Pastor Robert and TaQuaris Smith
All right. Praise the Lord. Well, I almost changed the message for this morning, but I thought, I'm not going to do that to my sweetheart. Only if the Lord really, really, really pressed me. So it didn't change. We are sticking with the plan. I'm not going to make future promises. But on a serious note, I do want to make a serious acknowledgement. We had the opportunity and the great joy of preaching a message last week on the sanctity of life, the sanctity of all human life, and that all human life is created in the image of God. And for some of us following that message, life events were very discouraging in this past week. Anywhere from aggressive abortion legislation that has passed for some of us that are in the trenches and fighting for opportunities for abortion minded women to choose life, can get really discouraged this week.
And then for us that of the more melanated skin tone, we see, once again, the brutality that has crossed our path, again, at the hands of those that are put in place to protect us as we watch the, the video footage, or some have watched the video footage of Tyre Nichols being brutalized by the police. I share in the grief in those things that have trans transpired. But I'm going to do the same thing that I've done with people I've had conversation with I'm going to do with you. I want us to stay encouraged and focused that we still serve a great God, a loving God. And I know he is a God of justice and righteousness, and God is not mocked. Amen. And justice will prevail. We have to believe that doesn't always look like what we think it should, but we are not God. But I can guarantee you that God has promised that everything that needs to have justice will have justice.
And so my encouragement to us is us to continue to seek opportunities to put Christ into the darkness. And that's what where our hope lies, is that we see an opportunity to bring Jesus Christ into that darkness. So, uh, I grieve with you. I'm frustrated with you. I may not always visibly show it, but that's intentional. Not that I don't grieve, but God has placed me to be a messenger of light and hope. And so there is a lot of things that my emotions and my crying and my things, sometimes I do privately. Not that I'm a robot or anything like that. I'm brought to tears just like everybody else. But I've had a mandate from the Lord to try to be a source of strength and light and direction for people that he loves. And that's what I will continue to do. So, I'll cry on my pillow, but I'll cheer with you. I'll rejoice with you. I'll try to encourage you. But I just want us to remain hopeful that God doesn't turn a blind eye to any of these things that are happening, and we have to continue to look for him for our guidance, for our comfort, for our peace. Amen.
Well, today I do want to bring a message, I think a very important message for the church today. It's interesting. It's interesting how things come to my mind and how I get inspired for these messages. Sometimes I just sit and laugh and, and just say, okay. Sometimes these, some of these ideas seem so radical to me. I'm like, are you serious, God? But it seems like these certain events happen, conversations with people, things happen that I'm like, okay, I get the message. And so, yes, Lord, I will obey in the direction that you are leading me.
One of the things that we are trying to establish through our ministry is just bringing us into a different place, a different level in Christ. To do that, there are some things that we have to reexamine within ourselves in the way that we do things. One of those things that we need to reexamine in our lives is in the area of tradition or tradition. I want to talk today about the traditions of men versus biblical truth. There are traditions of men versus biblical truth. If you look at kind of a textbook definition, I went online and looked at some definitions, and one of them, it says, "A tradition is a long established custom or belief that has been passed on from one generation to another." The Britannica dictionary says that a tradition is a way of thinking, behaving, or doing something that has been used by the people in a particular group, family, society, et cetera, for a long time. So tradition, we all have them. We all have traditions, whether it be on eating seafood at New Year's Day, or some of our families eating black-eyed peas for good luck.
Some may have traditions of opening presents on Christmas Eve versus Christmas Day, or vice versa. Some may have traditions of not wearing certain things during a particular time of the year. Like, I remember you couldn't wear white after Labor Day. We can go on with these lists of things we just, we have, we all have traditions, whether it's our cultural traditions, whether it's our educational traditions. We all have them. For lack of a better term, we have religious traditions. And even these religious traditions, they might not even be biblical, but because they have been passed down and practice for so long, no one questions them or even examines them against the Bible. How many of you-- well, my grandma used to. My mama used to do this. Well, my pastor used to do this. My church---
That's a big one. We have these church traditions. Since I've been here, I've seen we've established a Hope tradition. Pastor Jeff, when we are assigned to preach, we don't come up here alone. We have our wives that are here with us preaching, reading scriptures, participating in the ministry. And we have these seats that we are sitting down in. That has become a hope tradition. You hear the word of God. You receive the word of God. But what if I decided one day just, I'm not going to sit down in this chair anymore, that is very restricting, and I'm going to stand up and I'm going to preach the word of God there. Would you all run out the door? So you mean that I could break tradition even here? At Hope I could break tradition?
