Did you happen to read of any self-righteous persons listed in chapter 11 in the book of Hebrews, an abridged His-story of faith? Faith is conspicuously absent in the lives of self-righteous people which is why they cannot stand in the congregation of the righteous. Have you ever known of any self-righteous people who projected any kind of genuine humility, deeming themselves unworthy to be a child of God or a servant of God? I haven’t. It is easy to see through the veneer of pretentious words and a forced, unnatural, and structured lifestyle as a gauge of spirituality.
It leaves me sick to my gut whenever I detect legalism because it is indicative that either a personal relationship with Jesus Christ is either non-existent and replaced by a religious structure, or spiritual growth has been stunted and entangled in the weeds. Even good people have gotten off the path and had been stuck in the bushes. I can detect legalism from a distance like second-hand smoke. I bet as soon as I mentioned that word, “self-righteous,” you thought of others (maybe even me)! Just because truth has standards doesn’t mean an obligation to those standards is some kind of legalism. It is God’s standard of holiness according to the Scriptures.
When it comes to election, grace and works are diametrically in opposition to one another (Rom 11:5-6). Works have everything to do with growing spiritually and being blessed (Eph 2:10; Jas 2:18), but works have absolutely nothing to do with salvation (Eph 2:8-9; Titus 3:5). This is a significant distinction many religious groups fail to see. Works are important because it reflects our faith, but works are not the basis of our salvation. It never has been.
We do not decide on our own to be saved (Jn 6:44); we cannot save ourselves; we can’t even live a life of faith without God’s help; and how in the world can we lose salvation when we are unable to keep on our own anyway? The truth of the matter is that “Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness” (Rom 4:3). Paul stated in Gal 3:11, “But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident….” But Paul didn’t stop there. He made that claim based upon Habakkuk 2:4, “for ‘The just shall live by faith.’”
We cannot look into the heart of the just (those who truly believe, not like the believing of the demons, Jas 2:19, which indicates that having a right doctrine of God is not proof of saving faith), but we can see evidence of their faith being lived or fleshed out. Jesus reminded His disciples that “every tree is known by its fruit” (Mk 12:33). People want to claim to be judicially declared righteous before God by saying, “I’ve been born again,” but they live by what is right in their own eyes. No one can claim to be of the Light and live in darkness for we know light and darkness cannot mix (Rom 13:12; 2 Cor 6:14; Eph 5:8; 1 Thes 5:5; 1 Pet 2:9; 1 Jn 1:5-7). An apple tree is not known by oranges. If you claim to be an apple tree, show us the apples.
We all get saved the same way (Jn 14:6; Acts 4:12; Eph 2:8-9); the experience may be different, but not the mode. Faith is also bound by the Word; it has standards and expectations governed by the Almighty. We do not have a choice to live out our “faith” in whatever manner we decide. Who is Lord here? God determines the way to the Light (Jn 1:12-13; 3:3) and the way of the Light (1 Pet 1:15-16; Jn 14:15, 21, 24), not man (cf. Gal 1:8-9). Any attempt at any other way to heaven is simply being on the wrong side of His-story.
For me, whenever I hear the expression, “self-righteous,” being used in a sentence, my thoughts immediately go to the Pharisees and Sadducees and the spirit of the Judaizers who were the epitome of self-righteousness in the New Testament. These guys threw out the spirit of the law long ago and were living by a very strict code of traditions based on fanciful, outlandish, and irresponsible interpretations concerning the Law of Moses that transformed into entrenched traditions over the centuries.
If you think I am being unfair; consider how they handled their traditions and the law of Moses in the first century according to Jesus. They were canceling or nullifying the Word of God to maintain their own manmade traditions (Mt 7:9), and this was not an isolated incident. It was a pandemic in Judaism in nullifying the Word of God and the height of rebellion and arrogance.
We can never be on the right side of His-story as believers in Jesus Christ if the Word of God is not held to be the supreme and final authority in all matters of faith and practice. Traditions or practices or family bonds, for that matter, should never trump the Scriptures, ever! God works in and through His Word, not through rituals, rules, and regulations encased in the cement of the traditions of man. That stuff is all about controlling the herd, hence, the essence of legalism.
