Are You A Legalist?

Introduction

Tonight’s lesson will build on some thoughts that we introduced this morning about the interplay between grace and obedience and what the New Testament has to say about our salvation. The lesson was entitled Doing Something. If you missed that, it’ll be on our website soon. And while tonight’s, probably already. Already, Gary said. Boy, isn’t that fast. Did you know you could listen that quickly to me again? Anyway, tonight’s lesson builds on some thoughts that we introduced this morning, but if you didn’t hear those, this will stand on its own as well. I want to ask you a question tonight, very simple. Are you a legalist? Legalist. Religiously, that is a very negatively charged word. If you are guilty of legalism, that’s a bad thing. And so I actually found this set of slides that talks about the dangers of legalism.

And so if we’re a legalists, there are some dangers there that we need to be very concerned about. What do we know about legalism from the New Testament? Were there any legalists? Well, the first thought that comes to mind, the Pharisees. The Pharisees were legalists. Now, is it possible for the spirit of Phariseism? That is, to be like them, to mimic them in our attitudes and behavior. Is it possible for us to be like them? Oh, absolutely. I think I’ve known some among the Lord’s people. And it frightens me. I don’t want to be one of those people, and this lesson certainly is not encouraging you to make the kind of disconnect that seemed to create such a spiritual pothole for the Pharisees. I want to divert you from that course and that way of thinking and the loveless kind of religion that they’ve had.

1. What Exactly Is a Legalist?

The Pharisees were legalists, and since they were bad, we don’t want to be that. But is that really what their problem was? That’s my question tonight. If their sin was one of legalism, what exactly is that? What is a legalist? I borrow heavily from an article written recently by David McClister on the faculty of Florida College, the head of the Bible department now, who wrote, Legalism seems to be like a poem. No one can seem to define it, but everyone thinks they know it when they see it. And I think that’s probably pretty good as far as an explanation as to this term. Well, I told you about this set of slides that I found. The verses that were supposed to be evident of the problem of legalism are Colossians 2, verses 6 through 19.

Now, I look at that text and I’m struggling to figure out what verses they really had in mind, when it begins by saying, as we have received Christ, so walk in him, rooted in our faith, overflowing with gratitude. And he talks about being taken captive through philosophy and empty deception. He talks about being buried with Christ in baptism in verse 12, like we talked about this morning, through faith and the working of God. And he says, we were dead in our transgressions, but we’ve been made alive. And then in verse 14, I think this is the verse they had in mind. Having canceled out the certificate of death, consisting of decrees against us and which was hostile to us, and has taken it out of the way, having nailed it on the cross.

Well, yes, it speaks of a law system by which no man could be justified, that was removed for a different system, a faith system by which men could be justified, but that doesn’t argue that there were not any rules or laws in this new faith system. I think we have perhaps a misunderstanding of what 2.14 is saying in the book of Colossians. Here’s something interesting as we talk about the dangers of legalism. The word was not even coined until 1645.

That is nothing in the Old Testament or the New Testament that really reflects the idea of our English word, legalism. In all of Paul’s debates with the Judaizing teachers, he never charged them with legalism. Why not? McClister queries. Because of the simple reason that every Jew, including Jesus, Paul, the Pharisees, and the Judaizers, believed that a person’s works, his deeds, his obedience to God was without doubt, without doubt, a part of a right relationship with God. And that’s what we were talking about this morning. What you do affects what is ultimately going to be your judgment. We didn’t talk about 2 Corinthians 5 and verse 10, where it says we must all stand before the judgment seat of Christ to receive the things done in our body, whether those things be good or bad.

Sounds like our deeds are going to matter to some degree on the last day. And there was no debate about that. I mean, of all the things that Jesus debated with the Pharisees, all the things that Paul debated with the Judaizers throughout the epistles, there was never a debate on that subject. Everyone agreed that these things were going to matter. It was only when Martin Luther introduced the concept that has grown to such great popularity today.

Now remember, Martin Luther is my great, I don’t know how many great grandfather. As I’ve told you before, I’m his descendant. But spiritually, I’m a little bit on the different side of the tracks from Martin Luther. But because he championed this idea of faith only, which was mistakenly attributed to the Apostle Paul, the modern idea of legalism was born. So ever since then, anyone who spoke of the necessity of obedience to God in deeds and works in order to please God and be right with him, well, then the cry of legalism is heard. If we are going to stress the need for obedience, you will likely hear the cry from someone who is a descendant of Martin Luther’s theology or John Calvin’s theology that you are a legalist.

