No Legalism: Just love

My pastor was giving a sermon this last Sunday while we were going through the book of Psalms.  The chapter that we were reading this week was Psalm 15.    He walked us through the whole chapter.  And while this chapter includes a long list of things that we as Christians should do, these things are done really only by a person who has a heart to know and love God.  This will not come from a heart that only has a desire to follow rules and regulations.  

“Our assignment is not fruitfulness, but faithfulness.  The secret to fruit bearing and anxiety free living is less about doing and more about abiding.” This was written by Max Lucado in “Anxious for Nothing” This quote really struck me.  I think there are times that we spend a great deal of time thinking about how to best grow our own fruit.  These spiritual gifts are the gifts that help us grow closer to God, so they are extremely important. However, this quote also shows us that our main job is to be faithful to God.  We need to be willing to abide and remain in the Lord, and the Lord will be the one that will ultimately develop in us the main fruits of the spirit.  This will help us a lot in the long run.  This will be a reminder that we have a worker that is always on our side.  

It can be so easy to get wrapped up in just wanting to grow out our own fruit.  With just sheer willpower, I can create a heart of joy and peace at all times.  With just a little bit more thought I will be filled with love and self-control.  With just a bit more breathing, I will be continually patient.  How many of us have tried this technique?  How many of us have tried to force this out and not succeeded? How many times have we gotten worn out or maybe filled with shame and guilt at not being able to complete what we wanted to?  I know that I have felt this many times.  I am always trying to grow in my patience, but I have discovered more and more that this is something that I need to continue to pray to God about. 

This also reminds me of a bigger discussion of legalism.  The theological definition of legalism is, “dependence on moral law rather than on personal religious faith.” This is essentially trying to follow the rules of the Christian faith so well that you are then blameless.  However, It is easy to start to care more about this than really having a deep relationship with God.  It can be easy to start looking at the rules in the Bible and the expectations we feel good Christians need to follow.  Some examples of this is always remembering to speak the right way, praying before eating, reading the Bible daily, and going to church every Sunday.  Yes, these are all good things and help us all become better Christians, but if there is no heart behind it to really grow that relationship with God, then it is just going to end up being a long list that we can’t live up to.  

There are moments that I am reminded of why I am a Christian in the first place.  There are moments when I am reminded of how much I love Jesus.  I love him for all of the love that he has given me and I am so grateful for his love.  I am so filled with joy when God reminds me that he loves me so much, so much that he would even be willing to give his son to die on the cross.   There are times that we can perceive our Christianity as something incredibly difficult and hard.  We may feel as though there are many rules and regulations that a good Christian has to live by.   This is the idea of legalism.  The idea that we need to follow certain rules to achieve God’s love is also not the Gospel.  The whole point of the Gospel is that we don’t have to work for our salvation, nor could we be able to work for it.  We would not be good enough ever.  This is why God died for us in order to save us.