There is a curious feature in the life cycle of churches. They start out as faith enterprises when they are planted. Then over time things become systematised and ritualised. Eventually legalism takes over. At the start, everyone depends on God. No-one knows for sure what will happen next week, or whether anyone will turn up for the next service. No-one knows for sure where money is going to come from. It’s a high-risk enterprise, and the people trust in God because it will all fail unless he shows up.
Then the church starts to become successful. A dependable group of committed people get involved. A critical mass is reached. The church becomes “viable” when there is enough money in the offertory plate each week to pay all the bills. But at the very moment the church becomes “viable”, the seeds of strangulation are sown. It is no longer necessary to take risks and trust in God to provide, because there are enough resources already. Now it becomes a matter of setting up systems which will keep the “success” flowing. After a long time, the “rules” of the system become more important than listening to God’s voice, and legalism becomes firmly entrenched.
Jesus was often accused of being a rule-breaker. When accused of breaking the rules of the Sabbath, he said, “If you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent.” Churches that operate according to a system of rules are offering sacrifices when God is desiring mercy instead.