Doctrinal balance is a hallmark of Christian maturity, and is a required virtue for growing and maturing in the Christian faith. On many issues the Bible seems to teach both sides of what appear to be contending positions; it is the duty of every Christian to "rightly divide" God's word, which means walking in BALANCE. Most theological heresy and pharisaical legalism results from pushing good truths to bad extremes.
While some "super-saints" jump on various bandwagons of do's and don'ts to tout their own spirituality, in so doing they actually reveal their own spiritual immaturity. Pharisees always have great sounding arguments from the scriptures for their Phariseism; but their arguments are always based on the letter rather than the spirit of the law. Extra-biblical "standards" always end up being hypocritical double standards; those that strain at others' gnats have almost always swallowed a much bigger camel themselves.
On the other hand the clear teachings of God's word must never be compromised. Some Christians use a cloak of "liberty" to justify worldliness and pursuit of fleshly desires. The Bible is clear that we have been called to holiness; we are to think, speak, act and even dress differently than the pagan culture that surrounds us. In Revelation 3 the Lord Jesus told the church at Laodicea that their luke-warm compromise literally made Him sick. We are not to compromise the truth, but we must be balanced in our understanding of it. Once we have determined by the diligent study of God's word what the Lord's will is, we are to get in the center of it, we are not to compromise the performance of it and we must pursue it with fervent zeal.
SERMON ACTIVITY
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“ Great Sermon! ” I think the Lord used this message to break some chains of legalism in my life! How true it is that all legalism (organized religion) does is drive young men and women into cults. The Lord got me over 5 years ago but as I had started celebrating the Sabbath and removing pork my old man starting coming more and more. I found myself wondering if it would be ok for me to eat pork if I went to a Gospel resistent country... The way the Gospel is preached in countries like this is by eating the food offered to idols and the locals see that it has no power.