On the one hand, we see strict adherence to legality, and at the other end of the spectrum, we see a spiritual looseness. In between these two polarities is found the truth. Breaking with traditions and law-keeping is the spiritual iconoclasts, who act like freedom fighters defending their liberty and freedom in Christ. They are in some sense lawless; some good people get distracted and deviate from the truth, too. The danger with this latter group is that we know it is historically hazardous of doing what is right in your own eyes as it was during the period of the Judges (Jdg 21:25).
What both legalists and libertarians represent is a failure to recognize the sovereign rights of God in their lives (cf. 1 Cor 6:20; 10:31; 1 Pet 2:9). We shouldn’t be imposing legalism on others or insisting on others in living Christianity in such a way that goes beyond the biblical narrative. The mindset that claims that they do not answer to anyone but God an unwise approach to worship and service to God. It sounds good on the surface in contrast to legalism (man’s law vs lawlessness), but it has inherent problems as well.
The truth of the matter is that neither the dogmatic legalists nor the ardent libertarians are subject to the authority of the Scriptures, except in name only; they are both doing their own thing in reality (cf. Jdg 21:25); one represents control the other sounds the clarion call of freedom of religious expression. They are both spiritual anarchists, rebelling against the teaching of Scripture or the will of God, which is definitively unlike Christ (cf. Mt 26:39).
The “legs” (legalists) want to corral and control; the “libs” (libertarians) want to run free without guilt or commitment or willy-nilly; it reminds me of the Jesus movement among the hippies of the ’60s or living together unmarried and going to church praising Jesus claiming God is love and peace while living in sin. Anything goes because God is a God of love, right? Both the legs and libs are attempting to do what is right in their own eyes, and it eventually leads to disastrous results.
Indeed, Christianity is all about relationships, not rule-keeping, but the fact is, there are guiding principles set forth by God, not man, on thinking, speaking, and behaving in a manner pleasing to Him. Our conduct or manner of living is to be holy as He is holy, which in and of itself is an expectation of holiness predicated on the holiness of God, not what we individually determine to be sufficient or satisfactory sanctification.
If all that we do is to be done to the glory of God (1 Cor 10:31), there are principles set forth to accomplish that goal. Striking that balance of obeying the commands of God and using our freedom in Christ responsibly is the beauty of choice and expressions of our faith and resisting any substitutes for Scripture.
The reality is that it is okay for the other guy to abide by the teaching of Scripture, Yes? But when it comes to family, for instance, the truth becomes optional, and we heavily cherry-pick the Scriptures on what parts to obey because blood is thicker than water, right? The family takes priority rather than obeying the truth!
Have you ever read passages that challenge our ideas on the meaning of being a disciple of Christ: Mt 10:37; Lk 14:26? Our love for Jesus must have preeminence even over family members (Col 1:18). He must have preeminence over our very lives (Mt 10:38)! Being on the right side of His-story for the glory of God requires a life of total commitment to the service of Christ. People will shout “amen” to this truth all day long until it personally hits home.
Perhaps I should also interject here how important it is for each of us to be somewhat careful concerning legalism. Those who are willfully ignorant of the Word and possess a strong desire to fit in are the most vulnerable. It takes knowing the Word and having to do something counter-intuitive like separating from others over questionable matters that contradict the essential teachings of Scripture.
Family ties, cultural pulls, deep-seated traditions, ignorance of the Word, peer pressure, a desire to belong, and even being overzealous can suck us into a sphere of legalism unwittingly. Without spiritual discernment, we can become the very thing that we are dead set against and wind up pitting a person’s standing before God by our own standards of spirituality out of alignment with Scripture. It’s unfortunate, but it happens all the time.
Jesus certainly didn’t fit the mold of the Sanhedrin, the supreme judicial and ecclesiastical council of the Jews in His day, which is an understatement. They were looking and hoping for a political Messiah, not a spiritual one! To them, their problem wasn’t spiritual but political in nature, and that was the great spiritual divide between the spiritual leadership of Israel and Jesus (cf. Mt 15:7-9, 14; Jn 9:41)! If we are satisfied that our darkness is light, well, then my friends, we are on the wrong side of His-story (2 Cor 4:4). <><
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| To Part 2 |
