Emotionalism and Legalism:

Spiritually Hazardous Extremes

There are a couple of things that our lesson for this morning is not about. One of those things is emotionalism, and what emotionalism is as I mean it this morning is giving undue importance to the emotional aspects of Christianity, while at the same time minimizing every other aspect. In other words, elevating the way that a person feels to a level of superiority above every thing else; how I feel is what matters most so far as religion is concerned. Anything that has a negative emotional influence on me should be avoided and, if possible, ignored and unacknowledged, while anything that is going to have a positive influence on me should be promoted, dwelt upon, spotlighted, and praised. That is not the way that I personally believe, but that is an extreme approach to Christianity that I am calling emotionalism. What it tends to do is distort a person’s perception of the true spirit of Christianity. It uses human emotion to filter out any and everything that is going to make me feel bad or that I don’t want to hear. Since I want to hear about forgiveness, mercy, grace, love, blessings, and salvation through faith in Christ, if I am caught up in emotionalism, those are going to be the things that I will want to read about, hear about, think about, and concern myself with because those are the things that make me feel emotionally uplifted, fulfilled, and happy, excluding everything else. But that is not what this lesson is about.

The second thing that this lesson is not about is legalism. Unlike emotionalism, the legalist is not concerned with emotions. The name of the game for a legalist is conformity to religious law. Legalism is another extreme approach to Christianity that distorts a person’s perception of the true spirit of Christianity. It says that as long as I follow the rules I’m saved, but as soon as I break the rules I’m in trouble. It systematically goes through and scrutinizes every detail of the New Testament and formulates a system of religious law that renders everything else superfluous in relation to that law. What matters most to the legalist, above all else, is strict adherence to the law. How a person feels is not important in this case. What matters is am I performing everything according to the rules. The thinking seems to be that if we can just do everything according to the rules, then that by itself will be enough to save us. What about our unquenchable love for God and desire to do what is pleasing to Him because pleasing Him pleases us and we’re happy when we’re making Him happy? That’s not part of legalism. But, legalism is not what this lesson is about either.

This lesson is about being a Christian like those we read about in the Bible. Those who were zealous for God and loved the church so that they would die for it, while at the same time doing only those things that were in accordance with His divine will. Paul wrote page after page after page in our New Testaments exhorting the brethren to be obedient to the commandments of God, while at the same time admonishing them to love one another. “Rejoice in the Lord always: again I will say, Rejoice” (Phil. 4:4). He loved his Jewish brethren so much that he said,

I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience bearing witness with me in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing pain in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were anathema from Christ for my brethren's sake, my kinsmen according to the flesh. (Ro. 9:1-3)

What about obedience and law Paul? “If any man destroyeth the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, and such are ye” (1Cor. 3:17).

There seems to be a tendency in people to want to polarize toward either emotionalism or legalism, to go to one extreme or the other, but what God desires is found in neither extreme but somewhere in the middle. We are by nature, emotional creatures. That is the way that God made us. So emotion is going to play a part, sure. But, at the same time, we must be obedient to God.

I can’t think of much good that comes out of extremes, whether religious or otherwise. I’m sure there are going to be exceptions; there are exceptions to just about everything. The extreme climate found at the North Pole is favorable for a Polar Bear, but as far as I’m concerned, he can keep it. What’s extreme, I guess depends somewhat at least, upon what is considered to be normal, or ideal. But, generally, extremes are not good. What is usually most desirable is somewhere in the middle. Even when it is something that is normally good; too much of a good thing usually turns bad.  

Take rain for example. We need rain. Water is essential for life. We can’t live without it. A lack of rain results in drought, dried up crops, and in extreme cases, even death. So rain is a good thing, but too much rain can also be deadly. Earlier this year Ghana, West Africa had gone something like six months without rain. They were becoming desperate. When the rains finally did come, it was too much too fast and bridges were washed out, villages were cut off from the markets, crops were flooded and destroyed, and all the standing water everywhere led to various illnesses. The ideal situation is somewhere in the middle of those extremes. We need enough rain to sustain life, but also enough days without rain so that everything doesn’t drown. 

We also need food, but if we eat too much for too long it can kill us. On the other hand, if we eat too little for too long, that can also kill us. The right amount that we need in order to be healthy is somewhere between those two extremes.

