Normally we would be going through the gospel according to Luke today, continuing on in Luke chapter 22, but I did want to take a moment to address a sensitive issue. But before we turn to the word of the Lord and read what it was that he said to his disciples on that day on the mountain, let us turn to the Lord who gave us that word and ask for his blessings now. Please join me. Gracious God, we now pray, Lord, that you would be the light of our minds, and that you would fill us with light. Lord, we pray that you would subdue us to your will. You are the one who rules us, you are the one who governs us, and you are the one, O Lord, who keeps us walking on that pilgrim path. Lord, we do confess that sometimes things in your word are difficult for us to understand, but more things in your word, far more, O Lord, are difficult for us to implement. We may see them, but we confess that like Israel of old, we too can be stubborn, we can be stiff-necked, and we can say, I will do what is right in my own eyes. Lord, I pray that that would not be the case with us. I pray, O Lord, that you would give us a humble countenance. You would give me great humility, especially as I handle this. Your word is an awesome responsibility. I confess, O Lord, I am not meet for the task. But I pray, O Lord, that you would use me. to convey saving knowledge to your people, that I would decrease and that Jesus would increase. May I be as transparent as possible this day so that people would see through me and would see the Lord Jesus Christ. To Him be all glory and honor and blessing, now and always. And it is in His name we pray. Amen. Amen. We'll be reading today from Matthew chapter 28, verses 16 through 20. You know the setting. The disciples are gathered on the mountain, and Jesus is about to ascend back into heaven. Matthew 28, 16. Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. When they saw him, they worshipped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age. Amen. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. I have come to refer almost half-jokingly to the sermon that I'm about to preach to you as my yearly Grinch sermon. And why is it my yearly Grinch sermon? It's my yearly Grinch sermon because in it I try to explain why I and the rest of the members of the Mean Old Session have stolen Christmas, and why Linda or Linda Lou Who or Cindy Lou Who, that's it, why all of her pleas are not going to be effective in returning it from the top of the mountain. But I don't want to just address the issue of holy days. What I want to do today is, if I can, I want to speak to you all from the heart. I really do. I want to speak to you about what it is that guides our church, what it is that motivates us as we seek to worship the Lord, what it is that we confess, and what directs us in our faith and our worship. Now, I'm not lying when I say to you that I come at this subject with a great deal of trepidation. I come at it with a very heavy heart in one sense. It is the most difficult sermon in all the year for me to preach, because I know that I'm messing with tradition. And disconnecting tradition and emotion is about as impossible as separating politics and emotion, or politics and money, if you will. It's almost impossible. They're tied together. It's also because people tend to be naturally conservative. That's our way. I remarked a while back, we used to have the book table on this side and have the food on that side, away from the kitchen. It didn't make sense in that sense. So somebody said, wait, why don't we move the food table closer to the kitchen, so we're not trailing crumbs and things all the way across. So I said, hey, that's a good idea. So one Sunday, people came in, and suddenly the food table's on one side, and the book table's on the other side. And people are like, why'd you do that? We had already created a tradition. The book table's here, and the food table's there. We've never done it that way before. Can it be done? And they kind of advanced towards, OK, you can pick food up from this table as well. All right. So we get over it. But that's exactly how conservative we can be and how quickly a tradition can develop within a family or church or community. And we tend to resist changes that are that are inserted to that. So I come at it with a great deal of trepidation but also because I'll confess to you. I hate I mean I hate disappointing people. I'm not lying when I say this to you. I want everybody in the church. I mean everybody in the church from the smallest to the oldest, even little kids. I want them to be as happy and as contented as they possibly can be all the time. I mean, after all, if you think about it, that's what I'm trying to do. I'm trying to get you, week after week, to make a decision which, if taken, will result in your being perfectly happy and perfectly content forever. That is my ultimate wish for all of you, that you would always be happy and that you would always be content. And I know that the only way that that can happen is if you embrace the gospel. And I'm, of