Does It Matter To God?

Does it Matter to God?

For the past 2000 years people who call themselves believers have systematically set aside the God given feast days and created their own. They have put aside the observances which remind us of the sequence God is working through on His way to His glorious goal… Passover, the Feast of unleavened bred, Pentecost, the Day of Trumpets, Atonement, The Feast of Tabernacles… And as a pale substitute we are offered Christmas, Easter, Halloween… even the weekly Sabbath has been replaced with the day of the Sun.

Even with bible in hand… translated into every language… most are willing to exchange the Feasts of the Lord… for empty, man-made traditions.

Why would people make such an exchange? Where do they think they get the authority to make such changes? The Church has a great deal to say about both those questions. But…

The short answer to WHY is… bad habits are hard to break.

In past centuries church leaders decided to make it easier for outsiders to accept the church… because the people they wanted to convert wouldn’t change their bad habits… the church leaders decided to not be so insistent that others change their former ways… instead the church would adapt so more people will join.

The short answer to WHERE do they get the authority to make such changes is… they never got it.

The church leaders of long ago simply presumed themselves to have the authority to change the Feasts of the Lord and substitute in their own ideas and designs.

Let’s address a different question: Does it matter to God? Does He really care whether we honor Him through His appointed feast days versus man made traditions like Christmas?

The short answer is: Yes, it matters to God. Now, let me show you that from His word.

The Bad Example of Israel

While Israel was in Egypt they had lots of exposure to Egyptian culture, philosophy, traditions, and religion. Egypt had thousands of gods… every object or creature was considered to be some form of spirit that had chosen to present itself in its given form… a cat, a crocodile, a hawk, a frog, a river… with powers and qualities the people sought to control or channel through various religious rites, rituals, amulets and statues made of stone or metal.

God pulled Israel out of the spiritual confusion and physical oppression of Egypt. His purpose was to set them up as a special nation on the world stage. There they were to serve as a living instruction and revelation of God’s unchanging spiritual laws for all other nations.

As part of establishing them God gave Israel a written code containing His standards of justice, morality, compassion. The written code also contained instructions on how people were to approach Him for forgiveness, mercy and how they were to worship Him.

• Exodus 20 – the 10 commands [the fundamental principles of living]
• Exodus 21-22 – a series of judgments and statutes… these are sample applications [or case studies] of the 10 commands.
• Exodus 23:14-17 In addition to the Sabbath laws [verse 10-13] God introduces 7 feast observances which were like Sabbaths meant to be kept on an annual rather than weekly schedule.
• Exodus 24 – then the covenant is confirmed
• Its only afterward s that God has Moses come up the mountain to receive further instructions about the tabernacle [God’s dwelling}, the priests [God’s household staff]… this is the substance of Exodus 25-31

Moses was up on the mountain a long time receiving this information from God. Its was 40 days and the people down below were getting restless.

Exodus 32:1-6 – the people go back to what they know. They begin mixing the Egyptian approach with the lord God YHWH’s aproach. They wanted a thing made of metal to represent the god who was leading them out of Egypt.

They didn’t intend it to replace YHWH. They wanted to worship YHWH the Egyptian way. Note that Aaron declares it a “festival to the lord {YHWH]”. Then they had an ad-hoc religious festival followed by eating, drinking and revelry [a very Egyptian approach to religious festivities].

Exodus 32:7-8 God acts quickly…

God: I should destroy them and start over again

Moses: Please don’t for the sake of your reputation

God: OK… I won’t destroy them [but, there will be some punishment]

Moses burns the idol, grinds it into powder, makes them eat it, so it ends up in the toilet where it belongs. Additionally, 3,000 people are killed restoring order and God also kills many more with a plague.

Exodus 32:19-35 God had told them about his Sabbaths and Feasts and they took unauthorized liberty… presumptuously altered God’s instructions… and committed what Moses calls A GREAT SIN.

John 4:23-24 It is not enough to say “we had good intentions”, or “we were doing it for you”… our worship must also be according to truth. Like Israel, once we come to understand God’s truth we have an obligation to take the necessary steps to obey him.

Numbers 15:30-31 God is clear about what He thinks of presumptuous behavior regarding his law… one who despises God’s command and His authority [who thinks its no big deal].

The rest of that generation of Israel lived and died over the next 40 years in the wilderness because of their lack of faith and disobedience. After 40 years a new generation had grown up to replace them and march into the promised land. BUT before they went God warned again about worshiping Him in unacceptable ways Deuteronomy 12:29-32

Israel didn’t forgot God’s waring…. They became fascinated with how other nations worshipped and wanted to bring those elements… the bright lights, the music, the revelry, fertility symbols, drinking, astrology into their worship of God.

Note: All these same forbidden things are present in Xmas/ Easter and Halloween.

Deuteronomy 16:21 Asherah, a sacred tree [or pole] the Canaanites used to honor the fertility godess Ashera… the consort of EL [mighty one].

Israel a terrible habit of putting up these Asherah poles… even in the end erecting them in the very temple of God himself. 2 Kings 23:4-7

Jesus taught: “you cannot serve 2 masters, either you will hate one and love the other or else you will hold to one and despise the other”... God’s appointed feasts or your own traditions. Another good scripture to keep in mind is James 1:8 “a double minded person is unstable in all his ways”.

Bible Message Consistent

Many people falsely assume that all those OT prohibitions on mixing idolatrous practices with Godly worship were canceled with the death of Jesus Christ and the termination of the Old Covenant. But they were not.

The new covenant has made some modifications to God’s way of doing things… but those modifications were related to things like the tabernacle, the priests, and the sacrifices… AND we have a scriptural basis for those… God’s word and authority.

God’s commands prohibiting idolatry and false worship have not conveniently “gone away”. They remain part of the eternal spiritual law that governs life in the universe. God is consistent, the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

The Example of Corinth

1 Corinthians 12:2 they were called out of idolatry by God into a New Covenant relationship with Him.

Paul taught these people about how to life God’s way in a culture up to its neck in idolatry.

Corinthians 8:4 Paul agrees that we know the idol itself is nothing and there is not God but one. But notice that he continues with that thought in 1 Corinthians 10: 14-22 [emphasize the participation].

In the same way we know that a christmas tree is just a dead piece of wood people have chopped down dragged in their home and set up in their living room. People justify it as “just a decoration”… i… but we also know where it comes from and what it means. The rather bizarre act of chopping down an evergreen tree and setting it up in your home in the dead of winter is an ancient idolatrous fertility rite. So, we stay away from it.

2 Corinthians 6:14-18, 7:1

What Should We Do?

For those of us who used to participate in those man-made traditions filled with idolatrous trappings… like xmas, easter, halloween… we put those things behind us and we don’t look back. That old person we were has been crucified with Christ.

For our children and those who have grown up with the truth… you know what God has commanded so stay clear and don’t dabble in such things.

God is strongly opposed to the idea of setting aside His appointed Feasts and replacing them with traditions of our own making… and not only that but traditions that are nothing more than thinly veiled idolatry.

There are no scriptural instructions to change either the Sabbaths or the Feasts of God. Nor is there any solid scriptural basis for any church law that allows us to overturn God’s commands. In fact what Jesus teachies is quite the opposite.

Matthew 5:17-20

Mark 7:6-8