The danger of legalism in church is real in large part because legalistic lies sound so correct. On the surface, they make a lot of sense . . . until they are scrutinized under the authority of God's Word. By the light of Scripture, many a right-sounding-lie has been exposed for what it is.
There is one legalistic teaching that echos through the walls of the modern church every week in a multitude of churches. The fallacy of the statement is so subtle that even a seasoned grace walker might easily miss it. I contend that the statement is legalistic, in the sense that it is grounded in Old Testament Law. What is this statement that pulls so many unsuspecting Christians into its snare? It is this: You should love God more. "Wait a minute!" you may protest. "How can it possibly be said that to say we should love God more is legalistic? We should love God more!"
Hold on for a moment. I ask you to calm whatever emotional knee-jerk reaction you might feel right now and consider, not what you feel or have always thought, but instead consider what the Bible says. Can we agree that the Bible has the final word on the matter?
One time some Pharisees (the legalists of His day) came to Jesus. Matthew 22 says, One of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, 36 "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" 37 And He said to him, " `YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.' 38 "This is the great and foremost commandment. 39 "The second is like it, `YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' 40 "On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.
Look at the question asked of Jesus: What is the greatest Law? What was the answer Jesus gave? "You shall love the Lord." The reason, then, why I insist that to teach that we must love the Lord is legalistic is because Jesus, Himself, said it is the greatest of the Laws.
What does the Law do in a person's life? Paul said in Romans 7:5 that it "stirs up sinful passions." In other words, it provokes the opposite response from what it tells us to do. He gives an example by pointing out that coveting wasn't a problem for him until he learned that the Law says "Don't covet." Suddenly, he found himself coveting like crazy. (Read it for yourself in Romans 7:7-8)
So the Law, then, works like reverse psychology. It motivates you to do the exact opposite of what it tells you. So what happens to people when they are told that they should (There's the definitive word.) love God. Just the opposite arises within them. That's why so many Christians are literally praying for God to help them to love Him more. It's because they are experiencing the predictable outcome of trying to live up to the Law, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God."
What is the answer of grace to this dilemma? It is to teach people how much the Lord their God loves them! 1 John 4:19 says, "We love because He first loved us." There's the answer. To love Him more we only need to understand how much He loves us! As we grow in the understanding of His unlimited, unconditional love, our response will be to love Him!
Every week Christians are being told in churches all over the world that they should love God more. That kind of teaching will never yield the fruit we want. On the other hand, if they are clearly taught the Father's love for them, you can't stop them from growing in love for Him.
It sounds good, on the surface, to say that we ought to love God more. The question is "How?" The answer to loving Him more isn't to be taught the greatest Law ever given. We don't live under the Law anymore. The answer is to be told the good news that He loves us. That's New Covenant teaching. The subtlety of the Law that teaches we should love Him more is keeping people under the curse of guilt and condemnation for not succeeding in that area. Let's embrace grace and share it with others. The Lord your God loves you! That fact is the only thing that can produce genuine love in us.
What do you think?
I have struggled with this concept for many years, beating myself up over my lack of love for God. This resulted in such a condemnation of myself, which fostered doubts about His love for me. A vicious cycle, which was always prompting me to do more out of duty so that I could prove my love. Thank you for your books on grace. This post made it even more clear. Thank you
ReplyDeleteHi Steve:
ReplyDeleteYou know, this is one of those things that often yields the "it's just symantics" remark... Appreciate the insight...
You go Steve! If we would simple learn to divide the word correctly, that is to say, to whom is this part of the Bible speaking and for what reason, we would not get caught up in the Law. It is all over the N.T. that "It is finished." We are, as believers, how under Grace. You, my brother, are a Blessing! Good stuff to hear!
ReplyDeleteAmen and Amen! Many in the church today seem to think that everything Jesus said is to be understood as Christian doctrine or "principles for Christian living."
ReplyDeleteBut Jesus ever so cleverly taught the Law to "those under the Law" for the purpose that Paul would describe: "That every mouth may be stopped and the world become guilty before God." (Rom. 3:19)
After the 'rich young ruler' justified himself in front of Jesus by saying that he had kept the commandments (in Matthew 19:16-22), Jesus masterfully showed him the full extent of what "love your neighbor as yourself really means: "Go, sell all you have and give to the poor." Talk about mouth-stopping words!
What relief it should be to the Christian that these words are meant to lead those under the law to Christ, and then once in Christ it's all about growing in His love for us rather than trying harder to love Him!
