rec0721-113514<\/a><\/p>\n \n The following dialogue took place in one of the leading Christian schools in the 200s AD:<\/p>\n “What must I forsake?” a young man asked.<\/p>\n “Colored clothes for one thing. Get rid of everything in your wardrobe that is not white. Stop sleeping on a soft pillow. Sell your musical instruments and don’t eat any more white bread. You cannot, if you are sincere about obeying Christ, take warm baths or shave your beard. To shave is to lie against him who created us, to attempt to improve on his work.”<\/p>\n Quaint, isn’t it — this example of extrabiblical scruples? And perhaps amusing. The list has constantly shifted over the 1,800 years since this one was actually recorded.<\/p>\n And while the particulars change, the same conversations occur, sadly, every day in the church of Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n Tim Keller<\/strong><\/p>\n Religious people obey God to get things; Gospel people obey God to get God.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Mark 7:1-23<\/p>\n Jesus redeemed us from religion so that we could have a personal love-relationship with God!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Mark 7:1-5 (NLT)<\/strong><\/p>\n One day some Pharisees and teachers of religious law arrived from Jerusalem to see Jesus. 2\u00a0<\/sup>They noticed that some of his disciples failed to follow the Jewish ritual of hand washing before eating. 3\u00a0<\/sup>(The Jews, especially the Pharisees, do not eat until they have poured water over their cupped hands, as required by their ancient traditions. 4\u00a0<\/sup>Similarly, they don\u201d\u2122t eat anything from the market until they immerse their hands in water. This is but one of many traditions they have clung to\u201d\u201dsuch as their ceremonial washing of cups, pitchers, and kettles.)\u00a0 5\u00a0<\/sup>So the Pharisees and teachers of religious law asked him, \u201cWhy don\u201d\u2122t your disciples follow our age-old tradition? They eat without first performing the hand-washing ceremony.\u201d<\/p>\n One Rabbi said, \u201cIt is better to go four miles to water than to incur guilt by neglecting hand-washing\u201d.<\/p>\n Yet Jesus was never impressed by all the religious rules and religious discipline of the Pharisees.<\/p>\n In fact, Jesus\u201d\u2122 harshest words were aimed at such dangerous and paralyzing nonsense!<\/p>\n Jesus came to redeem us from religion so that we could have a personal love-relationship with God!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 1. \u00a0 A legalist always ends up a hypocrite.<\/strong><\/p>\n Mark 7:8-13 (NLT)<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/sup>For you ignore God\u201d\u2122s law and substitute your own tradition.\u201d\u00a0 9\u00a0<\/sup>Then he said, \u201cYou skillfully sidestep God\u201d\u2122s law in order to hold on to your own tradition. 10\u00a0<\/sup>For instance, Moses gave you this law from God: \u201d\u02dcHonor your father and mother,\u201d\u2122 and \u201d\u02dcAnyone who speaks disrespectfully of father or mother must be put to death.\u201d\u2122 11\u00a0<\/sup>But you say it is all right for people to say to their parents, \u201d\u02dcSorry, I can\u201d\u2122t help you. For I have vowed to give to God what I would have given to you.\u201d\u2122 12\u00a0<\/sup>In this way, you let them disregard their needy parents. 13\u00a0<\/sup>And so you cancel the word of God in order to hand down your own tradition. And this is only one example among many others.\u201d<\/p>\n Legalism exalts the self-serving notions of men over the perfect ways of God!<\/em><\/p>\n Yancey<\/strong><\/p>\n Legalism fails miserably at the one thing it is supposed to do:\u00a0 encourage obedience.<\/p>\n Only God\u201d\u2122s grace can enable obedience.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>Spurgeon<\/strong><\/p>\n I have found, in my own spiritual life, that the more rules I lay down for myself, the more sins I commit.<\/p>\n A legalist always ends up a hypocrite!<\/em><\/p>\n Jesus redeemed us from religion so that we could have an honest love-relationship with God!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 2. \u00a0 A legalist\u201d\u2122s heart is always miles away from God\u201d\u2122s heart.<\/strong><\/p>\n Mark 7:6-8 (NLT)<\/strong><\/p>\n 6\u00a0<\/sup>Jesus replied, \u201cYou hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote,<\/p>\n \u201d\u02dcThese people honor me with their lips, 8\u00a0<\/sup>For you ignore God\u201d\u2122s law and substitute your own tradition.