Someone that genuinely wants to glorify in everything he or she does will show the world that God's greatness really is better than anything else (the catch is that it’s hard to do that if it isn’t actually true in our lives). His name must be triumphed as that which satisfies the soul more deeply than anything- including intangible things, like the praise of man, personal success, or even ultra-spirituality. If God is for God, then He is not after my begrudging submission; He’s not after me just doing what He says so He won’t destroy me. If His goal is to praised, worshipped, and enjoyed, and in my enjoyment of Him, show Himself glorious not only to the world but to the universe itself, then He’s for my joy which means that all the commands of God in Scripture are not about taking anything from us but rather leading us into deeper joy than we can find anywhere else (Chandler). This solves the problem! As legalists, we should not run away from the commands of Scripture in order that we might find some other way to obtain joy, neither should we run to the commands of Scripture thinking that in following them we will find that joy. The imperatives of the Bible are placed to guide us in a way that shows God Almighty to be the most valuable; and in that showcase, we find the lasting joy, satisfaction, and fulfillment that we all yearn for!
God does not want unwilling obedience. The whole buckle-down-and-try-harder mentality (often wearing the mask of holiness) that is everywhere in the church not only isn't helpful, but it isn't godly at all. Why does God care about how "strong" we are when He is the one that sovereignly resuscitated us, bringing us from death to life? When this kind of Christian mantra is either implicitly or explicitly taught, God does not look most valuable when obedience from duty is way that Christians live the Christian life. Will any non-believer (or Christian kid for example) feel motivated to serve a God that demands impossibly taxing obedience as is laid out in Scripture? (“Be holy as He is holy,” to name one instance) This is why guilting people into obedience is a truly self-defeating endeavor! If there truly is a lack of obedience in someone’s heart, what does that show? It shows what is in the heart! The heart that loves Jesus and feels forgiven will by nature want to obey! How can it be any other way? This is the way we operate. The people that we choose to cheerfully serve are the people that we love and enjoy. The converse of this is also true, in that to those with whom we don’t like to spend time, it is a natural response to not love the idea of selfless service for them. When one feels downtrodden and that he or she is fighting a losing battle (performance-based sanctification), will demanding more obedience help that person? Not at all! Someone in such a state needs a total heart makeover that begins from the inside and works its way out.
This mind-blowing truth is made lucidly real in the account of Jesus’ interaction with the man with a demon in the Gerasenes in Luke 8:26-39. This man had somewhere from 3-6 thousand demons oppressing him, and the only way that the townspeople could contain him was by binding him by heaping chains and shackles on him. When Jesus saw the evil that was present in this man, what did He do? Did He pile more shackles and chains onto him in order to control him? Jesus did the opposite! By His divine power, he took off the chains and freed the man from his bondage, making him a man clothed and in his right mind. If that is not the empowering work of Good News in a man’s life, I don’t know what is.
Paul’s interaction with Peter is also a very helpful paradigm in seeing the importance of walking in the Gospel as the motivation for the Christian life rather than some outwardly obligation. When Peter acted in fear of the Jews (Galatians 2), what did Paul do? He could have taken Peter to Leviticus or some passage/saying of Jesus that could have convicted Peter of his man pleasing, but he didn’t. Galatians 2:14 states Paul’s motivation for taking issue with Peter’s actions. Paul says, “But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the Gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, ‘If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the gentiles to live like Jews?’” Paul did not shy away from confronting sin, but it was the spirit in which he did it that makes this story remarkable. If Paul’s primary concern was that Peter act like a good Christ-follower and not soil the name of “Christian” or that he should first “uphold his testimony” he would have slammed Peter as hard as he could in an attempt to convict Peter to change his ways. However, Paul saw that the problem with Peter’s sin was that he wasn’t walking according to the indicatives of the Gospel! What a freeing thing! When we confront sin in our own lives and in others’ lives, we do not address offenses that first are an affront to own solidarity, but we address a spirit that has fundamentally missed the point of the Good News that proclaims our positional approval from God on account of Christ. We don’t need to put up a façade or strenuously work on our goodness, because Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf frees from pleasing man as Peter was trying to do. We can do what we know is right at all times because we know that God sees Jesus covering our sin, rendering all other outside praise/condemnation completely useless. There is no place in the body of Christ for either guilt-trips or self-motivation to attain this nebulous spirituality. It seems that the most spiritual people are the ones that don’t care about becoming more spiritual (Tchividjian). The men and women that grasp the point that life is not about their betterment or “sanctification” but about making the name of Christ known to everyone are the people that are further along in their journey of sanctification because they are looking to Jesus, the Author and Perfector of the faith (Hebrews 12:2). These are men and women who lift their eyes to the hills, for they see that Zion is the place from there that their help comes (Psalm 121:1-2). That glorifies God.
The Gospel is the cure for legalism. When we believe the Gospel, we affirm that Jesus alone can save us from the desires of the flesh (sin). We believe that if the good things in our lives (Bible knowledge, spiritual leadership, discipline, encouragement) are made out to be gods, Yahweh is not glorified and we are not satisfied. The goal is to understand the truth of Romans 8:1-4 and feel the helplessness with which every human lives every day. We need to give honor, glory, praise, and admiration to the One who has done what we try to do every day by denying the power of the Good News and attempting to live a life of self-completion.
“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
Praise the Lord
Deus Spes Nostra
For Part 1 on my presentation of the Gospel, click here!
For Part 2 on my presentation of Legalism, click here!
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