masika Posted October 16, 2009 Report Share Posted October 16, 2009 Q5. (1 John 2:3-6) How can we be serious about obeying Christ without become legalistic and judgmental, with a self-righteous attitude like the Pharisees had? How do love and legalism differ? How can we be serious about obedience and make love our center? If we keep the commandments of God, loving Him with all our heart, and our neighbour as ourselves, we have the fullest proof that we have the true saving knowledge of God and his Christ. The Pharisees pretended to much knowledge, but their knowledge left them in possession of all their bad passions and unholy habits; they, therefore, gave no proof that they had known either God or his Son Jesus-nor is any man properly acquainted with God, who is still under the power of his sins. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandra K Posted October 17, 2009 Report Share Posted October 17, 2009 Q5. (1 John 2:3-6) How can we be serious about obeying Christ without become legalistic and judgmental, with a self-righteous attitude like the Pharisees had? How do love and legalism differ? How can we be serious about obedience and make love our center? My obedience comes from loving Him and desiring to please Him. Some modern-day Pharisees have the attitude that if they obey everything to the letter that it makes them a child of God. The obedience is good but their reasoning and motive is wrong...and it leads to a person who is bitter and lost their joy. Our joy is a result of our relationship with God and our obedience and also knowing that if we sin we can and should repent and ask for forgiveness. How can we be serious about obedience and make love our center? My love for Him stays central to my life as I reflect on my salvation and remember His goodness and mercy, etc. Then I obey out of love for Him. God set up this principle at Mt. Sinai when He appointed the feasts where the people reflected on "remembering" what God had done for them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loisb Posted October 17, 2009 Report Share Posted October 17, 2009 Q5. (1 John 2:3-6) How can we be serious about obeying Christ without become legalistic and judgmental, with a self-righteous attitude like the Pharisees had? How do love and legalism differ? How can we be serious about obedience and make love our center? 1. We can pray, study God's Word and obey His commandments with the right attitude. 2. If we love God, love our neighbors and obey His Commandments, we will not become legalistic or self-centered. 3. To obey His Commandments and walk as Jesus walked, we can prove how serious we are about obedience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antwan Posted October 18, 2009 Report Share Posted October 18, 2009 Q5. (1 John 2:3-6) How can we be serious about obeying Christ without become legalistic and judgmental, with a self-righteous attitude like the Pharisees had? How do love and legalism differ? How can we be serious about obedience and make love our center? I believe the way to obey Christ without being legalistic/self-righteous is to live life in such a way that is pleasing to God out of love and thanksgiving for the sacrifice He made in saving us. This takes the focus off of us and puts it on God.We don't live a morally upstanding life to get the credit, but because of what God did for us. So to me, legalism is being "good" for selfish motives, so others can see the "good" we do, but love is selfless, taking the focus off one's self and putting it unto God. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iam4-1god Posted October 21, 2009 Report Share Posted October 21, 2009 Q5. (1 John 2:3-6) How can we be serious about obeying Christ without become legalistic and judgmental, with a self-righteous attitude like the Pharisees had? How do love and legalism differ? How can we be serious about obedience and make love our center? We have to remember that it is not about us-it is about Christ. When I forget about Jesus and all He did for me, I get wrapped up in me, and I get all self-righteous. I am here to be obedient to God, and to be an example to others. I try to remember that Jesus gave all, and I am nothing without Him. That is a fact! Trust and obey-for there's no other way! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweets Posted October 22, 2009 Report Share Posted October 22, 2009 love God, love your neighbor, follow Christ above, be obedience from your heart. dont have a sel- righteous spirit, love God with your hold heart, mind, body and soul. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Debra M. Posted October 22, 2009 Report Share Posted October 22, 2009 How can we be serious about obeying Christ without become legalistic and judgmental, with a self-righteous attitude like the Pharisees had? Obeying first, the commandment of love. By continual self-examination (Luke 12:1) and confessing our sins to the Father and/or one another (1 John 1:9). Avoiding envy and strife and hypocrisy at all costs (James 3:17). How do love and legalism differ? Love is allowing Jesus Christ to be our advocate and our avenger. Legalism is when we make ourselves our own advocate and avenger. Love believes the best. Legalism believes the worst. Love is in light. Legalism is in darkness. Love is concerned with others. Legalism is concerned with self. How can we be serious about obedience and make love our center? By finding out what God expects of us and then applying the knowledge to our everyday lives. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilks52 Posted October 25, 2009 Report Share Posted October 25, 2009 There are rules and then there is rules. To be a true and authentic Christian one must follow rules, but just keeping rules and making them up as we go is wrong. True love is from the heart, while legalism is only a form of faith in God's Grace. Stay true to Christ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nightwolf Posted October 25, 2009 Report Share Posted October 25, 2009 This is truly a hard thing to do! For me, my flesh always starts creeping in and making 'comparisons' with others. Lord have mercy on me! I continually have to beg God for a heart like His so I can remember that anything I do for His sake, must be done for love. So true my desire is to obey, but my flesh rages against me like a savage beast. I beseech God's mercy & grace every day to teach me to surrender myself to Him. I must continually be reminded every breath I take, every beat of my heart are no longer mine but they belong to Him who ransomed my soul from death. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nightwolf Posted October 25, 2009 Report Share Posted October 25, 2009 I desire to walk in obedience, yet my flesh rages against me like a savage beast. I beseech God's mercy & grace every morning to teach me to be humble & surrender myself to Him every day. I must be continually reminded by Him my life, my very breath I take, every beat of my heart are no longer mine they are His, who ransomed my soul from death. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peacebringer Posted October 29, 2009 Report Share Posted October 29, 2009 Q5. (1 John 2:3-6) How can we be serious about obeying Christ without become legalistic and judgmental, with a self-righteous attitude like the Pharisees had? How do love and legalism differ? How can we be serious about obedience and make love our center? It comes down to worship in spirit and truth. http://peacebringer7.wordpress.com/2009/10/26/worship-in-spirit-and-truth-how-do-we/ really gets into my thoughts on the matter of worship in spirit and truth. It all comes down to loving response not obligation. What comes from love comes from inside. It flows from surrender of self and a genuine response to what God has done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Debbie Cambridge Posted October 30, 2009 Report Share Posted October 30, 2009 I pray constantly that the Holy Spirit will make me stop and think when I start to judge others. It happens all the time, but I recognise it more quickly now, so am thankful that I'm being changed. Trying not to be legalistic is also really hard, particularly when I'm talking with non-Christian members of my family. I sound so staunch. But I know that we can't dumb down the Word of God, and it is really important. I pray that I can present it to them without seeming to be legalistic, and pray that love will prevail. Love is God's language - Legalism is what man has done with it to seem better than those around them. Pride has a lot to do with legalism, and Love is humble and kind. Being serious about obedience is a daily battle with self. To surrender fully to God, to pray constantly for that humility, and to keep asking myself the question "What would Jesus do?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myron f Posted November 1, 2009 Report Share Posted November 1, 2009 Q5. (1 John 2:3-6) How can we be serious about obeying Christ without become legalistic and judgmental, with a self-righteous attitude like the Pharisees had? How do love and legalism differ? How can we be serious about obedience and make love our center? Always focus on God and not money, doing what is right,treating every body the same. love is caring for your neighbor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glory Posted November 1, 2009 Report Share Posted November 1, 2009 I GREW UP IN A VERY LEGALISTIC HOME WHERE THER WAS HARDLY ANY LOVE, SO FOR MANY YEARS WHEN I FIRST GAVE MY LIFE TO JESUS, I WAS VERY MUCH INTO RULE KEEPING, AND I TRIED TO DO EVERTHING THE BIBLE SAID BECAUSE I WAS SO AFRAID OF BEING PUNISHED BY GOD IF I MADE A MISTAKE.I THOUGHT BACK THEN HE WOULD ONLY LOVE AND ACCEPT ME IF MY PERFORMANCE WAS RIGHT.I'VE HAD TO REPENT OF SELF RIGHTEOUSNESS AND GRADUALLY LEARNED HOW TO LOVE GOD.NOW I TRY TO OBEY HIS WORD BECAUSE I LOVE HIM.LOVE COMES OUT OF A RELATIONSHIP WITH THE LIVING GOD, WHEREAS LEGALISM BINDS YOU TO LAW KEEPING ONLY.I THINK BEING SERIOUS ABOUT OBEDIENCE TO GOD CAN ONLY COME FROM A LIFE THAT IS TOTALLY SURRENDERED TO HIM, OTHERWISE WE'LL CONTINUALLY GO BACK AND FORTH IN OUR WALK WITH THE LORD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greta Posted November 4, 2009 Report Share Posted November 4, 2009 We can obey Christ without becoming legalistic and judgemental when we obey through LOVE. Love puts self to one side and obeys lovingly for Jesus sake because it wants to, while legalism obeys because it has to. We can be serious about obedience and make love our center by spending more time with God in His Word. Love from Greta Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jen<3 Posted November 11, 2009 Report Share Posted November 11, 2009 ~ How can we be serious about obeying Christ without become legalistic and judgmental, with a self-righteous attitude like the Pharisees had? *This is a hard thing indeed for most all of us Christians. I am always fighting with myself on this issue it seems. But, we can be serious in obeying Christ by keeping the two greatest commandments (love God and love our neighbors). ~ How do love and legalism differ? *Legalism is being sure to strictly obey the laws and rules out of duty or maybe out of wanting to feel righteous by doing "good". Love, is very amazing. I looked up love on www.dictionary.com and i saw like 28 different definitions! Love is giving of oneself to another. Love and legalism differ because love is for others, where legalism is for your self. ~ How can we be serious about obedience and make love our center? *Number one way to do this is to pray and spend time with God in His word! Follow Jesus and the way He lived and proved His love for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