Coming back to the Bible, we find the same thing to be true with spiritual matters. Paul said,

Brethren, my heart's desire and my supplication to God is for them, that they may be saved. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. (Ro. 10:1-3)

The problem with those early Jews was not a problem of complacency, they were extremely zealous, but their zeal was not tempered by knowledge of the truth. As a persecutor of the church, Saul of Tarsus was unmatched in his zeal, but in First Timothy chapter one he says that he did it ignorantly; he did not know what he was doing. Zeal is a good and right, and needful thing, but too much zeal without enough knowledge can be hazardous. On the other hand, too much knowledge with out zeal doesn’t accomplish anything either. What we want to have is found somewhere in the middle; we want to be zealous, but it needs to have with it a correct understanding of the truth. We need both of them together. Once Paul acquired a thorough knowledge of the truth and combined that with his extraordinary zeal, he went from being destructive to the church, to a soldier of the cross without an equal. 

We should get emotional about spiritual matters from time to time. If we didn’t, then I would think that there was something wrong with us. There are plenty of things to get emotional about when one considers things like life and death, heaven and hell, and salvation or condemnation. We should get excited about Christ from time to time, we should experience joy and happiness in worship to our God and while we sing songs of praise and thanksgiving. “Rejoice in the Lord,” said Paul. But we mustn’t get so wrapped up in our emotions that we get lost in them. While we are to be rejoicing on the one hand, we must be sober on the other. “Be sober, be watchful: your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour, whom withstand stedfast in your faith” (1Pe. 5:8-9a). Somehow we have got to find that balance between emotionalism and legalism; somehow we have got to find that middle ground between the two. We don’t want legalism or emotionalism the same way that we don’t want drought or flooding, starvation or obesity, zeal without knowledge or knowledge without zeal.

So how do we find this ideal balance? How does a person get to that point in his faith where he can pour out his heart to God in prayer, weep at the foot of the cross, sing “I’d rather have Jesus than anything” from our song books and mean it, and at the same time practice full obedience and adherence to the word of God without becoming legalistic? How can we be fully appreciative of the grace and mercy of God while at the same time follow the example of the Beroeans and search the Scriptures daily to make sure our faith is according to the truth and that what we are doing is Scripturally sound?

There are two passages of Scripture that I think might be helpful to this study. In Matthew the 23^rd chapter we find seven woes pronounced against the scribes and Pharisees by Jesus. Let’s look at the fifth woe beginning in verse 25. “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye cleanse the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full from extortion and excess” (Mt. 23:25). When we wash our dishes, which are we more concerned with being clean, the outside or the inside where the food or drink is going to be? Not only is the inside usually the dirtiest, because that is where the food and drink has been, but we also want to make sure that, more than any other part, the inside is the cleanest because that is were our food and drink is going to be the next time we use them and we want to keep our food and drink clean. I’ve been eating outside before and sat my cup down on a dirty table with ants, dirt, and bird droppings on it before and it didn’t bother me a bit and I continued to drink from it because I new the inside was still clean. But I guarantee that if any of those bird droppings had gotten inside of my cup I would have been finished with that cup! It’s important that both the inside and the outside are clean, but the inside of the cup or the platter is what is most important! Those scribes and Pharisees had it backwards! They were so concerned with how they looked on the outside and how they appeared outwardly that they completely neglected the inside. They had all the appearance of holiness and purity on the outside, but Jesus said that on the inside they were absolutely filthy; they were full of extortion and excess! It would be like us taking our dishes and cleaning only the outside of them and then putting them away. Not only would that be dirty, but it would be unhealthy.

Jesus said next, “Thou blind Pharisees…” Now, you and I both know that He wasn’t saying that they were physically blind, but with their spiritual eyes, with their spiritual discernment or with their minds they were blind; they were so confused that they had turned things around backwards. The inside is more important than the outside but they were not only placing more importance, but all importance on the outside while completely neglecting the inside. Look back just a few verses to verses 4-7 with me: “Yea, they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with their finger. But all their works they do to be seen of men: for they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments, and love the chief place at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, and the salutations in the marketplaces, and to be called of men, Rabbi” (Mt 23:4-7).

And the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things; and they scoffed at him. And he said unto them, Ye are they that justify yourselves in the sight of men; but God knoweth your hearts: for that which is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God. (Lu 16:14-15)

They were pretty on the outside, but God sees all the way into the hearts of men.

