You Might be a Legalist if...
Notes
Transcript
Handout
You might be a recovering legalist if:
You suspect Fundamentalists are liberal because they use the word “Fun” in their name.
You won’t eat real vanilla ice cream because vanilla extract’s alcohol content.
You always go to the end of the pot luck line… Because the First shall be last and the Last shall be first.
You think those who believe exactly like you are the bride of Christ and all other Christians are just the attendants.
You don’t tip more at a restaurant than you tithe.
The Problem when Piety gets mixed with Pride and Prejudice
Luke 18:9–14
9 And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 “The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12 ‘I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’ 13 “But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’ 14 “I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”
Jesus’ parable creates a High Contrast to drive the point home. (V. 9)
President Ronald Reagan said don’t blur the image but speak in bold colors no pale pastels.
Legalism verses Grace.
God’s Riches at Christ’s Expense.
Pride versus Humility.
Self-Righteousness versus Dependence.
Jesus answers the question of whether God chose to save you because you are better than others.
First, Salvation belongs to God. You do the sinning and God does the saving.
Rev. 7:10 “10 and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, “Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.””
The Pharisee’s Pride subtly shifted the focus from God’s mercy.
The Tax Collector Pleaded for God’s salvation. He left the decision with God.
1 My soul waits in silence for God only; From Him is my salvation.
True conversion comes when we acknowledge that He paid the debt He didn’t owe, I owed the debt I couldn’t pay.
Imagine a daughter saying to her parent. Hey dad, I know I don’t deserve anything and I’ve failed to do my chores. I’m so far away from school and there’s no bus, I can’t get there on time and because of that I keep on failing. I don’t make enough money to afford a car, the insurance, or take care of it. I don’t know what to do. I know I haven’t been a good kid, but you are a wise and loving father that I don’t deserve. Will you help me?
Then imagine the father giving a kid a Porsche. It has full warranty and unlimited service. The Father gives a never ending gas card. The Father says, “Child, I love you and what I have is yours. Because you humbled yourself before me, I choose to bless you. Walk in the knowledge that I love you and desire good in your life.”
The kid in amazement thanks the Father and praises the Father for His goodness despite her failures. She tells others about how great the dad is despite her failures. She shares the blessing by helping others get to school on time.
Now imagine a Pharisee coming along and saying, “Why you wretched kid.” Look at how you think you did something by receiving that gift. You think you’re all that. You are no good and wretched and you need to remember that you will never amount to anything.
All the while the kid is glorifying the Father and the Father’s gift testifies to His Goodness, not her worthiness.
Humbly coming to God and repenting of sin makes no demands upon God.
A Humble sinner RELIES upon what God has revealed about Himself.
Who gives God more honor?
The one who says, “God saved me, the sinner, despite myself.”
Or the one who says, “I don’t know why God saved little ol’ humble me?”
When God explicitly tells us why He saves?
Or the one who says, “I followed the rules better than others, that’s why God is lucky to have me and not them.”
James 4:10 “10 Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.”
You hate other people’s sin and love those who sin like you.
Jesus addresses the question
New Testament 18:9–14—The Pharisee and the Tax Gatherer
18:11. Jewish people considered it pious to thank God for one’s righteousness, rather than taking credit for it oneself. The first hearers of this parable would not think of the Pharisee as boastful, but rather as grateful to God for his piety.
New Testament 18:9–14—The Pharisee and the Tax Gatherer
Many of the most pious fasted—without water, despite the health hazard—two full days a week (Mondays and Thursdays), at least during the dry season. Pharisees were meticulous about tithing to the full extent one could infer from the law (several different tithes, together constituting more than 20 percent of one’s income).
New Testament 18:9–14—The Pharisee and the Tax Gatherer
The tax gatherer’s prayer for mercy involves no deliberate act of restitution, and hence many of Jesus’ contemporaries would judge it invalid.
