“In essentials unity, in opinions liberty, and in all things love” Traditions are important. However, we must always guard against applying them in such a way as to lose sight of the loving intent of God’s law. Denominations all have different traditions: How someone is baptized, what day of the week they worship on, methods and frequency of taking communion, style of music, how to interpret the book of Revelation (the end times) and on and on. Traditions can even extend into our personal lives, whether drinking alcohol is forbidden or allowed, birth control, dancing, giving finances to the church, and on and on.
Mark 7:8-9 (TNIV)
8 You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.” 9 And he continued, “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!
The Christian non-denominational church has tenant that we are built on that I believe is very wise: “In essentials unity, in opinions liberty, and in all things love”.
The essentials are simply things Christians must agree on, such as the Divinity of Jesus, the accuracy and authority of the Bible, that Jesus is the only way to salvation, etc. If we don’t agree on those then we’ve got big problems. But we should be as charitable as possible when disagreeing.
Many disagreements are born out of interpretations of Scripture. I believe that it is almost idolatry to claim that any one interpretation of God’s Word is as important as God’s word itself! We should always look to Jesus for guidance about our own behavior, and let Him lead us in the details of our lives.
In our church we believe, by our interpretation of Scripture, that baptism is by full immersion. To be a partner in our church we ask that you be fully immersed in baptism. Okay, here is my point: it’s okay to believe that. It’s okay to apply that to our congregation. IT IS NOT OKAY to tell anyone that their baptism by sprinkling “didn’t take” or that they are wrong! We must be able to agree to disagree.
Some believe that we should worship God on Saturday, not Sunday. While we follow a tradition in our church to worship on Sunday, we would never say that anyone is WRONG to worship on Saturday!
This is what the Pharisees did. They applied their traditions in such a way as to say that if you did not believe them you were simply wrong. They gave their traditions equal authority to God’s Word, the Bible.
The last twist is that Jesus also charged that they were doing this on purpose…..to win praise from the people for their displays of piety as they kept their rituals. We must always and continually search our heart.
While LifePoint Christian Church is a non-denominational church, we work with and respect other denominations and their traditions. We don’t have to agree with every detail of their traditions, that’s okay…these are not essentials. There is liberty. One thing that we do believe strongly…….we must apply God’s law with love.
The important thing is not to alter the message of the Gospel. When we are united on the essentials, Christianity is incredible. We all read the same book and serve the same God no matter where we are in the world. Some of my favorite worship experiences have been when I visited other services, full Gospel services, services in Korea and Germany, the desert and the jungle, services in homes, standing outside Grace and Grits with the homeless and just talking about our experiences with Jesus……. because the same Holy Spirit was present in radically different venues. “In essentials unity, in opinions liberty, and in all things love”
Thanks Jan but I don’t totally agree…I totally agree everything must be done with love but not at the expense of Gods clear teaching – there are not many roads there is one narrow road. We must be tolerant kind and loving but 2Tim3:16,17 16 All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the servant of God[a] may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
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I think Gods Word is very clear, has many absolutes and most is not up for different interpretations to form human traditions.
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I think many people tend to simply look at Gods Word in a superficial way to justify their traditions instead of thoroughly studying Gods Word precept upon precept, line upon line and letting scripture interpret scripture. Rather some apply secular interpretations which then form traditions that are not Biblical.
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Baptism is not a tradition it is a command from Jesus Matt 28:19 and it is not open to do as you want it was always done by immersion see the meaning of the word
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baptizō http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G907&t=KJV there is nothing in scripture that hints of any other way.
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The day of worship comes from creation week before sin, Hebrew or Jew and has never changed it is a direct command from God (#4). Again there is not even a hint in scripture of it changing. Jesus said He is Lord of the Sabbath and that the Sabbath was made for man not man for the Sabbath. If Jesus was teaching anything other than keeping the Sabbath why would His disciples keep it after His death? Luke 23:56 Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment. These were those who were closest to Jesus. Jesus’ death sealed the covenant in blood the agreement cannot be changed after the shedding of blood. This is the clear teaching of Jesus throughout the old and new testaments..remember Jesus said the scriptures were all about Him John 5:39,40 You study[a] the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me to have life.