Now, I’m going to take my stand on Hebrews chapter 5, verses 8 and 9. Jesus learned obedience by the things that he suffered, and he is the author of eternal salvation to all those who obey him. I’ve always said if that passage was going to meet the faith-only doctrine, it would have to read, he is the Savior of all those who believe in him, but it says the word obey. Obedience matters. And we see that throughout the entire book of Hebrews, and we may come back to that. Again, Jesus’ debate with the Pharisees or Paul’s debate with the Judaizers was not one regarding legalism. They didn’t even have a word for it.

2. Legalism Is Really a Straw Man

And whenever this comes up today, it is because someone is stressing the need to submit to the ordinances and teachings of God in order to please God, and someone is doing that to the chagrin of someone else who doesn’t believe that’s necessary. And so McClister argues that it’s really this term, legalist or legalism, is really a straw man. It is a caricature designed to belittle the opponent rather than to really speak as God has spoken. If you actually believe that faith needs to work in order to please God, then someone’s going to come along and say, Well, your problem is you’re a legalist. But faith without works is dead, James 2 and verse 17. And in Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 10, the child of God who walks in the light is one who is trying to learn how to please the Lord.

So here’s my question. If we’re going to belittle obedience, and that’s what often happens in these discussions over legalism, and you folks in churches of Christ are legalists, what that usually boils down to is a belittling of obedience. Now, if you’re going to go down that path, here is my question. What biblical passage comforts the one who lives in open rebellion to the will of God, who defies and ignores and tramples his will, and yet encourages one to believe that such ingratitude toward God will still be rewarded. What passage are you going to use for that? In fact, I’ll go to a passage like 2 Peter chapter 3, verses 16 and 17. Remember that text where Peter says Paul wrote some things that are difficult to understand?

Some of the things Paul writes in the New Testament are not easily understood at first glance. We’re still scratching our head over some parts of Romans, I think, in our studies, but what did he say? The untaught and the unstable take what Paul said and they distort it, they twist it, or another translation says they rest it to their own destruction. Now that’s very powerful verse. Even though they aren’t just simple and easy to understand, people take those, run with them, go the wrong direction, say things Paul never said, and they do so to the threat of the salvation of their souls. And he goes on to say, not you, brethren, you therefore beloved, knowing this beforehand, be on your guard. And I guess that’s really the message to us.

3. Outback Religion and the One Rule of Love

We need to be on our guard. Lest being carried away by the error of unprincipled men, you fall from your own steadfastness. So this is one of the summary statements or questions I want you to get tonight. What passage of Scripture gives us comfort when we openly set aside the will of God to do as we please? When we ought to be trying to please the Lord? Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 10. Now, let me tell you where all this goes. Now, there may be something that is a real threat that can be labeled legalism, but more on that in a little bit. But I’ll tell you where a lot of this argumentation stems from, and that is the popularity of Outback religion. Now, I got to tell you, I like going to Outback.

I’m not picking on them as a franchise. I like the blooming onion just as much as anybody else. And the sirloin special. And I’ll tell you that dark bread. I mean, I don’t know, I don’t like bread that much, but I like that. Put a little butter on that, and ooh, I could eat two loaves of that stuff. So I’m not picking on outback as a franchise, but a lot has been made of their little slogan. And it may work for restaurants, and it may make a wonderful dining experience, but it’s sort of the mentality of religion today. Let’s sort of go light on the rules so that everybody can have a good time. No rules. Or few rules. Just right. Rules are bad. And so when people look at the Pharisees, what was wrong with the Pharisees?

They had too many rules. That’s what made them legalists. They had too many rules. There was a guy in Beaumont several years ago when I was preaching over in the berry’s neck of the woods. There was a guy in the Beaumont area who had caused some folks to leave local churches over there. And they had a lot of different ideas. That’s where I read the book written by Cecil Hook, Free in Christ. And I came to the conclusion that every chapter in that book contained some error or another, and that if you followed what he was teaching, you wouldn’t be free in Christ, you would be free from Christ. And I got that literature through talking to this brother who was advocating there’s really only one rule in the New Testament.

You can’t get around the fact that there are rules associated with the New Covenant. There’s just too many passages you would have to ignore. So, really, there’s only one big rule, and sort of feeding on what Jesus said was the greatest commandment. The one rule is to love God. And I guess it’s sort of a sub point to say, love your neighbor as yourself. It’s the second, that’s actually two. The second commandment likened to it, you know, love your neighbor as yourself. I guess that would make two rules. But maybe we can all say, since they’re both about love, that we have one rule to love. Now I could go with that to some degree, depending on what you mean by that. And that’s what I’ve always said, and I was saying that this morning.

