Nobody wants to be a “Pharisee.” But in our effort to fight legalism, could we be promoting a new brand of the same old thing? Discover why Christ’s righteousness is still our only hope.

Hartland Spring Convocation 2023: Righteousness by Faith and its Impact on Religious Liberty

<p>Nobody wants to be a “Pharisee.” But in our effort to fight legalism, could we be promoting a new brand of the same old thing? Discover why Christ’s righteousness is still our only hope.</p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Hartland Institute of Health and Education

Jim Howard

Liberal Legalism

So I'm going to tackle just 1 issue related to religious liberty that I don't think we've talked about much, and then I'm going to just focus on righteousness by faith to finish this out and give you a picture of something that I think is very important.

Before I do that, do you mind if I pray with you?

Father in heaven, thank you so much for the privilege of gathering together as like-minded believers, worshipping you, opening your word, hearing your voice.

You alone are the 1 who awakens us to spiritual life.

And for this, we are eternally grateful, and we pray that you would do it again in a powerful way as we spend these moments together at the close of this day.

So bless us now with your spirit and your presence.

So 1 item specifically that I didn't think was addressed in the Q&A or that we've talked about too much, related to religious liberty, is a misuse of religious liberty that sometimes we are prone to to give ourselves noble reasons to do something.

So when we had an issue with evolution being taught in some universities here in North America.

The cry was that we need liberty, we need academic freedom, and if you try to put us in this box, you're restricting our academic freedom.

Well, the problem with that logic is that these are employees of the church.

And the church, when you become an employee of the church or a member of the church, there are certain liberties that you relinquish.

The same is true of being in a society, by the way.

When you're in a society, there's certain liberties that you relinquish.

Here in North America, you need to wear your seatbelt.

There are laws that you abide by as a citizen of the country.

And so you're relinquishing certain liberties.

In the church, there are certain liberties that you relinquish.

You are, especially as an employee of the church, you need to represent the church in your teachings and your beliefs.

If you don't, then it's not an issue of religious liberty, it's an issue of not fulfilling your commitment as an employee of the church.

And in that case, you are able to teach in another university or another place where the same values are not held, you're free to do that, but you can't claim religious liberty to do what you want within a faith body that has certain parameters.

The same is true of the LGBT issue, where some people are crying out that it's an ethical issue of conscience for them.

There's no problem with you having your own personal conscientious view.

You just can't have it as an employee of the church, because the church has certain parameters that you commit to that we have agreed to as a corporate body.

And without getting too into the weeds, The same is true with the issue of women's ordination.

When we have had certain unions who have made a decision to go ahead, some of the reasoning or rationale that's given is freedom of conscience.

I have friends who believe on both sides of that question.

But when the global church takes an action that this is how we are going to operate, We all work together in that.

There are certain liberties that we relinquish.

If you cannot conscientiously continue as a union president or what have you, because of your conviction being different from what was voted by the church, then you just find a different place or way to minister.

So you have to recognize liberty within its context.

And within the church, we can't just use religious liberty as a context to do whatever we want and in many cases trample on the liberty of others because remember when the global church makes a decision that's based on their collective conscience and so when we make decisions contrary to that then we're actually saying that what we believe is more important and imposing it on others who may not believe that way, even though the church holds to a particular view about creation or about marriage or about whatever it may be.

So these are, it is important to recognize that liberty of conscience is always within a context, and for us in the church, it's different even from in society.

I also wanted to make 1 comment that they didn't let me make during the Q&A and I thought, nah, I've got the pulpit tonight, I'm just gonna take it.

It doesn't have anything to do with my sermon, that's okay.

Actually, it does have a little to do with my sermon, but I don't know where to fit it in, so I'm just going to say it.

The first question that came in was an issue about righteousness by faith, and it was someone who was concerned with the fact that they, you know, how do we tie all this together and feeling a little bit anxious maybe about not quite reaching the stature of character perfection that they they're seeking.

1 important point that we always have to remember, and Spirit of Prophecy makes this very clear in the book Steps to Christ, is that the closer we get to Jesus, the more faulty we appear in our own eyes.

This means, as Pastor Mark said, that the Christian life is a life of faith, not of feeling.

Because the closer we get to it, we're never going to feel like we've arrived.

The closer we get to Jesus, the more we're going to see our imperfections.

Faith that He who has promised will perform whatever good work in us He promised.

Not because we feel it, but because He said it.

And so we need to remember not to, and Ellen White is very clear, for this reason, she says, we should not indulge anxiety as to whether or not we shall be saved.

We don't need to go around acting like our salvation is irreversible and possible to lose.

We can have assurance with Christ today, but we are careful to maintain our union with Christ because we, unlike some, don't believe in 1 saved, always saved.

But we should not indulge anxiety as to whether or not we shall be saved.

We focus on Christ and trust that he's going to see us faithfully to the end.

So anyway, maybe I should just have prayer and close with that.

Okay, I'm gonna go ahead and preach a sermon.

All right, the title of this message is liberal legalism.

I'm not sure what it means, but I'm going to try to figure it out while I'm talking to you.

So perhaps the most despised people in Jesus' day were the Pharisees.

The quintessential legalists were the Pharisees.

If you were to ask someone today, a legalist is generally viewed as someone who's too concerned about behavior.

Someone who places unnecessary burdens of guilt on people by majoring in minors.

Someone who's obsessed with external issues that have nothing to do with salvation.

Someone that becomes perfectionistic and critical instead of being accepting and loving and on and on it goes.

The bottom line is nobody likes to be called a legalist.

Of course, evangelicals refer to Adventists often as legalists because of our views on the Sabbath and on lifestyle issues, and Adventists don't like it.

So to shed the label, many Adventists refer to ultra-conservative Adventists as legalists because they eat raw or vegan or don't drink Starbucks.

The basic idea is that if someone is more conservative than you, you can safely call them a legalist.

And underlying it all is the idea that a legalist must be going to all that trouble because they think they have to earn their salvation by their good works.

But a true Christian embraces righteousness by faith and so they don't have to sweat the small stuff.

But I believe this concept of legalism, to put it bluntly, is wrong.

And I'd like to take a few minutes tonight to talk about the heart of righteousness by faith and in so doing develop a clear definition of legalism.

And to begin we have to go back to a quotation that I shared with you this morning.

How many of you were here this morning at Sabbath school?

If you weren't, do you mind if I reprimand you for a moment?

It was 1 thing, Sabbath school and church.

When you went to the house of God, you went to Sabbath school and church.

Liberal Legalism

Transcript

Description

Parent Conference

Sponsor

Recorded

Related

Plenary

Building Altars

1h 26m

Dying for Devotions

37m

Abraham: Father of the End-time Faithful

Father Abraham: Stranger and Pilgrim

42m

Balaam, Balak and the Nicolaitans

46m

Gardening 101

Pest and Weeds

41m

The Unhindered Gospel

A New Identity

41m

The Mount of Blessings

Light of the World

40m

Sheep Among Wolves

46m

The Sanctuary

3. Buried- Dead or Alive

49m

Jesus On Prophecy

Prophecy and the Eternal Gospel

51m

Waiting for the Promise

31m

Unlock Revelation

12. A Thief in the Night

1h 18m

Sound Doctrine