Joseph Prince - The Trap of Religion (And How to Escape It)
I always want you to come expecting, come prepared, come ready to receive, amen? And sometimes, you know, people, they are so religious and our natural inclination is to be religious. When Adam sinned against God, Adam actually covered himself with thick clothes. So no one needed to teach him to be religious. He knew. He knew instinctively. But religion is not relationship with God. Can I have a good amen? So religion is part of your flesh. The flesh tends to be religious.
Do you know Satan is religious, amen? He will try to get you an idea about God that is not true, like, God demands from you, God is out to get you, God is finding fault with you, God is not pleased with you. So you always see an angry God. And sometimes that image, you know, is also helped along because we have a father who may be always grumpy, always finding fault, never really happy. Or a mother who is like that. So there was a family very dear to Jesus. Jesus raised the brother from the dead, Lazarus, and the two sisters, Martha and Mary.
And when Jesus came to the house, Martha, her first thought is, religious, amen. I say religious in the sense of, like, I need to please God, I need to… you know? And that sounds so good. That sounds so great. But that comes after, my friend. He’s not after your hands. He’s after your heart. He’s not after your energy and effort. He’s after your devotion. And yet, we miss the point. Like in the book of Proverbs, it says, «My son, give me your heart,» amen?
And the Lord knows it’s the heart. The heart is the thing when you come to church is to be occupied with Christ. And when this is right, it will affect your hands. It will affect your walk, amen. It will affect your service. And you will not just serve him in a natural way, but your service will be with excellence. It will be in the power of the Holy Spirit, amen. So Jesus came to the house and the natural thing to do, especially for us Asians, someone come to your house, the natural thing to do is to go to the kitchen, find something good, especially when the person turns up suddenly, amen.
The first thing, you know, we meet one another, what do we say here? «Have you eaten,» right? We don’t say, «Have you spent time with Jesus before you came to my house»? It’s more important to spend time with Him than me. But eating first, right? Now, the sister went into the… the older sister actually, her name is Martha. She went to prepare food in the kitchen.
Now that’s fine. You can serve, it’s okay. But you know what happened, right? She came—what was the other sister doing, Mary? She was at Jesus’s feet. I mean, think about it. Jesus used the word later on: One thing is needful. One thing is needful. Actually in the Greek, it is very emphatic, the one thing. Of this one thing, it is necessary. It is needful of this one thing. So what is the one thing? The sister sat at Jesus’s feet and she just received. The Bible says she listened to his Word and she just received.
You see, when the one who flung the stars in place, the heavens show off his handiwork. We are all made by him. When we were in our mother’s womb, the Bible says, the Psalmist says, we were carefully wrought, fearfully and wonderfully made. And my soul knows right well, amen. He is the one that put all the diamonds and the gold and the sapphires in the crusty rocks for man to dig and to find. He’s the one who made everything, amen. He’s so full. He’s so full and most of all, he’s so overflowing with love, if I can say that. His love is not just enough. His love is extra big. So that’s why he made man, so that man can be a recipient of his love. He did not make man, listen, for man to love him.
Now later on, the law commands man to love him. But actually, even that, the best of men failed. David failed, amen. We cannot love unless we know we are first loved. The way he… and God knew that. So God gave the law not to justify man by, but to show man his shortcoming. That he cannot do the very thing that God wants him to do. So God created man to receive all his love, to receive all that he has done for man. So that man can enjoy it. You see, your children. You know, when you build another house, let’s say, okay, just imagine, okay? Just imagine with me, okay?
You build another house from the house you’re living in. You build your house for your children or your other people’s children. It’s for your own children. You have a good savings. It’s for you and for your children, amen. If you’re older, your children’s children even, amen. You look forward to bestow all, everything good, you think of your children. And for those of us who are more loving husbands and responsible fathers, you plan for holidays. Who do you think of? Your loved ones, amen.
Many a times, you sit even during holidays and all that, you make sure that they are sitting well. You make sure they have the best seat there. You make sure when the chicken comes in, all right? The chicken is the extra feature of this restaurant and the biggest piece goes to the boy or the girl that you love, your children, your wife. Your wife gets the bigger piece. And all the guys said, I’m talking about loving husbands, loving fathers, amen. And when you go on holiday, I’ve had guys tell me this. They serve. In a form, in a way, it’s a holiday for the children and for the wife. But for them, they are busy looking out. They are busy making sure everything is fine. I know that many a times, it’s the wife that does that.
