Part 2: Obstacles to Christian Maturity: Legalism, Part 1

Introduction

Read Radical by David Platt, pp. 4-7.

One obstacle to spiritual growth is becoming committed to a paradigm rather than a Person, namely, Jesus Christ.

Becoming committed to tradition rather than to the Teaching.

As a result, some American Christians have become disciples of the American church paradigm and traditions rather than a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ.

We must be always be in a mode of self-reflection and be aware of this obstacle to Christian maturity, or genuine discipleship.

But what does being a disciple of a paradigm and tradition look like? We need to answer this question so we are aware of this obstacle to our spiritual growth. We need to makes sure to keep ourselves in check, that we are committed to Christ and not how we do church, that is, paradigm.

The Pharisees were infamous for this. We often refer to this type of approach to religion and faith as “legalism.”

Legalism of the Pharisees followed the rote law and left out the intent, spirit, and heart of it. God never desired for Israel to follow His commands as a check list of things to do. Rather, the law was meant to show that they were sinners. What God truly wanted was THEM. The faith of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had morphed into adherence to forms, laws, and traditions. This was legalism.

Define legalism: adherence and/or a demand for others to adhere to our man-made traditions rather than to Christ as Savior and Lord.

Characteristics of Legalism:

1. Legalism Chooses Who’s In and Who’s Out (v.13)

Matthew 23:13 NASB95

“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.

“Woe to you” = an expression that relayed compassion and regret; an expression of mourning and warning; pain and anger

“hypocrites” = to say one thing but act another; lit. “an actor,” one who plays a part on stage; wears a mask; claim to be one thing but are another; inauthentic, fake, not real

Jesus is expressing regret, pain, and anger toward the Pharisees for being fakers. They were called be God’s shepherds to his people. They played the part (in public and perhaps even in private), but they were really people who did not have a heart for God.

Instead of shepherding people for God, they sought to disqualify people from entering the Kingdom of God.

Seeks to Disqualify

Consistently, repeatedly the Pharisees looked down on others condescendingly. This was especially seen through Jesus’ ministry.

They disparaged sinners, prostitutes, women, Gentiles, and outcasts.

Give a few examples:

Mark 2:16 “When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that He was eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they said to His disciples, ‘Why is He eating and drinking with tax collectors and sinners?’”

Woman who poured perfume on Jesus’ feet:

Luke 7:39 “Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to himself, ‘If this man were a prophet He would know who and what sort of person this woman is who is touching Him, that she is a sinner.’”

Legalism seeks to disqualify people; it says who’s in and who’s out—all the while needing self transformation.

Clarification: What is not being said: that, like our culture, we are to accept and embrace everyone with their sins intact. It is not to say that we cannot all the world to repent. The call is the same for all: repent from your sinful lifestyle, turn to Christ, confess him as Lord and Savior, be baptized into his name. The point, then, is that we are not to judge whether a person can or cannot become a Christian. We are not to look down on others who want to come to Christ because of what they look like or come from. Perhaps an illustration will help:

Illustration

In the 1970s, a movement known as the “church growth movement” began. Today, we would know it better as the megachurch philosophy.

One of its foundational principles was that the local church is to have only one kind of people. In his 1970s book Your Church Can Grow, Peter Wagner’s stated:

The fifth and vital sign of a healthy, growing church is that its membership is composed of basically one kind of people. Even in church, ‘birds of a feather flock together.’ And in church growth terminology this is called the ‘homogenous unit principle.’ Its classic expression is found is McGavran’s Understanding Church Growth: ‘People like to become Christians without crossing racial, linguistic or class barriers.’”

Conclusion: outreach, evangelism, and discipleship should target only certain people who look like us, talk like us, and act like us.

This is the exact opposite of Jesus calls us to do and what the faith once for all teaches:

Galatians 3:28 “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”

Revelation 7:9–10 “After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.””

Ephesians 2:13–16 “But now in Christ Jesus you who formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity.”

And the bitter reality is that legalism is actually seeking the exit to God’s Kingdom. When we concern ourselves with who’s in and who’s out, we are actually exiting the kingdom of God. Legalism . . .

Seeks the Exit

Matthew 23:13 NASB95

for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.

It’s ironic that the very people (the Pharisees, religious readers here) who thought they were “in” and acting as the gatekeepers to God’s kingdom were actually the ones who were “out.” By keeping others out, they kept themselves out. Why?

