["Pomp and Circumstance"]
I see you all here for our civilian service.
Could all please grab one of these, the handouts, angles we have heard on high.
This is how everyone does that.
Door round. Does everybody have one?
Excellent. That's the song we're doing.
Angels, we have heard on high.
["Angels We Have Heard on High"]
["In Excelsis Deo"]
Amen. We're the Fabians. Pray for us.
Amen. Thank you, brother.
We've got another handout. They're around.
God rest you very gently.
Does everyone have one of these?
Everyone good?
Looks pretty good, huh?
Looks like it looks pretty.
["O Come All Ye Faithful"]
Amen. This is going to go with the announcements.
We'll be following. We'll be giving a song of your choice.
Well, again, we don't have any announcements this evening,
but just because, like I mentioned this morning, it was a very hectic morning.
Didn't have really time to print off the bulletins.
There really wasn't a lot to put in there.
Hopefully, there will be in the next couple of weeks.
Got some other things planned.
A homeschool field trip and things like that.
But I'm sure everybody's wondering how Oscar the dog is doing,
and I'm glad to report that he's back on all four feet, and he's his normal self.
He's still a little weak.
We believe it was an allergic reaction that he had.
His face is even a little droopier than normal.
But he's on the mend.
I won't go into any other details besides that regarding his ailments.
Other than that, again, a Merry Christmas to everybody.
Glad everyone's here.
Glad everybody came out and spent both the morning and the evening with us.
Hopefully, everybody's having a good Christmas, and is prepared to have a great New Year.
That'll do it for announcements.
We'll go ahead and sing one more song.
All right, let's do those hands.
Let's do back hands.
Let's do one hand.
What you got?
He just raised his hand.
He doesn't even have one hand.
433, a Wayne Amanda.
Perfect. I'm already on that page.
How'd you go?
Is that cool?
433, everybody good?
So we'll go 433, Wayne Amanda.
The way the angels heard the prayer for heaven
The little Jesus laid down his sweet head
The stars, the skies, the clouds, everywhere
The little Jesus spoke sweetly of heaven
Up heaven far away, the baby of grace
The little Jesus broke by her feet
I love you, Lord Jesus
I am from the sky
And still I'm praying
Until morning is nigh
Be near me, Lord Jesus
I ask you to sing
Yes, I will forever
Pray for me, I pray
Yes, all of you children
In life and again
And take us to heaven
To live in peace and glory
All right, it's time to pass the offering plate.
As the plate goes around, let's turn off
I'll find this to you in Mark chapter 7.
That's Mark chapter 7, as always.
We'll read the entire chapter.
Please follow the old salary.
I'm going to give you a resource for Mark, chapter 7.
Mark chapter 7, verse 1 of the Bible reads,
They came together unto an affair certain of the scribes
Came from Jerusalem, when they saw some of the disciples
Eat bread with the fire, that is to say, without washing hands
They found fault for the Pharisees and all the Jews
Except they washed their hands off, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders
When they come from the market, except they wash, they eat not
And many other things there be, that they have received to hold
As the washing of cups and pots, racing vessels and tables
Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him
Why not thy disciples, why walk not thy disciples
According to the tradition of the elders
When you bread with them washing hands?
And he answered and said unto them,
Well hath the scribes prophesied with you hypocrites?
As it is written, this people honor it for you with their lips
For their heart is far from you
Howbeit in vain you will worship, in teaching for doctrines
The commandments of men
For laying aside the commandment of God
You hold the tradition of men
As the washing of pots and cups
And many other such like things you do
And he said unto them, full well you reject the commandment of God
For you may keep your own tradition
For Moses said, honor thy father and thy mother
And who so cursed his father and mother?
Let him die to death
But he said, if man shall say unto his father,
For his mother, his core man, that is to say, a gift
To what so ever thou mightest be confident, by the way,
He shall be free
When you suffer him no more, you ought for his father or his mother
Making the word of God none effect from your tradition
Which you have delivered, and many such like things you need
And when he had called all the people unto him
He said unto them, hark unto me every one of you
And understand, there is nothing from a thousand of them
That enter into him that defile him
For the things which come out of him
For those of they that defile the man
If the man have ears to hear, let him hear
And when he was entering into the house of the people
His disciples asked him concerning the parable
And he said unto them, are you still without understanding also
Do you not perceive that whatsoever thing from a thousand
Enter into the man that cannot defile him
For they enter not into his heart, into the belly
And go without into the drop, purging all meats
And he said, that which cometh out of the man
That have defiled the man, who from within
Out of the heart of man proceed evil thoughts, adulterous
Fornications, murders, thefts, publicisness, wickedness
Deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness
All these evil things come from within to defile the man
And then he arose and went to the border of the tire outside him
Entering into the house that no man knoweth
That he could not be hid
For a certain woman whose young daughter had a unclean spirit
Had heard of her, and came and fell out of his feet
The woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by nation
And she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter
For she had sentenced her to the children first before
There is not meat to give the children the bread
And cast them to the dogs
And she answered and sentenced her, yes Lord
Yet the dogs under the table eat with the children's crumbs
And he said unto her, let this saying go thy way
The devil has gone out of thy daughter
When she was come to her house
She found the devil had gone out and the daughter lay upon the bed
And again, departing from the coast of Tyre and Sidon
He came unto the sea of Galilee
And the midst and the coast of Decapolis
And they bring unto him one that was deaf
And had an impediment in his speech
And they beseech him and put his hand upon him
And he took him aside from the multitude
And put his fingers into his ears
And he spit and touched his tongue
And looking up to heaven and aside
And saith unto him, Ephraim, that he is to be opened
And straightway his ears were opened
And the string of his tongue was loose
And he staked plain
He charged them, they should tell no matter
But the more he charged them, so much the more a great deal
He published them, and were beyond measure
Astonished, saying, He hath done all things well
He may give both a deaf to hear and a dumb to speak
Brother Adam, would you pray for us?
Heavenly Father, thank you for today Lord God
Thank you for salvation we have of your son, Lord God
Thank you for taking care of us
We acknowledge you, Lord God
We give you glory and honor for supplying our every need, Lord God
Can you speak to us in the spirit, Lord God?
Let us speak, Lord God
Give us the years of understanding, Lord
And he is going to be praying for us
Amen, so in Mark chapter 7
I'm just going to be looking here for a few minutes
In the beginning, just in those first few verses
We'll begin in verse 5, it says
And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him
Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders
But eat bread with unwashing hands?
He answered and said unto them
Well hath the Isaias prophesied of you hypocrites?
