JULY 2020 1

Jesus boldly employs the personalpronoun seven times in these threeverses in Matthew 11:28-30: Cometo me, all you who are weary andburdened, and I will give you rest.Take my yoke upon you and learnfrom me, for I am gentle and humblein heart, and you will find rest foryour souls. For my yoke is easy andmy burden is light.Jesus dogmatically insists the

faith of those who follow him mustbe absolutely Christ-centered. Allother religious mandates, pursuits,performances, activities and“disciplines” are, at best, peripheralwindow dressing. Consider seven core elements of

resting in Christ, from a Christ-centered focus, as Jesus mentionsthem in Matthew 11:28-30:

Elements #1-4 of Resting in Christ 1) Come 2) to me, 3) all you who are4) weary and 5) burdened, and 6) I

will give you rest. Take 7) myyoke upon you and learn fromme, for I am gentle and humblein heart, and you will find restfor your souls. For my yoke iseasy and my burden is light.— Matthew 11:28-301) Jesus says “Come…” Jesus’

invitation carries a feeling ofurgency, but it is still asummons and a request, ratherthan a stipulated, enforcedmandate. The sense behind this word

is “come right now!” “Come”is not an invitation to observe Jesusfrom afar. “Come” is an invitationto leave behind what one is doingand come… to Jesus. Leave religion,leave superstitions, leave false gods,leave spiritual bondage—“come.”2) Jesus declares “Come to me.”

The invitation from God the Son isto come to him, not to religion.Come to Jesus, not to regulationsand programs and activities anddeeds and demands. Focus on Jesus.He is our aim. This invitation from Jesus Christ

is direct, intimate and personal—“come to ME!” No middle men orwomen—no laws or regulations orpromises or guarantees or rituals orceremonies. No one owns Jesus. Noone has an exclusive franchise torepresent him on earth. Noreligious denomination isauthorized to purchase the grace ofGod and then repackage it andplace its price on the freely given

PLAIN TRUTH ®

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Religious Games p2

Faith is a Choice p6

Forwarding to the Future p7

Quotes & Connections p8

JULY 2020

Volume 85, Number 4

Come to me, all you who are wearyand burdened, and I will give yourest. Take my yoke upon you and learnfrom me, for I am gentle and humble inheart, and you will find rest for yoursouls. For my yoke is easy and myburden is light.—Matthew 11:28-30

he promise of spiritual restcomes from Jesus alone. Noinstitution or religiousauthority is authorized toprovide the rest that is solely

and uniquely given by Jesus. Priests,prescriptions or programs deserve nocredit for provision of rest in Christ.We pray, study the Bible and serve

others in Jesus’ name. We may ormay not attend a brick-and-mortarbuilding for church “services”—butthose and other activities do notproduce rest in Christ. Neither our“spiritual disciplines” nor ourmorality guarantee access and entryinto the rest of Christ.

CHR I S T I AN I T Y W I THOUT THE R E L IG ION ®

T

By Greg Albrecht

I Will Give You Rest

2 PLAIN TRUTH

Way back in the late 1960sJoe South composed andperformed a hit record

called “The Games People Play.”Here’s a sample of its lyrics:

Oh the games people play now,Every night and every day now Never meaning what they say nowNever saying what they mean… People walking up to ya Singing glory hallelujah And they’re trying to sock it to ya In the name of the Lord…

When I first heard this song I hadlittle idea about how profoundlytrue these lyrics were—by God’sgrace I discovered those deepermeanings a little later in life. Here’s a little bit about what I

now know about Religious Games:Performance-based religion can

easily become a game when thefollowers/captives of a religiousinstitution assemble like lemmings,being moved around like pawns ona chess board, following thedictates of the institution and itstraditions. Religious games can describe the

routines or protocols of followersand captives who habitually gatherin a place that an earthly and finitespiritual authority has declared tobe holy, at a specific “holy” timethat particular spiritual authorityinsists upon. Such followers arrive,dressed in clothing the religiousauthority mandates and demands,fastidiously obeying customs thereligious authority has innovatedand stipulated, while automaticallysaying repetitive prayers andsinging songs, robot-like, that thereligious institution itself hasdevised.

