Marking Time: Forming Spirituality through the Christian Year

Ses s i on 5: Shoes That F i t Our Feet

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3. In the epistles, the apostles warned of the seduction of tradition that did not connect its followers to the person of Jesus Christ, Col. 2.8 (ESV) – See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.

C. Without the fullness of the Holy Spirit among the people of God, the constant edification of the Scripture , and the passionate remembrance and celebration of God’s works in history, tradition will inevitably lead to dead formalism.

1. Those who are spiritual are filled with the Holy Spirit, whose power and leading alone provides individuals and congregations a sense of freedom and vitality in all they practice and believe.

2. When the practices of any given tradition become severed from the life giving power of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, tradition loses its effectiveness, and may actually become counterproductive to our discipleship in Jesus Christ.

3. Scripture citations

a. The filling of the Spirit, Eph. 5.18 (ESV) – And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit.

b. The fruit of the Spirit, Gal. 5.22-25 (ESV) – But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kind ness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.