Tag: Legalism

Flutes and Funerals

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a002b97f9c06b49145b2f77cd05086beLuke 7:31–35 (NKJV) — 31 And the Lord said, “To what then shall I liken the men of this generation, and what are they like? 32 They are like children sitting in the marketplace and calling to one another, saying:

‘We played the flute for you,

And you did not dance;

We mourned to you,

And you did not weep.’

33 For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and you say, ‘He has a demon.’ 34 The Son of Man has come eating and drinking, and you say, ‘Look, a glutton and a winebibber, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ 35 But wisdom is justified by all her children.”

A group of children are sitting in the public marketplaces and calling to other children who are obstinate and unwilling to play games with them.  One game involves a happy event like a wedding.  Another involves a time of lament like a funeral.  But the onlooking companions refuse to participate in either game.

The wedding speaks to the ministry of our Lord Jesus.  The funeral speaks to that of John the Baptist.  One group of children represents both of the contrasting roles of Jesus and John, our Lord’s forerunner.  The second, non-participating of group of children represents the unresponsive, hardened Pharisees and the Jews who follow them.  The non-participants reject both games.  Even so, the Pharisees rejected both ministries of Jesus and John the Baptist.

The Pharisees seek to temper John’s stern preaching.  They don’t like their hypocrisy being put on public display.  As Herod proves when he takes the life of John the Baptist to satiate the bloodlust of his wife.  At the same time, they seek to impose strict legalism upon what they see as Jesus’ permissive ministry.  There is a great tension in this parable between legalism and licentiousness.

  1. Jesus’ message of forgiveness shouldn’t be dampened by legalistic restrictions.  Instead, it should be freely celebrated.
  2. John’s message of repentance shouldn’t be ignored.  Instead, it should be soberly measured.
  3. The truth of this tension between legalism and licentiousness is justified by those who hold to it.

The Pharisees are stubborn children.  They cannot be brought from the sidelines to play nice with the other children.  Flutes and dancing represent the joy of a wedding and the joy of mercy and forgiveness through Jesus Christ.  Mourning and weeping represent the sober reality of sin’s just penalty:  death and the funeral.  But the Pharisees will not play that game either.

Jesus and the Good News Ministry

John the Baptist is the last of a long line of OT prophets who spoke of a time when the Messiah would come.  Prophets speak of what is to come.  But now the Bridegroom has come.  The best man takes a backseat.  John the Baptist prepared the way for the Lord Jesus.  He is the forerunner of the Messiah who would preach the Good News of the glorious gospel.  Jesus confirmed His own preaching ministry with the miracles prophesied of in the OT by prophets like the Baptist.  He also gave the apostles the ability to work miracles to confirm their teaching ministry.  All was in place.  Nothing should have hindered the reception of the Bridegroom or His joyful message of forgiveness.

The Rejection of the Good News

However, that message was not heeded.  The Pharisees and those who followed them loved the letter of the Law but hated the spirit of it.  They were fine with the shadow but rejected the substance.  The road is indeed narrow which leads to righteousness.  Broad is the path to destruction.  The majority fill the broad way; the minority tread the narrow.

It shouldn’t be surprising that few receive the Good News today.  It’s the way it has always been.  A population tends to waver between legalism and licentiousness.  But that whole population is still on the broad way.  A lot of people think that they are Christians, but they don’t rejoice in forgiveness or repent in the face of serious sin.  Wedding or funeral – it makes little difference to them.  They won’t come out and play.  Believers say with the prophet Isaiah, ”Lord, who has believed our report?”

But recall that John the Baptist and the Lord Jesus were very convincing and powerful preachers.  A lot of people wouldn’t hear them.  Someone weird like John doesn’t really deserve a hearing from the Pharisees’ perspective.  The guy eats locusts and wild honey.  He lives an isolated life wearing camel’s hair.  He doesn’t have fun at all.  He doesn’t eat bread or drink wine.  He must have a demon.  He’s just so austere.  We can’t relate to him.  And Jesus is way too friendly.  Eating and drinking with anybody and everybody.  He’s a glutton and a drunkard.  There’s got to be something wrong with anyone who spends time as a friend of tax collectors and sinners.

Some people hate the glorious message of grace and forgiveness because of their legalistic sin nature.  Others hate it because of the way it cramps their style, calling them to Spirit transformation rather than world conformation.  They wouldn’t mind a Christ to save them, but they don’t want a Lord to master them.

