It was around 6am. I was in the apartment of pastor Shulakov and his family in Vladivostok, Russia. I woke up early to use the bathroom and heard someone in the kitchen with the door closed. Pastor Vladimir was in there praying.

A couple hours later we talked over breakfast. Vladimir said, “I know I’m loved, I know there’s grace, but I have to pray”.

I could not agree more. There was certainly a time in my life where I turned the spiritual disciplines into law and suffered much condemnation as a result. At some point, however, I believe God wants me to come full circle, mature and embrace the discipline of prayer.

I believe we are entering a season in the body of Christ where it is becoming increasingly difficult to live a casual Christian life. I also believe great grace will be released to those who will seek God’s face and we are coming into some of the greatest opportunities for the Gospel the world has ever seen!

Boundaries with Darren

My wife and I used to argue with our son over his chores. We were trying to get him to do what was right. One day I had an idea. When he came home from school I told him, “Darren, Mom and I have been talking and we have decided you do not have to do your chores anymore; you can even skip your homework if you want to.” He was in blissful shock! After a pause I continued, “But you cannot have any privileges such as TV, computer, or spending time with friends either, unless you take care of your responsibilities. We love you and we are not going to pressure you or argue anymore. We’d love for you to have your privileges but they only come with responsibility”.

He tested it and we did not get angry or pressure him or shame him. We did not even close our hearts toward him at all; we were quite friendly and loving. The entire next day, however, he did not have any privileges. After a time or two the battle was over and now it is never a fight to see him take care of his chores and homework.

Gal 5:1, 2 Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage. Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing.

What is Legalism?

Is legalism the judgmental Pharisees of the Bible? Is it the church where women cannot wear makeup? What is its underlying principal?

I believe law is based in man’s efforts and in fear. If I can make a rule about something then I can take things into my own hands, be in control and create my own “security”. This is all fear motivated. I am afraid God will not be there for me and that is what moves me toward law.

The whole world system and man’s fallen nature pushes us toward law. In the verses above, the Galatians knew truth and freedom but the traditions of a lifetime, fears they might not measure up and the pressure of peers all served to push them back toward circumcision.

Once I move toward law things now depend on me; I am afraid I may not measure up and so I feel pressure all the time. What if I cannot meet my own needs, what if I cannot measure up and be acceptable?

Legalism is About Control

I do not trust someone to do the right thing and so I apply some pressure. Rules are applied through tactics of intimidation, anger, shaming and fear. So we make statements to our children like, “What’s wrong with you?”  The sales manager states, “Whoever is at the bottom of the sales board at the end of the month will be fired”. A minister preaches, “You are either for God or against Him; if you aren’t giving to evangelism (or the building project, or the mission trip…) you won’t be blessed”; or “Jesus died on the cross for us and we can’t even give Him our best?”

Our identities get tied into these things, our son or employee or church member might make us look bad, might hinder us from applying rules and being successful, acceptable.

How We Motivate Others

At the moment we accepted Jesus, God could have installed in us a zapper, like those electronic collars for dogs used with the invisible fence. The electrical wire is buried under ground and when the dog with the collar crosses it he gets a “zap”! He very quickly learns where he can and cannot go. God could have done that with us at salvation. We go to spread a little gossip, tell a lie or express some lust and “Zaaap”! If this were the case, I believe the body of Christ would quickly rise to whole new levels of obedience, OR would it be outward conformity, obedience based on law and fear?

Is God Angry?

John 3:16-17 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

Obedience Based on Fear

When I was still a boy my family and I went to a restaurant. My brother and I used our napkins properly and kept our elbows off the table, we were not noisy nor did we interrupt, in fact we did not speak unless spoken to. A couple sitting nearby commented to my dad how well-mannered my brother and I were. What they did not know was that we lived with an abusive father and were obedient for fear of our lives!

My father extracted our obedience, but at what cost? I grew up hating him and rebelled in every way. He extracted obedience, but he did it based on fear and control, producing only an outward conformity.

I cannot put into words how huge I think this is! This is the church; this is the world system; this is the debate of our times! A huge amount of preaching relies on the idea of threat, punishment or judgment. I feel like this is bringing God down to man’s level or projecting onto God how man would do things. Having to resort to threat is weakness, it is fear-based and it implies insecurity. A bully would not have a need to intimidate if he was secure! I grew up with an abusive father and it was all based in fear. I just cannot believe that God is in heaven wringing His hands over what in the world He is going to do with so many disobedient children!

Bill Johnson said, “A battle is brewing, not over the Holy Spirit, healing or revival, but over the goodness of God. If I did to my children what some people accuse God of doing to His, I would be thrown in jail for child abuse!”

God is not destroying cities with earthquakes, He did not cause 9/11 because of homosexuals, and He is not putting sickness on people to try and teach them something. He is a loving God. 1 John 4 says that God is love and so everything He does is with love in mind. Am I saying there are no consequences for sin, of course not, but I believe how we look at it is vitally important. Man chooses his own way, the world is under sin, and breaking God’s laws bring reaping. If an airplane loses a wing and thus breaks God’s laws of aerodynamics it will crash, not because God poured out His wrath but because laws were broke. God’s will is that all the people on that plane would be saved, 1 Timothy 2:4.

True obedience is born out of a heart broken by love not out of scaring someone into fire insurance. It is love alone that can make a person feel safe enough to lower the walls down from around their heart and move into empathy. True conviction has to have the element of empathy for it is then that we see how our actions have hurt others, we move out of selfishness and can begin embracing steps of humility! Even to the point of seeing our need for a Savior.

A loving father is one who sets boundaries for his children, gives them free choice but also does not rescue them from the consequences of their actions, but he never devalues, demeans or belittles. And it is certainly not his heart to pour out his wrath on his disobedient children.

God is well able to be the mature one in our relationship with Him, to take the high road, not being childish or petty. He is not threatened by ways we are still selfish and immature. He rejoices over us with joy and singing, Zephaniah 3:17 and His banner over us is love, Song 2:4.