course, trying to persuade you not to follow a course that will result in your being perfectly miserable, or absolutely miserable, we should say, for all eternity. But even though I know that that is my desire and that is my calling, I know also this, that I'm a man under authority. and that someday I will be called to give an account for my ministry before the judge of all the universe, before Jesus Christ. And I will have to give an account on that day for everything that I have taught His sheep. And I have to remember that on my mind. Sometimes I'll say, my congregation, then I go, no, no, no, no, our congregation. But in fact, whose congregation is it really? It is Jesus's congregation, brothers and sisters, I love you. I really do. And I say that with all sincerity. But you are not my little lambs. You are Christ's little lambs. You are His children. And I didn't die on the cross for your sins. As much as I might like to, I did not. I am not the head of the church. And unlike my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, I am also not infallible. I am very capable of making terrible, terrible errors. And so every time I'm up here, my mind goes back to that verse in James 3.1. My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment." That's very intimidating. As a result, I mean, this may seem odd to you, but as more people come into the church or new people come into the church, my trepidation levels actually go up. I know with most ministers, more people coming in, they begin to relax. But mine go up because, well, I remember what James 3.1 says. John Brown of Haddington, he was a godly minister. And he had been working with a man who had just come out of seminary. This is back in the 19th or actually 18th century. And this was a man of immense talent. Everybody said of this young man, he's going to go far. But his first calling was to a tiny little church in the highlands. And he was absolutely mortified by the size of this congregation because he thought, I am worth so much more. I have so much more to offer. Well, regarding the size of his congregation, John Brown, who was a very wise man, wrote him and he said these words. Assure yourself on the word of an old man that when you come to give an account on them to the Lord Jesus Christ at his judgment seat, you will think you have had enough. And I know the truth of those words, because as I look at all of you, I know that you are not just people. You're not just inhabitants of Fayetteville. You are all souls and all of you. Every single one of you, I will be called to render an account for. Will your blood be on my hands? And that's the critical question. So if someday I'm going to be called to give an account for everything I have taught or failed to teach to Jesus Christ, little lambs, the ones that he gave me to care for, then that leads me to ask a critical question day after day. And that is, what should I teach you? What should I lay before you? What kind of spiritual food should I offer up to the church? What rules should I be teaching you to observe? What should I be saying that the Lord's will is for your life? Perhaps most basically, what should I do when we gather for worship? It's most important of all activities, the thing that will occupy your attention for all eternity, God willing, every single one of you. It's not going to be spent playing tennis. It's going to be spent in the worship of the Lord. And that's a critical question. That's a critical question we all need to grapple with. What should the church teach disciples to observe? Do I, for instance, have I been invested with an authority to create new commandments, to create new rites and traditions and ceremonies for you to observe just so long as they are helpful in some sense? Do I have that right? Well, where do we look to find an answer to a question that important? I would say we have to look to the Word of God. The only one who has the authority to answer it. What then did Jesus Christ say to his disciples as he was preparing to ascend into heaven? Well, everybody knows that he told them to carry the gospel to all nations and that when that beautiful gospel word had done its converting work in changing hearts, they were not done, of course. They were then to take these new disciples, new learners. Matites is the Greek word. It means one who learns, a pupil. They were to take them, they were to baptize them in the name of the Trinity, and then they were to teach them. What were they to teach them, though? Well, Jesus doesn't leave us in suspense. He tells us verse 20. It's very simple. Teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you. So the church is commissioned by Jesus Christ to go and teach, to go and teach what Jesus the one who has all authority on heaven and on earth, the entire universe. There is no scope any place out there, any realm where Jesus is not Lord. He has commissioned his church, therefore, to go into all the world and teach them not neat stories, not cunningly contrived fables, as Peter put it, but all the things that he has commanded