First I need to start off by apologizing to those who follow this blog on a weekly basis. The last few weeks I have been in a haze it seemed. I have had allergies that have literally made my life miserable at times and on top of that I have almost felt like I just had no zip, zing, or get up and go, for the lack of a better description., and I let that interfere with this ministry and for that I ask for your forgiveness. Now on to whats Important.
Mark 7:1-8 ( The text of this chapter will follow below the blog), tells of how Jesus is approached by the Pharisees and a few other teachers of the law and they ask him " how come your disciples don't wash their hands before eating with their unclean hands as is the tradition of the elders?" (Verse 5). You see these Pharisees and teacher's were probably looking for some reason to rebuke Christ and observed the disciples sitting down to eat without washing their hands, as the tradition of the Jewish culture is to give their hands a ceremonial washing, so they thought they would openly question him, possibly to try and shame him in public. But Jesus, being the son of God says to them in Verse's 6-8 that "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you being hypocrites, cause these people honor me with their lips but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vein,their teachings are but rules taught by men.you have let go of the commandments of God and are holding on to the traditions of men". Now he was talking to the leadership of the "Church" at that time but more so I believe these words hold true today in more ways than we know.Let me explain.
You see in most of the Churches in America have unfortunately become a place of gathering for social purposes more than a place for the hurting to go and find peace in Jesus. We have become hypocrites holding on to traditions. I am thankful for the Pastor of the Church I attend because he is led by the spirit of God to preach a Evangelistic/Gospel message every time he steps up to the pulpit. You will not hear him speak without mentioning the cross and that Christ died for our sins so that we may be free. But in many of our Churches today you will hear a feel good, God's going to bless you no matter what if you will only give, give, give message that is meant to do nothing more than fill the pews so they can fill the bank account for programs that are meant to do the same. Then you have those who come on special/holiday services so that they can justify their "faith" when someone asks if they are a "christian". These people are the ones who, as was prophesied, honor God with their lips, nothing more than lip service or worship Christ in vain, all they want are others to see them in church. These are the one that Jesus warns about in Matthew 7:15 "Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves."
But then we have an even greater sin in the Church of America today in my opinion, and that is the sin of letting tradition to get in the way of true worship. Now don't get me wrong I am not saying that tradition is a bad thing. Without the traditions of the past there would be no Church of today in most areas. What I am saying is we are hypocrites when we let those traditions prevent us from moving the gospel forward to a lost and hurting generation. When someone in the church says well lets not sing 3 hymns and then take up an offering. instead why don't we sing 2 songs, take up an offering and then open up a moment of praise and testimony from the congregation. That's a change, but if we refuse to try based on the fact that we have never done it that way and it would go against tradition, then that's when tradition in the Church becomes sin. I am very fond of saying that the message never changes but the message does, and I believe that Christ himself is telling us this same thing when he says that we are holding to the traditions of man. When the Church refuses to try new means of ministering to the hurting and the lost because they are afraid of upsetting the traditions then what is actually happening in my opinion is they are actually afraid of the results that the change would bring. They have gotten so comfortable in their traditions that they are afraid of dealing with new members or new "family "members because they are afraid they won't fit within the traditional setting of the church, hence upsetting those who have come before them.THESE ARE THE CHURCHES THAT ARE IN DANGER OF BEING REMEMBERED AS THE CHURCH THAT WAS INSTEAD OF BEING KNOWN AS THE CHURCH THAT IS GAINING GROUND FOR THE KINGDOM.
One thing we must remember is that the Gospel message is a life changing message that is for every person in this world. The church is not to be a social gathering place for those who fit within a certain mold. My pastor is fond of the saying, and I have to say I love this saying, That "The Church is not to be a hotel for the saved, its supposed to be a hospital for the lost and hurting". How true this statement is, but if we hold to the traditions and do not accept change, as I believe Christ is telling us to, then we are nothing more than we are and never will be nothing more than we were. If you look on down at verses 9 and 13, Christ tells us that WE ARE GOOD AT SETTING ASIDE THE COMMANDS OF GOD TO OBSERVE OUR OWN TRADITIONS (v9), AND BY DOING THIS WE NULLIFY THE WORD OF GOD AND WE DO MANY THINGS LIKE THIS.My challenge to the Church today is this, are we going to sit by and wallow in tradition and let the world continue to wallow in sin, or are we going to embrace change, move forward and do whatever the spirit leads us to do in winning souls for the kingdom of God? The choice seems simple, but our actions will speak louder than our words.
I realize this may be considered a harsh blog by many who read it, and you may be right. But I believe that in these the last days of the Church in my opinion, that we must be ready to do whatever God calls us to do. Whether that means going out in the streets and witnessing, or changing up our services on Sunday's or Wednesday's or what ever day you meet. I heard it said one time that a rut is nothing more than a grave with both ends kicked out, and I believe that in Most Churches today we could use that as a definition of tradition. Let us be about the Fathers business, no matter what the method.Old school or new school, the message needs to go forward. I challenge you to reach out of your comfort zone, break your own tradition and tell someone what Christ has done for you and what he can do for them. God bless you all who read this and may the Spirit of God lead you as you go.
In Christ's Love,
Bill Roy.
Mark 7:1-9 The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus 2 and saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. 3 (The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. 4 When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.[a])
5 So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with defiled hands?”
6 He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:
“‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
7 They worship me in vain;
their teachings are merely human rules.’[b]
8 You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.”
9 And he continued, “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe[c] your own traditions!
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