Others don’t like a faith-only message.  “After all, what incentive would there be for righteous living,” they ask.  They are so works-oriented that they drive themselves and other to despair.  Their proselytes are two-fold the children of Hell.  They need a written set of laws and codes to live life by.  Anyone who preaches “by grace through faith” is offensive to these religious, constraining types.  To them, it’s a religion not a relationship.  It is indeed a way to control the masses.

These are hardened, stubborn children.  We look at the Pharisees and the Jews who followed them as being so foolish and churlish.  But we don’t see the legalism working within us that worked within them.  We don’t like it when our legalism is showing.  We like to justify it, but wisdom only is justified by all her children.

The Gospel is free …grace is free.  It’s too humiliating for some people to admit that.  They are too proud to receive it or believe it.  Self-righteousness and self-denial seems to make more sense.  But we have no righteousness of our own, and self-denial turns to self-indulgence in no time without Christ.  Even if we get to the point that we know the Gospel is true, we cannot get to the point that we are to blame for rejecting it.  We blame the messenger …we condemn the Gospel’s preachers in order to justify ourselves.

But the real problem is that we love darkness rather than light.  If Jesus’ message came to us from Him directly, we’d do the same thing the Pharisees did.  We would balk and act wounded and offended.  We’d use that as the reason to reject Him and His message.  But wisdom is justified by all her children.

Faith in Romans – Part 5

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Part 1 * Part 2 * Part 3 * Part 4

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“What advantage then has the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision?  Much in every way!  Chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God.  For what if some did not believe?  Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect?  Certainly not! Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar. As it is written: “That You may be justified in Your words, and may overcome when You are judged” (Romans 3.1-4).

The next mention of faith in Romans is in the opening of chapter three.  Paul has just demonstrated that all men, Jew and Gentile, need the righteousness of God.  There are three groups of people described as faithless in the intervening passage between Romans 1.17 and Romans 2.29:

  1. The licentious need righteousness of God, but remain faithless (Romans 1.18-32).
  2. The legalists need righteousness of God, but remain faithless (Romans 2.1-16).
  3. The law-keepers need righteousness of God, but remain faithless (Romans 2.17-29).

So if all, Jew and Gentile, are faithless and need the righteousness of God, what advantage has the Jew?

“Much in every way!  Chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God” (3.2).  The oracles of God is a phrase that describes the entire Old Testament.  The Jews had the special revelation of God.  It was committed to them for safekeeping and proclamation.  This is a great privilege, but also a great responsibility.  Will the unbelief of the Jews make the faithfulness of God without effect?  The Jews did not believe in or obey God’s oracles.  Does that unbelief cancel out God’s faithfulness?

The reasoning of the person posing this question goes like this:  The Jews failed to believe and obey God’s revelation, so what advantage do they have since God is not making good on His promises.  Of course, the answer is that God’s faithfulness is by no means made void (3.4).

“Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar.”   What follows in the rest of verse four is a quotation of Psalm 51.4.  The Gentiles may blaspheme God due to the faithlessness of the Jews, but God’s character is unassailable.  He will be justified by His words.  No one will be able to stand in judgment over Him.  He is impeccable when He judges all men.

Paul writes at the end of his life,

“This is a faithful saying:  For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him.  If we endure with Him, we shall also reign with Him.  If we deny Him, He also will deny us.  If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself” (2 Timothy 2.11-14). 

God always remains faithful, even in the midst of great faithlessness.

All Christians will reign with Christ.  We will be with Christ when He reigns over the earth.  But only faithful Christians will reign with greater responsibility and opportunity.  They will have the privilege of reflecting greater glory.

If we as believers are unfaithful to God, Christ still remains faithful to us.  Our salvation is not based upon our continued faithfulness but upon Christ’s unwavering faithfulness.  This in no way encourages faithlessness.  On the contrary, it motivates faithfulness as we see our position as children with greater clarity.

The faithlessness of the lost (Romans 3) and the faithlessness of the found (2 Timothy 2) cannot make the faithfulness of God without effect.  The faithlessness of the Jew and the faithless of the Gentile (Romans 1-2) cannot make the faithfulness of God without effect.  Every man may be a liar, but God is true.  He alone is righteous.  He alone overcomes.  True biblical security is found in His faithfulness not our own.

Are Fundamentalists Legalists?

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I am thankful for good books on Bible characters.  We are going through Charles Swindoll’s book on the life of the Apostle Paul.  However, that doesn’t mean I agree with everything Swindoll has written.  I think we sometimes get lost in a sea of theological extremes and opinions.  The Bible through the Spirit’s illumination needs to pull us back.  Our attitude should be prayerful and God-dependent.  However, we also must clearly stand for truth.

