October 13, 2024

Greetings my friends. It is Sunday October 13TH 2024, and this is the day that our LORD has made. Let us rejoice. Let us be glad in it. Let us celebrate this great new day of believing, following, trusting, loving, and being more like our Lord + Savior Jesus Christ. Let us love our neighbor as ourself.

On a local Facebook site that I follow – a commenter of a blog post on the importance of attending church took exception. The commenter accused the church (overall) of being “legalistic”. (The entire post was removed by an Administrator that same day.)

I’ve written about legalism here on #SundayScripture, and I even alluded to it last week. I’ve also preached on it to my previous church family.

In a sermon from July 2018 – I preached this:

[BEGIN SERMON EXCERPT]

Beware of legalism. Paul fights legalism all throughout his letter to the Galatians as well as many of his other letters (in the New Testament). Legalism is probably the sin that we commit the most on our day-to-day journey. We commit this sin more than we ever did before we were saved. YES – legalism is a sin. “But Chris I’m confused. What do you mean by legalism ? Aren’t we supposed to be legal – and obey God’s laws – God’s Commandments ? Isn’t that legalism ? How can that be sinful ? Tell me more !”

Remember my last sermon on “Pride & Prejudice” ? Remember Proverbs 11:2 ?

Pride leads to disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.

See when we’re being legalistic we’re being prideful. We’re full of pride:

“Hey look at me. After just 2 years of being saved by God I’ve quit drinking, I’ve quit smoking, I’ve quit eating junk food, I exercise, I see a Doctor every 3 months, I get regular labwork done, I don’t get angry anymore, and I love everyone – even the people that hate me ! Oh yeah and I also listen to Christian music all day, I read the Bible every day, I write sermons on Saturdays, and I go to church every Sunday ! You should do the same. God loves me for doing all of these things ! He’ll love you too !”

Sounds terrible – doesn’t it ? I mean those are all good things, but nobody wants to hear all that stuff. I would never say any of that stuff – aside from using it as an example in this sermon to make my point. The world out there doesn’t care what we’re doing – or what we’ve stopped doing – or what we’re against – or what we’re opposed to – or what we believe in – when they don’t even know us. None of that stuff saves the world out there. None of that stuff saved me. Christ saved me. All of that other stuff came to be as a result of Christ saving me.

The world out there needs to know that God loves them more than they can only imagine. The world out there needs proof of that love. It is not enough to tell someone that God loves them, and then walk away and tell them to have a nice day. They need to see and feel and experience that love from us. That’s what Disciples do. We are all Disciples.

So the Apostle Paul was strongly against legalism. The legalist picks and chooses the rules – the laws – the Commandments that he or she feels comfortable with obeying. You know – the easy ones. Remember The Golden Corral all-you-can-eat buffet reference from my last sermon ? (“I’ll take some of that, and a bunch of that, and a whole lotta that Good News – but none of that hard to digest stuff over there. I don’t agree with that law over there.”) The legalist – in all of us – conveniently neglects – or even ignores certain laws at times – such as loving the Lord with all your heart, or loving your neighbor as yourself.

[END SERMON EXCERPT]

That was an excerpt from my sermon titled “Faith & Works”. If I were to refresh that sermon – I would write it a bit different now. And maybe I’ll do that in the coming months.

My testimony is featured each week here on #SundayScripture – whether it’s part of a sermon, or just me writing about the events of the past week. Hopefully it encourages you and inspires you to seek the Lord, and get closer to Him with each new day.

If you wish to learn more about the God I know then stay tuned to #SundayScripture. The best is yet to come !

Thank you for reading my blog for this day, and may:

The LORD bless you, and keep you.
The LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you.
The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. AMEN.