As Christ-followers we know thatvirtuous and good things we do andperform and participate in have nopower to change our imperfectionsand flaws so that we becomerighteous and holy by doing thosethings—on the other hand we knowour lack of participation in commonlyaccepted wrong, sinful activities hasno power to make us righteous andholy either.Here are four toxic products ofplaying religious games and thecontrasting fruit of the grace of ourLord he produces in our lives:1) Religious games keep records

to remember wrong-doing. Christ-less religion attempts to count andcalculate both what it considers asprogress and sin—so that itsfollowers are always in need ofworking harder, doing more andrunning faster in a vain attempt toearn the righteousness that religionpretends it can bestow. God, who is quite capable of

remembering everything, choosesnot to remember our sins andfailures. God does not count oursins against us. Christianity is not ipso facto, quid

pro quo, you do such and such andthen God will respond in such away. Christ-less religion ispredictable and dogmatically insistswhen one does or does not engagein thus and such a behavior, then acertain outcome will follow. Authentic Christianity is person-

driven—and that person is Jesus.Christ-followers do not put their faithin programs and self-help books orseminars, but in the living, dynamicrisen Lord who lives within them.2) Religious games are about fear

and oppression. Religion threatensthose who fail to please its rigid

teachings with eternal torture in afictitious hell it has fabricated tokeep its followers in line. Sometimes hell can be the

experience we endure as slaves tophysical and spiritual addictions.Hell can ironically be the hell wesuffer at the hands of bad newsreligion. Jesus does not sendanyone to a fictitious, fabricatedeternal torture in hell.3) Religious games are the sworn

enemies of God’s grace. Christ-lessreligion teaches that one can gain astanding with God one never hadon the basis of good deeds andworks, or, if one already enjoys arelationship with God, then thatrelationship can be enhanced andimproved by their deeds andworks.The grace of our Lord says that

God loves us right now as much ashe ever has or ever will because ofhis righteousness and goodness,not because of anything we haveever done or anything we promisethat we will do. 4) Religion insists on its dogmas,

its doctrines, its teachings, itscustoms and traditions. A religiousfanatic is someone who won’tchange his/her mind, won’t stopcondemning people who do notagree with him/her and will neverchange any of their cherishedtraditions and customs. Religiousfanaticism leads to oppression,violence, torture and executions…in the name of God.The grace of our Lord leads to the

peace of God and to rest in Christ. q

Join us for “Playing ReligiousGames” at the audio teaching ministryof Christianity Without the Religion,the week of August 9, 2020.

Religious Games

grace of God in order to get their“cut” of the action. Grace—direct from Jesus to you.

No credit card transactions. Nomerchants, retailers or wholesalers.No shipping and handling charges.No federal, state or denominationaltaxes. “Rivers of living water” (John7:38) flow from the holy, pristineand pure artesian well of Jesus. 3) Jesus invites “…all…” Some

actually teach that the gospel ofJesus Christ is limited—some teachand believe that many humans arenot now nor will they ever beinvited to enjoy a grace-basedrelationship with God. Some presumptuously believe

God has determined and pre-destined some humans to belost—that is, never to be invited toenjoy an intimate and personalrelationship with God, on the basisof his grace. Jesus says “all”—he doesn’t mean

