I have been wrestling with this for awhile and I think I am ready to write a little something on the subject of legalism. I hear that word come up constantly in conversation, particularly in the church world, and something about the way that it is typically used has begun to bother me. I wasn’t sure what it was, but I simply found myself cringe when people would mention that they didn’t want to be legalistic or that they see so much legalism around them. I have been thinking, praying, and searching the Word of God about this because I could not get it out of my head…or my heart. While I am not attempting to write an exhaustive composition on this topic, I would like to share a few of my conclusions.

When I question them I have found that most who claim they do not want to be legalistic actually have no real understanding of what legalism is. Legalism by definition means: “a strict adherence to the letter of a law, rather than the spirit of a law.” It seems to me that those who don’t want to be legalistic often have no interest at all in the spirit of a law. For the most part it seems that they have no interest in the law at all…they simply do not want to be held accountable to anything. I am not advocating a life obsessed with law, what I am saying is that there is a place for Holiness and we often use legalism to excuse to live ruled by the desires of our flesh.

Jesus was hardest on those who prided themselves in their own “righteousness” because He understood that the best they could offer God was equivalent to a filthy rag. I am having to hold back from giving a graphic illustration of what that translates to, but lets just say that it would literally make most people cringe in disgust. I once taught on this topic to a group of college students as a polite description I lifted an open borrowed dirty diaper into the air and said that we take our truly legalistic works and standards and hold them up to God and say, “Lord, be honored by this! Be pleased with what I have done.” See the problem is that we often do these things as though it will earn us the favor of God when the only thing that qualifies us for Heaven is blood of Jesus Christ. Let me repeat that: THE ONLY THING THAT QUALIFIES US FOR HEAVEN IS THE BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST. The place where it becomes legalism is when we lose the heart behind the action. We adhere to the letter of the law, rather than the spirit of the law. It is when we think we are more righteous or are earning something from God because of our actions. The law and a system of sacrifice was set into place so that unholy people could be reconnected to a Holy God. When Jesus came He paid for ALL sin once and for all. He says plainly that He did not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it. We no longer have to work to make things right, Jesus has done that for us. But Paul’s letter to the Romans makes it clear that the Grace Jesus made available to us does not give us license to continue living in sin. It says that once we accept the sacrifice of Jesus Christ we are then a new creation and dead to sin. It has become so true in my life that the more I pursue Christ the less appealing the offers of the world are to me. All else seems as rubbish compared to Christ. More and more I can say that. Legalism is when we are still trying to earn what Jesus already gave to us, Holiness is our response when we understand what we have already been given!

Once we receive Jesus we are then to spend our lives pursuing two things: 1) to know Him and 2) to make Him known, which is simply a different way of saying what Jesus said were the two most important commandments: Love God with all your heart, your mind and your soul, and love your neighbor as yourself. When we understand that the heart of the law is all pointed toward those two things then it is not legalism but a desire to pursue a Holy life that reflects and represents Christ that should cause us to embrace certain restrictions or what we would refer to as “law” in our lives. It is not merely blindly following rules or regulations, but desire to represent Him well.

Jesus broke the rules of “religion” but when He was doing it He was emphasizing that we were to live Holy lives before God. Jesus didn’t use it as an excuse to do less for God, but to do more! He used breaking free from legalism to change the world! It just absolutely makes me cringe when I realize I have used it to excuse a movie or a song or to fulfill the desires of my flesh. Freedom from law should give me the freedom to be far more effective, not put me in the place to keep people complacent and stagnant. That was not what His blood was shed to give us. He died and conquered death so that the same power could be alive within us giving us the power to have direct relationship with our Father and the power to do greater works than He did. It’s time to start running as though we intend to win, not simply make it to the finish line.

This is not even close to all my thoughts on this subject, but I just felt it was time to get some of it out.

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