On Halloween this year I was on Facebook when I ran across this post from Christian singer Natalie Grant:
I've had many people over the years ask me if I "celebrate" Halloween. I don't celebrate evil. Or darkness. Or witches, ghosts and goblins. But I DO celebrate kids. And princesses. And fairies. And candy. Lots and lots of candy. And neighbors. And community. As children of the Light, why in the world would we hide in our houses on what is considered a "dark" day? And what other day of the year does your entire neighborhood show up at your doorstep? What good does it do to make sure all of the lights are out, trying to make a "stand" for righteousness while the neighbors turn and walk away? No - as a Jesus follower I will open my door wide, greet everyone with a smile and hand out the best candy possible. You don't have to agree with me. That's totally ok. We still both belong to Christ. Oh, and I forgot one other thing I celebrate...freedom in Christ WITHOUT the yoke of legalism. Let the candy collecting begin.
PS - read Romans 14
That particular post got me to thinking a lot about the topic I’d like to address this morning. Hopefully you’ll remember that last week we applied the words of Paul at the end of Romans chapter 2 to the religious rituals that are expressly given to us by God. In our case as followers of Jesus, we have been given two such rituals – baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
This morning we’re going to follow up on that discussion by addressing those religious rituals in which we engage that are not specifically given to us by God in His Word. As we touched on briefly last week, we actually do that much more than we might think. Certainly there are a lot of practices that are an important part of the lives of those who are followers of Jesus as well as those who would claim to be Christians. Even this gathering of worshippers here this morning could fit into that category. Each week, we sing songs, take an offering, have an “In the Bag” message for the children and listen to a sermon. And while there are certainly Biblical principles that guide what we do, the exact form of our gathering is not found anywhere in the Bible.
We also celebrate a number of holidays that could be considered to be religious rituals and which are not found anywhere in Scripture. Nowhere in the Bible are we commanded to observe a holiday to commemorate the birth of Jesus or the resurrection of Jesus. Even the idea of gathering for corporate worship on Sunday each week is not specifically decreed anywhere in the Scriptures. So when it comes to those kinds of rituals, there are two questions we must answer:
1. How do I decide whether or not to participate in these rituals?
2. If I do decide to participate, what principles should guide that participation?
Let’s begin with the first question:
1. How do I decide whether or not to participate in these rituals?
It seems like a good place to start would be to look at the life of Jesus. We know that Jesus certainly did, as we would expect, participate in those religious rituals that were specifically given by God. As a baby, He was circumcised when he was eight days old. And from His childhood, He and His family participated in the feasts that had been given to the Jews by God. In particular, the Passover feast plays an important role in Jesus’ life.
But we also know that He also participated in at least one ritual that was significant to the Jewish people that had not been given to them specifically by God:
At that time the Feast of Dedication took place at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the colonnade of Solomon.
(John 10:22-23 ESV)
Most of us probably know the Feast of Dedication by its more commonly used name – Hanukkah. It is also known as the Festival of Lights. That particular holiday celebrated how a group of zealous Jews known as the Maccabees had retaken control of the temple from the Greek king Antiochus Epiphanes and had cleansed the temple after Antiochus had defiled it by sacrificing a pig on the altar.
Although God never commanded His people to celebrate that holiday, Jesus still chose to participate in its observance. And since we know that Jesus never sinned, we can conclude that there is certainly no blanket prohibition against participating in religious rituals that are not expressly given by God.
But at the same time, we also know that some of the holidays we observe as Christians as well as many of the traditions associated with those holidays have pagan roots.
For instance, Christmas wasn’t even observed as a holiday for the first several centuries of the church. And while there is some disagreement about exactly how December 25 came to be chosen as the date to celebrate the birth of Jesus there is some pretty good evidence that it is related in some way to a pagan Roman festival called Saturnalia. And there is little disagreement that many of the traditions we now associate with Christmas, like Christmas trees and gift giving, also have pagan roots.
