THE LOVE OF GOD IS MORE WEIGHTY THAN A LEGALISTIC OBSERVANCE OF THE LAW:-- "But woe unto you, Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone" (Luke 11:42). This is the month of December, 2001, and since September 11th of this year we have heard and read much about the Taliban Muslims, an extremely zealous Islamic group that has endeavored by force of arms to coerce everyone under their control in Afghanistan to adhere to "the letter of Islamic Laws." Though these codes are taken from the Koran, a book not inspired nor authorized by the True God, the legalistic spirit in which the Taliban regimented the conduct of their society is closely akin to that of the Pharisees whom Jesus condemned in Luke 11:42. Within any religion, including Christianity, the most striking characteristic of legalists is their overlooking of "the love of God"!
To have and to manifest the love of God is more important than insisting that everyone cross every (T) and dot every (i) in fulfilling the letter of the law! Jesus said as much when He also proclaimed: "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone" (Matt. 23:23).
A Christian minister, who "lays down the Law" every Sunday Morning, Sunday Night, and once again at the Wednesday Prayer Meeting, will (or should) soon learn that "the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life" (2 Cor. 3:6). I once read of one who was so legalistically narrow that "if a fly landed on the bridge of his nose it would scratch both of his eyes out"! It is a tragic mistake for any Christian group, or any Christian minister, to focus so entirely upon making folks "line up or leave" that they completely lose the more weighty possession and manifestation of the love of God.
I read of a prisoner who was to be shot, but who received a pardon from the Governor just in time to spare his life. The letter of pardon was given to the firing-squad signal-man. He was told to walk down to the man who was already secured to the post for execution, and there to present him the pardon. The signal-man made a huge blunder! He had in his pocket both the letter of pardon and the handkerchief he was to wave as the signal for the firing-squad to fire their rifles. When the signal-man reached the man to whom he was to present the pardon, he accidentally extracted from his pocket the handkerchief instead of the letter of pardon! -- and when the death-squad saw it, they fired! -- and the pardoned man slumped in death! The one sent to be the Messenger of Pardon became instead the Messenger of Death!
Thus it is, when a Christian minister become a legalist, spewing forth the venom of death in his messages instead of Christ's true message of Pardon and Life. Hundreds, if not thousands, of over-zealous preachers need to read again, and lay to heart the truth in 2 Corinthians 3:6 that Christ has made His true ministers to be "able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the Spirit: for the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life."
Pity the flock who are made to feel that they must "get their preacher's permission" before doing the most minor things -- things about which neither God's Word nor their Church Manual says one thing, and things which the love of God demands to be left to the individual guidance of the Holy Spirit! Woe to the preacher, or group, who ignores the million-ton-heavy possession and manifestation of the love of God and who tips the scales in favor of the opposite side with the "feathers of legalistic notions"!
I once had a man in my congregation who would not shave on Sunday, but if he thought that was more important than having and showing the right spirit to those who did shave on the Lord's Day, HIS SPIRITUAL SCALES WERE GREATLY OUT OF BALANCE! -- and he would have been omitting the weightier matter of the Law -- the love of God -- and like thousands of religious zealots, it would have been well for him to read again, and lay to heart Roman 13:10 -- "Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law."
One cannot have the love of God without fulfilling the law, but one can cross every (T) and dot every (i) in seeking to legalistically fulfill the Law without even coming close to doing so!
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