“Many pastors, [teachers, dad’s, and mom’s] desiring that their [members or son’s and daughter’s] live holy lives, mix law with grace.
Mixing law with grace only produces guilt ridden, defeated Christians and robs them of joy.” (Emphasis added in brackets)
Historically religious groups have
institutionalized religion in order to preserve their doctrines. The
organization of the Roman Catholic Church preserved their doctrines against
heretics. Judaism codified their religion with the Talmud and Mishnah in order
to purify and protect their doctrines. Many of the “Creeds” of Christianity were
written to preserve truth. While “Creeds” and other attempts to preserve truth
are not wrong, often they are accompanied by rigid institutionalized structure
that hinders the individual’s relationship with God.
Getz points out that historically movements have
tended to institutionalize and neglect the individual, “Judaism, Roman
Catholicism and the Reformation churches preserved their religious system, but
they lost sight of the individual. In fact, the system in each instance—its
dogmas and traditions and its forms and structures—eventually became more
important than the people themselves.
These movements also prescribed their
‘orthodoxy,’ but their adherents failed to appropriate the deeper and
personal comprehension of God’s truth. People gave mental assent to doctrine,
but there was little relationship to their daily living. Being a part of the
movement was little different from belonging to a club, society, or group in the
secular world. In many cases traditions overshadowed the Word of God. These
movements all gained external conformity on the part of their followers, but
apart from inner experience. People religiously performed routines and rituals,
but without the true spiritual meaning.
Their religion became a matter of form and
ceremony, not life and experience. A personal relationship with God was replaced
with an impersonal relationship with an organization. All of these movements
perpetuated themselves by means of an education that was authoritarian,
stereotyped, and transmissive.
They utilized the indoctrination with little room
for creative thinking and freedom. The learning atmosphere became
non–permissive. All of these movements developed a hierarchy of leaders, who in
turn developed a careful and logical system of theology. It was the leaders who
did the ‘thinking’ and the ‘communicating,’ while the ordinary
people became the recipients and followers of the wisdom of the
sages.”
A pastor may find an authoritarian,
institutional style to his liking because it is a comfortable way to preserve
truth, produce results and feed his ego. But believers in such a church do not
develop a strong faith in God. They develop a “toxic faith” which blindly
follows with unquestioning loyalty the doctrine and direction of the leader.
Motivated by peer pressure and fear, they fanatically support, and win converts
for their church or group. However, they soon “burn–out” from this fleshly
activity and begin to question why their faith is not working. Having never
developed their own spiritual growth through a strong personal relationship with
Christ, they have no inner strength of their own. They are codependent on
others.
As new people come into the toxic faith system, they are indoctrinated into the rules rather than strengthened in a relationship with God. The rules reinforce addiction, not faith. Addiction leads to conformity to a predictable pattern of behavior, often blocking faithful following of God.”
Unfortunately, dictatorial leaders
will attract some believers who feel comfortable in a legalistic
environment. It is a passive life, they are told what to believe,
do and say. They never have to exercise their wills and make decisions that
develop a strong independent personal faith. They are disenfranchised from the
joy of living a daily adventure of walking in the Spirit by faith. Since some
believers function under pressure, they may not be conscious of their lack of
internal growth. Crabb and Allender observe, “People with
‘executive personalities’ (who rarely have close friends) mercilessly pound
others about their responsibilities.
They apply pressure in every
available way to compel others to have devotions, witness, attend church, and
tithe. Some people, depending on their temperament, conform to the pressure and
appear to move along nicely on the road to spiritual maturity. Others rebel. In
either case, little heart movement toward God takes place”
Authoritative
personalities can promote an outward unity that masks a concealed problem. The
enforcement of lists of “dos and don’ts,” and the security of external
conformity do not allow an honest evaluation of a believer’s true spiritual
condition. Van Impe elaborates, “One of the most troubling aspects of
neo–fundamentalism was the extremes of legalism that were often espoused. One
crusade sponsor refused to support the endeavor unless I submitted a written
statement that none of my employees wore wire–rimmed glasses. He felt they were
an indication of ‘yuppyism.’ Other standards were set for choir
members, counselors and ushers. Rules governing makeup, hair styles, clothing
fashions and accessories were among the regulations demanded by some of the
legalists.
Pastors not in agreement usually remained silent so as to keep peace.
The tragedy of the situation was that those who practiced the enforcement of
such standards often–times overlooked gross sins committed by leaders of
fundamentalism or by members within their own churches.”
A woman in our church used to attend an
extremely legalistic church where a friend reported her to the leaders because
she didn’t fold her husband’s socks correctly. Soul liberty did not extend to
doing the laundry!