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Even historically Sunday worship is traced to the man made tradition of the catholic church. which the church officially says there is no scriptural evidence of that the catholic church changed it on their authority.
Thank you for joining the conversation Eric 🙂 I appreciate your thoughts and comments.
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I agree very much that there is one narrow road, however, In Scripture, the “narrow road” is concerning salvation (Matthew 7:13-14). There is only one road to salvation, Jesus. The things I mention have nothing to do with salvation. They have everything to do with traditions in the church.
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I also whole heartedly agree with 2 Timothy 3:16-17. Indeed all Scripture is God breathed and is useful for teaching and so on. I do not believe that I said anything in this post that is contrary to that. I would ask what “absolute” am I saying is not important or is wrong. Let me list the things mentioned:
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BAPTISM: I would point out that I did not say that baptism was a tradition. I said that the “method” of baptism was tradition. (“Denominations all have different traditions: How someone is baptized,”) Indeed, baptism is important, and is commanded by Jesus. The only method spoken of in Scripture is immersion. However, Baptism is an act; it is not according to my scriptural interpretation (and that of many scholars) the actual “Act” of salvation. The actual “act” of salvation is accepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Baptism is the outward sign of this change in your heart, and a proclamation of it. Further, I was not saying in this post that baptism wasn’t command, nor important. I was saying that the “method” of baptism, whether sprinkling or immersion, as an infant or an adult, is different as a tradition in many churches. Again, I spoke of method only. You are correct in saying, as far as I can find, that there is nothing in Scripture that hints that the method baptism is done in anyway other than by immersion. However, it is Baptism that is commanded, not the method. There is also nothing that I can find that flatly states that baptism must be by immersion and no other way, that is simply how it is done in each instance in Scripture. But again……it is baptism that is commanded and not the method of baptism. My point is that no one’s salvation is in peril because they were sprinkled or baptized otherwise. The key is accepting Christ in their heart.
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SABBATH: I agree with your statement about the Old Testament Sabbath. Where we would disagree is that it is commanded on a Saturday under the New Covent that is written on our heart rather than in the Law. I certainly would not say that your salvation is in peril if you take a Sabbath on either a Saturday, Sunday or for that matter, any day of the week. I would point out that I said, “While we follow a tradition in our church to worship on Sunday, we would never say that anyone is WRONG to worship on Saturday!” Why, because it has nothing to do with the essentials of salvation. In fact, I would have to say that I have a deep respect for you as a Seventh Day Adventist (I believe that I am correct in saying that) and follower of Christ. I would only change that thought if you were to tell me that those people who worship on any day other that Saturday have lost their Salvation or cannot gain their salvation until the agree to take Saturday as their Sabbath. Interestingly enough, in your church that observes a Saturday Sabbath and ours that observes a Sunday Sabbath……none of our leaders (pastors, church works, etc.) can rest on that day because they work. Truly, they must observe a different day of rest. I think the point is that observe a day of rest…..not a particular day.
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The COMPLETE point of this is that we as Christians can’t judge others as the Pharisees did (and as was criticized by Jesus) by denying salvation based on anything other than the acceptance of Christ as Lord and Savior. This post is not even saying that tradition is wrong, quite the contrary. It is simply stating that we must not burden someone’s salvation with methods or traditions as the Pharisees did.
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Clearly, at least to me, Jesus was not attacking the traditions of the Pharisees, he was attacking their legalism. It would be wrong to put either you or me in jail or to state that our salvation in Christ was in jeopardy because of the day we take a Sabbath, or the method in which we were baptized.
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I will also 100% stand by the fact that we must apply God’s word with love. That is what Jesus did. In fact He defied the traditions of the religious leaders and their traditions (rooted in God’s Law), in order to heal and to love others.
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Essentially, it is okay by me that we agree to disagree. I appreciate the conversation Eric 🙂