Making the word of God ineffective
October 31, 2022
Making the word of God ineffective
Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye. Mark 7:13
If we launched into a survey on the landscape of Faith, specifically Christianity, we would discover that there is a plethora of traditions tied to expressions of Faith. According to Dr. Thom Rainer president and CEO of Lifeway Christian Resources, A tradition is neither inherently good nor bad. Its value or its distraction in each church really depends on how members treat the traditions.
The following reflects the top ten traditions championed as a sword to fight with or fall on in mainline Christian churches.
1. Worship and music style.
2. Order of worship service.
3. Times of worship service(s).
4. Role of the pastor.
5. Committee structure.
6. Specific ministries and programs.
7. Location of church facility.
8. Use of specific rooms.
9. Business meetings.
10. Staff ministry descriptions.
It’s been my personal experience that spiritual settings that are super traditional are solidified in stubbornness and cemented in carnality. Too often people find themselves dumped in a ditch of division due to traditions in the church that for many are parked in permanence. And if you turn away from them you are on a slippery slope to losing your salvation.
But how does tradition make the transcending and transforming forming power of the word of God ineffective?
It is an absolute certainty that the word of God is a powerful force that has forwarded an enormous impact on history and changing any person that will regard its call.
Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
For all of us that are familiar with scripture the word of God is the only offensive weapon surrounded in the spiritual armor alluded to in Ephesians 6. In addition, when we wrap our heads and heart in Scripture, we are promised by God that it is effective.
Isaiah 55:11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
So, how do men make the word ineffective?
Mark 7:8 For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do.
Just as the Pharisees, Spiritual leaders in the body have built up a substantial amount of religious tradition and self-serving explanations that ultimately supplanted the authority of scripture. Men marred by pride always seek to attack the authority of God’s word and marginalize the Masters medium of ministry in our minds and hearts. Furthermore, the authority of Scripture is devalued and made ineffective in our head and hearts with traditions, rational rebellion (human reasoning), or politically correctness, and fashions that are fixed in the flesh that become authoritative.
I close with three realities when the word of God is made ineffective.
*Religious traditions - will walk over and waste the word of God’s work in the lives of people.
*Rules - that rip and retards a real and rich relational Religion and reduces it to man-made rules.
*Repercussions - traditions that will turn hearts far away from God and consequently their worship will be trapped in a vice a vanity, forwarding fruitlessness and floundering in futility.
Not a sermon just some thoughts
For the Glory of God,
PBKSR