=> Because they were focused on others to the exclusion of themselves.

Legalism leads us to disregard our own discipleship and sanctification and focus upon others’. And, of course, when we do this, we become hypocrites. We get so overly concerned about others’ that our own transformation and discipleship are overlooked. We become blinded and arrogant; our spiritual growth becomes stilted.

Paul addresses this in Romans 2:17–23 “But if you bear the name “Jew” and rely upon the Law and boast in God, and know His will and approve the things that are essential, being instructed out of the Law, and are confident that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, a corrector of the foolish, a teacher of the immature, having in the Law the embodiment of knowledge and of the truth, you, therefore, who teach another, do you not teach yourself? You who preach that one shall not steal, do you steal? You who say that one should not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? You who boast in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God?”

It should be noted that the very Christians that a legalist often focuses upon and is worried about are often the outcasts of society and those who are actually entering into God’s kingdom. The very ones that legalism raises its nose up toward are often the righteous ones who are being sanctified and are becoming true disciples.

Luke 5:29–32 “And Levi gave a big reception for Him in his house; and there was a great crowd of tax collectors and other people who were reclining at the table with them. The Pharisees and their scribes began grumbling at His disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?” And Jesus answered and said to them, “It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are sick. “I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.””

=> Those who think they are righteous vs. those who know they are sinners in need of transformation. That’s the true disciple. That’s the one whom God can grow spiritually.

Application

If we want to grow spiritually, then:

We must shed the legalism of who we think is worthy to come to Christ and who is not. Rather, we are to be impartial and invite all to accept Christ and come into his kingdom.

No one is worthy of salvation:

Romans 3:10–18 “as it is written, “There is none righteous, not even one; There is none who understands, There is none who seeks for God; All have turned aside, together they have become useless; There is none who does good, There is not even one.” “Their throat is an open grave, With their tongues they keep deceiving,” “The poison of asps is under their lips”; “Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness”; “Their feet are swift to shed blood, Destruction and misery are in their paths, And the path of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.””

But all are valued and loved by God who desires to save all:

Genesis 1:27 “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.”

We must shed the legalism of thinking we are morally superior and focus upon what WE individually need to work on

Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

Ephesians 2:1–3 “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.”

When we seek to disqualify others from accepting Christ as Lord and Savior, or keep them out of the church, we are actually dooming ourselves not to enter into it. Instead of disqualifying certain people, we end up exiting the Kingdom. We end up impeding our own spiritual growth, being a disciple of Jesus.

A true disciple makes other disciples. He does not attempt to disqualify particular people or exclude others based upon socio-economic status, appearance, hygiene, race, or anything else—wearing a hat, wearing or not wearing the traditional tie, with tattoos or no tattoos, drinking coffee or not drinking coffee.

Thank the Lord that there have been true disciples of Jesus who have led everyone one of us today to the Lord and did not seek to disqualify us. Thank the Lord they were spiritually mature disciples who led us to our Savior!

Another reason why legalism impedes spiritual growth is because it fails to convert others to Christ and make actual disciples.

2. Legalism Fails to Make Disciples (v.15)

Instead of making disciples for Jesus, legalism leads us to make disciples for something else, usually to our way of looking at how church ought to be done. We inadvertently, or perhaps at times intentionally, end up converting a person to our manmade paradigm of “doing” and “being” the church.

Matthew 23:15 NASB95

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.

Legalism works really hard.

Works Hard to Convert

The Pharisees, during Jesus’ ministry, worked hard to keep others from accepting Jesus’ message. Some often traveled from Jerusalem to Galilee and other far away places around the Roman empire to make just one convert and keep others from following Jesus and enter the Kingdom of God.

The underlying problem was that the Pharisees converted people to Pharisaism, not to YHWH, the one and only true God. The convert did not become a disciple as such, that is one who became transformed on the inside to know and love God, but a convert to the paradigm of hypocritical Pharisaism.

Such a conversion is not true conversion, and it does not lead to true discipleship.

Jesus has some harsh words for converting people to a paradigm rather than to the person of God.

