DRIFTING TOWARD LEGALISM AND LIBERALISM

Hebrews 2:1 (NIV 1984) We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.

We are first told to pay more careful attention to what we have heard. To what is the “what” referring? Primarily it is referring to the previous chapter, which gives us a beautiful picture of the nature of Jesus. The beauty of Jesus is supreme, captivating our attention, and greatly motivating our commitment. The author has set this up perfectly.

While surrender, sacrifice, and serving are all great things on which to focus, I would argue that if our focus is primarily on what we do, we miss the bigger point on why we do it. This is where Christianity tends to splinter into two dangerous and seemingly opposite directions. It can lead to legalism, where we are primarily concerned with the “do’s and dont’s” of the faith – the rules instead of the relationship. Inevitably the rules tend to get mixed up and redefined to the point where what we end up with is the traditions of men rather than the tenants of the Faith. We become a people of law without life, doctrine without desire, adjudication without joy, and holiness without happiness, making us bereft of the Spirit and overly harsh with others. This is the dangers of conservative Christianity. It can be so focused on good behavior and the appearance of righteousness that it loses sight of Godly character and inward transformation of the heart, which is why some church folks in this camp are mean and ungracious.

However, focusing too much on what we do can also lead to liberalism. This is where the Christian faith becomes more about social transformation than personal sanctification. It is where we get our modern social justice warriors, liberation theology, and the social gospel. Social programs and ministries to the poor become what the gospel is really about, all unto a transformation of society. To be sure, the modern evangelical church could use a healthy dose of social justice and a vision of cultural transformation, but liberalism does so at the expense of personal holiness, and its good practices tend to lead away from good doctrine, marginalizing important components of the faith, such as the virgin birth, the resurrection, the inerrancy of scripture, the call to personally respond to the gospel, and not to mention, a denial and re-framing of the morality of scripture, specifically in the area of sexual ethics. This is why we can have a some Christians who are very nice people and do wonderful work for the poor in the city, but also support legal abortion and ordain homosexuals as ministers. Part of the Christian walk has to do with personal holiness, where we live self-controlled lives and overcome worldly passions (Titus 2:11-12), and we are told in the book of James that pure religion is caring for the orphans, widows, AND keeping oneself from being polluted by the world (Jms 1:27).

I might point out that liberal Christians can become as mean-spirited and legalistic in their liberalism as their counterparts; for instance, in the name of sexual tolerance, they can become downright nasty and condescending to those who do not think like they do. In the same way legalists can become liberal in their legalism, becoming overly focused on their version of cultural transformation. For instance they can tend to substitute their opposition to abortion for preaching the gospel. While standing against abortion is right, and pleasing to the Lord, one does not have to be Christian to do so, just like one does not have to be a Christian to help the poor and volunteer to feed the homeless. What tends to be missing from all of this is Jesus! What tends to happen to believers not focused on Jesus is that they drift, and drifting can go all sorts of directions. The antidote? Stay focused on and pay careful attention to Jesus!