Legalism
Legalism is anything that consumes our focus rather than Christ that takes away from the sufficiency, completeness and finished work that He accomplished through His death and resurrection.
Legalism is trying to establish or maintain a relationship with God through religion or gain the favor of God through a performance-based endeavor as opposed to a grace-based relationship with God through Jesus.
Legalism is the doing of do's and not doing the don'ts of a religious system trying to earn God's favor acceptance and love.
Such as salvation by works...The gaining of salvation by grace, but the maintaining of salvation by works...extra-biblical legalism, such as dress codes, not using makeup, women wearing their hair up in a bun...the wearing of hats...dress wearing by women, Sunday school, programed-event-driven-meetings...etc..
Then there is the mixing of the law and grace which renders grace not to be grace at all. This mixing of the pre-cross gospel with the post-cross gospel is insinuating that Jesus is a lier in that it is indicative of saying that the work that Jesus finished through His death and resurrection was not complete enough to finish the work that He said was finished! This is what Paul warned us about in Galatians as being another gospel that believers on this side of the cross is not to fall back into.
Performance-Based Religion (PBR) is probably the most destructive force against the spiritual relational journey of the believer, because:
PBR measures the spiritual life of a believer on how well we measure up to a set of standards that are to be kept. The more rules are kept the more spiritual we are. This allows us to feel better or worse than other believers depending where we are to on the spiritual scale, this causes spiritual pride to raise its ugly head in our lives.
PBR causes the believer to be self-centered, always examining ourselves as to how we are "measuring up" to man's expectations instead of being Christ-centered and resting in His finished work.
PBR puts God in the light of being a schizophrenic God...depending on our doing of the do's and our not doing of the don'ts as to whether He loves us or doesn't love us . This robs the believer of the total love and acceptance God has for believers.
PBR adds law to grace, which Paul points out makes it no longer grace, whereupon one "falls from grace", as the Galatians did in their foolishness, and went back to the keeping of Law for their relationship with Christ, which quenches the Holy Spirit, and we become sin conscious rather then God conscious.
The issue with Law-based living is that the one who lives trying to keep it must keep all of it, keep it continually, keep it perfectly, which of course, nobody in their own strength is able to do.
"Striving in our own strength to obey God's commandments" is not what the believer's life is about, and one who lives that way is cursed by his own example.
"For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law to perform them.'" (Gal. 3:10)
But...We are "...servants of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." (2 Cor. 3:6)
And that New Covenant, is none other than Jesus Christ, our Lover, Savior, the lens we view God through, Lawgiver, Law-keeper, Sacrificial Lamb, and the grace giver who became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God. What a Savior, what a Friend!
Legalism is trying to establish or maintain a relationship with God through religion or gain the favor of God through a performance-based endeavor as opposed to a grace-based relationship with God through Jesus.
Legalism is the doing of do's and not doing the don'ts of a religious system trying to earn God's favor acceptance and love.
Such as salvation by works...The gaining of salvation by grace, but the maintaining of salvation by works...extra-biblical legalism, such as dress codes, not using makeup, women wearing their hair up in a bun...the wearing of hats...dress wearing by women, Sunday school, programed-event-driven-meetings...etc..
Then there is the mixing of the law and grace which renders grace not to be grace at all. This mixing of the pre-cross gospel with the post-cross gospel is insinuating that Jesus is a lier in that it is indicative of saying that the work that Jesus finished through His death and resurrection was not complete enough to finish the work that He said was finished! This is what Paul warned us about in Galatians as being another gospel that believers on this side of the cross is not to fall back into.
Performance-Based Religion (PBR) is probably the most destructive force against the spiritual relational journey of the believer, because:
PBR measures the spiritual life of a believer on how well we measure up to a set of standards that are to be kept. The more rules are kept the more spiritual we are. This allows us to feel better or worse than other believers depending where we are to on the spiritual scale, this causes spiritual pride to raise its ugly head in our lives.
PBR causes the believer to be self-centered, always examining ourselves as to how we are "measuring up" to man's expectations instead of being Christ-centered and resting in His finished work.
PBR puts God in the light of being a schizophrenic God...depending on our doing of the do's and our not doing of the don'ts as to whether He loves us or doesn't love us . This robs the believer of the total love and acceptance God has for believers.
PBR adds law to grace, which Paul points out makes it no longer grace, whereupon one "falls from grace", as the Galatians did in their foolishness, and went back to the keeping of Law for their relationship with Christ, which quenches the Holy Spirit, and we become sin conscious rather then God conscious.
The issue with Law-based living is that the one who lives trying to keep it must keep all of it, keep it continually, keep it perfectly, which of course, nobody in their own strength is able to do.
"Striving in our own strength to obey God's commandments" is not what the believer's life is about, and one who lives that way is cursed by his own example.
"For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law to perform them.'" (Gal. 3:10)
But...We are "...servants of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." (2 Cor. 3:6)
And that New Covenant, is none other than Jesus Christ, our Lover, Savior, the lens we view God through, Lawgiver, Law-keeper, Sacrificial Lamb, and the grace giver who became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God. What a Savior, what a Friend!
Comments
Post a Comment