Hello

For hundreds of years we, Jesus’ followers, have been adding human doctrines, beliefs, practices, rituals, traditions and jargon to Jesus’ teachings.  We’ve come to think of these things as being Christian, but they are just human add-ons.  They are not Christian.  Not at all.

That’s where we are going wrong.

These human add-ons don’t just distract us from the things Jesus tells us to do.  These add-ons actually hinder us from doing his work.  I am convinced that these add-ons are obstructing the coming of the Kingdom of God.

Jesus was passionate, maybe even brutal, in his criticism of the religious leaders of his day for teaching human teachings, rather than the things of God:

 “You charlatans! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching human teachings.'” (Matthew 15:7-9 see also Mark 7:6-8)

So Jesus was really angry that religious leaders were teaching human teachings rather than the teachings of his heavenly Father.   This is important for us, his followers today, especially if we have teaching roles in our own Christian communities and families.  We must pray, and ask ourselves whether we are teaching human teachings.  Our teachings may be just our own opinions, or the traditional teachings of our church or denomination, or what we know others want to hear.

Of course, it’s not just the human teachings taught in churches that are a problem.  Almost all Christian churches put most of their energy and resources into doing things that are not found in Jesus’ teachings, including:

• Building, equipping, and maintaining church buildings (and, of course, fundraising to pay for the work).  Did Jesus tell us to build churches?  No.  He didn’t.  Jesus sent his disciples out into the towns and villages to do his work.  And he set the example of working in the community, where the people were.  So, why do we build special buildings and try to attract people into them, rather than following Jesus’ example of working in the community?  Doesn’t this sound odd to you?  Why do we do that?  It’s partly tradition – we’ve been doing things this way for a long time.  Also, church buildings are where we feel comfortable, so we like to stay there.   Does Jesus want us to stay in our church buildings where we feel comfortable?  No.  He doesn’t.
• Holding church services.  What do we expect people to do when they join our churches?  Attend church services, of course.  Jesus didn’t say anything about holding church services.  Certainly, we should meet with our Christian sisters and brothers.  Of course, we should.  But much of what we do in our services has nothing to do with what Jesus commanded us to do.  In most churches, the people sit in rows taking little part in what is going on except, in some churches, joining in the singing of songs, saying creeds and praying set prayers.  Is this what Jesus wants us to do?  No.  It isn’t.

 

Human teachings and denominations.

Denominations are the result of Christians focusing on human teachings instead of the teachings of Jesus.  When people from different denominations disagree, they rarely disagree about the teachings of Jesus.  Almost always, they are disagreeing about a human teaching.  This is a problem that has affected the church for centuries.  But things are improving.  Today, many Christians are going out of their way to have conversations with Christians from different backgrounds. We are listening to each other.  We are accepting and affirming each other as sisters and brothers in Christ.  We are expressing our love for each other. This is very good.

Christians who belong to one denomination are not very different from their sisters and brothers in other denominations or to those who do not belong to any denomination. We serve the same just and loving, heavenly Father.  We follow the teachings of the same loving lord, Jesus.

Jesus told us to be humble servants of one another, and he set himself as the example of love and service that we are to follow (Matthew 20:25-28; Mark 10:42-45; John 15:12).  If we claim to be servants of Jesus, we must be like him – serving our sisters and brothers, not telling them that their beliefs and practices are wrong and that ours are right.

It must be true that none of us have got our beliefs and practices absolutely right.  All human beings make mistakes and get things wrong sometimes.

We need to focus on living according to the teachings of our loving Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, rather than focusing on the layers of doctrines, beliefs, rituals, traditions and jargon that have been laid on us by human teachers.

 

May our loving Father bless us, strengthen us, and lead us safely along the path he has prepared for each of us to walk with him.

Jesus is Lord.

Peter O

 

 

 

Related Article

“What does Jesus want his followers to do?”

“Do we follow the teachings of Jesus in our churches?”

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

“What did Jesus say about worship?”

“What did Jesus say about Church?”

“If our churches were full of people who obeyed the teachings of Jesus…”

 

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