The California Collection/TheCaliforniaCollection.cdr/his075/traditon.lzh/TRADITON.TXT

Text File | 1991-07-13 | 17KB | 308 lines

CUL:Tradition  by Tony Capoccia

   Almost every Sunday School class will at one time or another play a
little game to show the dangers of gossip. They will get the members in
a circle and then tell one person a certain fact, then that person
tells the one next to him, and so forth on it goes around the circle.
Of course by the time the fact or story gets "back around" to the
originator it usually is quite different than what was originally
stated. Of course that is the inherent danger in gossip, but it also
could illustrate the danger of traditions.

   Tradition is defined as the passing down of elements from one
generation to another, especially by oral communication. In the Church,
traditions are a body of unwritten religious precepts. I would add that
most of the traditions of the Church are unwritten, at least at first,
but given enough time they are often adopted and written into the
Church Constitution and By- Laws.

   Traditions can be either good or bad for the Church. For example,
the traditional Church picnic is good for the fellowship of the saints.
The traditional "caroling" of Christmas songs in the community is
another welcomed tradition. But there are times when traditions can be
destructive to the mission of the Church. This was true for God's
people of the Old Testament, who by their traditions had "nullified the
Word of God." (Mark 7:13). Satan's number one target is the Church
because it is God's selected vehicle for the reaching of the lost. He
is always trying to "nullify" God's Word. For example, in the Garden of
Eden, man is given his first command from God, "do not eat from the
tree. . .or you will surely die." Soon after God spoke the command we
find the serpent with his lie that sought to negate God's Word, "Did
God say. . .you will not surely die. . you will become like God."
(Genesis 3:1-5).

   God's people have always come under attack by the evil spirits to
rob them of the power of God in their lives and ministries. The Church
has continued to be affected by the neutralizing effect of man's false
traditions. As one travels across this nation there is an alarming fact
discovered in most evangelical Churches, which is that the majority of
them seem to be without power and influence in their communities. Many
fundamental churches are having problems with unity, finances,
attendance and the "winning" of the lost. The Church presented in the
New Testament started out very powerful with a tremendous impact on the
surrounding peoples. But in time the process begins of nullifying God's
Word through man's traditions.

   I did not "grow up" in the fundamental church, rather I was in a
false religion for the first 34 years of my life. Therefore, after my
salvation I had only the Bible to refer to as the source for the
doctrines and practices of the Church. I began to see some conflicts
between what the Bible declared and some of the accepted church
practices, but decided that my "newness" to the faith might have caused
a lack of understanding. About a year after salvation, I found myself
in a theological seminary and again faced with some church practices
that seemed to contradict the Word of God. This time I had the
opportunity to study in detail the problem areas. It was obvious that
in many areas the Scriptures declared one thing and many churches were
saying something else that nullified the intent of Scripture. Note the
following observations:

   #1 OBSERVATION:

   GOD'S TRUTH - If someone is sick, he should call the Elders of the
Church to pray over them and anoint with oil in the Name of the Lord.
(James 5:14).

   GOD'S INTENT - To increase the faith of the Church, to heal some of
the sick people, and to ultimately bring Glory upon Himself.

   MAN'S TRADITION - Do not anoint with oil, nor bring the Elders to
him, rather have the Church pray for the sick person during "prayer
meetings."

   MAN'S INTENT - To avoid any semblance of rituals. To keep from
having "little bottles" of oil that might be considered "holy."

   RESULT - Faith is not increased, for man does not do it God's way
and therefore many are sick who could have been healed if it was done
in the manner God prescribed. Elders do not go to the sick and have the
opportunity to discover what may be the reason God has allowed the
illness, (i.e., sin problem, means of "bringing the person home," to
reveal the Glory of God when He heals them, etc).

   #2 OBSERVATION:

   GOD'S TRUTH - New Testament practice of celebrating the Lord's
Supper on a regular basis, at least once per week. (Acts 2:42,46;20:7).

   GOD'S INTENT - To remind His Church of the death and resurrection of
Jesus Christ on a continuing basis. It also provides for serious
confession of sin on a regular basis because of the admonition of
"examination" prior to taking the supper in an unworthy manner.

   MAN'S TRADITION - Celebrate the Lord's Supper once per month. In
some churches they do it only once per quarter.

   MAN'S INTENT - To keep the Lord's Supper "special." If it occurs as
often as once per week then it will become "old hat" and lose it's
"specialness."

