Wednesday, 28 October 2009
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The Misery of Legalism
I have learned to reserve my use of the word hate. I don’t say that I hate those who oppose my faith. I don’t hate those who have opposite political views. I don’t even hate the Michigan Wolverines even though that will get my Buckeye passport revoked. I do, however, have a few things for which I will use the word hate. I hate legalism in Christianity. Legalism is answering to the wrong source of authority. Legalists default to religious traditions rather than the Word of God. My faith journey began in a legalistic church. I will probably always walk with a bit of a spiritual limp. Legalism has reared it’s ugly and sinful head in the lives of some very dear friends. They are being hurt by church-goers who are living in legalism.
Legalism takes the sweet Gospel of Jesus Christ and mixes in some “churchified” version of the law. Church by-laws occupy equal footing with God’s Word. Righteousness is no longer about Christ but about right behavior as only they define it. Legalism cherry picks verses that support behavioral control while conveniently ignoring dozens of verses about grace, forgiveness, kindness, love, gentleness and forbearance.
Focusing on right behavior does make you moral and perhaps a good person. It does not make you righteous. Such focus is not much different (if at all) from an agnostic or sporadic church-goer who really tries hard to do right and moral things. Tim Keller wrote this provocative thought about legalism in his wonderful book The Reason for God.
The devil, if anything, prefers Pharisees—men and women who try to save themselves. They are more unhappy than either mature Christians or irreligious people, and they do a lot more spiritual damage.
Without a doubt. I have been damaged. I have seen loved ones damaged. I have damaged others.
I hate legalism but I don’t hate legalists. I hurt for them. I suspect they are tired, miserable and wondering what happened to the once joyous message of the Gospel. What happened is that we take God’s amazing grace and mix in our own interpretation of the law. Never watching an R-rated movie or touching alcohol does not make me righteous. Going to church six times a week does not make me righteous.
Righteousness is entirely because of Christ. Nothing I have done or will do will make me righteous. I spent three decades trying to be “righteous”. When I hit a dry spell I would try harder, read more books, buck up and beat myself up because I felt so distant from God. Lots of helpful Christian friends would faithfully remind me that God hadn’t moved so it had to be me. So I disliked myself more and tried harder and God seemed even more distant. And I got tired. I was discouraged. I got wounded again by the church. I had reached the end of my spiritual rope. I cried out to Jesus something along these lines.
“I CAN’T DO THIS ANYMORE!”
God does not get insulted by all-caps. In fact, I imagine that Jesus smiled at that point because I was finally ready to trust Him and not myself. I had reached the point of brokenness that allowed me turn over the keys to Christ. I reached the point where I no longer had to be right. I had reached the point where I didn’t want to wear a phony mask of holiness. I had reached the point where I was willing to trust God completely with everything about me. I had reached the point where I was ready for grace. I had reached the point where I was willing to believe what God says is true about me. That I am completely forgiven. I am completely loved. I am completely changed because of Christ. I am completely empowered with the Holy Spirit to mature into all of those things that are already true about me. I am righteous not because of anything I have done but entirely because of Christ.
If you are tired enough, discouraged enough, wounded enough and ready to scream you can’t do this anymore then I have good news. You are ready for grace. If you haven’t done it then please listen to the message of the Two Roads and Two Rooms.
God is waiting for you to experience His grace. Legalism is a dead end street to misery. There is a better road. What have you got to lose?
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- From: daveburchett
- Name: Dave
- About Me: Dave Burchett is an Emmy Award-winning television sports director for Fox Sports, ESPN, and Jefferson Pilot Sports. Dave has directed Southeastern Conference basketball games for over twenty years. He has also directed Texas Ranger’s major league baseball telecasts for over twenty years and had the thrill of televising one of Nolan Ryan's no-hit games and Ryan’s 300th win. He and his wife, Joni, are former staff members of Campus Crusade's Athletes in Action. They currently reside in Garland, Texas where Joni is a Special Education Coordinator specializing in elementary students. Dave and Joni are the parents of three sons.
