"Tradition is the living faith of the dead, traditionalism is the dead faith of the living." –Jaroslav Pelikan, (1983) Yale University professor and Christian historian.
Though he never knew of me and he made this statement when I was in junior high, I’m unsure if I’ve ever read a more succinct summation of my own personal thoughts on the issue of legalism.Up until today the name Jaroslav Pelikan was unknown to me – so was his quote.In my twelve years of holy rebellion against the dry sand of traditionalism and the bottomless pit of legalism I am astounded that this quote never became a part of my arsenal.I’m grateful to God for having passed it my way.
I used to be angry at legalism.Fighting mad, I wanted to eradicate my heart of every vestige of it.It took years of methodical, penetrating examination into all my “religious” activities and attitudes.Every month in the process uncovered more for me to mourn over in regret:messages preached, callous words to other believers, moldy pride coating the walls of my heart, and a smug confidence that I (and those in my camp) was a better believer than most.Even typing it today makes me cringe to know that these things were a large part of my walk with God.The horror of it all is that I was completely ignorant of how wrong it was.Saved by grace? Of course...but I was competent enough to take it from there, thank you. Some people presume that God is desperately searching for some shiny trophies down here amongst His people and I was one of those who certainly thought he knew how to polish himself for the Lord.Somehow I missed the truth that God was not looking for brilliance but, rather, brokenness.God doesn’t long for His followers to be masters of the rules – He wants us to be hungry, contrite and poor in spirit.Our confident laughter must become mourning over sin and consequently result in a longing for holiness and depth.Legalists shout the rafters down and usually their shoutings are occupied with some outward badge of presumed spirituality.Christians are different than legalists; they still have something to shout about but their voices magnify the Lord Himself rather than some tag of religious achievement.
I’m not old yet but I am older than I once was.Things look different to me now than they did when I was twenty-five.I love people intensely and long to help them in their journey with Christ.However, I’m over the need for them to think positively upon me.It sounds flippant but I mean this in a truly consecrated sense:I am further learning to truly be unmoved by people’s opinion of me.My testimony is important because it is a reflection of Christ, but I’m speaking about the ridiculous desire to fit into someone’s concept of what being a Christian is.My Bible is sufficient to affirm or convict me; there is simply no need to exercise time and energy seeking to please the unpleasable.I simply don’t care what folks think or say any longer.Nor should you.
So I’m wondering out loud today if we have committed to the way of living faith or dead faith.Dead faith is easy and fruitless.Read a few books, master a few practices, commit to a handful of duties and scheduling slots…poof!Congratulations, you have become religious.For those of you who cannot walk that potholed way anymore, here’s something to consider:bleed in your spirit, rupture your own heart, cultivate an insatiable appetite for the presence of God, and starve yourself from horizontal elements which rush to satisfy you prematurely.Somewhere around the next bend there likely waits some unexpected nugget of gold from the mine of His sovereign goodness.He is still a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him and I’m seeking to spur you onward to the delightful shore of “I’m content in Christ but thirsting for more from Him.”Is your God explosive?Do you see Him as willing to bring a potentially radical transformation to your life…today?Does that potential thrill you or threaten you? God’s best works in your life are unanticipated and impossible to pencil in.He’s the God of holy ambush – ask Moses, Abraham, Paul, Esther, Joshua and a host of others in our Bible.May He so grace us today as to thunder into our lives and rearrange our assumptions to the point where they become delightful surprises.
Let’s not creak our way through this life.Tradition is dusty.Grace pulses.
You have no idea how timely this was for me this morning!
Posted by Barry on 02/25/2010 11:16:55
While I believe you are a faithful preacher of God's infallible Word, I would like to point out that Moses shunned the exciting possibilities of Egypt for the unglamorous traditions of his forefathers ('Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season'), that Joshua rigidly stuck to the external, religious requirements of the Word rather than seeking original insights and feelings ('This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein...')
Posted by Patrick on 02/27/2010 13:49:16
, and that Christ Jesus Himself warned us, in our evangelistic enthuasiasm, not to think 'that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.' In other words, as you rightly point out, it is not tradition per se which is the enemy so much as dead tradition, devoid of the Holy Spirit.
Posted by Patrick on 02/27/2010 13:49:52
Great Christians of the past have had their particular battles with Satan, as he suffered a massive defeat during the Reformation and has been trying to explore new avenues of attack. In Edwards' day it was the problem of nominal Christians who were being invited into membership without being converted:
http://www.covenantofgrace.com/religious_affections_introduction.htm
In Spurgeon's day it was the issue of 'modernism' and the so-called downgrading of the God's infallible Word:
http://www.spurgeon.org/misc/dwngrd.htm
Posted by Patrick on 02/27/2010 13:51:50
In our day, it is arguably the issue of 'worship' and a worldly, entertainment style mentality which currently one of Satan's main areas of attack:
http://www.freedomministries.org.uk/masters/popidiom.shtml
While the central truths of the deity of Christ, the way of salvation, the sovereignty of God and infallibility of His Word were to some extent salvaged from a millenium of Romanism during the Reformation, the enemy of souls is still trying to destroy the spiritual health of the Church in one way or another.
Posted by Patrick on 02/27/2010 13:52:28
I know that '... the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned', and I pray that, in my own walk with the Lord, I am not of those who, 'having swerved have turned aside unto vain jangling'. However, I also feel a burden to highlight the importance of the integrity of true worship, since the Church is the body of Christ, and has taken many body blows during the twentieth century. We need to be more discriminating in what we allow to be called ‘worship’, so that '... God is not mocked...' I pray that the Lord will continue to bless and use you mightily in the weeks and months to come.
