Traditions are a funny thing within the context of the Christian religion. It can easily serve as a helpful guide when determining faithful orthodoxy and orthopraxy. It can also easily serve as an unhelpful guide when it holds an authority over the voice of God.
When the Pharisees came to Jesus in Mark 7 they brought with them a question of how Jesus’s disciples were or were not following in the footsteps of the established tradition.
One of the wonderful things about the New Testament and the gospels in particular is the way in which the personalities of the writers remain intact through the inspiration of God. God could have just as easily decided to strip the writers’ style and tell them exactly what to write in each instance because we know he’s done that elsewhere. However, for his own good and perfect purpose, he has decided to allow Matthew to sound like Matthew and Luke to sound like Luke.
Although being quite different from the context we live in (we’re in the New Covenant, not the Old Covenant), Jesus’s exhortation to the Pharisees in Mark 7 is quite helpful to us as we examine our lives in light of what the New Testament teaches.
There’s no doubt the Pharisees talked a good game. The problem, however, was that they did not always live according to what they said.
It’s a shame when some see the work of God in the world and yet miss God being a part of that work. Worse yet is to be upset with someone being used by God because they can’t possibly be doing what God has asked them to do.
In Matthew 9:1-8 is the famous story of Jesus forgiving and healing the paralytic who was carried in by people as he lay on his bed. After Jesus forgave the man on his bed, the scribes who were there said this was a blasphemous thing to do.
I’ve know God loves me but does he care for me?
This is the feeling a lot of Christians have at one point or another (or at many points) in their lives. We can struggle with the idea that God really does care for us—even down to the day-to-day things we go through. I think we struggle because we know God loves us (this is a given in the Bible) but then uncomfortable and even horrible things happen to us, so we compartmentalize a little bit. We recognize and do business with the fact that God loves us but then (when the uncomfortable or horrible things happen) we wonder if God cares about what we’re going through.
Romans 8:1 reads, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” It’s Paul’s blatant statement that, for those who are in Jesus, condemnation no longer exists. A similar (albeit opposite) point is made by John in his gospel when he writes, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him” (John 3:36).
What kind of standing has the unregenerate man before the holy God? His only standing is one of condemnation.
Condemnation can be the only answer to the question of unregenerate man’s standing before the holy God, for the unregenerate man hates God and is God’s enemy. To please God is not the desire of the unregenerate man’s heart, for he is not able to do so (Romans 8:8).
Nine times in the opening chapter of Genesis we read the words: God said. One of those nine times, God tells the land to produce vegetation (Genesis 1:11) and another one of those nine times, God gives his creation (mankind and animals) every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it for food (Genesis 1:29).
As you participate in the January 2019 fast with others from Living Waters, please feel free to use this guide as a companion. It was developed by Josh McConnon and will be a useful tool for you to use for the 21 days that you cut something out of your life with the intention of growing closer to Jesus. Please also consider coming together once a week on Wednesday evenings from 7:00 to 8:00 during the fast to worship God with others that will be participating.
Two Sides
There are some who earnestly believe that the New Testament has been reproduced perfectly in English, to the extent that there are absolutely no questions regarding the authenticity and accuracy of the text. In their eyes, the English version of the New Testament they hold in their hands is perfect in the sense that it cannot be improved upon.
