Last month, I got married to my beautiful wife Sarah and we honeymooned in O’ahu. We made one of the best decisions that any vacationer in Hawaii could ever make – renting a car and taking a drive around the island. As a man who spent a large part of his life in Eastern New Mexico and in West Texas, I was in absolute awe of the sheer beauty of the island. Our drive took us along a gorgeous coastline and through lush green mountains. It truly felt unreal!
As beautiful as O’ahu is, there is one thing that is still vividly etched in my memory and that was the drive on Interstate H3. I cannot even begin to adequately describe in words what I saw but H3 takes you over a forest reserve that is surrounded by the majestic Ko’olau Range. Sarah and I happened to be driving on H3 shortly after a rain and spotted at least two dozen waterfalls! For a minute and a half, all we could utter was one word, “WOW.” Unfortunately, H3 was made with small shoulders so there wasn’t space to safely pull over to take in all of the beauty. I had no other choice but to appreciate God’s creation in a moving vehicle all the while trying to keep my eyes on the road ahead. As soon as we hit the Tetsuo Harano Tunnel, reality struck me warp speed. I didn’t realize it at the time but the Windward Viaducts were fairly high off the ground. Had I not been paying attention to the road ahead, the only thing that would’ve kept me from veering off the viaduct and into the trees below were the concrete barriers on both sides of the viaduct!
The reason I share this story is because I often think of the church as a vehicle traveling on a narrow road with hazards on both sides. I call these two hazards The Two L’s. On the right side of the road there is a hazard called Legalism and on the left side of the road is the hazard called Lawlessness. Sadly, many churches will either veer off into legalism or lawlessness. I have seen this first hand and have even attended churches who were stuck in either hazard and had a difficult time pulling out of it.
Interstate H3 in O’ahu had barriers on the sides of the viaduct to keep drivers from veering off and into the trees below. In the same sense, there are also barriers to keep the church from veering off the road and into either of the two hazards. The barrier that keeps the church from getting stuck in legalism is grace and the barrier that keeps the church from getting stuck in lawlessness is holiness. Grace and holiness is what keeps the church on the road but distortions of either grace or holiness will inevitably steer the church into the opposite hazard.
I consider myself a biblical holiness preacher but as I have come to discover in the last two years, there are denominations and churches that have a warped view of holiness. These said churches have major issues with legalism. Holiness in the purest sense of the word means to be separate from sin. It means to love righteousness and to hate sin. Holiness is internal; not external. Pretty straight forward right? But there are churches who erroneously focus more on the external than the condition of the heart. These kind of churches will develop rules and standards that aren’t biblical whatsoever and will preach it as gospel. Legalistic churches usually have these three traits:
- Legalistic churches elevate culture as morality
- Legalistic churches have very little to no love for anyone but their own
- Legalistic churches place little to no value on evangelism
Then there are churches who are stuck in lawlessness. I believe there are more American churches stuck in this hazard by far than those stuck in the legalism hazard. Lawless churches have a distorted view of God’s grace. In a previous article that I wrote entitled The Real Truth About Grace, I delve into the topic of grace and point out that grace is a gift from God which makes us saved. God’s grace can never be earned by performing good works but rather it is given freely to us so we can do works. In essence, one bearing good fruit is evidence that he or she is truly saved by grace. A church with a warped sense of grace eliminates the need to bear good fruit all together. Lawless churches usually have these three traits:
- Lawless churches water down morality to fit the culture
- Lawless churches tolerate and accept sin under the guise of love
- Lawless churches do not preach or teach the importance of repentance
As stated before, there are many churches stuck in either legalism or lawlessness; however, the church was never meant to be in either condition. The church was meant to stay on the road. Jesus once said,
“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.”
Matthew 7:13-14 NKJV
Although there are many churches stuck in one hazard or the other, there are some out there that are still on the straight and narrow. In my honest opinion, these kind of churches are few and far between but they do exist nonetheless! A healthy church will usually have these three traits:
- A healthy church has a healthy balance of holiness and grace
- A healthy church has love for one another and compassion for the lost
- A healthy church places saving lost souls a top priority
If you are reading this and you believe you are attending a church that has issues with either legalism or lawlessness, I cannot express enough how important it is to help get your church out of the hazard and back on the road to where it is pursuing Christ and achieving its mission; the only mission – The Great Commission. Pray for your church and for your leaders. The task is difficult but not impossible. Leaving a church should be a last resort. With that said, there are churches that are perfectly content being stuck in either of the Two L’s and do not wish to be moved. If this describes your church, get out as soon as possible and find a church that is willing to stay on the road!
Joshua Hawk 