\u201d<\/p>\n Yancey<\/strong><\/p>\n You can know the law by heart without knowing the heart of it\u201d\u00a6legalism encourages hypocrisy because it defines a set of behavior that may cloak what is going on inside.<\/p>\n Matthew 23:25-28<\/strong> (NLT)<\/strong><\/p>\n 25\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cWhat sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy\u201d\u201dfull of greed and self-indulgence! 26\u00a0<\/sup>You blind Pharisee! First wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and then the outside will become clean, too.<\/p>\n 27\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cWhat sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs\u201d\u201dbeautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people\u201d\u2122s bones and all sorts of impurity. 28\u00a0<\/sup>Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness.<\/p>\n A legalist\u201d\u2122s heart is always miles away from God\u201d\u2122s heart!<\/em><\/p>\n Jesus redeemed us from religion so that we could have a genuine, from-the-heart, love-relationship with God!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n \n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 3. \u00a0 A legalist will always be offended by grace.<\/strong><\/p>\n Matthew 15:12-14 (NLT)<\/strong><\/p>\n 12\u00a0<\/sup>Then the disciples came to him and asked, \u201cDo you realize you offended the Pharisees by what you just said?\u201d\u00a0 13\u00a0<\/sup>Jesus replied, \u201cEvery plant not planted by my heavenly Father will be uprooted, 14\u00a0<\/sup>so ignore them. They are blind guides leading the blind, and if one blind person guides another, they will both fall into a ditch.\u201d<\/p>\n If legalists are offended by grace\u201d\u201dinstead of being changed by it\u201d\u201dthen let them be offended\u201d\u00a6and ignore them!<\/em><\/p>\n By the way, God\u201d\u2122s grace CAN change a legalist!\u00a0 Because I\u201d\u2122m a recovering legalist and His grace changed me!<\/p>\n But\u201d\u00a6<\/p>\n If legalists are offended by grace\u201d\u201dinstead of being changed by it\u201d\u201dthen let them be offended\u201d\u00a6and ignore them!<\/em><\/p>\n Galatians 5:1<\/strong><\/p>\n Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.<\/p>\n Don\u201d\u2122t ever let legalists entrap you or bind your conscience with their rules about food, beverages, clothes, activities, music styles\u201d\u00a6or whatever!<\/p>\n Allow your heart to only be bound to God\u201d\u2122s Word by the grace of Jesus Christ!<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Mike Yaconelli<\/strong><\/p>\n Petty people are ugly people . . . They are people who have turned their eyes away from what matters and focused, instead, on what doesn\u201d\u2122t matter.\u00a0 The result is that the rest of us are immobilized by their obsession with the insignificant . . . it is time the church quit pretending that pettiness doesn\u201d\u2122t matter . . . Pettiness has become a serious disease in the Church of Jesus Christ\u201d\u201da disease which continues to result in terminal cases of discord, disruption, and destruction.\u00a0 Petty people are dangerous people because they appear to be only a nuisance instead of what they really are\u201d\u201da health hazard\u201d (Swindoll, 117).<\/p>\n Petty people are legalists\u201d\u00a6plain and simple!<\/p>\n A legalist will always be offended by grace!<\/em><\/p>\n Jesus redeemed us from religion so that we could have a genuine, from-the-heart, love-relationship with God!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n And Jesus says we\u201d\u2122re not to let legalists get between us and God!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 4. \u00a0 Grace changes us from the inside out.<\/strong><\/p>\n Mark 7:14-23 (NLT)<\/strong><\/p>\n 14\u00a0<\/sup>Then Jesus called to the crowd to come and hear. \u201cAll of you listen,\u201d he said, \u201cand try to understand. 15\u00a0<\/sup>It\u201d\u2122s not what goes into your body that defiles you; you are defiled by what comes from your heart.\u201d\u00a0 17\u00a0<\/sup>Then Jesus went into a house to get away from the crowd, and his disciples asked him what he meant by the parable he had just used. 18\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cDon\u201d\u2122t you understand either?\u201d he asked. \u201cCan\u201d\u2122t you see that the food you put into your body cannot defile you? 19\u00a0<\/sup>Food doesn\u201d\u2122t go into your heart, but only passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer.