Here is an awesome blog from Stephen Lutz that I simply copy/pasted from TheGospelCoalition webpage (which is awesome by the way). Lutz’s article explains the dynamic that our Christian lives should emulate by reevaluating the idea of Religion vs. Relationship that we all hear about so much.
Check it out:
It’s common for well-meaning Christians on campus to say, “Being a Christian is not about religion. It’s about a relationship.” But in our post-Christendom era, this line is both tired and discounted by the unchurched and dechurched. Secularists rightfully point out much that is still “religious” about the Christian faith. (If they’re really savvy, they’ll reference verses like 1 Timothy 5:4 and James 1:26-27.) Neither do they find talk of relationship very persuasive, because non-Christian “spiritual” people already have a crowded buffet of spiritual relationships from which to choose.
Both religion and relationship capture helpful aspects of what Christianity is, but neither word is strong enough to fully encapsulate what Christianity is about. Only gospel can do that. The gospel alone is the power of salvation for all who believe (Romans 1:16); no amount of our religious observance or relational feeling has the power to save.
Many of us are aware of how religion easily becomes a work, through legalistic observance of rules and rituals, but sometimes we forget that relationship can fall into the same traps. While the legalist chases adherence to the rules, the relationist chases the next feel-good moment. In this sense, relationship can become just another type of salvation by works among pietistic people, going from one passionate mountaintop experience to another.
Christianity is expressed and experienced in both religion and relationship. But it’s not about either. Only the gospel occupies that central place. The gospel is not merely an initiation for new converts but the foundation for everyone. The gospel—in all its depth, riches, and fullness—must be repeatedly proclaimed to believer and unbeliever, churched and unchurched alike.
To read more:
http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2011/09/30/5-necessary-shifts-for-missional-college-ministry/
