Category: Legalism

Five Crazy Pants Lies Christians Believe about Sin-

Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment

Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths. Guide me in your truth and teach me,
    for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long- Psalm 25:4-5 NKJV

We live in an age of crazy pants lies.

There are so many lies told concerning so many issues, it can be tricky sorting out truth from fiction. This should come as no surprise to Christians.  Scripture predicts an age of widespread deception in the years prior to the return of Jesus (Matthew 24:4, Matthew 24:11-12, Matthew 24:24). Sadly, church world is not, nor has it ever been immune to lies (Romans 16:17, Timothy 4:3-4, 2nd Peter 2:1). Christians have an enemy that seeks to steal, kill and destroy every good thing in the life of believers (John 10:10, Mark 4:15, 1st Peter 5:8).  Therefore, the enemy benefits from Christians believing lies. There are more lies are told about sin in our age than almost any other issue. Some believe that because our sin is forgiven it is not something Christian’s ought to get worked up over. Others are so legalistic they make zero space for the foolishness and failings of humanity. This leaves those who have experienced moral failure feeling hopeless. Sin is an area that needs the light of truth shone on it. Following are five of the biggest lies we believe about sin.

All sin is the same-  

In one sense it’s true that all sin is the same. All sin is terrible and any sin (no matter how small or insignificant it seems to us) will keep a person separated from God forever (Romans 3:23). However, the whole notion that all sin is exactly the same once a person has been redeemed by Jesus (Mark 16:16, Romans 10:9-13, 1st Corinthains 15:1-5, Ephesians 2:1-10) does not hold up biblically. Some sins carry greater consequences than others. Telling someone their hair looks nice when it doesn’t (a lie) really only hurts the liar. Choosing to lie will make the liar comfortable with lying. Becoming comfortable with sin gives the devil a foothold in a person’s life. This will likely lead to a hardness of heart and even more lying but at the end of the day it is the teller of the small lie who is hurt the most (Revelation 2:8). Other sins like murder, abuse, idolatry and theft damage others, potentially creating life altering ripples in current and future generations (Proverbs 6:27-28). Moreover, the Bible makes it clear there are certain sins that if practiced routinely will keep a person out of heaven (1st Corinthians 6:9-10, Galatians 5:19-20, Ephesians 5:5). That is simply not true of every sin.  One can view this sticky wicket in one of two ways. Either genuinely saved people do not routinely commit those sins (Calvinist theology) or routinely committing those sins causes you to lose your salvation (Armenian theology). Either way it should make us think long and hard about what kind of sin we allow ourselves to get caught up in (Hebrews 12:1).

God doesn’t hear when a sinner prays-

Hogwash. God hears everything. He’s omniscient. God does not tune out prayer simply because it was uttered by a sinner (Romans 3:23). If He did no one in the history of humanity would ever have had a prayer answered. However, the only prayers God routinely ANSWERS from those living in stubborn, unrepentant sin are prayers of repentance asking for mercy, help and grace (Micah 3:4, Isaiah 59:2, 1st Peter 3:7). It’s just one more really good reason to choose to live a life as free from sin as possible (1st John 3:22. 

Sin is the fault of an outside source or influence- 

This lie is as old and persistent as the fall (Genesis 3:12). In John chapter nine Jesus heals a man who was born blind. Instead of marveling at the miracle they just witnessed, the pharisees just wanted to know who sinned causing this man to be born blind. Our generation is remarkably similar. Anytime someone sins (child molestation, abuse, murder, etc.) people look to outside sources to explain why that person became such a heinous sinner. Bystanders are quick to blame bad parenting, poverty and bullying for the sinful actions of the sinner. Ultimately, this tendency keeps people from taking responsibility for themselves and places guilt squarely on those (parents especially) who oftentimes did nothing wrong (Ezekial 18:1-31). The truth is that we all (no matter our experiences) have a choice about whether or not we sin (James 1:13-15)