Grace Frees the Believer From the Law
and Legalism
Paul proclaimed, “For the law of the Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:
2). He declared the good news that the believer is no longer under law, “For sin
shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace”
(Romans 6: 14).
The believer is not lawless but is now indwelled
with the Holy Spirit who exercises supervision over him. He lifts the believer
to a higher plane and enables him to live a righteous life. An airplane can defy
the law of gravity because its engines’ power allows a greater power to take
over—the law of aerodynamics. Likewise, the believer is now given power that can
overcome sin, “Because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in
the world” (1 John 4: 4).
Christ now empowers believers to do something that the
law could never do—live his righteous life through them. Paul warns the believer
not to go back under the law, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.
Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of
slavery” (Galatians 5: 1).
Girard comments, “Genuine holiness cannot be
other than the free expression of free people doing what pleases God because
they want to. It is less than free—if coercion, pressure, or fear are the source
of it—then it is not holiness, it is conformity—a mere work of the flesh.” This
does not mean the Christian is “lawless” and should not live a moral
life. Paul declares, “I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law” (1
Corinthians 9: 21). James calls it, “the perfect law that gives freedom” (James
1: 25 and 2: 12).
Under grace, we are not free to sin, but free
from sin. For 2000 years God has run the world without the law. He does not need
legalistic teachers to help him now. Rather, He needs teachers who understand
grace to instruct believers how they can unleash the unlimited power of Christ
who indwells them. The New Covenant believer has not only been cleansed from his
sin because of the cross, he now has the resurrected life of Christ living in
him to produce holiness. Christ’s death on the cross fulfilled the requirements
of the law, and the Old Covenant, which was external.
Christ’s resurrection life
now allows us to live under the grace of the New Covenant which is internal.
Paul warned, “Are you so foolish, having begun in the Spirit, are you now made
perfect by the flesh?” (Galatians 3: 3). We start the Christian life by faith
and live it by faith. The Spirit that gave us spiritual life now produces
Christ’s own holy life in us. Most believers “knee–jerk” at the
suggestion that the flesh can do anything for salvation—that would be legalism.
But the same person may see nothing wrong with the flesh trying to produce
holiness. They could state their theology as, “Saved by faith (grace) and
kept by struggle (legalism).”
The flesh cannot do anything spiritual. You can
legislate, manipulate, pressure, condemn, and coax it, but the flesh will never
produce supernatural holiness and good works. You cannot mix the Holy Spirit and
the flesh or grace, and the law anymore than you can mix oil and water. Jesus
said, “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing” (John 6:
63). Many Christians vacillate between the flesh and the Spirit for a lifetime,
never enjoying their joyous victory in Christ. For a time, they appear to be
doing something spiritual, laying one law on another and measuring each other by
their own standards. Sometimes they try to walk in the Spirit, then fearful of
totally abandoning themselves to Christ and growing inwardly they become
impatient with the Spirit and slip back under the law.
Because legalism, externally, gives the
appearance of being spiritual it is difficult to identify its deadness.
Believers can act like Christians, conform to the “acceptable evangelical norm,”
perform programs and never enjoy the resurrected life of Christ living through
them. They are still living under the law, trying to teach the flesh how to look
and act like it is controlled by the Spirit. But when they hear the “joyful
sound of saints on higher ground” in Canaan, sadness fills their soul. They
must face the reality that they are still wandering in the
wilderness.
Rigid legalism also works against harmony in the
local church. Hollinger warns, “Based on my observations, a heartless
Christianity can lead to two equally undesirable outcomes. One is skepticism…
the second possible outcome is rigid legalism. Here one remains within the
boundaries of orthodoxy to be sure, but spiritual vitality is replaced by human
rules and inflexible standards established to designate those who are “kosher”
from those who are not. It is a judgmental faith demanding that believers dot
their theological ‘i’s’ and cross their theological ‘t’s’ in
precisely the same manner.
This type of religion is callous, cold and
austere. It has never learned to feel the inward freedom of Christ. Such freedom
does not negate objective doctrines and standards; rather, it frees us from
making them the end of the Christian’s life rather than a means to an end—the
end being our love for God and love for our neighbor.” Grace does not pressure
believers to perform. Grace merely provides an environment where they are free
to respond to the Spirit’s leading.
The huge missing link
This type of religion is callous, cold and
austere. It has never learned to feel the inward freedom of Christ. Such freedom
does not negate objective doctrines and standards; rather, it frees us from
making them the end of the Christian’s life rather than a means to an end—the
end being our love for God and love for our neighbor.” Grace does not pressure
believers to perform. Grace merely provides an environment where they are free
to respond to the Spirit’s leading.
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