Speak,” the prophet tells him, “for you have strengthened me.”

 

       I come away from this story with a concept that will not let me go   the language of touch.

 

       The great poets knew the language of touch. Shakespeare has Romeo say of Juliet: “See! How she leans her cheek upon her hand; O! that I were a glove upon that hand, That I might touch that cheek.” And Tennyson laments a lost love one: “But O for the touch of a vanish’d hand, and the sound of a voice that is still.”

 

       Our Lord had a touching ministry. He touched eyes that were blind, ears that were deaf, and tongues that could not speak. He healed by touching. When he was called to the bedside of Peter’s sick mother-in-law, “He touched her hand and the fever left her” (Mt. 8:15). Little children were brought to him “that He might touch them” (Mk. 10:13.). He even touched despised lepers, and they were made whole (Mt. 8:3).

 

       Not only did Jesus touch so as to heal and comfort, but he allowed himself to be touched by those who sought healing. The desperate woman with a flow of blood resolved that “If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well” (Mt. 9:21). He was sometimes surrounded by a crowd of sick people, begging that “they might only touch the hem of his garment. And as many as touched it were made perfectly well” (Mt. 14:36).

 

 

       The language of touch may speak louder than words. I’ve experienced this in my many visits to nursing homes. Often I would do little more than hold the hand of one who had long since given up all hope. When words seem inappropriate, a loving embrace of a friend immersed in grief can be wonderfully consoling. We do well to stoop down and touch a child who may feel left out in the company of adults. It is a language that a child understands.

 

       But we must be careful about a hands-on touch, for some people don’t want to be touched, and that’s OK. There are other ways of touching   an encouraging word, a kindly note, a thoughtful phone call, or by simply being there for them. It is the same language. Ouida tells the story of a friend who called on her mother shortly after Ouida’s father died of a heart attack while helping a man who had been shot in a hunting accident. The old friend did not say a word, and he did not physically touch her. He simply sat with her as if the grief were his own. Ouida’s mother often referred to that visit as the most consoling during that grievous time.

 

       Lest we forget, there is a language that reaches beyond words. It is the language of touch   applied in different ways.

 

       I want to believe that this is what I’ve been up to the past half century in my writings. Not words only, but words in the language of touch, and that means to write from the heart to the heart. I’ve sought to challenge you to think, to entertain new ideas, to question old dogmas, and to encourage you to hang in and not give up, for help is on the way. I’ve sought to lead you to “Entertain foreign states of mind,” to quote William James. Above all, I’ve urged you to stake out your claim for freedom in Christ.

 

       My farewell touch will be when   for the last time I apply the address label to your copy of this newsletter that has your name on it. That is my job. Ouida prints the labels from the computer and I apply them to the newsletter, all 2,078 of them. As I apply your label  touch your name   I will pray for you that you will grow in Christlikeness, right on into eternity.

 

       That may not be like being touched by an angel, but it is my way of saying Farewell and Soldier on.

 

       As Ouida and I walk on into the sunset of life we covet your prayers as well   your touch on us   and the same prayer will do, that we too might grow to be more and more like Christ, right into eternity. That is what all this has been about all these years, the pursuit of Christlikeness.   Leroy

 

 

 

OUIDA’S FAREWELL

 

       How do I say goodbye to old friends after over a half a century? We are old friends   even though most of us have never met   because I see your names so often on our mailing list I even know the handwriting of many of you by way of your letters, book orders, and subscription renewals through the years. We have shared many ideas and have witnessed many changes, not only in the world but in the church as. well.

 

       We have seen mind-boggling change in our personal lives. When we mailed the first issue of Bible Talk in October of 1952 little did we realize what was in store for us. A force was set in motion that we could not have predicted. My free thinking husband had a lover’s quarrel with the church, and he set about to help it make some important changes. We take heart that some of these have been at least partly realized.

 

       But not without opposition. Soon after our first issue appeared, one prominent editor   Yater Tant in the Gospel Guardian   predicted that our little paper would suffer an early demise, and that an appropriate epitaph would be Opened by mistake! It was a long time before it got better than that It took some getting used to, but some of it I never got used to   such as when Leroy called from Tennessee to tell me the brethren had put him in jail!

 

       We started out with manual   hand-stamped   equipment After a few years we progressed to electrical equipment, and finally to a computer. We sorted our first issue by spreading it out on the floor, arranging it by states. In time mailing became more complicated. The post office began to require that we sort by zip code, then by the first three digits, and then by the area distribution center. The mailing of that first issue cost only a few dollars, but the cost has so escalated through the years that it now rivals the cost of printing.

