BaptistWay: Religious leaders bound by tradition

This BaptistWay Bible Series lesson for Jan. 20 focuses on and Mark 7:1-23.

I recently had a rather hilarious conversation with a well-meaning Christian friend. I’ve lost some weight recently, enough that none of my suits fit. Rather than buy new suits, I started wearing nice clothing on Sunday mornings, but not suits. He noticed and asked why.

It doesn’t bother him that I’m not wearing a suit, but he did say something I personally found really funny. “The Bible says we are supposed to wear our best clothes to church,” he explained. “Where does it say that?” I inquired. “I don’t know, (buckle up; here it comes) but my grandma told me the Bible says so.” I assured him the Bible says nothing of the sort. He didn’t believe me, so I told him to search for himself. He’s still searching. But he still doesn’t believe me.

I have a young pastor friend who, probably foolishly, wore blue jeans and a nice shirt to the very traditional church he pastors. He was reprimanded by several people in his church. Most notably, a woman really reamed him out in front of some guests. The guests never returned.

Traditions can be wonderful. What food is included in your annual Thanksgiving feast? What is your Christmas Eve tradition? You love it, don’t you? On Christmas Eve, we go to church, read the Christmas story with our kids, make cookies and go to bed late. We love it, too. And, of course, there is nothing wrong with that.

When it comes to human tradition verses biblical principle, everything goes wrong. Well, that’s assuming our human tradition is in conflict with biblical principles. And there lies the problem: Many of our “Christian” traditions are not biblical. So, we become Pharisees as well.

When Jesus quoted Isaiah in our text, it seems those words are even more fitting today. “You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition” (Mark 7:8). Let’s take that a phrase at a time.

“You abandon the commandment of God.” Oh, my! I’m so guilty. If we would be honest with ourselves, we all would recognize we abandon the commandments of God hourly. Collectively, churches have abandoned the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. We have loved our tradition over loving our Lord. We have loved the color of our carpet, our styles of worship and our chosen Bible study room more than we have loved the lost.

In the name of tradition, we have equated giving to missions with going to a lost world, being on mission. In the name of tradition, we have sacrificed many a pastor on the altar of trying to change said tradition. We have loved to sit in a two-hour movie but complained about a 30-minute proclamation of God’s word. We too have abandoned the commandment of God.
“… and hold to human tradition.”

One of the great wars of our day is over styles of worship. This never should have been a war. I’m told it was a war when Stamps Baxter became popular. I’m told it was a war when the Gaithers first got started. I know it was a war when Amy Grant burst on the scene. Both sides of the contemporary verses traditional worship styles have been right and wrong. Both are valid forms of worship. Both are acceptable forms of worship. Both are biblical forms of worship. The hymn people are holding on to their tradition. The contemporary people are holding on to their tradition. Heaving rocks back and forth at one another over how we worship Jesus Christ? That sounds really dumb, doesn’t it?

Tradition can be wonderful. But tradition also can be dangerous. In fact, it was holding on to tradition that killed our Savior. It was tradition that martyred many of our apostles. It’s irrelevant tradition that is keeping millions of the unreached “millennials” away from church. That same tradition is driving Millennial Christians away from church.

So, let me ask you, where in your life are you addicted to Christian tradition? If you don’t recognize your chosen church traditions, the following questions will help you recognize a few:

• How would you react if your pastor wore blue jeans and a nice shirt on Sunday morning?
• How would you respond if your church announced tomorrow that there no longer would be a choir?
• Your deacons just decided to move the time of your worship service to 11:30 a.m. on Sunday morning. What do you think about that?
• It was just decided that the Sunday evening worship service will be replaced permanently replaced with an “intentional discipleship process” for all believers. What is your reaction?

Now, here is the interesting part. We Baptists are “people of the book,” right? What does the Bible say about the clothing of your pastor? Does the Bible demand a choir? Is there a specified time for worship in the Bible? Are we commanded to worship on Sunday night? You already know all the answers. But just like me, you kind of twinge when you read these, especially if you’ve been in the church for a while.

Let me conclude with a really funny, but fitting message I heard in 2012 from a prominent American pastor: The mission of the church is like your wife. You are to be completely and totally committed. But the methods to carry out the mission are like your high-school girlfriend. You can “break up” at any given moment, without a thought and with no repercussions.

Let’s be married to the mission. Let’s kick our traditions to the curb when they don’t work anymore.

Since we are morphing your Bible study group into a “Bible-doing” group, I want to suggest these applications for this week:

1. Use the list of questions above with your class to help them see how committed they are to traditions in your church. You might need to adjust a few of them.
2. What traditions exist in your church that no longer work? Are there “sacred cows” around? Sometimes even something as simple as pieces of furniture can become sacred cows. How could your class create a culture that will help lead your church away from traditions that no longer are working?