Intentional sin is no different from unintentional sin- 

 It is true that any sin can be forgiven. It is also true that God understands and makes space for human weakness and stupidity (1st John 1:9-10). That’s what grace is for.  However, intentional sin (sinning on purpose, knowing it’s a sin) reveals a prideful heart that has either strayed far from God or a heart that never knew God at all (Numbers 15:30). Furthermore, those who sin intentionally and arrogantly often feel that God “owes” them forgiveness. These folks are (in my experience) more likely to deconstruct and walk away from the faith altogether (Hebrews 3:11-13). The bottom line in all this is that intentional sin is very bad and spiritually very dangerous.  Anytime we are tempted to sin intentionally we should do some heavy self-reflecting (2nd Corinthians 13:5) and make an effort to figure out what’s going on in our hearts. 

And finally: 

Our sin is what defines us- 

It can be, but only if we refuse to place our faith in Jesus. When we trust Jesus to forgive our sin and choose to repent (Matthew 4:17, Matthew 3:8). Jesus graciously forgives our sin, forgets all about it and makes us (spiritually speaking) white as snow. He then gives us the ability to transform into His image (Isaiah 1:18, Micah 7:19, Romans 12:2, 2nd Corinthians 5:17). This is a gamechanger for anyone who chooses it.  

What are the Fruits of Salvation?

Lisa M. Price1 Comment

Those are the ones sown with seed on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundred times as much- Luke 8:15 NASB

Doctrinal controversies and theological disputes are not new to Christianity. Early Christians began hotly debating the finer points of the faith shortly after Jesus ascended into heaven (Acts 15). Early believers argued endlessly over what role (if any) the Law of Moses should play in Christianity.  They also fought over the nature of Jesus, which holy days should be celebrated and whether there was secret knowledge certain Christians possessed that others did not (Colossians 2).   

Contemporary Christians still debate issues. However, we tend to argue over an entirely different set of controversies.  Contemporary Christians will throw down over things like the role of women in the church, spiritual gifts and Bible translations. But by far, the most contentious argument in the church today is over what role Christian fruit (or works) should play in the Christian life. 

The role works play in salvation is a settled issue. 

 All people are saved the same way. We are saved by God’s grace when we turn to Jesus in faith. Salvation is a gift. No one can earn salvation. No one, no matter how good they are is good enough to earn access to heaven. We are all just too dang sinful (Romans 3:23). Once we humbly accept the reality of our own unworthiness, Jesus mercifully cleanses us from all unrighteousness, and we begin our faith journey (1st John 1:8-10). 

However. 

Bearing fruit, sometimes called “works” post salvation is another issue altogether (Matthew 5:16, James 2:14-18, 1st Timothy 6:18-19). Some Christians believe that suggesting there should be any works post-salvation is nothing short of heresy and an insult to God’s grace (Ephesians 2:8-9). These folks believe freedom in Christ (Galatians 5:1) means freedom from all rules, works and standards of behavior.  This group is well-intended, and not entirely wrong.  We cannot earn our salvation, nor do we have to “be good” to keep it.  If we had to be good to stay saved one would stay saved because we all fail daily. It’s an aspect of our human nature no one can escape. 

However. 

If expecting believers to “bear fruit” or do “works of righteousness” is heresy, then Jesus was a flaming heretic. 

Seriously. 

On numerous occasions Jesus straight-up commanded His followers to “bear fruit” (John 15:2, Mark 4:20, John 15:16) and do good works (Matthew 5:16, John 14:12). Matthew’s last recorded sermon of Jesus (Matthew 24:42-25:46) is really all about the importance of Christians bearing spiritual fruit. Matthew 24:42-25:46 also contains some rather alarming warnings concerning what happens when a follower of Jesus refuses to bear fruit.

