All Aboard: Text Over Tradition

Introduction

Good morning everyone!

My name is Trace Miller, I am the Youth Pastor here at Christs Church.

This morning I'm going to be talking about something that I'm sure many of us don't even realize is a problem in the Church today.

The Mother and the Ham

I remember, years ago, hearing a story about a mother and a daughter.

It was Thanksgiving morning, and the daughter watched as her mother was preparing the days food. Diligently following a recipe book passed down from her great grandmother.

The little girl noticed that, after removing the packaging, her mother cut about an inch off of both sides of the ham. The front and the back.

And then threw those two ends into the trash.

Curious, the little girl asked her mother why she did that. It seemed like a waste of perfectly good ham.

The girls mother gently grabbed the recipe book and handed it to her daughter saying, “That’s the way my mother taught me to prepare it, just like the recipe says.”

After studying the recipe for a moment, the daughter looked back up at her mother and said “But mom, the recipe doesn't say to cut off the ends”.

Surprised, the mother went to look at the book, and sure enough, her daughter was right. The recipe never says to cut off the ends of the ham.

The mother was puzzled. She had prepared this very same ham every year, never once realizing that the recipe doesn't say to cut off the ends.

But that's how her mother had taught her. Always cutting off the first and last inch of the ham.

After thinking for a moment, the woman decided to call her mother and ask why she always cut off the ends of the ham.

The woman was not pleased with the answer she got.

“Well, that's the way my mother always did it. Says so right in the recipe.”

After informing her mother that the recipe doesn't actually call for the removal of the ends of the ham, the woman decided to call her grandmother, and see if she could finally get an answer.

“Hello grandma, I was preparing our thanksgiving ham for tonight when my daughter asked why I cut off the ends of the ham...”

“...I realized that your recipe book doesn't say to do it, and when I asked my mom about it, she said that you always cut off the ends. So, my question is, why do we cut off the ends of the ham?”

In a soft voice the grandmother explained: “Well sweetie, I cut off the ends of the ham because the pan that we had was too small to hold the whole ham. I’m not sure why you are cutting off the ends though. Seems like a waste of perfectly good ham.”

Text over Tradition

In this story, a woman followed a certain tradition for years, thinking that the tradition was intrinsic to the recipe.

In doing so, she threw out large cuts of good meat for years.

Unfortunately, many of us do the same thing with Scripture, and don't even realize it.

Many fellow believers are dogmatically set on certain “traditions” without ever stopping to see what the Bible has to say on the subject.

There is nothing wrong with being fond of a particular tradition.

As a matter of fact, I would say that many traditions are good.

However, even good traditions are no substitute for the Biblical text.

Most believers base their understanding of Christian doctrine and theology, not on what they have read from the Bible, but on what they have been told by friends, parents, and even pastors.

Did you know, that of the over 2 million Christian believers in the world today, less than 30% of them have read the Bible from cover to cover?

82% of Christians Here in the United States only read their Bibles on Sunday morning.

When the pastor on stage is telling them what it means.

Now, I don't want to imply that you need to read the entire Bible in order to be saved, because that's simply not true.

The early church was full of faithful and commited believes who had read very little of the Bible.

But we have to understand why that is...

In the 1st century AD it was not easy to get your hands on Biblical manuscripts.

Usually you could only find copies in the synagogue, and even there you weren't very likely to get to read it yourself.

But in today's day and age, we have Bibles all around us.

You can download the “You Version” app for free and change between whatever translation you want at will.

According to Lifeway Research:

“Almost 9 out of 10 households (87%) own a Bible, according to the American Bible Society, and the average household has 3. But Bible reading remains spotty.”

The very thought of owning your own copy of the complete holy Scriptures translated into your own language would have made the early Christians leap with joy.

Yet, in our modern era, we neglect the privilege we have.

Many of us would rather just be told what the Bible says, instead of searching the Word of God for ourselves.

And thus, Christian tradition has risen above the Biblical text.

I don't believe that is a good thing.

In Mark chapter 7 verses 5-8 we read:

The NET Bible (Second Edition) Chapter 7

5 The Pharisees and the experts in the law asked him, “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with unwashed hands?”

6 He said to them, “Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written:

‘This people honors me with their lips,

but their heart is far from me.

7 They worship me in vain,

teaching as doctrine the commandments of men.’

8 Having no regard for the command of God, you hold fast to human tradition.”

Its time that we, as believers, demand that Christian tradition get in line behind the Biblical text.

Our traditions don't have authority, the Word of God does.

I considered spending the rest of this sermon going through a list of traditions that may not exactly align with the Bible.

But I realized that would only be helpful for a small list of little things.

Instead, today, I want to teach you how to read your Bible, and prioritize the Text over our presuppositions.

Let us begin.

Approach The Bible for What it is

Most of us understand what the Bible is.

The problem is that we don't approach it for what it is.

We understand that the Bible is a collection of ancient writings that span thousands of years.

We understand that the Bible was written by ancient people, from ancient cultures, who were inspired by God to record a variety of different things.

Laws, Genealogies, Songs, proverbs, histories, poems, and prophecies.

All of which, seem to emphasize Gods historical dealings with His creation.

And we know that God preserved these writings for a purpose.

We know this, and yet, we do not approach it as such.

Lets tackle this bit by bit.

The Bible Was Written by People Who Were Inspired by God

Inspiration does not mean that God took over someones body to write something down.

As if some ancient writer just blacked out then came to with a scroll in front of them thinking, “oh boy! I cant wait to read what I just wrote!”

No.

In reality, its much more akin to that feeling you get when you are convicted to do or not do something.