I love tradition. I use to love to go to my Granny’s on Christmas. We would all pack into her small house like sardines. I love carving pumpkins at Halloween, going to watch fireworks on the fourth of July, and eating chocolate graving on Christmas morning. The list could go on and on, but here is the million dollar question; When is tradition a hindrance instead of a good thing? There is nothing wrong with tradition until it holds you back. Church is notorious for allowing tradition to over ride progression. I had a wonderful professor in seminary that said, “ the words we have never done it that way before was simply another way to say, I am unwilling to change.” The church is getting left behind today in many ways. We have a great message, but sometimes we are not willing to change the presentation. Here is a pointed question, If we are already saved should we not be thinking about the lost, and not how to comfy the saved? Well if you are offended by that question let me give you a little scripture to support it. While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many tax collectors and sinners were eating with him and his disciples, for there were many who followed him. 16 When the teachers of the law who were Pharisees saw him eating with the sinners and tax collectors, they asked his disciples: “Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?”17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” Jesus is saying the same thing in this verse, it is not about the saved; it is about the lost.
Let us go back in time to the record player, yes I remember it. We use to have a purple record, which of course was Purple Rain. It was pretty awesome to me, if no other reason than it was purple. A few years later the boom box became a hot commodity with a cassette player. However, we were still listening to the same songs. A few years later the walk-man was popular. You could take it anywhere; yet we were still able to listen to the same songs. Then came the ipod which allowed you to have all your favorite songs at the touch of a button, which included the same songs. Then the app Pandora came around allowing us to use our cellphones to play our favorite music. Today I can listen to that same song immediately. I don’t have to listen to it on a record, or wait for it on the radio, or even buy a CD. I can get it instantly. The song has always stayed the same, but the delivery has changed over the years, honestly to our advantage. The same is true with the gospel. We have a really great message, but if only the saved are hearing it week after week, then are we really caring out the great commission?
Why are we so scared of change? I believe it is because we have to allow people who are not just like we are into our mist. Sometimes we don’t know how to act, or what to say, but Jesus did it all the time. Wherever sinners were, you would find Jesus in close proximity. Yesterday Isabella and I bought some food for a guy holding up a sign. When I drove over I recognized him immediately. We have been trying to help him get on his feet through our church. So I asked why he was there, what happened to his job, and his bike. He told me some things and it was so discouraging to hear. At that moment I was tempted to just drive away and write him off, but God convicted me deeply. How many times have I been a disappointment to God? How many times have I failed to change things he has ask of me? The last time I checked too many times to count, and He has not given up on me yet. So I gave him the food and told him we would try to get a tire for his bike. God’s will is not to judge, but continuously do His work with or without signs of change in others.
Where do you find yourself today Are you able to break free from the prison “we have always done it that way”, or will you allow God to be represented fully in your life. Change is not easy, and sometimes it comes at a high price. I have been raised in a Southern Baptist Church where change came slow, or not at all. Jesus was willing to bring the gospel, but many like the Pharisee's were not willing to let go of the law. Many people call my generation and younger idealistic and nieve about God. I feel that God has placed a huge burden on the younger generation to address social needs such as hunger, orphan care, and healthy living conditions for the existing world. As long as the message is sound doctrine we should not criticize to quickly. I want to leave you with these verses.
40“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’41“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’44“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’45“He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’46“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
Let us go back in time to the record player, yes I remember it. We use to have a purple record, which of course was Purple Rain. It was pretty awesome to me, if no other reason than it was purple. A few years later the boom box became a hot commodity with a cassette player. However, we were still listening to the same songs. A few years later the walk-man was popular. You could take it anywhere; yet we were still able to listen to the same songs. Then came the ipod which allowed you to have all your favorite songs at the touch of a button, which included the same songs. Then the app Pandora came around allowing us to use our cellphones to play our favorite music. Today I can listen to that same song immediately. I don’t have to listen to it on a record, or wait for it on the radio, or even buy a CD. I can get it instantly. The song has always stayed the same, but the delivery has changed over the years, honestly to our advantage. The same is true with the gospel. We have a really great message, but if only the saved are hearing it week after week, then are we really caring out the great commission?
Why are we so scared of change? I believe it is because we have to allow people who are not just like we are into our mist. Sometimes we don’t know how to act, or what to say, but Jesus did it all the time. Wherever sinners were, you would find Jesus in close proximity. Yesterday Isabella and I bought some food for a guy holding up a sign. When I drove over I recognized him immediately. We have been trying to help him get on his feet through our church. So I asked why he was there, what happened to his job, and his bike. He told me some things and it was so discouraging to hear. At that moment I was tempted to just drive away and write him off, but God convicted me deeply. How many times have I been a disappointment to God? How many times have I failed to change things he has ask of me? The last time I checked too many times to count, and He has not given up on me yet. So I gave him the food and told him we would try to get a tire for his bike. God’s will is not to judge, but continuously do His work with or without signs of change in others.
Where do you find yourself today Are you able to break free from the prison “we have always done it that way”, or will you allow God to be represented fully in your life. Change is not easy, and sometimes it comes at a high price. I have been raised in a Southern Baptist Church where change came slow, or not at all. Jesus was willing to bring the gospel, but many like the Pharisee's were not willing to let go of the law. Many people call my generation and younger idealistic and nieve about God. I feel that God has placed a huge burden on the younger generation to address social needs such as hunger, orphan care, and healthy living conditions for the existing world. As long as the message is sound doctrine we should not criticize to quickly. I want to leave you with these verses.
40“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’41“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’44“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’45“He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’46“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
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