 

       Leroy decided from the beginning that he would not ask for money. If the publication could not sustain itself, we would let it die. The one dollar subscription cost of the paper   and finally five dollars   could not possibly cover the cost, but there were enough people who believed in what we were doing that they sent donations   large and small. Book sales helped some. When Leroy received an honorarium for speaking it went toward the publication of the paper. True to his decision, he never asked for money, but we always met our obligations. The Lord provides!

 

       My responsibilities have been to keep up the subscription list, address the labels, sort them for the post office, keep the books, and pay the bills. I will not shed a tear when all of that comes to an end! Leroy’s responsibilities have been awesome. He taught full time all those years and was obliged to write a twenty-page journal each month ten times each year.

 

       Even though it has been an arduous task, I would not have missed it My mother was right when she said before we were married, “If you marry Leroy you will not die from boredom   excitement maybe   but not boredom!”   Ouida

 

 

 Between Us . . .

 

       That this is our last issue does not have to mean a final goodbye. We can stay in touch. You may still write or call. You may still order books. You may even be coming our way and can drop by for a visit. Denton is on the way to a lot of places. We can also keep in touch in cyberspace. Starting in September I plan to write an article each week   similar to those that have appeared in this newsletter   and send it e-mail to those who request it, and only to those who request it. If you wish to be included, send your request to us at leroy.ouida@worldnet.att.net

 

       We still do not have an exact date from the ACU Press as to when A Lover’s Quarrel: My Pilgrimage of Freedom in Churches of Christ by Leroy Garrett will be published. But if you have ordered the book, it will be sent to you when published, with the invoice enclosed and at 20% discount off the list price, which itself should be moderate. You may still order the book   at 20% discount   in one of three ways: by writing to us e-mail, by regular mail, or by calling us at 940-891-0494. You may order multiple copies at the same 20% discount. While it will be something of a task   since we already have almost 500 orders   I plan to autograph each book. We have had so many requests for an autographed copy that I’ve decided to do them all. Ouida thought I might have a signature stamp made   like banks and famous people sometimes use. No stamp. It will be an authentic signature.

 

       Ouida insists that I urge this upon you: If in the meantime   before the book is published   you have a change of address, please inform us of your new address.

 

       In recent newsletters we’ve given you portions of the book   the Introduction and two addenda. In this issue we give you three of the twenty-one pictures that appear in the book. But the pictures are more than that in this newsletter. They are part of our farewell to you   an expression of our appreciation for your putting up with us all these years. Beside, I want you to see how lovely Ouida was when I first found her, and   for those who have not yet met her   to see how lovely she still is, a beauty reflected in her soul as well.

 

       It took some effort on my part to get Ouida to write a farewell note to our many readers who have come to love her, having never seen her. She did not want to say goodbye, or didn’t know how to say it. So I told her to say farewell without saying farewell! You’ll want to read what she came up with.

 

       We are all together walking toward God’s tomorrow   just at different points along the way.

        I rejoice that I have lived to see greater interest in studying our own history. ACU Press has recently published two titles that we recommend: Renewing God’s People: A Concise History of Churches of Christ by Gary Holloway and Douglas Foster. $16 postpaid;

 

       Recovering A Heritage: Reflections on the Heart, Soul and Future of Churches of Christ by Richard Hughes, $16 postpaid. These titles  mainly about Churches of Christ   go well with The Stone-Campbell Movement by Leroy Garrett, which treats the movement as a whole. $35 postpaid.

 

       We are indebted to Leonard Allen and his Leafwood Publishers for high caliber books especially for Churches of Christ. We told you in our last about The Jesus Proposal by Rubel Shelly and John York, a book about Christian unity that both informs and inspires. $20 postpaid. Sundays with Scottie by Milton Jones is about what a minister learned from one of his members with cerebral palsy   a warm-hearted book that would be an ideal gift. $11 postpaid. Down in the River to Pray by John Mark Hicks and Greg Taylor is a significant re-evaluation of how baptism should be viewed in Churches of Christ. $16 postpaid. Come to the Table by John Mark Hicks is a groundbreaking study of how we should view the Lord’s supper. $14 postpaid.

 

       It is well these days to know about the Muslim faith. Christ and Islam: Understanding the Faith of the Muslims gets to the heart of it. $6.00 postpaid.

 

       We can still provide The Twisted Scriptures by Carl Ketcherside for $9.00 postpaid, and Our Heritage in Unity and Fellowship by Carl Ketcherside and Leroy Garrett for $12.00

 

       We are virtually giving away the back issues of Restoration Review that we still have on our shelves   one copy of each (as many as 15 or so) for only $5.00.