Legalism with Jason Cook
Today we’re wrapping up our Blind Spots series with a conversation on legalism with Jason Cook. If you don’t know him, Jason is a husband, father, and the lead pastor at Fellowship Bible Church in Roswell, GA. I can’t think of a better conversation to wrap up not only this series, but also this year!
On a personal level, this has been such a helpful series for each member of our team. We pray the Lord has used it in your life as well. Thank you for humbly considering the blind spots you’re maintaining. We pray you take time to bring those before the Lord and before friends in your local church context to simply ask for their help.
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
For starters, let’s get a clear definition out on the table. What is legalism?
What is the heart behind legalism? Where does it start?
What’s the problem with legalism? Why is it so bad? What does Scripture say about it?
What are some tendencies or trends we might notice in ourselves (or others) who are functioning legalistically? How might we discern if and when we are seeking to merit God’s salvation outside of the work of Christ?
How does legalism undermine the gospel? In contrast, what is the good news of the gospel of God’s grace?
If we sense that we are functioning legalistically, what is the appropriate, biblical response?
How would you suggest we approach believers in our churches and communities who might maintain legalistic tendencies or ideas?
How can we avoid the pitfall of legalism? What are some cautionary words for those of us who may have more black and white personalities or who might be prone to legalistic tendencies?
How do we seek to live in obedience to the commands of the Lord while confidently resting in salvation by grace through faith alone?
NOTEWORTHY QUOTES
“Legalism is when people believe that strict adherence to the law and its prescriptions make them right with God.”
“Legalism is when we attempt to be made right with God separate from Jesus. Whenever we’re attempting to please God or be made right with God or even impress God apart from Jesus, I would categorize that as legalism.”
“Legalism is a really earnest and well-intentioned attempt to be obedient, but as Jesus does in the New Testament, he relocates faithfulness away from external activity and onto the condition of one’s heart. That’s where the gray area starts to get clear is when we begin to look at our heart and say ‘What is my motivation for doing ‘xyz’? Am I trying to win God’s approval? Or is this out of a heart that overflows with affection for Jesus because of what he’s accomplished for me?’”
“Legalism ultimately is a false gospel, because it promises an avenue to God separate from Jesus. That’s why it’s so bad. It’s the same trap the Pharisees fell into… What the Pharisees resolved in the time since the return to Israel was to never again fall away and depart from the law of God. So there was this wholehearted conviction and allegiance to the law of God. The problem was that rather than seeing the law and the Scriptures and the one that it pointed to, they saw the law and the Scriptures as an end to itself.”
“When we see our own activity and performance for God as the avenue to God, Jesus gets left out of the equation. So this can be a false gospel because it can lead us to trust more in what we accomplish for God than what God in Christ has accomplished for us.”
“We want to do what God’s Word says, there’s blessing in obedience, but it comes down to this idea of whose effort are we trusting?”
“The gospel isn’t opposed to effort, but it is opposed to earning.” - R.C. Sproul
“Are we trusting in what we earn for God or what God in Christ has earned for us?”
“Is my faith in the finished work of Christ—that when he said ‘It is finished’ he meant it—or is my faith in how many mission trips I’ve taken or having the ‘right’ perspective or view about this social or cultural or political or ideological movement? Do I consider myself a better person because my kids are in public school or private school or homeschooled? Or am I right with God and does God look upon me with blessing and favor because of what Jesus has accomplished on our behalf?”
“Legalism robs us of the joy of freedom, and it binds us into a prison and a hamster wheel of earning that we can’t break out of on our own.”
“When I’m trending toward legalism I'm slow to confess and slow to repent because I don’t fully believe God is going to meet me in my sin with grace and kindness and mercy. I'm also slow to repent because I believe that God’s love for me is based on my performance, so when I behave poorly God’s love for me wanes or somehow he’s slow to forgive. I find when I’m trending toward legalism my prayers become more elaborate, or I become self-deprecating and beat myself up while I’m confessing. I’m looking for my performance again to justify God forgiving me rather than a good and gracious and holy God on his own prerogative choosing to forgive.”
“If we’re not careful to check our hearts, what will happen is that we will end up forgiving ourselves while never feeling true absolution from God himself.”
“What legalism really comes down to is control.”
“When we believe that we can manage and control even small areas of our life, it allows us to make sense of the world and in some ways it allows us to make sense of God. The problem is when you’ve created these controlled environments, when things don’t go as you want them to, it blows up your life.”
