Nov 12 2017 Ways to Counteract Legalism

In light of the shooting last week – the Cuyahoga Falls Police Dept. will be holding meetings with clergy later this month.

Lord, we pray today for the persecuted church. They set an example for us –

We’ve been going through 1 Timothy

1 Tim. 4:1 The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. 2 Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. 3 They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth.

In later times – Paul is talking about HIS TIME – we tend to think he is speaking of the end of the world! But he is talking about the sending of the Spirit – so everything after that. Sure, there will be an end time – but we always live in the Last Days.

He, going back to chapter 1, is talking about the false teachers – comes out of a bad heart and a polluted soul. This is not talking about a different opinion on different subjects. Someone might have a different view on how Baptism is done – but that is not a false teaching that he is referring to – he is referring to things that are harmful to the faith. Specifically – things that are eaten – or not to be eaten, and the forbidding of marriage. There were those who taught that the physical world was evil and that marriage needed to go.

Legalism (this week) – the second is Asceticism – and that is next week.

Legalism – any practice or belief added to the gospel that compromises the sufficiency of Christ as Savior and jeopardizes the spirit and moral guidance.

Keller: Legalism is looking to anything except for Jesus in order to be clean and acceptable before God.

There are two aspects here – the concept of legalism first focuses on our salvation and it has to do with a works basis or a works righteousness – that we have to be good enough for God to accept us – and that is anti-grace. That will not be our focus today – I think we would all agree with that.

I would like to focus on the practical day to day aspect of legalism – the stuff we experience - and maybe we are the ones who are the legalists.

Legalism is when we evaluate and measure our spirituality based on how well we follow religious rules and regulations and how much religious activity we engage in, rather than who we are in Christ and what He has done for us. When we measure ourselves by what we do and how much we do, rather than our love relationship with Christ. To the extent we are growing in a love relationship with Christ, to that extent we are growing spiritually.

The converse is also to be avoided – when we measure how OTHERS are doing – based on how well they follow religious rules and regulations and how much activity they engage in, rather than who they are in Christ.

We must always measure and evaluate ourselves based on our standing and position in Christ. That is the only measurement we should ever use. And out of that will flow righteousness, holiness, mission and morality – and not the other way around.

We don’t focus on those things and then expect to be accepted in Christ. Instead, we understand how much God loves us and that causes us to become who He wants us to become. It seems nuanced, doesn’t it? BUT -It is imperative to understand this this way. If we don’t, we have missed or don’t understand the gospel. It is so imperative that Paul wrote 16 chapters to the Romans and 6 chapters to the Galatians – we are fully accepted and loved by God. He REALLY needed them to understand this!

And the question we all have – but don’t we have to have rules? When we ask that question, Dave Brunelle says, we have missed the gospel! And we all ask that question and we have missed it.

Here is what Paul says –

Galatians 5:16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.

Their focus on behavior is not changing anything – the walk needs to be in the Spirit. If you walk in the Spirit, you CANNOT carry out the desires of the flesh!

18 - But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. (Not under the rules). (The rules don’t apply, in one sense – but they do, but not, because you don’t do them.

He is trying to help them understand how one becomes like Christ. The human tendency is to do this by setting up a bunch of rules. But it doesn’t work that way! He goes into the deeds of the flesh – immorality – drunkenness – and then he mentions the fruit of the Spirit:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

He doesn’t say the deeds of the flesh are immorality and the fruit of the spirit is morality. Or drunkenness vs. sobriety.

In my understanding – you could end it here; The fruit of the spirit is love… - that self-sacrificial love to serve others.

Are you a spiritual person? Does that characterize your life? It is easy to measure – to know – to what extent does it characterize your life.

This will sound bold, and I could be wrong – but I think this is true – we cannot sin when we are fully loving others like Jesus loved them. We absolutely can do no wrong when we are fully loving others like Jesus does. We can do no wrong when we are walking in the Spirit. But the reality is, we cannot do it all the time. None of us can. So what we do, we set up all these rules and regulations – and that is wrong. But THIS is the way to overcome your struggles: to focus on walking in the Spirit and loving as Jesus loved.

We think we do this and that when we sin – and yes, there are practical things we can do – but becoming like Christ is more than behavioral modification – God wants to change the inside of us deeply and completely.

Legalism – some of the history – Sabbath and washing rules –

The Sabbath was supposed to be something they keep – but the Pharisees added all these complicated regulations. Adding so many rules that no one could break the Sabbath.

1500 years later – there were indulgences.

Then there was the temperance movement.

Back before I was around Then Dancing.

Then Rock Music.

Then e-harmony – if you worked for a church and used e-harmony, they would fire you!

We need to determine – for today, and for us – where do we evaluate who is in and who is out – based on rules and regulations and not on position in Christ – wherever that is, you have become a Pharisee.

Where legalism comes from – a false attempt to compensate for our own personal moral failures and struggles.

The Pharisees believed that the Israelites were sent into exile because of failure to keep the Sabbath – so they set up all these rules and regulations to keep them from breaking the Sabbath – and then they were under legalism.

Legalism is tricky and deceptive, because it springs out of good things – the effort to stay out of exile.