\u201d (By saying this, he declared that every kind of food is acceptable in God\u201d\u2122s eyes.)\u00a0 20\u00a0<\/sup>And then he added, \u201cIt is what comes from inside that defiles you. 21\u00a0<\/sup>For from within, out of a person\u201d\u2122s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22\u00a0<\/sup>adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. 23\u00a0<\/sup>All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you.\u201d<\/p>\n God\u201d\u2122s priority is our hearts!<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Matthew 5:3-8 (NLT)<\/strong><\/p>\n 3\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cGod blesses those who are poor and realize their need for him, God\u201d\u2122s priority is our hearts!<\/em><\/p>\n And our hearts can ONLY be changed by HIS GRACE!<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n 11\u00a0<\/sup>But when Peter came to Antioch, I had to oppose him to his face, for what he did was very wrong. 12\u00a0<\/sup>When he first arrived, he ate with the Gentile Christians, who were not circumcised. But afterward, when some friends of James came, Peter wouldn\u201d\u2122t eat with the Gentiles anymore. He was afraid of criticism from these people who insisted on the necessity of circumcision. 13\u00a0<\/sup>As a result, other Jewish Christians followed Peter\u201d\u2122s hypocrisy, and even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy.<\/p>\n 14\u00a0<\/sup>When I saw that they were not following the truth of the gospel message, I said to Peter in front of all the others, \u201cSince you, a Jew by birth, have discarded the Jewish laws and are living like a Gentile, why are you now trying to make these Gentiles follow the Jewish traditions?<\/p>\n 15\u00a0<\/sup>\u201cYou and I are Jews by birth, not \u201d\u02dcsinners\u201d\u2122 like the Gentiles. 16\u00a0<\/sup>Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law.\u201d<\/p>\n Tim Keller<\/strong><\/p>\n Without a knowledge of our extreme sin, the payment of the cross seems trivial and does not electrify or transform.<\/p>\n God\u201d\u2122s priority is our hearts!<\/em><\/p>\n And our hearts can ONLY be changed by HIS GRACE!<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n Yancey<\/strong><\/p>\n God\u201d\u2122s law is so perfect and absolute that no one can achieve righteousness.\u00a0 Yet God\u201d\u2122s grace is so great that we do not have to.\u00a0 By striving to prove how much they deserve God\u201d\u2122s love, legalists miss the whole point of the gospel, that it is a gift from God to people who don\u201d\u2122t deserve it.\u00a0 The solution to sin is not to impose an ever-stricter code of behavior.\u00a0 It is to know God.<\/p>\n Because, ONLY the GRACE OF GOD in JESUS can change our hearts!<\/em><\/p>\n Jesus redeemed us from religion so that we could have a genuine, from-the-heart, love-relationship with God!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n And His GRACE will change us from the inside out!<\/em><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n Conclusion<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cCheer up!\u00a0 You\u201d\u2122re a lot worse than you think you are!\u00a0 But cheer up, God\u201d\u2122s grace is a lot better than you think it is!\u201d (Steve Brown\u201d\u2122s friend).<\/p>\n Jesus redeemed us from religion so that we could have a genuine, from-the-heart, love-relationship with God!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Message by Chad Kelly rec0721-113514 The following dialogue took place in one of the leading Christian schools in the 200s AD: “What must I forsake?” a young man asked. “Colored clothes for one thing. Get rid of everything in your … Continue reading Redeemed from Religion<\/span><\/em><\/h3>\n
\nbut their hearts are far from me.
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>Their worship is a farce,
\nfor they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.\u201d\u2122<\/p>\n
\nfor the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.
\n4\u00a0<\/sup>God blesses those who mourn,
\nfor they will be comforted.
\n5\u00a0<\/sup>God blesses those who are humble,
\nfor they will inherit the whole earth.
\n6\u00a0<\/sup>God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice,
\nfor they will be satisfied.
\n7\u00a0<\/sup>God blesses those who are merciful,
\nfor they will be shown mercy.
\n8\u00a0<\/sup>God blesses those whose hearts are pure,
\nfor they will see God.<\/p>\nGalatians 2:11-16 (NLT)<\/h3>\n