Sabaraha kali urang Kristen nyebutkeun, "Kami henteu gaduh agama tapi hubungan. We are freed from religion and don’t have to anymore.” They are proud that they don’t adhere to a religion like previous generations and must do things and be bound by rules, but that they have been made free through Jesus Christ and have a relationship with God. Religion is related to legalism; keeping the law, having to, sieun, panghukuman, and punishment, and they are freed from that. They don’t ‘have to’ anymore but are redeemed and live in freedom. It all sounds so pious and wonderful and of course, we have a relationship with God by faith and regeneration in Christ instead of a dead religion. But to many, these words of having a relationship instead of religion is a disguised form of pride and rebellion against God, because they are not willing to submit to God and His Word and His commandments and don’t want to be told what to do, but they want to live their own lives and make their own decisions, without God and His Word being part of it. They say they have a relationship with God, but from their daily lives, their relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit is hard to find. Because what does their relationship look like and consist of?
Flesh vs spirit
Ieu kuring nyarios, Leumpang dina sumanget, sareng ye moal ngatasi hawa nafsu daging. Pikeun daging lusteth ngalawan Roh, sareng sumanget ngalawan daging: sareng ieu sabalikna hiji ka anu sanés: Janten éta henteu tiasa ngalakukeun hal anu anjeun bakal. Tapi upami anjeun janten sumanget, yeuh henteu di handapeun hukum (Galata 5:16-18).
“We don’t have to do anything anymore. We don’t have to keep the commandments of God, we don’t have to pray, we don’t have to fast, we don’t have to study the Bible, we don’t have to tithe, we don’t have to … (eusian nu kosong)”.
No, you don’t have to do all these things to be saved. You can’t earn your salvation by your works and/or by keeping the law of Moses.
Kanggo ku Rahmat nyaéta disimpen ku iman; sareng éta henteu sorangan: Éta mangrupikeun kado Allah: Henteu dianggo, Hiberi lalaki naon waé. Pikeun urang mangrupikeun karyana, Dijieun dina Kristus Yesus ka karya anu saé, Gusti anu dianggurkeun sateuacan ditunjuk yén urang kedah leumpang di aranjeunna (Efesians 2:8-10)
Salvation is the gift of grace of God, which He has given, first to the Jewish people (His carnal covenant people) and then to the heathen.
God has given everyone the ability to be saved and be redeemed from the power of the devil and the kingdom of darkness and to become a new creation; putra Allah (Ieu manglaku pikeun lalaki sareng bikang). Everyone makes their own decision to believe in Jesus Christ, putra Allah, and be saved by Him or not.
The new man shall establish the law
But the secret of regeneration is, that if you are born of God and have become a new creation, putra Allah, sareng parantos nampi alam anyar, Gods nature, and Christ abides in you by the Holy Spirit and the law of His Kingdom reigns in your heart, you shall fulfill the law of the Kingdom of God, kawas Yesus, Who walked after the Spirit and fulfilled the law (Baca ogé: ‘Kumaha anjeun netepkeun hukum?').
You shall fulfill the law, because you love God with all your heart, jiwa, pikiran, and strength and yield yourself to Him and live after His will.
From your love to God, anjeun bakal bogoh ka tatangga anjeun sakumaha ka diri sorangan, which doesn’t mean that you accept the sins and idolatry of your neighbor, but that you, salaku conto, don’t covet the things of your neighbor and therefore don’t commit fornication and adultery and divorce, don’t cheat, don’t steal from your neighbor, don’t lie against your neighbor, don’t kill your neighbor, but forgive your neighbor and be faithful and so on.
If you are born of God and have received God’s nature and the Holy Spirit abides in you, lajeng hukum Allah, which represents the will of God is written in your heart. And if you love God with all your heart, jiwa, pikiran, and strength and the law of the Spirit is in you, you shall yield to God and His Word and do His will (Pikeun. Jeremize 31:31-34, Ezekiel 36:26-27, Urang Romawi 2:14-16, Ibrani 8:8-13).
