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*Jesus' Power Over Legalism*
*Nov.
28, 1999 Gospel of Mark*
*Introduction: His Power over Religious Legalism and Authority*
Just what is legalism, anyway?
It is the quality of serving things that are legal.
The root of the word tells us it must have to do with rules.
Legalism puts priority upon rules.
But just whose rules are they?
Common sense tells us there must be rules.
But are they rules of God or are they rules of men?
When we serve God's rules it is true worship.
When we serve men's rules it is legalism.
And Jesus called that false worship.
Mark 7:7 They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.'
Jesus went on further to say that when we do this we have let go of the commands of God and merely hold to the traditions of men.
Legalism then is the enforced worship of someone else's desire to be in control instead of God.
We must follow their rules, or else.
Now this is a scary thing because men's rules can come between us and God's rules.
They can keep us from understanding and obeying God's rules because of the priority legalists place on them.
Here is a topic of fear that keeps people from coming to the truth.
All too often people who want to come to faith are repelled by the hard-hearted legalism of those who use religion to abuse others, maintain personal power, and provide the front that they have all the answers.
Jesus effectively exposed the motives of the legalists, revealing them for what they were.
They were opposed to God and truth.
They wanted to kill Jesus because he exposed them.
But by exposing them he disarmed them.
The victory was not theirs but it was his upon the cross.
We need not fear the legalism of rules or those who support them when we come to the Christ who taught us to live by faith in him who writes his rules upon our hearts.
Hebrews 10:16 "This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord.
I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds."
And when we come right down to it, there is only one law we must remember.
And that law is to love God by believing in the salvation he gives us in Jesus Christ from which everything good and holy and righteous comes.
Why?
Because he is good and holy and righteous.
When we believe in Jesus we have his power to do what he does, and we will do what he does because we love God through him.
Through him we are enabled to love and obey God.
We don't need to get hung up on a big list of rules and regulations.
Jesus put all that behind us.
It is called the Law.
He didn't abolish it, but he did fulfill it (Mt.
5:17).
Now we may need to be reminded of the Law occasionally in order to understand what God wants from us.
But only one thing is neccessary, as Jesus told Martha when she complained about Mary in Luke 10:41-42.
And that one thing is to sit at the feet of Jesus and learn from him.
If we are in him, we do not need to be under the oppression of a lot of rules and regulations.
The Holy Spirit he left us will prompt us moment by moment with whatever is neccessary.
Jesus has a lot to say about legalism in the Gospel of Mark.
Mark included it because it is a big topic of fear – abusive religion.
Let's take a look at what Mark tells us about Jesus' power over legalism.
Note the rapid succession in which the first six accounts come, all in chapters 2 & 3.
* 1. Legalists would keep us in sin.
(2:6-11)*
* Jesus would forgive us.*
*The Accusation about Blasphemy *
Jesus healed the paralytic by pronouncing his sins forgiven (2:6-11).
Truly there is often a direct connection between our sin and its result of physical infirmity.
And we get the picture that sin becomes a spiritual paralysis just like its physical counterpart.
Jesus may have known there were legalists in the audience or he may have rightly seen the connection between the man’s paralysis and sin.
At any rate, as soon as he pronounces the paralytic’s sins forgiven, the legalists come to the forefront in their thoughts that Jesus exposes.
He purposely presses the issue because it is important to oppose such hardness of heart against the true healing of sin because sin is the most serious infirmity of all.
Jesus’ foremost mission was not the healing of physical problems but of spiritual.
The physical was a means to teach about the spiritual and about his power to forgive and set free from sin.
They accuse Jesus of blasphemy because he dared do what only God could do – forgive sins.
They were blind to the fact that only God could heal as he did.
And so he must also have the authority to forgive sins.
What hardness of heart have those who would rejoice in someone’s physical healing and yet refuse their freedom from the sin which probably caused it, and worse.
Jesus confronts their hypocrisy and specifically says that he has the power to forgive sins.
Whether physical or spiritual healing, both are equally easy for him, and neither one could be done by man.
But he goes to the source of the problem and does the hardest thing for man to accept.
Jesus is not intimidated from his compassionate purpose by hard-hearted legalists.
We need not fear for our welfare because of any subjection Jesus might give of himself to others.
He came to serve mankind’s deepest needs regardless of what anybody thought (10:45).
Are rules and preconceived opinion more important than forgiveness?
*2.
Legalists would keep us in isolation.
(2:16-17)*
* Jesus would befriend us.*
*The Accusation about Association with Sinners *
When Jesus called Levi (2:16-17) he called one of the most despised of Jewish society because he was a tax collector.
And Levi willingly followed Jesus.
It was amazing to Levi that this holy teacher would desire his company and service.
Levi responds to this friendship by inviting Jesus to dinner at his house with his friends who naturally were other sinners like himself.
The legalistic Pharisees take Jesus to task for this ‘unholy’ association for such a one as himself who was holy.
But Jesus’ response was essentially that for sinners to become holy they must have contact with holiness.
Jesus said that he was a doctor who was willing to be with his patients in order to heal them.
His slam to the Pharisees was that since they thought themselves so righteous, they didn’t need or want his company and would not benefit from it.
Levi, known as Matthew, would go on to write the gospel to the Jews that would give the most scathing account of woes to the Pharisees for their legalistic attitudes that hinder the children of God from coming to him.
How blessed and hopeful Levi must have felt for Jesus’ friendship.
We need not fear anyone from averting Jesus friendship with us.
Are rules and preconceived opinion more important than fellowship?
* 3. Legalists would keep us oppressed.
(2:18-22)*
* Jesus would give us joy.*
*The Accusation about Fasting *
In quick succession we now see another account of some people who want to take a legalistic issue with Jesus and his disciples – this time about fasting (2:18-22).
After all, the disciples of John and the Pharisees fast, they said.
Why was Jesus different?
Why were they not tied to these same works of righteousness?
Jesus compares himself to a bridegroom and his time with them as one of rejoicing in which there is no proper place for fasting and its accompanying sorrow.
He calls for a clean break with the old ways of righteousness.
The new way will not fit with the old way.
If someone tries to join them together, neither one will survive.
His coming on the scene is a revolutionary development in the relationship of God with man.
The old rules no longer take precedence.
This is no longer a time to make sure someone follows them.
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