Slaying the Dragon of Legalism

You know how in those thriller-type movies when the bad guy or monster is killed. And you can finally take a breath, and relax? Evil is destroyed, and all is finally well? Your adrenaline subsides?

Whew!

But then the bad guy or monster sorta twitches, and then jumps up to attack the good guy again, right?

That's Legalism.

It never rests. You can expose it, argue against it, show how unbiblical it is, show how destructive it is, and stab it right in the heart. And you think, "There! That oughta take care of that!"

But then it sorta twitches, then gives a little movement, then jumps up and screams, "You know what a sinner you are!"

It rages, "You call yourself a Christian! You think God could really love a hypocrite like you!?"

It screeches, with it wings spread, "You'll never be holy! You know your performance isn't good enough to earn the favor of the Holy Creator of the universe!"

It spreads its claws and flaps its wings and jumps up to scratch your eyes out, bellowing with breath of fire, "You're not good enough for Jesus, and you know it!!"

And fear grips you and you think, "Maybe this Grace-After-Salvation thing is all a lie. Maybe I do need to try harder, struggle more, really earn God's love."

That's when our Champion charges in on his steed, and raises His Sword, which is the Word of God, and plunges it into the dragon's head, and draws it back and slices the dragon's head off with the power that formed a trillion galaxies with, "Let there be..."

And He picks you up, and dusts you off, and says, "Nothing you do could make me love you more, and nothing you do could make me love you less. I love you. And nothing can separate you from my love. I kept the Law for you. And when I said, 'It is finished', I meant it. When I justified you, declared you righteous, I meant it. When I said your sins were forgiven, I meant it. When the next dragon of Legalism stalks you, call me. It was for freedom that I set you free. Therefore, keep standing firm, and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery." [Galatians 5:1]

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Stress vs. Trials

Do you get "stressed out". Do you have a lot of "stress" in you life? Before you answer, let’s take a look at stress from a Biblical slant.

I know what you hear or read all the time about stress and how bad it is for your health, your high blood pressure or your heart. There's even an actual organization called The American Institute of Stress!

Time Magazine, in their June 6, 1983 cover story called stress "The Epidemic of the Eighties", calling it our leading health problem. Surveys show that adult Americans perceive they are under much more stress than a decade or two ago.

I won't go into all the bodily changes that take place under stress, but they include the release of powerful hormones and neuro-transmitters. These bodily changes are actually good if, say, a bear is chasing you. It's sometimes called the fight or flight mechanism, and it’s very useful in such cases. But when we have such things as fear, or worry, the same hormones and neuro-transmitters jump into play, and if we sustain those emotions for very long they can destroy our health, which can of course affect other parts of our lives.

So what do we do about stress?

God has ordained trials as a means of growing us, sanctifying us, teaching us, conforming us to His image. That’s why James wrote, "Count it all joy, brethren, when you encounter various trials." We will never escape having trials in this life.

But the question is, How do we handle the trials? There are many answers, but we can illustrate them in general like this:

Picture a fork in a road, one road going one way, the other going another way.
One road we’ll call the Biblical Spiritual Road. The other we’ll call the Unbiblical Unspiritual Road. Now when we encounter pressures or trials, we will tend to handle them by taking one or the other of those two roads. We will handle that trial in Biblical Spiritual ways, or we will handle them in Unbiblical Unspiritual ways.

So let's attempt a biblical definition of STRESS… here it is:

"Stress is the result of an unbiblical unspiritual response to pressure or trials."

God hasn’t made us to "stress out" for escaping trials. He has given us the biblical spiritual road for trials. He has given us precious instruction in handling those trials that come our way.

I can only scratch the surface in this brief post, but let’s just look at one example, to show the difference in the two choices at that fork in the road.

One of the most precious is Philippians 4:6: "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God".

Let’s break it down just a little. A trial comes along and we have two roads to choose from. One says. "Be anxious"… worry, fret, stew, get uptight, try to figure it out, try to escape it, wring your hands, envision the horror of it all, get mad at somebody, get mad at God, and so forth.

The other road says, "Don’t be anxious" ... but pray, supplicate (that is, ask God's help), don’t worry, don’t fret, don’t stew, don’t get uptight, walk by faith, not by sight, don’t try to escape it, don’t wring your hands, envision the good of it, let it work it’s work in you, don’t get mad at anybody…pray for them…and above all do it with thanksgiving.

Be thankful for the trials, or at least be thankful for the grace to bring you through the trial, be grateful you have a Lord who loves you. Be thankful for eternal life, peace with God, the peace of God, forgiveness of sins, love shed abroad in your heart, the promise of heaven, the indwelling Holy Spirit, the ability to approach God in prayer, the promise to be like Him one day, freedom from the power of sin, the ability to understand the scriptures by his Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit, the promise of Romans 8:28, etc. You get the idea.

