Self-imposed shackles …

We have labels for all kinds of things in life.

In politics (which I don’t discuss on this blog site), we have liberals, conservatives, progressives, independents, libertarians, and on it goes.

We have tended to apply a couple of those labels to Christian theology as well. There is “liberal theology” and “conservative theology.” Nonsense!

There is either “hitting the mark” or missing it!

People have added to, and subtracted from, God’s Word since the first humans lived in the garden. Neither is acceptable.

I have just relocated to the San Francisco bay area, a place I have lived previously and spent most of my ministry career serving in this area. Politically, it is the heartland of liberalism. Spiritually, you’ll find all kinds of churches, including all kinds of “spirituality.”

I came here from spending a few months in the Dallas area which, politically, is conservative. Spiritually, it is heavily Baptist, either Southern or fundamental. But I found in that area a plethora of legalistic churches.

Spiritual liberalism or legalism … both are ugly, both are unlike Christ, both miss the mark!

However, if I had to choose to deal with one or the other, it would be dealing with the liberalism. Why? While politically liberal persons don’t tend to stomach Christians well, in general those who are liberal care less about what you do as long as you leave them alone, but they also tend to be somewhat willing to engage in discussion.

Here’s what I cannot stand about legalism: Jesus Christ offered up His life to set us free from bondage that is a result of sin. How incredibly ignorant is it for those who have been set free to purposely place shackles on themselves! To be legalistic is to add to God’s Word, to require more than even what God requires!

In Acts 15, we see the Apostles having to deal with an issue of legalism, as we read in verse five, “But then some of the believers who belonged to the sect of the Pharisees stood up and insisted, ‘The Gentile converts must be circumcised and required to follow the law of Moses.’” Theses believers wanted to add to God’s standard by requiring more than was necessary from Gentile converts. James made a wise recommendation in verse 19, “And so my judgment is that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.”

We make it harder for non-believers to come to Christ when we add to God’s Word by requiring more of them than what God does!

Why would we do that?!

We not only do that to the unbelieving, but we make following Christ harder than it is by legalistic rules that have no sound basis in scripture. You will still find the hypocrite preacher who rails against church members eating at restaurants that serve liquor, but he himself buys his groceries and gas at places that sell liquor!

We get hung up over the pierced ears, hair styles and clothing fashions of non-Christians but pay no attention to dying churches and fractious families in our congregations. We major on the minors while the lost perish.

We grossly miss the mark as we shackle ourselves!

I hate legalism because Christ died to set us FREE!

I’ve heard multiple pastors say something along the lines of, “Well, we should err on the side of restraint.”

Nonsense, we shouldn’t “err” by twisting God’s Word, we should hit the mark by applying it!

Those church leaders are fearful of allowing for sin. But Paul addressed that in Romans 6:15-18, “Well then, since God’s grace has set us free from the law, does that mean we can go on sinning? Of course not! Don’t you realize that you become the slave of whatever you choose to obey? You can be a slave to sin, which leads to death, or you can choose to obey God, which leads to righteous living. Thank God! Once you were slaves of sin, but now you wholeheartedly obey this teaching we have given you. Now you are free from your slavery to sin, and you have become slaves to righteous living.”

There is nothing more incredible than experiencing the real life we have in Jesus Christ! Live it fully! Cast off the shackles, embrace God’s Word, and go forward in freedom!

Scotty