“It is wtitten in the prophets, And they shall all be taught of God…”  (John 6:45)

“All Scripture is given by inspiration of God…” (2 Timothy 3:16)

“For laying aside the commandments of God,ye hold the traditions of men…”  (Mark  7:8)

“Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the  after the traditions of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.”                                                                                                                                     (Colossians 2:8)

“Ye have heard it said….But I say unto you…”  (Christ from the Sermon from His mount)

 

We have been around long enough to have heard it all or at least most of it. We have heard the preachers that speak more of, “I, I, I than of Him, Him, Him, or of He, He, He.” This is a trap many ministers fall in. They begin to speak of all that they have done, seen, been through and have expeienced more than they speak of Christ or of Paul or of the persons God has chosen to be our examples by their experiences. I am fully aware that the disciples would return to Christ and tell of their adventures and exploits but He even told them not to rejoice over their exploits but to rejoice that they are written in the Book of Life. Paul would report to church’s of what God has done and is doing through him, when ever he spoke of himself, he confessed to doing something foolishly. Missionaries often report back to their supporting churches but if they be in the right spirit they speak of what God is doing with them or through them. The wise servant gives all glory unto God. The Scriptures tell us to “remember Lot’s wife” and we should. I encourage you to remember Herod, as well. Herod accepted the people praise and God killed him in a rather tortuous manner.

Not only have I heard ministers preaching self, I have heard all too often of, “Well, that’s not what we were taught.” This often comes up when a new pastor steps into an already established church or when a visiting speaker preaches at a church, or when a child’s minister teaches something that parents have not heard before. I am in full agreement with searching the Scripture and questioning the minister, but the searching of the Scriptures should come first.

There was a person that was more or less Biblically illiterate and questioned a minister of over (40) forty years about his beliefs on baptism and the after this minster explained what Scripture states, this person replied, “Well, that’s not what I’ve been taught.” We remember when a “baptism is necessary for salvation” person stormed away, after doing a kip up from a chair. He had just been shown from Scripture that a person is a child of God before “believer’s baptism” is submitted to.
[Sidenote: if you are wondering this minister’s stand on baptism I will give it here. Do we believe baptism is necessary for salvation? No and yes…Baptism is not necessary for a person to be saved from their sins, but for that person to be right with God after having been saved, they must submit to his will and be baptized. Babtism is an “outward sign of an inward work of God’s grace,” it is also a sign of submission to your Lord’s will.]

This stand of “This is not what I’ve been taught”  can be a sign of one’s desire to be true to Scripture, or it can be a sign of pride and of a rebellious spirit, or of a contentious spirit.

They way to “try the spirits” is to determine or to deduce from where the “taught” person is comeing from. Is the taught person using Scripture to inquire of the minister? or is this person confronting the minister with the “traditions of men?” Normally, these challenges are on secondary issues, like the type of baptism, thoughts on church membership, day of the week to worship, choice of music types, and not on the major doctrines of Scripture or they could, however, be a challenge upon what is thought to be “secondary,” like election, sanctification, holiness, evolution v Creation, the virgin birth, and the like.

The (3rd) third title, “The Lion, The Church, And The Traditions Of Men” asks the very important question of, Who or what is your Spiritual Authority? I used the word Lion in the title because their is a quote that states, The Bible is like a Lion, it needs not be defended.” I used the word Church because many see the church as their authority, like Catholicism and any other denomination or individual person that subscribes to, supports, or subjects themselves to the tradition of men over the clear teaching of Scripture.

Traditions of men, in Scripture, would apply to, “It has been said…” and in our day, the subject of; what is modest apparel, the choice of how one entertains one’s self, the type of music one listens to, what one ingests, how one wears their hair, or how one adorns themselves, etc. etc. etc. Those that subscribe and subject themselves to these ideas are those that support the traditions of men and not the teaching of Scripture. The brethren, some saved, are called legalist. They are typically taught in a “fundementalist” church or college or have been raised by parents that subscribe to the above. These consider a woman in pants as a sinner but do not consider themselves as being judgemental or of having a “beam in their own eye.” These types also consider movie theatres as sin, though they allow video stores to be acceptable, even though video stores rent pornography and movie theatres do not. These are all traditions of men and not upheld by Scripture. The theorum or the equation goes like this, – (A man’s opinion + unstudied Church persons + Accepted as Biblical Truth = False doctrine and Traditions of men/legalism).

However, there are also those that have been erroneously taught doctrines from Scripture as the doctrine of adoption, most teach this doctrine incorrectly, even some of the most sound teachers. The doctrine of election is one that is avoided or mistaught and or outlawed. The doctrine of our sonship, when it began is most times mistaught. The doctrine of sanctification is usually taught well, but there is a portion of sanctification that is missed or left out, as in Jude v1. The teaching of the end times are usually taught by ministers as they have been taught and have not “searched the Scriptures” for themselves.

Many ministers, for the entirety of their service to God teach what they have been taught. Many missionaries, on the other hand, will find themselves discovering that that which they have been taught is error and through self study and submission to the Holy Spirit, they learn the truth of Scripture and reject the traditions of men, while still loving the Church and seeking to remedy erroneous teaching and the effects of that erroneous teaching. Some missionaries are then forsaken for their stand upon the Scriptures clear teachings.

Therefore, Reader, Fellow Christ-ians, Brothers and Sisters,
Search your understanding and beliefs, then search the Scripture to see if your understanding and Scripture line up. Do not search with the “spirit of I’m right” but search with the “spirit of a sanctified and open mind,” and above all search prayerfully and with the Spirit of Truth leading you. Take a concordance and look up keywords and study each of the passages you are sent to.

Be like the Bereans, who “studied to see if these things be true” and not like the Pharisees who studied the Scripture not, as Christ invited them to. Don’t be embarrassed or angered if you find that you have believed wrongly for many years. Accept your misunderstanding and failure to “search the Scriptures” personally with a humble spirit and thank God for showing you the truth of His Word for this showing of truth is a manifestation of His love for you. Then slowly study the truths of Scripture for yourself and begin to meekly and with a quiet spirit address others with these truths. Understand some may be thankful for your witness to truth and others will not. There is always a cost to the proclamation of God’s Truth, even and especially in the house of God.

Godspeed.