THE SNARE OF LEGALISM PT II: GIVING

One of the best parts of a Church gathering to me is the testimonies. I love to hear how God is helping people in their health, finances, families and so on; I love it when a couple who have been expecting a baby for years finally get pregnant. I love when families get reunited after years of estrangement. I love it when people come and testify about getting a promotion in their jobs. While all these things do not prove God’s love for us- the cross is our proof, it does feel good to know that our father takes delight in the prosperity of his children.

However, a trend I find disturbing amongst many of these testimonies is the emphasis of what they gave as a form of ‘seed’ that then germinated into an ‘harvest’ of the breakthrough they were seeking. This to me is one of the most prevalent forms of legalism in Christian circles. I must confess that I fall for this sometimes, especially when it comes to finances. I personally believe that this is because money is so important in human dealings that once a shortage occurs in our pockets; we automatically go into panic mode and immediately begin to tell ourselves something must be done. In such panic moments, we will latch on to any teaching or encouragement that seems to suggest that by giving something, “God will let go of our blessings”. Why? It affirms our sense of responsibility. Plus I honestly think many of us don’t believe God is good enough to give us things freely. We believe he requires some sacrifice.

 “What then shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all, how will he not also, along with him GRACIOUSLY give us all things…..” Romans 8: 31-32(NIV) (emphasis mine)

Brethren, God is irrevocably and unrepentantly for us. He demonstrated that eternal support for you when he sent his only Son; the only one who pleased him thoroughly and eternally, to become a man, live for you, suffer untold anguish for you and ultimately die for you. God has got your back unconditionally; he is not waiting for you to release what is in your hands before he releases what in his hands. In fact, the verses quoted above tell us that God has already graciously given us all things along with Jesus. In other words, when he sent Jesus, he sent everything.  The word ‘graciously’ can be translated ‘freely’. He freely at no charge gave us everything. He freely included us in the fellowship of the Father, Son and the Holy SpiritH

Holy Spirit; to partake of the Divine nature and to freely experience the unlimited self-sufficiency in Christ’s sufficiency

At this juncture I must state clearly that I believe in giving. I believe a Christian has received the same generous spirit that God has; thus a Christian who is not willing to give to the local Assembly and the community at large has not grasped of what spirit he is. We are to give spiritually, emotionally, AND FINANCIALLY. As we grow in all aspects of Grace, we are instructed to also grow in the Grace of supporting our ministers and brothers in need (2 Cor. 8 and 9). My argument is that the motive for our giving must change in charismatic circles. Our giving is not supposed to be a way of buying miracles, security, or warding off curses. It is an act from a pure regenerated heart that has become as generous as our father in heaven. If you are being blessed at your local assembly, then it behooves you to support that assembly in any way. We do not need to be manipulated by fear or pity to give. Neither do we need to engage in any giving in order to access or qualify for the blessing

The idea that God needs something from us as a form of sacrifice makes God no different from the idols and demons our ancestors used to worship. They always demanded a price to be paid for their favours; and after giving the favours, they would still inflict damage on them and their descendants.

“and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you^[ to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. ¹³ For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, ¹⁴ in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins….” (Colossians 1: 12-14 NIV) (Emphasis mine)

The whole point of this series is to point out that the Father has already qualified us; How? He rescued us from darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son he loves. In other words, the Father loves and approves of the Son, and by the Holy Spirit has put us in the Son. Therefore, the Father is fully approved of us and requires no spiritual exercise on our part to bless us.

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ...” (Ephesians 1:3 NIV) (Emphasis mine)

In Christ, we are blessed. We are not going to be blessed, we are not waiting to be blessed, and we sure as heaven are not meant to strive or give ‘X” amount of money in order to qualify for God’s blessing. So rejoice and give out of love, not out of fear or compulsion. Give what you can, when you can. Most especially, DO NOT let ANYBODY guilt you into giving.

Grace be with you and continue to bask in the Love of God

The Snare of Legalism

Before we continue with today's post, I want to give my heartfelt condolences to the families and friends of Victims of the 9/11 attacks. May the God and father of all comfort, comfort them as we remember this horrendous event

In the next set of blogs, I will begin a series tagged “the snare of legalism”. My hope with these series of blogs is that it will open us up to allow the Holy Spirit make some crucial changes in our thought processes when it comes to our relationship with God.