“some”—he doesn’t mean justthose of a particular denominationor group or only those who keepsome list of requirements or payhomage to a particular creed orobey a particular dogma. He says“all” may come to him. 4) Jesus calls to the “…weary…”

those who are beaten down, wornout and burned out. The Authorized King James

Version of 1611 translated thisGreek word as “labor”—it’s thekind of effort we consider from ablue collar, working man orwoman. “Weary” defines thosewho are beaten down, worn outand burned out. In its literal sense, in the physical

dimension, “weary” is about hard,manual labor that causes sweat.This labor causes muscles to tireand the back to ache. This word inthe Greek describes severe physicalexhaustion, but Jesus uses it todescribe a spiritual condition ofbeing weak, enervated, debilitatedand feeble.The word “weary” is used to

describe the spiritual conditionwhich results from human beings

attempting to please God on thebasis of their work. The rest ofJesus is not just a momentaryreprieve before we return tomeaningless work and striving. Hisrest is healing and transformative.His rest is a new spiritual identity,as we transform from slave to son,from shame to the grace and favorof our loving heavenly Father. Sometimes people are weary

because of the religion that holdsthem captive. Many do not realizeit but they serve religioustaskmasters—they are prisoners ofthe law, locked up until faith shouldbe revealed (Galatians 3:23). Lockedup spiritually they are blind to thefact that as they rely on observingthe law they are under a curse(Galatians 3:10).A French author once observed:God loved the birds, so he invented

trees. Man loved the birds, so he invented

cages.The rest that Jesus gives us, by

God’s grace, is freedom in Christ(Galatians 5:1). Jesus didn’t come totrap or ensnare us, so that we couldbe confined to religious cages.

The Fifth Element—Lifting the Old Covenant Burden5) Jesus welcomes those who are“burdened.” The word “burdened”

describes the spiritual conditionsuffered by those who are deceivedby religious propaganda that Godwill bless them if they just workharder, try harder, do more, praymore and give more. “Burdened”describes a person who is loadeddown and overwhelmed with agreat weight. Those who were under the old

covenant worked first and thenthey were paid. That’s the first andbasic spiritual economic principleby which humans then attemptedto relate to God. For that matter,this basic spiritual economicprinciple of the old covenant, still,2000 years after Jesus’ earthly life,remains the primary way in whichhuman religions teach theirfollowers to relate to God. A works-based relationship is

simply this: First, I do somethingfor you, and then I can expectsomething from you. Religioninsists that first you and I dosomething for God and then Godwill do something for us. Defining our relationship with

God in terms of our performance iscomfortable to us because it seemsto leave us in control. We candetermine how and when we work.We can determine how much wewill earn, and when we will receivepayment.

Continued from page 1

JULY 2020 3

“Come” is not an invitation to observe Jesus fromafar. “Come” is an invitation to leave behind

what one is doing and come…to Jesus.

proviso that requires we firstperform and then God will respondis eclipsed and upended by the newcovenant, including an obligatoryfirst or seventh-day sabbath. Thenew covenant reverses the order ofwork. To be sure, humans still workand produce under the newcovenant, but how and when andwhy one works are bedrock issuesfor Christ followers. Some say thatthe seventh day is the sign that setsapart those who obey God fromthose who do not. No. Jesus is thesign. The cross of Jesus is oursign—not Sinai. In the new covenant, early

Christians started to worship on thefirst day of the week—they believedin resting in Christ first, and thenafter they rested Jesus empoweredthem to work the remaining sixdays of the week. While the firstday of the week is no more arequired observance than theseventh day the principle behindthe first day was and is this: First,we yield and surrender to Jesus andaccept the basic premise that all ourrighteousness is but rags. We areunable to earn anything from God.We throw ourselves on his mercies.We say “Yes” to God’s grace.

Elements #6-7 – A Reiteration of theCentrality of Jesus ChristJesus announces “…I will give yourest.” Giving is the grace of God. In a

gesture of welcome Jesus opens hisarms to us, offering us the grace ofGod. Grace is a gift—it is notpayment for work performed—it is acompletely undeserved gift. Jesusinvites all to a spiritual, eternal andabiding rest freely given, not aphysical, here today and gonetomorrow rest earned. Resting inChrist is a forever rest, a completerest—not a partial 24-hour rest. Jesus says “I will give you rest”—

not “I will reward you for your hardwork and give you some time off torest.” Jesus says “I will give yourest”—not “OK, you worked sixdays, now you get one day off, buttomorrow, it’s back to the saltmine.”

