We are all creatures of habit. We've become accustomed to doing things the same way. All you have to do is think about your own personal ritual for getting up in the morning. Most people go through the same motions every morning when they arise. Some cut the alarm clock off and lie there for just a few moments. Others sit on the side of the bed for a minute or two. Still others immediately spring forth to greet the new day. I'll bet you put your socks on the same way every morning. I'll bet that you put a shoe on the same foot first every day. We all get into our routines. There's nothing wrong with that. It simplifies life somewhat and it makes us feel more comfortable.
We do the same thing in the church. We like a certain routine, a certain order to things. And there is nothing wrong with order. In fact, the Bible says that things should be done "decently and in order." But some things become full-fledged traditions. By that I mean they take on a significance far greater than simply being a convenient routine. In fact, some things become almost holy and unchangeable. When those things are changed, people become very upset. It is as if we have willfully flaunted a commandment of the Lord when we tamper with these things. I have known people to be upset over where the piano was placed, where the Doxology was sung, even how the offering was taken. It is amazing the baggage we can build up in the church, and it doesn't take long to do it.
We all have our traditions. Have you thought of some of yours? There is a simple test we could take to determine what we consider essential to church. Complete this sentence: "It wouldn't be church without __________." That will give us an idea of the things we deem most important about church.
Now, let me say at the outset that not all tradition is bad. Let's look at what is true of tradition. You might also call this "When rite is right."
Some traditions are important. They are valuable in communicating to us truth about God and truth about ourselves. One of my favorite movies has been "Fiddler On The Roof." I particularly like the opening scene when Tevya sings the theme song, "Tradition." As he does, he explains to the audience the value of tradition as he sees it. He says, "Our tradition tells us who God is and who we are." When tradition can do that, it is good tradition. You see, tradition is meant to speak of the reality behind the tradition.
In the church, we have certain traditions that are symbols of a higher reality. In fact, they were traditions that Jesus Himself instituted. We have the rite of baptism. Baptism, one of the two church ordinances, could certainly be called a tradition. It is a ceremony, a rite of passage, a symbol of a higher reality. Baptism is important to us. And we believe that there is a certain method of baptism that is important as well. We believe in the baptism of believers by immersion. We believe that is the correct way because of our study of Scriptures. But while we hold to the importance of baptism, we recognize that it only has meaning because of what it points to. Baptism points to the reality of a commitment to Jesus Christ. Baptism is symbolic of Christ's saving work in the life of the believer who is baptized. Baptism doesn't save. It is merely a symbol of what God has already done in the life of the believer. It is a beautiful symbol. It is a wonderful tradition. But apart from the reality it symbolizes, it is empty and meaningless.
The Lord's Table is another tradition in the church which is good. Jesus Himself instituted this ordinance, and He encouraged us to observe it often. But the Lord's Table is simply a dead ceremony unless we see the reality to which it points. Unless we see beyond the cup of juice and the morsel of bread to the shed blood of Christ and His broken body, we will miss the reality of this living tradition. The Lord's Table points to Jesus. It points to His sacrificial death. It points to His unmerited grace. It points to the love of God in sending His Son and the redemption of sinners through faith in Jesus.
Living traditions like the Lord's Table and Baptism only remain alive when we see beyond the outward ceremony to the reality behind it. Good traditions can tell us who God is and who we are. They can help us to commune with God and to testify before the world. There are times when rite is right. But there are other times when rite is wrong.
There is a tragedy of tradition which the church experiences all too often. This is when rite is wrong. Our text today speaks about the tragedy of tradition. Here, we see what Jesus thought about man-made traditions.
