Not The Religious Type // Achieving Relational Sanity [Part 2]

I. Forms of Toxic Faith

•  Compulsive Religious Words or Activity
•  Laziness
•  Presumption upon God
•  Controlling Others through Scripture
•  Extreme Intolerance
•  Addiction to Religious Highs

II.  Toxic Faith Problems

1. False Teachers

 “They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden.”  Matthew 23:4

2.  Toxic Churches

 “They offer superficial treatments for my people’s mortal wound.”   Jeremiah 6:14

Rules of Toxic Church Cultures:
• The truly faithful don’t have problems.
• If you do have a problem, act like don’t have one.
• If you’re not willing to fake it, you don’t belong.
• If you do show up with your problem, be ashamed.

3.  Foolish Beliefs. 

“Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high- sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ.”   Colossians 2:8

Some Common Foolish Beliefs: 
•  When tragedy strikes, true believers have a real peace about it all.
•  If you have faith, then you will be healed or the person you are praying for will be healed.
•  God is going to provide me with a perfect mate. 

III.  Solution: More Jesus, less religion. 

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.  Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.”   Galatians 5:1

IV. Characteristics of Healthy Faith

1. Focused on God, not a person.

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith…”  Hebrews 12:2

2. Being loving.

“But if a person isn’t loving and kind, it shows that he doesn’t know God—for God is love.”  1 John 4:8 (LB)

3. Making faith personal, not private.

“For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus.” 1 Timothy 2:5

4. Be respectful of others.

“So let’s agree to use all our energy in getting along with each other. Help others with encouraging words; don’t drag them down by finding fault.” Romans 14:19-20 (LB)

5.  Be in community.  

“This is not the time to pull away and neglect meeting together, as some have formed the habit of doing. In fact, we should come together even more frequently, eager to encourage and urge each other onward as we anticipate that day dawning.” Hebrews 10:25 (TPT)

“If the Son sets you free, you are free indeed.” John 8:36