The Challenge of Legalism

 

One of the challenges of life in Jesus is that of living in freedom rather than in bondage to rules and regulations. This isn’t because Jesus gives us unnecessary rules and regulations. It is because we often create those rules because we believe they are necessary for Godly living, and then we impose them on others as well. In fact, if you have been around any church long enough, you discover what is acceptable and what is unacceptable and I am not referring to the teaching of Scripture but to the rules we impose. 

For instance, growing up, I was not allowed to play outside on Sunday. Not sure why but it was a rule in our household. We also didn’t have a television because they were not conducive to Godly living. Nor did we go to movies or school events where dancing was taking place. In some churches and whole denominations, drinking alcohol is prohibited. The joke in the south, where this is prevalent, is that everyone goes to the next county over to purchase their liquor because they don’t want to be seen purchasing it in their own backyard. In other churches you must tithe ten percent of your income. Some people have a highly regulated set of rules for how you raise your children, ostensibly based on Scripture. Others have rules for how you date or don’t date if you are single. 

All of these are personal convictions that are legitimate to hold. But, they are personal convictions and should never be imposed on others. When we do we become legalists who are making rules that Jesus does not make and imposing rules for living that He does not impose. It is called legalism. The problem with legalism is that it moves our faith from a personal relationship with our creator to a set of rules and laws. The former is life giving and vibrant. The latter is dead faith and trying to earn God’s favor with rules and regulations. One focuses on a relationship with Jesus and the other on traditions imposed by men.

Those who make such rules are very good at trying to convince you that you should keep them, and equally good at creating guilt if you don't. But remember Paul’s words. “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.”

Paul calls legalism, with its rules and regulations, slavery. We become slaves to rules as a way of pleasing God. Don’t go there, says Paul. He says to the Galatians “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened by a yoke of slavery. (Galatians 5:1).

Does that mean that we are free to do anything? Not at all. Paul writes, “You my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command; ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.” (Galatians 5:13-15).

Paul is saying three things here. First he tells us not to become enslaved to a bunch of rules and regulations that are not from God. Second, to live in freedom. But third, to not use our freedom to indulge our flesh - to get involved with things that are not good for us. And finally, rather than living by rules and imposing those rules on others, we are to simply focus on loving each other. 

Living by rules and regulations creates friction and dissension. The human tendency is to keep adding to those laws and regulations, and lots of energy goes into making sure that everyone is toeing the line. Ironically many people look for rules in their Christian lives. Jesus gives us principles to live by but there are many areas where we make lifestyle decisions based on our conscience. But they are our decisions and not binding on others.

And our decisions in areas of life that Jesus has not specified are based on our freedom. We are free to choose how we live because Jesus has called us to freedom. Our choices are based on our conscience and are not to be imposed on others. Nor can others impose their decisions on you. 

Paul actually calls legalism, or the imposition of rules and regulations that Jesus has not specified, another gospel. He calls it this because legalism assumes that if you keep these rules God will be pleased with you. This was the religion of the Pharisees. They had rules for everything and keeping those rules meant that you were pleasing God. Jesus, however, said no! That is not true faith and that is not the gospel. The Gospel is trusting in Jesus for our salvation based on His death for our sin. 

Are you living in the freedom that God called you to in Him? Are there lifestyle decisions that you are keeping that someone else has told you to keep but where Jesus and Scripture are silent? Is your relationship with God more about rules and regulations than it is a relationship with Jesus? If so, Jesus invites you to a life of freedom, unconstrained by the rules of others. He really does!

Father, help me to live in your freedom and to use that freedom to serve you and others. Free me from the burden and guilt of man made rules and regulations and give me joy in my relationship with you. Amen.

The question for today: What are the rules and regulations I have adopted because someone told me to? Do I agree with them? Does Jesus demand that I keep them?

When the Church and Government are intertwined the Prophetic Witness of the Church is Compromised

 

Last week a group of prominent American evangelical leaders wrote a letter to Patriarch Kirill, head of the Russian Orthodox Church imploring him to intervene and stop the bloodshed in Ukraine. He has fully endorsed the Russian onslaught of Ukraine and fully supports President Putin.

One could wonder why a so called Christian leader could in good conscience support what we are watching in Ukraine: The brutality, the targeting of civilians and the raw use of power to destroy a people and a country. It is a good question and one that religious movements everywhere should pay attention to - including in the United States.

Why would the Russian Orthodox Church support what President Putin is doing, which includes the slaughter of fellow believers in Ukraine? The answer is simple. The Russian Orthodox Church and its leader has made a Faustian bargain with the government of Russia. In exchange for their support of the government, they receive the security of being able to operate unimpeded by the Russian government and even receive significant financial support from the government. Unlike other Christian movements in Russian who are under significant pressure, they reign supreme.

In exchange, the church promises to support the Russian government, endorse their policies, and even join the government to defend Russia against negative Western influences. Understand that this is a partnership between the government, the church and inevitably the Russian intelligence agencies who are intertwined with this whole security issue. 

To complicate issues, in 2019, many Ukrainian parishes left the Ukrainian Orthodox Church with was under the Russian Orthodox Church to form a new Orthodox church of Ukraine. This infuriated the Russian Orthodox Church and Mr. Putin who saw this as a threat to Russia.

David French in an insightful article entitled The Best of Christian Compassion, the Worst of Religious Power says this about the current situation in Russia. "This is the church at its worst, when it weds itself to state power and wields the sword to advance God's kingdom on earth. We are watching the deep darkness of malevolent Christendom, a religious movement that will slaughter innocents to fight "decadence" and bomb hospitals to combat "sin." When you see Putin's armies advance, you can think, this is why our nation rejects established religion."

Ironically, it is also believers who are laying down their lives to fight this onslaught of the Russian government and Russian Church as well as Christians who are providing much of the relief to the refugees that are inhabiting Ukraine or fleeing Ukraine.

It should also be noted that many evangelicals over the past several decades have been seduced by Putin's "religious veneer" as a member of the Russian Orthodox Church and a friend of its Patriarch. Indeed, they are joined at the hip, both benefiting from the arrangement but there is nothing Christian about Mr. Putin nor is he a person of personal faith. He cares about one thing only: Power and his agenda of recreating the Russia that existed before communism. Ironically it would seem that the Russian Orthodox Church wants exactly the same thing and in its proximity to power it also has power. 

None of this, however, has anything to do with Jesus or the Gospel. I think regularly of the hurting heart of God watching what people are doing (in His name) in Ukraine. It is sick and sad and not Jesus in the least. 

All of this should cause the American church and especially evangelicals to be reflective on the dangers of intertwining the church with politics or the church with the political power of the government. And it has done plenty of this. Any of these "bargains" end badly for Jesus and the church. The power of the church comes from the power of the gospel, not from its proximity to political power. The situation with the Russian Orthodox Church is a warning as to where this relationship will end. Power corrupts politicians but it also corrupts religious movements who seek to derive their influence and power from those who are in power and have influence.

The religious right in the United States needs to understand the truth about power that Paul wrote in Romans 1:16-17. "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed - a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: 'The righteous will live by faith.'"

The power the church needs and has comes from the gospel and not from political proximity. When the church and government are intertwined the prophetic witness of the church is compromised and its power is diminished. 

See also, Putin is the New Stalin and Russia, Ukraine and the thin veneer of civilization