We’re starting this quarter officially with a journey through a book written by Andrew Farley, called ‘God Without Religion’. I understand that the title could be intimidating and triggering to some of us, but I assure you of two things: (1) This will be a wonderful journey we’re going to go through together, and (2) going through the first ‘Part’, I could see we’re in for a very wild ride. Oh, also (3) this is an opportunity for me to collaborate with the rest of you. So far I’ve contacted 2 other people; I’ve given them copies of the book with the expectation that they will make their way to the pulpit, with my blessing. I am considering giving the book to other people in our beautiful congregation, without expecting them to come up to speak, but to give me their thoughts on the sections of the book as well.
And, okay, I’ll admit. ‘God Without Religion’ was the only book I saw by Andrew Farley that was being sold in Shopee.
When I was transitioning from college to working, I remember the show Ryori no Tetsujin was such a big deal for me – That’s Iron Chef, in Japanese. The whole theme of Iron Chef was each episode they would feature a challenger chef – We’d be let in on any drama the writing team was able to conjure from this chef’s life, before we see him (or, occasionally, her) walking into an elaborate ‘Kitchen Stadium’, where the flamboyant Takeshi Kaga, the ‘Chairman’ of Kitchen Academy, was waiting. He would approach the challenger, they would have some small talk before he ‘summons’ the Tetsujin – the Iron Chefs. One by one, these Iron Chefs were introduced – there was Iron Chef Chinese Chen Kenichi, Iron Chef French Hiroyuki Sakai, and Iron Chef Japanese Rokusaburo Michiba. Now, of course, there were other chefs who took on the titles such as Yutaka Ishinabe, Koumei Nakamura, and the up and coming Masahiro Morimoto; there was even the late Iron Chef Italian, Masahiko Kobe. But the first three I mentioned were the mainstays, or the most memorable.
This show was very close to my heart for so many reasons. It was an early form of ASMR for me. I learned a lot about cooking and more about Japanese culture in everything about this show – from the design, to the attitudes of the judges and the chefs, the words and correspondence between judges and special guests and the audience, and so on. And there was also the lore, which I would like to point out for purposes of this message – See, as I mentioned, Iron Chef Rokusaburo Michiba was the most prominent (also said to be the most ‘powerful’) of all the Japanese-cuisine ‘tetsujin’, but I’m assuming old age had him choose a successor. I think it was Masaharu Morimoto whom he spoke with to take on the role of Iron Chef, but Michiba-san also had a box of quality bonito flakes sent to him, with the words: ‘Respect the old, but embrace the new.’
For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well.
Hebrews 7:12
Friends, when we allowed the Holy Spirit to reveal Christ to us, and when we came to believe in Him, we weren’t just given some vague assurance that when we die, we go to heaven. I believe that the heart behind our going through this book is for us to see that there’s so much more to being ‘saved’ than we’ve been told through the years. I believe that we’re being brought to the consideration that the salvation we have in and through Jesus Christ is, as the verse indicates, a shift.
It’s a shift from the old priesthood to the new priesthood, and a shift from the old Law to the New Covenant. It’s a shift, where we acknowledge the Old because we’ve been brought to the New. It’s a shift from respecting how we need to reach God, to celebrating how God came to us.
Friends, it’s a shift from religion, to God.
The book God Without Religion comprises of 33 Chapters, with these Chapters being grouped into 8 Parts. I will be going through Part 1 today, and we will have the pleasure of seeing the other Parts through our brothers’ and sisters’ perspectives, before I wrap it up in Part 8. Those who have already gone through the book will probably notice that I’m not going through the same chronological order, or the same flow of thought that Dr. Farley wrote with, but we’ll ultimately come to the same conclusion.
Respecting The Old
I understand, again, that the title of the book can come as peculiar to some of us. But I’m here to say that I am in no way disrespecting the Law, nor am I spurning religion; In fact, I believe that we are giving more respect to the Law and religion by understanding its nature, and then its ultimate function…
First, I want us to understand that the Law is absolutely perfect. You have to be perfect in following all of it for it to count, and there’s no allowance for mistakes.
For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.James 2:10
Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.Matthew 5:19
Second, the Law, in its perfection, reveals our imperfection. The Law exposes our sin and death.
Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.Romans 3:19-20
What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.”Romans 7:7
We’ve been brought to behold perfection, and to see how hopeless we are – but praise God! Because it’s through Christ that we’ve been brought from the Law, to the New!
Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.Romans 7:4-6
Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. Galatians 3:23-26
For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.Romans 10:4
Perfection in the form of Christ, the only Son of God – He was the One, perfect in all of His ways, who perfectly took the sin and death that the Law showed we were imprisoned in by BECOMING sin, and therefore dying in our place!
In With The New
For he finds fault with them when he says:
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt.
For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord.
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord:
I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest.
For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.”Hebrews 8:8-12
Because of this New Covenant, we’re guaranteed of at least two things in the Body of Christ.
First, we’re guaranteed of a faithful union:
…if we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself.2 Timothy 2:13
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.Romans 8:38-39
Second, we’re guaranteed divine growth:
And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.Philippians 1:6
Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God.Colossians 2:18-19
I’m imagining that at around this point I’ve run out of time, but I’ll go ahead and just end with these Scriptures. I feel this is a good start for us to understand the overall theme of the book.
But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. Galatians 5:18-26
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34-35
It’s not that we’re doing away with the Law and religion. We actually appreciate the Law more, not by trying to follow it to the best of our abilities; No, we appreciate the Law by appreciating Who it points us to – No less than Christ, who is the end of the Law, and the beginning of Wisdom. In Him is Life, and His Life is the Light of men.
I pray we’d led to greater things as we go further into the book. Until the next post, God bless us all.
JB's Personal Brain Defragmenter 
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