It’s not a matter of ‘have to’ but ‘want Pikeun‘
Yesus ngajawab sareng nyarios ka anjeunna, if a man love Me, anjeunna bakal ngajaga kecap Kami: jeung Rama Kami bakal mikanyaah manéhna, jeung Kami bakal datang ka manéhna, sarta nyieun abode kami kalawan anjeunna. Anu teu mikanyaah ka Kami, henteu ngajaga omongan Kami: jeung kecap nu anjeun ngadangu teu milik kuring, tapi Rama anu ngutus Kami (John 14:23-24)
If you are born again and walk after the Spirit, then it’s not a matter of ‘have to’ tapi 'hayang'. You are reconciled with God and united with Him and don’t do things concerning God and the Kingdom of God out of legalism and an obligation, but out of your love for God.
Jesus Christ has redeemed you and your love for Him and your gratitude towards Him should become visible in your life through your faith and your works.
Your life as the new creation; putra Allah, should be different than your previous life as the old creation, when you belonged to the devil and the devil was your father.
You are no longer an enemy of God and you shall not exalt yourself above God anymore and walk in pride and rebellion towards God in obedience to the will of the flesh, which has the nature of the devil and in which sin and death reign.
But through the death of the flesh and the resurrection of the spirit from the dead, you are delivered from the power of the devil and sin and death and you are reconciled with God and have become a son of God and therefore you shall live in obedience to your new Father and from your relationship with Him after His will.
Your life no longer revolves around yourself and pleasing your flesh, but around Jesus Christ and pleasing, honoring, and exalting Him and God the Father.
The spirit wants to spend time with God, the flesh doesn’t want to spend time with God
Hal anu ogé urang nyarios, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; ngabandingkeun hal spiritual sareng spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: pikeun aranjeunna bodo ka anjeunna: ngayakeun anjeunna terang aranjeunna, Kusabab aranjeunna sacara spirium. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. Pikeun anu parantos terang pikiran Gusti, supaya anjeunna tiasa ngalatih anjeunna? Tapi urang boga pikiran Kristus (1 urang Korinta 2:13-16)
Upami anjeun parantos janten ciptaan anyar, putra Allah, then you love God and want to spend time with Him. Henteu sabab anjeun kedah, Tapi kusabab anjeun hoyong.
Your spirit wants to pray to the Father and study His Word and be taught, dilereskeun, jeung lasung ku Roh Suci, not for selfish reasons and selfish gain, but to get to know God and His will and spiritually mature into the image of Christ, so that you please, honor and exalt God through your life.
But the flesh doesn’t want to isolate and spend time with God. The flesh loves itself and wants to feed its lusts and desires and wants to be entertained by (hal tina) the world and have fun with friends.
The flesh doesn’t want to be alone and can’t be alone and abhors reading the Bible let alone studying the Bible, since the words of God are foolishness to him and the Word reveals and condemns the works of the flesh and the flesh doesn’t want that.
The flesh wants to be pleased, dihibur, and fed by the world and receive what the flesh wants. And so the flesh reigns as king and the flesh keeps reigning as king in people’s lives.
What defines a relationship?
Hanjakalna, in this day and age, the definition of a relationship has been distorted and taken on a path of its own. How many people claim to have a relationship, without spending time with a person.
How many times do sons and/or daughters say, that they have a good relationship with their parent(s), while the parent(s) think otherwise, because sometimes there are weeks in between that they speak and/or visit their parents. And if they contact or visit their parents it’s many times out of obligation or because they have problems and/or need something, but not because they long for their parents and want to be with their parents and spend time with their parents.
In their mind, they think they have a good relationship without visiting the parent(s) and without spending time with the parent(s) jeung pikir maranéhna ngubaran kolotna(s) ogé, tapi kanyataanana jeung karya maranéhanana nyebutkeun hal sejenna.