So far, right? But that would be, you know, lack of a better term, a spectacle, right? Because we've used to seeing the chairs, the two chairs set up here and it has become a tradition, right? And it's nothing wrong with tradition. That's the way we do things here. But traditions in themselves aren't bad, aren't necessarily a bad thing. It is however important in how we position those traditions in the governance of our lives. Whether we think certain traditions are good or r useful or not, we must never exalt tradition over the word of God. And that's what we want to examine today. Here is a passage. We are going to use the text from the gospel of Mark. It is also a parallel passage in the gospel of Matthew, where Jesus---I love Jesus. Do you love Jesus? I love the way Jesus not afraid to tackle some of these things. He didn't have the problem. Some of us preachers, right? Pastor Jeff, we wrestle at night like, should I go there? Should I do this? Jesus didn't have that problem. He just went there. Because his heart was for the people to teach the people truth. And so, here is a situation where Jesus has an opportunity to bring truth to men's traditions. And so he has this encounter with the Pharisees. In Mark chapter seven.
TaQuaris: One day, some Pharisees and teachers of religious law arrive from Jerusalem to see Jesus. They noticed that some of his disciples fail to follow the Jewish ritual of hand washing before eating. The Jews, especially the Pharisees, do not eat until they have poured water over their cupped hands as required by their ancient traditions. Similarly, they don't eat anything from the market until they immerse their hands in water. This is for one of many traditions. They have clung to, such as their ceremonial washing of cups, pitchers, and kettles. So the Pharisees and teachers of religious law asked him, why don't your disciples follow our age old tradition? They eat without first performing their hand washing ceremony. Jesus replied, you hypocrites. Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you. For he wrote, these people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce, for they teach manmade ideas as commands from God, for you ignore God's law and substitute your own tradition.
Pastor Robert: For you ignore God's law and substitute your own tradition. Give a little context of what Jesus was so angry about and needed to correct what the Pharisees. The Pharisees, loved to appear holy. And so to appear holy, they came up with all these different ritualistic things, such as the washing of their hands before certain things, because they believe coming in contact with certain things made them unclean. If you were observing Jew at the time, one of the things that you wanted to avoid was becoming unclean. Because when you were unclean, you were unapproachable. You were untouchable, just like lepers. Lepers were considered unclean, that they even were cast out of the community because anybody that would come in contact with them would themselves become unclean, and they would have to go through these rituals with the priest to become clean again.
The Pharisees had all of these things such as this event here, where they would do these ceremonial washings. They found the disciples not following this tradition, not following these rituals. And so Jesus is saying, as they come to approach Jesus, trying to trip them up--- the Pharisees were always trying to find fault with Jesus and disciples because they were not following the rules. Jesus has already established in the, in the context with them that cleanliness has nothing to do with your outward appearance.
One of my favorite illustrations that Jesus gives is concerning the idea that would, especially during festival times, they would go to tombs, which tombs anything having to do with dead or death, grave sites, tombs was considered unclean. To beautify the city and to make things look pure and clean, they would, what they call whitewash, these sepulchers, these tombs. And Jesus was saying, why are you trying to make the outside of it clean when inside is dead men's bones? In other words, it's still unclean. Just because you washed the outside--- or they even had the ritual of washing the outside of a cup. And Jesus is saying, why wash the outside of the cup when inside of the cup is full of iniquity and men's greed?
What he is saying is that pure holiness and cleanliness comes from within, not without. Just because you wash your hands from the outside doesn't mean that you washed your heart from the inside. And so here it is again, you are so worried about my disciples appearing to be holy. You are not even concerned the fact of where their hearts are sitting. That's what Jesus is correcting, uh, at this time. Because God never emphasized in his law anything about these ceremonial cleansings. The Pharisees did. And they got really ridiculous with them to, to a degree that to follow all of these rituals and these rules was even more and burdensome than the law itself. I've been in even modern-day Israel amongst Orthodox observing Jews, and they still carry on these certain traditions that they do to appear holy or to appear set apart.
You see, the deeper problem with this, more so than the external act, is the belief system. The belief systems, the Pharisees believed that these traditions were more than just good ideas or, or cherished beliefs. They believed these traditions were of equal authority was scripture. During the time of Jesus, part of being a pharisee was memorizing these oral traditions. Now, fast forwarding to the future, these so-called oral traditions have been written down. Now they are in things like the Mishna that the Jewish rabbis continue to carry on their tradition. But this came from oral tradition that was passed down. And these Pharisees looked at these traditions as authoritative, as just as authoritative as the written law. And that's a problem because anything manmade cannot be on the same level, same authority as God. For the written law came directly from God through the mediator Moses. These oral traditions were just that: oral traditions, things that were passed down. And so they came to the point now they put them on the same thing with scripture.
