A NEWSLETTER FOR THE MEMBERS OF THE GREENWOOD CHURCH OF CHRIST

VOLUME 2 NO. 1                                         February 20, 2005

“TRADITIONS: GOOD OR BAD?”

BY STEVE NIEMEIER

TRADITIONS - precepts passed down from past generations (Nelson's).  We all have traditions!  Many times we do not know why we do what we do in the way that we do it.  Why?  Because our parents might have done it this way or whoever taught us might have done it that way.  We never asked why we did it like this; we just thought that it was the way it was to be done.

So it is with many in their service to God.  We can't really trace who said we were to gather at 9:30 A.M. on Sunday mornings for Bible Study or 10:30 A.M. for worship.  It would be just as difficult to find out when the decision was made to have a Sunday evening service and even the time for it.  The Wednesday “prayer meeting” as it once was called also is a mystery to when it started.  However, are these bad traditions or good traditions to keep?

We know that the disciples met upon the first day of the week to break bread (Acts 20:7) and also to give of their means (1 Cor. 16:1-2).  We know that we are to sing (Ephesians 5:19, 1 Cor. 15:15); pray (1 Cor. 15:15); and teach the gospel (Matt. 28:20; Col. 1:28).  Doesn't it make sense that when these brethren met together on the first day of the week that they worshipped in spirit and truth as God seeks (John 4:23-24)?  Could this not be a tradition which the apostle started (II Thess. 3:6)?

What time we meet on Sunday is tradition and as long as we meet on Sunday to fulfill our responsibilities according to the word of God the time is not of any importance.  Certianly we need to make our worship service at a time that would be advantageous to all members to participate but each congregation has a right to make that decision and develop that tradition.  This tradition to worship is good according to scripture.  Trying to make a certian time a law from the word of God is a tradition of man and that is bad (Matthew 15:2, 9).

Paul states other types of traditions that would be bad in Colossians 2:8.  Traditions of men according to the basic principles of the world are mentioned as not being according to Christ.  What might these be?  We have been bombarded with books written by non-inspired men challenging why we “dress up” for worship.  Also, the way the Lord's Supper is being taken, why we sit in “formal” pews in worship service, the whole congregation assembling together instead of breaking out in small groups in homes or other settings for a more “personal” worship.

The question that comes to my mind is this, “Are we violating scripture in the way we worship now?”  Being a member of the Lord's body for 45 years has led me to see many changes in how we dress for worship, how we participate in worship with a more casual attitude, how we get “enthralled” with a charismatic preacher or elder no matter what he teaches, how we open the door for winds of change and then wonder “what is happening to the Lord's church?”  Hebrews 10:19-27 gives us specific instructions to come together in an assembly.  We are to exhort one another, consider one another in order to stir one another up to love and good works.  We are not to forsake these assemblies either!  I am not sure when we decided God did not want our “first fruits” of our efforts, dress, time, money and anything else (Matthew 6:33).  No doubt it all started by someone stating this thought process was “church of Christ” tradition and needed to change.

A stern warning to all of us to watch out for those wanting to gather only young families and young people in their home for Bible studies.  The method looked good but the end result could be very damaging to the traditions set by the apostles.  (Home Bible studies are good if done with the proper purpose).  My friend no man has the authority to challenge traditions set by the apostles, who were inspired by the Holy Spirit, especially those trying to persuade those on the milk of the word to reject these traditions.  Do not let books written by uninspired men cause you to be a victim of Colossians 2:8.