The celebration we most commonly refer to as Easter has similar pagan roots. Like Christmas, it wasn’t even observed in the early church. The name Easter is actually derived from the name of a pagan goddess of spring. Even the timing of that holiday on our calendars is determined by the cycle of the moon rather than anything spiritual. And traditions like Easter egg hunts also have pagan origins.
So how should knowing that those holidays and other rituals we observe have these kinds of pagan roots affect whether or not we observe them? In order to answer that question, we must heed Natalie Grant’s advice and read Romans 14.
Lord willing, we will eventually get to that chapter in our study of the book of Romans and look at it in much more detail then, so for now we’ll just touch on a couple aspects briefly. Here is the most relevant portion of that chapter for our purposes:
One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God.
(Romans 14:5-6 ESV)
Not surprisingly, we find that the key here is our heart attitude, not the outward actions of either observing or not observing the holiday. If a person chooses to observe a certain holiday or ritual because they are doing it to honor the Lord, then that observance is pleasing to God. On the other hand, if someone else chooses not to observe that same holiday or ritual because they believe that is the best way to honor the Lord, then for that person, that is what is most pleasing to God.
In his first letter to the church in Corinth, Paul gives some further guidance that is helpful here:
Therefore, as to the eating of food offered to idols, we know that “an idol has no real existence,” and that “there is no God but one.” For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”—yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. However, not all possess this knowledge. But some, through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak.
(1 Corinthians 8:4-9 ESV)
This seems to be directly relevant to the practices and traditions associated with various holidays that come from pagan origins. We obviously don’t have time to explore this passage in great detail, but I think if we put this passage together with what we just read in Romans 14, we could boil this down to a pretty simple principle:
Don’t do anything that would violate your conscience!
For some people, putting up a Christmas tree or participating in an Easter egg hunt might be perfectly acceptable because they don’t associate those practices in any way with their pagan origins. In fact, for them those traditions may actually be a way for them to honor God. The lights on the tree might remind them that Jesus is the light of the world. And Easter eggs might be an illustration of the new life we have in Jesus. So for them, participating in those traditions does not violate their conscience at all.
For others, however, those same traditions and practices might not be acceptable because for them those same objects are symbols that remind them of the pagan origins and actually draw them away from God. So if they were to participate in those same traditions it would violate their conscience.
Paul makes one more important point in both Romans 14 and in 1 Corinthians 8. Should I choose to participate in these rituals and observe these holidays because they do not violate my conscience, I need to make sure that my participation does not become a stumbling block to others. That means I need to be careful not to ever encourage someone else to violate his or her conscience by putting undue pressure on that person to do what I have determined is OK for me, but which is not right for him or her.
Essentially answering the question I posed earlier - How do I decide whether or not to participate in these rituals? - comes down to answering two other questions:
• Will my participation help me love God?
If I engage in this act or observe this holiday, will it honor God? Or would I honor God better by not participating? If observing Christmas helps me focus on the fact that God loved me so much that He was willing to put on a body of flesh and set aside the glory of heaven, then by all means I ought to celebrate that. If observing Easter reminds me of the fact that Jesus is alive and that His resurrection makes it possible for me to have new life as well, then I should go at it with all my heart.
On the other hand, if those same holidays are about shopping and getting gifts or eating good meals or even if they are merely about family time, then perhaps I would be better off not observing them at all.
• Will my participation help me love others?
Ultimately the best way I can love others is by leading them to a personal relationship with God through faith in Jesus. So one way I must answer this question is by considering how my participation may either be helpful in that process or how it might hinder someone from coming to know God better. This means I need to make sure that my participation is other focused rather than self-focused.
Several years ago, we attempted to do this in our family at Christmas in a very practical way. Instead of all the adults just exchanging various gift cards with each other, we decided to take the money we would normally spend to buy gifts for each other and use that to adopt a needy family or two. By doing that, at least in some small measure we are able to show the love of Christ to others through our participation in the observance of Christmas.
