Traditions...
Body Bags:
Israel's major airline, El Al, recently rejected a plea by ultra-orthodox Jews with a priestly heritage to fly inside body bags. Why would someone want to do this? Ritual law states that a priest who enters a cemetery becomes religiously "unclean." A ruling by a prominent rabbi declared that flying over a cemetery was the same as entering it. He suggested body bags as a means of maintaining separation, but abandoned the idea when told by airline security that it would be unsafe. Orthodox priests can now avoid pollution by flying late at night, as the noise levels require night flights to follow an alternate route which doesn't pass above the cemetery.
Ash Wednesday...
The first day of Lent in the West. For 14 centuries the season of Lent has been a time for self-examination and penitence in preparation for Easter. The name comes from the Saxon lengten-tide, referring to the lengthening of the days and the coming of spring. This 40-day period of abstinence recalls the fasts of Moses, Elijah, and Jesus, all of which—according to scripture—lasted 40 days. It was originally begun in the Western Church on a Sunday. But since Sundays were feast days, in the latter part of the sixth century Pope Gregory I moved the beginning of Lent ahead four days.
Gregory is also credited with having introduced the ceremony that gives this day its name. When public penitents came to the church for forgiveness, the priest would take some ash (made by burning the palms used on Palm Sunday of the previous year) and mark their foreheads with the sign of the cross as a reminder that they were but ashes and dust. Eventually the practice was extended to include all who wished to receive ashes.
Is Ash Wednesday a bad thing?
No, if a person actually does examine their spiritual life and draws closer to God in the process. Yes, if a person believes they can gain favor with God or other people simply by going through the motions.
We, however, as believers in Christ should be in a constant state of spiritual self examination by the work of the Holy Spirit and through the truth of the Word of God and we should immediately come to repentance when and if we detect any offence toward God. In other words, the spiritual practice that is encouraged during the Lenten season should be our normal mode of spiritual life.
Where religious traditions run into trouble is when they become good works used to obtain favor with God instead of good works flowing from a heart made righteous by a salvation of faith in Christ alone.
Religious traditions also cause problems if they expand on the Word of God, if they take away from the Word of God, if they contradict the Word of God or if they claim to supersede the Word of God.
Revelation 22:18-19
I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book.
And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.
Scriptures Against Tradition
Matthew 15:1-9
“Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!’
Jesus replied, ‘And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, “Honor your father and mother” and “Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.”’
“But you say that if a man says to his father or mother, ‘Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is a gift devoted to God,’ he is not to “honor his father” with it.
“Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:
“These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. They worship Me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.”
Galatians 1:11-14
“I want you to know, brothers, that the gospel I preached is not something that man made up. I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it; rather, I received it by revelation from Jesus Christ.
“For you have heard of my previous way of life in Judaism, how intensely I persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it.
“I was advancing in Judaism beyond many Jews of my own age and was extremely zealous for the traditions of my fathers.”
Galatians 2:11-14
“When Peter came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he was clearly in the wrong. Before certain men came from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles.
“But when they arrived, he began to draw back and separate himself from the Gentiles because he was afraid of those who belonged to the circumcision group.
“The other Jews joined him in his hypocrisy, so that by their hypocrisy even Barnabas was led astray. When I saw that they were not acting in line with the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter in front of them all,
“You are a Jew, yet you live like a Gentile and not like a Jew. How is it, then, that you force Gentiles to follow Jewish customs (traditions)?”
Colossians 2:6-8
“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
“See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ.”
Scriptures in Favor of Tradition
2 Thessalonians 2:14-15 (NASB)
“It was for this (salvation that) He (Jesus) called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.
“So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions (teachings/instructions) which you were taught, whether by word of mouth or by letter from us.
2 Thessalonians 3:6 (NASB)
Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from every brother who leads an unruly life and not according to the tradition (teaching/instruction) which you received from us.
Traditions come and traditions go and traditions are instituted and then traditions are altered.
Ash Wednesday, not started until AD 600 and then it was for 40 days until it was determined that Sundays were feast days even during Lent so it was extended... Many different traditions and durations... none of them found in Scripture
God’s Word is unchanging!
What do we believe about Gods Holy Word?
4. The Holy Scriptures
We believe in the plenary inspiration of the Holy Scriptures, by which we understand the 66 books of the Old and New Testaments, given by divine inspiration, inerrantly revealing the will of God concerning us in all things necessary to our salvation, so that whatever is not contained therein is not to be enjoined as an article of faith.
- plenary (the full, complete, entire, unqualified)
- inspiration (God breathed)
2 Tim 3:16-17 (Amp)
Every Scripture is God-breathed (given by His inspiration) and profitable for instruction, for reproof and conviction of sin, for correction of error and discipline in obedience,
[and] for training in righteousness (in holy living, in conformity to God's will in thought, purpose, and action), so that the man of God may be complete and proficient, well fitted and thoroughly equipped for every good work.
- 66 books of the Old and New Testaments
- inerrantly revealing the will of God concerning us in all things
necessary to our salvation
- so that whatever is not contained therein is not to be enjoined as
an article of faith.
Free Methodist Manual:
Whatever is not found in the Bible nor can be proved by it is not to be required as an article of belief or as necessary to salvation.
Stated in a positive sense
Only what is found in the Bible and can be proved by it is to be required as an article of belief and as necessary to salvation.
So, what do we do with Ash Wednesday? It’s not in the Bible but is a tradition established by humans.
If in Ash Wednesday and Lent you find direction in bringing you closer to God then observe the tradition. But do not look down on others who choose not to follow the tradition and do not feel spiritually superior to them.
If you choose not to follow the traditions of Ash Wednesday and Lent still pursue the righteousness of God with all of your heart. But do not look down on others who do choose to follow those traditions for their growth in Christ-likeness.
Conclusions
Benediction:
(May) The LORD protect you and keep you safe from all dangers. (May) The LORD protect you now and always wherever you go.
Psalms 121:7-8