PLAIN TRUTH

Well, at least that’s how thistheory is supposed to work. But it’sall an illusion isn’t it? God’s grace turns this whole

performance-based premise upsidedown, doesn’t it? God’s gracemeans God gives his love andprovides his favor to us withoutany strings—without anycontractual obligation that we mustfulfill first. God’s grace troubles us, because

we don’t like to feel obligated toanyone. The idea that God gives ushis love without us first earning itis so fiercely resisted that many, ifnot most, reject his grace. God’sgrace makes workers who want toearn their own way uncomfortable. Christ-less religion recognizes this

human desire. Religion knows thathumans much prefer to think thatthey are in charge of their lives.Religion knows if it can convinceits followers that their eternaldestiny is in its hands, thenreligion can make its followers

believe almost anything, andbehave in almost any way itdesires. The old covenant was pre-

Christian—it was religious, ratherthan Christ-centered. God started toreveal himself in a pre-Christian,elemental religious setting, but bydesign that old covenant religionleads to the cross of Christ and hisglorious resurrection. In the old covenant one worked

first and then came payday. Oneworks hard all week long and thencomes the seventh day Sabbath.First one works six days and thenone gets to rest—physical effortsearn the rest of the seventh day. But the new covenant came

along and Jesus, God in the flesh,proclaimed, “I AM God and I AMchanging what I originally gaveyou. I AM revealing myself to younow in ways I never have. I havecome in the flesh. I AM the newcovenant.” Jesus insists that he, theAlpha and the Omega, is the

foundation of ourrelationship withGod—not the Sabbathnor any old covenantlaw nor any religiousstipulation.When some read

that Jesus promises togive us “rest” theyimmediately translatethis word “rest” intowhat many religiousauthorities have taughtthem to think. Theythink rest in Christ isone and the same as arequired weeklySabbath. But the restJesus invites us to is nota day on the calendar.Jesus is not inviting

or requiring us to“come to the TenCommandments.”Jesus urges us to cometo him, not to Moses.For the law was giventhrough Moses; graceand truth came throughJesus Christ (John 1:17). Any prerequisite or

In a gesture of welcome, Jesusopens his arms to us, offering

us the grace of God. Grace is agift—it is not payment for workperformed—it is a completely

undeserved gift. Resting inChrist is a forever rest…not a

partial 24-hour rest.

7) Finally, Jesus urges us to takehis “yoke.” “Yoke” appears in bothverses 29 and 30. “Yoke” is an archaic agricultural

term used to describe theimplement that is used, somewhatlike a harness, keeping two oxentogether as they work together,pulling a load. A yoke directsactivity. So Jesus invites us to be yoked

with him, in him—for whatpurpose? So that we may, as we livein his rest, work!First we rest, then we work!

Some lampoon the grace of God bysuggesting it is “easy-believism”and “couch potato Christianity.”Some make light of God’s grace bycalling it “hot-tub religion.” Some blasphemously attach

derogatory labels to the grace ofGod while they demand allegianceto law rather than the gospel. By Jesus’ own words we know his

yoke is easy when contrasted withslavery to the law. The yoke of Jesusis easy but it does involve work—hiswork. Work exists and is central to both

the old and new covenant. Work is not the issue. All Christ-followers work. How and why andby what power we work is theissue. Once we trust in and accept God’s

grace, once we yield to Jesus, Jesustakes up residence in our lives(Galatians 2:20) and empowers us to

work and produce (Ephesians 2:10).Resting in Christ isn’t about alounge chair, your favorite beverageand Sunday night football. You better believe Christians

work—but in the new covenant ourproduction is dictated by God. Hemakes of us what he desires. He is the Master Potter—we arethe work of his hands. We are hishandiwork, and he has fashionedus to be masterpieces of hiscreation.First, we accept Jesus’ invitation to

enter into his rest, and then he puts

us to work—his work—and heempowers us to do and perform hiswork. The choice is ours. Will we

surrender to Jesus or fight againsthim? Will we insist on our religious

memberships and doctrines andrituals and performances are theway in which we pay our own wayor will be embrace the Jesus Way?Will it be Christ-less religion or

the rest which Jesus Christ alonemay give and live in us, by the graceof God? q

A French authoronce observed:

God loved the birds,so he invented trees. Man loved the birds

so he invented cages.