What's a modern-day example of that? You know, the easiest for me to pick on is in the Catholic tradition. One being easy because I'm very steeped in Catholic theology. I served as an altar boy, as a child. I went to Catholic school for two thirds of my life. So I taught catechist, Catholic catechism. So I'm not just some, you know, ignorant Protestant, just bashing on Catholic tradition. I have some vested time in the Catholic sanctuary and books and education and dealing with the sisters and the brothers and the priests. But it also is just, we have centuries of evidence of Catholic traditions, so it's just easy. Other places, denominations have theirs. But one of the major issues that is not necessarily the case and other ones as in Catholic tradition, Catholic catechism, which is not from the Bible. They have other traditions such as their idea of who the pope is and what the pope says. They put that on the same authority as scripture.
So that's the only reason. I'm not Catholic bashing. I have a grateful place in my heart for Catholics. There are a lot of things that been preserved throughout church history because of the Catholic church. But I'm not ashamed of pointing out the issue that I have with that system of equating men's commandments and traditions with that of scripture. That's what I'm pointing out. That's a flaw. That's a flaw in our different traditions, protestant churches, conservative, evangelical, whatever label you want to put, when we have what the pastor says or the bishop says, or the council of elders say, and put that on the same level as God's word, that's a flaw. We have our own traditions. These traditions turn into doctrine and people become very dogmatic about their doctrine when it is not a true doctrine of the church. It's just a tradition of that particular group of people.
When we do that, we become modern day Pharisees because we uphold our tradition. At so and so church, first Church of the Covenant, first covenant, third Covenant Church--- This is how we do things at our church. And if anyone or anybody goes astray from doing it like we do at first, third, second, fourth, fifth covenant church, then you are a heretic. You see those traditions become very sacred and you come attacking those traditions, then we are not very enthusiastic about giving them up. You see, they become strongholds. And with those strongholds, we've attached many emotions to them. And so we oftentimes will defend those traditions, and we don't even defend scripture to that same degree of emotion. You wanted to say something?
TaQuaris: I was just thinking when we was talking about traditions, some traditions are not bad. For example, like in my household with my children, I raised them to pray, which is a good tradition. But it's the times of prayer that's the actual tradition. Like, my kids, we pray every night. As they were growing older, I wanted to make sure that it wasn't just a tradition anymore. I wanted to make sure they were just not saying anything just to say it at night, say your prayers at night. I wanted to make sure that it came from their heart. I do that with my kids. Even when we are sitting at the table. We pray before we eat. We bless our food, but if it's not coming from their heart, it's just an empty tradition.
And so even when we are eating and they want to say their prayers or their grace, I want them to understand that it just needs to come from your heart. I don't want you to say this, say what you think mommy wants you to say, because at the end of the day, you have to develop a relationship with God yourself. So even in good traditions, we want to make sure that it's not just lip service and that it is coming from a place of relationship. That's what I was just thinking about, like, okay, I let my kids pray. I want to make sure that it's coming from their heart instead of just lip service.
Pastor Robert: Yeah. And so if we are saying that not all traditions are inherently bad, then how do we know when our traditions are more harmful than good to us? Well, I could have a long list of, of those things, but I just have a couple of points that I want to give to point out here. When are our traditions more harmful to us than good? Well, one, when that tradition or traditions fosters external acts of worship, that gives us a false expectation of holiness. You see, again, Jesus made it very clear on the Sermon on the Mount that true holiness is a manner of inward affection and attitude, and not just outward actions and associations.
The Pharisees thought they were holy because they obeyed the law, and therefore they avoided external defilement. Let's look at the modern-day Pharisees. How many places of worship and church services have you been in and when people have been very condemning in the external things, and they would even preach a very strong message for you to observe those righteous and holy things, but the culture of the community as far as in character didn't line up with the things of God. So my question to you is, what good is it to appear holy and righteous on the outside, but carry around an ugly heart?
