Somebody like Ravi Zacharias will have a perfect apologetics answer based in study and theology for this question. Me, not so much…
But it is an important question. If we, as I believe we are supposed to be, live in the world and function in world. If we are to salt the world, and bring light. If we are to change the shape of culture and morality… then we are going to run into this question headlong.
We think that we are under attack, the Christians, the “Church” … but really… we are not. By and large, we live comfortably and we are simply offended by sin around us, and yet, somehow, we have lost sight of how our faith was born, and how it developed over time.
And that is a fact. It has developed. Right in the beginning of Acts, the disciples and leaders came together to discuss the matter of bringing “the way” to gentiles (essentially anyone not from the Jewish Faith) and then later, abandoning the requirement for circumcision for non-Jewish believers.
Faith. This is what the Jews had, and what most of us claim. We believe in a Living God that takes care of us and has our best interests at heart. We can trust in Him, we have faith in His decisions and paths and how He guides us in our lives.
Religion develops when you try to put your faith in a bottle and use it as a tool. A set of rules. A recipe to make God do what you want Him to do (worst case) or a set of rules to help you not offend God (maybe even worse?) – It is, however, important to remember, that religion claims faith, and passionately believe that they are doing what they are doing for the right reasons! And make no mistake, we all try and build a “God” recipe at some point in our lives, even unbelievers do… their gods might just be hard work, ethical behaviors and moral lifestyles.
And then there is a Relationship – complete faith, an understanding of the rules (which is there), but the ability to speak to and learn from God Himself. The freedom to ask, the freedom to make mistakes, the freedom to learn, and live, and thereby increasing in Faith as we increase in knowledge and grow in a relationship with our Father.
Apollos (Acts 18) is a great example of a man that lived in all three states simultaneously. Apollos was a devout Jew and was considered educated and cultured. The Bible says he was “strong in the scriptures” (i.e. the torah, the old testament) But he was also converted to “The Way” and has accepted Jesus as his Lord and Saviour, making disciples everywhere he went. But he was also open in his understanding so that Priscilla and Aquila could take him aside and teach him more, and he listened, and learned and his relationship with God grew… we go on to see him a few more times in the bible.
Both Paul and Apollos had the religious knowledge, the Faith in a Living God and the relationship to sustain them in truly heathen cities. Which they specifically travelled to, to bring the word of a resurrected Jesus to the people.
When we read the bible, we refer to the book of Ephesians, or Corinthians and speak with reverence because the knowledge from those books is so powerful. The words cut into our hearts. We quote scriptures from them. We see them with rose coloured glasses, but Corinth, where Paul went to, on purpose, and stayed for a year and a half – teaching the word of God, was the place to be for prostitution. It was the hotbed (no pun intended) of lust and lasciviousness and quite literally the way of life if you lived there.
The temple of Aphrodite had more than 1,000 courtesans ‘servicing’ the worshippers, where the only rule was pleasure. That was at least 1 “official” prostitute for every 90 people living in the city. And for the longest time in history, saying someone was from Corinth, literally meant that they were immoral and it was more or less a fact that if a person was depicted in a play or music as a Corinthian, they were referring to a debauched drunk. Even in the church, immorality was rampant, and mostly just seen as a way of life. This is where Paul worked.
Apollos, on the other hand, came to another of our romantic cities, Ephesus. Interestingly enough, Ephesus is known to be the first place where an advertisement is known to have been made (an offer to visit a house of negotiable affection, with directions, carved in a paving stone) but what Ephesus was known for was the occult. It was historically known as the centre for powerful practitioners of magic and the place to cast spells. Can you imagine the demonic powers that reigned there? Well. That is where Apollos went to, and met up with Priscilla and Aquila.
Now, you cannot survive here with religion, or simple faith… only a relationship with the Living God, the Father, Teacher, Provider and Sustainer will keep you going.
But not only that. It is the only salvation for the people you work with. Have you ever had a conversation with anybody in any form of hedonistic lifestyle? How do you convince them to give up their exciting worldly pleasures and rather follow a strict diet of abstinence and morality? Not going to happen. The only thing that will attract their attention is your relationship with Christ. The relationship that fills that void in their chest, that emptiness in their hearts that they try to fill themselves with any kind of worldly pleasure or stimulant or money.
Which begs the question. Are we hiding in cell groups and churches and faith communities because our relationship with our Father is weak? Because our armor is a bit rusty, and we can’t find our sword, which is the word of God?
Unlike Apollos that could argue and debate with the Jews within the confines of their religion, proving undeniably that although they followed the right God, they lost the plot… an unbeliever, needs to be convicted by the Holy Spirit, and that will only happen if they interact with someone that has that spirit and the relationship with the Father.
And interaction will only happen on their turf, not yours.
