As I was reading the Spurgeon Devotional today, the key verse was Psalm 37:4. It says, “Delight thyself in the LORD.” I’d be switching in-between the KJV and the ESV depending on the topic. Take note that Charles H. Spurgeon wasn’t KJV Only and used the RSV in other readings. Back on topic, reading Spurgeon’s devotional today reminds me of the contrast between manmade religion and Christianity as a religion. James 1:26-27 says that if anyone thinks he or she is religious but can’t bridle one’s tongue, that person’s religion is worthless. What follows is that true religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep one’s self unstained from the world. The KJV uses the word unspotted. The word for unstained or unspotted is aspilos, meaning free from censure, irreproachable, and free from vice, unsullied.
The passage for today reads the following:
The teaching of these words must seem very surprising to those who are strangers to vital godliness, but to the sincere believer it is only the inculcation of a recognized truth. The life of the believer is here described as a delight in God, and we are thus certified of the great fact that true religion overflows with happiness and joy. Ungodly persons and mere professors never look upon religion as a joyful thing; to them it is service, duty, or necessity, but never pleasure or delight. If they attend to religion at all, it is either that they may gain thereby, or else because they dare not do otherwise. The thought of delight in religion is so strange to most men, that no two words in their language stand further apart than “holiness” and “delight.” But believers who know Christ, understand that delight and faith are so blessedly united, that the gates of hell cannot prevail to separate them. They who love God with all their hearts, find that his ways are ways of pleasantness, and all his paths are peace. Such joys, such brimful delights, such overflowing blessednesses, do the saints discover in their Lord, that so far from serving him from custom, they would follow him though all the world cast out his name as evil. We fear not God because of any compulsion; our faith is no fetter, our profession is no bondage, we are not dragged to holiness, nor driven to duty. No, our piety is our pleasure, our hope is our happiness, our duty is our delight. Delight and true religion are as allied as root and flower; as indivisible as truth and certainty; they are, in fact, two precious jewels glittering side by side in a setting of gold.
“‘Tis when we taste thy love,
Our joys divinely grow,
Unspeakable like those above,
And heaven begins below.”
It reminds me of the reason behind going to Sunday mass back when I was a Roman Catholic and as a born-again Christian. One time I missed Sunday mass, I was told by my Chinese language tutor that it was a mortal sin and I should confess. The reason was that I woke up late. I had this mentality, “Why do I have to go to church on Sundays?” It was the same ritual in the Catholic mass. There was the opening song, the rituals, the homily (which was only for 8-10 minutes), and everything was focused on rituals over the Word of God. I could remember the rituals of standing up, sitting down, standing up, doing responsorials (such as replying with “Lord have mercy” and “Christ have mercy”, the priest raising the host (and I might’ve fainted like Martin Luther if I became a priest before), and the dismissal. It’s the same old ritual. As Spurgeon says is so right when he mentions that for the unsaved, they never look at religion as a joyful thing,, to them it service, duty, or necessity, but never a pleasure or delight. It’s another pitfall of salvation by works–people do good works to save themselves instead of glorifying God. The same goes for why people of different religions attend their services. Roman Catholics attend services when they can in hopes of gaining salvation. Muslims attend their worship services for that same reason. Hindus and Muslims have religious service hoping to attain better karma. I can even testify how Sunday mass felt like a funeral service. It was
However, the born-again Christian service has been different. No, I’m not talking about having a concert instead of a worship service. After I got saved, I couldn’t stand the legalism in Roman Catholicism. That was something I didn’t easily admit. I would often change my mind if Catholics are saved or not, because I have many friends and relatives in that system. It was the denial stage in my earlier years, aside from the brain’s still developing during the teenagers. However, I felt the incredible burden of not having gone to church in my teenage to college years (because most of my folks are unsaved), not because I feared for my eternal soul but because I wanted to grow up in the faith. I blame a lot of wrong actions I did back then to my lack of fellowship. However, I had my first born-again Sunday service in Bethany Church, for graduation. It was longer than a Catholic mass. However, the preacher spent time expounding on the parable of the 10 minas. I couldn’t help but want more. I wanted to go to church but I had to deal with unsaved relatives who said, “If you want to go to church, why not go with us. Catholic and Protestant, it’s all the same.” That kind of guilt-tripping might be why I sinfully flip-flopped, aside from my teenage hormones. However, having attended a worship service in Bethany Church and in a Catholic parish, I can testify the two worship services are too different. Instead, I looked forward to every Sunday service because I can’t wait to hear another good sermon, and meet new people in the Body of Christ. Much time is devoted to preaching the homily instead of empty rituals.
This differentiates good works that spring out from salvation and trying to attain salvation. Hebrews 9:14 says that the blood of Christ would purge the conscience from dead works. These works are dead because humanity is spiritually dead. Any good works done by an unsaved person is but a dead work. Isaiah 64:6 says that our righteouness are like filthy rags. James 2:10-11 says that we have all fallen short of God’s perfect standard. Romans 3:10-19 says that we’ve alll sinned and are guilty before God. What holy terror awaits the unsaved. Trying to attain salvation is but selfish self-preservation. Good works coming from being saved is because, “Lord, thank you for saving me, let me serve you now.”
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