The fear of condemnation:

This is possibly one of the biggest things that will hinder a Christian’s walk with the Lord. Most Christians have grown up in a bubbled society that teaches if one commits a sin or dabbles in questionable things, then he should feel absolutely guilty and under condemnation. The fact is, many Christians are heavy on judgment and light on grace. Yet what causes this? Why is it that there are entire ministries, such as Cutting Edge Ministries, or Last Trumpet Ministries, who’s sole purpose and goal is to condemn and “reveal the wickedness” of Christians and this world? A more disturbing question is why are there people who subscribe to these beliefs and why is this percentage of the population growing?

We must remember, when we are heavy on judgment and light on grace (what I will call “legalism” or “legalistic”) this can lead to one of two ways of life. The first way of life is one that is often defined by judging Christians and the lost unless a person conforms to a certain standard of living. To elaborate upon this, look no further than the example of Fred Phelps. For those not familiar with Fred Phelps, he’s a minister out of Topeka, KS who can often be found protesting homosexual events and funerals. Every time they hold a demonstration they carry signs that read, “God hates fags” or “Thank God for AIDS”, just absolutely hateful literature, chants, and signs. Likewise, Phelps has written literature saying that if anyone celebrates Halloween, Christmas, listens to rock music (regardless of what type), or isn’t a Calvinist then they really are condemned to eternal damnation. I would hope everyone can agree that this is an obvious case of extremism in that a Christian has become more works oriented than grace oriented. People like Fred Phelps look towards a person’s works and sin and this is all that they see. They see the sin and they see the problem, but they don’t see the person. Yet, let us be honest with ourselves. While Fred Phelps is an extreme example, how many of us are like him in some way, shape or form? We see someone drinking a beer and automatically judge them as “un-Christ like”. We run into a man covered in tattoos and believe them to be an extremist, someone in rebellion to God. We watch the students smoke in the smoking section near Williams and pray for their souls and that God will deliver them from that “sin”. We run across a person wearing a WWJD shirt, bracelet, and just screams “Christian”, and mock them and think they’re just a religious zealot. We end up judging people on things that our Christian culture deems as sin but that is never deemed as sin within the Bible. If we judge people based upon our own personal convictions or based upon their appearance than in all reality we have become no better than Fred Phelps.

The other lifestyle cause by a paradigm that focuses on works and not grace is that we end up condemning ourselves and slowly steeping into more sin or missing the point all together. One of the best quotes on this issue comes from Jay Bakker in his book “Son of a Preacher Man” in which he states:

It [a song he has just previously quoted] also reminded me of “What Would Jesus Do?” bracelets, the “I Am Going to Stay a Virgin” contracts, and the promise rings that people get by making a commitment not to have sex until they’re married. There’s nothing wrong with living a good life. To the contrary. But all these things focus on duty and works so much that the message of Christ gets lost. Salvation is not about works. It never has been.

People think of the Antichrist as some six-horned beast that’s going to come and take over the world. But having thirty thousand kids in a stadium signing contracts saying that they will never sin again embodies the spirit of the Antichrist, a spirit that is alive and well right now in the American church. In their efforts to earn God’s favor, the kids are saying that they can do it on their own, thereby rendering Christ’s death useless. Galatians 2:21 says, “I am not one of those who treats the grace of God as meaningless, for if we could be saved by keeping the law then there was no need for Christ to die.”

Salvation is free. All we have to do is accept Jesus. You see it is only Christ working in us that causes us to lose our tendency to sin. But we’ve become so caught up in signing contracts and doing what we’ve decided is right, we’re not showing – or seeing – Jesus anymore. We’re simply managing our sins, which in turn encourages the church’s judgmental nature.” [pg. 190-191, emphasis added].

Now the consequence of this action is that if we do fall, if we do sin, if we do break that contract, we completely and utterly beat ourselves up over it. If we sin, if we do something stupid, we believe we are then useless to God.

From the ages of eleven to eighteen I lived in a legalistic household. Everything was wrong and of the devil. My parents flipped out when they discovered a Jars of Clay album in my room because they considered “too hard”. However, I hit high school and began to fail in the small things. Once I started to fail, I figured I was worthless. I judged myself and condemned myself. By doing so, I allowed myself to slip further and further into sin. This is important; because valued obedience over grace I allowed myself to commit sins that to this day affect me. An excellent quote on this issue comes from A.W. Tozer in “The Knowledge of the Holy” which states:

“How unutterably sweet is the knowledge that our Heavenly Father knows us completely. No talebearer can inform on us; no enemy can make an accusation stick; no forgotten skeleton can come tumbling out of some hidden closet to abash us and expose our past; no unsuspected weakness in our characters can come to light to turn God away from us, since He knew us utterly before we knew Him and called us to Himself in the full knowledge of everything that was against us.”

I wish I would have understood this key component about God’s grace, that regardless of our flaws He still calls us. How amazing is that? It gives us a new perspective on life and on how we treat others. Instead of condemning the homosexual, we love them, realizing that Christ does love them and that they have yet to accept it.

Thus, there is no condemnation. Christ will not remove His love. When we sin He will still love us. It’s easy to say but hard to practice. Our good works and good deeds should come from a life that is in love with Christ and realizes the freedom it has in Him, not from a life of fear. I leave you with these three quotes that I believe sum up this article:

“The church, by and large, has had a poor record of encouraging freedom. She has spent so much time inculcating in us the fear of making mistakes that she has made us like ill-taught piano students: we play our songs but we never really hear them because our main concern is not to make music but to avoid some flub that will get us in dutch.”

Robert Capon

“From one religious camp we’re told that what God wants is obedience, or sacrifice, or adherence to the right doctrines, or morality. Those are the answers offered by conservative churches. The more therapeutic churches suggest that no, God is after our contentment, or happiness, or self-actualization, or something else along those lines. He is concerned about all these things, of course, but they are not His primary concern. What He is after is us – our laughter, our dreams, our fears, our heart of hearts.”

Brent Curtis and John Eldredge, Sacred Romance

“I will not leave you alone. You are mine. I know each of My sheep by name. You belong to Me. If you think I am finished with you, if you think I am a small god that you can keep at a safe distance, I will pounce upon you like a roaring lion, tear you to pieces, rip you to shreds, and break every bone in your body. Then I will mend you, cradle you in My arms, and kiss you tenderly.”

Brennan manning, Lion and Lamb.