Praise Him in the midst of the trials, and trials won’t become stress. Remember our definition of stress: "Stress is the unbiblical unspiritual response to trials."

We don’t have to experience stress, and we don’t have to resort to the world’s solutions…taking hot baths, chanting mantras, hooking up to bio-feedback machines, and then stressing out all over again.

Seek Jesus… seek Him in the stillness of your heart. As you read your Bible and pray, look for the Biblical Spiritual Road, and take it.

Listen to "Grace For Life" Radio Program.

True Biblical Counseling vs. Psychology

Psychological counseling strengthens the flesh. Paul said "For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh;" Who wants to strengthen that!?

Better to zero in on the new man, that spirit which is now joined to His Spirit, that spirit which now loves Jesus and hates sin.

The Word of God, and the Wonderful Counselor is what we need in our times of trials (which is almost always), not a psychologist.

"Therefore let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." (Heb. 4:16) Too often we need counseling because we avoid the throne of grace. First counseling instruction: draw near to Him!

A caution, however, regarding so-called Biblical Counseling. Sometimes "Biblical" or "Nouthetic" counseling is reduced (as the Gk noutheteo --admonish-- implies) to merely "admonishing". That is, it becomes merely rule-oriented, or Law-based. Sort of, "Repent, don't do that anymore, do this, and everything will be O.K." Duty, duty, duty. And if the counselee doesn't comply pretty darn quickly...well then they're just stiff-necked and hopeless.

True Biblical counseling will encompass such important doctrinal foundations as the sovereignty of God, His great love for His children, His total acceptance of His children "in the Beloved", the ongoing grace of God after salvation, the attributes of God which engenders love for Him in true believers, and training in how to walk by the Spirit and being filled with the Spirit in an ongoing lifestyle.

Without those kinds of foundational truths, instead of the "love of Christ constraining us", and true repentance of the heart as a lifestyle, it becomes a Holy Behavioral Modification that makes someone look good, smell good, but wither on the Vine. Without preaching the whole counsel of God, and particularly feeding the sheep with Him Who is the Bread of Life, even so-called Biblical Counseling can become the "letter [that] kills" (2 Cor. 3:6).

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Unequally Yoked?

Prominent Christian authors often have books published by publishing houses that are owned by pagans. Is this a violation of Scripture? Here are some thoughts:

1. The Pharisees took a principle of their Old Covenant Scriptures (that one should not work on the Sabbath) and "extended" it even to ladies not having needles in their skirts, since that would be "work".

Pharisee-ism always takes good principles and makes them intoTaliban-like rules for everyone. This is bad enough under the awe-full Old Covenant, but even worse under the glorious New Covenant, wherein each believer has the Holy Spirit in them, guiding them.

2. There has never been a convincing exegesis of the relevant passages about being "separate" and not being "unequally yoked" that would universally forbid all believers from contracting with pagans for book deals. One's own conscience may lead in that direction, but it's a form of Pharisee-ism to "extend" the verse to book deals.

3. There are several Christian book publishers who would get a pass under the "extended" no-unequal-yoke rule, yet they practically specialize in Law-based Galatianism that puts, guilt and condemnation on those whom Christ has made free.

4. The whole discussion here, I believe, is missing the real point. That is, that our essential goal should not be outward, but inward. That we should seek close fellowship with Jesus Christ, seek to be filled with His Spirit, seek to walk by the Spirit. If we walk by the Spirit, He may lead us to renounce, or to embrace, a secular book contract. He will teach us and lead us into His mind regarding those separation Scriptures, and He may lead each of us differently.

5. Revival is not all it's cracked up to be. Jesus is building His church, and the gates of Hell will not prevail against it. Ebbs and flows of so-called "revival" can be very deceptive, as in the Finney revivals which left unregenerate bodies strewn from Ohio to New York.

God's sovereignty is not an excuse for lack of vision, action, or exhortation. But it is a cause for comfort in the midst of what can be disheartening circumstances. It is God "who is at work in us both to will and to do His good pleasure".

6. A Spirit-filled man has love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control.

Finding a man who is filled with the Spirit as a lifestyle sometimes seems like Diogenes with his lantern trying to find an honest man. Yet twelve such men "turned the world upside down", as God saw fit.

Take heart. He is working...through you, and me, and the heretics, and the donkeys.

7. The greatest of courage is not in demanding the presumed "duty" of others, it's in proclaiming the freedom of the gospel of Jesus Christ, in the midst of a self-righteousness performance-based church culture.

"Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage." -- Gal. 5:1

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Lonely But Never Alone

Loneliness is a universal problem. But there is hope...

By Michele Rayburn

I never feel lonely when I spend time alone with the Lord, and when I practice His presence the rest of the time. When I am not "filled with the Spirit" is when I am the most lonely.