In my years of fellowshipping with believers of various kinds and various denominations; I have noticed a common thread amongst us all (myself included) i.e. the need to participate, to be somehow involved in the process of our salvation. This takes many shades but the bottom line is we want to be able to say something to the effect that “I did this, and that happened as a result”. Although most Christians would not want to say “I am a self-made man”, deep down inside, on some level, we would all love to comment that we “played our part AND THEN AND ONLY THEN did God play his part”.

Unfortunately, this kind of attitude is nothing short of legalism. The idea that there is some principle we must adhere to; some rule we must keep; books we must balance; some sort of Spiritual exercise we must do in order to be in Gods good graces. This is not only antithetical to the Gospel, it is the very snare that tricked Adam and Eve and pulled them down into Sin.

“For by Grace you are saved through faith, and this is not form yourselves, it is the gift of God; it is not form works, so that no one can boast” …Ephesians 2:8-9(NET Version)

 “You were saved by faith in God who treats us much better than we deserve. This is God’s gift to you, and not anything you have done on your own. It isn’t something you have earned, so there is nothing you can brag about”...Ephesians 2: 8-9 (CEV)

The Bible clearly states here that our salvation is not a product of our efforts; we only participate in it through faith. Some scholars would even contend (and I align myself with them) that even the faith with which we partake of this wonderful grace of God is not our own, even that is God’s gift to us through the representative nature of Jesus Christ.

Some of you may argue that salvation here refers to being saved from the power of Sin; that Jesus delivered us from Sin at the Cross, so there is nothing for us to do about that; but we must do certain things to maintain our salvation. But you must understand that Jesus did not just die on the Cross, he resurrected and ascended into heaven, carrying humanity along with him (Ephesians 2: 1-8). There is nothing we did to deserve these things (this union with the Godhead) and there is nothing, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING we can do to maintain that relationship.

“…For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Now to him who works, the wages are not COUNTED AS GRACE BUT AS DEBT”… Romans 4:2-4 (NKJV)(emphasis mine)

The point being made here is that when it comes to the grace of God, there is no work involved. Just like Abraham did nothing to deserve the blessing of God other than to believe in God. He goes further to state that the promise is for us who believe with the faith of Abraham (Romans 4:16). Abraham was declared righteous because he believed, not because he took “12 steps to living in prosperity”. It was by reason of this unmerited righteousness that he became the great man we know and call our father in faith.

“You foolish Galatians! Who has cast a spell on you? Before your eyes Jesus Christ was vividly portrayed among you as crucified! The only thing I want to learn from you is this: Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? Although you began with the Spirit, are you trying to finish by human effort? Have you suffered so many things for nothing?-if indeed it was for nothing. DOES GOD THEN GIVE YOU THE SPIRIT AND WORK MIRACLES AMONG YOU BY YOUR DOING THE WORKS OF THE LAW OR BY YOUR BELIEVEING WHAT YOU HEARD? Just as Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness, so then, understand that those who believe are the sons of Abraham… Galatians 3:1-6 (NET Version) emphasis mine)

Notice in the verses above that Paul clearly states that we cannot switch from being saved by faith to maintaining our Christianity through legalism. God does not give us the Spirit or work miracles among us, even now through our works but by our faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I believe when legalists see results in life “through” their works, what happened was that they were finally able to rest and receive from God having satisfied their conscience that they deserved to be blessed. It had nothing to do with God, he has always been supplying, and they just couldn’t receive it because they couldn’t rest. However, I believe that those who receive from God based on their works and spiritual exercises will never be able to experience God blessings in the fullness of its glory. (2 Corinthians 3: 7-11).

Legalism is a snare, a trap by the enemy. It appeals to our ego. The sad part is that we can never do enough; there is no standard by which we know that we have arrived; we must always do more in terms of quantity and quality. What is even sadder is that this kind of thinking feeds the ego even more; it drives us to engage in these exercises to the point of exhaustion. I’ve been there so I know. At that point, we are left with two general reactions. We either lash out in frustration; forsaking the whole God thing altogether, or we get inflated egos and believe we have done something worth commending; we become self righteous. It leads to people being susceptible to all sorts of manipulation, fear, condemnation and guilt; all of which make us draw back from our loving father. When he stretches out his arms to embrace us in love, we run away thinking that he wants to draw us near in order to reach us with his whip and punish us.

There is nothing he requires because there is nothing we can do to qualify for God’s blessing, he has done everything and qualified us to partake of the inheritance of the Saints in the light (Colossians 1:12). Believe that and let your mind be at rest. Let him love you

Grace be unto you