Thank you for your post. It is easy to get discouraged as a Christian when we compare our selves to the standard that Christ has set for us. In 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, the Bible describes the characteristics of love:
ReplyDeleteLove is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
You look at those verses and see how you fall short at every turn. That is why I love people like you that teach grace. Instead of beating ourselves up, we know that the realization of our failure to live up to that standard in our flesh is right were God wants us to be. It is only then that He can begin to change our hearts. We then begin to realize that since God is love, these verses are a description of His unconditional love for us and if we, as Christians, abide in Him, they are also the characteristics of His love expressed through us.
Love is always the goal. Always. It's just how we obtain the goal. We don't obtain it through effort, we obtain the love through a free gift. I can unequivocally state that we all *should* love God more. I have no problem with that. But even more amazingly we *can* love God more! When we try, we fail and we give up; when we believe the promise, God produces.
ReplyDeleteGrace doesn't lower the standard, it raises it. It raises it so high, you have to believe God to do it for you, because you know you never could. Let's never imply that grace lowers the standard.
This is something I am struggling with. I still haven't learned to completely receive God's love. I would love to experience Him in my daily life. Really experience Jesus and have a very real and personal relationship with Him. I'm just not consistent in my part. I constantly question and search myself to see whether or not I am in the faith and would I or would I not endure persecution for Christ. Among other worries and doubts. When all I want to do is love Him and know Him.
ReplyDeleteIt's exhausting. Seeing other people living it gives me hope though. Thanks..
FANTASTIC !! My desire to "Do Right" and "Be Right" is so ingrained, that I OFTEN do not see my own legalism, and put myself under terrible stresses. Now, since I see that even "Love the Lord your God" is A LAW, I have found a new breakthrough. What I really WANT WANT WANT is Intimacy with Y'shua Jesus. I just want to commune with Him, and allow Him to manifest Himself any way He likes through me. That's real freedom, and He gets Glory from it!!
ReplyDeleteNice. Very. Nice.
ReplyDeleteNice. Very nice.
ReplyDeleteWhen God showed me that I am not under the Law, and that I am not accepted based on anything I do or abstain from doing, the whole Thou Shalt Love The Lord Thy God thing acquired the taste of bile in my mouth. But this explains it. And it makes even more sense when you realize that Jesus' teaching was Old Covenant--the New Covenant didn't take effect until after his death.
Thank you for the eye-popping truth!
I was sad to see your interpretation of the law and that we are not to be taught to allow the law to do a work in us. As you read romans Paul talks a lot about the law. If you look closer you will see the law Paul talks about is, the civil law, the morel law, and the ceremonial law, plus many other laws. Yes the ceremonial law is not longer, but the morel law is.
ReplyDeleteAs Jesus put it in
Matt 5:18 For truly I tell you, until the sky and earth pass away and perish, not one smallest letter nor one little hook [identifying certain Hebrew letters] will pass from the Law until all things [it foreshadows] are accomplished. AMP
Plus the warning;
Matt 5:19 Whoever then breaks or does away with or relaxes one of the least [important] of these commandments and teaches men so shall be called least [important] in the kingdom of heaven, but he who practices them and teaches others to do so shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. AMP
Your interpretation says;
What does the Law do in a person's life? Paul said in Romans 7:5 that it "stirs up sinful passions." In other words, it provokes the opposite response from what it tells us to do. He gives an example by pointing out that coveting wasn't a problem for him until he learned that the Law says "Don't covet." Suddenly, he found himself coveting like crazy. (Read it for yourself in Romans 7:7-8)
But the truth is yes the law makes real the fleshly desires, But the difference is in the heart of the person.
As Paul states in Rom 3:20 For no person will be justified (made righteous, acquitted, and judged acceptable) in His sight by observing the works prescribed by the Law. For [the real function of] the Law is to make men recognize and be conscious of sin [not mere perception, but an acquaintance with sin which works toward repentance, faith, and holy character]. AMP
So as Rom 3:20 states the law has a purpose in our life and the morel law is in effect and will not past away. But the law can stir up fleshly desires true, BUT it can go a step further and bring conviction which to the Christian brings Godly sorrow which bring repentance and repentance bring a new life.
Many time the law has brought a standard that I could not live up to. But as Romans 8:1 says there is not condonation for those in Christ. But that did not mean the I could continue to sin. And as the Love for God increased also did my Godly sorrow which brought conviction which brought repentance which is the road to new life in Jesus.
