(Episode #26): Study on Galatians: Discipline? Is that Legalism?

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, everyone. We're doing this study on

(00:02):
Galatians, and we have beentalking about how legalism has
been there in to the church inGalatia, but also it has been
there in the churches in modernChristianity. So we talked about
the traditions, there are lawsthat are imposed. I talked about
some of the churches saying thatyou should only wear white, and
also some of the churches sayingthat you should not wear any

(00:24):
jewelry, it's considered to besinful. All those kind of
traditions are there.
But at the same time, if we'renot careful, if someone who is
understanding grace for thefirst time, there's a chance
that they might might think thatany sort of discipline is
legalism. I've encountered this.I've had people who have gone
through years and years oflegalism and when they come out

(00:47):
of it and when you ask them todo something and they suddenly
are like okay are you trying tobe legalistic? So this is the
problem we can fall into theditch of legalism or we can fall
into the ditch of no disciplineat all. Discipline is not
legalism.
Those are two different things.Jesus himself said go to all the
nations and make disciples. Sodisciples, root word is

(01:09):
discipline. Discipline isnecessary. It's designed as a
tool for personal growth.
You're not growing in holiness,you're not growing in
righteousness, you are holy,righteous, sanctified, all those
things. You're not growing inany of that. So what happens?
Discipline helps you to focus onyour, what God has done in you.

(01:31):
Let's say that someone's talkingto you and they're talking
something very important,they're saying that, okay, this
is happening, that's happeningand you are constantly looking
at your phone.
Do you think you're able tograsp everything what the person
says? No. And that's exactlywhat discipline does, you need
to discipline yourself so thatyou can focus on what the other
person is saying. So what theBible is talking about us and

(01:53):
what the word of God tells aboutus, we need to understand that.
We need to have discipline inorder to have less distractions
to understand.
But legalism attaches what youare doing to your self worth. It
says that if you don't do this,you are not holy. If you don't
do this, you are not sanctified.If you are not coming to church

(02:17):
every week, you are not a holyperson. If you are not paying
your tithes, that means you arenot holy.
And all those kind of things arelegalism, right? So in the case
of Galatia, you can see they putall these kind of legalistic
rules saying that this is howthey could be perfect in Christ
Jesus. So if you're doingsomething in order to be

(02:40):
perfect, in order to be perfector increase your status or
increase your value or worth inChrist, that means you are into
legalism. But if you are doingsomething so that you can be
more focused into what you'realready in Christ, that means it
is discipline. So one of thequestions that you can ask
today, one of the most importantquestions is that whatever

(03:01):
you're doing, let's say you aredoing something, you're waking
up in the morning or you'rereading the Bible throughout the
year, one question you need toask yourself is, am I doing it
out of love so that I will beable to understand who I am
without less distractions?
Or am I doing it so that, youknow, I will feel that my worth
has increased before God? That Ifeel that God will be pleased at

(03:25):
me? All those kind of things. Ifyou think that your worth is
increased because of doing this,you are into legalism. But you
need to have disciplines whereyou'll have less distractions,
more focus, and you stand on theword of God, and you say, this
is what God says who I am.
This is who I am.