Legalism vs. Obedience

Definitions:

Legalism; obeying man's rules for man's purposes. When a man makes a rule that is not commanded by God we are free to ignore it.

Obedience to God: Obeying God's principles and commands to please Him. It is not legalism to want to obey God.

To Be Restored There Must Be Confession

Forgiveness is for restoring a relationship when someone is repentant. Without a change of the heart, we are not required to forgive. However, we are required to love our enemies by praying for them.

Luke 17:3-5 "…3 Watch yourselves. If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. 4 Even if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times returns to say, ‘I repent, you must forgive him. 5 The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”…"

"IF he returns to say, 'I repent', is part of the verse everyone seems to ignore.

When we forgive hoping to feel better about ourselves it is not for the sake of the offender. When we forgive before there is repentance then we are enablers, helping the sinner to continue acting in ungodly ways.

Relationships are not based on letting everything go. Yes, sometimes the offense is minor and happens rarely, then we can let those things go. But when a person is continually offensive, has been told, and will not stop, then we are obligated to remove ourselves from them unless we live with them.

1 John 1:9

"If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

God only forgives us "if we confess" to be cleansed. Without confession of sin there is no change of behavior. Those who will not admit they have sinned will not grow nor will they restore a friendship.

Our desire above all else ought to be to please God more than to feel better or keep a relationship that is destructive to our walk with Christ.

Every command of God has a purpose and that purpose is to help us and others to stop sinning and obey Him in all we do. When our focus is self we will do the "easy" thing that makes us feel good rather than the hard work of reconciliation His way.

Acts 17:30

"The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,"

Because of our modern idea that we should not require repentance for offenses in our relationships there are many people who believe they do not have to be sorrowful over their sinfulness to be saved. They think God just overlooks their sin without any requirement for a changed life.

God will not forgive anyone who is not broken over their sinfulness. These people who think so are pretenders and were never born again.

We are not saved by obedience, but when we realize we are sinful in our very core and confess that to Christ, He will come and clean us up which leads to a changed life. We do not change ourselves, God changes our heart to want what He wants. This results in a completely different way of life than we had before.

Those who say they are Christian but remain resistant to God's commands are not and never have been born again.

2 Corinthians 5:17 "17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!"

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Pretenders Divide the Church and Other Relationships

Those who are pretenders, claiming to be Christian but do not care about living for Christ, do more damage to the gospel than anything else. They divide the church causing brothers and sisters to come against brothers and sisters.

These people pit one brother against another by shutting down the truth-tellers, those who want to follow the Bible. They do this like a boss with their narcissistic assertions that the one who loves Christ, the Bible, and the truth, are the divisive ones.

This is why it is so important that we get out of the organized one-man pastor system, it divides when the attendees are not allowed to call out errors in the body.

Most people who attend gatherings today are of the mindset to, "go along to get along, because of this they accuse those who want the truth of causing division when the division is because of the false doctrine the church is disseminating.

Romans 16:17

"I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them."

God commands us to watch out for those who bring in false doctrine. The church is full of narcissists who refuse to be corrected. They cannot be approached to have a dialogue because their pride is so massive they become angry when they are told they might be wrong about something.

Titus 3:10

"As for a person who stirs up division, after warning him once and then twice, have nothing more to do with him,"

When someone will not listen, is full of arrogance without regard for others, treating others disrespectfully to control them, the only recourse we have is to stay away from them.

Those who act narcissistically will only diminish our walk with Christ. They are not an asset to the Lord or to us, they must be removed from our lives. I do not mean in marriage, that's a different matter, but family and friends who work against what God is doing in our lives, these people will hinder our walk and must be avoided.

Never fear, when we remove ourselves from these people you may feel guilty about it, perhaps they will repent and change you might think. Whether or not they "might" change is not the issue, the issue is what are they right now.

If someone we have left behind does change the Lord knows all about that and they know where to find us as the Lord leads them back into our lives. Never keep a toxic person in your life with fantasy thinking they may change one day.

Also, staying in a wicked person's life does not help them grow or change. The truth is they are likely to remain stuck in their toxicity because we have coddled them.

Isaiah 26:10 "10 Though grace is shown to the wicked man, he does not learn righteousness. In the land of righteousness, he acts unjustly and fails to see the majesty of the LORD."

It is Christ Who changes lives but only if a person wants to be changed by Him. Those who show no desire to be changed by Christ will not change because you were friendly to them, or because you allowed yourself to be their punching bag. Go ahead and pray for them, this is the love of Christ, but do not attempt to play God by remaining with them. You are not more special than God is, if He cannot reach them then what makes you think you can?

Love people by praying for them, but have in your life only those who love Christ with all their heart, their soul, and their mind.

Never allow others to pressure you into staying in contact with wicked people. Those who would pressure you in this way must also be removed from your life.

Christ and the apostles never lingered in the lives of those who rejected Him. They moved on, surrounded themselves with Christ lovers, and kept themselves from being tainted by the toxicity of the wicked person.

Hallelujah, we are free to choose our close friends!

Proverbs 12:26 "The righteous choose their friends carefully, but the way of the wicked leads them astray."

Proverbs 27:17 "As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend."

Proverbs 13:20 "Walk with the wise and become wise; associate with fools and get in trouble."

Proverbs 17:17 "A friend is always loyal, and a brother is born to help in time of need."

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