   RESULT - The remembrance of the Lord's death, resurrection, and
Second Coming are not accomplished on a regular basis. The calling for
serious examination of heart with its accompanying consequences is also
not available. Often times people are unable to attend the monthly
service (usually Sunday night) to receive the Lord's Supper. For
example, those who are in the military, or work service industry jobs
(nurses, fireman, policemen, etc) are called upon to work weekends or
nights on a routine basis. If they happen to have to work on "Communion
Night" then they must wait another month before celebrating the Supper.

   #3 OBSERVATION:

   GOD'S TRUTH - Have man "count the cost" prior to accepting Jesus as
their Savior and Lord. In other words, preach a "Repent and be
Baptized" gospel message. (Acts 2:38;Luke 14:28).

   GOD'S INTENT - To insure that man makes a true profession of faith,
and not be deceived into believing that he is a Christian when he is
not. A commitment to Christ without a known cost to the seeker is
easily a false commitment. It also ensures that the new believer is
taken into a local church due to the fact that he must be Baptized in a
Church. This is especially true in a witnessing situation to a person
who does not attend any church.

   MAN'S TRADITION - Not to emphasize the "costs" of following Jesus to
the perspective believer. In fact often times, there is no mention of
the "cost of following Jesus" in the preaching of the Gospel. It
appears that only the "benefits" of being a Christian is presented. The
words "be Baptized" are often never spoken in the same context with the
gospel, even though Peter proclaimed, "Repent and be Baptized."

   MAN'S INTENT - To keep people from thinking that the requirement for
Baptism somehow saves them. Also ensures that only the truly saved are
baptized, in that they will not be Baptized until they have
demonstrated a changed life and been to the "Newcomer's Class."

   RESULT - Allows people to make professions of faith that would have
never done so if they knew that there were costs involved. Keeps the
"seeker" from really examining his own heart. Allows many to think that
they are Christians when in fact they are not.

   #4 OBSERVATION:

   GOD'S TRUTH - To have the Word of God available to all people in the
language of the people. God desires that all people hear the gospel in
their own tongues. (Acts 2:6-11 plus an obvious conclusion as one
realizes that throughout the Bible God speaks to man in the "common
language" of the people.)

   GOD'S INTENT - To remove any stumbling block from the path of those
who are lost in their sins. God wants His word clearly presented to the
unsaved and the saved in simple clear terms. In that way all can be
edified and strengthened as they clearly delineate the commands of God.

   MAN'S TRADITION - To venerate a "translation" of the Bible that is
no longer in the language of the people. The King James Version of the
Bible was written 375 years ago in a dialect of the English language
which is no longer spoken today. In addition, discoveries of the Dead
Sea Scrolls have produced more accurate translations. Yet many churches
claim that the KJV is somehow more holy than the newer translations,
and therefore use it in their worship services and teach their children
Bible verses from it.

   RESULT - The letters on the printed page and the book itself is
venerated rather than the truths that were intended to be presented.
Many are held back in their understanding because they "stumble" over
words that are archaic and without meaning in our society. Overall the
Word of God is not being clearly presented, and rather becomes a
"religious language" in a society without God, rather than being the
"Word of Hope" in their own language.

   #5 OBSERVATION:

   GOD'S TRUTH - The Church is to discipline her sinning members in
order to keep herself a pure chaste virgin to Christ. Also, the
discipline is to be part of the discipling process to help erring
Christians to become more Christlike. (Matthew 18:15-20).

   GOD'S INTENT - To continually bring all His children in a close walk
with Him. He is a perfect Father who disciplines a child when that
child gets caught up in a pattern of disobedience. He desires that
those who are disciplined will respond with confession and restoration
by the Church. Also for those who have become members of a Church but
have never been truly saved, when their obvious unholy lifestyle
becomes known, then the discipline of the Church will hopefully cause
the deceived person to realize that he is not a child of God.

   MAN'S TRADITION - Avoid Discipline in the Church. Pray about the
sinning members and if necessary preach sermons that are addressed to
the problems of the erring Christians in the Church. Avoid any public
confrontation with the persons who are in need of discipline, as it
would appear unloving and judgmental.

   MAN'S INTENT - To avoid any direct confrontation with anyone inside
or out of the Church. Man does not want to correct anyone but to appear
loving to all, even at the expense of God's commands. Man intends not
to "get involved" in another's life, rather let each one do their own
thing. Avoid any issues that might become controversial.

   RESULT - A Church without power and impact in the community. It
becomes a "family" without discipline with the resulting misbehavior.
In my own home church there are some who have not spoken to each others
for years due to some past disagreement. The pastoral staff keeps
preaching sermons on forgiveness and love but has not taken any action
against the sinning brothers and sisters involved. To hold grudges is
just as much a sin as committing adultery, fornication or any other
open sins.

