Easter Devotional - Day 13

"We went there [Jerusalem] because of those who pretended to be followers and had sneaked in among us as spies. They had come to take away the freedom that Christ Jesus had given us, and they were trying to make us their slaves." Galatians 2:4-5

Paul had ongoing conflict with the day's legalists. The Galatian letter is mostly devoted to legalism in the early church. Many wanted to accept Jesus Christ, yet force faith within the mold of Jewish legalistic tradition. They seemed to miss that Jesus had struggled against the very tradition and legalism to which they so desperately clung. They ignored Jesus' preaching about serving God in spirit and truth, about religious defilement being a result of heart attitudes, not food and external issues.

The legalists were worried with questions of dietary laws, questions of ritual purity, strict observation of the Sabbath, and the circumcision of all males. These questions clouded over issues of faith, grace, and Jesus' summary of God's commandment as the law of love for God and one's neighbor. They were not actually so concerned with the law, as they were with their traditions about the law.

In striving after legalistic concerns, they tripped over Jesus' concern with grace, mercy, and love. Focusing attention on lists of do's and don'ts, they missed the freedom inherent in the gospel. This was not a freedom resulting in immorality and the abolition of limits. It was rather the freedom to enjoy life as God intended it to be lived. It was the freedom to live in fellowship with one another and with God. The Law became a guide pointing the direction of life, not a burden to which life was to be reduced.

Paul did not simply decry legalism within the church. He recognized that it did not belong to the gospel at all. Rather than casting them as weak Christians, misguided believers, or as those who simply needed further instruction in the gospel of Christ, he considered them as non-believers who had inserted themselves within the church but not into the gospel. They were thieves among the sheep. They were there to enslave those whom Christ Jesus had died to set free. Whether in innocence or by design, the focus of their efforts was to preach not simply something other than Christ, but contrary to Christ Jesus.

Jesus died to free us from legalism. Jesus died to free us from the bonds of sin and slavery to a rules-minded lifestyle. We are well aware of how legalism works against the intent of our own laws in a justice system focused on reading the letter of our legal code. We are accustomed to contracts which can be manipulated by skillful lawyers to trap the unsuspecting. We are used to technicalities being used to convict or acquit those brought to trial for some or another crime. It is in this respect that legalism also fails to measure up to the will and standards of God in Christ Jesus.

Jesus came not to fulfill the letter of the law, but the spirit of the law. He came to live an example of life in fellowship with God and our fellow human beings. He lived out worship of God alone. He gave example of honoring others, of loving others, of enacting justice for those with needs they could not fulfill. He showed how we are free to love God and allow God's love to flow through us to those around us. Anything less is neither the gospel Jesus preached, nor the way Jesus lived.

Check to see where legalism encroaches on grace in your life. Give that over to Christ Jesus.

"Lord, grant me the maturity to find freedom in Christ that will allow me to love those you love."


—©Copyright 2009 Christopher B. Harbin
http://www.sermonsearch.com/contributors/104427/

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