As it is written, this people honoreth me with their lips
That their heart is far from me
Howbeit in vain they do worship me
Teaching for doctrines the commandments of men
For laying aside the commandment of God
Ye hold to the tradition of men
As the washing of pots and cups
And many other such things
Excuse me, such like things ye do
And I just want to preach tonight on this idea of holding traditions
Of holding traditions, that's the title of the sermon
Holding traditions
You know we could read this isolated passage
And maybe walk away thinking that having traditions or having customs
Are an inherently bad thing
When actually that's not the truth
We'll see hopefully by the end
That some traditions, if they're right
Can actually be very beneficial in our lives
And they could be even traditions that benefit generations to come
So let me just start out by saying this
Is that when it comes to a tradition or a custom that you have
Whether you find one in the scripture
Or maybe it's something you've just kind of always done in your own family
You always have to take that in context
You have to kind of ask yourself
What is the source of this tradition?
What is the motive behind what we're doing?
Now obviously here with the Pharisees
The problem that they have is that
Their tradition is usurping the commandments of God
And they're kind of being hypocrites
Because they're trying to throw this in Jesus' face
And saying hey you know your disciples
They don't wash their hands but we do
And he's saying well you're a hypocrite
Because if you're trying to talk about who's more righteous
You know you are forsaking the commandments of God for your traditions
And if you would keep something there
Go over to Romans chapter number 10
And this is something
This is ultimately the problem that the Pharisees had
Is that they did not
As it says in Romans 10
Submit themselves under the righteousness of God
But they went about establishing
Trying to establish their own righteousness
And this is one example of it in Mark
That we're reading
Where they are teaching for doctrines
The commandments of men
They're saying hey if you want to be right with God
You have to do X, Y, and Z
When it's something that's not even found in scripture
This washing of pots and other things
You know they're just making things up
They're just having all these customs
That they're just pulling out of thin air
And saying this is the commandment of God
You must do these things
And that's why they're attacking Jesus
Over this custom that they have
Now that doesn't mean all customs are bad
It just means that when a custom or a tradition
Is both kind of the same words
When those things come in conflict with the word of God
That's when we say okay this is bad
It's got to change
That's when we get rid of it
If you look there in Romans 10
Beginning in verse 1
It says brethren my heart's desire
And prayer to God for Israel is
That they might be saved
For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God
But not according to knowledge
So zeal of course is always a great thing isn't it
It's a great thing to have zeal
We want to be a zealous people
But we want to have a zeal that is according to the knowledge of God
And this is sometimes something you'll see in Christians
Especially newer Christians
Who are very zealous about serving God and living for God
But sometimes because they lack the knowledge of scripture
They don't know what the Bible teaches in some areas
You know they might go overboard in certain areas
Or their zeal might be misplaced in the wrong area
Here with the Pharisees the Israel that Paul is referring to
They have a zeal but it's not according to the knowledge of God
Verse 3 for they being ignorant of God's righteousness
And going about to establish their own righteousness
Have not submitted themselves under the righteousness of God
So that's the problem there with their tradition
Is the fact that their tradition is taking place of the commandments of God
Their zeal to establish their own righteousness
Is supplanting the righteousness that they need
Which is the righteousness of God
It says in verse 4 for Christ is the end of the law
For righteousness to everyone that believeth
So we understand that that you know salvation comes by faith
That was something that the Pharisees choked on and couldn't get over
And of course when we get a custom or a tradition
That is opposed to the word of God
If we're going to teach for commandments the doctrines of men
You know we're going to find ourselves with the same end result
As the Pharisees go back to Mark 7
And we'll see what was ultimately the end result of their custom
Their tradition
Well it was hypocrisy and false teaching
Hypocrisy and false teaching
And these are things that we want to keep far from us
We don't want to be hypocrites
Obviously we're all going to have some level of that
Because nobody is perfect
But we should always be on guard for that
It's always something we're correcting and working out of our life
And we shouldn't just be blatantly hypocritical in our lives
That's one of the great excuses that people throw out there
I'm not going to church it's full of hypocrites
Yeah well so is everywhere else
The whole world is full of hypocrites
Obviously the Pharisees here are taking it to a whole other level
Because of what they're doing
Because they're trying to establish their own righteousness
And not submitting the righteousness of God
Because they're teaching for doctrines the commandments of men
They are becoming all the more hypocrites
They're becoming all the more false prophets and teachers
If you look there in verse 6
He said he answered and said unto them
Well hath Azias prophesied of you hypocrites as it is written
This people honor with me with their lips
But their heart is far from me
What's the hypocrisy there?
They sound like they're saying all the right things
But their heart couldn't be any further from God
Their motives are wrong
They're not genuine they're not true they're not real
They don't really love God
They just want to have an air of righteousness
And sometimes this is something that people can run to
With an extreme in the Christian life
They can get some tradition or custom
Which in and of itself is fine
But then they use it as almost like a badge of righteousness
They use it as a badge of saying I'm better than somebody else
Because they have some standard
Or because they have some custom
That they've worked into their own life
Then they can kind of stand on that and try to look down on other people
And really that's hypocrisy because they're doing it for the wrong reasons
They're not doing it out of a love for God
They're doing it kind of like the Pharisees here
Where they're just trying to throw it in somebody's face
And just kind of say we're better than you
And that's because again that's kind of the hypocrisy there
They honor me with their lips
But their heart is far from me there's no love there
And it goes on in verse 7
Howbeit in vain they do worship me
Teaching for doctrines the commandments of men
So not only are they hypocrites
But they're also false teachers
They're teaching and saying this is the commandment of God
This is the commandment you must follow it
It's sin if you don't do this
And that's something that we all have to be on guard against
But especially those of us that preach and teach the word of God
To be careful that we don't get up
And just preach things that are our opinion
And don't have any scripture to back them up
It's okay to express your opinion
But what I've found is that unsolicited opinions
Typically just make people upset
It really just aggravates people
It's not really something that is always in the best interest of the body to do
Nothing wrong with it as long as we understand that when we're expressing that
We might not get the results we want
And two, you know
We're in danger of perhaps going too far and expressing an opinion saying
No, this is the commandment of God
You've got to be careful about that
There's many examples
I'm not going to go on and on about that tonight
But what I'm pointing out is this
When we read passages like this
We could walk away and say
Traditions are dangerous things
We shouldn't have customs
But honestly if you think about it
We probably all already have traditions and customs that we do
There's probably things that we just do habitually
All the time, every day even
That are just habits
I mean that's really all a tradition or a custom is
It's just something that you just kind of do habitually
It's this time of year
We do X, Y, and Z
It's this time of day
Whatever
Seasonally, annually, daily, whatever
We all have things that we just kind of do out of tradition
It's just our custom
It's just what we do
That doesn't mean that those things are necessarily sinful
But we have to keep that in check
And make sure that we're not going too far with those things
So we kind of looked here at the beginning
At a negative mention of a tradition
And again we saw that the problem
Was not through tradition itself
But that the tradition was being taught as a commandment
That was the problem there
As he goes on and says there
Well we already read it
Let's just move along
Go to 2 Thessalonians 2
And we'll just look real quick
I won't take too long tonight
And we'll just look real quick
At a few positive mentions
Of traditions in the Bible
Go on to 2 Thessalonians 2
Look at verse 15
He said, Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions
Which ye have been taught, whether by word or by epistle
So Jesus back in Mark 7 was saying
You hold the traditions of men
And teach them for doctrines
As the commandments of God
Say, oh we shouldn't hold traditions
Well Paul here is telling us to hold to certain traditions
That we've been taught whether by word
Or by epistle from us
Or our epistle, excuse me
So which is it?
