Opiate Religion

Ralph Waldo Emerson once asked a stimulating question, “What greater calamity can fall upon a Nation than the loss of worship? What could be worse than no Churches, no Altars, no ministers, no Christians?” Jeremiah 7:9-10, Rev. 3:14-18

I: All Nations Have Their Gods.
1. They may have eyes that see not and ears that hear not.
2. They may love, hate, and kill.
3. They may demand strange sacrifices.
4. They may sleep or go hunting. (Elijah)
5. But every people have their God or Gods.

II: The People to Whom Jeremiah Preached.
1. The Temple had degenerated into a fetish superstition. Belief or fear without basis in reason or knowledge.
2. Superstition was having a deadening effect on their religion. Dr. Lyn Elder said, “Baptists are apt to be superstitious about the Bible.”
3. They had a shallow concept of God, holy days, and sacrifices.
4. They “feared God and served idols.”
5. God was not a real vital life changing God. “It is easier to win a sin-stained individual than to open the blinded eyes of a unconverted church member.”

III: Opiate Religion Worse Than No Religion.
1. It was to the Church that Rev. 3:17-18 was addressed.
a. The Church thought themselves rich and in need of nothing.
b. They were blind to their true condition.
They were lukewarm and sickening to God.
2. The religion that fails to effect ones personal behavior and raise the moral standards is worse than no religion.
3. Religion that does not relate to ones daily living is a sinful opiate.
4. An opiate religion is dangerous to a Nation. Finney said, “I had rather conduct a revival in a town where there was no church than an attempt to conduct one where the Church was like warm.
5. An opiate religion causes the people to say “Peace Peace when there is no peace.” (Jeremiah 8:11)
6. They had failed to see that the proof of religion was the effect is produced on conduct.
a. James said, “Show me thy faith without thy works and I will show thee my faith by my works.”
b. When a leader in our church shows by their daily conduct that their faith is dead they no longer should remain in places of leadership.
c. Faith without works, is dead, is an opiate not only to an individual, but to a church and a nation.

IV: The Antidote:
1. Stop acting as though we controlled God, and let him control us.
2. Know that it is by character that impressions for good are made on the world.
3. There is a vital relationship between spiritual worship and demands upon daily living.
4. When one’s religion fails to change life, it becomes a mockery.
5. That the Church is not a crutch to use when we are in need, but a cross to bear daily.
6. That your lukewarm living can insulate others or your vital active living can keep them from a devil’s hell.