“Legalism says ‘strive,’ and the gospel says ‘rest.’”
“Legalism says ‘strive to feel right with God, strive to have control, strive to be in charge.’ The gospel says ‘rest in what Christ has accomplished, rest in what Christ has earned, rest in what Jesus has achieved for you.’ Legalism says ‘try harder.’ Gospel says ‘rest.’ Legalism says ‘it all depends on you.’ Gospel says ‘it all depends on Jesus’ finished work.’ Legalism says ‘perform.’ Gospel says ‘trust in Jesus’ performance. Legalism says ‘you’re not right until you do ‘x.’ Gospel says ‘faith in Jesus makes you right.’”
“One of them says it all depends on you, and if it all depends on you then we’re all doomed. The other—the gospel—says it all rests and hinges on this man named Jesus. And if that’s what it all hinges on, if that’s what’s reliable and true, then life as a believer then becomes a practice to grow up into that and then surrender and submit those areas of control of our life to the Lord so that our lives are oriented around the ways and the practices of Jesus more than they are around the ways we control our environment.”
“If Jesus is our ark and if there is safety found only in him, then we need to be found in him.”
“The entire New Testament is really aimed at people who feel this insatiable desire to do for God in ways that their own righteousness is dependent upon.”
“If you're functioning legalistically, the biblical response is to be found in him. And once you're found in the ark, what you instantly realize is that that structure, that ark, that home—Christ—is far more sufficient than anything you could ever do.”
“Rather than creating another list of 9 things you’ve got to do to respond to legalism (which is more legalism on top of the legalism you're trying to be set free from), be found in Jesus. Find yourself in him. Find everything in him, ultimately a righteousness from God that depends on faith.”
“Legalism feels really safe when you’re highly anxious. It can feel very comforting when everything else feels really scary.”
“We preach grace and we are grace. We don’t give lists to people who are list-obsessed. We preach grace because it combats our tendency to perform, strive, and accomplish. Then we are gracious because we are reminding them of the work that Jesus credited to them.”
“Be really faithful to not be impressed by the external works of people.”
“We’re lonely when we hide, we’re lonely when we don’t have intimacy and people don’t know us, we’re lonely when we’re putting on airs.”
“If I don’t practice letting people see all the broken bits, then I’m never fully opening myself up to be loved, and that’s potentially one of the things that legalism gets us to is the to the point where we hide.”
“Comfort can often lead to auto-pilot where our hearts are disengaged.”
“In all things, look to Jesus to be found in him. Surround yourself with people who aren’t impressed by what you perform, accomplish, or look like, who see you and are willing to look past the externals and actually ask good questions about your heart, because they are looking to Jesus and Jesus is looking right past what you look like and he’s looking at the internal.”
“The more that we fall in love with Jesus, look to Jesus, believe in him, act on his words, we’re transformed into him, and we look up one day and we’re so much further down the line than we’ve been, and yet we never arrive until we stand before his presence with unveiled, unshrouded faces, with new bodies and minds and seeing God face to face. That’s when we’ll be done, but until then we’ve got to look to Jesus in everything we do.”
“When you think about what the gospel is and the great exchange of the cross, it’s Jesus taking upon himself what belongs to us and then conferring upon us what belongs to him. And when you’re found in Christ Jesus and your union with him, when you're married with him and his church, then you get that reciprocity, that intimacy, but you get the freedom that corresponds with that because you’re in him—you’re located in Christ Jesus.”
RESOURCES MENTIONED
Found in Him: The Joy of Incarnation and Our Union with Christ by Elyse Fitzpatrick
The Return of the Prodigal Son: A Story of Homecoming by Henri J.M. Nouwen
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Do you ever tend to seek to merit God’s salvation outside of the work of Christ?
What are some legalistic tendencies or trends you have noticed in yourself?
What is the good news of the gospel of God’s grace, and how does it speak to the struggle of legalism?
How might you take a step today to walk in obedience to the Lord while still confidently resting in salvation by grace through faith alone?
What might you do or implement based on what you learned in this week’s episode?
IMPORTANT NOTE
Journeywomen interviews are intended to serve as a springboard for continued study in the context of your local church. While we carefully select guests each week, interviews do not imply Journeywomen's endorsement of all writings and positions of the interviewee or any other resources mentioned.
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