False Work: Legalism and Faith

This topic begins with the presentation that legalism is self-oriented.    Legalism is an attitude that says we can please God. obey God, and be holy through our own effort.

     God’s grace, His Holy Spirit in our lives.  If you have not experienced God’s Spirit in your life, giving you everything that He wants to give you, then please read on.

     The kind of life that God offers us through His Holy Spirit is exciting, fruitful, and joyful.  We do not earn this gift from God.  He gives us this life because He loves us.  We trust God and live in dependence on His Holy Spirit.  Then the excitement begins.  This is life as God intended us to enjoy it.  This is love. 

     As we all learn of this great new life we learn more and more exciting things.  In His love He allows us to be a part of all that He is doing.  This has great rewards - forever rewards.

     God loves you so much, that He gives you His gifts so that you can do what He wants you to do.  While you are doing it, He gives you peace and joy and love.  Like you have never imagined.  Then, He gives you eternal rewards for what He has given you His grace to do in this world.  These are rewards that will never go away.  That you can enjoy forever with Him and all His eternal family.

     God’s love is so great and so infinitely perfect that He has created you to be a part of everything that He is. 

     The Christian Spiritual life is not passive.  God has not ordained that we simply rest and trust in God’s love and that is all there is. 

     We are responsible to obey God’s commands.  To do this every Christian needs to understand the difference living in faith through the power of His Holy Spirit, or living in our flesh.

     There is a great danger.  It is our flesh.  Our flesh is a drive that we are powerless to deal with except by the power of the Holy Spirit.  This force of our flesh most often is seen in a drive towards sex and power and money.   However, our flesh is very deceitful.  It is a continual liar.  So our flesh will work to deceive us by even driving us to do good things in our own power, or for our own motives.

     Anything that is centered on ourselves is not entered in God.  Anything in our lives that is centered on ourselves is not dependent on the Holy Spirit.  That will not be honoring to God.  That will not be empowered by God.  So we will end up doing the wrong things, in the wrong resources, without God’s power.  Even though it may look good.  Even though on the outside it is not a drive toward sex, and money, and power.

     Legalism is a term that basically refers to anything that is centered in myself - my effort, my power, my ideas of what God wants me to do, rather than God leading me in what He wants me to do.  Legalism is about myself.  It is not about God.  It is trying to gain acceptance or respectability through my own efforts.

     Legalism is a large barrier to God’s love in your life.   Anytime you are self-centered you are not depending on God.

     Legalism is marked by trusting in self rather than God.  It looks to its own merits to reach God’s holy standards.  This is most often seen as rules or standards set by a church or religious groups that are required for acceptable behavior.  What is actually happening though is that the religious group or church is just lowering God’s standard to something they can do in their own power.  Then they look to that as justification of their goodness - even their rejection of other Christians or churches.

     This kind of lowered standard is often motivated by personal glory and personal honor.    This could be seen in the pride of the Pharisees.  Pride that blinds to the need for forgiveness.

     Interestingly legalism, although intended for self-glorification, often ends up in personal hatred and despair.  Think about that for a moment.  This happens because the legalist must trust in his own power and efforts to maintain his own rules and acceptable behavior in order to be good.  Under these conditions anyone will have no ability in the Holy Spirit to deal with the problems that result from their flesh.  So they become insecure.  That produces their self-hatred.  Sometimes that insecurity and self-hatred is expressed as hatred and rejection of others who do not share their particular rules and values.