I once attended a church that set great store on how a Christian behaved. How you dressed, the words you used in conversation, the kinds of books you read, how you entertained yourself, and how much you participated in church events … all these things were subtle, but very real, indicators of just how “spiritual” you were regarded to be. No one would suggest that your behavior was your way of earning God’s grace, but it was widely regarded as an indicator of how well you had received God’s grace. People that didn’t live up to accepted standards were looked down upon, not without compassion, but it was a condescending compassion. And though many of the behaviors so measured were behaviors described as righteous in Scripture, many also were not. They were just the accepted interpretation of how a Christian ought to be.
As best as I know, it’s no longer that way at that church; they’ve had many changes in leadership and the congregation over the years. But it was very much that way at the time, and such an atmosphere in a church can be utterly stifling. People go around hiding what they do in private, for fear someone would judge them less spiritual. People put on airs, and act out their views of “correct Christian behavior,” with a great deal of spiritual pride, carefully masqueraded as piety. If you have a differing opinion about something widely agreed upon, you keep it to yourself. If you even have questions, you are very careful what you ask about and how, so you don’t tip anyone off that you aren’t as “spiritual” as they.
Now, in my old church, you could learn a great deal about the Bible, as it was something they emphasized strongly; and because God is faithful, there were those who grew in the grace and knowledge of Christ anyway. But the church made it difficult. The most insidious aspect of it was that, on the surface, you couldn’t tell the truly spiritual from the ones putting on airs … they did the same things, went to the same events, and even spoke the same way. If you were sensitive enough, you might pick up on a vague feeling of wrongness, but until you were there long enough to know people really well, you would never know they weren’t all wonderful Christians. And though I personally could not point at any church I know today and say that is the prevailing atmosphere, I do say with confidence that the same attitudes have a tendency to crop up anywhere the Bible is taught. It is a very human reaction … it starts as a sincere desire to please the Lord. But where it goes wrong is when Christians attempt to please the Lord in the same ways that they lived their lives before they came to know the Lord.
The church at Galatia had a problem like this. I would recommend reading through the entire book, because there is a lot of good teaching in there on the subject, but lets focus for the moment on Galatians 3:2-3 –
“This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?–Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?”
The Galatian church was influenced by Jews who had a tradition of strict obedience to the Jewish Law. They accepted Christ when introduced to Him, but these Jews convinced them that being a good Christian meant being a good Jew and they took it a step further and said you couldn’t be a good Christian unless you were a good Jew, and obeyed all of the Jewish Law. So Paul had to reprimand them, and remind them they were not slaves, but sons (Galatians 4) of the Living God, and that the Law was meant to teach them a higher form of obedience (Gal. 3:24). He even expressed dismay that their attitudes indicated some were not even really believers (ch. 4, v.11). Because, as Paul pointed out in 3:3, outward adherence to the Law is an act of the flesh, not of the Spirit. And that is exactly the heart of the problem. It is always good to do what is right, but simply doing good is not what God wants of us, and it’s not what Christ died for. He wants us to be good as well.
Let me indulge in a very simple illustration. Just about everyone will agree that knowingly speaking falsehood to another is bad, and telling the truth is good. But telling the truth is something even unbelievers can do, and there have been outright wicked people who prided themselves on their ability to do so regularly. If one of these “honest” unbelievers comes to know the Lord, it is no big thing for them to continue to be honest. They did it before, and they can continue in it, by sheer strength of will and entirely in the power of the flesh. So is their truthfulness an indicator of what God has done in their life? No, it’s not. But, if after they have become a Christian, they have also come to love the truth as an expression of the One True God, and they delight in expressing it for that reason … well, that’s another matter, isn’t it? But the end result is the same: they tell the truth.
And here is why the difference in how that truth is spoken is important. Take a look at what Christ says to His disciples just before He was crucified in John 14:15 –
“If you love Me, keep My commandments,”
and then link it with what He says in John 15:10-12 –
“If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”
This is an extraordinary and powerful statement, and I think it illustrates exactly what God’s goal is for us. And you have to take in the context of that entire passage, which spans several chapters; Christ is talking about them knowing Him, knowing the Father, abiding in Him, and being like Him … the list goes on. But the heart of it is God’s love for us, and His desire that we love Him and each other the same way. If you need more convincing, read as well the book of 1 John, and take special note that John repeats Christ’s instruction in 1 John 3:23 –
“And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.” And again, in Matthew 22:37-40 – “Jesus said to him, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.’”
There is also 1 Corinthians 13; Scripture does not stint on passages that repeat this theme.
But it isn’t love if all you are doing is following a set of rules. It doesn’t matter if the rules are good ones, and it doesn’t matter if the end result, in terms of outward behavior, is the same. It doesn’t matter if the rules are ones you made in our own mind as to what God wants from you, or if they were handed down by a respected teacher. God’s goal is for your actions to spring from a changed heart that He has renewed, and to act out of love for Him and for those others He loves as much as He loves you.