Karya maranéhanana nyebutkeun jeung ngabuktikeun yén teu bener boga hubungan jeung teu bogoh ka kolotna, sabab upami aranjeunna leres-leres cinta ka kolotna, aranjeunna hoyong nyéépkeun waktos sareng aranjeunna sareng ngalakukeun naon anu pikaresepeun sareng henteu ngantepkeun nasibna..
Maranéhna bakal kabetot sarta bakal ngadéngékeun kolotna sarta henteu ngalakukeun hal-hal anu nganyenyeri maranéhna atawa nyieun sedih. Sareng sami pikeun iman.
Seueur anu nyarios, aranjeunna gaduh hubungan sareng Yesus Kristus, bari dina kanyataan, maranehna teu boga hubungan jeung Yesus Kristus; kecap, tapi boga hubungan jeung hiji Yesus imajinér, saha anu geus dijieun dina pikiran maranéhanana jeung anu mikir, nyarios, jeung kalakuan jiga maranehna (Baca ogé: ‘A Yesus palsu ngahasilkeun Kristen palsu’).
Maranéhanana mikir yén maranéhanana leumpang sanggeus sumanget jeung cinta Allah jeung nyaho Anjeunna, while they spend their time to the things of the world and find that more important than spending time with The Father in prayer and reading and studying the Word.
The spirit wants to pray, the flesh doesn’t want to pray
Sareng nalika anjeun sholat, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: Pikeun maranéhanana resep solat nangtung di synagogues jeung di juru jalan, ambéh maranéhanana bisa ditempo ku lalaki. Verily Kuring nyebutkeun ka anjeun, They have their reward. Tapi anjeun, nalika anjeun solat, asup kana lomari anjeun, sareng nalika anjeun nutup panto anjeun, neneda ka Rama anjeun nu aya dina rusiah; sareng Bapa anjeun anu ningali dina rusiah bakal ngaganjar anjeun kabuka (Mateus 6:5-6)
Sareng énjing, rising nepi bari hébat saméméh poé, Anjeunna (Yesus) went out, sarta mangkat ka hiji tempat nu solitér, di dinya ngadoa (Tandaan 1:35)
Sareng Anjeunna (Yesus) withdrew Himself into the wilderness, jeung ngadoa (Lukas 5:16)
Sarta eta kajadian dina eta poé, yén Anjeunna angkat ka gunung pikeun neneda, terus sapeupeuting neneda ka Allah (Lukas 6:12)
How much time, do believers spend in prayer daily? Of course you are connected in the spirit by the Holy Spirit with Jesus Christ and God the Father and you communicate through the spirit with God, but you will also set time apart for prayer and isolate yourself. That’s not legalism, but that’s because you love God and because you want to spend time with Him in prayer.
Tingali Yesus, Jesus was connected by the Spirit with the Father, but Jesus withdrew Himself often from the people to spend time in prayer with the Father.
Praying is essential in the life of every son of God. A son of God can’t live without prayer and if someone truly walks after the Spirit, the person shall spend a lot of time in prayer. Not because the person has to, but because the person wants to and desires to be together with the Father, since the person has a relationship with the Father.
As long as someone doesn’t want to pray or can’t spend time in prayer, this proves that the flesh is still alive and reigns, because the flesh can’t pray and won’t pray (Baca ogé 'Daging teu bisa solat”).
The spirit wants to fast, but the flesh doesn’t want to fast
Tapi poé bakal datang, lamun panganten lalaki bakal dicokot jauh ti aranjeunna, lajeng maranéhna bakal puasa dina poé éta (Lukas 5:35)
The flesh doesn’t want to fast, because if people fast the flesh is not being fed and the flesh doesn’t get what it wants. Aya Bangsa, who love food and try to avoid fasting by coming up with all kinds of excuses and pious alternatives.
Salaku conto, they say that the new creation is not required to fast. But if Jesus, Who was the New Creation, did fast shouldn’t we follow His example and fast also?
Some also come up with pious alternatives, which they have devised and set up themselves, and say that they fast by not watching television, or by not kaulinan, or putting away their cell phone for a few hours. But that’s not fasting! Because the flesh still gets what it wants, namely food.
