Influencers Weekly Devotional

Free by

Rocky Fleming

“The Man (Jesus) is free – free from what people think, free from religion, free from false obligation. People won’t like it, won’t understand it; they’ll draw false conclusions, point fingers, and worse. He is free from that as well. Oh to be so free.” John Eldredge – Beautiful Outlaw

In his wonderful book, Beautiful Outlaw, John Eldredge compares the freedom of Jesus’ life and message with the legalistic bondage that had a stranglehold over the Jewish Nation at the time. Jesus walked in stark contrast to the religious “royalty” that thought and taught that they had God and what He wanted figured out. They thought Jesus was too free from the confines of their religion. He was not good enough. Think about it: In the minds of the Pharisees and Sadducees, Jesus didn’t measure up. They thought that the Messiah wasn't religious enough, and His freedom garnered their disapproval. Could this attitude still be happening in this day and time but not by the Pharisees of old, but with an attitude of performance Christianity? Consider how legalism, even with good intentions, can push grace out the stained glass windows of a church, and how our freedoms in Christ can be robbed from us. I’m reminded of something that happened one Sunday night in the hallway of a church I attended over 30 years ago in Mississippi. A man came up to me that night and began his words; “I need you to forgive me for some thoughts about you I’ve had.” Ok, I’ve been around the block a few times, and I knew that he was not really interested in my forgiveness, but rather he was about to make his point that something about me upset him. I put on my tougher than you are skin, and waited on the assault. He followed up, “I have resented that you don’t go to the main church service on Sunday night, but instead skip out after the class you lead before the service. I’ve had a real struggle with it, and I’ve resented you because of it. Therefore, I ask you to forgive me.” It is obvious that he was not repentant of a wrong against me, but simply used mock humility as a tactic to speak his mind. I could go on about this maneuver and spend some time with how un-Christ-like this disingenuous manipulation is. But right now I will stay on point about how legalism can slip into a church, even though it comes from genuine concern, and a sincere desire to serve Christ. This is where I am headed. Now guys, I’ve had some big challenges before, and this one was a small pebble thrown at me by a very small minded, judgmental, legalistic guy. But, even though the intent of his words, and the legalism in his little manipulative heart would greatly anger me today, I came dangerously close to allowing his words to influence me then to his way of thinking. How could that be? Well, you need to understand at that time of my life, I was what some would call a “performance driven Christian,” and if I heard anyone tell me I was leaving something on the field after I gave it my best, I wanted to know what it was. My first thought would be to consider if his criticism had any truth to it. The ironical thing about this man’s take on things was his ignorance of the facts of my life at that time, for he was only looking at my imperfect church attendance record. That's is what legalism strives to do. It hopes to secure perfection by keeping rules, and it becomes judge and juror against those who do not measure up, even if it is our own self we are looking at. Truth is, at that time in my life, my wife and I had three young children, and I maintained a high-pressured career in the insurance business. Even though these things were true, we led two discipleship groups two nights a week for our church, in addition to teaching a large Sunday school class on Sunday mornings. We were also at the church on Wednesday nights for prayer meeting, and did private mentoring to those people we were discipling. Throw in a deacon meeting and being on the church finance committee, by the time Sunday night rolled around we were cooked, and leaving after our discipleship group that evening before the main service was an option we exercised. We needed family time … and rest … and this was why I was being criticized. If I looked at a guy today in my church who was keeping up that pace, I would do him a favor and give him permission to back off some of the demands he placed on himself, and focus him toward his family and his walk with Christ more. But no one was telling me to slow down to protect these things, for legalism had crept in that church and was fanning the flame of performance Christianity. We know that Jesus said the Sabbath was created for man and not man for the Sabbath. However, the entire time we were in that church, I never heard it preached and I was certainly never challenged about being too active, or legalistic with my performance driven philosophy of ministry, or following Christ for that matter. The only criticism I got was this case, which was not keeping the rules because I missed a Sunday night service. This legalistic attitude reminded me that I wasn't good enough, even though I was giving it my best effort. But grace came to my rescue. Thank God for grace. If this same question came to me today from that man or any other person, I’m afraid to say there would be a different response, and it would not be very kind. You see, I now see this kind of attitude as the same that scorned Jesus, and rebuked him for His freedom, and because He was also not keeping the “church rules.” Different time and place, but the same mean spirit was spoken to Him and to me. Just like in His time when it was the religious self-righteous legalist who criticized Him, likewise, I was seeing the same thing happening in my own church. I said it right. It wasn’t a Pharisee in Jerusalem criticizing me, as was the case with Jesus. But it was the same spirit in my own church … the spirit of the Pharisee. Have you ever had an evil spirit such as this come at you? Ugly and judgmental isn’t it? You won’t find Christ in it. However, you will surely find Satan in those accusations, for that is where it comes from. As followers of Christ, we are indeed empowered for ministry, if it is God breathing into our ministry and not ourselves or other men. There was some of God in what I was doing, and that was the good part. But there was a whole lot of me in it as well, and it made it out of balanced. I know that our over-activity those days sounds like a lot of ministry work for a non-professional to be involved with. But, believe it or not, it was a joyful pleasure to be serving our King in all those things that we did. We strove to protect our marriage, and our family time. That was top on our priority list. We also had a vibrant ministry in and out of the church. But, we were tired a lot as were a lot of the faithful people in that church, and we could have been vulnerable had God not reshaped the way we see His love for us and the way we carry out our sacred responsibility in serving His cause. Unfortunately, we had to leave that church to find the right perspective. You see, that church was a petri dish for culturing this legalism in the hearts of its members. It applauded us when we were too busy and discarded us when we burned out and didn’t serve its cause. This church was all for us when we kept in step with the programs and routine, but quilted us if we didn’t follow the rules. I’ve no doubt that this man didn’t speak on his own accord but was also manipulated to say it by some staff member who resented us leaving early. What a shame it is when a church’s leadership, who has an opportunity to model what grace looks like and that can set us free from the Accuser’s voice, presents the spirit of the Pharisee that yokes us to the slavery of busyness, and makes us attentive to everything he accuses us of. What a shame that a church’s leadership would lead its members in this same spirit, instead of the Spirit of Christ who sets us free from a perspective that tries to convince us that God only approves us if we work for Him until our tongue hangs out. Got big news for a church that goes in this direction. We already have God’s love, so help your members learn how to walk in it. Give them the freedom to find this out, by holding them loosely by what you demand of them, and grace them by allowing them to find the God of Grace that He is. Protect them, and take them to the place where they can experience Him and find peace and joyful harmony in their fellowship with Him and other believers. Believe me, if you will lead your members to a love relationship with God and allow them to see Him as He really is rather than the way the spirit of the Pharisee presents Him, He will win their hearts, and they will serve in your church with the empowerment of His Spirit. It all hinges on getting them hooked up with Him in an abiding relationship that shows them how to live with Him, before they live for Him. When that happens, you will see people who will joyfully and not grudgingly serve the purpose of your church, and you will see amazing fruit that will be produced and reproduced. Do it the way Christ did it. Let grace be your congregation’s guide and you its companion, and you will never have to use legalism or guilt as a tool for getting things done again. Download file