Dangers of (Following) Legalism

 Saturday 7th August 2021

Hey, happy Saturday!

(Jamal from On My Block)

It actually doesn't feel like Saturday, for me anyway. I started writing this officially at 10 to 11, after trying to find some relevant GIFs to this post. I finished work at 8PM.

I said I'd be here Saturday night after work, and here we are. I'm not always consistent though, for example I could say that my next post will be on the 17th but then it's on like the 30th 😁 

But I will try and make it as consistent as possible. I have four days off from work- I will post on the day before the first day and on the last.

Today's topic is a little bit different. I know normally I do Psalms 119 commentary, but today, I'm doing Dangers of Legalism.

Don't worry, their faces are only like that because I said the word Danger. 

There will be more Gifs in this, but not too much, don't worry.

But yes. This post was completely planned. I knew I was going to change it since Late July.

This was a topic that was covered during Bible study in my home church. It was so powerful, my Gosh. I had to talk about it on here. I just couldn't avoid it.

Before I begin, I would just like to say that unfortunately when most people come across danger, they're like this:

They go towards the source of the danger, but you shouldn't be like that. You should be more like this:

When you see danger, you walk away. Some people out there do things without thinking of the possible consequences. 

But with this topic, you have to avoid legalism, or else you will land in some serious trouble. Let's begin!

So what is Legalism exactly?

Legalism is simply the obedience to law or formula instead of personal faith with God. When people pay too much attention to the rules of the Old Testament then this is known as legalism.

You're probably thinking "But why is that bad? Following the Old Testament is good though, right? Plus weren't the 10 commandments in there?"

Or something like that anyway.

Ideally, you are right. But Read what Hebrews 7 vs 18-19 says, then Galatians 2:16

The old rule is set aside. It was weak and useless. 19 The law didn’t make anything perfect. Now a better hope has been given to us. That hope brings us near to God. - Hebrews 7:18-19

 Here is what we know. No one is made right with God by obeying the law. It is by believing in Jesus Christ. So we too have put our faith in Christ Jesus. This is so we can be made right with God by believing in Christ. We are not made right by obeying the law. That’s because no one can be made right with God by obeying the law. Galatians 2:16

When Hebrews 7 talks about the old Law being weak and useless, it is talking about the Old Testament. 

But please understand that this verse isn't saying that the Old Testament is useless. It's not.

It's just that due to the New Testament, the Old Testament Laws, aka legalism, has become outdated. But it is still significant.

I have emboldened this deliberately because I don't want people taking this verse out of context, plus it's really important anyway.

Did you know that the Old Testament is the New Testament foreshadowed?

You probably did. However, if you didn't, then congratulations! You now know it. I guess you really do learn something new everyday.

It took me ages to find the Hebrews verse. I wrote it down somewhere but not what it said. I therefore had to use Cross References of Galatians 2:16 to get there.

Let me tell you something.

Some people would rather follow laws instead of caring about other people. This isn't good, this means that you'd rather follow rules instead of caring about other people's feelings. 

Besides, Hosea 6:6 says I want mercy and not sacrifice.
    I want you to recognize me as God
    instead of bringing me burnt offerings.

Sacrifice the Law for people. Not in that way though, think about others more than the Law.

I'm not saying that it's okay to commit crime, no. Let me give you an example. And a relevant one too, one about coronavirus.

The Law could say that you're not supposed to leave your house.

Here is the thing though, your best friend could be really sick and no one is there to look after them. Their family is unfortunately reckless, not caring much about them.

You know you have to visit them, especially how you know that you're more or less the only one that will. Their other friends would rather follow the Law of staying at home (legalism) than go to visit them.

Even worse, they are dying.

In this scenario, following legalism is staying at home and abiding to the Law, as well as letting your best friend potentially die.

The guilt would eat you alive, knowing that you could have helped them whilst they were still alive but you didn't. Now worst has come to worst and they've sadly passed away forever.

You could say it was your fault for not helping them, and in a way, it was. In the nicest way possible.

I get it's against the Law to leave your house, but you had a good reason why. If you had free time anyway.

However, not going against legalism is breaking the Law and visiting your seriously sick friend.

You know it was for a good cause. You may not even get penalised for it. But if you know that you are the only person that can help them, then I guess you had no choice.

You understand what Legalism is now? I hope so!

Do you know why God hates legalism so much?

Because even though he made up every single Law that we have to follow (and the government set them vicariously through him) - God still loves us more than he loves the Laws he made - and that really says a lot!

These following sentences weren't from me, they were from this website instead.

20 Inspiring Bible Verses About God’s Amazing Love for You

It was actually called that. You know me, if the title is too long, then I instantly change it. Not this time though!

The God who created the universe, the most powerful being ever, loves you personally. Try to wrap your mind around that. 

He loves you — not just people in general, but you as a person. He cares about your life and wants to be part of it.

Even if you’ve spent your whole life running from God or done things you regret, He still loves you and wants to have a relationship with you.

God’s love is unconditional and infinite — far far beyond what even the best of people are capable of. God commands those who follow Him to love one another. Among sincere believers whose hearts God has changed, you can see an imperfect picture of His love.

But even the best at loving others will fall short, and they'll tell you to go to the source.

 The Bible is a compilation of the words God gave people so we could know more about Him. The Bible says God loves you whatever state your life is in.

