September 3, 2006

Cawson St. Church of Christ

Hopewell, Virginia

Mural Worthey

Common Religious Mistakes--#3

 

Introduction: “Exalting Traditions Over Truth”

a.     We have discussed two common mistakes of religions: “Looking on the Outward Rather Than the Inner Qualities” and “Straining at Gnats and Swallowing Camels.”

b.     Both of these were denounced by Jesus in Matthew 23 and have been a persistent problem throughout the ages. 

c.      Another common failing in religion is to equate traditions, religious or national or cultural, with the Faith once delivered.  Some not only make them equal to the commandments of God, but they use them to supplant and disobey the commandments.

 

Jewish Traditions

 

Jesus said to the Jews, “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?”  (Matt. 15:3.)  After naming one of their traditions, dishonoring their parents by not caring for them in their old age, Jesus said, “Thus you have made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.”  (15:6.)  They declared their money a gift to God, or Corban, in order to avoid supporting their parents.  (Mark 7:11.)

 

In order to explain and expound upon the Law of Moses, the Jews collected the teachings of the rabbis in large volumes called the Talmud.  The Talmud became so important and authoritative that it often eclipsed the Torah.  Therefore, the Jews had two religious books—the one God gave them through Moses and another one written by rabbis to explain the commandments of God.  These explanations and opinions often contradicted the will of God and replaced it.

 

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus began his comments on a new topic by saying, “You have heard of old time.”  (See Matthew 5.)  Sometimes what followed was a reference to the Law of Moses; at other times he was referring to the teachings of the rabbis.  For example, the Law of Moses did not teach that one should love his neighbor and hate his enemy.  (5:43.)  Leviticus 19:18 said, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor,” but it did not say, “And hate your enemy.”  In fact, Solomon wrote, “If your enemy hunger, feed him.  If he thirsts, give him drink.  In so doing, you shall heap coals of fire on his head.”  (Prov. 25:21-22.)

 

What we have learned from the Jews and other religious traditions is that human traditions often contradict, distort and ignore the will of God expressed in Scripture.  In Christianity, we have continued the practice of the Jews in confusing customs and traditions with truth.  The Catholic view of the Bible is similar to that of the Jews toward the Torah.  They have made their traditions on par with the New Testament.

 

Traditions: Good or Bad?  We should stop for a moment and think about traditions.  The word, tradition, is not a bad word in itself.  We have unfortunately come to think of it that way.  The Bible uses the word in reference to both human and Christian traditions. For example, Paul said, “Withdraw yourselves from every brother that walks disorderly and not after the tradition which he received of us.”  (2 Thess. 3:6.)  The Christian Faith has been received by tradition.  The Christian traditions of worship, singing, praying, communing, and giving for the needs of the poor are all good traditions.  Working and providing for oneself is taught in the Christian faith. 

 

The word tradition or paradosis refers to that which is handed down; transmission of faith and practices.  There is nothing wrong with the word or concept itself.  What is wrong is when those things handed down are just the opinions and practices of men.  If our traditions are set in conflict with or opposition to God’s will, then a problem exists.

 

“Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world and not after Christ.”  (Col. 2:8.)  This is the difference—if the tradition is not after Christ.

 

Everyone has traditions.  We have religious traditions.  There are many traditions that are innocent and do not matter.  Other traditions of men conflict with God’s will.  Often believers confuse tradition and truth.  They cannot separate the two in their minds.

 

Truth or Tradition?

 

It is healthy spiritually to know the difference between truth and tradition.  Binding human religious traditions should be avoided.  Often traditions can be discovered in how we do things; how we go about doing God’s will.  What to do is commanded in Scripture, but how to do it often is not commanded.  Here are some examples:

 

Sunday Clothes and Preacher’s Attire.  Jesus condemned the Pharisees because they loved to dress in long flowing robes and parade downtown to be seen of men. (Matt. 6:5, 23:5.)  Suppose I dressed like a prophet.  I would look like old John the Baptist or Elijah with rugged, rough clothes.  If I dressed like a Jewish priest, I would wear robes and bells.  Our tradition on Sundays is to dress like a western business man with a suit and tie.  If I wore a robe like a priest and you did not, then we would be implying that there is some distinction between the minister and the members, between the clergy and laity.  Jesus did not wear some distinctive clothing to set him apart from others.

 

There is only one passage that talks about what to wear during the worship assembly.  That passage is James 2:1-5.  Instead of teaching that we should wear our “Sunday best,” it teaches that we should be careful not to respect those who are financially able to dress better than the poor.  It denounces showing respect of persons.  (verse 1.)  Maybe we should dress in such a way that poor people will feel more comfortable around us than less comfortable.  Dressing up on Sunday is a tradition that we have followed and may have hurt the poor among us.  Do you suppose that we may have kept some from church by our tradition?

 

A rail down the middle of the church.  Did you know that the restoration churches in the 1700s and 1800s had a rail down the middle aisle?  It was a traditional thing to have in their church buildings.  Its purpose was to divide the men from the women and children.  I am glad that we no longer have that tradition in our churches, and that our families sit together.  Some might get the idea that men are superior to women and children, or that God favors men over women.  In matters of redemption, there is no distinction to be made between Jews and Gentiles, bond or free, male or female.  We are all one in Christ.  (Gal. 3:28.)  However, in regard to leadership in the home and church, a distinction between men and women is made in Scripture.  This is the point that the restoration churches were trying to illustrate with the rail.  But it was an unnecessary tradition and was soon discontinued.

 

How we commune and give.  We do not know how the early church went about “taking up the collection.”  For awhile in some of our churches, members were told the right way to do it was to walk around the Lord’s Table and place the contribution under the table cloth.  That way your left hand would not know what your right hand was doing.  Others placed a box in the foyer for members to drop their contributions in.  Whether you pass by the plate or the plate passes by you does not matter.  The most important matter is giving cheerfully, not grudgingly, or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver.  (2 Cor. 9:7.) 

 

I am confident that the early church did not have a set of communion ware like we have.  We should be careful not to bind how and when we commune during the service.  It does not matter if it is done before the sermon or afterwards.  The Lord’s Supper is not more important than singing or praying.  It is not more important than hearing God’s Word proclaimed.  No one should think that partaking the Supper is the only part of the worship that is important.  We would not even know about the Communion if we did not study the Bible and learn about it.

 

A Public Reader of Scripture.  In the first century, more than half the Roman Empire was illiterate.  It was important that someone read the Scriptures for them.  This may have been the reason that Jesus told so many parables.  He put the Gospel in story form so that it would be easy for people to remember.  In the early churches, someone who was a good reader read aloud letters from the apostles and other inspired men.  They read the whole letter which was very short.

 

Near the end of the Colossian letter, Paul wrote: “And when this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read in the church at Laodicea and that you likewise read the epistle from Laodicea.”  (Col. 4:16.)

 

At the beginning of John’s letters to the seven churches of Asia, he wrote: “Blessed is he that reads and they that hear the words of this prophecy and keep the things which are written therein.  For the time is at hand.”  (Rev. 1:3.)  John pronounces a blessing upon both the reader and the hearer of his letters.  We have Scripture reading in our services, but often it is only a few passages.  Rarely do we read a whole letter.  In most of our churches, almost 100% are literate.  This does not mean that we should not read the Scriptures aloud in our assemblies.  We should.  The words of the Bible are more important than the commentary that the teacher or preacher gives to them.