I bring you
greetings from the great State of Minnesota. I am very bad at taking vacations
and time away from my work. I love my job and I love the privilege of serving
the saints at the Pearland Church of Christ, but from time to time a vacation
is needed. I spent a week in Minnesota visiting my wife’s family and
encouraging the brethren at the Roseville Church of Christ. I considered doing
some writing while on my trip but I decided that I should take full advantage
of my time away. After a restful visit I am back in the saddle here at Pearland
and ready to continue my reflections on the seven woes found in Matthew 23.
Matthew 23:15
15 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and
Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single
convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as
you are.
To understand
this particular woe some background must be given. The Jewish people (sometimes
referred to as the “Children of Israel) were God’s chosen people and there were
two ways that one could become part of this chosen nation. The first, and
simplest way was to be born into a Jewish family. The second way was to convert
to Judaism as a convert or proselyte. The Pharisees and the teachers of the law
took great pride when a Gentile would choose to convert to Judaism and the
Jewish way of life. The woe that Jesus is talking about here is that after
these people were converted the Pharisees and teachers of the law didn’t feed
them the way they should spiritually. Rather the Pharisees and teachers of the
law chose to give them a steady diet of legalism and manmade tradition. This is
still an easy trap for us to fall into as Christians.
There is no
greater joy than when a person gives their life to Christ in baptism. Before I
left on my trip I was blessed to witness one of my teenagers, whom I have been
working with for the past four years, to become a Christian. This young man
made this decision with the full confidence and assurance that he was living a
life that separated him from God and that the only way to live eternally was to
give his life to Jesus Christ. I received the call to come up to the building
to witness this blessed event and to say that I was joyful would have been an
understatement. As overjoyed as I am that this young man is now a Christian I
am also fearful that his young faith could be damaged by the same kinds of
legalism and manmade traditions that hindered those Jewish converts of old.
We must guard
our personal lives as Christians against legalism and manmade traditions as
well the life of our individual congregations. When faced with a question about
life or about how to move forward we must hold our decisions up to the standard
of scripture. The old phrase “that’s the way we’ve always done it” is not a
sufficient answer for important decisions in the life of a Christian or for the
Lord’s Church. Let’s be careful and hold one another accountable to measure our
lives against Word of God and not to manmade traditions.
Questions For Thought
1. What manmade traditions
do you see in your life?
2. How can we
make sure that we are training new converts in the Word of God and not
legalism?
3. How are you
going to be consistent in being free from legalism?
Be Strong and
Courageous,
Paul
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