What's the deal with traditions?
Are they good? Are they bad?
Well traditions are kind of neutral
It's a gray area
You have to really examine the tradition itself
And see what are your motives
What are you trying to accomplish with the tradition
Does it come in conflict with the word of God
And of course this time of year
We all have a lot of traditions
That we probably put into practice
Notice there it's things that they were told verbally
Even in 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 15
It says, Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions
Which ye have been taught, whether by word
So there are even things that were spoken
By the apostle Paul and perhaps others
That were not necessarily recorded in scripture
There might have been things that he said
Hey Thessalonians you need to consider this
You need to do this
You need to hold to this tradition for you
Meaning that one tradition for one person
Might be good for them
But maybe not for somebody else
Maybe something somebody else does
Is beneficial to them
But it's not really something
That's going to apply to other people
Well why aren't these things that are written
That were taught in word recorded
Well maybe they were just traditions
That really weren't going to benefit us
In the here and now
Maybe it was just more specifically
For those people at that time
So he says they were taught by word
Meaning they were told verbally
Showing us that some traditions only profit
Certain people in certain circumstances
So maybe you have a tradition
That's good for your family
Maybe it edifies you
Maybe it edifies you as an individual or family
But maybe it's not going to edify somebody else
Maybe it's not going to be a beneficial tradition
For other people
You can even apply this to churches
A lot of churches will do different things
That other churches don't do
For example
Some churches are going to put on a candlelight service
Like we did
Some people are going to say
I don't want anything to do with that
It's too catholic
Well when you're in Tucson
That might not be a bad thing
To kind of say
This is kind of familiar
Bring them in
I promise I won't get up here
And address with my collar on backwards
And insist that you call me father
I won't get up here
And shake out a vacuum bag or anything
Or burn incense
And all that goofy stuff
But that's a tradition that we just kind of started
Something I did in my church in Michigan
That I liked
I didn't know it was catholic-ish or not
I don't know
I don't really care
I just said I like it
Everyone else here seems to enjoy it
I always get compliments after it
They look forward to it
And we're going to keep doing it
But you know what
Other churches might look at that
And say that's not for us
So what?
They're not going to look down on us for it
We're not going to insist that they do it
It's just something we do here
I love the liberty that we have
In the local New Testament church
That God hasn't just spelled out
Exactly how we have to do every single thing
He's given us guidelines, principles
The word of God
To govern the church
But also has given us a lot of liberty
To kind of just do as we see fit
And glorify God in different ways
Another church
Maybe they don't have the candlelight service
But they put on the Christmas play
Right
And you know that's not something
I'm really interested in doing
And let me just say this while I'm on this
If there's things in this church
That people want to do
If ladies want together and do things
I'm all for it
But don't hold your breath
And wait for me to plan everything
That you want to do
I'll set up
I'll purchase things
I'll tear down
I'll clean up
But I'm not going to sit down
And schedule the ladies wreath making
Or you know all these other things
There are certain things that I will do
Throughout the year for the church
That we just kind of do traditionally
You know the mother's tea party
And other events
But that doesn't mean
Just because I'm not promoting something
That if you have an idea about something
You want to do
By all means do it
But just understand it's you
That's going to do it
Okay the building's available
I'll help where I can
But I'm not really interested in planning
Every single little thing
So I'm just kind of throwing that out there
Because that's just something
You know I've been thinking about lately
You know I'm totally open to other things
If people want to do things
They just kind of have to be the ones
To take the initiative on it
But you know a church might have
Something like
A Christmas play or something
Where they have the kids
I'm not really interested in doing that
Just because that's another thing
I don't want to wrangle cats with children
You know like that
And I don't know maybe
I feel like maybe our kids
Are a little more introverted
I don't know if they're up for standing up
In front of a whole group of people
And all of that
And plus probably once we got
Most of the kids up there
We'd really thin out the crowd anyway
So I don't know
It's just not for us
Which is a shame
Because most of the kids
I don't know
It's just not for us
Which is a shame
Because we have these high ceilings
You know we could get
We could get you know
Little Corbin swinging in here
Like an angel you know
I mean we could really
Go to town with this platform
I'm not going to call it a stage
All right
Because this isn't a performance
Well it kind of is
But you know
We could really go to town
And have a pretty good play
And you know what
Maybe one year we will
Maybe someone will just say
Brother Corbin
I'm for it
I've been talking to the other parents
The kids are down
We really want to put on a Christmas play
You know and I'll run it by
You know the proper authorities
And if it's approved
Then you know what
I'll say have at it
You know
And have fun with that
And I'll sit back there
And I'll enjoy the show
You know
That's just not something we do here
Does that mean if some other church does that
That you know
They're out of order
You know
That we have to
Evict them from the new IFB or something
Because they did something
That other new IFB churches don't do
No
Of course not
It's just what they do
It's just a tradition that they have
It's not good
It's not bad
It's just something they enjoy doing
You know
That applies to churches
That applies to families
Individuals
All of that
Okay
So traditions always have to be taken
One by one
And considered
You know
What's the motive
Is it benign
What's the context
You know
Are they in violation of scripture
No
Let's go over to 1 Corinthians chapter number 7
1 Corinthians chapter number 7
You know
Some traditions
You know
Are only going to profit certain people
In certain circumstances
There's another example of this
Over in 1 Corinthians chapter number 7
And this is one I've actually seen people
Even today kind of latch onto
And try to kind of preach as something
That you know
We need to take
We need to
You know
Practice
When it comes to this idea of
You know
Of putting off marriage
You know
I've heard
Thankfully not a lot of it
But it is out there
I've heard it from time to time
By people who typically have tried to
Have kind of had this air of self-righteousness
Who have kind of been
You know
Considered kind of arrogant people
And have looked down on others
They've kind of
I've heard them preach
You know
1 Corinthians 7
In this way
Now if you look there in verse 25
He says
We'll back up to verse 24
Brethren let every man wherein
He is called there and abide with God
Now concerning virgins
I have no commandment
Now let me just emphasize that
I have no commandment
Meaning what he's about to say
Is his opinion
He's not saying
I have no commandment
Of the Lord
Yet I give my judgment
As one that hath obtained
Mercy of the Lord
To be faithful
He's saying
Look
This isn't
Black and white doctrine here
What I'm about to express to you
Is just my opinion
Okay
And he says in verse 26
I suppose therefore
That this is good
For the present distress I say
That is good for a man
So to be
Art thou bound unto a wife
Seek not to be loosed
Art thou loosed from a wife
Seek not a wife
And some
I've heard some of these
And I'm careful not to pick on
Young single guys
Okay
Because
Sometimes I've heard preaching
Where they just go out
They just want to paint
With a broad brush