TaQuaris: That's good. I was thinking as a worshiper, as a singer, I tried to apply that to my life because that's a tradition that people think because you just up here singing and you are saying all the right words and you can do all these different melodies and runs and all of this that make you such a true worshiper. But really worship is a lifestyle. And being in a music ministry for years, even before I came here, just for years, I've seen it. No judgment, but I've seen where people get up here, we shout and we dance and we do all of these different things, but when we leave, we are so defeated and there is no power. What did you get? Even in the music department, you have to be really careful that what you are singing that is coming from your heart.
I'm a lyric person, so the words matter to me because I want to make sure that what I'm singing is coming from my heart. And that's what makes the difference. It doesn't matter--- and I'm talking to worship people and people live streaming that sing that are in the music department. You have to make sure that it's coming from your heart, that you are not just up there singing just lyrics that you really can't feel and that you are not walking out every day of your life. Because there is definitely a difference between talent and anointing. Your worship is a lifestyle. You worship when you in the grocery store, you worship when you are on a job you worship in marriage you worship with your kids. It's a lifestyle. It's not an outward appearance. I was just thinking about that and pondering on that. So yeah, good.
Pastor Robert: And they say I'm the preacher. It makes me think just some powerful illustrations. There was a Christian worship singer, and he is passed on now. His name is Daryl Coley. Daryl Coley had this song called When the Music Stops. The gist of that song is he says, "When the music stops, that's when I live my song." He says, "When the band goes home, that's when I live the life that I sing about in my song. When we say amen and the crowd begins to fade away, that's when I live the life that I sing about in my song." That song just ministers to me. If you don't know Daryl Coley, he had a lot of stuff that that ministers to you. But that particular song just ministered to me because was a very powerful, anointed talented singer. I mean, my God, he could, ah, man, the different levels that he could manipulate his voice and go to. But even that, you know, we can do that, right? We can sing the songs, Jesus, you are number one in my life. We can sing all these songs.
TaQuaris: It's all about you.
Pastor Robert: It's all about you, Jesus. It's all about you. But then when we have conversations with people, it is all about me. As a preacher, I can give you and I won't. I don't preach dos and don't anymore praise the Lord. But I can give you all the dos and don'ts, but for some reason it doesn't apply to my life because everything I told you don't do, I'm living it out to the fullest.
TaQuaris: I was think of another tradition that we actually quote, "I'm going to church." We can talk about that because if we keep saying that, we forget that we are the church. So that means we just come to the quote unquote building to act holy and to be Christian-like and loving because we are going to church. And that's where we need to do that at. We are the church. We gotta really get that in our mind. That's a tradition. If you really think about it, let's go to church. Because guess what? If we took all of us outta here and we put an R and B band up in here, and a bar up in here and all of that, it would be something different. We need just think about that. We are the church. Let's get out the, out of that traditional thinking that we are going to church.
We are the church. When we are work. We are the church when we are driving in our car. We are the church. That's a huge tradition that I think that really messed the church up. If the pandemic didn't show us nothing, when everything shut down, I don't know what did. You know what I mean? Like, are you still going to have church when we can't go to church? No, you can have church in your home because you are the church. We have Jesus in us. Wherever we go, we carry in him. We can have church. When I go to my friend's house and we just talking and we feel the spirit and we get to praying. We just had church. I have church with my husband when we going over the word and studying. We just had church because whoever we are at, we have Christ in us. So we really need to think about that.
Pastor Robert: What we are just expounding on, illustrating is what Jesus was saying and said to the Pharisees that even though you can obey the law externally, you can still disobey and break the law in your heart. And that external defilement has little connection with the condition of the inner person. Traditions have tremendous power over us and they have just become just to seem right to us. Remember, I said that, we've had so many traditions, religious traditions that we don't even question them because that's what we've done or that was what was passed down. And then when that happens, they gain a type grip on our emotions, so we even become blind to the hold that they have on us. So much that how many times have you heard people say that--- Well, you might not hear it at Hope because you've broken that tradition, but--- I don't have church clothes. Why? Because in some church, a lot of church traditions, if you didn't come in a, especially men, if you didn't come in a three-piece suit, you weren't coming a church. I'm serious.