What a blessing it would be (what revival might even come) if all of us Christians would make it a priority to develop our Spirit life through close communion with Christ. Then our lives would be more fulfilling. And when we come together again, our fellowship with one another will be more fulfilling.

What the Church seems to be lacking today is the Spirit of Christ moving in our own personal lives the way God meant for it to be. We lack spiritual teaching that will draw us back to Christ. The teachings we often hear tend to be man-centered rather than Christ-centered.

We should keep our focus on Christ and imitate Him, instead of looking at ourselves and beating ourselves up about how imperfect we are. He’s not surprised by our weaknesses. Even before we were born, He knew how we would stumble. But we are "accepted in the Beloved". So we should keep our focus on Him. We should think on things like God's everlasting love for us, His total acceptance of us, and our security in Him.

I think that if we don't fully comprehend and receive God's love for us, we may feel unacceptable to Him when we fail. And that kind of alienation can also make us feel lonely.

When our own lonely heart is comforted by our communion with Christ, then we can fellowship with others in a way that will ease their loneliness.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ. 2 Corinthians 1:3-5

It's so important to be sensitive to the fact that as brothers and sisters in Christ, we really need each other.

Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing. 1 Thessalonians 5:11

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Christians Not Perfect, Just Forgiven?

I've never liked the bumper sticker that says, "Christians Are Not Perfect -- Just Forgiven". It's true we're not perfected yet, but it's not true that we're just forgiven. A lot more has been accomplished with our regeneration, our "new birth". We are a new creation. Old things have passed away, all things have become new.

He has made us "fearfully and wonderfully". There is sometimes a real pride in self-abasement How's that for an oxymoron? (see Col.2:18, "Let no one keep defrauding you of your prize by delighting in self-abasement...").

I have a couple friends who are so into self-abasement that they actually say that God didn't send Jesus to die for us because He loved us, but only for His own glory. He certainly did it for His own glory, but how absurd to deny the very clear John 3:16,"For God so loved the world, that...".

One friend even claims his favorite Bible verse is in Job 42, when Job says, "I abhor myself". When it's pointed out that "abhor" is an incorrect translation, he says it's still his favorite verse.

We need to be Christ-centered. Indeed, the more Christ-centered we are, I believe the more we will be amazed at what He has done in us. And the more Christ-centered we are, the more we will walk by the Spirit. Yet, I believe that, ironically, to deny what God has done in and to us, is a sort of unbelief that quenches the Spirit.

Glory and credit is another matter. Who should get the glory and credit for all this? Well, the one who did it all, of course. Whatever we are is by grace.

"What do you have, O man, that you did not receive?" (1 Cor. 4:7)"

"You are worthy, O Lord, To receive glory and honor and power;For You created all things, And by Your will they exist and werecreated." (Rev. 4:11)

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Should We Love Ourselves?

Should we love ourselves? We do, of course, in the natural sense. That's what Jesus was saying when He said to love others as we love ourselves (Matthew 22:39). He wasn't commanding us to love ourselves, He was pointing out the obvious that we already do.

But should we love ourselves? That depends on how we define "love".

Let me give a working definition of "love", that sort of love that is the fruit of the Spirit, and is good. Here's the definition:

"Love is the fruit of the Spirit in which one desires the greatest good for the object loved, and acts accordingly."

I contend that usually we have to use our God-given "reason" or "common sense" in figuring some biblical things out. I admit that too much "reasoning" can get us into trouble, especially if we reason with unbiblical premises. But here's my point: If God repeatedly tells us to love, and if love is the fruit of the Spirit, does it make sense that we should NOT love ourselves?

Or to put it in terms of my working definition above: If love is the fruit of the Spirit, and desires the greatest good for the object loved . . . shouldn't we desire that greatest good for ourselves? I think it's obvious that we should.

But . . . that leaves open "what is the greatest good for us", doesn't it? And that's where I think the unbiblical notion that "we shouldn't love ourselves" comes in.

For example, would it be our greatest good to be a selfish pig, or a hedonistic worldling, or a self-centered narcissistic "me, me, me" person? Of course not. Would it be our greatest good to take on the philosophy, "It's better to receive than give"? Of course not.

On the other hand, would it be our greatest good to "not think more highly of ourselves than we ought"? Yes! Would it be our greatest good to be selfless servants of our families, our fellow man, and God? Yes! Would it be our greatest good to recognize that we "are fearfully and wonderfully made", yet also recognize, "what do you have that you didn't receive?"?

In other words, our greatest good is to deny ourselves, take up our crosses, and follow Him. Our greatest good is for Jesus to live His life through us. Our greatest good is to believe Him that we are new creations, that old things have passed away, and all things have become new. Our greatest good is to reckon ourselves to be dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.