And say every
Unwed single man
Is just somehow
Just you know
A liability
You know
And I have not found that
To be the case
Look there's exceptions
For every person
Regardless of their
Marital status
Or whether they're either
Going to be
A profit to somebody
Or a liability
And you know what
That's all I'm going to say
About that
Okay
But I have seen
And I'm careful to say this
I have seen
People just
Latch on to this
And then preach like
Well if you're not married
You should just not
Get married
We should all just
Be like Paul
Well the problem is that
If we did that
There wouldn't
You know
There wouldn't be
Any Christians left
We'd all get outbred
By the Muslims
Okay
The world would out breed us
With their 1.8 children
Alright
If we all adopted
That philosophy
You know
In a few generations
There'd be nobody to preach to
Alright
So it's kind of
Self-defeating
It's a very stupid
You know
Look
If it is good
For a man to be so
If thou art loose
From her wife
Seek not a wife
But you've got to
Get that into context
Verse 26
I suppose therefore
That it is good for
What
This present
Distress
And we
What's the present distress
That they're being
Persecuted back then
That there's
You know
Famine
There's just
Other things to consider
During
For the Corinthian people
At that time
For that present
Distress
Or a tradition
Or a custom
Or something that they need
To consider
In light of their current conditions
And is not something
That we need to lift out
Of scripture
And bring it into our present day
And try to apply it
To other people
And say well no
This is better
Or one's better
Than the other
You know
Because part of having
A family
Is that you have to be
Able to provide
For that family
And if you're in a church
Maybe back then
Where it's like
Real persecution
Where like
Dad could die
Or you know
It's potential
But you have to consider
And just say you know
In the current conditions
Raising and providing
For a family
Is just not feasible
You know
And look
There's a whole lot
We could just preach
Right out of that
When it comes to the idea
Of marriage
And providing for a family
And just practical considerations
When it comes to
Getting married
And raising a family
You know
That's a big money
Is a part of it
It should be a factor
Can you provide
I don't think you have
To be able to provide
For 10 children
You know
On the wedding day
You know
And then one more
And then hopefully
Another one
And then another one
And so on
And people usually prosper
In that time
But I'm preaching
A separate sermon now
The point is this
Is that there are traditions
That are applicable
For certain people
And certain circumstances
You know
There are certain things
We're seeing being taught
In scripture even
That we don't want to just
Lift and apply to everybody
As it said back there
In Second Thessalonians
I'll just read to you
There were things
They were taught by word
And traditions that were
Taught by our epistle
This would be one
That is taught by the epistle
I believe
You know
This epistle that we're reading
This is a tradition
That he taught
A custom that was taught
In scripture
Not necessarily something
We should hold as
You know
The commandments of God
You know
To not marry
Because the Bible
Very explicitly says
It is not good for man
To dwell alone
That man should be married
That's the ideal
These things that are
Instructed in the word of God
What's another example
Of a positive custom
Well
When Jesus
You know
Went into the synagogue
And as his custom was
On the Sabbath day
He stood up for to read
Right
That was a custom that he had
So we can't just step back
And say
All customs
All traditions
You know
Are bad
It's benign
They are neither
Good nor bad
It's
Unless
You know
We have to consider
What context they're in
What are they being used for
All of that
To determine
Whether or not
They merit
You know
Being
Practiced
Or forsaken
And there's just
A broader idea
Maybe this is something
You can kind of lift
Out of the sermon tonight
And apply more broadly
In your life
And it's something
That I've noticed
In my own life
And other Christians
Is that sometimes people
You know
In their zeal
Can start to live their life
And they want to live
Every aspect of their life
And every decision
That they make
They want chapter and verse
Every single thing
That they're going to do
Well what's chapter and verse
What's the Bible
And look
That's a noble thing
It's good
It's good to always
Consider our decisions
In light of the scripture
But here's the thing
Some decisions in life
There isn't
I can't turn you to chapter and verse
I can teach you principles
I can give you examples
From the word of God
That are recorded there
But you know
Not everything in life
Is just going to be
Black and white
Chapter and verse
And sometimes people
They want to make decisions
And they refuse to do it
Until they have chapter and verse
That's not a good way to live
And here's the thing
You know
What I would say to that
Is that
You know
When you have an instinct
You ever just feel with
Because you ever have to
I mean the Bible talks about in Romans
How the Gentiles
Who have not the law
Do the things which are written
Do that which is
According to the
I'm losing it
When they do those things
In the word of God
Those
Having not the law
Do the things contained in the law
These having not the law
Or a law unto themselves
Right
Meaning that they have the law of God
Written in their heart
Right
God has given even
The unsaved instincts
Right
People know
What's right and wrong
And a lot of times
When they come to the preacher
When they come to
You know
Some spiritual authority
In their life
And they're just kind of
They kind of put it
A question to them
What they're really hoping for
Is that they get the answer
That they want
They don't really want to hear
What they need to hear
They just want to hear
Oh yeah
Yeah go ahead
You know what
There is no chapter and verse on that
You got me
Go ahead
Make whatever decision
That's what they want
But what I've often heard them say
In their own words
And sometimes
Without them realizing it sometimes
Is that they know
What they're trying
What they're contemplating is wrong
Their gut tells them that
Their instinct
You know
God has given us
Instinct for a reason
You know
That we have
God-given instincts
To guide us as well
We have the law of God
Written in our heart
You know
That's kind of a broader concept
You know
That could reach out
Beyond the scope of this sermon
But I wanted to throw that in there
You know
We can't
We can't live our life
Chapter and verse
Is this tradition
Good or bad
You know
Well where is it
In the Bible
Where is it
In the Bible
Where is there
Flannel
Black and red flannel
Where is chapter and verse
On that
And look
I know there's people
That wore it here today
You're not the only ones
Alright
I got on Facebook today
And scrolled through
It's been a while
You know
Christmas
I'll scroll through Facebook
See how everybody's doing
A lot of black and red flannel
Out there folks
A lot of pajamas
Around the Christmas tree
Fireplaces
Where did that come from
No one in here
Even knows
They just do it
Right
Show me chapter and verse
Where it says
Black and red flannel
On Christmas
That's a
You know
And that sounds ridiculous
But
You know
And it is ridiculous
But you know
I'm just using an example
Sometimes that's how people
Live their life
Or they'll look at other people
Things that other people
Are doing
So show me in the Bible
Where you're allowed to do that
And who says you can get away
With that
Well you know
It's not
It's not in the Bible
But my gut isn't telling me
It's wrong
I don't have chapter and verse
Telling me not to either
You know
And people use things
As a
And it makes them
Hypocrite
Okay
And look
I'm not against anybody
Wearing black and red flannel
I like it
You know
I might get some
Myself
I might
In fact next year
I might have a new Christmas suit
And it'll be black and
Oh see
You're sporting it
You got it
Several of you
I don't know
You know
We were wearing it this morning
And then apparently
Something happened
Right
You still got it on
Alright
Okay
So I'm not against it
I'm for you too
I'm not against you
Not wearing the black and red flannel
On Christmas
No one says you have to
You wear whatever you want
Within reason
Okay
Why do people do things like that?