According to Jesus, what is the solution to their confusion, or blindness? He says in verse 26, “cleanse first the inside of the cup and of the platter, that the outside thereof may become clean also.” Clean the “extortion and excess” out of your hearts, clean all of the immorality and the filth out of the inner man first, and then the outside will be clean also.

The legalist of today is doing the same thing that those scribes and Pharisees were doing. He is doing everything he can to make sure that the outside of his cup is sparkling clean. He’s crossing every T and dotting every I. He is making sure and double sure that he is doing everything right and according to procedure. He has all the appearance of being extremely righteous and holy, but the problem is, that for the legalist, that’s all there is to his religion, a checklist of dos and don’ts, rules and regulations. His entire focus is on the outer man, while on the inside, he remains unchanged and indifferent. “Cleanse first the inside of the cup and of the platter, that the outside thereof may become clean also.”

            Look at verses 23-24 with me now if you would: “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye tithe mint and anise and cummin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law, justice, and mercy, and faith: but these ye ought to have done, and not to have left the other undone. Ye blind guides, that strain out the gnat, and swallow the camel!” The were to careful and meticulous to make sure that their tithing was right, but they were completely overlooking the more important matters like justice, mercy, and faith. Those are the things you should be most concerned about while not forgetting the other. We as Christians must observe and do all that the Lord commands, but if we get so wrapped up in rules and regulations that we forget about things like love, faith, and forgiveness, then we too are swallowing a camel while straining out the gnat! Our greatest concern should be on these things, while at the same time, not leaving any of the particulars undone either!

In verses 27 through 28 Jesus then tells them, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which outwardly appear beautiful, but inwardly are full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but inwardly ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.” You sure look good on the outside; you look beautiful, but on the inside you are full of death and decay! What does that say to us? What it says is this: if all Christianity is to us is a long checklist of dos and don’ts and getting everything right, and nothing more, though we may look nice on the outside, we are inwardly and spiritually dead!

The Gospel of Luke, in the 6^th chapter and beginning with verse 43 says, “there is no good tree that bringeth forth corrupt fruit; nor again a corrupt tree that bringeth forth good fruit. For each tree is known by its own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes. The good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and the evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth that which is evil: for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.” Those scribes and Pharisees were bad trees who looked like good trees. Their fruit appeared to be good, and so naturally, people mistook them for being good. That is why Jesus said, “woe unto you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!” A hypocrite is someone who pretends to be something he’s not. Rather than repenting from the heart and becoming clean from the inside out, they just decided to fool everyone by making their fruit look good. They imitated the fruits without becoming the good tree.They took things like prayer, and they prayed standing on the street corner so that everyone would see, as if to say, “hey everyone, look at my fruit and see how good it is.” If they had just been as concerned about their hearts being good and pure instead of being so absorbed in the effort of trying to make their fruits look good, their fruits would have ended up good anyway just as a natural consequence of having a pure heart. If the heart is good then the fruit is going to be good, but if the heart is bad, then the fruit can only be bad, and theirs was, it was the fruit of hypocrisy and all iniquity.

In the absence of a pure heart, legalism often becomes a cheap substitute!  God doesn’t just want us to put money in the collection plate because those are the rules, but Paul said “Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver” (2 Cor. 9:7). We shouldn’t sing just because the rulebook says we have to, but we are to sing making melody in our hearts to the Lord (Eph. 5:19). We are to be singing from the heart! If all we are doing when we assemble ourselves together for worship is going down a check list of things we feel we have to do, and we don’t really worship God from the heart, then we haven’t worshiped God at all! Jesus said that the true worshipers of God worship Him in spirit as well as truth (Jn. 4:23), “for such doth the Father seek to be his worshippers.” “cleanse first the inside of the cup and of the platter, that the outside thereof may become clean also.” If our hearts are first pure and our worship is according to truth, then our worship will also be pure, and from the good treasure of our hearts praises and thanksgiving will pour out that will be worthy of the kind of worship that God desires. “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God” (Mt. 5:8).

