This week, I wanted to add seven more characteristics of “Proud People” vs. “Humble People” to the list I shared with you last week. This list has come primarily from Nancy Leigh DeMoss’ excellent book entitled, Brokenness: The Heart God Revives.

Before you read this, could I ask you to do one thing? Promise that you will not think about anyone else except your own heart.

Here they are:

Have you noticed that people typically do not like “proud, arrogant people?” Nor do they like to be around people like that. And yet, even though we know this, we find ourselves (at times) somewhere on the left side of the above list. This is part of maturity and growing in Christ. None of us have “arrived” in our sanctification process (nor will we this side of heaven).

There is probably no greater propensity as humans than that of moving towards self-deception. We look at the “Proud” side of the list and say, “Oh, that is definitely not me!” And yet other people look at us and say, “Oh yes, that is definitely you!” Why does this happen so frequently?

This is where it is so important that we learn to approach God on a daily basis with a humble, broken heart and say, like David, “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” (Psalm 139:23-24 ESV)

One of the men who deeply influenced me (through his speaking and writing) in my early walk with Christ was Dr. Joseph C. Aldrich, former president of Multnomah School of the Bible. Joe used to say,

“Maturity is always a return to the reality about yourself.”

We will never mature fully until we are willing to face up to areas in our lives where we have a propensity toward self-deception. God’s Spirit needs to be invited on a daily basis to do surgery in our hearts and to show us areas where we need to grow.

Jesus said in Luke 14:11, “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Peter wrote in 1 Peter 5:5, “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble”

My prayer is… “O Lord, I need your grace today! You promise grace to the humble. May I not look at everyone else’s life to see who is proud and who is humble. May I always and only look at my own heart and choose humility each and every day!”

One of the most helpful tools that I have ever come across that helps to clearly distinguish between Proud, Unbroken People and Humble, Broken People is a list that Nancy Leigh DeMoss put together from her study of Scripture and her experience in both life and ministry.

There are dozens of items on both the “Proud” side and the “Humble” side. Today I want to share with you just six of them. Here they are:

Have you ever noticed the link between “wisdom” and “humility?” In James 3:13 it says, “Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.”

Did you ever notice how Jesus described himself in Matthew 11:28-30? It’s the famous passage we love to quote, “Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden…”, but did you notice in the next verse, Jesus says “…for I am gentle and humble in heart.” The very Son of God who flung the stars into space (Colossians 1) and created everything there is, modeled for us what “humble in heart” looks like.

Max Anders in his book The Good Life, clarifies some common misconceptions about humility:

“Humility does not mean you must see yourself as a pitiful excuse, a lowlife, a piece of refuse at the bottom of the human pile.

Rather, it means you see yourself as God sees you: you have infinite and inherent value, but no more value than anyone else. It means being willing to accept God as the authority over your life, rather than insisting on being your own supreme authority. And since you accept God as the supreme authority over your life, and because you are of equal value but no greater value than everyone else, you are willing to order your life in such a way as to be a servant to others.

When Christians do this, we meet each other’s needs in a context of harmony and love. When we fail to subordinate ourselves to others and are concerned only with meeting our own needs, we live a life of individualism and isolation — a state in which the Christian cannot be satisfied. We are not created to be loners. We are part of a family!”

I came across a humorous cartoon awhile back that pictured a man bowing on his knees praying in a church building. And he was praying this:

“Dear Lord, let me be the big cheese in the number-one job of the top outfit in the country, and let me come up with the right answers at the right times in the right places, but with it all, Lord, let me remain soft-spoken, country-shy, plain old Jeff Crotts from Spickard, Missouri.”

The Apostle Paul writes in Ephesians 4:1-2, “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility…”

Back in the Greek culture during biblical times, humility was looked upon as a vice, not a virtue. So when Paul writes this to the Ephesian believers, it is in direct contrast to the secular culture of the day. Is it really any different than today in 2010?

Humility is one of the those strange characteristics, that when you know you have it — you’ve lost it! It’s one of those virtue’s to be highly sought after but never claimed — because once you’ve claimed it — it’s forfeited!