In short, the Pharisee words hard to convert but to no good end:

Works Hard to No Good End

Matthew 23:15 NASB95

and when he becomes one [a convert], you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves

This is a strong statement. Rather than converting the person and making him a disciple to be transformed from the inside out, he became a “twice as much a son of hell.” The presumed convert actually was worse off after the Pharisees were finished with his tutelage.

Application

Question for us: Are we working hard to lead people to Christ or our to our own church paradigm?

Slide Illustrations: American Church Paradigm vs. Biblical Church Paradigm

Instead of making disciples of Jesus, legalism leads us to make disciples of something else, usually to our way of looking at how church ought to be done.

George Barna:

“In short, the spirituality of America is Christian in name only. . . . We desire experience more than knowledge. We prefer choices to absolutes. We embrace preferences rather than truths. We seek comfort rather than growth. Faith must come on our terms or we reject it. We have enthroned ourselves as the final arbiters of righteousness, the ultimate rulers of our own experience and destiny. We are the Pharisees of the new millennium" (Barna, The Second Coming of the Church, 1998, 7).

But legalism also impedes discipleship because it leads to jettisoning the truth:

3. Legalism Jettisons the Truth (v.16-22)

Matthew 23:16–22 NASB95

“Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, that is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple is obligated.’ “You fools and blind men! Which is more important, the gold or the temple that sanctified the gold? “And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar, that is nothing, but whoever swears by the offering on it, he is obligated.’ “You blind men, which is more important, the offering, or the altar that sanctifies the offering? “Therefore, whoever swears by the altar, swears both by the altar and by everything on it. “And whoever swears by the temple, swears both by the temple and by Him who dwells within it. “And whoever swears by heaven, swears both by the throne of God and by Him who sits upon it.

The Pharisees denied the truth in two different ways. First:

Denies Truth Intellectually

They made up some manmade tradition that certain oaths can be broken and others cannot although the OT said one ought never break an oath.

We see a few of these mentioned here by Jesus: you could break an oath if you swore it by the temple, but not the gold of the temple. Likewise, someone could break an oath if he swore it by the altar used for offering but not if one swore by the offering that was on the altar.

The Pharisees were playing willy-nilly with God’s law by making up such stipulations, and they did not even make any logical sense.

Jesus is the grand master logician here. He asks them, “Which is more important, the gold or the temple that sanctified the gold?” And “Which is more important, the offering, or the altar that sanctifies the offering?” In both cases,

In both cases, the gold and the offering on the altar, are not in and of themselves significant. The significance lies in the fact of what the gold and the offering are being used for, and its use is designated by where it is used: the temple and the altar. The gold and the offering anywhere else is nothing.

Application:

How does this apply to us today?

Oaths do not really play much of a part in our culture today.

But I think we apply this in a different way. Ask: what makes the worship and discipleship of a person acceptable in God’s sight? Is it about what they wear (a hat, suit and tie? the plaid tight shirt and skinny jeans?) What they say? What types of songs we sing (hymns or more contemporary)? If we even have a choir and orchestra? If we have pews?

(If any of these questions make us uncomfortable or a little grumpy, then it’s possible you just might be committed to a paradigm of the American church rather than the person of Jesus, like we discussed a few moments ago.)

So what makes the worship and discipleship of a person acceptable in God’s sight? The truth and heart of man.

Do you remember when Jesus spoke with the Samaritan woman at the well? She asked Jesus where the proper place was to worship God: Samaria or Jerusalem? Do you remember Jesus’ answer? He said:

New American Standard Bible (1995): Paragraph Version Chapter 4

But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.

In short, worship has nothing to do with externals, but internals. And the two most important things he cares about: truth and the spirit/heart of the man.

Isaiah 29:13–14 “Then the Lord said, “Because this people draw near with their words And honor Me with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote, Therefore behold, I will once again deal marvelously with this people, wondrously marvelous; And the wisdom of their wise men will perish, And the discernment of their discerning men will be concealed.””

The Pharisees also denied the truth of God in word and deed.

Denies Truth in Word and Deed

This is what it means to be a hypocrite, and this is why Jesus called them hypocrites. They did not follow the Word of God, the very thing they supposedly stood for.

Titus 1:16 “They profess to know God, but by their deeds they deny Him, being detestable and disobedient and worthless for any good deed.”

If we desire to grow spiritually, then we will have to be upholders of truth and deeds. Talk the talk and walk the walk.

Conclusion