Fwd: Why legalism is sin - 3
naboth675
<naboth675@...> wrote:
Continuing on with quotes and comments from the book 'Toxic
Churches'
I found these comments.
"An area of legalism that many toxic churches fall into is the
overemphasis on the 'mission' to the neglect of relationship."
This just fits the Potters House so well. How many churches do you
know that put such a heavy emphasis on missions. I have seen first
hand the resulting lack of commitment to relationships. Wayma
Mitchell
once said that as he saw it you had to keep the church moving
forward
and just deal with problems on the way. The problem is that they are
so focused on 'moving forward' that issues are not dealt with at all.
The Potters House prides itself on it's ability to win souls but
today
there are more people who have been converted in the Potters House
in
the world than there are present attendees. It should be clear in
the
light of that fact that there is something wrong.
Someone might say "But our church members spend time together. How
can
we have a problem with relationships?" What I am speaking of is our
evaluation of one another. We no longer see each other as the
special
and unique gift of God, created in his image and filled with his
Spirit. We now see people in terms of their commitment to the
vision.
A person who is not on outreach will be valued less. They will be
described
as a person 'living in the foothills of christianity' as Ernie
Topopin
likes to put it. Those people are often on the sidelines in
fellowship. Their value in the eyes of the 'committed ones' is
lower.
The pastor will neglect them because they are of little or no use to
him and his vision of building the/his kingdom.
The danger of a legalistic church which points to it's performance
in
evangelism is that we learn to value one another on what we can
perform or contribute. This is contrary to the very Spirit of
Christianity.
Ernie Toppin often points out that other churches are not doing what
they do and that he does not see any of the other churches out
there.
on the streets. This teaches people to value other christians on
what
they are contributing to the mission vision and not on who they are
in
Christ.
These types of legalistic churches may preach saved by grace through
faith but to stay saved requires the cross + works. Usualy
evangelical
works. Thus they compromise the central aspect of the gospel. They
do
this by using something that in and of itself is good but becomes
bad
when it replaces the FINISHED work on the cross. When you find
people
stay saved by grace + works you have serious error. You have legalism
and inevitably people wil be valued on their evangelical works. This
damages relationships and stops them growing healthily. As long as
you
are doing the works then fine but if you don't then you won't be
valued as much. How contrary to the true gospel that is.
regards...naboth675
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