The New Bereans

. . . In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men . . . Full well you reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. . ..making the word of God of none effect through your tradition. -Mark 7:7-13

One great roadblock to Revival, and Biblical Christianity, is tradition. We have traditions that make behaviors not identified as sin, sinful. Yet we rarely preach against socially acceptable sins. I can’t remember the last time I heard a sermon decrying covetousness. Fierce nationalism is preached, but the Bible tells us we are pilgrims and strangers on this earth. Wearing hats is sinful, but gossip is fine. Tattoos are sinful, but divorce and remarriage is fine. Drinking alcohol in moderation is sinful, but covetousness . . . that’s not only fine, it’s the American way. We haven’t thrown out the baby, but we haven’t thrown out the bathwater either, instead we preach and extol the virtues of the bathwater, and minimize the baby. I’ve heard it taught that “we shouldn’t try to be like Jesus, we just need to like Jesus”; but Jesus said, I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. *

You may protest; if we don’t look to ecclesiastical tradition as our model, how will we know what the church should look like? How do we know what an authentic Christian looks like? The answer is radically simple. The scriptures! The Sermon on the Mount is a good start; Jesus clearly tells us how to act, how to think, how to pray, and how to treat our fellow man. A study through the Gospels and the rest of the New Testament will fill in the rest of what true Christianity is, and how it works. Don’t go rooting around the Old Testament to find church practice; because much of the practice of the Jews was concerned with fulfilling ceremonial law’s which as Christians we are no longer bound by.  Examples of these would be sacrificing an animal when we sin, not lighting a fire on the Sabbath, and circumcision. We need to study our Bibles, to ensure that every doctrine we hold is scriptural, not merely cultural.

Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.  -II Timothy 2:15

* John 13:15

I often speak of Cultural Christianity, and I thought it could be helpful for me to clarify what this means. An authentic christian is one who has a relationship with Jesus; A cultural christian is involved in christian activities, going to church, listening to christian music, tithing, etc, without having been converted.

I can best explain this by way of illustration; Over a year ago a young girl I know had a transformational experience, while watching a video she became entranced with it’s subject and decided to follow it’s path. She began listening to it’s music, wearing it’s t-shirts, proclaiming the message that it communicated, watching it’s video’s, and I’d venture to guess if a group of others with an interest in the same said entity, gathered every week to sing songs, and talk about this one who has changed their life she would probably attend, and even drop some money into some kind of collection plate to put toward the expenses this gathering requires.

But the girl of which I speak did not have a religious experience, she discovered Hannah Montana. She became entranced in the culture of Hannah Montana, she was not adopted into Hannah’s family, she did not experience the infilling of Hannah. She merely joined a cultural phenomenon; But if she went to Nashville and knocked on Hannah’s door she would not be welcomed in. Billy Ray would call the police and have her hauled off.

Are you beginning to understand? Christian conduct does not a christian make. Jesus didn’t ask us to join his club, said unless you are born again, you can never see the Kingdom of God.* You can go to church, sing the song’s, and even financially support it’s activities without being born again.

*John 3:3 NLT