Fasting is also not meant for (personal) material breakthroughs in the world and provisions for the flesh. But when you fast, the flesh becomes weaker and your spirit stronger and therefore it’s no wonder that the flesh is not willing to fast (Baca ogé: 'Naon ari puasa?')
The spirit wants to give, but the flesh doesn’t want to give
Sengketa perverse tina lalaki pikiran korup, jeung malarat tina bebeneran, anggap yén gain téh godliness: from such withdraw thyself. But godliness with contentment is great gain. Pikeun urang mawa nanaon ka dunya ieu, jeung geus tangtu urang teu bisa mawa nanaon. Jeung boga dahareun jeung pakean hayu urang jadi therewith eusi. Tapi maranéhanana anu bakal beunghar ragrag kana godaan jeung snare a, jeung kana loba nafsu foolish jeung menyakiti, nu ngalelepkeun lalaki dina karuksakan jeung perdition. Pikeun cinta duit téh akar sagala jahat: nu bari sababaraha coveted sanggeus, maranehna geus ingkar tina iman, sarta pierced diri ngaliwatan loba sorrows (1 Timoteus 6:5-10)
You’ll be amazed, at how money is a stumbling block for many. They say that money is not evil, but that the love for money is evil. Sanajan kitu, if people don’t want to give, it proves that they have a love for money. They can’t and won’t give their money to God, but want to keep it for themselves, jeung deui, come up with all kinds of pious excuses.
Some say, we don’t have to tithe, because tithing is part of the law and the Old Covenant and we don’t live in the Old Covenant under the law but in the New Covenant under grace. Because they believe in this lie, they don’t tithe to the church, but keep their money in their own pockets and spent it on their own kingdom instead of God’s Kingdom.
But before the institution of the law, the people already gave a part of their income to God and Abraham tithed to Melkisidik.
Others say, we don’t have to tithe because everything we possess belongs to God. Deui, this sounds so pious, tapi hanjakalna, it only stays with these words, and these words are not turned into actions. Because if they would do what they confess, they would give their whole monthly income to the church. But we don’t see that happen.
There are many more pious lies, that are used to not tithe to God (Baca ogé: ‘Duit, artos, and money')
The spirit of greed reigns in the flesh
All these pious lies have one thing in common and that is that the spirit of greed, who reigns in the flesh is obeyed and fed and therefore believers don’t tithe to the church, but keep their money in their own pockets.
As a result of obeying the spirit of greed, many churches fail to maintain the church and can’t pay the bills and churches must be sold.
Many churches are in ruins, both spiritual and natural, because the flesh reigns, and people refuse to submit to God and obey His will, anu ditulis dina Firman, and change the situation.
If someone is not willing to tithe, next to the offerings, it only proves that the person is rebellious and not obedient to the Word, and because of that the person is looking for a way out and comes up with all kinds of excuses so that (s)he doesn’t have to tithe.
But if you have become a new creation and have God’s nature and you love God and have a relationship with Him, then you are grateful and thankful to God and you will tithe, and don’t make a fuss out of it. You don’t give because you have to, or in order to receive, but because you love God and you want to.
The spirit acts out of faith, the flesh needs steps and methods
The new man is spiritual and walks after the Spirit and because the new man has a relationship with God and knows the will of God, the new man acts by faith in God and His authority and power.
The new man discerns the spirits and has insights into the spiritual realm and lives from the Spirit and does the works in the Name of Jesus Christ.
Since the new man has an experiential relationship with God, the new man doesn’t need preprinted prayers and/or prayer strategies and doesn’t have to follow steps, métode, and strategies to get things done or to achieve something.
The new man knows God and believes in God and has faith in the Name of Jesus Christ and the Person behind the Name and acts from his position in Christ and his relationship with Christ and not from the faith in preprinted prayers, léngkah, métode, jeung téknik, nu asalna tina daging (the human mind).
But the flesh does need these things, since the old man is unspiritual and doesn’t have a relationship with God and because faith is not present in the flesh.