in his word. Now, that emphasis that Jesus gives us, all things, is deliberate, and it's very important. all things he says. It means that ministers like me are not allowed under any circumstances to selectively edit his word, to leave things out. You remember that wonderful scene where, it probably was heartbreaking at the time, but that scene where Paul is delivering his farewell address to the Ephesian elders. He's about to go to Jerusalem, and they've already said, you are going to be delivered up into bondage when you get there. He knew that, and yet, He said to them in parting, I did not shrink from declaring to you anything that was profitable. And then a little later on, he said, therefore, I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all men, for I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel, all of it, the whole counsel of God. Now, don't take those words lightly, brothers and sisters, because boy, boy, is that difficult. to declare to God's people all of his counsel, to tell not just God's people, but everyone the things that God's Word says that are profitable, that are good, that are helpful. You ever have some nice unbeliever whom you're friends with ask you one of those wonderful questions like, sorry, I think I'm going to hell. You kind of back off. Now there's a question you just want to instinctively go, dodge, dodge, you know, do whatever you can. I don't want to answer that question. Or how about when a Christian buddy hands you a book or a movie that is just theologically toxic, you know, the kind of thing you're holding going, huh, you know, and and he says, you just got to read this or you just got to see this change my entire life. Now, that's a fun one to answer, isn't it? I know it changed your life, but this is from the pit of hell. Well, that's what they want to hear. No, no, no. It's a very difficult thing to do. Just the other day, all right, I play... All right, here's my video game vice. I have one game I play, Ace is High. It's a World War II massive multiplayer flight simulation. I love it, okay? And one Monday evening, about 10 o'clock, I'm flying along, and one of the great things about this game is you can talk to the other players. They have open channel. And suddenly, I get somebody talking to me. They say, hey, you're the pastor in Fayetteville, right? He's British. I should say, oh, you're the pastor in Fayetteville, or the reverend, as he put it. And I said, yes, that would be me. And so he starts engaging me in a conversation on the open channel. Now, I'm not only being listened to by this guy, but everybody within like a 100 kilometer radius who's got a plane, a virtual plane, in the air around us is now listening to us talk. And eventually he gets to this point, so, am I going to hell? I'm like, oh, do you know what I actually thought to myself? I thought to myself, it's Monday, it's 10 o'clock, if there's ever a time when I'm off duty, it's right now, all right? Do I have to answer this guy? And then immediately I'm convicted, oh, when am I off duty from being a Christian? Excuse me, I'm leaving the faith for a moment, I need to play a game. You know, this is, so I, answered the question. I answered as diplomatically as I thought I could, but I answered the question. And his answer was, well, all right, then, I don't agree, but there you go. And he went off. So it means, yeah, he flew away, exactly. What most people listening to us would love to do, you know, let me get out of here. But brothers and sisters, it's at times when you're presented with moments like that, the moments when your heart says, run. that you have to stand, you have to not shrink, you have to not shun, you have to not edit, you have to say in your heart, I will tell this person the truth, I will do it in love, but I will do it. Because I don't want to shirk, I don't want to shun declaring to them anything that might be useful, and I don't, at the end of time, want to have their blood on my hands. I don't want Jesus to say, I sent this person to you because you knew the truth, and you did not tell them. That would be a terrible thing. So even if we would like to, we can't take anything away from the Word, and we also mustn't add things to it. That, too, has been a huge problem in the history of the Church. Jesus comes to Earth, and He's dealing with a covenant community that has been adding their own traditions to His Word for hundreds of years. And, of course, they quickly notice that Jesus isn't observing those traditions that they've added, and they get furious. downright furious, who do you think you are? Turn with me, if you would, to Mark 7, 5. I want to show you one of those particular conflicts that Jesus had. Starting with verse 5. Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands? He answered and said to them, Well did Isaiah prophecy of you hypocrites, as it is written. This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. And in vain they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men, washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do. He said to them, all too well you reject the commandment of God that you may keep your tradition. For Moses said, honor your mother and your father, and he who curses father or mother, let him be put to death. But you say, if a man says to his father or mother, whatever profit you might have received from me is Corban, that is a gift to God. Then you no longer let him do anything for his father or his mother, making the word of God of no effect through your tradition, which you have handed down, and many such things you do. Jesus is rebuking. the Pharisees, not only, and we need to see this, not only for the effect that their traditions have, but for the very fact that they are teaching them. They are teaching these inventions of men, these innovations, imaginations, as the word of God. Now, keep in mind that when Jesus, it wasn't that they started making these things up when Jesus arrived. Oh, he's here. We better come up with, you know, 635 different things to add to his word to really irritate him. That wasn't what happened. The Pharisees were doing what their fathers had done. They were doing what their grandfathers had done. They were doing what their great grandfathers have done. As far back as anyone could remember, they'd been observing these traditions. I sometimes wonder if one of the reasons why Jesus's own family came to him thinking he was out of his mind is because Jesus wasn't doing the things that his own family had done. He was, in essence, getting rid of all of their traditions. You want to get somebody just a little mad. Tell them they're wrong. But if you want to get somebody hopping, hopelessly mad, tell them their family has been wrong for hundreds of years. I don't know if you've ever done any evangelism. I hope you have with Eastern Orthodox people or Roman Catholics. Tell them, oh, no, it's not just you're wrong. Everybody in your family has been wrong for 500 years. They really want to hear that you're hitting grandma. OK, people tend not to like that. Now, unfortunately, we should read. I mean, you would read these things, you would read seven five and you'd say, OK, we've got it. We're not supposed to add traditions of our own inventions of our own to the word of God. Jesus makes that very clear. But that's exactly, unfortunately, what the church began to do very quickly after Jesus left. They got the idea that they had the authority to create their own traditions, to create their own rights and their own ceremonies and their own rules. So what did that mean? Well, that meant for as the church went to different cultures, as they moved into new cultures that had their own traditions, they co-opted those traditions and they made them part of the Christian faith. They, in essence, Christianized them. And suddenly the church is doing these things that that culture had been doing. And it made, yeah, Christianity a lot more acceptable to that particular culture. So let me give you a quick example. As they moved into societies that had had a long tradition of goddess worship, you move into that culture with biblical Christianity, no more goddess worship. In fact, you read the Old Testament, and those who worship goddesses like Ashtoreth are condemned. Well, that's not going to be very palatable with a culture that's been worshiping a particular goddess for 500 years. So what happened? Well, suddenly the Virgin Mary becomes much, much, much more more important to Christian worship. Doesn't come from the Bible. But that's what they did. Until you get to the point where this humble handmaiden of the Lord, the servant of the Lord, who herself was redeemed by the sacrifice of her son, Jesus Christ, becomes blasphemously close to being a member of the Godhead. Didn't happen all at once, but as tradition is lumped on tradition, and as Things that are not part of the faith are co-opted to make them palatable. That is what happened. Now, they also went into cultures that had their own religious calendar. Cultures that had observed feasts for as long as anybody could remember on certain days. And so what did they do? Well, increasingly, when they went into that culture, they took that pagan feast day and they gave it a Christian overlay. They said, OK, You've been observing this day as a feast to the importance of Woden, for instance. Well, we're going to change it. It's now going to be St. Whoever's Day. You can still observe it, but it has a new meaning, a biblical meaning, they would say. And it got to the point where they had added so many holy days that by the Middle Ages, the reformers were actually complaining, we can hardly do a day of commerce. We're always supposed to be in church observing some saint's day or some day of supposed biblical observance. Now, let me give you perhaps one of the more famous examples of that practice of taking a pagan feast day and giving it a Christian overlay. In the fourth century, the church began to observe the Feast of the Nativity of Jesus Christ. And not coincidentally, this occurred at the same time that the Saturnalia, the Roman festival celebrating