This Silly Religion

"This Silly Religion"
Psalm 31:6-16

I've been having you look at several Psalms during the season of Lent.  I wanted us to look at the Psalms because of the important place they have in the life of the church, and the spiritual development of believers.

The Psalms has been called the church's prayer book.  When Christians aren't sure how to pray, or what to pray, they can turn to the book of Psalms, and find there a guide—the words to say when words aren't there.  And I have had you use them, this Lenten season, as kick-starters for your writing in your journals.

One of the things you need to know is that Jesus used the Psalms in his own praying.  There seemed to be times when even Jesus was at a loss of words, and not knowing what to pray, what words to use to express his emotions, he would turn to the Psalms.

This Psalm in particular was important to Jesus and it formed the basis of his prayers at two awful points in his life:  praying in the Garden of Gethsemane and while he was dying on the Cross.  This Psalm, these verses, formed the core of his prayers at those two times in his life.

At verse 6, a shift happens in this psalm.  The shift happens because the psalmist—King David, here—has come to a fork in the path of his spiritual life.  He has to choose between two options.  It's either one or the other.  One option is following what he calls "silly religion."  The other fork in the road means trusting God whole-heartedly.  Silly religion or whole-hearted trust in God.  Silly religion vs. being "all in."

In one of our Sunday School class sessions we were talking about this kind of devotion to God.  Gordon Stull used the image that Don Peters would be familiar with on his poker night.  In poker, one of the choices you have, when it's your turn, is to raise all the other bids.  Make others decide if they want to risk more money.  One choice you have, at that juncture in the game is to go, what's called, "all in."  That is you look at the stacks of chips before you, and either through an elaborate bluff or a confidence in the strength of your hand of cards, you push all your chips into the pot.  You go all in.  You have put yourself in the position of losing everything.  And at the same time you have put yourself in the position of gaining everything.

Could you do that with your faith in Christ?  That's what Gordon was challenging our Sunday School class with in using his image of "all in."  But that's what this Psalm 31, starting at verse 6 is challenging us with also.  Either following silly religion, or going all in with God.  Not just going a few chips in with God, but putting everything on the line of giving yourself over to God.

That's why Jesus liked this Psalm, and why he prayed this Psalm often, but at especially tough times in his life.  This Psalm reminded Jesus of who he was, and what he was doing with his life, and having to make this choice of going all in with God over and over and over again.

When Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane, he had to decide anew if he was going all in with God, again.

Then he went on a little farther, threw himself on the ground, and prayed that if it were possible this hour might pass him by.  "Abba, Father," he prayed, "all things are possible to you; take this cup from me.  Yet not my will, but yours."  (Mark 14:35-36, REB)

This is the last time that Jesus comes to this fork in the road.  Will he be all in this one final time, because there will be no turning back.  So he prays through this section of Psalm 31.

One of the consequences of going all in with God is that it doesn't make you many friends.  Life doesn't get easier.  Choices become more problematic.  That's what the psalmist discovered.  At verse 8, the psalm recognizes that going the full distance with God brings you face-to-face with "tormentors."  At verse 11 they are called "enemies."  But the hardest twist comes also in verse 11.  These tormentors and enemies aren't just trouble-makers, people who enjoy making life difficult for others all the time.  No.  The hardest realization is that those who were making life difficult for the psalmist, once he went all in with God were "neighbors" and "friends."

These neighbors and friends turned against the psalmist not because he turned against them, but because the psalmist turned towards God in an all-in way.  They changed in their actions toward the psalmist because he changed.   He made that one major shift, he chose that one fork in the road—trusting God; throwing himself on God—and that change flipped the fundamental nature of his friendships and neighborly relationships.

For Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, he prayed to be spared.  One of the gospel writers described Jesus prayer as sweat like drops of blood running down his face.  He is in utter anguish, knowing what's coming.  He has disciples there with him in the Garden—just a few steps away.  But they are asleep when he seeks them out for solace.  His "friends" have let him down.

You have to realize that is going to happen.  You are warned, by this psalm.  You go all in with God and others are going to treat you differently.  And not in a better way.