   #6 OBSERVATION:

   GOD'S TRUTH - That when a person is "saved" he is totally forgiven
with no stain of sin left. All his sins are removed to the person of
Jesus Christ who lived an earthly life without sin, yet bears our sins.
The saved person is not charged with his sins, rather Jesus is held
accountable. The sins are no longer the sinners but rather they have
totally become Jesus' sins. (Romans 4:8, 1Corinthians 6:9-11, Hebrews
8:12;9:14, Revelation 1:5).

   GOD'S INTENT - To demonstrate His love for man by totally forgiving
his sins and truly creating a new person. God's forgiveness serves as
an example for Christians in the type of forgiveness they are to have
for one another. This total forgiveness stands as an example for the
entire unbelieving world, in that, regardless of the type or the amount
of sin a person has committed that they can receive total forgiveness
and be used in the ministry of the Church as if they had never
committed one sin!

   MAN'S TRADITION - To preach a Gospel of total forgiveness but do not
allow all Christians to be treated equally in regards to availability
of Church ministry. For example, in many Churches a divorced person
(prior to salvation) is not allowed the same opportunities to minister
as does a believer who had not been divorced in their lives prior to
salvation.

   MAN'S INTENT - To maintain a very pure Church by keeping those who
had committed any major sins in their lives (divorce, abortion, murder,
homosexuality, drunkenness, etc) from holding any position of
prominence or leadership thereby maintaining a very pure example to the
flock.

   RESULT - The unbelieving world is confused. On one hand they hear a
gospel of total forgiveness yet in actual practice certain Christians
are treated in a restrictive manner due to some "past sin." They see
God's forgiveness being somewhat limited since the Church remembers the
sins of some believers. Christians are likewise confused and held back
from the blessings that accompany the use of their spiritual gifts. The
Church is robbed of much Power due to a large number of Spiritual Gifts
not being allowed to be used for the Body. Many Christians are made to
feel second classed as they see others who have unrestricted ministry
because their sins were not so public as divorce.

   #7 OBSERVATION:

   GOD'S TRUTH - That the Church Leadership is to be made up of
"redeemed sinners, " to include a variety of backgrounds (i.e., public
sins and non- public ones!). (Moses, David, Paul, Stephen, Timothy,
1Timothy 5:21).

   GOD'S INTENT - To demonstrate His glory to all in that He can take
sinful man and use him for His glory. He can take a mass murderer like
Saul of Tarsus and sovereignly change his life and use him as the
Greatest Apostle of the New Testament. God also intends that the Church
be a testimony of the saving power of God in that even some of it's
very leaders were once evildoers, but who have been washed by the Blood
of Jesus!

   MAN'S TRADITION - The leadership of the Church should not only be
holy and godly men in the present life but also should come from a
"pure background." Ideally they will have become Christians at an early
age (5yrs of age ideal!) and have attended all the "right" Christian
schools and never have committed any "gross public sin" (i.e., murder,
abortion, divorce, theft, homosexuality, adultery, drunkenness, etc.).
Given a choice between two equally qualified applicants for Church
Leadership, then chose the one who has the "purer background" to
include pre-salvation life, even if both are spiritually qualified.

   MAN'S INTENT - To mandate a pure leadership, even making it more
restrictive than God has declared. Having holy pure men in leadership
that can serve as examples both to the saved and to the unsaved as to
what a Christian should be.

   RESULT - A Church that is unable to select the man that God has
"picked" for leadership positions. By removing from consideration all
those who had wicked pasts, then God can no longer provide the Church a
"Paul" (former mass murderer) or a "Moses" (committed murder after
salvation), or a "David" (committed adultery and murder as a believer).
The unbelievers see a Church ruled by those who have little or no
understanding of their sin or lifestyle. The "lost" also see a very
limited Gospel message that says, "if you give your life to Jesus, then
He will wash away all your sins, except for the gross ones which will
be remembered and cause disqualification to Christian Service."

   My dear friends, the above listing was only a brief summary of the
areas in the Church that need to be revamped. It was a very slow
process changing from the Truths of the Scriptures to the Traditions of
Man. Satan was there deceiving the Church into believing that God did
"not go far enough" and that man could add to God's commands by making
up some of their own.

   I have had the privilege of "seeing" Churches that were not
"steeped" into man's traditions and can say that they were very
powerful church bodies with a dynamic impact in their communities.
Nothing burdens my heart more than to see Christian Churches that are
weak and powerless in their communities. The answer to most is to
return to the Power of the Word of God, by heeding the words of Jesus
Christ, "You nullify the Word of God for the sake of your tradition."

   Tony Capoccia Bible Bulletin Board