Traditions - Supreme to Scripture?

Matthew 15 & Mark 7

As I read this morning's reading I was cut to the heart with the teaching that Jesus gave to his disciples.

Jesus had been questioned by the Pharisees as to why he disregarded the tradition of the elders by not washing his hands before eating a meal.  Jesus responded with a question (how often Jesus did that!), asking why they would break the command of God for the sake of maintaining their tradition!

I attended a very traditional secondary school. This school was renowned for its keeping of traditions - and for boys like me who were a little non conforming and rebellious, they were just silly rules! Yet try and break just one of the traditions - and there was hell to pay! Now we can argue about whether I was right or wrong - but what I have to point out is the sheer power of tradition. Yes, there are wonderful aspects to keeping traditions. But in the case of the Pharisees, they were lording their man made traditions over the commands of God!

Across the world wide church today I wonder how often tradition (man made rules) are hindering the work of spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ. Have you ever sat through a church meeting and wondered why certain rituals and ceremonies, none of which are mentioned in the Bible, are observed? But the sheer power of those traditions are manifested when challenged. And I think that it is then that we may see that traditions have become supreme to scripture.  We need to constantly evaluate what we are doing as a local church and ask 'Why?' We may just find that some rituals and traditions are holding us back - and what is needed is a fresh wind of the Spirit to bring to life what may once have been a good idea, but have now have become lifeless!

Jesus quickly denounced the Pharisees hypocrisy, and quoted Isaiah who prophesied of those in Israel who would honour God with their lips, but whose hearts would be far from God; they worship in vain because their teachings are merely rules taught by men.

I had to smile when I read that the disciples then came to Jesus to tell him that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this. Should we be surprised that they were offended? After all, their hearts were far from God. Isn't it true that sometimes in the church we seem so cautious of offending the very people whose hearts are actually far from God, and perhaps spend more time trying to appease them! Jesus did not apologise for what he said, and did not mind that they were offended.

But for me, what Jesus said about their worship merely being lip service while their hearts were far from him was hugely provoking. I think that there is a potential danger in the church - the longer you have been in the church (the Pharisees had 'been around the block' themselves) the easier it is to fake your way through. When we first come to Christ we come as we are - few of us know the 'do's and don'ts' of church culture. But as we grow in sanctification, the real danger is that we start to learn the 'do's and don'ts'. We learn to perform and pretend. In that precarious place, our hearts can drift from God, particularly when we find ourselves leading a ministry, where we can feel that we can no longer be vulnerable. It's no wonder then, that sometimes the people who get most offended in church are not the new members - it's often the longest serving members and those in ministry!

This morning was a fresh reminder to me that the next time I sing a song, or say a prayer - it should truly come from my heart in adoration for my King. Perhaps thats why the Bible speaks of singing a new song - nothing traditional about that! Anything less than heart-felt and intimate worship will see me drift towards the company of the Pharisees and their hypocrisy - and we all know how Jesus felt about that lot!

"You provide the food" - Jesus Christ

Matthew 14, Mark, Luke 9:1-17

These stories are read chronologically, and it is so interesting to note that up to this point in Jesus' ministry, it is Jesus only who has been doing the ministry - preaching, healing, miracles, driving out demons, proclaiming the kingdom of God and telling people to repent.

But now Jesus calls the Twelve together and gives them authority and power to do the same! This is part of Jesus' discipleship strategy - first: watch me do it. now: you do it and I'll watch you.
Jesus knew he would be leaving, and the Twelve would carry on the work. But there had to come a time when the Twelve would need to learn these things themselves. Very wise leadership from Jesus.

And so, the story of feeding the 5000, right at that time...and so when the disciples told Jesus to send the people away to find food, note how Jesus cleverly uses this for their learning. Instead of just performing the miracle himself, as he perhaps normally did, he asks them: "You provide the food".

Imagine them freaking out! 8 months of wages Jesus?! are you out of your mind?? Impossible! How often do we feel like this in ministry. When we have to minister out of what we dont have, when the situation clearly can only been resolved with supernatural intervention...

I can just imagine Jesus smiling internally when he said "you provide the food'. This was a test for them. Too easy to get Jesus to do the miracles all the time. They had to step up, this was a discipleship moment. These are the moments when followers become leaders.

In Mark 6 account, it says that Jesus asks them, in response to their unbelief: "How many loaves do you have? Go and see".  Its like they were so stumped with unbelief that he helps them a bit along by saying "Look guys, at least go and see what you have!" Which they do...5 loaves and 2 fish...and at this point, as if the lesson could not be learned any more, Jesus takes over again and performs the miracle. The fact that this was a test is clearly explained in the gospel of John 6:5-6, "When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward him, he said to Phillip, "Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat? He asked this only to test him, for he already had in mind what he was going to do."

And then straight after this event, Jesus tells them to go ahead and get into the boat to sail to Bethsaida, while he himself dismissed the crowd and went up on a mountainside to pray. Then they face the storm on their own, without Jesus, thinking they would die - but Jesus arrives again in impeccable time to calm the wind and waves and save the day.

WOW. Very clearly - in these 2 consecutive events we see that Jesus is beginning to 'pull away' from them, handing over the reigns, giving them a taste of how it would be when he would no longer be with them. He asked them to feed the 5000....then has them climb into a boat on their own to face the storm...Jesus is very intentional in his leadership strategy. How would they learn if Jesus did not allow them to face these seemingly impossible situations? How could they be men of faith if they did did not face situations where faith would be required?

Therefore for the Christian, in the face of difficulty and seemingly impossibility - rather than walk away or give up in frustration, perhaps difficult situations present an opportunity for faith. For followers to becomes leaders. And perhaps the wonder of it all, is that God allows these things to develop and strengthen our faith.

"You provide the food".
"You sail ahead without me"

Yikes. Christ's school of Leadership, Course 101. And we are all enrolled!