Legalism

At the present Nancy and I are in ministry teaching a SS class here in the Queen City. It has been great and probably from time to time I will post some of the blog articles from that website.

I received a call from a good friend yesterday who mentioned to me great Bible teachers that seem prone to legalism. He went on to name two very well known people in Charlotte based on his personal observations. So if Larry should be reading this blog site in the near future here are a couple of articles on legalism.

Our class can be summarized as follows: “Back to the basics of the Bible in such a way that Christ is demonstrated as great and glorious in each of our lives.” However as I have taught over the years, one of the dangers of intense Bible study can be legalism. We need to be on alert constantly against this very deadly disease. And the only antibiotic that can provide the cure is the cross of Christ.

Therefore, before we continue moving forward in our survey of the Bible, I am pulling our tour bus over to the next overview stop in order to look out into the valley of legalism. As many of you know that have been with us for the last 9 weeks, I have exhorted us as a class back to the Bible. In doing so I have encouraged you with a number of tools that can help in your Bible reading, Bible devotion and Bible study. But I also know that some people have processed this information through the filter of “I need to start building a task list or to do list for my spiritual life.” One of the points this past Sunday was as Americans we are hard wired to be legalists. Should you want to hear that flushed out in more detail just refer to the audio link for October 26 or these power point slides from last Sunday.

This Sunday instead of focusing our attention on the problem we will in fact be emphasizing the cure. Now before I give you the homework assignment let me give you a pastoral heads up. The problem that existed in the first 100 years of the church and the big problem that we face now is the same. And the name of the problem is SIN! Please don’t ignore this but seek rather to understand this from the Bible. Read carefully the apostle Paul’s conclusion about the entire human race (pagan, moral man and religious man) in Romans. Remember Romans is the most thorough epistle we have on the doctrine of salvation.

Rom. 3:10 as it is written,
“THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NOT EVEN ONE;
Rom. 3:11 THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS,
THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS FOR GOD;
Rom. 3:12 ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE, TOGETHER THEY HAVE BECOME USELESS;
THERE IS NONE WHO DOES GOOD,
THERE IS NOT EVEN ONE.”

Legalism is sin rooted in pride which focuses the attention on my effort and ability in order to merit or get God’s approval. But in me there is nothing good so all I can bring to God are deeds that are in fact unrighteous. I once heard a prominent theologian proclaim “ the best work you ever do in your lifetime, needs to be bathed in repentance.” When I heard it I backed the tape up and listened again. He did not say the worst thing you will ever have done but the best thing needs to be bathed in repentance. Why is that? Because our sinful nature is so utterly sinful that it even taints the most wonderful things that we do in our kingdom work. I must admit hearing that did not help my self esteem or self concept one little bit. But isn’t that the point! If I don’t admit and deal with the problem then I will never appreciate nor apply the solution. Class we are sinners in need of a savior and that savior is Christ. Did you ever see the movie “Amazing Grace?” Well, in that movie there is a conversation between Wilbur Wilberforce and John Newton. At this point Newton is old and looks to be a bit senile. But he says to Wilberforce the following statement, “one thing that I know, I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior.”

The key to killing the deadly disease of legalism is the cross of Christ. It may be that legalism has never been a problem for you but what about lust, envy, jealousy, lying, anger, coveting, hating, gossiping, and I could go on but you get the idea. Romans 3:23 states “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Therefore all need the one cure for that problem that is common to every man, woman, boy and girl that has ever lived or will live except for Christ Himself.

I want you to know that this class has not been designed nor will it be taught from a “you” centered perspective. This class will be taught from a “Christ-centered” perspective. We somehow have gotten the notion today that if we market Jesus to unbelievers as the One who can fix their marriage, smooth all relationships, guarantee financial prosperity, take away all their guilt and also keep them out of hell then we are involved in kingdom building. But wanting to not go to hell is not a saving affection because I can want to avoid hell and still not want to be with, love and praise Christ. We in evangelicalism have fallen into the deadly trap of promising the blessings but leaving out the Blessor. We have guaranteed the gifts and yet at the same time diminished the Giver. Many churches today will not talk about the sinful, evil and wickedness in the heart of man that can only be solved by the blood shedding of Jesus Christ. By the grace of God I will not allow that to happen in this class. This will not be about getting your best life now, but rather it will be about how to lose your life now in order that you can save it!

Class, can I teach you this hard but very important truth? In you, apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. there is NO GOOD THING, your heart is evil and desperately wicked! The only thing you want to do is rebel, be in charge of your own life and you do not want to submit to God in any way. As a matter of fact prior to Christ you were at war with God. No, that needs to be stated the other way God was at war with you! So what could possibly allow you in your wicked and evil state to be reconciled to a holy and righteous God. It was God’s gracious gift to you of repentance and faith that turned you away from self as you cast yourself on the mercy of Christ in order to trust in Him.

So this week we look at, yes, the solution to legalism but we could say the solution to sin. You see when we started the four obstacles I listed to Bible study were as follows:
1. Motivation
2. Priority
3. Skills and Tools
4. Spiritual Condition

I could have wrapped all of these up in one word which is SIN. Because SIN will be the one thing that keeps you from the Bible whereas the Bible will be that which keeps you from SIN.

Here are the important study verses that Lord willing I am going to teach on this Sunday:

Romans 1:16
Ephesians 2:8-9
1 Corinthians 1:17-31
Galatians 6:14
Galatians 2:20
1Corinthians 2:1-2
Titus 3:3-7

Here are some words that I would like you to pay attention to as you read and meditate on these verses prior to Sunday.

Gospel
Christ-crucifed
Saved
Regeneration
Justification
Mercy
Boasting

There is only one cure for legalism and that is Christ crucified for our sins! This is not something you can
do but rather it is something that must be done for you! When we start to understand that kind of GRACE,
a GRACE that saves rebellious, evil and wicked men, women, boys and girls then we will start to be
amazed. As GRACE comes down JOY rises in the form of delight, satisfaction and a genuine treasuring of
Christ. And naturally from our satisfaction in Christ a love springs forth from our lives in the form of our
LOVE for others. And now when I perform deeds in the body of Christ they are done not out of a “DUTY”
mentality but rather from a “DELIGHT” mentality. The only cure for legalism is the cross of Christ!