I want to end this year with a little something to provoke your thinking about what makes you believe what you believe. All belief is based on some form of authenticity, a respected authority that has mastered or perfected the foundations that define how and what you can trust and therefore believe.
The Bible teaches that all authority originally comes from God, and He gives it to whom he chooses. Even the power of earthly governments, including the local police force, and taxing authority comes from God... as clarified for us in Romans chapter 13.
Jesus said... "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” (Matthew 28:18) All followers of Christ have been given authority by His command to assist Him in global evangelism Matthew 28:19-20). But Jesus has ultimate and complete authority, such as no other, save God the Father who granted Christ the Savior His authority. He has authority to forgive sins and to speak words of reconciliation and peace. He has authority over the powers of heaven and hell themselves. Jesus has granted His followers certain privileges and responsibilities by virtue of His authority. For example, if you call yourself a “Christian” you are declaring yourself to be one of his servants here on earth. When you speak for Jesus, under his authority and using his authority, you speak on behalf of the King. You are a mouthpiece of the King of All Things and reality itself has no choice except to bend to what you command. Kind of scary isn’t it... and certainly an awesome responsibility as one of His followers.
It’s human nature to be influenced by others. Everyone follows someone. All things, whatever they are... are led by someone – you cannot escape being influenced by another person. Everyone leads. And everyone follows. Each one of us influences the behavior, thoughts, opinions and ideas of the people around us to some degree.
For me... I believe Jesus is the only true authority on all things heavenly and earthly, and is therefore the most rational choice of someone to follow, but maybe that’s just me.
Here’s the thorny question for you to consider... Who will you follow, and as you lead, what source of authority will you use to authenticate what you are hearing, what you're teaching and being taught?
Have you ever thought about the question the religious leaders ask Jesus after he cleansed the Temple? They don't ask... "What in the world are you doing?" They don't demand... "Who is going to pay for this mess?" They simply ask... "By what authority are you doing these things? And who gave you authority to do this?"
That may seem like a strange question, but in fact, it was a very good one. For when you're clearing out God’s Temple, or eating with tax collectors and sinners, or teaching people something new and revolutionary about God... you had better have an authority that is higher than yourself, something that shows you have a right to do what you are doing.
That same question is just as good today as it was in the days of Jesus. For many in our society, religion has become a matter of personal preference rather than a matter of God's revelation. Everybody does his own thing. If you go to fifty different churches, you'll find fifty different versions of how we ought to worship or what we ought to believe or even how to become a Christian! But that doesn't really bother us any more, because we've bought that piece of nonsense that says... "What you believe isn't nearly as important as that you believe." That idea is quite simply... Satanic nonsense!
But if it does bother you that there are so many different versions of Christianity out there, you'll find yourself confronting some people and asking age old questions, "By what authority are you doing these things? By what authority do you believe what you believe and teach what you teach? Is everything just a matter of opinion or is there some standard against which every church and every Christian should be judged?”
When it comes to religion, we'd better have an authority that is higher than ourselves, something that shows we have a right to do what we are doing.
When you ask this "authority" question, most religious people will tell you the Bible is their standard. All churches give some degree of authority to the Bible. The issue is not whether churches try to follow the teachings of the Bible; it is whether they follow the teachings of the Bible alone. Is Scripture the church's sole authority or does it take Scripture plus something else to explain why they do what they do?
For many, probably most in the religious world today, it does take something much more than Scripture to explain their beliefs and practices. There are a host of things done in the name of God which God has not requested or commanded.
The Scriptures teach nothing about many things which are commonly accepted and taught in churches every week. And if you ask these churches, "By what authority are you doing these things?" they are forced to admit that such practices have nothing to do with Scripture and everything to do with tradition.
Tradition has become as important as Scripture to many religious groups in determining their beliefs and practices. And if you ask the members of those churches about this, they can only say, "That's the way we've always done things" or "I was raised to believe this way."
There was a group in New Testament times which was as fond of tradition as many church denominations are today. They were the Pharisees, the leaders of the Jewish religion and religious practices God had designed and recorded in Scripture for them to follow and practice. They explained their beliefs and practices by appealing to Scripture and then added their coveted traditions to amplify what it Scripture must have really been saying.
Jesus did not agree with them on anything they taught, not one thing. The Lord gives us his thinking about tradition and its place in religion in His confrontations with the self-righteous Pharisees. . It’s not complex thought... it’s easy to understand. I encourage you to re-read the accounts as recorded in Matthew chapter 15 and Mark chapter 7.
Scripture is Divine, Tradition is Not. Scripture is Binding, Tradition is Not. Scripture is always, always the Standard, Tradition is Not. Scripture comes from God. Anything in addition to that which comes from God... comes from men. Seems more than clear... you cannot put traditions on an equal footing with Scripture. They originate from two very different sources – one prefect and divine and one from prideful imperfect men who’s thoughts are imperfect and always flawed. While we outwardly declare that we are shocked and appalled at the Pharisees love of tradition, we ourselves cling to our traditions every bit as much as they did.
“What do you believe” is probably the most important question you can ponder if you claim to be a follower of Christ trying to follow Him as He approves, while confused by countless denominations.
Ponder these warnings gleaned from the Pharisees...
What begin as men's ideas slowly take on the authority of God's ideas. Though they are not Scripture, they become equivalent. The Pharisees did not distinguish between Scripture and their traditions. They believed tradition to be as inspired and binding as God’s revelation. Because they are man’s ideas, we find ourselves preferring them to the commands of God. Eventually, we become so zealous to keep our notions of religion defined by man-made traditions, we actually nullify what God says about religion.
We all need to constantly ask ourselves, “What do we believe”... “By what authority?”
Maybe you need to declare 2011 a year in search of truth... God’s Truth. Make the new year a personal quest to seek the truth of God’s Word as He has clearly and plainly revealed it to us in Scripture.
Seek. Search. Don't accept the answers grounded in the traditions of man. Accept only the real thing... God's Holy Word - Scripture. Your honest-hearted quest will be successful and will restore your faith, your hope and your zeal for serving the Lord in Spirit and Truth.
