TRADITIONS, GOOD & BAD

Matt. 9:16-18,   “16 And no one puts a piece of cloth that has not been shrunk on an old garment, for such a patch tears away from the garment and a worse rent (tear) is made.  17 Neither is new wine put in old wineskins; for if it is, the skins burst and are [a] torn in pieces, and the wine is spilled and the skins are ruined. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.  18 While He was talking this way to them, behold, a ruler entered and, kneeling down, worshiped Him, saying, My daughter has just [b] now died; but come and lay Your hand on her, and she will come to life.   Mark 2:22,  And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; if he does, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the bottles destroyed; but new wine is to be put in new (fresh) wineskins.   Luke 5:37,  “And no one pours new wine into old wineskins; if he does, the fresh wine will burst the skins and it will be spilled and the skins will be ruined (destroyed).

In my study,  it is a teaching against old rabbinic powerless prideful traditions  Matt. 9:1-16 ?    13 Go and learn what this means: I desire mercy [that is, [I] readiness to help those in trouble] and not sacrifice and sacrificial victims. For I came not to call and invite [to repentance] the righteous (those who are upright and in right standing with God), but sinners (the erring ones and all those not free from sin).   Of course, we know that all have sinned and fallen short of the Glory of God….   So it was the “Traditionally Righteous” that Jesus was rejecting in preference to the lost of 1 Cor. 1 & 2,  the foolish, base, despised and nothings of this world….

So what then is Jesus teaching us?  Jesus chose not one member of the Jewish Traditional Religious Sect to become one of HIS 12 disciples…. excerpt, later, for Saul who had to lay aside his robes to become a Christian and then it was about 7 years that Peter and Co. watched him before giving him the right hand of fellowship and the commission to go to the Gentiles as an Apostle.   Although Jesus had commissioned Paul to go first to the Jews and then to the Gentiles.

Mark 7:6-9, “ But He said to them, Excellently and truly [[e] so that there will be no room for blame] did Isaiah prophesy of you, the pretenders and hypocrites, as it stands written: These people [constantly] honor Me with their lips, but their hearts hold off and are far distant from Me.  7 In vain (fruitlessly and without profit) do they worship Me, ordering and teaching [to be obeyed] as doctrines the commandments and precepts of men.  8 You disregard and give up and ask to depart from you the commandment of God and cling to the tradition of men [keeping it carefully and faithfully].  9 And He said to them, You have a fine way of rejecting [thus thwarting and nullifying and doing away with] the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition (your own human regulations)!

So as we see such a lack of the Power of God today to confirm the Word of God that we must consider, what are we doing wrong?  Could it be that we are playing church when we should really be the CHURCH?   Could it be that some of our traditions are making the Word of God to be in-effective?   Some of those traditions that seem counter productive are as follows:
1.    Eph. 4:11-16 TEACHES that we need 5 anointed ministries in the Church to be perfected?
2.    The word Church means the people and not the building.  We were never told to build anything at all in the New             Testament.  Not that we should not use what we have.  But funds for buildings cut down on funds needed for                       evangelism and for helping the poor.
3.    The Early Church was gathered in the round so all could participate, 1 Cor.14:26-40.
4.    The Early Church walked out the steps in the Tabernacle of Moses, Acts 2:41-43, 5:16.
5.    Nothing said about tithing but to give as per the leading of the Holy Spirit.  Lk.6:38,   2 Cor. 9:7, “Every man according     as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver.”
6.    No support for divisions in the New Testament, John 17:20-24.  Denomination tend to divide where unity tends to empower, Acts 5:12.  There is but ONE Church of Christ Jesus as LORD and all who love, honor and obey HIM are eternal members.  
7.    God authority is based in humility and anointing and from the bottom up.  Jesus came as a servant and to show and teach us how to serve one another.  The strong serve the weak and not the other way around.   Top down authority runs on fear, bottom up authority runs on love.
8.    We should go by the Prophets that God has given us in context through Holy Scripture and not by the traditions of man which are powerless, Paul’s Prophesy:   2 Tim.3:5. “… having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.”

We are in the process of putting together a Biblically Based Web Site to help us go back the the Early Church format that was confirmed by and through the Holy Spirit in power.   www.OhanaChurch.Life  For our ministry in Hawaii.  If you would like to use anything to help your ministry please feel free to do so.   And you see anything we can do better, please let us know.   ken@trinity-aloha.org