Some Old Posts II

Tradition or Biblical...it does matter

Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, "Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders?" For they do not wash their hands when they eat. He answered them, "And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?" For God commanded, Honor your father and your mother, and, 'Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die. But you say, If anyone tells his father or his mother, What you would have gained from me is given to God, he need not honor his father.' So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: "This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.
Matthew 15:1-9

When we look at this passage – the highest-ranking Pharisees and scribes confront Jesus on why His disciples and Him do not wash their hands when they eat. This was a tradition or ceremony of the elders that had been based upon interpretations of the scripture, passed down, evolving into something that was not solid biblical truth but yet held in the same regard as such. When Christ is confronted with this situation, He responds with questioning why do they not honor their fathers and mothers?. Due to traditions that allowed them out of this responsibility – they did not obey this commandment; for the sake of tradition they made void the word of God.

In the germaphobic society that we are allowed to live in with germ-x and a sink with soap in every restaurant, it seems odd to us that someone would not want to wash their hands. It is not that there is anything bad particularly with the washing of ones hands – the harm comes when we take traditions and hold them with the equivalence of God's word, the scriptures.

Ponder for a moment how you would define a church. Some might say a steeple, pews, pulpit, hymnals, choir, call to worship, and sermon; others who are of different traditions might say a band, praise team, multi-media, coffee, and sermon. Both of these are connotations and traditions of how we define the church. Are any of these things in themselves bad? No, of course not. The danger comes when we take these extra-biblical traditions and views of what the church is and hold them with the equivalence of biblical truth.

Our purpose for gathering on Sunday is solely for the worship and glorification of God; we say this every Sunday. Our mere presence in the church building is not worship. Do we want God to move? If we don't then we must not waste God's people time by hindering the church. If we desire God to move we must spend time on our face before the Lord – exalting – confessing – and thanking. I am convicted that we can no longer play church – we can no longer go through the motions – this makes us uncomfortable because sometimes the motions change. Are you motions biblical or traditions?

"Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?" And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets."
Matthew 22:36-40