TROUBLING TRADITIONS, PART 2

“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.” - Colossians 2:8

Last week's blog message certainly caused a stir about the subject of baby dedications. For the record, I am not denouncing preachers or churches as being sinful if they practice this tradition. Instead, I wanted to point out how easy it is to have a tradition become second-nature to us and treat it like a Biblical mandate. I believe children should loved, nurtured, taught and prayed for by believers.

Today, I want to finish dealing with the issue of traditions. Not all traditions are bad, but some are. I find that “worship” at church can often be tainted with tradition. The activity of a church can be geared more by tradition than truth. Over time, we fail to see this as a problem. But I want us to consider two things that have become tradition. Each needs to change.

1.  MAJORING ON MINOR THINGS

First of all, we are easily led to major on minor things. It is amazing how many sermons, and even bylaws, are delivered on minor things. We can spend an enormous amount of time and energy on some of these minor issues. Let's consider a few of them.

Denominationalism is a major issue among some churches. The politics, programs and traditions of a denomination can, in certain circumstances, hinder a church from accomplishing God's will. Our main allegiance should be to the Lord and His Word, not a denomination. More and more, we are seeing denominations compromise the truth and conform to the world.

Politics is another issue that is hindering our spiritual progress. While I think it is important for Christians to vote and be part of the political process, the issue of politics has become a focal point in churches. While it isn't wrong for a sermon to address political issues that have a spiritual significance, it is wrong for politics to replace the preaching of the Gospel. Look at the book of Acts. Political issues did not prompt the church to picket politicians or conduct rallies. Instead, believers remained focused to the spreading of the Gospel. We should do the same.

While Protestants harshly condemn the way Roman Catholics worship their pope, personality worship exists among evangelical, and even Fundamental churches. While it is proper to respect pastoral leadership, it is wrong to put your pastor upon a pedestal. Furthermore, we have made celebrities out of TV ministers. Sadly, we've seen some of these notable ministers fall morally and devastate their followers. A TV minister is not your pastor. While you should respect your pastor's leadership, your primarily goal is to follow Jesus.

I could go on about the minor things that we tend to major on, such as music preferences, worship styles, Bible versions, programs, a person's length of hair, dress codes and other similar topics. I think you get the idea. These things aren't as important as we make them out to be.

2.  MINORING ON MAJOR THINGS

While churches tend to major on minor things, we also tend to minor on the major things. We have reduced our emphasis on several major issues. 

First of all, Biblical teaching and preaching has been replaced with motivational and politically-correct speeches. God's people need to be fed from the Word, not taught from a philosophy book. What ever happened to powerful preaching? We have allowed our pulpits to get weak, our membership to get cold and God's Word to be diluted with worldly concepts. We need bold, Spirit-filled Biblical preaching once more!

Secondly, our churches need to return to prayer. God's house is to be a house of prayer. Prayer shouldn't be just another item in the order of a church service, but a corporate approach to the throne of grace. Our churches need to be praying churches once again.

Third, we need to emphasize evangelism once more. Our world needs the Gospel like never before. Souls are perishing all around us. While we play church, our friends and family members are going to hell. Like Fanny Crosby's song states, we need to rescue the perishing and care for the dying. We need to train believers to be evangelistic every day, not just on Sundays.

There's much more that could be said about these issues, but my main concern is that we quit majoring on minor things and get back to majoring on the main things once more.

Time is running out. Let's get busy doing God's will and finish strong!