Why do people just have traditions?
You know
Sometimes we can just do things in life
Go over to Ecclesiastes chapter 2
You know
Sometimes it's
Let me just come out from behind the pulpit
And just say this
It's okay to enjoy life
You know
You can actually enjoy your life
You know
You can actually
Even as a Christian
You can smile
And be happy
And be glad
And do things that bring you pleasure
And I don't want to be one of these Christians
That just thinks that the Christian life
Has to be this austere
Just life that's void of any you know
Pleasure or happiness
You know
That's out there
That kind of thing
That kind of mentality
That kind of thinking is out there
You know
These people that want to go live
In monasteries
And things like that
In the name of Christ
And they just want to
You know
I mean good night
They do it here
Down at this church
Uh
San Xavier
I've heard about this
Where they have people that literally crawl
Through broken glass
Am I way off
Out at lunch here?
Maybe it was at San Xavier
But I know somebody whose Catholic mother did that
On some holy day Catholic church
You know
They went and they literally crawled through
Broken glass
Well I mean
Over in the Philippines
Where they're like literally whipping themselves
And crucifying themselves
You know
And look
People
We might not go to that length
But sometimes people I think
Just cut themselves off from things
In life that would actually bring them joy
And pleasure
Just because it's like some badge of self-righteousness
Well I just
I refuse to have any fun
Just because I'm just so holy
And then what they start to do
Is they look at other people and say
Oh well that person's
You know
They must not be that serious about God
Because you know
They enjoy these other things
That aren't chapter and verse in the Bible
Well you know
Excuse us
Holier than thou
You know
Teach us
You know how to live
A righteous and godly life
And never
Never crack a smile
I'm like
I've been around preachers like this
In the past
Where they've literally
Got to say things like
I have the ministry of correction
And it's just like
These type of guys
They could tell you what's wrong with the sunset
They'd say
Don't look at that rainbow
Don't you look at that beautiful sunset
You know
They just criticize everything
They just find a problem
They just find a problem with everything
And it's
That's a hard way to live
And I have no interest in living my life like that
You know
There are things that I want to enjoy
And the Bible
In fact I do have some
Some scripture on this
That says it's okay
To just enjoy life
To enjoy the work of your own hands
To enjoy the fruits of your labors
That God
You know
As in Acts
You know
Paul told them
That God
You know
Has sent us rains from heaven
Giving us what?
Fruitful seasons
Filling our hearts with joy
Foods to eat
God gives us things to enjoy on this earth
Okay
So let me just lighten the mood a little bit here
Let's go to Ecclesiastes chapter number 2 and verse 22
Right
It says there in verse 22
Uh
For what uh
What hath man of all his labor and the vexation of his heart
Where it hath he labored unto the sun?
Look life's hard enough as it is folks
We don't need other people coming along and saying
Well you can't have
That looks like you're having too much fun
You can't do that
You shouldn't do that
And this is something that I've noticed
You know
And I try not to rag on them too much
Because there's a lot of good things that I learned there
But it's something I could never really put my finger on in the old IFB
But the more I've been around the more I'm seeing it
It's just they're very good at being very
Clean cut
And just upright
And just
They're just so holy
And at the same time they're just so cold
They're just so holy and righteous
And sometimes it just comes across as cold
Where it's just like no fun
Anything you do that's not you know ordained by the Baptist Church is just off limits
And it just comes across as cold
And you know what
It's just it's laying a burden upon people
And sometimes you know that's why I care
I don't want to get up and just preach against everything that people do
Because maybe that's thing that somebody enjoys
You can't call it a sin
You know but maybe that's something that they find enjoyment in
Like what
Here's one
Okay for an example I know I'm being kind of vague
Playing cards
Playing with the devil's tickets to hell
Oh you laugh but I've heard that
Oh you like playing cribbage with your husband
On Saturday nights
In the comfort of your kitchen
You sinner
Don't you know the Joker in that deck of cards
Is a picture of Satan himself
That's what he was doing at the casino
You know some lady who's just trying to have fellowship with her unsaved husband
You're just going whoop
Now go have fun
I don't want to be like that
If people have things they enjoy if it's not sinful
Let them enjoy it
And I'll tell you this right now
When my mother-in-law comes to town
God bless her we play cribbage
And I'm not ashamed
In fact there's four decks of poker cards in that AV room
And we have game night
You know we break out the dice around here
Ahh
But you know what there would be people that would call me on the carpet over that kind of thing
How could you have dice in the house of God
Well you know if I catch you guys out back
You know shooting craps and throwing down bills
Then we'll have something to say about it ok
But if we're just going to play a harmless game and have a few laughs
If we're just going to play some stupid you know
P-knuckle or whatever game you play with the deck of cards
Who cares
Let people have some fun
And quit being so overly righteous over everything
And just coming down on people and taking away things that they just are trying to enjoy their life
Because life's hard enough
Without us adding more to it
Is that what he's saying here
What hath man of all his labor in his vexation of his heart
Where in he hath labored under the sun
What's he saying you know what's the point of all of it
Why work so hard
You know sometimes you just feel like all I am is a social security number for the IRS
To just tax
You know why why bother
For all his days are sorrow
And his travail grief
Yea his heart taketh not rest in the night
This is also vanity
I mean sometimes life can just seem pointless
It's just work until the day you die
Look at verse 24
There's nothing better for a man
Than that he should eat and drink
And that he should make his soul and joy good in his labor
Oh well that's just that's just Solomon saying that
No he said this also I saw that it was from the hand of God
He's saying a man working and enjoying eating and drinking and enjoying the fruit of his labor is from the hand of God
You know people should just be allowed to enjoy their life
And if people have traditions or customs or things that they enjoy doing
Unless unless it's blatantly sin who are we to call it out and say you shouldn't do that
You know let me just take a little bit more of your phone away
Let me just you know put the screws to you a little bit more
Life's hard enough
Go to Ecclesiastes chapter number five
This is kind of an occurring thing
I mean I will point out the fact that he calls it vanity
It's all vanity
All is vanity
It's all meaningless
Right
Even the even the the grief and sorrow
Vanity all the things we're gonna enjoy
Vanity it's all vanity
Okay
The only thing that matters is the work that we do for Christ
It's the only thing that's going to last
Ecclesiastes chapter five if you look at verse 18
Behold that which I have seen
It is good and comely for one to eat and to drink and to enjoy the good of all his labor
You know maybe I'm preaching this because I have an overabundance of tamales right now