Our greatest good is to walk by the Spirit, and thereby to not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

If we truly love ourselves, we will love others greatly, because to not do so is to be clanging cymbals, and who wants that?

So, yes, we should love ourselves. To NOT love ourselves would be wrong. But first we have to understand what love is.

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Casting Crowns: The Trinity Rewards Conspiracy

I have a theory. The theory is that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit have gotten together and cooked up a little conspiracy.

They have given us gifts and abilities. We are "fearfully and wonderfully made" (Psalm 139:14), but of course we can't take credit for that. After all, "What do you have that you did not receive?" (1 Corinthians 4:7).

Then the Lord works in us "both to will and to do for His good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13), so we will do good works. Then the Lord promises rewards (also know as "crowns") to us for those good works.

You with me so far? We do good works and we get rewarded for it, but it is God who gives us the desire, the ability, and whatever else is needed to get it done.

I tell you, it's a conspiracy to bless and reward us! He even made it "more blessed to give than receive" (Acts 20:35).

And so we know why, when we meet this blessed Lord face to face, we "cast our crowns" at His feet (Revelation 4:10).

Worthy is the Lamb who was slain --- not to mention the Father and the Holy Spirit. :)

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Why Performance-Based Legalism Is Harmful

I want to say a few words about that form of “legalism” which I call Performance-Based Christianity, as opposed to Grace-Based. It's that form of legalism that tries to earn God's favor or love by what we do.

There are several other forms of legalism, for example:

1. There is initial salvation by works;

2. There is the Seventh Day Adventist type of legalism, which speaks of initial salvation by grace, but it must be followed by law-works or you end up losing your salvation;

3. There is that extra-biblical type of cultural "legalism", such as "no lipstick", "no pants for ladies", etc.;

4. There is pure Galatianism, which mixes law-works with grace, which of course makes it not grace.

The Perfomance-Based Christianity type I speak of is, I believe, the most destructive to the spiritual walk of the Christian, because it does several bad things:

1. It makes a Christian think they are better or worse than other Christians, causing pride or despair respectively;

2. It encourages the Christian to be self-centered -- always examining his navel as to whether he is "measuring up" (and he never is, of course) -- instead of being Christ-centered, looking to Jesus and fellowshiping with Him;

3. It encourages Daisy Theology -- "He loves me, He loves me not", robbing the believer of that precious and total love and acceptance that God has for him in Christ;

4. Worst of all, it adds law to grace, which Paul points out makes it no longer grace, whereupon one "falls from grace", as the Galatians did in their foolishness, and gets on the ground of Law, which quenches the Holy Spirit, and inflames sin.

The problem with Law-based living is that the one who lives that way must, 1. obey all of it, 2. obey it continually, 3. obey it perfectly.

Sorry, but "Striving to obey God's commandments" won't cut it, and one who lives that way is cursed by his own paradigm.

"For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law to perform them.'" (Gal. 3:10)

But...We are "...servants of a new covenant, not of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." (2 Cor. 3:6)

And that New Covenant, of course, is in Jesus Christ, our Lawgiver, Lawkeeper, and Sacrifice Lamb, who became sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God. What a Savior and Friend!

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What Christians MUST Obey

Someone wrote me the other day pointing out the obvious truth that the Bible has commands in it. So far so good, but he went on to say that the commands were "from Moses to Jesus to Paul" and that it is these commands "we must obey."

Now, if we're talking Moses, I could point out that there are over 600 "laws" in the Old Covenant, and most don't have anything to do with us under the New Covenant. But I have a broader point I'd like to make:

Whenever someone says that we Christians MUST obey some rule or law, two questions are raised in my mind:

1. To what extent MUST we obey? 10%, 50%, 99%? If you say 100%, you're correct. And thank God that Christ did it for us on the cross, 'cause we can't DO a hundred. As the song says, "I'm running trying to make a hundred...ninety-nine and a half just won't do."

2. We "must"? What if we don't? I mean, "must" is a pretty strong word. Well, the answer is, if we are a born again Christian, we are forgiven...period. Grasp that profound, radical truth! When you do, "must" becomes a moot point.

We "desire" to obey, in our very [reborn] spirit. And if we walk by the Spirit, we will obey. We will read His Word, desiring to know His heart, that we may walk in His ways. But if we walk by the flesh, all the "musts" get shaken off our backs like water off a wet dog. The key, then, is not the law, it's the Spirit. Walk by the Spirit and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.

You wanna "strive"? Don't strive to follow the law. Strive to spend time in His presence, communing with Him, loving Him, basking in His love for you, talking to Him, listening to Him through His Word.

Then the fruit of His Spirit will rise up in you (love, joy, peace...), and the glorious law of Christ planted in your heart will make the written commands seem like mere shadows of a much higher glory, fulfilled in you by Christ, as He lives His life through you.

Mount up with wings, baby!

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