Introduction
1. As most of you know, the consistory has been going through a time of self-examination for both themselves and the church. As part of that examination we came up with a list of seven corporate sins that we as a congregation share. These are sins that are prevalent in our church. That does not mean that each individual personally commits these sins, but corporately we do and therefore they affect the entire church. As a consistory we will seek ways of confessing these sins and being set free from them.
2. One of the sins that we were convicted of was what we called "religiosity and fear of people, including tradition." This morning we are going to take a look at the sin of tradition.
3. Your first reaction may be to say "wait a minute, who says tradition is a sin?" "After all, is tradition not that which allows us to keep the things that we cherish? Does tradition not enable us to carry on the faith of our fathers? Is tradition not that which is constant in this changing world? What is wrong with tradition? What is wrong with singing Ere Zij God each Christmas or celebrating the Lord’s Supper on Good Friday or having the consistory enter church from this door each Sunday? Some of these are cherished traditions in our church.
4. Y you are partly right. Tradition does not need to be a sin. But it so easily becomes a sin.
5. And a tradition may not be a sin for one person and yet be a sin for another. And that is why I will not stand here this morning and give you a list a traditions that are sins. You are going to have to decide that for yourselves.
6. Which traditions are sins? The waim2.htmlraditions were taught in the schools and synagogues along with the Hebrew Scriptures. In 200AD these teachings were written down in the Mishna. These interpretations and applications were quite extensive. And they were expected to be followed just as the word of God.
5. Jesus’ disciples were accused of breaking one of these traditions. They did not wash their hands before they ate. It is a good thing to wash our hands before we eat and I would not want children going home and saying that Pastor John, or more importantly, Jesus, now says they do not have to wash their hands before they eat. But the tradition was not concerned with hygiene but rather that which was considered God’s law. In Exodus 30:17-21 Aaron and his sons were ordered to wash their hands before they performed their duties in the tabernacle. But nowhere did God make a law that all were to wash hands before eating. The Pharisees extended the rule for the priest to all the people.
6. Jesus makes it very clear that the tradition of the elders is wrong and I would say is a sin. And as we see the reasons why, let us consider if any of our traditions can be judged in the same way.
7. In vs. 3 Jesus begins his response.
"And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?"
Jesus makes it clear that there is a difference between their tradition and the command or law of God. We sin when we equate man-made rules with God’s law. When we add to God’s word.
Mat 23:4 They tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them..
And as we will see, by placing these burdens or traditions on others, they fail to let others see what following Jesus is really all about.
Do we sometimes equate our traditions, our expectations with the word of God? Or treat them as important? Or place burdens on others that God has not placed on them?
9. Second, tradition becomes a sin when our tradition goes against God’s word.
Jesus is accused of breaking tradition. He is really breaking tradition for the sake of the command of God. He did that when He healed on the Sabbath. It is right to break tradition for the sake of the command of God. But He says that they do the opposite. And that is wrong. They break the command of God or nullify the word of God for the sake of their tradition. And Jesus places an example before them.
The law of God says "Honour your father and mother." Our outer actions toward them should come from an inner attitude and desire to honour them. This includes looking after one’s parents when they were old and unable to look after themselves. Providing for them when they need help. But the Pharisees found a way to circumvent this command. When the parents would need support, their children could tell them that the money or resources they had were pledged as a gift or an offering to God, to the temple. According to the tradition of the elders, this would release the child from his parents’ need. And this was used as an excuse, even if the offering was not really pledged. The tradition enabled children to break the command to honour their parents. And I know that God comes before our parents, but this does not mean that we give to God that which would be needed to take care of them.
How could this apply to us? A few years we began to provide meals for families when there was a need or when a baby was born. It was our tradition before that not to do anything. If, when we decided to begin this ministry, we would have refused to do it because it was our tradition not to or because we did not have that ministry when we were sick, tradition would have made us break the command to love one another.
Are their traditions we have that cause us to break the law of God through sins of omission or commission?
10. And I wonder if this tradition was not set by the Pharisees for their own gain. Money given to the temple could be used by them. And it also gave them more power. Are our traditions there because of selfish reasons? Is that a sin?
11. The next way tradition can be a sin is found in verse 8&9.
"'These people honour me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain;"
12. Tradition can become a meaningless activity. It can become that religiosity that is based on believing certain things and doing the things we are supposed to do. A set of rules and ways of acting. We can worship God with our lips but our hearts can be far from Him.
Tradition can be a hindrance to having a deep personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Even our worship can be sinful if we simply go through the motions. Our worship is to be carried out not because that is what we always do on Sunday morning, but because we want to experience the presence of God. We want to speak to God and hear Him speak to us. And we want to express our love for Him that is within our hearts.
Do we worship God with our hearts? Or is it something done with only our lips? I do not want to answer this for you. Nor will the answer be the same for us. How do visitors or newcomers see our worship? Do they see us going through motions, or do they see us encountering God? Being sorrowful over our sins and being joyful over His mercy and grace?
13. And there is one more thing that makes tradition a sin. This is somewhat the same as what we just said about our worship.Tradition is usually concerned about externals than internals.
In other words, tradition is about doing the right things. Jesus says:
"Listen and understand. What goes into a man's mouth does not make him 'unclean,' but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him 'unclean.'"
14. Tradition can be doing things because we are expected to. But what is important is doing things because of the desire of our hearts. We want to do what is right, even if it means going against tradition
In vs. 20 Jesus says that eating with unclean hands does not make us unclean. Doing the right things is not what makes us clean. What is important is what comes out of our hearts. Our attitudes.
And the danger is that we think that if we do the right things we are alright. But God does not say that. He aks why you do what you do? Because of tradition or acceptance by man?
Mat 23:23 "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices--mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law--justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former.
Mat 12:7 If you had known what these words mean, 'I desire mercy, not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the innocent.
Tradition can allow us to overlook the more importance things. Importnat things as dealing with each other with mercy rather than condemning each othetr and judging each other. How merciful have we been?
15. Friends, each one of us needs to deal the potential sin of tradition. And as we do, we as a church can be set free from it. Free to care for each other in ways we may not have done in the past. Free to worship God in ways that are holy and reverent. That may include ways that we are not used to. Free to show others when they come in these doors, that we are not some institution with certain traditions. But rather that we are the living body of Christ, declaring the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
