NO BIBLE NO BREAKFAST DAILY BIBLE REFLECTIONS AND MORE

ISAIAH 58:9-14

HEBREWS 12:18-29

LUKE 13:10-17

SUNDAY REFLECTION

God’s love against church tradition is the theme for our reflection. God’s love is the unconditional love He has for His children or believers. Church Tradition is a body of doctrines, customs or practices of a church, believed to have divine authority though not necessarily found in the Scriptures. Some traditions may also have Scripture underpinnings. We shall discuss the following points

1. Church tradition must not be discriminatory and oppressive. God’s love is liberational.
2. The church is called to experience and demonstrate God’s love through Jesus Christ, Church tradition must re-enforce and reflect the love of God.

Firstly, Church tradition must not be discriminatory and oppressive to believers for God’s love is liberational. The Synagogue leader who is the equivalent of church leaders of our time was not happy that Jesus healed a lady on the Sabbath day. He saw Jesus as a physician or doctor who worked on the Sabbath day by healing a patient with a physical deformity. In the opinion of the Synogogue leader, the woman’s physiological condition or suffering was not of importance to them at that material moment, the tradition of the Sabbath ought to be meticulously observed and that was his greatest concern. Jesus corrected him, that truly, God’s love supersedes and is against church tradition when He answered him “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?” When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing. (Luke 13:15-17). Dear friend, in our time and age, we still have churches that hold on to some traditions to the detriment of the welfare of the people who come to the church for help and to worship. Examples of such traditions are, you need to possess a membership card of a particular church to qualify for financial assistance or support, the quantum of help or support given to an old member is usually more than that which is given to new member for the simple reason that the former has been in the church longer and has contributed more in terms of offerings than the latter. Would Jesus discriminate between a new member and an old member when it come to their welfare?Again, in some Churches the tradition is that a baby born out of wedlock will not be outdoored and named in the chapel, Is the baby not a child of God? Church tradition must not lead to discrimination and oppression. In Isaiah 58:9-14 we see God’s warning against superficial worship especially in relation to fasting. We must practice the love of God even as we follow traditions of the Church in relation to fasting, prayers and the Sacraments other practices. “Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday…” (Isaiah 58:9-10) In other words, “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. (James 1:27)

Secondly, the church is called to experience and demonstrate God’s love through Jesus Christ. Church tradition must re-enforce and reflect the love of God but not be against it. The writer of Hebrews reminds us of the importance of God’s love through Jesus Christ which must be the focus of the Church and not the creation and holding unto traditions which are opposed to the Salvation we received through the mediation of our Lord Jesus Christ. “But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. (Hebrews 12:22-24) In other words, in the Church of Christ, Christ our mediator is our Lord through whom we experience the love of God. Any Church tradition must re-enforce this truth and not create hurdles or impediments for people seeking the salvation of Christ Jesus. It is erroneous for a Church tradition to make a the pastor or a human leader the mediator or through whom people speak to God. Jesus remains the only means we experience and also demonstrate God’s love to other people He is our only mediator who loves us free of charge. In some churches, it has become burdensome to reach or pray to God, all manner of sacrifices have to be made and money paid as an established tradition in seeking the face of God and having your petition granted. We must ensure that church traditions do not replace or make light the Lordship of Jesus Christ in the Church especially as our mediator.

In summary beloved in the Lord, church tradition must not be discriminatory and oppressive because God’s love is liberational. Again, the church is called to experience and demonstrate God’s love through Jesus Christ our mediator, Church tradition must re-enforce and reflect this fact. May the Holy Spirit grant us the wisdom and discernment to do away with elements of our Church tradition that is against the will of God and may He strengthen us to practice Biblically sound tradtions that re-enforce the love of God in our lives. Amen.