Saturn, had occurred, December 17. We know that Feast of the Nativity of Jesus Christ today as, of course, Christmas. And no, and I hope I'm not bursting any bubbles here, Jesus probably was not born in December. As far as most reputable scholars can point it out, it was probably sometime in April. The apostles, we know, did not celebrate Christmas. And Christians, as a church, did not celebrate Christmas for the first 300 years after the birth of Christ. Now, why was that? It was because they weren't commanded to do so. They received no command to celebrate the birth of Christ as a feast day. Now, that meant that when the Reformation came, it made a change in the practices of the church. When it came to worship, the reformers rediscovered three critical principles. These are principles that should be operating in our lives and in our church as well. The first is this, that all authority had been given to Christ, not to the church. And therefore, he alone had the power to command men's consciences. If I relate to you what the word of God says, then I can compel your conscience, because it is not I who do it. It is the Lord. But if I tell you, do this because I think it's a good idea, I cannot bind your conscience with that. Let no man take away your Christian liberty by trying to do that. The second thing they discovered was that Scripture was the sufficient rule and guide for all of our faith, life, and practice, and that by following it, as Paul said, the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. That's 2 Timothy 3.17, of course. They found in Scripture the treasure trove of the Christian faith. Everything that we need to know about faith, life, practice, is contained in these pages. Therefore, what do we need to add to it? And the Reformers said, nothing. The only thing that we can do when we add to scripture is gild the lily, as the old saying goes, take away from that which is naturally beautiful and perfect and add to it our own overlays which actually detract from it. Thirdly, that the traditions of men have indeed an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, as Colossians 2.23 puts it, but were ultimately of no value, especially not in advancing the godliness the holiness, the simplicity of Christ's church. And that didn't matter how antique they were. The reformers made that point. It didn't matter whether something had been dreamed up a week ago or a thousand years ago. And we sometimes arrogantly say, no, no, if something is antique, it's more valuable. As if an antique lie is better than a new lie. In other words, we will look at the innovations that the charismatic churches are producing in worship and we'll say, huh, They were dreamed up just yesterday. They're of no value whatsoever. But our traditions, which go back a thousand years, they suddenly are more important. We do that. We tend to invest that which is old with higher value. But that's not the case. I want to quote to you the great Puritan minister, John Owen. He's actually this quote is in your worship folders. If you'll take a look at it with me, brothers and sisters. In things, he says, which concern the worship of God, the commanding power is Christ and His command, the adequate rule and measure of our obedience. The teaching, commanding, and enjoining of others to do and observe these commands is the duty of those entrusted with Christ's authority under Him. Their commission to teach and enjoin and our duty to do and observe have the same rules, the same measure, bounds, and limits. What they teach and enjoin beyond what Christ hath commanded They do it not by virtue of any commission from Him. What we do beyond what He hath commanded, we do it not in obedience to Him. What they so teach, they do it in their own name, not His. What we so do, we do it in our own strength, not His, nor to His glory. That was what the Reformers realized, that the worship of God is contained within Scriptures, and when we go beyond it, we are no longer commissioned by Jesus Christ. We are acting on our own. So what they did was they set about returning worship to its biblical simplicity. They said, in essence, let us not do anything in worship we don't have a specific warrant from the Word of God to do. Because we don't have the authority to command anything that God has not commanded. And we need to remember, all of our authority is derived. Kids, who's in charge of you? God! Yes! Okay, I like that answer. That's a good answer. God is in charge of you. Who has God appointed to be over you? Exactly, your parents. And who gives your parents their authority? God does. That is why there are authorities over you. And it is their job to teach you what God has given them to teach you. That is very important. That is the authority that has been invested to them. So that's why we can say that when mommy and daddy teach you something that God has told them to teach you, it is as though God were telling you himself. It's very important. But the reformers, what did they do? They set themselves to that task of clearing away centuries of tradition