“Perhaps the most difficult task for us to perform is to rely on God’s grace and God’s grace alone for our salvation. It is difficult for our pride to rest on grace. Grace is for other people – for beggars. We don’t want to live by a heavenly welfare system. We want to earn our own way and atone for our own sins. We like to think that we will go to heaven because we deserve to be there.” (R. C. Sproul)

A couple weeks ago I mentioned that there are three main tendencies that can draw our hearts away from “gospel-centered living.” They are…

1. Legalism: Basing our relationship with God on our own performance.
2. Condemnation: Being more focused on our sin than on God’s grace.
3. Subjectivism: Basing our view of God on our changing feelings and emotions.

I want to focus our attention again this week on the first of these three tendencies: legalism.

Let me try and sum up in a single sentence the difference between living a “legalism-driven” life as opposed to a “gospel-driven” life.

Now that you and I are followers of Jesus Christ, we are to live our lives…

from acceptance rather than for acceptance!

Two different words can make all the difference in the world…“from” or “for.”

As I’ve said so many times before, God accepts us strictly by His grace through the merit of Jesus Christ alone. Some people immediately say, “Paul, such an unqualified statement about the love of God sounds exceedingly dangerous.” I mean, after all, doesn’t this leave me open to the charge of saying in effect that God doesn’t care whether you sin or not.

Before I answer that question, let me have you consider the alternative:

“God loves you if you are obedient and doesn’t love you if you are disobedient. Since God’s love is conditioned on obedience and you are never perfectly obedient, God never loves you perfectly or accepts you completely.”

Such a bold description of the all-too-common works/merit way of thinking about our relationship with God puts the issue into clear focus.

We are accepted by God, not only in salvation but also in our present relationship with Him, either on the merit of Jesus Christ or on the basis of our own performance.

So, are we to conclude, then, that since we are saved by grace and fully loved and accepted by God, that He doesn’t care whether we sin or not?

The answer to that is found in Paul’s letter to the Romans, chapter 6 and verse 2, “By no means!” The exact question and answer that Paul gives is this:

“What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means!”

Or as one commentator said, “The force of the Greek text in verse 2 could be properly translated as “Hell no!”

A person who is genuinely saved will not want to abuse God’s grace and live a life of persistent sin (without strong conviction of the Holy Spirit)!

Anyone who thinks, “Since God’s love is not conditioned on my obedience, I am free to live as I please,” is not living by grace, nor does he understand grace. What he perceives as grace is really a caricature of grace.

Let me wrap up by simply saying this: Our love for God, expressed through obedience to Him, is to be a response to His love, not a means of trying to earn it.

Let me encourage you this week to live your life from acceptance rather than for acceptance!

“For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”(Galatians 5:1)

Last week I mentioned that there are three main tendencies that can draw our hearts away from “gospel-centered living.” They are…

1. Legalism: Basing our relationship with God on our own performance.
2. Condemnation: Being more focused on our sin than on God’s grace.
3. Subjectivism: Basing our view of God on our changing feelings and emotions.

I want to focus our attention again this week on the first of these three tendencies: legalism.

I want to begin by answering the question:

Why is legalism so dangerous? Legalism claims that the death of Jesus on the cross was either unnecessary or insufficient. It essentially says to God, “Your plan didn’t work. The cross wasn’t enough and I need to add my good works to it to be saved!”

Back in the early 1990’s I preached verse by verse through the book of Galatians. We spent almost a year an a half studying this very important and profound book. The theme of the book of Galatians is found in chapter five and verse one…

“For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5:1)

In other words, what Paul was trying to communicate so clearly to these believers was…

We are saved from our sins by faith alone in the finished work of Christ, not by obeying God’s laws!

Paul makes it crystal clear in Galatians 2:15-16…

“…a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.”

Why was Paul having to emphasize this so strongly to these early believers? There were some false teachers in Galatia called “Judaizers.” Judaizers were “legalistic Jewish Christians.” They believed and taught that in addition to faith in Christ, a person also had to keep certain Old Testament ceremonial laws (circumcision in particular).

These Judaizers were saying to Paul, “We know what you are doing. You’re trying to make the message of the gospel more appealing to people by removing certain legal requirements. Paul, you are diluting the Gospel!”

The reality was…it was the Judaizers who were preaching a “false gospel.” Paul was preaching the pure, true Gospel of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.