 There are at least five kinds of fruit Christians are expected to produce. The first is: 

The fruit of repentance- 

Jesus called for repentance a lot (Matthew 4:17, Luke 5:31-32, Luke 13:1-5, Luke 15:7-10). He also chastised those who refused to repent (Matthew 7:21, Matthew 11:20, Matthew 12:41). Jesus did not forbid His forerunner (John the Baptist) from demanding repentance (Matthew 3:3-8, Luke 3:1-17). Repentance is not simply a change of behavior. Repentance is a process that begins with a change of thinking so dramatic it leads to behavioral transformation (Romans 12:1-2).  Coming to a place in our spiritual maturity where we agree with Jesus about right and wrong, is the first step in bringing our behavior into alignment with God’s will (1st Corinthians 6:9-11, Colossians 3, 1st Thessalonians 4:1-8, Ephesians 4:17-30). When we change our minds about sin we bear the fruit of repentance.

The fruit of obedience- 

Jesus is more than just our savior, He’s our Lord (Luke 14:27, John 13:13, Colossians 2:6, Psalm 86:11). Making Jesus our Lord means we put Him and His will for our lives above our own desires and even all earthly authorities (Exodus 20:3, Matthew 10:37-39, Philippians 2:9-11). When we choose devotion to Jesus above all else, we bear the fruit of obedience. 

The fruit of holiness- 

Contrary to popular doctrinal belief, holiness is not legalism. Holiness is the fruit of gratitude for our salvation. Believers in Jesus are called to be holy just as God is holy (Ephesians 1:4, 1st Peter 1:15-16). This does not mean we live a life of sinless perfection (we can’t). It does mean we choose to honor God by shunning intentional sin. When we do our best to live holy lives we bear the fruit of holiness.  

The fruit of love-

Christians are called to love all people all the time (John 13:34-35). This does not mean Christians should seek to be “nice” all the time. Biblical love is kind and compassionate, but it is also truthful about all things, even hard things. True biblical love always seeks the best for all people.  When we live and love by the standards set in 1stCorinthians 13, we bear the fruit of biblical love. 

The fruit of faith- 

Faith is the foundation of all things Christian, and bearing the fruit of faith is no easy thing. Faith is literally trusting God when it makes zero sense to do so. Faith is believing God will do what He said He would do when we aren’t seeing change. Because faith is hard, faith pleases God in ways that are almost impossible for the human mind to grasp (Hebrews 11). 

Truth-be-told seeking to bear spiritual fruit can easily drift into pride and spiritual smugness. The secret to avoiding spiritual pride is to remember that no one, no matter how good they are can do any of this in their own power. We simply do not have enough inherent goodness in us to pull it off.  The Holy Spirit is our guide and helper in every aspect of the Christian life (John 14:26, Hebrews 13:6). When we fully and completely submit our lives to God the Holy Spirit does the work in us. 

How to Become a Healthier Christian-

Lisa M. PriceLeave a comment


Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test? 2nd Corinthians 13:5 NIV

Christianity is not a faith based on a bunch of rules we follow in order to get God to like us (Matthew 22:37-40). 

Consequently,

There are grey areas in Christianity.

Although, the term “grey area” is not found anywhere in the Bible. Instead, the apostle Paul tells us that all things are permissible (meaning things not forbidden in Scripture). Nonetheless, many of those “permissible” things are not beneficial to our souls or supportive to our growth (1st Corinthians 10:23-33, 1stCorinthians 6:12). 

This basically means there are things Christians can do that we should be really careful about doing (if we do them at all). A classic example would be alcohol use. It is not sinful to use alcohol. However, there are numerous warnings concerning alcohol that should cause all Christians who use alcohol to put some serious guardrails around its use (Proverbs 23:21, Proverbs 20:1, Romans 13:13, Ephesians 5:18) 

Conversely.

There are a lot of things Christians don’t have to do—things not commanded in Scripture that we ought to at least consider making a regular practice of doing, simply because those things help us grow.  

Handling the grey areas of the faith well is all about practicing wisdom. It’s about having the foresight to seek the Lord for direction and going above and beyond to do life His way (Proverbs 3:5-6). We don’t do these things in a legalistic attempt to earn God’s love. We cannot earn something that’s already been freely given (John 3:16). Instead, we choose to live honorably as a way of saying “thank you” for what we have graciously been given (Ephesians 4:1).