AChristian leader wasexplaining how difficult itwas for him to have faith.He seemed to view

Christian faith as the necessity ofmustering up sufficient human trustor reliance on God so that he couldexperience personal peace andconfidence in his dependence uponGod. Faith, in the mind of this dearbrother, had become a work ofhuman effort to bring sufficientassurance to his own mind andemotions that he was exerting thenecessary commitment anddedication that would qualify himas a faithful believer. The process never let up, for he

could never quite convince himselfhis faith was sufficient. Christianshave some strange ideas about faith!Some think that faith is theacquisition of enough doctrinalknowledge of the gospel, so that theirrational belief and mental assentself-justifies a certainty of accurateacceptance of the gospel. For others,faith is regarded as moreexperiential. For them faith is aninner feeling, an inner tickle, a“burning bosom,” an existential“know-so” whereby their emotionsprovide testimony that convincesthem of their connection with God. Then there are others who pay no

attention to the evaluation of theirfaith because they were told, “faithis the gift of God.” It is God’s

responsibility. I remember the lookof shock on the aforementionedfellow’s face when I told him, “Youare making faith too difficult. Faithis a simple human choice to bereceptive to whatever God has foryou.” Faith is not a human effort. Faith is

the human response that Godintended when he self-limitedhimself to allow human freedom ofchoice whereby a human individualcan consent to God’s grace action assufficient for his human need. Faithis a choice to be receptive to God’sgrace activity in his Son, JesusChrist, both in redemption and inthe continuing restoration ofhumanity in the Christian life. Faith is a choice of human

receptivity of the divine activity ofgrace. Scottish preacher, WilliamBarclay, pointed out, “the firstelement in faith is what we can onlycall receptivity…not receptivity offacts or the significance of the facts,…but the receptivity of the Personof Jesus Christ (“The Mind of SaintPaul” page 112). The reception of the gift of God is

faith; faith DOES NOT MEAN doingsomething, but receiving something;faith DOES NOT MEAN earning areward, but the acceptance of a gift. Christian faith is our receptivity to

God’s activity in Jesus Christ.Initially we receive the presence ofthe risen and living Lord Jesus into

our spirit in regeneration. “As manyas received Him, to them He gavethe right to become children ofGod, even to those who believe inHis name” (John 1:12). The apostle Paul wrote of “receiving

the Spirit…by hearing through faith”(Galatians 3:2). The Christian life issubsequently the continuousreceiving of the life and character ofJesus in our behavior. “As youreceived Christ Jesus, so walk in him…established in your faith”(Colossians 2:6,7). Such a dynamicdefinition of Christian faith, “ourreceptivity of God’s activity,”disallows any charge of passivism, forinherent in the definition is thenecessary consequence of God’s graceactivity.That is why the apostle James

states, “Faith without works(without the consequentialoutworking of God’s activity) isuseless…it is dead” (James 2:17,20,26). There is no Christian faith if the

divine activity of Jesus Christ is notflowing forth in our lives by ourfaithful receptivity of his character.Faith is our privileged response-ability of receptivity to God’s graceactivity in Jesus Christ. q

Jim Fowler is a theologian andauthor of several books, including TheIssue Is Jesus, from which this articlewas excerpted.

