Tuesday, February 27, 2007

The Christian 10 Commandments

  1. Apart from me you can do nothing
  2. Apart from me you can do nothing
  3. Apart from me you can do nothing
  4. Apart from me you can do nothing
  5. Apart from me you can do nothing
  6. Apart from me you can do nothing
  7. Apart from me you can do nothing
  8. Apart from me you can do nothing
  9. Apart from me you can do nothing
  10. Apart from me you can do nothing
In other words, no (fixed it) amount of legalism or tradition can save you or make you a "good Christian".
5"I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing." John 15
Only Christ abiding in us can save us, only the Holy Spirit's working in us will make us a "good Christian." We MUST abide in Him. We must be in the word, we must be praying always, we must continually be dying to self (our sinful desires).

In Bible study on Thursday we were talking about this passage, actually we were talking about traditions and how we all have them. For instance, a tradition of the churches I've gone to is being very reserved in Church. But really, if I wanted to raise my hand to praise God, He would accept that. Even if some people thought I was being too charismatic. All that I do should be to please God and not men. I need to always abide in Him and not abiding in what other people might think.

Traditions are not necessary to being a Christian, we obviously need to be following the Bible and what it says about orderly worship, sometimes the traditions that I am so used to can hinder my relationship with God. It's similar to legalism, I like to have things set out. I like to know my boundaries. But even if I stand with my hands upraised all of the time and my heart is not being lifted to God as well.... There is no value. Outward shows of praise mean nothing to God if our hearts aren't in it.


We need to abide in Him, not traditions. God wants our hearts, He wants us to abide in Him.

7 comments:

Sir Brian The Manly said...

In other words, you amount of legalism or tradition can save you or make you a "good Christian".

ummm...typo? =)

I like this statement though:

We must be in the word, we must be praying always, we must continually be dying to self (our sinful desires).

In our Bible Study on Sunday, we're planning on doing away with all the traditions and things that many denominations have brought about, and we're going to read through the Gospels (and maybe the letters) looking for the basic things Christians need to know and believe. Not what is traditional or denomination specific.

Elyse said...

No, that's totally not a typo. Oh man... :)

My Mom saw that and she told me, I thought, "I'll fix that, but not right now.. I have math homework to do." So yes... Thanks for letting me know, I probably would have forgotten to fix it.

Sounds like a good Bible study. I must say, it'll be WONDERFUL once we are in heaven and we can do away with all the denominations!

Anonymous said...

Out of personal curiousity, how do you think we can abide in Christ?

Also, I'd be careful about throwing out everything that one may call a "tradition" because when you go back to the Bible, some of those things may be correct, then all you would be doing is reinventing the wheel. Besides, there is a reason people go to seminary, scholarship is a good thing and should not be thrown out lightly. But, I understand what you are saying and I agree with you completely. all I want to make clear is that your statements could be taken too far. I've heard and seen it done.

Unknown said...

Fall Elyse
Fall Elyse
Fall Elyse
to the ground

Josh said...

I have to, get to preach a mini sermon at a small young mens bible study on friday.

Sir Brian The Manly said...

There's going to be a Spidey 3 clip on Heroes next week! O_O

Unknown said...

POST ALREADY!