Then it mentioned some verses that I'm going to add here right now. Just two though, but they were interlinked in the Website.

Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean He no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? ... No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love.

 Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow — not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below — indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35, 37-39)

God is more powerful than anything in heaven or on earth. When you accept Jesus’ invitation to begin a relationship with God, you are secure in His love forever. 

There is nothing powerful enough to separate you from God’s love. Even when things are difficult or you feel far from God, it’s not because God stops loving you. The truth is that God will never stop loving you, no matter what you do.

This is in bold again because it was from the website. I didn't quote any of this.

I don't know exactly what version this is, but that is what the website said, and it genuinely couldn't be more correct

See how much God loves us! I was also listening to a song on my Gospel Playlist called You Brought The Sunshine by Out of Eden - my favourite gospel group, or artist in general.

No, Gospel music isn't the only thing I listen to, but for the purpose of this website, gospel song lyrics and titles are the only thing I'm going to mention, inevitably.

Unless there's a secular song with very relevant lyrics to what I'm talking about.

I tried listening to just gospel music alone but I couldn't. I struggled hard. I mix it up with secular songs, especially afro beats or songs from the 90s, careful of lyrics. 

But it's definitely the type of music I listen to the most. I have a 90s and Afrobeat playlist on YouTube, and I genuinely listen to the Gospel Music more.

So if you're one of those people that solely listen to Gospel music, I actually applaud you very much *standing ovation* It wasn't the easiest for me.

In regards of the song You Brought The Sunshine, Sunshine is exactly what God brought. So let's thank him for bringing sunshine to our day.

I was even thinking, but will not act on it, that You Brought The Sunshine would have been a good title for this website, had I not thought of Supernatural Superstar. 

God gave me the name, I was stuck on one for ages. But I'm never replacing it, unless it's taken. God forbid though.

I was talking about Hosea 6:6 earlier, which was talking about how you should give God mercy more than sacrifice.

When you give mercy more than sacrifice, then you are giving a greater sacrifice than sacrifice itself.

For instance, you could sacrifice your time for church, but you could be going there for all the wrong reasons, ie to look good through the eyes of some of the other people there. 

However, when you show God mercy, then he will really favour you and appreciate it as well.

Legalism could refer to the 10 commandments as well as the old testament. It is the greatest enemy of the new testament.

You can’t say that someone has committed a crime if you don’t have evidence for it – this can be used by laws.

I know I mentioned an example of legalism before, but I made that up. Here are some that my pastor thought of.

Some examples of legalism can include (but is most certainly not limited to)…

☆ “Because you didn’t take 7 steps to the right and 4 to the left like you were supposed to, you are therefore no longer a Christian.”

☆ “You’ve fasted from 12 midnight to 11pm instead of the whole day – you are not a (proper) Christian.”

☆ “Unless you do a particular kind of fast, then God will never listen to you.”

☆ “Unless you fast every Friday and do something else on Sunday then God will not answer your prayers.”

In this situation... You’re making things up that God didn’t even say in the Bible.

There isn’t a Bible Scripture for it surprisingly but don’t misquote the Bible (then again, it's self explanatory. Why would you misquote the Bible?). God doesn’t like it if you do that.

Realistically speaking, you should always be encouraging Christians to have a personal relationship with God. You don’t count people’s sins. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new Creation. Old things have passed away and everything has been made new. 2 Corinthians 5:17.

People with legalism follows all kinds of rules and if you don’t follow them, then they consider you to not be a true Christian or to not have a personal encounter with God.

And we're finally unto the Title! Dangers of Legalism. 

I couldn't talk about this first without actually explaining what legalism is, so hopefully you've got a clear understanding of it now.

Most of these notes today was from what I wrote down in Bible Study (which I had to listen to three days late because of work) - I just elaborated on them. It also isn't everything.

I'm going to be using bullet points.

Dangers of Legalism

i.                                Rubbishes the sacrifices of Jesus Christ

☆    Galatians 2:11-21

☆    Galatians 2 vs 16

This means that it makes the sacrifices of Jesus Christ for no reason, which isn't right.

If we're going to be following legalism then what was the point of Jesus Christ dying for our sins? Exactly, there wasn't one.

There was probably a law saying that Jesus couldn't get crucified. If  we had actually listened to that law, then goodness knows where we would be today.

ii.                             It can make salvation become extremely difficult to attain.

☆    James 2 vs 9-11

☆    No one can keep the whole Law because there are too many of them.

☆    If your salvation is based on you obeying laws then you’re in deep trouble. Why?

This is because there are too many laws out there, so you’ve probably already broken some without even realising it.

My thoughts exactly. 

It's by far too frustrating to follow every single law in the world and still care about others. It's one or the other - mutually exclusive events.

Not just that but new laws may clandestinely be added in the future - too many for you to catch up with, so why even bother?

For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of the Lord - Romans 3:23

iii.                          If the legalistic way of the old testament will continue then there isn’t really any need for the New Testament.

☆    This means that God jut wasted his time with the New Testament.    And that's not true.

☆    Romans 3:19-23

☆    Hebrews 7:17-18

☆    The Law wasn’t made to save us, more so for us to see exactly how sinful we are.

There's more but this was what I got.

I'm not saying it's bad to obey the law, just don't let it get in the way of obeying what's in the Bible.

Till next time, bye!

Lola xx