Faith is a Choice

By Jim Fowler

6 PLAIN TRUTH

JULY 2020 7

Scanning and digitizing—I’ve been doingquite a bit of it recently. Reducing bulkyand deteriorating physical stuff, where

possible, to data which can easily be stored andshared. I have a lot of stuff—and I’m not alone.A friend since junior high school is trying tounload his accumulated stuff. He offered mesome. I declined (except for a few tools!).In the past (especially at moving time)

friends have commented that I have way toomuch stuff, and I should get rid of it. Yeah,yeah, some stuff should be trashed or donatedto the used stuff people. I’ve been doing that. But then there’s other stuff—stuff that’s been

handed down from parents, grandparents,great grandparents and great-greatgrandparents—a few antiques and keepsakes,but more importantly gobs of photo albums,letters and artifacts of family and professionalhistory. On top of that, my father was a cartoonist of

some note, and he left behind business recordsand correspondence of his work dating back tothe 1920s. His biographer and other researchersover the years have relied on me to find andscan journals, correspondence, photos andartwork that would have been completely lost ifmy mother and I hadn’t preserved and semi-organized them. A fellow cartoonist visited mystudio recently. As he surveyed the loadedshelves, he commented, “Gosh! This is like amuseum!” This is to say nothing of thousandsof my own photos, artworks, books andmemorabilia, in addition to those of my wife.When I was young and thought I was too

busy, it seemed like there would be plenty oftime later to get all this stuff in order—making it accessible to future generations.Suddenly, I’m not so young and I’m busierthan ever. Stuff is sitting in our living room,as I tackle it a little at a time. Beyond that, amajor university is interested in taking myfather’s archives—but I need to catalog themfirst! Other materials I will pass on to familymembers.Gloomily, one biblically literate friend

commented that it’s all going to burn—so why

even bother? She quoted 2 Peter 3:10—“But theday of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavenswill disappear with a roar; the elements will bedestroyed by fire, and the earth and everythingdone in it will be laid bare.” Point taken. Everything we see, touch and

hear lasts only a short time when comparedwith eternity. That helps keep physical thingsin perspective, doesn’t it? But can we really usethis passage as a prooftext that we shouldflippantly disregard the gifts that have beenhanded down to us?Yet a common theme of modern Evangelical

Christianity has been that the end is justaround the corner, and therefore stewardshipand preservation of historical artifacts (andeven the planet!) for future generations is apointless pursuit. That’s just a shame.No one knows exactly how or when such

an end and the return of Christ will occur—and Christian interpretations vary widely. YetChristians of other traditions take a longerview and have been involved in thepreservation of art, literature and culture formillennia. We can thank tens of thousands ofdedicated ancient scribes, medieval monks,copyists, printers and librarians for thepreservation of Scripture over the millennia,as well as myriad other works of literature,history and art. You might say that responsible Christ-followers

live fully in the present while conserving the pastand contributing to the future.I have a collector friend who realized a few

years ago that he and his wife don’t really“own” their art. They are just temporarycustodians of the works—which reminded meof 1 Corinthians 7:31. I like the Berean LiteralBible’s rendering of this passage“…and thoseusing the world, as not using it as their own. Forthe present form of this world is passing away.” Since at any given time the “form of the

world” (including our physical selves) is alwayspassing away, we ought to take care to see to itthat our stuff of value gets forwarded to thefuture. Those in the future will thank you! q

—Monte Wolverton

Forwarding “Stuff” to the Future

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Quotes &Connections

“Faith is better understoodas a verb than as a noun, as aprocess than as a possession.” —Frederick Buechner

“Perhaps the challenge of thegospel lies precisely in theinvitation to accept a gift forwhich we can give nothing inreturn.”—Henri Nouwen

“‘Do-nothing Christianity’ contradicts the gospel of Christ.Resting in Jesus and hard work are not activities that oppose oneanother. God’s grace is not opposed to human effort. God’s grace isopposed to a religious paycheck. God loves our efforts andparticipation as we follow Christ. However, God insists that ourfaith and hope rest fully in Christ. Jesus alone can and will give uswhat we can never earn or deserve.”—Greg Albrecht

“We have just enoughreligion to make us hate, butnot enough to make us loveone another.”—Jonathan Swift

“I have read in Plato and Cicerosayings that are wise and verybeautiful, but I have never readin either of them: ‘Come unto meall ye that labor and are heavyladen.’” —Augustine

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