Self-Denial of Today’s Christian

Do we deny ourselves like the first Century Christians, who went so far as to forsake the comfort of their traditions?

I have trouble denying myself the comforts of life.  I want to enjoy life like everyone else.  We Christians in America are rich and we love our comforts. Yet that is not the hardest thing for us to give up.  I have found that we protect our traditions even more than our possessions.

After Jesus had left, any Jew who accepted Jesus as the Messiah had to make a radical change to their life.  The traditions they had grown up with were now changed.  Christ coming turned the Jewish religion all upside down.  Many did not accept Jesus simply because it would mean changing their whole way of thinking.  Many of the comfortable traditions they had grown up with would be gone.

We don’t think we are holding any traditions, but that is not true.  It is just that we are so used to them; we no longer even notice them.  Examples of some traditions we might hold:

1. We meet every Sunday in a Church.  Buildings are our traditional place of worship.  The early church met in houses.
2. Baptism has to be by emersion. What is necessary is the person’s heart and their desire to make public confession that Jesus is their Lord.
3. Church service must have singing, a sermon and prayer.  What if God moved to just worship him the whole time?
4. No drums can be used in worshiping God.  Some people even say no music at all.
5. Church hierarchy of leadership. Should we have pastors? Deacons? Elders? Maybe have no leadership?

These are just a few traditions.  We can defend our traditions pretty well when we hold them to be true.  We get offended when someone attacks our traditions.  You might be offended that I mentioned one or more of them which you hold.

Traditions can be good, but they can never come before what the Scriptures say.  How willing are we to give up a tradition for the truth of Scriptures?  It can be harder to put aside a tradition, than it is to walk around blind to what God says.  Denying our traditions means to deny self.  Are we willing to turn our world upside down like the early church did so that we can live the truth of Jesus Christ?

To live as the first-century  Church did, we may have to examine our traditions and decide if we must put it aside or not.  This is a whole new world of obedience which our emotions and sentiments will not want us to go into.  Can we be brave enough to die to our own traditions?  With the help of Christ, of course we can.

Photo Credit: The Little Brown Church - Nashua, Iowa by jmehre