I've just I've come into a plethora of tamales
So I'm trying to convince myself that it's okay for me to spend this rest of this week
Having tamales for breakfast and having tamales for lunch and having tamales for dinner
Having tamales with eggs having tamales with sour cream and just tamales tamales tamales
I'm getting some head nods so you know what I'm gonna have some tamales this week
You know and if someone wants to go oh you're such a glutton
You know what well I'll go back to my tuna and sauerkraut at the beginning of the year
But can you just let me have some tamales for one week
I don't want them to go bad
Let's just give them all away
Or just let everybody else enjoy the tamales
No I want some
Okay
And I'm gonna have them
You know someone got me a bowl of popcorn
Oh I mean a tin
You say oh it's a tin
To me I look at it and say that's a bowl of popcorn
Meaning I'm gonna eat that in one sitting
I'm just kidding
I graze at the popcorn until I get to that point
Anyway
I should have eaten before I came here
Behold that which I have seen
It is good and comely for one to eat and drink
Verse 18
And to enjoy the good of all his labor
That he undertaketh the sun all the days of his life
Which God giveth him
For it is his portion
You know God has just given us things to enjoy this life
And look if we have traditions and customs
That we do seasonally throughout the year whatever
And it's things that bring us joy
So be it
As long as they're not sinful
Go ahead
That's what I say
Enjoy those things
Look at verse 20
For he shall not much remember the days of his life
Because God answereth him in the joy of his heart
Look ultimately it's all gonna
You know turn to dust anyway
It's all gonna burn
And look we could go to chapter after chapter
We could go to chapter 12
We could look at that
But you know you get the point
I gotta move on here
I wanna look at another example
And this is Uzziah
If you would go back to 2 Chronicles chapter number 26
And I think Uzziah serves as a good example of somebody
That was permitted to enjoy things in his life
But then ended up at the end of his life
Crossing a line
Where he went beyond the commandment of God
God prospered him
God blessed him
God even allowed him to enjoy things
Even as a leader in his life
But then later he crossed that line
So you know that's kind of a lesson to us
You know we wanna
We don't have to live our lives chapter and verse
But we still wanna respect chapter and verse
And look if we're into a tradition
If we do have something
That we enjoy and it's pointed out
Black and white in the scripture that this is sinful
Then yeah it's gotta go
It's gotta go
But otherwise you know it's fine
If it's just something we
It doesn't even have to be something that is necessarily
You know
Spiritual
Dare I say
Maybe it's some carnal thing that's not sinful
We just enjoy it just because it makes us happy
Because it releases endorphins
Or it just puts a smile on our face
I say enjoy that
You know I say that's the lot you have in life
Life's hard enough
Let's look at the example of Uzziah here
If you look at 2 Chronicles chapter number 26
Let's just look at verse 1
It says then all the people of Judah took Uzziah
Who was 16 years old
And made him king in the room of his father
Amaziah
He'll be Eloth
Well let's just jump ahead
For the sake of time
But look at verse 5
And he sought God in the days of Zechariah
Who had understanding in the visions of God
And as long as he sought the Lord
God made him to prosper
So he starts out great you know
He's starting out in his reign
And he's seeking the Lord and God is making him to prosper
Verse 6
And he went forth and he warred
Against the Philistines and break down the wall of Gath
And the wall of Japheth
And the wall of Ashdod
And built the cities of Ashdod among the Philistines
So he's out there doing his kingly duties
He's going out, he's fighting the wars
He's pushing back the enemies of God
Verse 7
So he's becoming strong
He's prospering, he's becoming famous
The heathen are respecting him
God is blessing him
And he says in verse 9
And he built towers in the desert
And dig many wells
For he had much cattle both in the low country
And in the plains
Husbandmen also and vine dressers
In the mountains and in Carmel
So he's going out and he's
Performing his kingly duties
He's doing what he's supposed to do and God is blessing him for it
And he's strengthening him
But notice that last part there
Where he has the husbandmen
Which are people that are into horses, husbandry
And vine dressers in the mountains
In Carmel and that tells you why
For he loved husbandry
This is something that he's into
He's prospering, he's strengthening himself
And there's this thing that he enjoys in husbandry
That he allows himself to enjoy that
And I think that's something that's
Important for us to understand
That it's okay to have things that you do just because you enjoy them
You know
And it's something that I've kind of had to convince myself of
Because
Honestly I don't want to be somebody that burns out in the ministry
Because I just never allow myself
To enjoy anything that's not church related
Okay
Look I love the church, I love working for the church
It's a privilege to get up here and preach the word of God
But you know
Forgive me if this just sounds super
Unspiritual, sometimes you just need a break
From church life
Sometimes you just need to be a normal person
You know maybe I experience that a little bit more
Because every time I get around
Somebody I'm the deacon and again
I'm glad to be that
But you know what I've found is that it's very stressful
To always try to just be the deacon
24-7
And sometimes it's nice to just what you know like have a hobby
You know and maybe this is something you can work into
Your own life
Maybe the reason why you're not
Fulfilled in life is because
You don't have things that you enjoy
It's just work, work, work, work, work, work, work
Church, church, church, church, church
And look I'm all for working
I mean Isaiah here is out doing
The job he's supposed to do God's blessing
And we strengthen him but you know what
He was allowed to have this thing on the side that he enjoyed
It was a part of his life
Obviously it was not the whole
You know that's why when I'm driving
By here the other day that little
You know makeshift swap meet that meets up down there
Right at Sentinel peak
I'm done calling it A mountain folks
I'm bringing back Sentinel peak
I'm done giving that university of abomination
Any credit from this pulpit
It's Sentinel peak okay
Not A mountain
I'm going off but you know when they had that little swap meet
There that meets up anyone that's driven by there on a Saturday
Or a Sunday has probably seen that
I've been wanting to pull off and go just walk
Around and see what they're selling see what junk
I can find and I found
An old couple old bracing bits
Which is that old time you know the old
Screwdrivers the old hand drills
I've been wanting one of those for so long
Because I've got a book of like
Just simple woodworking projects that I've
Been wanting to do for a long time
But you're the deacon you shouldn't be doing
Anything like that you should be reading your Bible
Every minute of every day
And you should be writing sermons
Every minute of the day and you should be sowing it
It's like well wait a minute can't I just have something
On the side that's just that I do that I enjoy
Well of course
There's nothing wrong with that there's nothing wrong with any of you
Doing that if there's some activity
That you want to do you know
Go do it enjoy it and I know there's
Plenty of people here that they don't need to be told
That I'm probably preaching this more for myself