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Comments (18)
GOOD post
@Pickwick12@xanga - Agreed!
Amen.
Thank you.
i don't see how you can compare agnosticism to legalistic Christianity... legalists try to do the right thing to please God. as an agnostic, i try to do the right thing for no reason other than to benefit myself and those around me (usually only the latter, however).
Good one.
@too_pretty_to_die@xanga - his point was not about what motivates you do the right thing - it's that in practicality, it's no different.
great post thanks :)
@Theophilus166@xanga - not in my opinion. legalistic Christians do things in hopes of pleasing God...... i do things in hopes that i actually make things better.
There's quite a bit of legalism just on Revelife alone. I'm kind of sick of reading posts such as "Can I do ________ and still be a Christian?" Great post. I hope people read this one. Thank you LORD for the gospel message... otherwise I'd be incredibly lost.
"I had reached the point of brokenness that allowed me turn over the keys to Christ". That says it all.
Wow , This is truly an amazing post. I really hate legalism too and see it all the time in other Christians. It's really sad and breaks my heart , especially when I see it in people that I know.
As silly as it seems, there appears to be a large portion of the nominal church that maintains that grace means no longer having to live up to any standard. We must also be careful not to fall into this trap, either!
If we could all remember we have no control over anyone's actions but our own, a lot of the legalism would stop. There's nothing wrong with following more stringent rules, if that is what you believe is right, but attacking other people for not following them isn't going to help anyone.
I, too, don't see the correlation between self-righteous behavior and agnostics. As far as I'm concerned, everyone lives their life, and conducts their behavior for their own personal reasons, whether it's to please a God they believe in, or whether it's because they want to promote peace on earth and goodwill towards men.
However, I know that's not the point of the post. Legalism is destructive. It distracts from the heart of the message, and zeroes in on things that were never intended to be focal points.
"The letter kills, but the spirit brings life"
In greek:
The 'Logos' kills, but the 'Rhema' brings life.
In other words, the commands kill. The true transformation comes from within the heart, and the will to do the right thing, not through force, but through love!
It is biblical to be repelled by legalism.
You can't change a heart of someone through it.
But for others, all they need to know is what to do, and the law can give them the way how to live.
They don't need the experience, they just live and abide by the rules to avoid errors.
For them, this is enough.
Strangely, God knows this, and gets back at them; only to face them with deeper lying issues of the law. Things they find hard to comprehend.
We are saved by grace, not by the law!
Be glad you understand this. Also, the churches after 2000 are generally less legalistic compared to the churches of the 1980's.
So be happy that you live in today, not yester-century!
I, personally, have legalistic leanings. I won't work on Sunday. I won't eat certain foods (because of personal promises, not Bible-based lists). I won't have sex outside of marriage. I have other such "won't"s.
I think these things (barring the food, because it's MY list for ME alone) are good ideas for everyone, because God gave them as the best options. I do NOT enforce them on other people, although I DO 'enforce' them in my own household, as I have perfect right to do, as you have right to enforce your personal rules in your house, barring them being illegal/immoral. Smokers can't smoke in my house, because of a family member's health, but may smoke in my car, because such necessity doesn't exist there. Nobody plays bed-bingo in my house. It's my house, and my enforcing of God's rules is right and proper.
I don't enforce my rules outside of my private space, and I don't do more than say what God's word says about the activities my friends and acquaintances choose. I also don't brow-beat them. I usually don't tell them more than once. I figure God can deal with their hearts, as long as they know HIS rules. I HAVE asked friends who do drugs to avoid doing them in my presence, as I personally find it distressing.
I don't think that's legalism as you're finding problematic, but if it is, it works between God and I.
I think where legalism goes wrong is:
1. Expecting rules and regulations to save you rather than just put you in a safer position.
2. Expecting others to agree with/ live up to my/your rules and regulations outside of personal rights, such as 'in my house', or 'in my car'.
3. Not realizing that some rules can be damaging without love to buffer them. Without love, rules kill. Legalism alone is murder by code. Love without rules is soft-headed heartlessness.