browniiiii Posted November 12, 2009 Report Share Posted November 12, 2009 We need to follow the commandments in the Bible, especially the commandment of Love. Love is unconditional, Legalism is about keeping track of actions or deeds and treating people by the deeds they do, being judgemental. Practice, meditate on the scripture and strive to walk as Jesus walked when he was on this earth. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sditoka Posted November 15, 2009 Report Share Posted November 15, 2009 Q5. (1 John 2:3-6) How can we be serious about obeying Christ without become legalistic and judgmental, with the self-righteous attitude that the Pharisees had? How do love and legalism differ? How can we be serious about obedience and make love our center? We obey Christ out of our love for Him and not because we want to keep a set of rules or laws. Legalism ties up whilst Love frees. Legalism condemns whilst Love offers grace. Keeping laws with the intent of being righteous suggests that one has the capability and the righteousness within oneself therefore not needing a Saviour. To do so would even mean, that our LORD's sacrifice was not enough. We cannot add anything to GOD's gift of grace. The story of the children of Israel is testament to the fact, that no human is capable of living a sinless life. Self righteousness is a natural product of law keeping, as the Pharisees and Saduccess exemplified, whilst glorifying a GOD who shouldered the penalty of sin is a natural product of realising and responding with obedience out of our love for Him. We obey because we love our GOD and not because we want glory for ourselves. Oh how we love our wonderful GOD who gave His all for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foofee's Nana Posted November 27, 2009 Report Share Posted November 27, 2009 We can be serious about serving Christ by really caring about what He would desire that we do. If we only do things so that others will praise us or think that we are good we are fooling ourselves. We need to keep our eyes on Him rather than worrrying or thinking about how the world sees us. We can obey the letter of the law and feel that we are in obedience, but if we do not show love or compassion for others we have fallen short. To want to do the right thing is not always easy..but oh what rewwards there are. I think we can be serious about being obedient to God's Word by showing mercy, kindness, compassion, and grace to others. If we only follow the law but forget to love we have missed the mark. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
servant for Christ Posted December 1, 2009 Report Share Posted December 1, 2009 Q5. (1 John 2:3-6) How can we be serious about obeying Christ without become legalistic and judgmental, with the self-righteous attitude that the Pharisees had? How do love and legalism differ? How can we be serious about obedience and make love our center? We can be serious about obeying Christ by knowing God's love is keeping His word. Love is following Christ in his way, by being obedient. Legalism is a strict set of rules by men. We can be serious about obedience and love by keeping God's commandments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maddog Posted December 6, 2009 Report Share Posted December 6, 2009 Q5. (1 John 2:3-6) How can we be serious about obeying Christ without become legalistic and judgmental, with the self-righteous attitude that the Pharisees had? How do love and legalism differ? How can we be serious about obedience and make love our center? Gal 5:14, 17-18 tells us to love our neighbor as ourself; be lead by the spirit;and living by the spirit takes us out of the law. Legalism/legalistic and judgemental characteristics are not needed to follow Christ. They are characteristics that have the opposite effect. Those who carry themselves this way are more interested in giving the impression that they are living Holy, when they are not. Being changed starts in the heart and is not cerebral. We can be serious by living by the precepts provided, with love for Christ and our fellow workers in Christ. Love then is the core from which from which our actions and character are grounded. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
royk Posted April 24, 2010 Report Share Posted April 24, 2010 Q5. (1 John 2:3-6) How can we be serious about obeying Christ without become legalistic and judgmental, with the self-righteous attitude that the Pharisees had? How do love and legalism differ? How can we be serious about obedience and make love our center? God is love, Jesus is love on steroids, but that is the perfect love of God, not human love, and so much better than what we might offer to another if we don't love God first. After we begin to experience God's real love, why would we want to settle for less? Still the world looks god and the Devil is clever, and we fall and we fail; if we love and obey as a "rule" that is not our heart being affected by God's love, we don't really have a chance to feel it. Loving the rules leads to the self-righteous attitude of the Pharisees. Jesus showed us who they really were, loving themselves and tricking others to worship them. We know that Jesus showed what is true, and showed real love, the thing we all want and really need in this fallen world. Why settle for less than the best? Is one taste enough for the addictiveness of God's love? My heart know what is real and it is Jesus and his way and light. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
royk Posted April 29, 2010 Report Share Posted April 29, 2010 Q5. (1 John 2:3-6) How can we be serious about obeying Christ without become legalistic and judgmental, with the self-righteous attitude that the Pharisees had? How do love and legalism differ? How can we be serious about obedience and make love our center? Being in Christ means being in the moment of love with others; it is not judgemental it is presence and it is leting God lead. In this way there is no "law" only the moment in which to do our best to be like Christ when we interact. Obedience is our job on how to behave, and is not about judging others, it is about serving them and accepting them as they are, then leting the Holy Spirit do the work of the moment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marloes Posted June 27, 2010 Report Share Posted June 27, 2010 Jesus said that the most important commandments are 1. love God 2. love other people Then there are some other rules. The Pharizees didn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saskheather Posted August 27, 2010 Report Share Posted August 27, 2010 We must always love first. We must be humble and sincere.It is not just the rules,but the spirit of the rules and how we apply them Rememer that God id in control and God loves each of us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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