BURDENS

The Lord Jesus said, “My yoke is easy and my burden is light”, Matt.11:29,30. This was a liberating word to the Jewish hearer of the day, contrasting sharply with the legalistic dictates of the Pharisees – “For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne and lay them on men’s shoulders ……” Matt.23:4. These unenlightened religious zealots of Judaism never came to terms with the spiritual nature of Scripture and as a result were ministers of (spiritual) death to the people of God, 2 Cor.3:6, interpreting holy oracles in a fleshly (natural) way and, as it suited them, adding their own rules and regulations.

Such misuse of Scripture finds an echo in our day. Though we often think of Christendom as a kind of latter-day Judaism, the pharisaical spirit also afflicts local N.T. churches or assemblies, where men of a legalistic persuasion minister divine things in such a way that the lives of saints are burdened with rules and taboos contrary to the liberty which is in Christ, Gal.5:1.

The Lord said to beware of the doctrine of the Pharisees and we should likewise beware of men imbued with the same spirit. Their neo-pharisaical ministry is a line of teaching that often reflects personal prejudices and mistaken ideas about separation, together with an overriding desire to organise and dominate people’s lives.

There is rule in God’s assembly but it is of a spiritual order, not an authoritarianism that intimidates, dominates and controls every aspect of believers’ lives. Legalistic rules may produce conformity but they cannot produce spirituality, the acid test of the wellbeing of an assembly. It is not what the apostle had in mind when he said, “….Be ye all of one mind….” 1 Pet.3:8.

The truth of the matter is that spirituality engendered by a spiritual environment readily bows the knee to divine principles of both a spiritual and moral nature, without recourse to heavyhanded rules and regulations. The local assembly is house of God in character, an environment designed by God for the spiritual exercises of a spiritual people, heavenly conditions on earth, clearly not a place for lawmakers.

It is a matter for regret when pharisaical legalism rears its ugly head in assemblies of the Lord’s people, for it often brings the things of God into disrepute and always blights the lives of the saints. The Kingdom of God in its present spiritual form should be an environment of spiritual liberty, of divine joy, peace and gentleness, Rom.14:17, a place of spiritual growth that produces subjection to house of God principles. Subjection based on any other premise is counterproductive.

To seek to interfere in the legitimate private life of the believer is not only unwarranted from the scriptural standpoint but also impertinent – in a word it is phariseeism. Clearly, we need to be reminded constantly of the liberating words of the Lord in Matt.11, as also His severe criticism of those referred to in chapter 23. There are those in our day who do not appear to have heeded His words.