The flesh is sense-ruled and believes in steps, métode, and strategies in order to get things done and achieve something and needs preprinted prayers and prayers strategies to get the desired result. Kawas dunya, which uses steps, métode, téknik, and strategies to solve problems, be successful, get things done, and achieve the desired result.
The new man has a relationship with God and relies on God, the old man has a religion and relies on people.
The spirit hears the voice of God, the flesh needs others to hear the voice of God
Upami yeuh kuring, jaga paréntah kuring. Sareng kuring bakal ngadoakeun Bapa, sarta Anjeunna bakal masihan anjeun Comforter sejen, supaya Anjeunna tetep sareng anjeun salamina; Malah Roh bebeneran; saha dunya teu bisa narima, sabab teu ningali Anjeunna, henteu terang Anjeunna: tapi anjeun terang Anjeunna; pikeun Anjeunna dwelleth sareng anjeun, sarta bakal aya di anjeun (John 14:15-17)
Hal-hal ieu kuring parantos nyarioskeun ka anjeun, masih hadir sareng anjeun. Tapi Panglipur, nyaeta Roh Suci, whom the Father will send in My name, Anjeunna bakal ngajarkeun anjeun sagala hal, jeung mawa sagala hal ka dzikir Anjeun, naon waé anu ku Kami parantos nyarios ka anjeun (John 14:25-26)
Kuring boga acan loba hal ngomong ka anjeun, tapi anjeun teu bisa nanggung aranjeunna ayeuna. Tapi nalika Anjeunna, Roh bebeneran, geus datang, Anjeunna bakal nungtun anjeun kana sagala bebeneran: pikeun Anjeunna moal nyarita sorangan; tapi naon bae Anjeunna bakal ngadangu, nu bakal Anjeunna nyarita: sareng Anjeunna bakal nunjukkeun ka anjeun hal-hal anu bakal datang. Anjeunna bakal ngamulyakeun Kami: sabab Anjeunna bakal nampi ti milik kuring, sarta bakal nembongkeun ka anjeun. Sagala hal anu Bapa kagungan kagungan abdi: kituna ceuk kuring, yén Anjeunna bakal nyandak tina milik kuring, sarta bakal nembongkeun ka anjeun (John 16:12-15)
The new man has a relationship with God through the Holy Spirit and not only hears His voice daily, ku méakkeun waktu dina Firman jeung solat, tapi ogé beurang.
Firman jeung Roh Suci bakal ngajarkeun lalaki anyar jeung nyieun rencana Allah dipikawanoh jeung nembongkeun mangsa nu bakal datang, ngabalukarkeun lalaki anyar tetep jagjag jeung waspada jeung discern kali.
Lalaki kolot téh unspiritual sarta perlu batur ngadangu tur ngartos sora Allah, kawas dina Covenant Old, dimana umat Allah éta daging sareng peryogi nabi.
Kusabab loba mukmin teu dilahirkeun deui jeung teu ngadéngé jeung ngarti sora Allah, loba nu indit ka nabi pikeun manggihan kahayang Allah pikeun kahirupan pribadi maranéhanana jeung kumaha mangsa nu bakal datang maranéhanana, sarta sakapeung maranéhna malah mayar eta. Ieu sabenerna sarua jeung dunya. They go to fortunetellers and pay them to find out specific things regarding their personal lives and future.
And so there are many more examples to provide, that show that people say that they don’t have a religion but a relation with Jesus Christ and God the Father through the Holy Spirit but their lives prove otherwise. Their walk with God looks more like a religion than a relation.
Do you have a religion or a relation?
Do you have a religion or relation? Are you born again in Christ and do you have received the Holy Spirit and do you know Jesus Christ and the Father experientially or do you know Them by hearsay and by visiting a church? Is God your life and have you yielded yourself unto Him and do you spend time with Him and do you live in His will or is the faith just an addition to your life and do you only serve Him when it’s convenient for you or if you need something?
Do you have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and the Father? What would Jesus answer, if you would ask Him how He sees your relationship with Him?
'Janten uyah bumi’
