August 16 - The Danger of Wrongly-Based Rituals - Devotional

Gracetoyou.org ^ | 2008 | John Macarthur, Grace Community Church

[metmom]

“Then the disciples of John came to Him, asking, ‘Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?’ And Jesus said to them, ‘The attendants of the bridegroom cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they?’” (Matthew 9:14–15).

Religious ritual and routine, if not handled appropriately, will always threaten true godliness. Some practices, such as praying to saints or lighting candles for the dead, are heretical. But even biblical practices, when their forms become the center of attention, can become barriers to true righteousness. Church attendance, Bible reading, saying grace before meals, and singing hymns can become lifeless habits that exclude true worship and praise. When we apply good things such as these the wrong way, they can keep us from faithful obedience . . . and keep unbelievers from trusting in God.

Alms, prescribed prayer, and fasting were the three major expressions of piety the Jews performed in Jesus’ time. The leaders took these matters quite seriously and were meticulous to practice them publicly so as to impress others with their piety (cf. Matt. 6:2, 5, 16). Thus these practices became badges of pride and hypocrisy rather than marks of humble and genuine religion before God.

Jesus’ point in mentioning the bridegroom and his attendants is to show how out of place it is for His followers (attendants) to mourn and fast while He (the Bridegroom) is with them in person. Pharisaical manners and rituals are always wrong for Christians, but even good practices (such as sincere fasting), if not done properly, can hinder what the Lord wants to accomplish in our midst.

Ask Yourself

Should our answer to this kind of hypocrisy be the removal of all forms, disciplines, and ritual practices from our worship? Or is there value in these kinds of expressions? What would go missing from our worship if it was all spur-of-the-moment, with no cherished repetitions?

From Daily Readings from the Life of Christ, Vol. 1, John MacArthur. Copyright © 2008. Used by permission of Moody Publishers, Chicago, IL 60610, www.moodypublishers.com.

[metmom]

Religion Forum threads labeled “Devotional:”Devotional threads are closed to debate of any kind.

https://freerepublic.com/~religionmoderator/

[metmom]

Studying God’s Word Ping

[Big Red Badger]

BrideGrooms’ attendants mourn.
.
Interesting, Thanks.

[Paperpusher]

Ping

[Elsie]

...Some practices, such as praying to saints or lighting candles for the dead, are heretical.

He make Mary cry.

[Texas_Guy]

Prayers for the dead predate Christianity. Look at the sacrifice sent to Jerusalem for those wearing amulets of pagan gods in the book of Maccabees. Or the numerous prayers recited for the dead by Jews in the Kaddish. Early Christians also covered the walls of catacombs in prayers for the dead and even said Mass in the catacombs for the repose of the souls of the dead, including prayers to saints to intercede on their behalf. Look at the book of Revelations where the saints offer the prayers of the faithful to God in the form of sweet incense. The author should also know that the light of the candle symbolizes the light of Christ.

This author is absolutely wrong in calling these practices heretical. He needs to do more research.

[Elsie]

Prayers for the dead predate Christianity.

So does sacrificing babies to Molech.

[Texas_Guy]

They are. It’s in the book of Maccabees and in Revelation.

Are you also calling the early Christians, many of whom learned at the feet of the apostles and their successors, heretics?

Also, even the Bible says that it could not contain all of the teachings of Jesus.

Stating that every doctrine and practice must be found in the Bible, especially only in the new testament, is protestant tradition. Even the Bible doesn’t say that.

[Elsie]

Also, even the Bible says that it could not contain all of the teachings of Jesus.

Not quite. What the bible states is this:

John 21:25 Douay-Rheims

But there are also many other things which Jesus did; which, if they were written every one, the world itself, I think, would not be able to contain the books that should be written.

[Elsie]

And are you really comparing prayers for the dead to child sacrifice???

Since when does comparing the chronological dating of things become the same as equating them?

[Campion]

The record of Revelation is that the ECFs did a mighty poor job with those 7 churches in Asia.

That's reading a whole lot into the text. The only one of those churches closely associated with a church father of whom we have record is Smyrna (St. Polycarp of Smyrna). Surprise: Revelation has nothing bad to say about Smyrna.

[Campion]

But, when you're the only game in town for 15 centuries

That was during the Holy Spirit's 1500-year long vacation, after which semi-educated late-medieval Europeans rediscovered true Christianity [tm], which had fallen into decrepitude around the time the last Apostle reached room temperature and the Holy Spirit went off to play golf or whatever.

Yeah ... not.