"And the Pharisees and some of the scribes gathered together around Him when they had come from Jerusalem, and had seen that some of His disciples were eating their bread with impure hands, that is, unwashed. (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they carefully wash their hands, thus observing the traditions of the elders; and when they come from the market place, they do not eat unless they cleanse themselves; and there are many other things which they have received in order to observe, such as the washing of cups and pitchers and copper pots.) And the Pharisees and the scribes asked Him, 'Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with impure hands?'" (vv. 1-5)
Jesus is encountered by the Pharisees and scribes because they were upset with some of Jesus' disciples. The Disciples, it seems, were not observing the traditions of the elders at mealtime. They were not performing the ceremonial washings of their hands before they ate. And the scribes and Pharisees noticed this. It is interesting how there are always the keepers of tradition who keep an eye out for those who violate them.
You might be wondering how these traditions were started. For the Jews, there were a number of important sets of laws. The first and most important were the Ten Commandments given by God. Then came the first five books of Moses. But there had arisen a body of interpretation which ultimately was incorporated into a written document known as the Mishnah. At Jesus' time, this was a body of oral tradition passed on from one generation to another. It was called the tradition of the elders. About the third or fourth century before Christ, the religious leaders and scribes began to spell out just what were all of the implications and applications of the law. This ceremony of washing was one such application that had to do with ceremonial cleanliness.
Before the Jews would eat, they would pour water over their hands with their fingers pointed upward. This water was kept in special jars and guarded to be free from any impurities. The Jews washed their hands and then poured water again over their hands from the wrists; this time holding their fingers downward. It was thought that in this fashion, they would purify their hands from any ceremonial uncleanness. It really had little to do with hygiene at all. It was merely a ceremonial washing, but it had become a very important tradition.
But Jesus condemned traditions when they became more important than the things they represented. Jesus rejected man-made traditions that lost their meaning. Listen to what Jesus said to them: "And He said to them, 'Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, "This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far away from Me. But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men." Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the traditions of men." (vv. 6-8)
Jesus saw through their dead tradition. He saw that they were more concerned with outward things than they were with the things that really count. Their worship was vain and dead because they exalted tradition to the status of doctrine. This was their spiritual condition; a sad condition indeed.
In fact when we take Matthew's account of this situation, we see more clearly what Jesus was saying. Look at Matthew 23:25-26: "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also."
Jesus cut through the superficiality of their outward observances in order to stress to them that inside was more important than the outside. Jesus was more concerned with their heart condition than their hand condition. Someone said that, "The heart of Christianity is the heart." God is more concerned with who we are on the inside than the outward ceremonies we observe. The prophet Samuel had to remind Jesse, David's father, that man looks on the outward appearance, but God looks on the heart.
Jesus also encountered another tradition that the people liked to hide behind. We see here that traditions become excuses to avoid serving God. "He was also saying to them, 'You nicely set aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition. For Moses said, "Honor your father and your mother;" and "He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death;" but you say, "If a man says to his father or his mother, anything of mine you might have been helped by is Corban (that is to say, given to God)," you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or his mother; thus invalidating the word of God by your tradition which you have handed down; and you do many things such as that." (vv. 9-13)
In the Ten Commandments, God had said, "Honor your father and your mother." Part of that honor obviously meant to take care of them. But the selfish Jews who did not want to take care of father and mother had found a way out of it. They simply declared their resources to be Corban. That meant that those resources were dedicated to God. To declare something Corban meant that it was set apart for God's use and so could be used for no other earthly purpose. In order to get out of assisting their parents financially or with other materially resources, they would simply declare them Corban. But in fact, what they were doing was using those things for themselves. This was the height of hypocrisy. They had found a law which served them well. They had established a tradition by which they could actually get around the commandment of God. It was not only hypocrisy, but it was self-deception because they actually thought they were doing right. In this case, rite was wrong, dead wrong. It is interesting how we can pervert the real meaning of Christianity in the name of God.
But what is the ultimate test of tradition? How do we determine when our tradition is right and when it is wrong? We have seen how, at times rite can be right. We have seen how rite can be wrong. I believe the test for tradition is when rite is relevant.