If you’ll indulge me for just a moment, I’d like to share how God has really spoken to me over the past couple of weeks as I prepared this message. Since very early in our marriage, Mary and I decided that we would not participate in any way in the observance of Halloween. And we had some very good and Biblical reasons for that decision. Unlike Christmas and Easter, there is no connection at all with Jesus or Christianity. The roots of that holiday are completely pagan and occultic and the Scriptures clearly prohibit any association at all with the occult. So we just felt like we just couldn’t have any part of that holiday. To do so would have clearly violated our conscience.
So when I saw Natalie Grant’s past a few weeks ago, my first reaction was “She’s wrong.” But thankfully God used her words to show me how prideful I’ve been for so many years. I confess to you this morning that I’ve been guilty of thinking that somehow I was superior to any Christian who chose to participate in any way in Halloween. I viewed all those people as a bunch of hypocritical sinners who were partnering with the devil himself. I had never even considered that it was possible for someone who had the right heart attitude to participate in Halloween in a way that would both help them love God and love others.
In particular, these words written by Natalie Grant were like a dagger to my heart:
What good does it do to make sure all of the lights are out, trying to make a "stand" for righteousness while the neighbors turn and walk away?
When it comes to Halloween, I’ve certainly been a legalistic Pharisee, thinking all along that I was making a stand for righteousness when perhaps all I may have been doing was to be a stumbling block who is pushing away the neighbors that God wants me to love.
I don’t have this totally figured out yet at all. I’m not sure how I’ll approach Halloween next year. But at least God has opened my eyes to my own pride and helped me to see that I don’t have all the answers and that perhaps I need to have a different perspective.
Enough about me. Let’s answer the second question I posed earlier:
2. If I do decide to participate, what principles should guide that participation?
The answer to this question is actually rather simple. Once I decide that my participation in these rituals is appropriate for me, the same principles that apply to those rituals that have been given expressly by God ought to also apply to the ones that are not. Since we looked at these in some detail last week, let’s just briefly review them.
The first two are so similar that we’ll look at them together:
1) Focus on the inward, not the outward
2) Focus on the heart, not the flesh
God really isn’t all that concerned with the external things we do. He is much more concerned about our hearts. Putting up a Christmas tree or hanging lights or hunting for Easter eggs or even putting on a costume is inherently neither good nor evil. It is the heart behind the actions that will determine whether they honor God and are pleasing to Him or not.
3) Rely on the Spirit, not the letter
I’ve never considered myself to be particularly legalistic, but as I discovered this week, it’s a lot easier to drift toward holding to the letter of the law and missing the spirit of the law than we might think. It is so easy to get really legalistic based on what I think rather than depending on the Holy Spirit to lead me to consider what God thinks. The two questions I suggested earlier are really beneficial in helping us to evaluate whether our observance is consistent with God’s heart rather than relying upon the letter of the law.
If my participation helps me love God better and helps me love other people better, then I can be confident that what I am doing is honoring God.
4) Seek God’s praise, not man’s praise
Does my participation keep my focus on God or does it cause me to focus on self or on what other people think of me? Our discussion this morning has centered primarily on the observance of holidays, but there are a lot of other religious rituals that Christians, or at least “so called” Christians engage in. I can’t even begin to list them all, but here are a few that seem to be most common:
• Horoscopes
• Prayers that are recited by rote with the idea that the words themselves obligate God to act. In some cases those prayers are accompanied by some physical object that is supposed to further enhance those prayers in some way.
• Yoga and meditation practices that have roots in the occult and in Hinduism and other eastern religions
• Visualization, crystals and other New Age practices
What all these practices have in common is that they take the attention off of God and place it on someone or something else. Instead of relying upon God and seeking His praise, all of these practices are focused on me and what I’m going to get out of participating in them.
The same principle we developed last week is also true for the rituals that we have discussed this morning, the ones not expressly given to us by God.