How did his neighbors and friends change their behavior toward the psalmist?  How does the psalmist describe his treatment from others in the Psalm?
—Friends and neighbors treated the psalmist as if he were a monster.  They approached him with great fear and terror.
—Friends and neighbors ridiculed the psalmist, attempting to heap shame upon him, rebuking him for his choice for God.
—Friends and neighbors avoided the psalmist, to the point of crossing the street when they saw him coming.
—Friends and neighbors tried to totally forget him, as if he were dead and gone, to be spoken of no more.
—Friends and neighbors tossed the psalmist aside as if he were useless.
—Friends and neighbors branded the psalmist with labels of contempt—labels that they knew others would believe, even though they were hurtful.
—Friends and neighbors plotted against the psalmist, in an attempt to intentionally ruin him for good.

Jesus prayed through this Psalm because it was his life.  It was his life, not because Jesus was a total jerk.  Neither was the psalmist who wrote it.  They were treated like this simply because they went all in, in their trust of God, rather than compromise and go the easy way of "silly religion."

But being treated like this is just the half of it for the psalmist.  It's not only how friends and neighbors are treating him, but also how that treatment makes him feel.  Notice how the psalmist describes his feelings in response to being treated so badly.  The psalmist describes those feelings this way:
—as if it's hard to breathe or catch his breath
—he cried
—he felt hollow inside
—as if the only sounds he could make were groans and sighs
—like he was worn out from dealing with so much negative and hurtful behavior
—and as if his bones, which should give him stature and the ability to stand, were nothing but powder.

Again, these feelings aren't because the psalmist is being victimized for victim's sake.  It's because he refused to just go along with silly religion.  It was because he had thrown himself upon God.  It was because he placed his days—his seasons of life—in God's hands.

The question, then, is why is forgoing religious mediocrity and silliness in favor of choosing being all in with God so threatening to others—especially others who know you, neighbors and friends?  What is it about that shift of allegiance that makes others so darn uncomfortable?

As the psalmist discovered, almost from the moment he took his path of total trust in God, he experienced the reaction from friends and neighbors.  In a word, sabotage.  The end game for these friends and neighbors is to get the psalmist to come back to silly religion rather than total relationship with God.  They were trying to pressure the psalmist to go back to his old ways so everyone could be comfortable again with the way things were.
Just come back to "this silly religion" and we will like you again.
Just come back to "this silly religion" and we will accept you.
Give up being this "holy Joe", this holier-than-thou, Jesus freak.
Quit trying to take God so seriously.
Just follow the rules of what you call our "silly religion".
Everything will be fine.

If this is the way the psalmist was treated, if this is the way Jesus was treated, should we who make this choice of commitment expect any different?  Jesus highlighted this point, that I think was developed out of his continual praying through this psalm.  In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said:

“Not only that—count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens—give a cheer, even!—for though they don’t like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble.  (Matthew 5:11-12)

People want us Christians to follow silly religion.  That is, make what we believe about following rules rather than developing a dynamic relationship with God.  People want us to follow silly religion, which means blending cultural practices with Christian teaching so that the end product is neither.  People want us to follow silly religion, which means compromising our relationship with God to the point where God has nothing to do with who we are and how we act.  People want us follow silly religion which means being cool rather than being committed.  People want us to follow silly religion which means paying attention to other people's words rather than God's Word.  People want us to follow silly religion which means conforming to their ways and wishes, rather than conforming to Christ.  People want us to follow silly religion which means being just part of the way in, rather than all in.

When Jesus rode into Jerusalem on what has become Palm Sunday, the people were ecstatic.  They danced before Jesus.  They threw palm branches in the roadway as if he were a conquering king.  The Pharisees told Jesus to tell all those people to control themselves.  In other words, be like people who follow silly religion and act subdued, rather than be all in and celebrate Jesus.  Jesus mocked the Pharisees by saying that even if the people stopped, the inanimate stones would be all in.

Silly religion hailed Jesus for a few hours.  Then silly religion arrested him, conjured up a silly trial, brutally abused him, and finally crucified him.  Friends and neighbors turned against him, choosing the fork in the road that held to silly religion, rather than choosing the fork that led to total commitment to Christ.

We will come to that fork in the road several times during our lives, and we must choose.  Maybe now is one of those times.