that had no foundation in scripture. And that was tough. I mean, it was really tough. I mean, think about this. We don't think about all that went into the Reformation and how difficult that transformation of the culture was. Think about this. You've been going to confession for as long as you can remember. Your parents went to confession. Your parents' parents go to confession. No more confession. It's a huge change. Huge change in the way you practice. For years, for centuries, priests have not been openly married. Now priests are married. For years, centuries, priests have worn vestments. They are no longer wearing vestments. For centuries, when you went to the church, you didn't understand a word they said, but you felt that it did you some good because the entire thing was in Latin. Suddenly, they're preaching to you in your vernacular tongue. That can be very alarming. It's a huge change in the entire worship service. You've always celebrated the feast days, going to the cathedral, no more. Now you're expected to be there every Lord's Day. Change after change was brought in by the Reformation, and a lot of people instinctively resisted it. That's our nature. It's very difficult to do. One of the things, therefore, that the Reformed in the British Isles did, that is the Puritans, the Presbyterians, the Baptists, and the Congregationalists, was they did away with the religious observance of holy days. holy days like Christmas and Easter, and their descendants in America continued in not observing any day as holy except the Lord's Day or the Christian Sabbath. So that means that in the USA, in this country, and most people don't realize this, for over 200 years, unless you were Episcopal, Lutheran, or Roman Catholic, and believed that the church had the right, as the Episcopalian 39 articles put it, the church, it states there right there in Article 20, the church hath power to decree rites and ceremonies. But those Reformation denominations, Baptists, Presbyterians, Congregationalists, said the church does not have that power and therefore we cannot decree it. So they didn't observe these things. Now that began to change in the late 19th century, in the early 20th century, but it didn't change for theological reasons. It changed for social reasons. More and more people were doing it and the church was kind of dragged along with it. If you want a history of the change that took place and why it took place, I wrote an article that's been published in a book and a couple of magazines called Why Do Presbyterians Celebrate Holy Days? Tracing the development of the celebration of Holy Days in Presbyterian churches. You can find it on the table out back. I think I printed 11. I didn't think many more families than that would want a copy. But if you want to, give it a read. But what about us? What does all this mean to us, Andy? Well, the session of this church is committed to the principle that we will not teach you to observe in worship anything that is not a command of Jesus Christ. Now, practically, that means, in the most obvious sense, that means we're not going to be doing any skits, no ballet, no flag-waving. So far, everybody's, oh, thank you. No hopping on one leg, no St. Swithin's Day, even though it makes for good play in Shakespeare, no Lent. And here's where No Christmas and no Easter. Now, we know how weird that is in the modern context. Trust me, we know how weird it is. I remember just after I'd become a Christian, I'd been a Christian for a couple of years, I was standing behind a book table in our old church, and it was during a conference, and this lady came tearing up to the book table, little old southern lady, and she, because I was talking to the pastor, I was always hounding the pastor, and, yeah, she says it's true, and she came up and she said, Pastor you're not gonna believe this. I just heard that this church down the road that was Dave Coffin's congregation PCA Church, New Hope, Fairfax They don't observe Christmas and she looked at him sternly and said are they some kind of cult and I remember standing there thinking Well, that's weird What's with that? And he explained well, some Presbyterians do not observe Holy Days. I thought Well, I've never heard that before, you know. And so I began researching it myself. But I know exactly how weird that that is. I'm cognizant of the fact also that many of you might have questions about what I've just been talking about. So let me try to answer some of them. Let me try. Here I'm anticipating the kind of questions that might immediately come forward. If you have further questions, feel free to ask Toby. He's right here. And you can ask you can ask me as well. And Joe, when he gets back. But any questions you have about this position go right ahead. Now, let me start with something that's a little banal, but it needs to be answered. All right. Not observing Christmas is just downright un-American. Well, let me first answer that this way. I am not, understand this, I'm not telling you which holidays you can and cannot observe in your home. And