Keeping the Sabbath is a good thing. Being sexually moral is a good thing. Going to church is a good thing. Not understanding that those things happen when we walk in the Spirit and love like Jesus loved, we put things in and lay things on others that have no benefit in making that happen. Paul is saying – there is no benefit in believing these rules and regulations improve your standing before God, because you take Jesus out of the equation – and when you do that – you can’t come to the right answer. It is His death and resurrection that brings us to the right point.

For a legalist, you are either their friend or their enemy. We see this in the political world. The sad thing is – we also see this in the church – different positions – different practices – and people have become enemies.

The fruit of legalism is judgmentalism.

This does not mean that we do not discern good and evil. We are called to discern right and wrong.

Judgmentalism goes beyond good and evil by categorizing and condemning and excluding people rather than seeing where they are in their position in Christ.,,,,,

If in your mind – you ever think – those people – or their kind… This is legalism – you’ve stepped over.

Luke 18: 9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: 10 "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other people--robbers, evildoers, adulterers--or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

I thank you that I am not like THOSE PEOPLE. Don’t copy this prayer! HINT! BUT – we think this way if we are honest at times.

13 "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.'

(Now, there is a good prayer! I pray this prayer a lot, because I need it! Without God’s mercy, I am gone! I hope you know that too.)

14 "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God.

The taxpayer went home understanding his position in Christ – accepted, forgiven, and loved fully, even though he doesn’t deserve any of it.

In closing – Three practical ways to deal with legalism, if this is an issue for you – and it is, at some level, for all of us!

First – right here in 1 Timothy 4–

3 They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. 4 For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5 because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.

The first way to counteract legalism is gratitude – understanding that God has done so much for us – what we don’t deserve, and what we haven’t earned – and if we do understand it – we know it is a debt we cannot pay back and it should cause appreciation in our souls. God wants us to live that kind of life – deep gratitude – a way of life, character of life – not a byproduct of favorable circumstances. We tend to think that gratitude comes from favorable circumstances, but it is a character, a way of life, that God wants each of us to develop and understand.

Second – in v. 4 - . 4 For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5 because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.

The second way to combat legalism: Having a proper view of creation – and as God as the creator of all things – and the goodness of all that God has created. All things God created are good and for our good.

Dallas Willard: We engage in celebration when we enjoy ourselves, our life, our world, in conjunction with our faith and confidence in God’s greatness, beauty and goodness – We concentrate on God’s world as God’s work and His gift to us. It is easy to ignore this. The whole story of Genesis 1 and 2 is that God created it for us.

It is a whole different way of looking at life.

When we don’t recognize Him as our creator, and appreciate His creation, we will either reject creation – the physical world – or we will reject creation, and both are wrong.

I am not speaking of creation/evolution debates. You can have a strong conviction about creation, but if we fail to respect and appreciate creation, our convictions don’t mean a lot. We can just take creation for granted. In our highly technical world, we have to stop and smell the roses, they say.

We need to be people who love what God has made. Not to worship it – but to understand that He created it for us to enjoy.

That doesn’t mean you have to become a camper – no one wants to do that! j/k!

Third: Celebration – Richard Foster – Celebration is central to all spiritual disciplines – and without a joyful spirit of festivity – it all becomes dull – death breathing tools in the hands of modern day Pharisees.

I stink at celebration. The Bible is full of celebration! They had these festivals in the Old Testament for weeks at a time to celebrate!

Look at Jesus’ teachings and stories and parables - They had all those parties in the New Testament. We have a church picnic every summer – it is a great time. He had those picnics with 5000 there – that was like a celebration.

Why do we not like celebration? I think we are afraid to celebrate – fear of drawing attention to ourselves. That is part of it for me. Embarrassed about celebrating. Like my grandson is so excited about music – and we think we will get put on the internet if we celebrate too well!

For me – there is the fear of the other shoe dropping. We don’t celebrate because we know disappointment is just around the corner. We get ourselves up high and the drop is that much worse. This comes from being an OSU Buckeye fan. I went there just after the glory days of Archie Griffin – and the end of Woody’s career and it did not end well. Then the 9-3 seasons of Earle Bruce. Then they were always on the edge of winning – but you couldn’t celebrate the great win because they won’t have the ultimate prize at the end. Tressel helped change me

This world is radically unsuited to the heart of the human person and the suffering and terror of life will not be removed no matter how spiritual we become. It is because of this that a healthy faith before God cannot be build and maintained without heartfelt celebration in the midst of heartache and terror.

Celebration heartily done makes our deprivations and sorrows seem small…and we find in it great strength to do the will of God because His goodness is so real to us.

Foster: Many people try to come into joy far too soon – often we try to pump people up with joy, when in reality nothing has happened in their lives. Celebration comes when the common ventures of life are redeemed. We can learn to take the common thing of eating a meal to celebrate.

There is so much value in doing communion in a small group – we do it once a month here – but there is so much value in your small group. You are allowed to do that – no one said someone important has to be there.

It is important to avoid the kind of celebrations that really celebrate nothing. Worse yet is when the spirit of celebration is not in us – we bless the food at a restaurant and then complain about the service.

There are many different ways we celebrate – and all can be good – but it should be about the restoration of relationships. Christmas should not be about gifts, but about relationships – because God came from heaven to have a relationship with us. Thanksgiving is even sooner. Thanksgiving is about gratitude – celebrating what God has done for us.

Thank You, Lord, change us in this area – In Your name we pray.