Paul makes this bold point very clear right out of the gate in Galatians 1:8-9…

“But even if we are an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.”

(Side note: the Greek word for “contrary” is “heteron” from which we get our English word “heretical”)

Strong words! And appropriately so. Why? Read carefully: Anyone, no matter how seemingly moral they may be, if they are adding anything to the free gift of salvation found only in Jesus Christ, they are teaching a false gospel! And therefore, they are not saved and are leading others astray! That is what Paul is saying very clearly in the book of Galatians.

This is why the Protestant Reformation needed to happen. Because the church at that time had been adding to the salvation message. They would say things like, “In order to be saved, you must place your faith in Christ and you need to observe these certain sacraments, and you must pay these indulgences, and you must…, etc.”

The gospel message that the church was preaching was no longer the true gospel message.

Always be very wary of anyone who comes along and tries to add something to the pure Gospel message of salvation by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone! Many times these are some of the most sincere, dedicated people who end up leading others astray. They are the ones who end up starting cults (Joseph Smith, Ellen G. White, etc.).

A few weeks ago I saw a PBS special on Seventh Day Adventists. The focus of the program was on their highly rated medical hospitals (which are good things). But if you know anything about the doctrinal beliefs of Seventh Day Adventists, you know that they add “works of obedience” to the salvation message.

Almost every cult that comes along adds works of obedience to being “saved.” Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses, etc. all have a “faith plus something” in order to be saved. Why is this? Mankind wants to feel like they deserve what they get. Mankind naturally wants to feel like they “earned their way to heaven.”

As the well known ancient hymn of the faith (Rock of Ages) says,…

“nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling.”

Until next week, Soli Deo Gloria!

“I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you. For I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins.” (1 Corinthians 15:1,3)

There are many good, profitable and honorable causes in life that can occupy our attention. But what is the main thing?

The Apostle Paul tells us in 1 Corinthians 15 what is to be of first importance.

“The Bible tells us that, while there are many different callings and many possible areas of service in the kingdom of God, one transcendent truth should define our lives. One simple truth should motivate our work and affect every part of who we are: Christ died for our sins!”  (C. J. Mahaney)

The words “of first importance” point to the quintessence (i.e. the heart & soul, the center, the core) of the gospel which Paul preached. That is, while Paul’s preaching and teaching touched upon many themes, not all of these themes were of equal weight and centrality to his message.

A.T Robertson in his classic five volume set Word Pictures in the New Testament, mentions that the phrase “first of all” (ἐν πρωτοις in Greek), refers to importance, not time. In other words, Paul isn’t saying, “The first thing I shared with you was Christ died for your sins…, and then the second thing I shared with you…”. No, instead he is saying “The most important thing I shared with you…”

There are three main tendencies that can draw our hearts away from “gospel-centered living.” They are…

1. Legalism: Basing our relationship with God on our own performance.
2. Condemnation: Being more focused on our sin than on God’s grace.
3. Subjectivism: Basing our view of God on our changing feelings and emotions.

Today I want to focus briefly on the first of the three tendencies, legalism.

What is legalism?

Legalism is seeking to achieve forgiveness from God and acceptance by God through obedience to God.

In other words, a legalist is anyone who behaves as if they can earn God’s approval and forgiveness through personal performance.

“Legalism has its origin in self-worship. If people are justified through their obedience to the law then they merit praise, honor, and glory. Legalism, in other words, means the glory goes to people rather than God.”

(Thomas Schreiner)

Theologian and Bible Scholar Dr. Lewis Johnson writes this about the insidious poison of legalism:

“One of the most serious problems facing the Christian church today is the problem of legalism. One of the most serious problems facing the church in Paul’s day was the problem of legalism. In every day it is the same.

Legalism wrenches the joy of the Lord from the Christian believer, and with the joy of the Lord goes his power for vital worship and vibrant service. Nothing is left but cramped, somber, dull, and listless profession. The truth is betrayed, and the glorious name of the Lord becomes a synonym for a gloomy kill-joy. The Christian under law is a miserable parody of the real thing.”

Next week we’re going to look at why legalism is so dangerous to our spiritual health and why it is so important that we understand the difference between living “from” acceptance rather than “for” acceptance.

Until next week, Soli Deo Gloria!