Root causes of legalism

Posted on July 13, 2015 Written by Mark McIntyre 5 Comments

Legalism is too often an ugly aspect of evangelical or fundamental churches. At its extreme, legalistic churches reduce the gospel to praying the sinner’s prayer and conforming to a list of do’s and don’ts. In a legalistic system, someone determines what is acceptable based on an often arbitrary interpretation of Scripture.

In thinking about legalism, I came up with three root causes for it.

Pride
Fear
Lack of faith

Pride

My observation of legalistic systems is that they lower the bar to a standard that can be met through self-will and determination. The motivation behind the bar lowering is often pride. There is a drive in all of us to appear better than we really are. There is great danger in arranging a system that promotes rather than inhibits pride. It is ironic that the most legalistic people I have ever met seemed to be some of the most proud people I have met.

Fear

Legalism can result from fear that people will make bad choices and need help to make good ones. In a misguided attempt to provide guidance, the legalist attempts to provide a rule for every situation.

Lack of faith

Ultimately, legalism results from a lack of faith in God. If I feel pressured to provide rules for others, it is because I do not trust that God is big enough and strong enough to bring those others through whatever they face.

The lack of faith is grounded in a failure to understand that God does indeed love us as we are. If I feel pressured to earn God’s favor, it is because I really don’t grasp the extent of God’s love for me. I do not have enough faith to believe Jesus’ statements that the weary and heavy laden are welcome in his embrace.

The Result

The result of legalism is that those who are in the system cannot become what God intends them to be. Rather than a deepening understanding of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, legalists are satisfied with rule keeping.

Rule keeping undermines the ability of the legalist to allow himself and others to be open about his shortcomings and failures. Church meetings become like a masquerade ball where the real identity of the people in the room is hidden. The legalist cannot be himself, because he knows that he does not live up to his own standard and he doesn’t want anyone to discover this.

Just Quit

Usually, the only thing you can do if you find yourself in a legalistic system is flea since it is unlikely that you will change the system. Perhaps God will use you to affect change, but this is usually not the case. Find a group that accepts you for who you are and will encourage you to become what God wants you to be.

How can you identify whether a group is legalistic or gospel-centric? The easiest way to tell is by whether people are leaving as a result of being hurt. Legalism destroys true spirituality and those that are really seeking Jesus will always be hurt by the legalists because the legalists are not seeking him.

The good news is, those who really are seeking Jesus will be more than happy to share him with you. They will come along side as fellow seekers and pick you up when you fall and allow you to do the same for them. They provide an environment where pretense is diminished and honesty is rewarded.

It is to a community like this that you should flee. I did and am the better for it.

Can you think of other root causes of legalism? If so, please take a few moments and share your thoughts in the comment form below.

Boldly Broadcasting

Posted on March 3, 2014 Written by Bob Myers 2 Comments

This is repost of a news letter article written by Bob Myers, the lead pastor at the church I attend. I thought it worth sharing with you so I asked permission to use it as a guest post. If you are interested in becoming a guest author, please see the guest post guidelines and use the Attempts At Honesty contact form.

Are you boldly broadcasting? By that, are you using the unique God-given opportunities in front of you?

I believe that everywhere Jesus went He found a way to make an impact on a man, woman, or child. Although the gospel writers make it clear that He preached and taught multitudes, it’s amazing how much of the gospels focuses on one on one encounters with Jesus that you and I can easily identify with and replicate.

Here’s some tests for whether we’re boldly broadcasting.

Inventory your interactions. How many people have been in your home in the past two months? How many of them have been part of your same church, or have been Christians compared to how many non-Christians? If you go out to restaurants, how many of those who sat at your table are not yet believers? Jesus went out to eat with non-believers a lot, so much so that He was criticized for dissing Israel. Are you like Him in this? Take a little bit of your tithe and treat a non-Christian to a lunch out. In the conversation, work on understanding the person and listening first. Take the challenge question I gave you last week in the sermon on compassion. Find out what it’s like to be them. Ask them, “So, what’s it like to be you?”. Ask them with a curious mind and an open heart. You’ll be a better image bearer of Jesus. And as Dale Carnegie said, A person who asks questions and listens to the answers is regarded by most people as an incredibly interesting conversationalist.

Social Media: If you do Facebook and Twitter, and I think many of you should do it, ought to do it, and can do it being salt and light, you should have a bias towards people who don’t share your faith. What I mean is, interact with them positively, affirmatively, and in a winsome and inviting way. Each Saturday on Facebook I try to share a preview of what our worship service is going to be. If you’re on Facebook, yes, you should “like” this, but you should also share this, which re-broadcasts it to your network of friends. If you’re on twitter, you should interact with non-Christian tweeters in a winsome way. This doesn’t mean we tweet Bible verses constantly. That’s talking at people. But twitter allows you to dialogue, to show curiosity and compassion for other people. And I would encourage you to tweet on the broad subject matters that interest you. I have some Facebook friends who are atheists and from other religions. I make sure I especially communicate interest and graciousness to them. I “unsubscribed” from a tweeter who only posted on a subject that had no interest for me. But I love how twitter can open up subjects and worlds that I otherwise knew nothing about, but can begin to understand and appreciate it.

