Religion or Relationship

If I asked you to tell me how you would recognize someone who knows God and has a relationship with God, the few things you would likely mention are that they fear God, they pray and worship always, they serve in the church or society, and that they are generous. These things are great. They are some of the ways by which we can demonstrate our worship to God. There is a story in Acts 10 about a Centurion who did all these things.

Acts 10:1-6 NKJV

There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment, a devout man and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always. About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, “Cornelius!” And when he observed him, he was afraid, and said, “What is it, Lord?” So he said to him, “Your prayers and your alms have come up for a memorial before God. Now send men to Joppa, and send for Simon whose surname is Peter. He is lodging with Simon, a tanner, whose house is by the sea. He will tell you what you must do.

It was clear that God recognized all the good things he did. The angel told him that “your prayers and your alms have come up to God for a memorial.” But the emphasis in the above text is, “He will tell you what you must do.” It was also clear that even after doing all these ‘good works’, he was still not doing what He mustdo. 

I am also reminded of the conversation between Jesus and the Scribes and Pharisees. Now, the Scribes and Pharisees were considered experts in the teaching, interpretation, and enforcement of the law and tradition in the scriptures (the law of Moses). The Jews considered them teachers of the law. On the outside, they were the go-to people on any matters concerning the law. But see how Jesus addresses them. The story is in Matthew 23. Jesus begins by telling the people to beware of the Scribes and Pharisees because they are not as they seem. Then He goes on to address them directly.

Matthew 23:27-28 NKJV 

Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. Even so you also outwardly appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

This is only a tip of the iceberg of woes Jesus pronounced on them. He specifically told them that they outwardly appear righteous to men but are full of “dead men’s bones” on the inside.

Now, what’s the difference between Cornelius and the Pharisees, you may ask?  The difference was the state of their heart. While the Pharisees did what they did intentionally, knowing full well they were lawless and not showing righteous judgment, Cornelius did all of the good works with a purer heart.

The Pharisees did things to earn the ‘Rabbi’ title in public, Cornelius did good works because he feared the Lord. The Pharisees “neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy and faith” (Matthew 23:23) while Cornelius had not done the one thing He ought to do, which was to have faith by listening to the words through which He would be saved (Acts 11:13-14).

The message to both of them was the same. For the Pharisees, faith was to believe in what Jesus was going to do, and for Cornelius, since Jesus had died and resurrected, faith meant believing in all that He accomplished on the Cross. This was exactly what they should have done, yet they had not.

Here's the message – good works are great. They are encouraged. The Bible teaches that we should do them. In fact, God wants us to do them (Ephesians 2:10). However, without salvation (faith in all that God did in Jesus Christ on the Cross for us), all the good works are nothing but a memorial – meaning that God sees them, but nothing more. We would still be full of ‘dead bones’ and still in Sin.

Good works cannot save anyone. God will not see good works and grant anyone salvation outside of faith in the Gospel. Without salvation, good works are just religious activities. In Christ, good works are proof that we have a relationship with God. So, it is great that you give alms, fear God, pray always, and serve. But when God looks at you, would it be religion or relationship?