The Cost of the Sin of Religiosity

When we were in Dallas we had the opportunity to go to the Village Church. Huge churches are the norm in Texas, but this is one of the biggest ones, so I hear. It was very refreshing to go to a church that was a majority people close to our age (we barely have anyone our age at our home church). Matt Chandler is the pastor and apparently popular, but I had never heard of him before. Now, I can see why. His message was AMAZING! It was so truthful and powerful. I was so impressed with the way that he seems hip and popular, but didn't try to be at all (he only made a few jokes which were very related to the message), and didn't hold back from what was hard to say. I particularly enjoyed it because he's so young but his preaching style reminded me of John Piper (my fave ;)). I think it's incredible that there are so many great pastors today. In my seminary class this summer we learned that in the end times, the world won't just get worse and worse; the dichotomy of good and evil will increase. Good and evil will both increase. Obviously the world is pretty evil right now, but it's awesome to see that there are men preaching the Gospel - and people listening to them. I love seeing God at work!

So about the sermon - what did I love about it? For the first time more than ever before I understood the weight of my sin. My testimony is one that may ring familiar with you - I grew up in the church, accepted Christ through a Sunday School class, and went full-force into church attendance mode after that. Basically, I erred on the side of legalism. One problem with that after becoming a Christian is that I was completely blind to my sin. I was a good girl, so my sins weren't the blatant kind; I at times begged God in prayer to reveal my sin to me because I just wasn't aware of it, but I knew it existed. I don't think He fully answered my prayer until today. 

Matt gave specific examples of things a legalistic person holds on to and trusts in within their moral lifestyle: never getting drunk, not cussing, winning awards for church attendance (ha), being a virgin at marriage. He definitely caught my attention because I fit into every category he listed! I knew I always pursued a moral lifestyle, but didn't realize that for a lot of my life I was trusting in my moral righteousness.The passage of scripture we were looking at was Galatians 2, which mentions the difference in backgrounds between Jews and Gentiles. The Jews had so much to lord over the Gentiles - they were so moral! They had the law and they followed it. The Gentiles on the other hand? Today they would be those people raised in homes that never went to church, had a few drunken uncles and multiple babies out of wedlock. But in verse 16 Paul says that neither of those backgrounds count for anything in terms of our salvation. That means that the legalistic person is NOT justified by their works, aka their moral lifestyle. (This doesn't mean that we shouldn't strive to raise our children in a godly home or lead them to Christ. It just means that in terms of justification, background doesn't have an impact. You can be saved either way, but either way you are saved by faith in Christ, not works.)

This really hit me when we started to worship after the sermon had ended. On the screen was Romans 5:8 - "but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." God opened my eyes to see that even when I was a kid trying to do the right thing, I was sinning. And that sin of thinking I was good enough, or trusting in my goodness was bad enough that Jesus had to die! While I was going to church, praying at bedtime, not ever pinky-swearing, not watching bad TV shows, etc, I was relying on myself instead of God. And that is a serious offense. The sin of legalism is so wretched that it cost Jesus His life. It's not any better than any other sin. I am so thankful for the grace of God, especially now, because I see more clearly the price Jesus paid to rectify my sinful life. He saved me - I was doomed, depending on myself, but by His great love He made me alive with Christ. Praise the Lord!

Friends, even after we are saved this is a simple trap to fall into. It's something we need to be on guard of and watching out for. If we center our lives around church, rules, and journaling (haha I just found out that's not even a word despite its use in Christian circles), we might forget to have faith in Jesus Christ. Galatians 2:20: "I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."