Now the wife said… but this time your amen is louder than the guys’s. Okay, but it is so, amen? And we do it for our children so that they enjoy. Do they say thank you in commensurate with all the good things we have done for them? No. Children have to be taught to say thank you, amen? They have to be taught to say thank you. It’s not natural with their flesh, amen. What is natural, okay, for the flesh is not to say thank you, but to complain. That’s natural. So we are learning about the flesh so that we know ourselves. And I just want to announce to you the good news: your flesh has been crucified at the cross. And we’re to reckon it so, amen? And live by the new man.
Jesus rose 2000 years ago, bodily from the dead, into the timeless zone, into a zone where he will never die again. That place that we’re all created for because everything on this earth is temporal. Everything that you see, if you can see it, you can touch it, you can feel it, all right? It is temporal. It has an expiry date. It is all passing away. It is all degenerating. It is rusting away, it is not permanent. But the things that cannot be seen, they are real, amen. They are real. The real you will live forever, amen.
That’s why there must be a place to house you, amen. When you step out of your body, your heart stops beating, you, the spirit man, lives forever. It is where you are housed, okay? «What is this, exercise, Pastor Prince»? No, this is visual. For those who listen on audio, they won’t get this, amen. There must be a place to house you. That’s why… people don’t just disappear just like that. Because why? When God breathed into man, man is a spirit being, man will live forever, amen?
So every time we come before the Lord, the greatest delight that he has, just like your children, is to see you enjoy. And sometimes you don’t say thanks but your joy should be in saying that they’re enjoying what you cook, they’re enjoying what you bought, they’re enjoying what you sacrifice. They may not know the fullness of your sacrifice, but your joy in seeing them enjoy what you did. And that’s why it hurts when they don’t say thanks. That’s why it hurts when they push away that food that you have taken so long to learn and study and go through the recipes and, you know, painstakingly produce such a fine dish and then they don’t like it. It hurts. It hurts when your husband says, «Hm». How’s the food today? «Hm, hm,» amen?
Open your mouth, brother. Say thank you, amen? And by the way, studies have shown, and this is not from Christian studies, these are from scientific studies, and I saw one in from Harvard University. And they said that people who are optimistic and people who are thankful, all right, they made a study, literally followed a certain group of people for some years. And they found that people who are optimistic, people who are appreciative, look at the good points instead of finding fault, looking for the bad points, they live long. They live long compared to people who are pessimistic.
And this study actually—maybe one day I’ll produce it, and this study actually covers a span of many years. And then they covered, regardless of race, they, through a number of people from different demographics and race, and they put them together and followed them for a number of years, this Harvard study. And they found out that, you know, besides exercise and the propensity for certain races and all that, to have a certain kind of genetic setback, you know, and different races will have different types. They said, all that aside, the thing that made a difference is optimism, amen? And appreciation, a thankful heart. We are very quick. Ask ourself, why are you so quick to find fault, amen?
The moment Pastor Prince came out just now, you found fault. You found fault with something, like the hair or whatever, lah. Or the face or the, you know? You know, why, why, why? Why are we so… you come to a place, you’ve been waiting for a while to go for holiday and the first thing you look for is something in the room, in the hotel, you’re not happy about. How about the many things that… the fact you are there. And I’ll tell you, you’ll be a happy person. And when you’re a happy person, your body will be happy also. It will respond with health and ease. Because dis-ease is disease.
You see, you hear this part, you go home, you’re a happy man. You’re a blessed man. You’re on your way, but you gotta watch this and don’t blame the person you’re criticizing. Don’t blame the object you’re criticizing. Don’t blame the nation you’re criticizing. Don’t blame the government you’re criticizing. Don’t blame everybody else but yourself. Ask yourself, why do you have this propensity? The children of Israel, they saw the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night, God providing them supernatural food from heaven, the bread of the mighty, the Psalmist tells us. And they complained. Every step of the way, they complained. And the consequence is disastrous. They died in the wilderness.
The Bible says their bodies dropped in the wilderness. What’s God teaching us from that one lesson? The main sin, it wasn’t that they were running around committing adultery. There was one instance they did that with a woman of Moab. There’s one instance, all right, during the time of Balak and Balaam. But besides that, what else did they do? Idolatry happened one time in the wilderness, right? The golden calf. But what else did they do? The constant sin they did was complaining, complaining, complaining, amen? And if you can, just say, «thank you» once a while.
And you know, you don’t say thank you to people that you think is their job. That’s the problem. The one, the pump attendant, right, where you go pump your petrol? You say thank you to him and talk to him like he’s a human being for a while, amen? Give him something, a tip. Tell him, «Go drink coffee,» amen, with a smile on your face, amen? We don’t thank the people that serve us food. We look at them. The man who is clearing your table, do you thank them? «Uncle, thank you». Want to… something? We have to learn to receive and say thanks. So Jesus says Mary has… so Martha came out complaining, right? And said, «Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me alone»?