Craig Keener
The Apologetics Study Bible: Real Questions, Straight Answers, Stronger Faith Article: Why Would a Good God Send People to an Everlasting Hell? (Paul Copan)
Sin is fundamentally independence from the rightful rule of God, and unbelief can be as much a matter of the will as of the intellect
Ps 34:18 “18 The Lord is near to the brokenhearted And saves those who are crushed in spirit.”
18 The Lord is near to the brokenhearted And saves those who are crushed in spirit.
15 For thus says the high and exalted One Who lives forever, whose name is Holy, “I dwell on a high and holy place, And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit In order to revive the spirit of the lowly And to revive the heart of the contrite.
Marshall Howard The Gospel of Luke (i. The Pharisee and the Tax-Collector 18:9–14)
The Pharisaic claim to superior righteousness is well attested
for that it was a seditious temper of our own that destroyed it; and that they were the tyrants among the Jews who brought the Roman power upon us, who unwillingly attacked us, and occasioned the burning of our holy temple; Titus Caesar, who destroyed it, is himself a witness, who, during the entire war, pitied the people who were kept under by the seditious, and did often voluntarily delay the taking of the city, and allowed time to the siege, in order to let the authors have opportunity for repentance.
Jason Dollar on legalism:
Signs you may be struggling with Legalism:
1. You don’t believe that certain people could ever be saved.
Can a person who commits the worst conceivable acts ever be redeemed?
A legalistic mindset says no, or probably not. Legalism states that a person must improve before God would allow her to enjoy eternal life. She may not have to earn all of her salvation, but she must earn some of it. Therefore, to a legalist, Dahmer’s moral account was far too tarnished for him ever to be admitted into heaven.
But when Jesus was on the cross, the man dying next to him was in a similar situation as Dahmer. He was likely a terrible criminal (probably a murderer) since crucifixion was reserved for the worst offenders, yet when he professed faith in Jesus, the Lord said, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). This man wasn’t in a position to improve morally. He had no means of making restitution for his crimes or for cleaning up his reputation. All he had was faith, and he was justified exclusively by grace.
God’s full justifying grace has a scandalous feel to it because it’s powerful enough to save even the worst kinds of people. The inability to accept this reality betrays a legalistic mindset.
2. You think people seeking help out of unsavory sins need to clean up their act BEFORE coming to church.
Many Christians love their churches and don’t want “sinners” (like drug addicts or those struggling with sexual sins) coming in and ruining things. They think, “If those people clean up their lives first, then we will welcome them into our group.” But that way of thinking is based on the idea that a person must improve morally in order for God to justify them.
Shouldn’t we want lost sinners attending our churches regardless of their current moral standing? Shouldn’t they be where they can hear the gospel? I’m not suggesting we allow people to join the church who are not believers or who live in open sin. But to shun them altogether is to express a legalistic mindset that demands they improve themselves before they are qualified to be justified.
3. When you sin, you feel like God rejects you and hates you.
Scripture to pray over and meditate upon:
The main text this week.
The thief on the cross. Luke 23:42-43 “42 And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!” 43 And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.””
Remember the lowly sinners with whom Jesus spent time. Matthew 9:10-12 “10 Then it happened that as Jesus was reclining at the table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were dining with Jesus and His disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to His disciples, “Why is your Teacher eating with the tax collectors and sinners?” 12 But when Jesus heard this, He said, “It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick.”
Remember when God first loved you! Rom5:8 “8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
This
This one is more personal. The one who has a legalistic mindset tends to feel that his salvation is shaky. When he sins, he may even feel that he has lost his redeemed status. He thinks of his standing before God as being based on his own moral account, his good works versus his bad works. So long as the good outweighs the bad, he feels justified before God, but when the bad outweighs the good, he loses his assurance.
This can be extremely subtle. A genuine Christian who fully believes in God’s justifying grace can slip into this mindset quickly without even knowing it. When we sin, it often blinds us to grace and reverts our thinking back to the notion that we must earn favor with God.
Christians must rest in their justification.