Evaluate your intake and output. If you have been a Christian less than five years, you may want to attend more than one Bible study to “catch up” on all that you might have missed before. But if you’ve been a Christian for more than five years, generally, you should not be regularly coming to more than one Bible study unless you’re bringing someone, babysitting for someone, or leading the study itself. If you’ve been in multiple Bible studies for more than five years, stop attending more than one Bible study, drop it and attend a neighborhood book club discussion of some secular book, or join a community interest club of some kind. You’ll find it revolutionary to your faith and life. Your prayer life will probably grow. And most of all, you’ll be more like Jesus in how you live and interact.

Ism’s that replace the Gospel

Posted on August 19, 2013 Written by Mark McIntyre 5 Comments

“The lies that capture us as Christians usually seem to fit well within the borders of our Christianity. Perhaps postmodernism and sexual immorality are not the greatest threats to the church of Christ in our day. Perhaps we are in more danger from the subtle lies that flow from subtle shifts in how we understand the gospel. We have not forsaken the faith, but we may have redefined it in ways that are fundamentally different from the gospel laid out in Scripture.
This redefinition of the faith does not happen all at once. It may not even surface in the public theological discussions of the church. Rather, the redefinition is a process of subtle steps at the practical level of the church’s fellowship, life, and ministry. Hope in Christ gets replaced with Christian activity, emotional experiences, Christian fellowship, or something else, without anyone consciously redefining or forsaking the faith.”

–Timothy Lane and Paul Tripp in How People Change

Lane and Tripp list the following ism’s as pretensions to the gospel. They use the word pretension to indicate a plausible lie. A lie that can be easily believed. The ism’s are:

Formalism – being busy with meetings and service
Legalism – following a list of dos and don’ts
Mysticism – looking for the next spiritual high
Activism – a campaign against evil
Biblicism – being the theological expert
Psychology-ism – a focus on healing the hurts
Socialism – focusing on relationships and connection

As they point out in the book these are so attractive because each of them has a part of what it means to embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ.

I should also point out that rather than using these as labels to pigeon hole others we should look at this list as potential pitfalls for ourselves. It is my guess that we are all tempted to be out of balance in one or more of these areas. I know for sure that I am.

Balancing Bible Study and Prayer: An Illustration from Star Trek

Posted on September 4, 2011 Written by Mark McIntyre Leave a Comment

I am convinced that for a Christian to be spiritually healthy and effective, there must be a balance between prayer and Bible reading. If one or the other is over emphasized, or if one or the other is neglected, that person or church group will stray from the mission that God has given the church.

A group which emphasizes prayer at the expense of Bible reading will be lively but can get into error such as the so-called “Toronto Blessing” movement. A group which emphasizes Bible study at the expense of prayer will have a cold, dead orthodoxy which does a better job of keeping people away than attracting them.

To illustrate the extremes, I will borrow from the original Star Trek television series.

Spock Christianity – Bible Study without Prayer

The overemphasis of Bible reading, or the neglect of prayer, I label “Spock Christianity.” Spock was the character that was from the planet Vulcan where there were no emotions. Emotion was considered irrational and life was to be guided by logic alone.

Spock Christians seek to be guided by Scripture. They know their Bibles and have good understanding of Biblical precepts and how the Bible should impact the world around them. This is all praiseworthy.

The problem with Spock Christianity is that it morphs the group or individual into a strong believer that tends to be cold and unloving. It is through prayer that we become honest before God about our own shortcomings. Without prayer it is easy to fall into the trap of doctrinal litmus tests to see who is in and who is not.

Bones Christianity – Prayer without Bible Study

Bones was the doctor on the Enterprise. He had a tendency to react emotionally, having frequent outbursts which annoyed Spock, the logician.

Bones Christians are very tuned into prayer and supernatural manifestations. They are looking for the Spirit’s leading and want very much to follow that leading.

The problem with Bones Christians is that neglect of Bible reading and study allows them to be lead astray by ascribing to the Holy Spirit things that are clearly not Biblical. The Apostle Paul directly addressed Bones Christians in 1 Corinthians chapters 12-14. Bones Christians can be loving and inclusive but the danger is that what is included may not be Biblical.

Toward a Balance – Paul Christianity

In Philippians 4:9, the Apostle Paul tells his readers, “The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do.” Paul was confident that his example is one that is safe to follow.

The Apostle makes frequent references to his prayers on behalf of believers. Paul writes to the Corinthians that he prayed in tongues “more than you all” (1 Corinthians 14:18). Paul was an intimate of Jesus Christ th.rough prayer. Paul was of the opinion that prayer is an important part of the Christian experience

Yet, the Apostle knew when and how to call out those who were entertaining doctrinal error. Paul confronted those whose teaching strayed from Scripture. Paul also praised those who were diligent in comparing his teaching to Scripture. Paul also presented Scripture as the guide for belief and practice.

Without Bible study there is no basis for confrontation of error. Without prayer, the confrontation will be cold and unloving. For the church (which is made up of individual believers) to be effective in her mission, there must be a balance like we see in the Apostle Paul.

It is possible to be emotionally engaged and right.

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