The Tradition of the Elders
Tonight was my favorite study of the week "Living Room Study" I should start sharing the links to the videos of these studies because they are amazing. ( http://www.livingroomstudy.org/ )The format is simple.All of us reading a chapter a day and meeting up every 7th day to discuss that day's chapter. So basically we are trekking through the Bible one chapter at a time. I think this is much more fruitful than a forever series of topical messages or staying in Ephesians for years. We need to know the Word in it's entirety ya know? That is crucial for application, context and understanding.
On to my point. Tonight he went over something that I have been thinking about on and off for days. We were in chapter Matthew 15.. Copy and paste from BibleGateway in 3...2....1
"The Tradition of the Elders
15 Then Pharisees and scribes came from Jerusalem to Jesus and asked, 2 “Why do Your disciple sbreak the tradition of the elders? For they don’t wash their hands when they eat!”[a]
3 He answered them, “And why do you break God’s commandment because of your tradition? 4 For God said:[b]
Honor your father and your mother;[c] and,
The one who speaks evil of father or mother
must be put to death.[d]
5 But you say, ‘Whoever tells his father or mother, “Whatever benefit you might have received from me is a gift committed to the temple”— 6 he does not have to honor his father.’[e] In this way, you have revoked God’s word[f] because of your tradition. 7 Hypocrites! Isaiah prophesied correctly about you when he said:
8 These people[g] honor Me with their lips,
but their heart is far from Me.
9 They worship Me in vain,
teaching as doctrines the commands of
We are still doing this,folks! I doubt many people are going around calling themselves "pharisees", but that's what's going on when people take the doctrine's of men and filter the Word of God through these men. Commentaries and books have their place, but filter them through the Bible not the other way around. Don't trust everything John Piper, John MacArthur, Chuck Smith, Rick Warren, James MacDonald, Tim Keller, Ravi Zacharias,or insert favorite theologian has to say. I'm sure these men don't like the idea of people seeking their words over the Word. However it is much easier to just trust that these men are seeking the Lord like we should be than submitting our own lives to that quest. We are always stinking lazy in some aspect of our life. Whether it be general physical laziness (me), laziness in spreading the gospel (ezekiel 33:1-6) or just general spiritual laziness.
I often wonder if insecurity fuels the drive to seek someone else "better" than self to explain the Bible to himself/herself. We forget that the people we admire were once first reading the Bible for themselves. Any comments?