I'm not American. No, that's true. That's secondary. Brothers and sisters, you observe a bunch of holidays already that we do not observe in the church. July 4th, Thanksgiving, Veterans Day, Secretaries Day, so on. They're not going to be imported into the church. These are not holy days that have been commanded. All right? But also remember that for many hundreds of years, most Americans didn't celebrate Christmas. How many of you know who John Witherspoon was? See, older kids first. I know you do. Any of the older kids? John Witherspoon? No. All right, Paul, who was he? He was the only minister who signed the Declaration of Independence. He was a Scot by birth, but became an American, a colonial patriot, signed the Declaration of Independence. This was a man who never observed Christmas. In fact, I have a couple of sermons of his where he says why he doesn't observe Christmas. Alexander Hamilton, Jonathan Edwards, R.L. Dabney, the man to whom Dabney was a chaplain, Stonewall Jackson. Don't believe what you see in gods and generals about the awful Christmas scene. Jackson never observed Christmas in church. All right. Now, who's going to stand up and say those guys are not American? I dare say no one. So you can answer people saying, hey, I'm just a founding father kind of American, when people get you on that. Keep in mind this also, Christmas as a holiday was not celebrated in America until the end of the 19th century as a general rule. 1889 was the first time there was any Christmas tree in the White House. So this is a far more recent holiday than we tend to think. All right, objections also. It is harmless. It does what Jesus wants in the first place. It is an evangelism tool. We have people who are going to be flooding into our churches on Christmas. If we don't give them a Christmas sermon, they're just going to go away thinking, wow, what kind of weird cult did I just stumble into? Well, brothers and sisters, almost every single tradition that the church ever generated as it was advancing throughout Europe and the world was generated by the idea that this will help the gospel to move forward. Tradition after tradition, building on them. So it is not entirely harmless. It is that idea that if we use the chariots of Canaan to conquer the promised land, things will go more speedily. So when God says hamstring the horses, burn the chariots, we say, you know, that sounds like such good advice. But we think that the gospel will move much faster if we do it this way. We need those chariots. We're going to use them. The culture understands their value and they are very difficult to stand against. But that's not the way that the Lord commands us. We need to take the principle that his scripture is sufficient, that the worship that his apostolic church engaged in is sufficient, and apply it to our own lives. Now, somebody, and this comes up, I just have two more objections I'll deal with. Does this mean that I'm saying that people who observe Christmas aren't Christian? Not at all. I mean, if I were to take that tack just from the first place, it would mean that I didn't become a Christian until 1990, I don't know, 98? Myself? 97, maybe? But that's not the case. I've been in churches where I mean, their worship service is as intricate with as many elements in it as a Las Vegas. I mean, show you expect Siegfried and Roy to be the next item in the bulletin. But as much as I would say, hey, there's no warrant in the Bible for that worship. I've met the brothers and sisters there, and I know that they're Christians because they're depending upon the Lord Jesus Christ for their salvation. But at the same time, I would say I don't want Siegfried and Roy, you know, because the word of God tells me I shouldn't. But it doesn't make them non-Christians. And last, all right, what advantage do we gain? Now, we should never found our practice on pragmatic principles. We know that. But there are so many different advantages, brothers and sisters. I wish I could speak to you from the heart for 40 more minutes, and you'd kill me if I did, of what the great advantages there are to this. One, it eliminates preferences. Do you know how preferences destroy churches? If we make the Bible the only fulcrum of what we are doing, what are we saying? We will let God decide how we are to worship rather than I will do what I want and you'll do what you want and then we'll split the church because they're not linking up. That's what happens when we follow preferences. It ensures we're not blown to and fro by the culture. It safeguards your Christian liberty. It means I don't have something else at the end of time I have to answer for. It's important to me. It reduces schism within the church. Brothers, it safeguards the authority of Christ. It really does. He is our only authority. And from him, we should take all of our faith, our life, and our practice. So I know it goes against our traditions and it becomes unpalatable, but it is really the best thing in some cases. Well, in all cases, to follow Christ is the safest of all measures in all