One thing Christians are not commanded to do, that we should probably consider doing is what I call a “personal self-check”. The apostle Paul calls self-checks: self-examination (2nd Corinthians 13:5). 

Self-checks are one of the “what’s” of the faith. 

God wants us to do self-checks because frequent self-checks lead to self-awareness. Self-awareness protects us from falling into patterns of behavior that eventually lead to sin. Without frequent self-checks we run the risk of having “a Nebuchadnezzar moment” where we are warned about our sin but refuse to see our sin or refuse to own our sin despite God’s warning and ample time to repent (Daniel 4:1-37). Anytime we willfully choose the Nebuchadnezzar route, we receive all the possible consequences of our sin rather than God’s mercy (Romans 1:24-32). The full penalty is always a world of hurt for us and the people we love.

Sigh. 

A self-check is just a series of questions we ask are ourselves on a regular basis. My personal self-check questions are all designed to keep me on the straight and narrow by forcing me to think about my life holistically rather than in just pieces and parts.  

They are as follows:

Am I in the faith?

Being in the faith is about more than praying a sinner’s prayer “once a upon a time”. It’s also about more than church attendance. One can attend church and even lead a church and still be very much outside the faith (Matthew 7:22-24). When we are “in the faith” we seek God on a daily basis, we actively seek to disentangle ourselves from sinful attitudes and behaviors. Being in the faith means going out of our way to shore up the weak areas in our spiritual lives. Lastly, those in the faith make church and friendships with other believers a priority (Hebrews 10:25, James 5:16, 1st John 1:7, 2nd John 1:5). 

What do my relationships look like?  

The state of our closest relationships is oftentimes an indicator of our spiritual health. If our life is strewn with relationships that have been damaged or broken due to our willful sin, selfishness, rudeness or lying. We have a problem that needs immediate attention or our Nebuchadnezzar moment may be right around the corner (Proverbs 11:3, Hebrews 12:14, 1st Peter 2:17, Ephesians 5:21-22, Ephesians 5:25-28, Ephesians 6:4).

Am I walking in integrity? 

The best and most basic definition of integrity is being the same person all the time. People with integrity are not chameleons who adapt to fit into whatever situation they happen find themselves in (Proverbs 10:9). Integrity is closely linked to fear of the Lord (Proverbs 1:7). If we truly believe God is who He says He is and will do what He says He will do. Then we will do our level best to stay within the lines He has drawn for us. If we don’t we won’t.  

Is there any area of my life I’m hiding from God or other people?  

If there is a part of our life we feel we need to keep on the down-low we most definitely have a problem that requires our immediate attention. Openness and honesty are the hallmarks of a holy, God-fearing people (Romans 13:12). 

What does my thought life look like? 

Our thoughts determine our actions and our actions determine the course of our life (Matthew 15:18-20, Mark 7:20-22, Ephesians 2:3, Hebrews 3:1). Therefore, every Christian ought to pay attention to what types of thoughts routinely flit through their head. If we frequently think mean, lustful, judgy, angry or greedy thoughts we need to spend some time asking the Lord what’s at the root of these attitudes. Then we need ask God to reorder our thoughts and give us the mind of Christ (1st Corinthians 2:16, Romans 15:5-6).

The “what” of daily spiritual self-checks are absolutely critical to our spiritual health in our broken sin-sick world. Self-checks keep our hearts soft towards God, our relationships with other people healthy and our lives free from the spiritual and moral drift that does us in (Hebrews 2:1)

Six Rules (Yes Rules) That Keep Christians From Going Totally Sideways In Life-

Lisa M. Price1 Comment

Whatever happens, conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ. Then, whether I come and see you or only hear about you in my absence, I will know that you stand firm in the one Spirit, striving together as one for the faith of the gospel~ Philippians 1:27 NIV  

I am not really much of a rule-follower, in fact I despise them with every fiber of my being.  