Down south, it could be 2000 degrees outside, you are still expected to have that church suit on. And they even carry that--- I mean, I think down south they've gotten a little loose, but I tell you that message hasn't gotten to Africa. I tell you that, because as a missionary I'm thinking I'm coming in with my relaxed style. No, the bishop tells you right away you are going to be in the suit. Yeah, Bishop, but it's 2000 degrees outside. But the tradition, the expectation of the people is you are a pastor, so this is what pastors wear. I don't know what version of the Bible you have in, but can anybody find me the passage in there that says that a pastor has to dress a certain way? I'm waiting
But some people get emotionally involved with things like that. What would those folks do when they came here today on Sunday inside Hope Community? They probably pass out. I've even warned some of my friends. I'm like, "Hey, they don't do that here." As a matter of fact, the first time I came, Pastor AJ had invited me to come and he was speaking and he called me. He said, listen, he said, "Don't show me up on Sunday." I'm like, what are you talking about? He is like, "They don't dress up at Hope. Okay, so don't come out dressing me. I'm the one speaking on Sunday." We've been over here a little over a year and a half. Have you noticed the last two Sundays that I've spiffed it up a little bit. Well get used to it. I followed your tradition long enough. I'm getting back to where I am.
I told my wife, hey, we've been accepted in the family. We are good now. Now I'm going to do us. This is what we like to do. I feel more comfortable in the slacks and the blazer. Okay, that's just me. I'm not a t-shirt and jeans guy, so forgive me for my freedom. That's for fishing. Thank you. But you know, in all seriousness, we are laughing. It's good to laugh, but I've been rebuked as a pastor for not wearing a shirt and tie in a blazer before I was told I didn't look pastoral. I don't know what that really means, but I'd rather be known as being pastoral than looking pastoral.
These things exist, but they are not the word of God. They are not biblical truth. And you can fill in the blanks. I don't need to give you all. You can fill in the blanks. You can examine yourself, traditions that you may have, that your churches may have, that your family may have. You know what I'm saying? What I'm saying is, I'm not saying throw out traditions. There are things that traditions have helped us with. What I'm saying is don't use those traditions to judge and condemn other people that don't follow them, especially when they are not mandated by scripture.
TaQuaris: Right, and don't put them above God, number one.
Pastor Robert: We like the traditions, and they work for us because we can keep them. For many, they are easier to obey than the word of God itself. They can be kept in our own diligence and they can be kept without even having relationship with God. That's the root of the problem. We can keep them, and they don't foster a relationship with the Lord.
Another place where our traditions can be more harmful than good is that when we actually do place those traditions above scripture and mandate things that the Bible does not even mandate, Jesus speaks to this continuing in Mark 7.
TaQuaris: Then he said, you skillfully sidestep God's law in order to hold on to your own tradition. For instance, Moses gave you this law from God, honor your father and mother, and anyone who speaks disrespectfully of father or mother must be put to death. But you say, it is all right for people to say to their parents, sorry, I can't help you for I have vowed to give to God what I would've given to you. In this way, you let them disregard their needy parents. And so you counsel the word of God in order to hand down your own tradition. And this is only one example among many others.
Pastor Robert: I want to explain a little bit in this passage, because most people may not get this concept. In some versions, the like the King James, you see a term that most people don't recognize. It says corban. This is Corban. These translations are just explaining what that that is. Corban was a verbal pledge for future offering. For example, it could be pledged to the temple or pledge to God. You know how you say, I'm setting this aside for the Lord. Once you have made that pledge, then it couldn't be offered to something or someone else except if it benefited them, then they could break that law.
But Jesus is pointing out you, the Bible says to honor your mother and your father, so honor your parents and hear your parents have come with the need, but technically, using this leak, this law to get out of helping your parents. You follow what I'm saying? When we put our traditions above scripture in this full context, we are mandating things that the Bible doesn't because we get into twisting biblical things, theological things for our benefit, which twist the true essence of scripture. In a modern way, we get into certain things that have become doctrinal for us. But it doesn't mandate those things in scripture itself. But because it may have some element, biblical element to it, it can be used to manipulate us and to thinking that's what the Bible says.
It's interesting, Micah, it just came to me, I'm using it as a segment because we are about to record some podcast content. And one of the podcasts that I'm, I'm going to, to have is, but the Bible says, and so what we are going to do is deal with these modern myths and traditions and things that people just take for granted or even have become doctrinally influenced by, to think that's biblical truth. But the Bible says... we are going to deal with certain things. And so that's even what happens when we have these traditions that they sound, they sound right. They sound right. Like the God takes care of those who take care of themselves. Where is that in scripture? But people quote it as if it's scripture with sound conviction. They do.
When I was dating my wife and she was preparing her life to live with the preacher, and we would sit in certain places to listen to people preach, I would always get this nudge on the side, and she would whisper and say, "Is that in the Bible?" She would. Is that in the Bible?
