Legalism

"At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them.  
When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.” 
He answered, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry?  
He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests.  
Or haven’t you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple desecrate the day and yet are innocent?  
I tell you that one greater than the temple is here.  
If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.  
For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.” 
Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue,  and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, they asked him, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” 
He said to them, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out?  
How much more valuable is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.” 
Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other.  
But the Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus." 
                                                                                                  Matthew 12:1-14
Here we have an example of legalism. Jesus and his disciples are walking through the grain field. They are hungry so they pick some grains of wheat, probably roll them in their hands to remove the chaff and eat them.
The Pharisees instantly interpret what they are doing as work. In the eyes of the Pharisees they were harvesting and processing the wheat. Work not to be done on the Sabbath.
Further down in the scripture Jesus heals a man with a shrivelled hand again something the Pharisees regarded as work.
The Pharisees were too worried about breaking laws to see that God had, had compassion on the man with the shrivelled and healed him.
They should have been celebrating instead they plotted to kill Jesus.
Legalism happens in the church today.
We can get so hung up on our rituals within the church that quite often we miss the blessing of God.
We tend to put God in a box expecting Him to do things exactly the way our church traditions and rules dictate.
One denomination I know of only permits ordained ministers to perform the communion service. Nowhere in scripture does it say that we need ordained ministers to do this.
Another says we need to go through a priest to confess our sins. Scripture doesn’t say we have to.
Scripture tell us,
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” 
                               1 John 1:9   
We can confess our sins directly to God without a middle man.
Scripture tell us,
“Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God”
                            John 1:12
If we are God’s children it then stands to reason that we can go directly to God and talk to him.
Sadly Christianity in general over the centuries has picked up a lot of baggage that was never intended. All denominations and individual congregations have their own baggage and we need to be aware of it.
We need every now and then to look around at what we are doing and how we are doing it and question is this the way the God intended things to be done.
Do you have things at your church or do you yourself do things that are more tradition and ritual than from the scripture?
Think about it.