"Relationship Vs. Religion” Series

Having discussed how our victory over the power of sin and the temptations to sin provided by the flesh, the world and the devil in our daily lives has been provided for through Christ death, burial and resurrection; Paul now addresses three subtle detours that can get the child of God. These detours can get the Child of God off track in their daily walk of victory and cause us to “get stuck” spiritually by turning our daily walk with Christ into a practice of religion rather than a personal relationship. Let’s look at Paul’s three warnings:

1. Don’t be detoured by legalism - vs. 16-17

Legalism is the practice proving one’s spirituality by keeping rules and regulations rather than on the basis of relationship. This approach to living the Christian life results in judgmentalism (v. 16).

“Why do you stare from without at the very small particle that is in your brother’s eye but do not become aware of and consider the beam of timber that is in your own eye?” - Matthew 7:3 (Amplified)

Why? Because the focus is always on being better than others in the effort to prove one’s worthiness and godliness. This causes the legalist to do two things:

A. The legalist does not look at themselves in the mirror.

The legalist must convince themselves that they are keeping all the rules, and in order to do that, they simply choose to not take a serious look at their own flaws.

For example, I figured out years ago that the way for me to win the “battle of the bulge” was to get rid of the bathroom scale.

So the legalist engages in self deception in order to not focus on the fact that they are seriously coming up short when it comes to keeping the rules. This was a problem that the religious leaders of Jesus’ day.

In the Gospels, we read about the Scribes and Pharisees. What was their relationship? The Scribes committed themselves to interpreting how one should live in order to fully obey the Mosaic law; and the Pharisees committed themselves to living by the rules of the Scribes.

“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cumin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel. Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.” - Matthew 23:23-26 (NIV)

Paul said of those who took a legalistic approach to Christian life:

“We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some who commend themselves. When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise.” - 2 Corinthians 10:12 (NIV)

Instead, we need to seek to see ourselves as God sees us and then ask for his guidance in addressing our short-comings.

“Search me [thoroughly], O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there is any wicked or hurtful way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” - Psalm 139:23-24 (Amplified)

B. The legalist looks at others through a magnifying glass.

Like a bully, who picks of those weaker than themselves in order to feel strong, the legalist picks on their perceived faults of others in order to make them feel spiritual. Paul cites two examples:

1) Diet - v. 16a

In Paul’s day, the Judaizers contended that good Christian observe the Mosaic law, including the dietary restrictions, which categorized foods as clean and unclean (see Leviticus 11:2-20). Now, there were health reasons for these laws, which Dr. S. I. Macmillen explains in his book, None of These Diseases. But there were also spiritual reasons, for the distinctions between foods were meant to familiarize God’s people with the idea of purity and impurity.

But when Jesus came, those dietary laws were abolished.

“’Are you so dull?’ he asked. ‘Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.’ (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.)” - Mark 7:18-19 (NIV)

2) Days - v. 16b

Today, some Christians observe Christmas and others don’t. Some observe Passover, others don’t. Some churches have services on Saturday in addition to Sunday, is this wrong? Nepali Christians worship on Saturday, not Sunday because Saturday is the national day off from work. If they insisted on having Sunday off in that Hindu country, it would result in persecution. So they worship on Saturday instead.