Himaya - Jesus hates religion : finding grace in a works-driven culture

Jesus Hates Religion focuses on the sole importance of a relationship with Christvoid of legalism, guilt, and feelings of inferiority. The man-made path of religion has no place in the heart of the Christ follower, and Alex Himaya brings this concept to life.

Craig Groeschel Senior Pastor of LifeChurch.tv Author of The Christian Atheist

I wish I could tell you this is a book you cant put down, but its not. Its a book you may have to put down. In fact, at times you might even want to throw it away or punch it. But let the radical message of Jesus within these pages make its claim, and the death of your religion will blossom into true life in Jesus.

Dr. Jerry Gillis Lead Pastor at The Chapel at CrossPoint Buffalo, New York

The single most important decision a person will ever make concerns their relationship with Jesus Christ. Alex reminds us that it is not about rules or religion, but an intimate relationship.

Dr. Johnny Hunt Pastor at First Baptist Church Woodstock, Georgia

Copyright 2014 by Alex Himaya

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

978-1-4336-8279-7

Published by B&H Publishing Group

Nashville, Tennessee

Dewey Decimal Classification: 234.1

Subject Heading: RELIGION \ GRACE (THEOLOGY) \ CHRISTIAN LIFE

Unless otherwise stated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright 1996, 2004. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked ( NKJV ) are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked ( NIV ) are taken from The Holy Bible: New International Version NIV . Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked ( MSG ) are taken from The Message. Copyright 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group.

Scripture quotations marked ( KJV ) are taken from The King James Version.

Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, s.v. hate, http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hate>hate (accessed August 3, 2010).

All Greek definitions are taken from Libronix Digital Library System, 2001.

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To my four sweet children, Katherine, Elijah, Benjamin, and Lemley, you have brought me more joy, laughter, and grace than you will ever know.

May your lives be filled with the sweet grace of Jesus!

Acknowledgments

Thanks be to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, you have shown me unimaginable grace and rescued me from the grips of religion.

To Meredith, my beautiful wife. You are truly my best friend and soul mate.

Special thanks to my parents, Drs. Mack and JoAnn Himaya for pushing me to more than I ever thought possible; to Lonita Beaty, Saundra Powell, and Sheryl Keck for doing the hard work of making my thoughts legible; and to the people of theChurch.at for being the greatest grace place I know of!

Foreword

I t seems, maybe, we have forgotten that Jesus said we can do nothing without Him. Nothing.

That is why I am so grateful for a book like thisa book about Jesus. Not another dead book about religion, but one about the only Source of life that exists. Simply put, there is no definition of life apart from JesusHe said He is life Himself. It seems, though, we act as if we can do this Christian life thing on our ownjust work a little harder, have a bit more discipline than the next guy, etc. Its as if we think, fundamentally, Christianity is about our effort to be like Jesus.

Its not. Thats the opposite of good news. In fact, its horrible newshave you ever tried it? C. S. Lewis, in his classic work Mere Christianity , got it right: No man knows how bad he is till he has tried very hard to be good. Christianity is not about our effort to be like Jesus; it is Jesus effort to be Himself in us. Alex Himaya gives you an honest and compelling look at how religionman-made attempts to get to Godwill fail you every time. And thats why Jesus hates religionbecause it keeps you from Him.

As Leonard Sweet and Frank Viola point out in Jesus Manifesto, Jesus didnt even try to live His life on this earth by His own power (religion). Jesus said, Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself (John 5:19 NKJV ), and in another place He said, I can of Myself do nothing (John 5:30 NKJV ). So, since Jesus could do nothing of Himself, what did He do? He said it this way, Whatever the Father does the Son also does, and again, I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me (John 5:19; 8:28 NIV ). And finally, Dont you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work (John 14:10 NIV ).

Jesus lived His life through the indwelling of the Father. So do you really think that Jesus is going to tell us to live our lives any differentlythat somehow we should live our lives on our own, in our own strength, and just try to copy Jesus? Are we to think that religion, which wasnt good enough for Jesus, is somehow good enough for us? Good luckthat is the recipe for abject failure. Trying to be like Christ is not only hard; it is impossible. Only Christ can be like Christ. And thats the point. He indwells us. He lives in us. And He wants to live His life out through us.

We could take all the great information from all of the books on the best-seller list and put it all into practice. We could have better parenting skills, better communication in marriage, and all other kinds of self-help; but, in the end, apart from Jesus, we really can do nothing. When the life of Jesus is being lived out in us, we will be better spouses, parents, and people because His life manifestly becomes bigger than ourselves; it becomes about Jesus and His power.

We need to step out of our you- niverse of religion and into Jesus universe. Everything, and I mean everything, is for Him, through Him, in Him, and by Him. He must have preeminence. If we dont allow that, the alternative is not good: we begin to unknowingly drown in the pool of religious narcissism while thinking what great swimmers we are. The you- niverse of religion is nothing more than a black hole, but thankfully Alex hasnt written a book on religion. He has written about the only One who really mattersthe all-sufficient Jesus who saves us from our sins, our mistakes, our very selves; and, yes, from our religion too.

Dr. Jerry Gillis

Lead Pastor at The Chapel at CrossPoint Buffalo, New York

Introduction

P erhaps you picked up this book because youre appalled by the title and cant wait to tear this book apart. Or maybe the title caught your attention, and you enthusiastically agree because youve experienced religion at its worst.

I should probably state here that I am a pastor. Those of you who were already angry just blew a gasket. Keep reading.

I realize that being author of a book entitled Jesus Hates Religion puts me in a precarious situation. I am a pastor. My main source of income is from a churcha religious institution. I have spent thousands of dollars and decades of my time learning from religious institutions. It seems crazy for me to state that Jesus hates something that is the core of who I am and what I do. However, I want to offer an unbiased view of Gods thoughts about religion. Before you put this book back on the shelf, please allow me to share some of my life story with you.