Well, now lets go back over here to the other side of the spectrum to emotionalism. If you’ll remember, at the beginning of this lesson I said that emotionalism is giving undue importance to the emotional aspects of Christianity, while at the same time minimizing every other aspect. In other words, elevating the way that a person feels to a level of superiority above every thing else; how I feel is what matters most so far as religion is concerned. It’s the extreme opposite of legalism. One is concerned with appearance, the other is concerned with feelings, but they are both suffering from a bad condition in the heart. One responds by going in one direction, the other responds by going in the opposite direction. If those over here in emotionalism really loved as genuinely and deeply as they often claim, then they would be holding fast to the commandments of Christ and intolerant of error because Jesus said, “if ye love me, keep my commandments” (Jn. 14:15). “But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him” (1 Jn. 2:5). And if these over there in legalism were really as righteous and holy as they would like to appear, then they would never be without love, because  “He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love” (1 Jn. 4:8). No matter how much we do right outwardly, without love, we are also without God. So we come full circle again to the same question I asked just a moment earlier: How can we have both without going off into emotionalism or legalism, how can we have all of the joy and happiness and love that is to be had as a Christian and at the same time, serve God faithfully by keeping His word in all things? By both obeying and loving the Lord “out of a pure heart and a good conscience and faith unfeigned” (1 Ti. 1:5).

If we would just strive to be pure in our hearts; if we would be careful to do only those things we are able to do in good conscience, and if we would have a faith that is genuine and sincere, then we would have both what the emotionalist wants and what the legalist wants, but as a natural result of striving first for what God wants: sincere faith, genuine love, and obedience all welling up inside of us from the seat and foundation of human consciousness and intellect, from our hearts. “The good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good…” (Lk. 6:45). “Cleanse first the inside of the cup and of the platter, that the outside thereof may become clean also” (Mt. 23:26). “Either make the tree good, and its fruit good; or make the tree corrupt, and its fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by its fruit” (Mt. 12:33). Joy, hope, love, peace, goodness, kindness, obedience, and acceptable worship are all fruits of a good and pure heart! If our heart like a tree is good, it will bear good fruit—both emotional and physical. That is how we can experience all of the joyous emotions of a Christian and obey all the commandments of Christ both together and at the same time.

Jesus, what kind of heart are you looking for in you disciples? “Blessed are the poor in spirit…blessed are they that mourn…blessed are the meek…blessed are they that hunger and thirtst after righteousness…blessed are the pure in heart…blessed are the peacemakers [who seek peace out of a good heart]…” (Mt. 5:1-9) “ye have heard that it was said to them of old time, Thou shalt not kill…” (Mt. 5:21), “but I say unto you don’t even harbor feelings of hatred within your heart for your brother; nip it off at the bud.” Stop sin at it’s source—within the heart. “Ye have heard that it was said, thou shalt not commit adultery…” (Mt. 5:27) “But I say unto you don’t even look at a woman to lust at her, don’t even commit adultery in your heart.” “Ye have heard that it was said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy…” (Mt. 5:43) “But I say unto you, love your neighbor and your enemies that you may be sons of you Father who is in heaven.” “The sower went forth to sow his seed (Lk. 8:5)…some fell by the way side, some fell on the rock, some fell among thorns, and some fell on good ground.” Lord, what does that mean? “The seed is the word of God and the soils are the hearts of men.” “And that in the good ground, these are such as in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, hold it fast, and bring forth fruit with patience” (v. 15).

Well, what about you Paul, what do you say about all of this?

But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. (Ro. 6:17-18)

Ye have obeyed…[how?]…from the heart. True conversion takes place in the heart.

There is just no substitute for the real thing. Sure, we can take them down in the water, he can say “I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God,” he can be immersed, but if he is only doing it to make someone else happy and his own heart is not convinced, it’s not the real deal. If he does not really believe the gospel in his heart, then he has not really been converted. In the same way, if we just go through the motions of worship without being spiritually involved and worshiping God from our hearts, it not real. Worship that doesn’t involve the heart is not worship it’s just a routine. If Christianity to us is nothing more than a checklist of dos and don’ts, and that’s all it is, it’s not the real thing. Or, if our idea of Christianity is nothing more than the pursuit of our own personal and emotional fulfillment so that we can feel good and nothing more than that, that’s not the real thing either!  A Christian is not just attracted by the idea of Christ, but he has died to himself and Christ has become his life! He doesn’t just talk like a Christian, worship like a Christian, feel or act like a Christian, but that is who he is in his heart of hearts and deep down in his soul from the inside out. He is wholly and entirely devoted to Christ. If that is the case with us, then all of those other things will be the fruits of our devotion to Him and we won’t be led away into extremisms because we will be centered on Christ from the heart.