Than anybody or you know
Excusing any myself from anyone that would
Take issue with me having a hobby
But you know he's enjoying his life here
You know and I'm just
I'm determined
In my heart that I'm not gonna just
Dismiss things that I'm passionate about in life
Just because I'm so
Holy or something or because that's just what's expected
Of me because of somebody else's
Tradition right some other preacher
Says well you just shouldn't do things you shouldn't have
Hobbies you shouldn't do things
Because you know you just should never have time for that stuff
You know what you need to make time for yourself
We all need to do that or you'll burn out
Okay and this is important
And you know I'm trying to counter some
To be honest I'm trying to counter some of the preaching I've done in the past
Because I feel like I've preached
Things in the past that I don't even agree with
Anymore about this hyper productivity
Type of mentality that's out there
Where it's just get up late
Or get up early stay up late and just
Go go go go
That's a sure fire way to just crash and burn in life
You know so I'm trying to kind of counter
Some of that preaching right now
And say hey look it's okay sometimes
Go ahead and let yourself have a day off
And find something you're passionate about
That isn't even spiritual
Okay
Now we have to be careful
Because like in the story here and I'll move along quickly
With Isaiah you know he had this thing that he enjoyed
But then he kind of got lifted up
Right and he crosses a line
Towards the end there if you remember we read about him
Earlier this week
On Thursday when he was the king that was
Smoked with leprosy at the beginning of
2 Kings 15
It says in verse 16
But when he was strong his heart was
Lifted up to his destruction
So he's got this liberty
You know he's made room for himself
You know he's freed up the land
He's even got Mount Carmel back
And he can go ahead and have his hobby out there
His hobby horse you know literally
But you know when he's strong his heart is
Lifted up to destruction for he transgressed
Against the Lord of his God
And he went into the temple of the Lord to burn incense
Upon the altar of incense
And Azariah the priest went in after him
And with him four score priests to the Lord
That were valiant men and they withstood
Uzziah the king and said unto him
And appertainingeth not unto thee Uzziah
To burn incense unto the Lord but to the priest
The sons of Aaron and they
Are consecrated to burn incense
Go out of the sanctuary for thou hast trespassed
Neither shall it be for thine honor from the Lord God
You know what he should have done right there and said
Right I'm sorry
You know he's just feeling kind of fat and sassy
In life and just decides well
You know I've got these other things that God's allowed me to enjoy
Now I'm just going to take other things upon me
That aren't mine to take on
You know he's taking on these priestly duties
Maybe because he just liked the smell of incense
I don't know what possessed this man
To go and do this
But he crossed a boundary with God
Now he's gone from enjoying something in life
To violating scripture
Okay there's a line there
I want to make sure we know where that line is
And he should have when he got called out on it
Just said you're right
But that's not what he did
Verse 19
Then Uzziah was wroth and had a censer in his hand to burn incense
And while he was wroth with the priests
And he's angry with them he's lashing out
He was leprous in his forehead
And they thrust him out thence
Yea himself hasted also to go out
Because the Lord had smitten him
I mean they literally just as he's just like
You know cussing these priests out
And his leprosy just starts to spread
And it's interesting that it starts there
In his head
You know because it reminds me of Romans 12
Where Paul admonished the people not to
Think more highly of themselves
Than they ought to think
You know and that all takes place up here
I kind of thought of that when I was reading the story
He's thinking more highly of himself
Well I can go and burn incense
And God smites him for the pride of his mind
And that's where that leprosy starts
You know and our pride
And ourselves and our actions
Can become a leprosy to us
And they can get us run out even out of the house of God
So I thought that was a good story
To kind of tie in here
You know Uzziah was somebody
That did well, did his duties
He was allowed to enjoy life
He was allowed to pursue his passions
But it was his pride
It was him crossing that boundary
That was his undoing
It wasn't the fact that he had his hobby horse
That wasn't his undoing it was his pride
Most traditions that people have
Are benign
Meaning they're not harmful
In fact they're even favorable
And I was just thinking what are some traditions
That people have
Because this is something I've been thinking about lately
Because when you get older
You understand the saying
You can't go home again
Who's ever heard that saying, you can't go home again
What they mean by that is that
What you experienced in your childhood
Growing up, that's a one time thing
When you become an adult
Families grow apart
People leave and things like that
You can't really relive that
And sometimes people find themselves
Longing for that
That's something I've gone through
I remember growing up and going to the family Christmases
Aunts, uncles
We all had the family Christmas
And the traditions that we had with my mother
That's all kind of gone
And it's kind of left me floundering
Around this time of year wondering
Just kind of longing for that
Trying to recreate it sometimes
Even to the point where I've gone out and bought oysters
To make mom's traditional oyster stew
Well it turns out
That's harder than it looks
We just ended up eating the oysters
Right out of the half shell
Which was a pretty good tradition in and of itself
It's not what I'm going back to
But I was just telling my wife
I think we're just at a point in life where
We just have to start making our own traditions
We just have to start doing things for ourselves
And forging a new path
So I've kind of thought
What are some traditions that we have
Well if you've already heard
I've latched on to a local
Tradition here in Tucson in the eating of the tamales
That's something
They're selling them out of people's houses
People are bringing them to me
As gifts
Every Christmas now I'm getting tamales
Okay that's a tradition I'm going to run with
And then there's the tradition of putting the green olive
In every tamale
And people, you know, we were joking around
Last night, well who started that tradition
You know that's how tradition starts, someone just does something
And then everyone goes, oh there's a green olive
I'm going to put green olives in mine
And then just for generations they're putting green olives in the tamales
And I thought, you know, how did they get the green tamale
Or the green olive in the tamale
You know, it might not even have been on purpose
It was probably some old
You know, Mexican grandmother
Who didn't even have teeth
You know that's why she makes the shredded beef
And she gets the corn mash
Whatever you call it, and they're easier to eat
And she's making the thing
And then she's just popping green olives in her mouth
And maybe one bounced off the lip
And fell into the pot
And she went hmm
And just ate another one and someone ate it
And then she noticed at the dinner how everybody liked it
And she stroked that one long whisker she had coming out of the bottom of her chin
And said hmm, green tamales
So next year she puts them in
And that's how the tradition started
Grandma missed her mouth with the green olive
And now we're all eating green olives in our tamales
Right?