We have already said that the heart of Christianity is the heart. Jesus is after a transformation of the inner man. He cares more about who we are inside than who we appear to be on the outside. He cares more about our inner man than our outward appearance. He cares more about our heart condition than the observance of religious tradition. So we might say that the ultimate test of tradition is "Does it deal with our heart trouble?"
When things truly remind us of who God is and who we are, then they are good. When traditions are established which assist us in knowing God and communing with Him, then they are good. If our traditions help us deal with our heart trouble, then they help us know God. And knowing God is what Christianity is all about. We must always beware, lest we find ourselves worshipping traditions instead of God.
During the wilderness wandering, the people of Israel murmured against God and against Moses. Because of their murmuring, God sent fiery serpents among them which bit them and caused many people to die. The people came to Moses and confessed their sin and asked him to pray. So he did. And God spoke to him to make a serpent of brass and put it on a pole; so that whoever looked on the serpent would live. Moses gives the order and the workmen set out to fashion the serpent. But in the meantime, people were dying. Imagine what it may have been like: people are sick, their tongues are swollen; they are racked with pain like fire in their bodies. They lie around in their tents groaning, knowing that they are dying. Think of a wife nursing her dying husband in the tent with the children looking on. She loves him. The children love him. They can hardly stand to look on him. Their hearts are about to burst within their chest. They know he is about to breathe his last and they feel helpless, absolutely helpless to do anything about it. But then the word is passed. Moses has heard the word of the Lord. The serpent is being built. But her husband is still dying. Oh, if he could just hang on a little longer, maybe there would be hope after all. Finally it is finished. The hole is dug and the brazen serpent is raised above the people. A shout goes through the congregation: "Look! Look! Look and live!" And God begins to move. The man stands on his feet, and is healed by the power of God. Now it is rejoicing time in the camp! God has moved. And the brazen serpent is the symbol of God's action in their midst. I'm sure there was rejoicing, dancing, shouting, and praising. I'm sure people said, "Oh, the serpent . . . how glorious . . . don't do away with that serpent." And that's precisely what they did. They kept the serpent. The Bible says that they burned incense to that serpent for years until the time of Hezekiah, the King. Now, God had used the serpent. It was a means of grace to them, a means of healing. But it was not God. Hezekiah, many years later, tore it down and said, "It's just a piece of brass." You see, they had allowed the serpent to become what it only intended to symbolize. And we are in danger of doing the same thing at times. Sometimes we hold onto things long after God has finished using them.
Sometimes we talk about the "good old days," those days in years past when God was moving. And we try to recapture those good old days by recapturing some of the good old things we were doing. Often times, I've found that the good old days weren't so good after all. And even if they were, you can't recapture what is past. And it becomes depressing. You say, "But God, I was born too late for the apostles...too late for this or that. There will be no revival, no move of God. But we live in today. All too often, we are like Mary at Lazarus' tomb. She said to Jesus, "If only you had been here." Jesus is the great "I Was." She also said, "And I know that in the resurrection my brother will be alive." Here Jesus is the great "I Will Be." But Jesus said, "I Am the resurrection and the life." Jesus is the great "I Am." He is at work today.
Paul said, in Philippians 3:13, "Forgetting those things which are behind..." God wants to do a new thing today, and we need to be open to it. What worked yesterday may not have power for today. We live in a new day with new challenges, and we need to hear the word of the Lord for today. Jesus told us that it was impossible to put new wine into old wineskins. You see, the old wineskins are already stretched and brittle, and the new wine expands and causes them to break. The wineskins are lost and the wine is lost as well. You see, the old wineskins represent the structures we get into. The new wine is that which God is doing in us, the new work. If we would have new wine, we must also have new wineskins. The Jews were trying to get Jesus to conform to ceremonial laws. But Jesus knew the new wine had to have room to expand. When we look at the early church, we see that they changed with God's moving in their midst. They were not bound to the past, but were living in God's glorious now. Be open for God to do a new thing in your life. Be open for God to do a new thing in the church. Indeed, may we be like the apostle Paul, when he said, "But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:13b-14)
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