DON’T SIT IN MY PEW

By Dr. M. R. Dowler

I’m going to try to maneuver through a spiritual minefield this week---so here’s goes! Sometimes it funny how we worship God at home and in church. In some aspects we tend to do things differently than others, and yet, many times we do the same things as a collective group in church. What I’m talking about today is of course, traditions, which can be good or bad. For example, many evangelical churches have a Christmas play in which the children act out the parts of Mary and Joseph, the Wise Men and the Shepherds (Jesus is usually a doll baby in the manger). Nice, sweet, harmless and totally traditional. You may have participated in such an activity as a child, and now enjoy watching your children or grandchildren carry on the tradition.

But what about, for example, the family pew? Some older churches still have them. Generations of the family have sat in the same pew, and God forbid that any visitor would mistakenly sit in the family pew, as Southern Gospel singer Tim Lovelace sang about in his humorous song Don’t Sit in My Pew. Silly? I’d say so, and yet an old tradition has now become an unwritten (and unscriptural) rule in church. Or what about an object in church purchased generations ago that needs to be replaced or discarded…well good luck with that tradition! Again, not all traditions are bad. So how can you tell the difference between a good tradition and a bad one?

The word tradition is used fourteen times in the Bible; all in the NT. Jesus referred to traditions eight times; Paul, five times, and the Apostle Peter, one time. Interestingly, every time Jesus spoke of traditions, He criticized them, stating they were pointless and unscriptural (Matthew 15:3, 6; Mark 7:7-9). Paul spoke positively of traditions three times, and negatively twice (Colossians 2:8; Galatians 1:14). However, despite Jesus’ harsh criticism, there was one tradition He used as a theological object lesson---the traditional lighting of the giant menorahs in the temple during Hanukah (John 8:12). There He called Himself the “light of the world” while perhaps pointing to the bright light of the menorahs.

The theological rule about traditions is that they are doctrinally-safe when they are validated by the scriptures (Acts 17:11; 2 Thessalonians 2:15); in essence, “the Bible is the mother of tradition” (not the other way around). The Pharisees hated Jesus when He refused to approve their “traditions of the elders” (Matthew 15:2) because they were man-made rules and not scripturally-mandated means to worship God. In closing, no one has a right to criticize or condemn any other person’s manner of worship, traditionally or otherwise (Colossians 2:16). So enjoy good family and church traditions. And you can sit in my pew. Think about it.