Authenticity – avoiding legalism and license in the pursuit of Christ

I was about to entitle this, “Authenticity – avoiding legalism and license in the pursuit of holiness” but then remembered that holiness isn’t the goal, and it is so easy to get sidetracked by the good, even by the great, which leads to the compromises of legalism, instead of pursuing the One that matters, namely, Christ.

While there are as many sets of tactics, techniques and procedures, (TTPs), for pursuing God as there are commentators, theologians and scholars to produce them, any technique, however well intended, if used indiscriminately, or without the underlying pursuit of Christ, will lead to a place of captivity to rule and tradition, instead of the freedom of Christ.

The borrowing of a set of TTPs without a thorough understanding of the underlying purpose, and the desired end state will result in a failure to reach that end state.  In the life of a Christian, it will result in derailment and a legalistic existence, without the life of the Spirit.  By this I’m not discouraging the incorporation of TTPs from others, but without a thorough evaluation of such, and an understanding of the original intent, those cannot be effectively used to bring the Christian to a deeper walk with Christ.  

The pursuit of holiness is great… as long as its end goal isn’t holiness, but rather in knowing Christ better.  The pursuit of godliness is awesome… but is nothing without a heart set, not on godliness, but on Christ.  The pursuit of righteousness is praiseworthy, but means absolutely nothing if the focus is not on Christ.  A man’s honor is worthless, and a dishonor to him if it is pursued for anything less than the glory of God.   A lady’s glory is worthless, if pursued for any other reason than to honor Christ.  As Isaiah wrote, “all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment.”[1]

If anything is done for the purpose of meeting a human rule, (even if that rule is based upon the Law of the Lord), with the intent of improving one’s status before God, it is a lie and a prison.  Even pursuit of living up to the Law is vain, for no one can do it fully.  As Paul writes “All have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God.[2]”  James writes “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all.”[3]

Avoidance of legalism often results in license and disregard for the Law and right living, the logic being that if Christ is willing to forgive, I can therefore do what I please, as long as I then go back and confess it.  However, this tack is as flawed as that of the legalist, for a pursuit of Christ will inherently glorify Him, for as Christ said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”[4]  If we call Him Lord, but don’t do what He says, we lie, and make ourselves traitors to Him, and He justly condemns such action.

It’s not about finding the balance between legalism and license, for that would be like walking a tightrope, while looking down, alternately at one side, then the other.  One of the things stressed in the Motorcycle safety courses[5] that I’ve taken is that you go wherever you look.  With that in mind, it is not so much that we should strive to avoid the dangers of either side of the path, but instead, keep our eyes on the One who we are seeking to please.  As I continually strive to improve my relationship with my wife, Bonita, I endeavor, not to just do all the right things, (which if I do keep the house in order, while ignoring her, will not endear myself to her), or to just ask her forgiveness all the time for not doing said checklist items, but to pursue her in every way possible, to love and cherish her, and to do things to delight her.  It then isn’t about the legalistic checklist, but about her.  Therefore, we must keep our attention and our focus on Christ, and let the works be our fruit, not our focus.

A tree is not really interested in the fruit that it produces.  The fruit is a byproduct of the tree’s growth and health.  A tree is interested in growing toward the sun above and feasting on the nutrients below.  Fruit matures, and is cast off.  It is the byproduct of the tree’s growth, not the focus or pursuit of that said growth.  If the fruit were the purpose and pursuit of the tree, then the tree would spend all its energy in producing fruit, without seeking the sun from which it is nourished, or the soil from which it is watered and receives mineral nutrients.  Even the fruit exists, not for itself, but for the seed/s that indwell that fruit.  The fruit, (if uneaten by other creatures), rots and becomes the germination site for the seed.   When we look at the fruit of our lives as the goal, it really does us no good.  The fruit will only come, in fact, when we don’t focus on it, but on the One who provides the nourishment.  Jesus said “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.”[6]  It is all about getting close to Him.

While almost every Evangelical (and most other Trinitarian Christians[7]), will agree with the theory of my points so far, the legalism or license in practice is far more common than the authentic pursuit of Christ.  The temptation toward legalism is that trees are identified, not by their internal desire to reach for the sun, but by the fruit that they produce.  An oak is identified by its acorn and an apple tree by its apples.  However, an apple tree that is rotten and hollow will produce poor apples, though it looks similar on the outside to a strong apple tree that is healthy and well nourished.  Good fruit does come from good trees, but it isn’t due to the tree’s efforts to produce good fruit, but instead, it is due to the health and nutrition of the tree.

Keeping Christ the focus is the only way to live as a Christian.  Anything less or other than this is death.

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[1] Isaiah 64:6

[2] Romans 3:23

[3] James 2:10

[4] John 14:15

[5] Motorcycle Safety Foundation RiderCourse (http://nm.msf-usa.org/msf/ridercourses.aspx)

[6] John 15:5

[7] Trinitarian Christians include all those who accept the triune nature of God, being one God, who exists in three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, co-eternal, co-equal in nature, distinct in personhood and authority.  From this Trinity originates all things, and He is the causeless cause, without any prior to or after Him.  All other entities in existence, spirit and material, owe their existence expressly to Him and cannot exist except at the express and active choice of this aforementioned Triune God.  Furthermore, Trinitarians believe that the sacrificial atonement of Christ is the only way for rebellious sentient creatures to be reunited with their Creator, and there is nothing that said creatures can do to add to or take away from that payment.