To Do Today... Avoid Enslavement

Of all the issues in the church (and there are many), perhaps the one that has been the most persnickety has been finding the balance between legalism and liberalism. Good Christian people trying to figure out "what should I do, and shouldn't I do".

Many well-meaning Christians have fallen into what I call "liberalism" in the church... taking on a perspective that "God has saved me, He loves me, He has forgiven me: Therefore, I can do the things I want to do, and God has already forgiven me!"

The problem with this perspective is that when we sin, we are placing ourselves back into the slavery that Jesus Christ released us from with His death. Paul wrote:

What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? Certainly not! Do you not know that to whom you present yourselves slaves to obey, you are that one's slaves whom you obey, whether of sin leading to death, or of obedience leading to righteousness? Rom 6:15-16 NKJV

After the Emancipation Proclamation, some slaves did not know that they were legally free. Their masters never told them, or told them it was a lie. So even though they had been made free men, many remained slaves. That is what happens to the Christian who goes back to sin, whether through ignorance, or willing choice. And sin always brings consequences, so many Christians live their lives in a continual state of upheaval and problems because they keep going back to their old master.

Sometimes the pendulum falls on the legalism side. It might look something like this...

• The bible says I should live holy.
• There are many things written in the bible that are clear I should not do.
• If I don't do those things, it pleases God.
• Some things the bible is not clear on, just to be safe I shouldn't do those either. I should stay as far away from sin as possible. Better safe than sorry.
• Just to make sure I don't forget anything, I should make a list.
• This list really works for me, I should share it with ____ (fill in the blank, my friends, my church, the people that I pastor).
• We are doing well living by these rules, God must be very pleased!
• There are some who are not really trying, or don't think it is very important to follow these rules. Don't they want to please God? They must not care as much about pleasing God as we do.
• Then they really are not as spiritual or as close to God as we are.

... and the party goes on - the single becomes a group, which becomes a church, which becomes a network, then a denomination... just add a few generations and 'poof', you have a whole swath of the church enslaved in legalism.

Legalism can take many forms...

1. Imposing extra rules of conduct.
2. Specifying the only authorized version of the English Bible.
3. Forbidding certain kinds of entertainment.
4. Keeping the Sabbath.
5. Adhering slavishly to the opinions of a certain teacher or sect.
6. Having to give a certain percentage of money at church to be deemed spiritual.
   
7. Outlawing certain musical instruments.
8. Setting down particular clothing and/or grooming requirements.
9. Embracing certain political views.
10. Demanding one method of schooling over another.

The outcome of this progression is never a spiritually mature fellowship, but a prideful fellowship. In Col 2 v18 Paul writes...

Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind...
Col 2:18 NKJV

In other words the outcome of legalism is a false sense of humility covering up what is really a puffed up mind. It might be hard to see how trying to strictly adhere to rules of conduct could bring a Christian to this place, but when we strip away the facade of the rules what we find is something that is truly stunning...

A refusal to accept God's plan for reconciliation of man to God, and instead seeking to institute our own plan for holiness and righteousness. That is, in essence, what legalism is. We are seeking to become holy apart from God.

WHAT IS THE ANSWER???

For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. Rom 8:3-5 NKJV

The answer is not in a rule, or a set of rules, or a principle. The answer is in a person - the Person of Jesus Christ.

Join us Sunday morning, March 30th, as we explore this topic of legalism.

Pastor Clay