THE WIRE

It's almost invisible, but it's there. It's there and stayed there even when Hurricane Sandy hit. What it is, is the wire, but not just any wire. It's a wire that symbolizes the bondage and lack of logic that is  legalism, yet it's hailed as a good thing.

Jewish law says that no Jew is to carry objects outside the home on the Sabbath. (That constitutes "work," and work is forbidden on the Sabbath.) So, from Friday at sundown to Saturday at sundown, no Jew is to carry any objects outside the house.

Bummer. That would be a depressing and mean no fun for 24 hours, every week, 52 weeks a year, world without end, amen. But it's more than just a no-fun situation. It's a spiritual nightmare. This is what Paul meant when he wrote about the Law, saying, "For the letter kills,"and that it's "a ministry of death."

LEGALISTS FIND A WAY

But wait! Smart legalists will find a way to get around the rule! Enter the wire. The legalists get together and say, "What if we string a wire between two poles in the area in which we live, like say, Manhattan? Let's call the strung wire 'a symbolic fence.' Let's think big and string the wire to almost encircle Manhattan. Wouldn't this mean that if the wire encircled a large, a really large area, like Manhattan, that the 'fence' would mean that that area was our 'home,' like, you know, your fenced-off backyard?"

And that's exactly what they did--they strung the wire from pole to pole to pole, enough to make Manhattan their "home" so that they could carry anything and everything they wanted to carry outside the house because their home was now much bigger. The wire exists today, right now.

PROTECT THE WIRE

A rabbi goes out on Thursdays to make sure the wire is in tip-top shape. If a part of it isn't in good repair, the next morning the rabbi calls a crew to come and fix it. All this doesn't just take valuable time, it also takes $100,000 per year in the upkeep of the "fence."

That's an picture of what legalism does: legalism creates hypocrites; legalism creates situations impossible to live with; legalism creates the illogical; legalism creates the need for loopholes, illogical as they may be; legalism creates harsh, judgmental, abusive people, and holier-than-thou-people. 

This symbolic fence or symbolic wall is now in over two hundred cities and areas. A "symbolic fence?" What's that? A "symbolic wall." What's that? Other than the fact that it's not logical, it's the wire strung from pole to pole to pole. 

WAIT. HAVEN'T WE HEARD OF SOMETHING LIKE THIS BEFORE?

Yet, this is nothing new. The legalists of Christ's day had their inconsistent, illogical, hypocritical rules too. Jesus has just healed a man on the Sabbath, and the man, overwhelmed by joy (who wouldn't be?) violated their rules by carrying his pallet on Saturday. That was "work." 

You couldn't pluck an ear of corn, not one, if you were hungry on the Sabbath. That would be classified in the legalists' eyes as "harvesting."

For another look at the bondage of legalism back then; read on:

"If a man received a cure accidentally, it was very well; but no methods [for a cure] were to be taken with intention: as for instance:

"If a man had an ailment in his throat, he might not gargle it with oil, but he might swallow a large quantity of oil, 'and if he was healed, he was healed' (i.e. it was very well, it was no breach of the Sabbath); they may not chew mastic, nor rub the teeth with spice, on the Sabbath day, when it is intended for healing; but if it is intended for the savor of his mouth, it is free.''

Or how about this rule:

"If a beast fall into a ditch, or a pool of water, if food can be given it, where it is, they feed it till the going out of the Sabbath; but if not, bolsters and pillows may be brought, and put under it, and if it can come out: it may come out:''

LEGALISTS ON THE LOOSE TODAY

The legalists aren't confined to the ancient days of the Pharisees nor are they all living in  Manhattan today. They live and move and have their being among us, north, south, west, and east, infesting and infecting our churches. For example, a fellow was attending a church and in that church they announced that they were scheduling training in evangelism, and from that training, an evangelistic team would go out into the neighborhood with the good news. He attended and learned the how-to of evangelism, but when it came time to join the team and venture forth, they told him, "No, no, you can't go."

Why? He'd learned and done all that was required, hadn't he? Yes, indeed, but the problem was he was an attender of the church and not a member of the church. To go out and evangelize with them, you had to officially join the church. Why? Because that's what the rule said. (To be logical, we might point out that, if that were the case in Paul's day, no one would ever evangelize because they had no such thing as church membership. Paul never heard of such a thing as joining a church. No believer was a "member" of any church, as we conceive of membership today.)

Another case in point: a furor erupted in a church because of a proposal for the youth to serve the Lord's Supper to the congregation on a given Sunday. This eruption spewed lava all over the place. (Legalism will always do that.) The problem: the rules said that deacons were to serve the Lord's Supper. (And these are adults we're talking about. Legalism makes children out of adults; it breeds immaturity.)

In another church, they taught the men that true Christians have their shirts tucked in and belts on. They did allow facial hair, but frowned if a bearded one wanted to be in any position of leadership. (Wait. Didn't some Roman soldiers pluck out the hairs of one Person's beard for mocking sport?)

How about one more, for the road:

Joe is a Christian; he believes it's sinful to consume alcohol. (Joe is in error. Consuming alcohol isn't a sin; drunkenness is. But Joe goes even farther afield.) One day Fred asks him to help with a household move. Fred has packed some of his belongings in strong wooden wine crates that were given to him by Sam. Joe helps Fred move, but outspokenly refuses to handle the wine-seller's crates because they were made to contain alcoholic beverages. Good grief! You can't make this stuff up. Such legalistic activities make Christians look like idiots.

That's enough.

What if you find yourself in a church where legalism carries the day? You know what you should do, I'm sure. If you can't "cast out the bondwoman," to use Paul's analogy in Galatians, get out; get out now.