That said, there was brief period early-on in my Christian journey when I had a short but ill-fated love affair with legalism. Needless to say, it was not my finest hour. Over time through Bible study, the guidance of a gentle mentor, and some spiritual growth I concluded that laws are intended for law-breakers (1stTimothy 1:9). It is now my firmly held conviction that if Christians would simply seek godly wisdom, follow biblical principles and do what God tells us to do, there would be little need for extra-biblical rules. 

That being said.

Recently, I was thinking about how one person can be incredibly successful from a spiritual perspective while another person in a similar set of circumstances can go completely sideways in every respect (1stTimothy 1:18-19). As I was thinking through the how and why of all that. I came-up with was a list of attitudes and behaviors that spiritually successful people tend to have (Galatians 5:22-23, Colossians 1:9-11). Then I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to come up with a way to express my thoughts without using the “rules” word, mostly because I know rules are  a hot-button issue in some Christian circles.  Ultimately, I decided it was the only word that really made any sense. Sigh. 

Here they are:

Be teachable-

Being teachable is basically just being open to the notion that we might be wrong about something (doctrine, attitudes, beliefs, behaviors). Being teachable means owning it when we are not doing life well or we need help or guidance from other people. Being teachable is the polar opposite of being prideful. Teachable people ask God on a regular basis to reveal their blind spots and the areas of their lives that need work.  Then they ask for help and seek wisdom. Help and wisdom can come in the form of a wise friend, a Christian counselor, Christian books, a pastor or a spiritual mentor. What matters is that we are willing to humble ourselves and ask for it when we need it. 

Be obedient-

There has been some serious misunderstanding regarding obedience and legalism in recent years. For the better part of the 20thcentury the cultural pendulum in church world swung towards extreme legalism.  Beginning in the 1980’s the pendulum began to swing in the extreme opposite direction which eventually landed us where we are at now (extreme worldliness).  The simplest definition of legalism is the practice of adding manmade rules to straightforward biblical commands. For example: Christians are commanded to avoid sexual immorality (sex before marriage, adultery, homosexuality, pornography, prostitution etc.) Christians are NOT told to abstain from dating or told to only practice courtship or to avoid kissing or dancing. It is legalistic (adding to God’s commands) to prohibit dating, dancing or kissing. However, it is clearly NOT legalistic to tell someone to stop hooking-up with strangers or to stop looking at porn (1st Thessalonians 4:3-8, 1st Timothy 1:10, 1st Corinthians 6:8-10, 1st Corinthians 6:15).

Engage the world around you- 

We only get one shot at this life (Hebrews 9:27). Our time here is so short that the Bible refers to human life as a flower that springs up for a season (1st Peter 1:24, Job 14:1-2). Every season of life tends to be shorter than we think it will be. We all have a limited amount of time to be married, parent our children, love our neighbors, pastor our churches, lead the people around us and impact our corner of the world for Jesus.  It would benefit us all to put down our phones, shut off the T.V. and be a lot more intentional about engaging the world and the people in it. Not only would we have a bigger impact on our world we would probably also enjoy our time here more.  

Recognize and run from unhealthy people and situations-

Sadly, in this fallen world there are individuals and situations that can be detrimental to our spiritual and emotional health. Those folks repeatedly take us to a place where we doubt God, lose faith in our ability to do the things God has called us to do and sometimes they even cause us to sin (Matthew 18:6, Luke 17:1). I am not a big supporter of simply cutting people out of our lives without a really good reason. That said, there are situations where a little or in some cases a lot of distance is just wise.

Become a friend of God-

Believe God is who He says He is and that He can do what He says He can do. Get to know Him on a personal level rather than simply acquiring information about Him and God will consider you His friend and even confide in you (Psalm 25:14, James 2:23).   

 Develop people- 

Jesus spent the vast majority of His time helping people to become better and healthier versions of themselves. He wants us to do the same. Make a point of helping friends, strangers, co-workers and subordinates to become the best version of themselves they can become. In the process you will become an improved version of you.