Anywhere the word of God is found, legalism also shows up. In different places it might take different forms due to cultural leanings. In America, the legalists might forbid ministry opportunities to those who dance or play cards or watch movies (regardless of their content), or even have facial hair. All of those things are seen as wholesome activities in the body of Christ in Romania (as long as the aforementioned movies are wholesome.)
Here in Romania, the legalists' number one pet peeve is smoking. We've even had experiences where people were evangelizing with us and told the lost, "if you repent and give up cigarettes, God will forgive you and make you His child."
Now, I'm not "pro-smoking" by any means. The smell of cigarettes is worse to me than the smell of a baby's soiled diaper. It's disgusting, and being around smoking and tolerating it tests the limits of my politeness. My personal preference would be for everyone to be forbidden to smoke anywhere in my presence.
But my dislike of smoking is a fraction of how much I recoil at legalism.
It is seen here, as a highly controversial statement at best, and heresy at worst, when I say, "If I meet someone who has faith in Christ and find out he is a smoker, that does not cause me to question his salvation. But when I meet someone who teaches, 'you aren't born again if you don't quit smoking,' I definitely question THAT person's salvation, because he is presenting a message that is at odds with the gospel."
If these legalists are saved, at the very least they are limiting their availability to be used of God to bring about His glory. To say the power of the gospel is about helping people quit smoking, something even an atheist with willpower can do, is to cheapen the cross. We need to exalt Christ. We need to magnify His grace. We need to talk about His power to change lives from the inside out, and to deliver a soul from great transgressions, not just quibble over questionable things like whether a Christian would smoke.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon, one of the great men of God of our time, was used of God to bring about great revival, and is still being used of God to move people to know and love and serve Jesus long after his death. He was a smoker, though, throughout his ministry. Even though he was publically criticized for it, he never stopped. And I just don't believe God owes the legalists any apology for blessing Spurgeon and using his ministry.
The challenge is to find what areas of our ministry we've become legalistic about, placing our preferences on the level of God's commandments, so that we can be people full of grace and truth, and be used of God for His glory. I am praying tonight that God will show me any such area of falseness in my teaching, so that I can correct it, as I pray He will show it to the people who deny the cross by preaching a "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved as soon as you put out that cigarette" message.