Again as it says Rom 3:20 For [the real function of] the Law is to make men recognize and be conscious of sin [not mere perception, but an acquaintance with sin which works toward repentance, faith, and holy character]. AMP
The facts are the church is lacking greatly in repentance, faith, and holy character, because we are told we are not accountable to the law.
Your brother in Jesus
Gil
Hey Gil,
ReplyDeleteI would have to disagree with you here as I believe the reason the Church today is suffering is because they are attempting to compensate for their hidden struggles by performing and calling one another to observe the standards that they are not able to themselves fully observe and so in the long run they are growing further and further away from intimacy with Christ which is the only answer to growing in the faith as tapping into the vine is the only answer and standing on grace is the only platform that keeps us from compensating for wrongs we have done in seeing ourselves violating the law.
This year at the end of the AWANA program a man that is very active in it and has children that perform the greatest in it came up to me and said, "I don't know what I am going to do for the next couple of months because I feel so empty after AWANA's ends."
God does not want us to make the law our fix as he is the only one that can feed our hunger as he told those that followed him the next day after he fed the multitude that they followed him because he fed them and then told them not to labor for what perishes and then they asked him, "What can we do to do the works of God." and he told them to simply believe on Him.
You see like the AWANA leader that told me that he felt empty and didn't know what to do after the season was over so it can be when one looks to the law and service to compensate. It can become just like feeling empty because Monday Night Football is over for the season or re-runs of DR Phil or Oprah are back on or maybe one is not getting enough comments on their blog or getting the links they feel God should give them in order to teach others as they may falsely feel they are led. The only answer is to delight in the love of God and His grace and rest there.Talk and walk with Him and he will open the doors he really wants us to go through. This is what helps us to wait on him and to learn patience. So then if suffering comes our way or whatever storm then we are anchored because we are basking in his love and the emptiness goes away because we are not trying to fulfill ourselves and gain approval from God by the law.
I once heard a pastor talk about a blizzard outside his office window and seeing a bird singing in the face of it. This is what God is bringing us to and the law will fall so short in getting us there. It never will. Only grace will do this as it is the only hope for giving our soul delight in Him in the face of all evil. If hardships come my way and I look at the law to see if my life is measuring up...what a depressed and empty man I will become.
Of course, it's TRUE! We SHOULD love God more... the question is not, "Should we?", but, "How CAN we?" Then we realize we can't. We must rely on Him for the grace even to receive and give His love.
ReplyDeleteThe law, as always is true. ...and as always, impossible in the flesh, it is perfectly fulfilled as we depend desperately upon His more-than-sufficient grace.
For Gil - this isn't cheap grace, it's desperate grace! Cheap grace says we don't have to obey the law. Desperate grace says we MUST attain the righteousness of the law, but can't! Only He can, and HAS, for us.
In His gracious grip...
-mike.
What a post! I am working on grace sermons and I found your blog via Alan's The Assembling of the Church blog.
ReplyDeleteJuan
Thank you for a very good article on grace. Through your teachings in Oslo last year and similar teachings (from Joseph Prince) I have lately been set free from a stuggle I had in my Chcirstian life for years.
ReplyDeleteI just have one question. I was reading Galatians 5:13-15 the other day. Does not Paul use the law "You shall love" as an argument to not sin when we live in liberty?
Arve Qvist
ReplyDeleteWhen you continue reading Galatians 5 we see it is the Spirit who works in us and produces this fruit of love. (see Gal 5:22-23) We can't take the credit!!
No credit to me.
ReplyDeleteI don't want to follow the law to get credit or pursue holiness. I'm only saying that since I'm not 100% living by the Spirit (yet), maybe I need som guidelines to know what choices to make.
I'm teaching my daughter do cross the street correctly. She is only 3 so what she knows is limited and I made it very clear that there are rules to follow (never go near the street alone). When we're together I'm teaching here to check for cars before crossing. For now she needs the simple rules but in time she will know what to do by heart.
Is it not in the same way? Like I'm giving her some rules to follow and at the same time raising her so she will know it by heart (not needing the rules). The Holy Spirit is transforming me but along the way it's good to have some simple guidelines to follow.
I'm saying to Jesus that I can't do it. You live your life in me. Transform me. And he is doing exatly that by overflowing his love and grace to me, making me more aware of The Holy Spirit voice/guiding and also providing som rules to follow.
Not rules to follow so I can prove anything or be kicked out if I fail, but simply help for a baby that is not yet so good at being guided and is still need Christ to take more part in my body.
Blessing to all. Hope to get some feedback on this.
Arve
AMEN Brother!
ReplyDelete