I don't know, that just seemed like a good story
Woke you up anyway
So that's what I've taken on
And if that just grosses you out
To where you can't eat the tamales anymore
Just bring them to me
I don't have a problem with that story
Now you know why I told that story
What about pulling off the side of the road when they're selling oranges
And just getting a big bag of oranges around Christmas
I already talked about the popcorn tins
You know
Things we do with the church family
The stuff we do here at the church
Things like that
I've even started a recent tradition
Of trying to warm up
Before I preach
On the way here
Of trying to say things that
Not only kind of help me with my enunciation
But also kind of put a smile on my face
And so I'll say things like
The balding bear barely had any hair
One could faintly find his fine fur
Right?
You know, people say that to kind of warm up, right?
They say things like that to kind of
Say certain syllables and things like that
To help them enunciate better
The fanciful fish flopped in the dog's dish
Making his final wish
No? Never heard that one?
Of course you haven't because I made it up on the way over here
So
My daughter dared that I couldn't
I wouldn't say those things about myself
This whole sermon is just
Pause
This whole sermon has just been
One long ploy for me to say
Those phrases
That's closing a word of prayer
But you know, there's things we do
You know, we just do things
Because we enjoy them
We just start new traditions
Maybe you're not going to start saying tongue twisters
Like I am on the way to church
But you know, maybe
You might be going through some things
That we kind of all experience
Around this time of year
You know, there's a relationship we don't have anymore
There's an old tradition
That has gone by the wayside
We could sit there and lament that
Or we could just seize the opportunity that we have
To create new traditions
With those that are around us
And kind of relieve that homesickness
So let me just close by saying this
Traditions are things that are
Fine to be held to
You know, if they're godly
Even if they're not godly
As long as they're not ungodly
I was going to have you go to Jeremiah 36
But we're not going to
And talk about Jehonadab
If you remember, Jehonadab was the one
That commanded his sons to dwell
In tents and to not drink wine
Remember that story?
And Jeremiah ends up
Bringing him in before the man of God
And the other prophets
And uses them as an example
To the nation of Israel
And they say, why don't you drink wine?
Remember he sets the water pots of wine in front of them
And they say, we're not going to do that
For our father Jehonadab
Commanded us not to drink of the wine
There was a whole litany of things
I'd have to turn there, but that was the main thing
They're saying, we don't do these certain things
Because that's what dad told us
And if you remember who Jehonadab was
He's the guy that
Jehu took up into
His chariot, remember that?
He said, come with me and see my zeal for the Lord
That was Jehonadab, the guy that commanded
His sons to not do these things
And what was it that Jehu
Said to Jehonadab? Come and see
My zeal for the Lord
And truly, Jehu was
A zealous person, wasn't he?
They went to Samaria
And destroyed the whole rest of the house of Ahab
So we know he was zealous
But isn't it interesting
That Jehu, his lineage
Only lasted for four generations
We just read about it this last week
Where his lineage came to an end
He said, you'll sit on the throne
When you get to Jeremiah 36
Jehonadab's children
It says of them that there will never be
There will always be a man to stand before me
At the end of Jeremiah 36
I'm just paraphrasing because I'm trying to close the sermon
So what is it
In the long haul that really preserved
The generations to come
Was it just some temporary
Just zealous fervor
That really made an impact
On generations, or was it a godly
Tradition
And the obeying of it
That lasted for generations
That really brought the blessing
Well, we would say Jehonadab
The things that he commanded
The things that he instituted in his family
Maybe they weren't right for everybody
But they were godly, they were good
And they led to later blessings
It was something that led to
His descendants being blessed
For many generations
His zeal outlasted Jehu's
Through, not through
So tradition, customs
These can be very powerful things
These things that we can use to our advantage
I think it's good for us
As families and as churches
To have traditions that are unique to us
And things that will be
Endeared to us and to
Future generations
Use that as a leverage
To keep the things of God in front of people
If you're following me
I know I'm kind of rushing because I'm trying to wrap this up
Traditions have to be considered
In the light of scripture
Don't be one of these people that runs
To extremes
They feign
Their holiness because they
Don't have any fun
They don't allow themselves to do anything
Everything everybody else does is wicked
But don't also run to the extreme
Of, well, everything's
On the table, we can do anything we want
All things are lawful
But not everything edifies
You want to know what traditions
Are good? Ask yourself a few questions
Do they bring you joy?
Are the things, the traditions that you're doing
Maybe you're kind of going through a down season
Saying it just doesn't feel very
Like a joyful Christmas
Maybe it's time to think of some things
That will bring some joy to your life
Some traditions that will make you happy
I highly recommend tamales
If you haven't caught on to that yet
But maybe there's something else
Does that tradition bring you joy?
Then what's the harm in it?
Does it draw you closer to God?
Does it turn your heart to the Lord?
Well, chapter and verse or not
It's a good tradition in my book
If it's something that brings you joy
If it's something that draws you closer to God
Then why forsake it?
Why not hold to that tradition?
Let's go ahead and close in a word of prayer
Lord, again, thank you for the liberty
That we have in Christ
As church, as individuals
Lord, thank you for the blood
That bought it for us
Lord, thank you for the many traditions
You have given us in your word
The doctrines that we have
The things that we know we ought to do
And the things we ought not to do
Lord, help us to always be observing those things
And living our lives according to them
And Lord, thank you for allowing us
Lord, to enjoy this life
That we can do things that bring us joy
That we can do things that bring us closer to you
I pray you'd help us to do that
This holiday season, Lord
And in the year to come
Alright, we'll sing one more song before we dismiss tonight
Oh, tell it on the mountain
Over the hills and everywhere
Oh, tell it on the mountain
That Jesus Christ is born
Now shepherds in their washing
For silent hearts by night
Keep me over the good days
There shall no hope behind
Oh, tell it on the mountain
Over the hills and everywhere
Oh, tell it on the mountain
Over the hills and everywhere
Oh, tell it on the mountain
That Jesus Christ is born
There in all the holy nature
There humble Christ was born
May the spirit of salvation
That blessed Christmas
O Lord
Oh, tell it on the mountain
Over the hills and everywhere
Oh, tell it on the mountain
That Jesus Christ is born
Merry Christmas