When good habits become bad masters

We were looking yesterday morning at 3 of Jesus confrontations with the Pharisees in Mark 2 and 3, one about fasting and 2 about the Sabbath.  I just want to walk through in my mind and using my fingers and keyboard some ways in which we may find ourselves slipping into legalism.

Firstly we need to recognise that the Pharisees didn't set out to be legalists who loved law more than they loved people.  They set out to live lives that pleased God.  That is why they added layer after layer of tradition to the law, they were safeguards to make sure that they didn't break the law.  They were seeking to please God, but the problem was not that they went too far but that they didn't go far enough.  I don't mean in terms of needing more extremely laws, I mean in terms of understanding the purpose of the law, what it revealed about the nature of the problem, and what it revealed about God.

They did not go far enough in that their traditions addressed external behaviour not heart change.  Their understanding of God didn't go far enough in that they assumed they could live righteously rather than seeing the bigger picture of what the law pointed to, which was that they couldn't.  But most importantly they missed the heart of God revealed in the law - a God who loved, cherished, rescued, called, protected, disciplined and blessed his people.  The danger is that we fall into the same trap, so what might a creeping pharisee-icalism look like in our lives:

1. A preoccupation with externals rather than heart change.
This can take any form you like, from keeping a mental register of who is in church week by week, to a legalistic focus on bible reading.  The point is that the external practise has become what matters not the internal change.  In short grace is no longer at work in your heart.
 
2. A lack of love for others instead of a deep love.
This evidences itself in writing people off, in not loving in a way that is active, in not pursing the lost or the wandering.  Instead it leads to a bemoaning of the sins of others and the rapid degeneration of society and the church, whilst failing to hold out the gospel hope society and individuals need.

3. A rush to judge others rather than assume the best.
A lack of love leads to this.  We are quick to assume the worst of people rather than the best.  Be it that they will not respond to the gospel, or that they are too far gone, or that they are too hard hearted.  Or simply that they are too bad for the gospel.  It leads us to be hyper critical of Bible teaching and doctrine that does notexactly conform or phrase things in a way we would.

4. A failure to enjoy God
If you had asked the Pharisees if they enjoyed God they would not have known how to answer.  I wonder how we would answer that same question.  Are you enjoying God?  Because Jesus focus in is on enjoying God rather than slaving for God.  He talks of the kingdom in terms of a wedding banquet, he talks of the Sabbath as being designed for man and he brings rest, wholeness, restoration and redemption on the Sabbath.  Do we enjoy God?  Ask yourself that question and answer it honestly, because I wonder if in answering it we really see the inner Pharisee in each of us.