TaQuaris: Because I felt like it wasn't in the Bible, but I know he is the scholar here, so he'll let me know if I'm wrong or not. So when something was like that, don't sit well with me, sweetie, is that in the words? But there were times he would be like, no, that's not what the Bible says. The Bible says--- actually, you'll give me the scripture; go to this and this and that. Got my phone out. Like, what? It happens quite often. That is something that you need to realize. And I don't think it happens too much here in Hope, praise the Lord. But it does happen in a lot of different churches where you just take what the pastor and the preachers say like it's just a word of God. You need to get into that word and know what the word says for yourself.
Because what will happen is when, when you start doing that, you put them up like they are an idol. And then when they show you that they are human beings, then you want to leave the church. I'm serious. Because you have to have a relationship with God for yourself. It doesn't matter if you come into the building amongst your brother and to praising and hear the word of God. You still have to have that when you leave, something to get you through the week when you are dealing with people. That's a tradition.
Unfortunately, I've seen it as a tradition where people are just amazed by what people are saying on the pulpit. And I know that it wasn't the word. And you know what they would say? Wow, that was a new revelation. I'm serious. It grieved my spirit. It really did. Because it's like people are not really digging deep into the word themselves. We don't want to make that a tradition. And I'm grateful that we don't have that here.
Pastor Robert: That's where the term analogy, if you've heard it before, we need to become a Berean. This is my translation: Hey Paul, we love you and you sound good, but before we have investment in our lives, we going to see if this lines up with scripture. That's how we should be. We should be like the Bereans, like where is this with the word? This sounds great, but where does it line up with the word? And we should become more like that. Because these traditions that we've had, they, they cause more harm than good, but they are also used manipulatively over people.
Like I said, sometimes these traditions, they take bible truth and twist it. A lot of times that happens when you take things out of context. That's why we need to become students of the word and understand biblical interpretation and how to interpret the Bible and not proof text. Meaning we have an idea and we chew pick, cherry pick scriptures to prove our point. Any one of us in this room online, any one of us can do that to prove a point, but that doesn't mean that we are speaking truth.
One of the things that I've seen hurt the church more is this idea--- let me see if I can phrase it right. I have to keep tradition and phrase it right. Let me form a question. How many of you, when you've heard, where you've seen or witnessed a church leader--- and I'm not picking on church leadership today. This is illustration point. You've seen a church leader just plainly behave some way that's not right, that's not Christian-like, that's not Christ-like, that's not biblical. That's wrong. Plain. And you criticize it or correct it. And what do they tell you? What do people tell you? Say it louder. Touch not my anointed and do my prophets no arm. That's a big one. I'm going to step on that toe. I'm going to step on all those toes because that is very manipulative.
First of all, it's taken out of context. It's taken too much out of context. There is nowhere in scripture that says that if someone, I don't care if you are the cleaning lady to the bishop that says that anybody is above being corrected when they are wrong. Just because you are a bishop, a pastor, a deacon or reverend or whatever you are, does not give you an exemption for godly behavior. When we see ungodly behavior, then it needs to be called that ungodly behavior. You do not have to deal with except be under ungodly behavior. You speaking out against ungodly behavior is not touching God's anointed.
That's not what that passage and certain things in scripture is about. If you come to building blocks, I'm sure we'll come across that. We'll teach you in full context what that scripture is about. But it is not a license for people of any stature or title to act ungodly and the people of God to sit idly by and not say anything and take the abuse. That's the tradition we need to break. If you look at the full context of scripture, those that are in leadership over god's people is held on a higher standard in God's eye for the responsibility that they have over influencing people.
As a matter of fact, that's even why some of our scriptural things influence our law. That's why there are strict laws for pastors and priests and counselors and teachers because it's not just the violation of ethical code, but it's also a moral code that you are violating because people are put under your care and instruction and protection. So when you violate that law, you get the, the, the, the hammer dropped on you harder than any other citizen because of the nature of your responsibility. And so it is with the people of God who have the care of flock and people under them. There are harsher penalties and responsibility that comes with that. So it is not a license, the church does not have to take--- if I am in the wrong as far as my behavior, ungodly behavior. Please don't say I can't tell him because he is the pastor. The devil is a liar. No, I want you to correct me if I'm wrong.
