Doing things you don’t want to do (especially if they are good spiritual disciplines) can cause you (or others) to be labeled pharisee.

Going to church when you’ve had a long weekend and just need to relax.
Reading your Bible when you don’t want to.
Stopping halfway through your meal when you realized you didn’t pray to ask the Lord to bless your meal.

Here’s an internal (and sometimes external) dialogue I often have.

“Oh, I completely forgot to pray for my food. I should stop and pray for it. But, I don’t want to be a pharisee and do it just to be religious. That’s true. Should I just keep eating? Should I pray anyway?”

Legalism is dangerous. It’s faux-spirituality focused on doing the right things with the wrong motivation. Faith and legalism are at odds with one another, because legalism is faith in yourself and your own abilities to earn God’s favor.

Jesus called out the Pharisees often throughout the Gospels. They are normally found doing things to the extreme (like tithing on their nutmeg and cinnamon) but they are then found condemning those who don’t do as they do (even if it isn’t required by God).

So, how do we keep from being a pharisee while still striving to please God?

The difference lies in our motivation.

Legalism vs. Discipline

Dr. Kent Hughes opened my eyes to the difference between discipline and legalism. He says in his book Disciplines of a Godly Man,

There is a universe of difference between the motivations behind legalism and discipline. Legalism says, “I will do this thing to gain merit with God,” while discipline says, “I will do this because I love God and want to please him.” Legalism is man-centered; discipline is God-centered.

Let me reiterate that.

Legalism is man-centered; discipline is God-centered.

Legalism shouts, “Check me out! I’ve had the longest weekend ever volunteering extra hours at the food shelter, helping out some widows, and giving my seat up to old ladies on the bus. But here I am! Sitting in the front pew, with my tithe check all filled out and ready for the offering plate (and I even tithed on the quarter I found on the street!)”

Discipline says, “Lord, I’m tired and worn out. I don’t feel like going to church today, but I know it’s good for me to be in Your house with Your people. I don’t have to go to gain your approval, but I know it honors you and lifts my spirits when I hear from Your Word in the midst of other Christians. I want to be dependent on you, not my feelings. I’m tithing by faith this week, because the car is broken and the rent is due soon, but you are faithful and you can do more with 10% than I can with 100%.”

Discipline means doing hard things when you don’t feel like it by faith. It means getting up early to pray because that will give you more energy than an extra 15 minutes of sleep.

But it also means that when you snooze instead of pray, you remember you aren’t condemned, because your motivation is to do things to honor and please God instead of to make yourself acceptable to him on your own efforts.

Legalism leads to pride and despair. Discipline leads to righteousness and humility.

One of my favorite authors and speakers, John Piper, offers more ammo on why we should read the Bible more and more each year (which applies to prayer, attending church, and practically any other discipline that please God). Piper says,

1. You are confessing your lack of desire as sin, and pleading as a helpless child for the desire you long to have. Legalists don’t cry like that. They strut.
2. You are reading out of desperation for the effects of this heavenly medicine. Bible-reading is not a cure for a bad conscience; it’s chemo for your cancer. Legalists feel better because the box is checked. Saints feel better when their blindness lifts, and they see Jesus in the word…
3. It is not legalism because only justified people can see the preciousness and power of the Word of God. Legalists trudge with their Bibles on the path toward justification. Saints sit down in the shade of the cross and plead for the blood-bought pleasures.

So, how can we check our legalistic robes at the door and put on the cloth of humility?

How To Make Sure You’re Being Disciplined Instead of Legalistic

1. Ask yourself, “What is my motivation?” If you’re going to church to meet with God, that’s good. If you’re going to look good to the other church members, that’s bad. Identify why you’re doing what you’re doing.
2. If your motivation is to impress people, ask God to change your heart. Pray that God would remove your pride and desire to please people and replace it with humility and a desire to please him.
3. Realize the solution to legalism isn’t license.If you’re doing something to check a box or impress someone else, the solution isn’t to fall off the horse in the other direction. Not going to church because you’re doing it to show off your perfect-attendance gold star is just as foolish. Instead of abstaining from a good thing, ask God to give you a good heart to do that good thing. Sinning or refusing to participate in spiritual disciplines isn’t the key to overcoming legalism. Faith is the solution.
4. Believe you are fully accepted in Jesus. Going to church, praying, sharing your faith, reading your Bible, fighting sin–those things don’t save you. But I’m fully convinced saved people do those things to honor God. We do them because God has called us to do those things and we want to honor God as we offer up ourselves as living sacrifices.

Question: How do you keep from becoming a legalist? What do you do to be disciplined without turning things into a check box of self-righteousness?