Dr. Dave Doran wrote a two-part article answering the charges of legalism and its connection to fundamentalism by men like John MacArthur and Charles Swindoll for Frontline back in 1999.  It’s worth reading or re-reading.  The only place I could find the article online is at the website for Salina Bible Church.  I quite agree with Dr. Doran.  I am a fundamentalist without apology.  While I have been Pharisaical at times in the past, my last bout with legalism was when I was still a member of the Catholic church.  It is there that I depended upon my own self-righteousness for the salvation of my soul.  I hope you’ll take the time to read these articles.  Also, come join us at a Heritage Baptist Church tomorrow!  Hopefully, you’ll find believers who love the Word and the God of the Word.

Here’s the conclusion, which I hope whets the appetite to read both parts.

While it is unlikely that any Fundamentalists are seeking to earn righteousness with God through the works of the law, it is possible that some Fundamentalists have fallen prey to the Pharisaical spirit that is so controlled by people’s opinions that it perpetuates external conform­ity without internal devotion. However, honest evaluation would reveal that this is not a Fundamentalist problem; it is a humanity problem! God told us 3,000 years ago that “the fear of man brings a snare,” so it should not surprise us to find people continually trapped in the snare of conformity for the sake of approval. It certainly happens among Fundamentalists, but it hap­pens just as frequently among evan­gelicals. The symptoms may vary, but it is the same disease.

God’s grace has provided His right­eousness for us by faith in Jesus Christ apart from the works of the law (Rom. 3:21-22), and that same grace teaches us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteous­ly, and godly in this present age (Titus 2:11-12). As Fundamentalists, we should affirm these truths without apology and live them out without fear of false accusations or surrender to the opinion polls of people.

Are Fundamentalists Legalists?

Are Fundamentalists Legalists (Part 2)?

The Pursuit of Purity in Christ

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If we keep the biblical teaching of separation in the classroom, few within Fundamentalism would question its importance.  As it relates to the fundamentals, all would be in agreement.  However, what many seem to fail to understand is that separation must be applied to practice.  Applying separation in practice to people, churches, colleges, etc. takes biblical discernment.  Especially when separating from a disobedient brother or sister in Christ.

Disobedient Christians are believers who practice willful disobedience; however, they also tend to be self-deceived or purposefully deceptive.  We should truly sharpen one another.  A Christian should not have fellowship with anyone called a brother who enjoys and persists in the unfruitful works of darkness (Ephesians 5.11).  A church should have the authority to discipline members who refuse to forsake some form of false teaching or unscriptural practice (Matthew 18.15-17; 1 Corinthians 5.1-13).

Restoration is always the aim of biblical separation in local churches.  But leaven must be purged from the church.  Whatever happened to church discipline and the purification of the church?  Should we seek to cleanse our local assemblies from sin?  It is important to separate from willfully disobedient believers in order to preserve our testimony as a people of God (1 Peter 2.12), prevent the disobedient from influencing others to do wrong (Galatians 5.9), exemplify obedience and encourage others toward that direction (1 Timothy 5.20), and to bring about repentance in the disobedient (2 Timothy 2.25).

We should be firm but loving.  Separation is not the answer to every disagreement we have, but there comes a time when it is necessary.  I think most conservative Christians would readily absorb these words and take them to heart.

But what do you with the controversial areas of practice.  Still further, what do you do when the Bible offers no explicit instruction regarding what we should do in a particular area of life?  I’ve been taught that you look for principles in order to apply them to that specific area.  After all, a Christian that has to have a handbook rule in order to make decisions about how to live is not much of a Christian.  He is a legalist of sorts.  He must have it explicitly written down as a rule in order to make decisions regarding particulars.  Is that not truly legalism?

Issues like should we drink alcohol, what music should we listen to, and what movies should we watch behave like this.  There are no explicit instructions, but there are principles mature believers are able to use from the Word of God.  We must leave the milk for the meat.  Obedience to basic teaching of right and wrong along with obeying that which is explicitly stated are good things, but the Bible is sufficient to answer questions regarding alcohol, music, and movies too.

Hopefully we would not conclude that the Bible is silent in these areas because we are afraid to admit that we are living lives contrary to its teaching.  That’s where deception comes into play.  Hopefully we realize that all of us our inconsistent to one degree or another in the progress of our sanctification.  But that inconsistency should not deter us from pressing on or being challenged to make changes for the glory of Christ.

As believers we are saved from a world system at enmity with God.  It is energized by the prince and power of the air.  We need to figure out what this means.  We must be distinct and holy or we have no firm footing from which we lift the next generation up to greater heights.