TaQuaris: And do it in love. Correct in love. God will give you wisdom on, on how to correct even people in leadership. I know it's a tradition that you can't correct a leader. You can't go tell them they are wrong. Oh, you can't say that about the pastor. I'm not talking about the pastor. I'm talking about the fact of what just happened. At the end of the day, it can be very uncomfortable in that situation with anyone, but God will give you the wisdom on how to do that. Your motivation has to be love. You can do that in private too. I mean, there is just certain, certain ways that you can take care of things differently, but still get the job done. So you can't just sit there and just allow things to happen, then you held accountable because God know that, you know, and you never know you can be helping that person. We enable people too much. You know. Everyone has to be held accountable for this life that we are in and this life that we are, we are trying to live for Christ. Accountability comes with that. To whom much is given, much is required.
Pastor Robert: And we harm each other in the congregations because of our traditions. Because those traditions in our congregations become church clubs. And so we, we as the body can be harmful to one another because certain people don't fit our club. That's why I appreciate like Pastor Jeff said, our relationship because as we are getting to know each other, I would share things like certain, certain words that trigger things with me because of my experience with certain groups in the church, which I've had to have healing with and understand that everybody's different.
For me for a while, if you told me that you are an intercessor at a church, I didn't want any part of you. Because in certain places when you have these specialized departments, it became a us versus them type of reality, you know? If you weren't an intercessor who commanded the morning, I'm like, Jesus, don't wake me up at four in the morning to play. But if you say that, taken out of context, like looking at you like what's wrong with you? But here is the thing, here is the heart. That's a lot of people that carry that attitude. They have, they have--- I'm making an illustration for a point. I'm not saying that's the overall thing, but I'm saying those that carry that spirit, it can become this ritualistic tradition that may say I'm better than because this is the regiment that I follow. But those very same instances in people can never pray for you by the spirit. When the spirit tells you to do something or pray for someone that you don't like, God forbid, then all of a sudden their great intercessory prowess goes away.
Yet, you can take someone that's pure in heart that may struggle with the regimen and prayer life, but they are sensitive to the prompting of the spirit that can pray for you on the spot. Or the so-called people that are known as the prophets in the house, everybody can receive them, but when someone that they seem of Lord esteem comes and gives you a word of the Lord, you are looking at them funny. I'm just saying those things, you hear those certain things because of our experiences and traditions, we have to be careful as a congregation that we don't form cliques and we don't look at people because they don't do things our way or the way that we are used to, that we are better than and they are lesser than. We can't do that. We all have our expressions of worship and prayer and intercession and it's good to learn new things.
You learn ways to pray, you learn ways to communicate, you learn different things, but we cannot be so dogmatic to say, if you are not doing it this way, then you are doing it wrong because scripture doesn't mandate it that way. Scripture Jesus gave us a pattern of how to do things. And in our own expression, we will follow that pattern that Christ and through scripture has taught us, didn't mandate a certain way. So to say that I gotta face east to truly pray, I gotta point towards Jerusalem for my prayers to be answered or I gotta pray in a certain posture, or I gotta pray in a certain tone, those are all manmade extras that are added to it so that we look a certain way because it makes us feel good
TaQuaris: It is just you are being religious and then when you put that on other people, you are limiting God and you are putting God in a box because God might not move that way with that person, you know? And so we have to be aware of that. We gotta do it this way, it gotta be this way, it gotta be this way. How about let it be God's way? And that looks different because we are all different. We are not going to do it the same way. We are not going to sound the same way. That's just something to keep in mind. Good points, Mr. Smith.
Pastor Robert: Why, thank you. One of the things I had trouble with that was pointed out to me years ago is that I had a hard time dealing with people who thought differently than me. Yes, me. I did. And over the years I've learned to love the different expressions of people. I may not do it your way. I might not even like the way that you do it, but that doesn't mean that I can't enjoy or learn from what you do and how you do it. The only thing that I'm mandated to do is given to me by scripture. And it basically is summed up in the words of Jesus: love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind in your soul and love your neighbor as yourself. That's what I'm mandated to do.
And guess what? He did not fill in the blanks of how I do it. Did He? He left it up to me in my relationship with God. He has left it up to you in your relationship with God. So if you want to wake up at four in the morning and pray for two hours, go right ahead. I probably won't be joining you. Give me a couple of hours, I'll be good. Now, you know, not saying that the Lord may not prompt me during those times, but we can't look down on people because they are not having that same conviction or whatever. I like to think that I'm praying all day as the scripture says, to pray without ceasing, which means always be in the presence of mind to pray, be prayerful. That's different than having a so-called regimented time. Being prayerful is always being in the season and the mind to pray when things arise and come up.