I always, when I say something like that, a song comes up, all right? I don’t know is it from the world of the hymn or the world of the end of the world? It’s like, okay, it’s like, you know, everything has a song. And she says, «Don’t you care that my sister has left me alone? I blame you. Don’t you care? You don’t care. My sister, she don’t care. I’m the only one, alone». And you know who will be unhappy? Only you. And that reminds me of another song. «Only…» Okay, anyway. So Jesus said to her, «Martha, Martha, you are careful, troubled, anxious about many things».
Are you troubled about many things? We say that it is our right to be troubled about many things. But Jesus says, «Martha, Martha, you are careful and troubled about many things, but one thing is needful. And Mary has chosen the good part which shall not be taken away from her». I love it. It’s like Jesus says, «She chose the good part. I love it. And no one’s going to take it from her».
Not Satan, not the sister, even older in rank. Too bad. She’s chosen the good part. It’s got to be chosen. God won’t force it on you. Every day you got a chance to sit down and receive his ministry. I say, when I was growing up in the Christian world, they would teach us, right, «Do your quiet time,» all right? So I’d do my quiet time. They asked me later on, «How was your quiet time,» right? I’d say, It was very quiet. I don’t know what to say to God. You know, as I was born again as a teenager and in my teenage years and all that, I can talk.
In class, I stammer. But I can talk to my friends and all that. During quiet time, I’d just say, «It’s too quiet. I don’t talk to God. I don’t know what to say to God». And they’d tell me, «It’s for God to talk to you». But he doesn’t talk to me. It’s very quiet. So I don’t have the keys. I was doing quiet time, I wasn’t receiving. I wasn’t going there to receive from the Lord. I wasn’t coming before the Lord to receive his love, amen. Actually, the Lord wants to love you.
You know, I’ve said it before in time and time again. And because, like I said, I have an older daughter and she was born exactly during the time of the former rain in Israel, November. And I have a second son, right? My daughter was born in the former rain, literally November. And my son was born in March, the time of the latter rain. Literally, the month of the latter rain. The two main rains in Israel. And I always tell them, former rain, early rain. Sorry, early rain, former rain. Latter rain, latter rain, amen?
So they both symbolize something. But I also believe that my life is because of you all. When I’m supposed to have a child, it’s because of you all, all right? It’s not based on my efforts, amen? It’s really based on you all. I have an older one so that you all who have older kids, you all don’t know, lah. You know, during the time of teenage and all that, «Ah, Pastor Prince, you only have a young boy. You do not know what it’s like to have a teenager, to have a young adult working and the responsibility they are supposed to show their parents and I’m going through this and all».
I know, amen? All the way through university. Yes, I know. I know. I know what works and what doesn’t, amen. But some people say, «Well, Pastor Prince, you forgot really, and now Jessica is, you know, in her twenties and all, you forget what it’s like to have a young kid and all that kind…» I know. So I believe even my life is because of you all! Uh-huh. So if you all bring even more young parents who just got married, maybe Wendy will have a baby now. Amen? Yeah, so, and that’s in the Bible by the way. The minister’s life is not a life for himself. The minister’s life, if God does it in a way, is a testimony for the rest as well as also for the blessing of the rest.
See, we are here to be used. We are here. That’s what the word «minister» means. Jesus himself came down and said this, «I came not to be ministered unto but to minister,» amen? So we minister to our children, we minister to our wives primarily with words. Because we can do a lot of things for them. I know we can also do a lot of things like sacrifices and all that. It’s in deeds, okay? But one of the main ways love is shown, right? It’s actually words. Your children need your words.
So we learned just now that one of the best things we can do is that we have this propensity knowing that we tend to complain, we tend to, and by the way, why Martha was careful and anxious and troubled about many things. Many things, about many things? Because she didn’t do the one thing. She didn’t sit at Jesus’s feet and she wasn’t occupied with him, amen. She wasn’t, like, saying, «I’m here to receive your love. Oh, you know, I look forward for my quiet time with the Lord, amen? Because that’s when I receive his love. I can’t wait to spend time. I’m with people, right? Honestly, it’s not that I don’t appreciate the people I have. I love them. But I feel like I want to go away and spend time with the Lord tonight».
There are moments I feel that way. I just, because I know that there I receive unconditional love. So he wants to serve you. But every day you’re serving yourself, you’re serving people, you’re serving everything. You’re serving your boss, you’re serving the needs of your company, you’re serving this thing. You’re still serving. Except to receive the greatest service of all. The service of love, the ministry of love. To come to the Lord and say, «Lord, I’m tired, Lord, but I come before you right now».