Ritual that rejects relationship is pointless
Ritual that reflects relationship is priceless
Including this morning, we’ve now spent 12 weeks on the first leg of our journey through the book of Romans. As I mentioned at the beginning of this series, my plan is to tackle the book of Romans in chunks, taking 10-12 weeks each fall over the next several years to progress through the book. That means that after this morning, we’ll take a break from Romans for a while.
Next week, we’ll observe the Lord’s Supper together, then I’ll preach a series of Christmas messages leading up to Christmas and then after the beginning of the year, my plan is to preach through the book of Nehemiah.
So before we close our time this morning I want to briefly summarize what we’ve learned over the last 12 weeks. My original plan was to go back and review the main theme from each of the 12 sermons, but I’m going to leave that for the “Connections” time later this morning. I encourage you to stay and participate in that time. But as we close this message I’d like all of us to take a step back and take a look at the big picture.
The main theme of the entire book is found in verses 16-17 of chapter 1:
For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”
(Romans 1:16-17 ESV)
Paul writes this letter to the churches in Rome, to those who have identified themselves as fellow believers, because he wants them to understand that their relationship with God is completely dependent on accepting the gospel personally into their lives through faith in Jesus. Although Paul longs to come to Rome to encourage and teach these people, and to be mutually encouraged by them, he is unable to do that at the moment. So he writes his longest and most complete treatise on the gospel to ensure that they have a source of accurate doctrine and a guide for living according to that gospel in their daily lives.
Having explained that the gospel is received by faith in Jesus alone, Paul then proceeds to describe why all need that gospel beginning in verse 18 of chapter 1. First, he addresses the Gentiles, making it clear that they need the gospel because they have no excuse for rejecting God. Even though they do not have some of the benefits the Jews had, like God’s written law and a long heritage, God has revealed Himself in His creation.
But these Gentiles were so self-focused that they chose to live according to their own fleshly desires instead of in a manner consistent with God’s character. As a result, they were currently facing God’s wrath in which God allowed them to experience the natural consequences of rejecting Him and living according to their own desires. So therefore they were in desperate need of the gospel.
As they read those words, there is little doubt that the Jews were in complete agreement with all that Paul had written thus far. In their minds these pagan Gentiles certainly needed the gospel. But they were blinded to the fact that they, too, needed the gospel just as much.
So Paul uses all of chapter 2 to show the Jews why they, too, need the gospel. One by one, he shows that each of the things they were depending on for their relationship with God was inadequate and that therefore, they also needed the gospel. Their heritage, their knowledge, their teaching and their religious rituals were all completely insufficient because the way they lived their lives was so inconsistent with what they professed to believe.
Paul gets right to the heart of the matter here by proclaiming that our relationship with God is a matter of the heart.
[“What’s in Your Heart?” video]
There is obviously nothing wrong with coming from a Christian family or being a member of a church or having a good handle on the Word of God, or teaching His Word to others or being baptized or observing the Lord’s Supper. In fact, all of those are really good things. Some of them are even commanded of us by God. But unless all of those things rest on a heart that loves God and loves other people, and unless we have submitted our hearts to God by placing our faith in Jesus alone, then none of those external things will have any lasting value at all.
So as we close, let’s all take a few minutes to reflect on what we’ve learned over these past 12 weeks and to ask God to help us apply what we’ve learned.
1. First let’s ask God to reveal the condition of our heart – to show us whether we have a heart that truly longs for Him and His purposes, plans and ways; a heart that has been submitted to Him.
2. Second, let’s consider whether we have personally made the gospel our own by placing our faith in Jesus alone as the basis for our relationship with God.
3. Third, let’s consider whether the religious rituals in our lives are being done in the flesh by focusing on the externals or whether they are being done as we submit to the Holy Spirit. Are we doing them to please God or to please self and other people?
4. Finally, let’s ask God to help us live our lives each day in a way that is consistent with who He is and what He has done for us.