It is some of those traditions that we've been brought up with that's gotten us to a certain point in our life and walk with the Lord. All we are saying is don't let that supersede what scripture is telling you. Don't let that supersede what the Lord is telling you, but allow God to continue to mold you in the richness of his word. And so you will foster a relationship with him and not just look good to men and appear holy, but be holy, be separated unto God through your relationship with Christ, and he will show you the way even if it contradicts your tradition. Let's pray.
Lord, we thank you for who you are and the words of Christ that continue to prick our hearts and to show us the way to the Father. I pray as we examine our hearts and examine our own ways and our own traditions, that anything that comes into conflict with your word, with your desire for our lives, that we will humbly submit and obey and follow you in Jesus' name.
Pastor Jeff: Thank you Pastor Robert and TaQuaris. You were gentle with us this morning. It's funny, these traditions, you know, they--- I mean, you know, it, it forms our culture, right? I mean, every culture has traditions that we all live by and it's just natural for us. It's not something that we even think about. You know, and every family has its own culture. Every church has its own culture. Every community has whatever, however they meet, cheers, had their own culture. And then we start, what's funny is in the church world, we argue with each other about which culture is right, which is steep full of our traditions. And then we criticize, we carry enmity in our hearts towards one another because our traditions are different. We end up arguing more about traditions than discussing the scriptures.
I remember once we were visiting a church, the, and the, these were people we knew and we were in their church and I was sitting there and worship was great. And then the worship ended and they got up. You know how we do the middle of the service? A pastor comes up and he greets everybody. Well, they did that. Only they did it differently than our church did it. The pastor, they got up there and he started to talk and doing all of this stuff. In my mind, honestly, this is what I said: Lord, I forgot how much baggage there is at this church. And the Lord talked back and he said, that's not baggage. He said, that's their culture. I don't have a problem with it. Why do you? Don't you love it when the Lord is direct? He wasn't as nice as Pastor Robert was this morning.
It's so easy to exalt our traditions and somehow place us in a place where we get to judge others. And we just don't want to be that kind of people. We don't want to do it to each other in the church. We don't want to lay traditions on each other, and we especially don't need to be judging other cultures by how we do things. It's just foolishness.
So Father, thank you for confronting the foolishness of our hearts. That somehow we end up magnifying things. They are just of no concern to you. And in the end, for some reason, we have this need to create glory for ourselves in a sense of importance and the need to be right. And Lord, we just lay that down at your feet this morning and we thank you that you would speak to us and deal with these things in our hearts that can be different. And we ask, Lord, she just work in our lives because we want to be different. Amen. Amen.
Of course, the beginning of becoming different is to open your heart to Jesus. If you are here this morning or if you are watching by livestream and you've never started in a place of faith, just accepting Jesus and yielding your life to him, I want to encourage you that that's the first thing you want to do in order for your life to change. Jesus is the game changer in the moment we believe in him is the moment that things start to become different. As good friends of mine said once in their testimony, they said things get better, not always easier, but better.
And if you need something from the Lord this morning, I know we are still praying for our friends who aren't with us. We are trusting God for healing, Deb and Lori, Brian. We just want to believe with you to receive the miracle that you need to receive the provision that you need to receive from the Lord, the things that you need. So let's just pray for each other. Anybody here that really has a need, you'd like some people to pray with you right now? Just put your hand up, we'll gather around you. Anybody that's really facing some things and you really would like some brothers and sisters to pray for you, that can happen now, can happen after the service. It happened for me before the service.
Sister Ruby, I was giving her a hug and she said, "We are concerned about you." And she started just to pray for me. She started to pray for me and exhort me and she touched my heart. We need that from each other. So Father, we just pray for our friends this morning. We thank you for what you are doing in Deb's body, Brian's. We thank you for what you are doing in Lori's body. We thank you for what you did on the cross for the provision that you made. We trust you. We trust you. We trust you for release with miraculous power that will heal them. And we thank you for our father.
And Lord I just pray for my friends Lord, who are trusting you for the needs that they have, that they are right in the middle of situations they need you. Lord, I thank you for being real in their lives and meeting them where they are at as the God who provides in the God who loves them above all else. Thank you for that Lord Jesus. Amen. Amen.
The Lord bless you this week. It may his favor rest on you and you can go in peace. We'll have people here to pray for you if you do have a prayer need. And I'll be serving communion. So if you want to share communion with me, you can come over to the table now. Bless you all.
Transcript taken from the Sunday morning service 1-29-23. If you would like to watch the full service, click the link below.