A lot of times these discussions come down to, well, how are you defining the terms? Not of works. How are you defining that? In Ephesians 2, 8 and verse 9. How are you defining the term legalist? Perhaps my emphasis on obedience makes you think that I’m a legalist, but let’s define the term before we just start belittling someone by giving it a label like that’s negatively charged. So, what about this one rule of love? How does that work? Well, I’ll tell you where that goes. You know, as long as I feel good about it, and while I feel that I’m I’m loving toward God, I worship him, and I feel really good and joyous in the worship of God, and as long as I’m pretty kind to other people and compassionate, you know, that’s a part of the New Testament.

Then I love God and love my fellow man. Well, I would suggest that’s a start. But that’s not an adequate definition of what it means to love. Because when you come to 1 Corinthians chapter 13, that great text on love and all the things that it is, it’s kind and patient. One of the things says it does not seek its own. And what I found interesting is that this one rule group, there were several aspects of what they were all about that was sort of self-serving. And catered to what self wanted to do rather than what God had written for them to do. And there’s another part of this in verse 6. Love, real biblical love, that’s the love that God displayed, a God of truth.

Love does not rejoice with unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth. Now, however you’re going to define this one rule of love, it’s consistent with what is right. In every nation, he who fears God and does what is right is accepted of him, Peter told Cornelius in Acts chapter 10 and verse 34. It’s love does not rejoice in what is unrighteous, but rejoices with the truth. Now, if that’s the way you’re defining love, I might be able to sign on to that. You see, this teaching, where love sort of becomes this nebulous, feel good warmth toward God and others. You know, be a servant in your community. Worship God, be rejoicing as you worship. But the particulars, the details, don’t sweat those. That’s not all that important.

Well, that flies in the face of passages like James 1, which is a real problem for the one rule people, as it talks about being doers of the word, which is also called what? The perfect law of liberty. Be doers of the word. That’s the whole of it. And not merely hearers who are self-deluded. And then he would go on to explain that if we don’t bridle our tongue, our religion is vain and useless. No matter how loving we may feel about God and others, what about the words we speak? If we don’t exercise some self-control in that area, and pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this, to visit the orphans and widows in their affliction, yes, be loving toward your fellow man who are in need, but he says something else, doesn’t he?

4. Was Jesus Himself a Legalist?

To keep oneself unstained by the world. As we saw this morning, the Lord knows those that are his. Let everyone who names the name of Christ abstain from wickedness. Here’s the question was Jesus himself a legalist? When he said, Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life? And what about in Matthew chapter 5 in the Sermon on the Mount? When he says, Whoever annuls one of the least of these commandments and so teaches others shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but he whoever keeps, whoever keeps and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. And then this even stronger statement in verse 20. For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Pretty strong statement about observing the rules. Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees. And what about that scathing denunciation? Remember that in Matthew chapter 23? You tithe, and he talks about they tithe all the spices down to the smallest kinds of things. They’re giving God a tenth. And he says, and this is where I think people would go to show the Pharisees were legalists. See, they were really in this tithing, this particular aspect of worship, but they neglected the weightier matters of the law, faithfulness, justice, and mercy. But what they might overlook is that Jesus says, these things you should have done without neglecting the others. Oh, I will agree. The pitfall of the Pharisees was overstressing external requirements to the neglect of internal requirements.

And therefore they were a people devoid of compassion. They were full of hate. They didn’t love their fellow men. Evidence in the fact that they couldn’t rejoice with people that were healed because they were healed on the Sabbath day. And they would even put that blind man out of the synagogue in John chapter 9. Oh, these people did not have compassion in their hearts at all. Yes, they were inconsistent. And yes, we can be guilty of overstressing external things to the neglect of equally and even more important internal things. And the reason why they’re more important is if you get the heart of Christianity right, the rest of the external rules will follow. But too strict about keeping God’s commands? Let me show you a passage in the Old Testament that’s pretty interesting.

At a time when things were pretty dire for God’s people, Jeremiah is told by inspiration. The heart, Jeremiah 17 and verse 9. The heart is more deceitful than all else. And I wanted to quote that, getting back to this one rule equals love. Well, I love God, I love my fellow man. You know, we can convince our hearts of a lot of things. And tell ourselves everything just wonderful in my relationship with God because I love.

-oh. Even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the results of his deeds. Now, this is something very important. The heart and one’s actions go together. And you can’t separate the two. A right heart is going to be evident in the right ways and the right actions. And so, really, what we need to be emphasizing is the kind of heart that God wants us to have demonstrated in acts of obedience. The term legalist is applied to me because someone thinks meeting requirements merits my salvation. The charge is false, and we talked about that this morning. But whatever you do in word or indeed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus. On the basis of who he is as Savior, King, and Lord, submit to him.

