Blessings!

dan

Hmmmmmm…I think what I was referring to was some of the “traditions” we implement in churches. And some of those aren’t necessarily wrong, they just aren’t commanded by God. For example, church membership. Membership and how one achieves membership is usually a case of church tradition. It’s odd isn’t it how there could be 5 believers, all friends, all like-minded in their Christian beliefs and principles, all going to heaven, but each one a member of a different church that follows different guidelines for membership. Why and how does that happen? Tradition. And I’m not suggesting that church membership is wrong. I’m saying there is not a Biblical command for the way we do it.

I served in a church where a woman thought we were heretics because we didn’t sing the doxology every Sunday. Why? Tradition. And it’s usually tradition that dictates the music style of our worship services.

Watch how churches handle the Lord’s Supper. Some churches and denominations even have written instructions on how it has to be done. Stray from those guidelines and you are in trouble with the powers that be. And yet very, very few churches even come close to handling communion the way Jesus did it. Why? Tradition.

Churches are full of such traditions that aren’t Biblical mandates, but we treat them as such. We need to be very careful about that so that we don’t become Pharisaical in equating man’s laws and traditions to God’s demands and expectations.

That being said, I want to be very careful that this is not submitted with a condemning or critical spirit, because it is certainly not meant that way. Many of those “traditions” are very meaningful to people and are a blessing to them, and as such give them a handle on their walk with Christ. But sometimes those same traditions can be a hindrance to another believer. So, we need to be tender and sensitive to these matters. To offend a brother simply for the sake of a tradition, or for the sake of breaking a tradition would be inherently wrong – and there IS Biblical mandate concerning that.