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One of the reasons many Christians are leaving churches today is they find their churches put too much emphasis on human rules and traditions, and not enough emphasis on the command that Jesus said was first and most important; love God  (Matthew 22:35-38; Mark 12:28-30; Luke 10:25-28).  Christians who want to focus on loving our loving, heavenly Father, and who want to be with other Christians who love him, are finding that many churches are not meeting this central need.

Jesus strongly criticized the religious leaders of his day who had abandoned their primary responsibility – enabling and encouraging others to love our loving heavenly Father – and were, instead, focusing on teaching human rules:

“You shysters! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain. Their teachings are merely human rules.’” (Matthew 15:7-9)

“You shysters! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.” (Matthew 23:13)

(The Greek word usually translated “hypocrite” originally meant a stage actor and, in Jesus’ day, carried the meaning of a fake or a cheat.  A reasonable translation today might be “fake”, “charlatan” or “shyster”.)

For nearly 2000 years, we Christians have been adding human traditions, doctrines, rituals and rules to Jesus’ teachings.  And, often, we place more emphasis on these traditions and rules than on the importance of loving our heavenly Father.  We have become burdened and weighed down by traditions and rules that have nothing to do with loving him, but we often don’t even realize that these traditions are weighing us down. And, if we do not realize they are weighing us down, we cannot change them.  I reckon this weakens our witness and hinders the coming of our loving Father’s kingdom.

Unfortunately, we do not just weigh ourselves down with these traditions and rules.  Often, we burden each other with them.  Jesus criticized the religious leaders of his day about this too, saying:

“They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.” (Matthew 23:4)

If we deliberately promote the traditions of our denominations as if they were rules made by our loving Father, then we make them a burden for others, just like the religious leaders Jesus was criticizing.

Our loving Father does not want us to be burdened with human traditions.  Jesus tells us that those who commit themselves to his service will find rest and will find that the work he requires us to do is light:

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

And Jesus’ beloved disciple, John, said:

“For this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome.” (1 John 5:3)

We Christians must free ourselves from unnecessary burdens, including our human traditions and rules, and we must be very, very careful not to lay these unnecessary burdens on others.

So, why do I say that Christians who are leaving churches today may be Christianity’s best hope for tomorrow?  They can develop ways of expressing their love for our Father that are not hindered by the human traditions and rules found in established denominations.  This will also mean that their witness to non-Christians will be free of these traditions and may be simpler, clearer and more effective.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.” (Hebrews 12:1-2)

 

May our loving, heavenly Father bless us, strengthen us, and keep us focused on the important stuff.

Jesus is Lord.

Peter O

 

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“Where are Christian churches going wrong?”

“Do our church services meet the needs of those who are looking for God?”

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