Whatever you do in word or in deed. That’s external actions, based on the right heart, giving thanks to the Father through him. McClister quotes Jinger in his work defining legalism. And he says the term only has meaning within the context of a prior decision as to the relationship between faith and human response. And then he says the term legalism is so imprecise that it means nothing. It means whatever the person who is using it thinks the term means or wants it to mean. But that’s not how communication is accomplished. We communicate when we both use words that we understand, when we both use words that we understand in the same way. When someone uses a word like legalism in a way that they alone define, then they are not actually communicating anything.

5. Rules Written for Our Well-Being, Not Our Misery

You’re a legalist. Well, what do you mean by that? Unless we both define the term the same way, we’ve not effectively communicated anything to one another. We would be better served to just define wrong attitudes by the scripture. So what is the appropriate attitude toward rules? I want to talk to you in conclusion tonight about our attitude toward rules as the new covenant, the new testament outlines those for us. What’s the proper attitude you need to have toward the law of God for your life? Number one. Those rules are written for our well-being, not our misery. You see, this whole idea of being a legalist in that charge sort of flows out of the concept, but we really don’t need all of these rules. These rules are not really in our best interest.

They are restricting us unnecessarily. And so we can just set aside the ones that really aren’t that important. But my question is, who gets to decide which ones aren’t important?

Who gets to make the list? You want to let Scott make a list? Which ones are important, which ones aren’t? Who gets to decide that? On what basis is all of that decided? Remember what Jesus said? These things you ought to have done and not left the other undone. And it goes back to even the old covenant and how it was misperceived. The things that were written, he says, are for our good and for our survival always. The law was never intended to be God’s complete answer for our sin problem, but it served his covenant people for a time to help keep them in ways that were beneficial to them. The best possible course until he could supply the ultimate solution for sin. And I practically wear out this verse, and I don’t make any apologies for it.

Where Paul says bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things. Having a promise of the life that now is and the life that is to come. You know, if we if we find ourselves not happy with God’s rules, I think a lot of times that is because we’re trying to have one foot in his kingdom and one foot in the world. Trying to love God and mammon at the same time. And Jesus says, you cannot serve God and mammon. If we’re only serving God out of tradition, to please our parents, to avoid the discipline of the church, well, it might seem like an arduous task to keep the law of God. But if we are serving God because we so believe in him and are immensely grateful to him and so adore him and long to be with him in glory, the toils of the road will then seem as nothing.

It will seem not to be toil at all. When you come to the Lord and embrace his will, what was the promise? Repent and be baptized that your sins may be blotted out. And times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord. Our submission to Him with the right heart and the right attitudes will bring times of refreshing to our lives that we can go on our way rejoicing as the Apostle Paul did. Rejoice in the Lord always. And again I say, rejoice. And we will find peace, the peace of God that surpasses all comprehension, and we will discover that I can do all things through Christ. Who strengthens me. Brett and I were talking about that verse this week. It’s really misunderstood. It’s almost like I guess people look at it that we can be superheroes in our lives if we would just follow Jesus Christ.

I can do anything I set my mind to.

6. The Lord's Rules Deserve Our Respect

That passage is saying that whatever the Lord has given me to do, I can do it. In whatever circumstances that I confront. Whatever ill things come my way. But whatever circumstances I have to face, whatever difficulties I have to traverse in life, I can do what the Lord bids me do. He equips me, he helps me. I can make it. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I can accomplish all that He wants and intends for me to accomplish. The second observation I would make about the Lord’s rules is that they deserve our respect. They issue from an all-wise God whose wisdom exceeds mine. How far? Well, from the lowest valley around Mount Everest all the way to the peak. However far that is.

That’s a long way. As the heavens are higher than the earth. So are his ways to my ways and his thoughts to my thoughts. I think some people approach the will of God as if we’re in the position of, yeah, like that one, don’t like that one. Yeah, that’s important, but no, that’s not important. Like the guys who dropped the beads 25 years ago to decide which verses were legitimate and which ones weren’t. They came down to the 17% of the gospels were actually reliable as the words of Jesus. Who put us in that position? To be arbitrary judges on the will and wisdom of God. I am more impressed all the time. One of the reasons why I like our Bible classes, and we do not stray from textual studies for very long.

Sometimes we’ll do something topical, we’ll be studying text of scripture. But the reason why I like going through all of these books of the Bible is that whenever I do that, I come away more and more all the time respecting the author. And how he guided these men to reveal his mind to us. And it’s extraordinary. It is powerful, it is life-changing, it gives me hope. It fuels my faith. It inspires my zeal. This is an amazing document. These are the living words of God that can transform how we think and how we live. So they deserve our respect, our careful attention, our attempts to comply, not our attempts to evade. I’ll guarantee you, when somebody is throwing this legalist charge around, dare I say 99.9% of the time, and I might go 100.

When somebody’s charging someone else in our times of being a legalist, there is some area of the will of God that they’re neglecting. And they don’t want to observe. And what is the passage that comforts them in that approach to the will of God? In fact, I think the Lord has higher expectations. Even than he did of the Pharisees. In Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 2, this amazing statement, as we’re warned about slipping and drifting away from the Lord, from the things that we have seen and heard. It says, For if the word spoken through angels, verse 2 proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense. How shall we escape? If we neglect so great a salvation. We have more than they have.

We have the full revealed mystery of God in our hands. That which is perfect has come. First, we’ll be studying that soon. 1 Corinthians 13 and verse 10. We have that. We talk about the apostles all the time. They’re scratching their heads, they don’t understand what’s Jesus talking about. Where is all this going? What kind of Messiah is this? What kind of kingdom is this going to be? We have all the answers that they didn’t have. And we need to be impressed to the extent that we will not exceed what is written. As Paul wrote to the church at Corinth, go back to what is objective. Do not exceed what is written, 1 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 6. And so the Lord’s rules matter. All of them.

We’re to be doers of the word, not just the ones that coincide with my tradition or are easier to apply. That’s where the Pharisees fail. Call them legalists or whatever term you want to apply. I think the word legalist is inaccurate to use. Their problem was they exalted tradition above God’s rules. And they went the easy route. You know, it’s a lot. I know tithing the tenth of a spice is a little tedious. But that’s a lot easier than being merciful in your heart. And developing that quality. It’s a lot easier to sing without instrumental accompaniment because there’s no authority for that in the New Testament. It’s a lot easier to partake of the Lord’s Supper and not corrupt it into some meal where the elements are not properly discerned, as we talked about this morning.

It’s a lot easier to engage in worship that is truthful and right. That’s just a whole lot easier than to have a heart filled with adoration and gratitude. For our king. And to walk out these doors and let our light shine as loyal, submissive servants to the reigning King Jesus Christ. And I gotta say, I say that from my many years of being among the Lord’s people, I said, you know, baptism for the remission of sins, because that’s taught in the New Testament. That’s never been hard for me. I’ve seen that since I was a kid. I know that’s hard for some people. Alcoholic beverages, that’s not a real temptation for me at this point.

I’ll tell you some of the areas that I struggle. Philippians chapter 2. If there’s one chapter in the New Testament that indicts me on a regular basis. And the one I have to work on and think about.

Esteem others better than yourselves. Don’t merely look out upon your own interest, but also the interests of others. Have that attitude in yourselves that was in Jesus Christ. Do all things without murmuring and complaining. Those are tough things. There’s a whole list of things in Romans 12 that right out of the shoot. And he’s talking about, since you’re justified by grace through faith, this is what the life of faith looks like. If you’re going to respond to God in a way that is befitting, this great system of justification by faith that includes you and Gentile, if you’re going to respond in a way that’s fitting to that, he says, living sacrifice. That’s what makes sense. That’s logical. And I’ve got to tell you, right out of the shoot in Romans 12 and verse 1, I got problems.

Because sometimes I don’t want to get up on that altar. And say no to self and yes to him. No to self and yes to others. And I don’t want to be transformed by the renewing of your mind. I’d rather wallow in conformity with the world. Or I’d like to be acknowledged by others. Rather than not thinking of myself more highly than I ought to think.

Be devoted to myself rather than devoted to prayer. Lagging behind in diligence when we’re told not to do that. But serve the Lord and overcome evil with good, man. I want him to get what he deserves. Don’t have as much problem with the acts of worship as I do with the obedience of Romans 12. As much as lies in you be at peace with all men. You see, and that gets down to the very heart of the attitudes that the Pharisees neglected and we’re called upon to pursue because we are to be imitators of our Lord. And so what’s important here as we get to Jesus’ teaching in Matthew and all the way to the book of Revelation. Is there one of those books back here that we can sort of ignore?

Conclusion

No. It’s all a part of the new covenant. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Romans 12, living sacrifices. The call to obedience, the call of salvation, the call to submit ourselves in baptism as we rise to walk in newness of life is a call to a life of sacrifice. I choose the Lord. I choose his will above my own. Are you ready to make that commitment tonight? If so, we’ll help you. We’ll stand and sing.