Dearly beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, we Protestants fought and died 500 years ago to liberate the church from bondage to rituals. In those days, it was virtually assumed and taught by the Roman Catholic Church that the proper performance of prescribed rituals was the best and safest way to Heaven. In reaction against this ridiculous teaching, some of us have veered into the ditch on the opposite bank, and concluded that ritual is in itself ungodly, damaging, and distracting from the truth. Such an approach is at least as unbiblical as its Roman counterpart. Now, it's true that our text this evening is from the Old Testament, and that the Levitical system (of which the feast of unleavened bread and the dedication of the firstborn formed a part) was more ritualized than the method of administering the New Covenant. But when you define ritual, as I do, simply as a regularly repeated practice with a religious dimension, then it becomes obvious that ritual is a core piece of every religion, false or true. Christianity, the true religion, is no exception. And thus the question should not be "Is this a repeated practice? I.e., is this a ritual?" The question should be "Why are we repeating this practice? Is this a practice God commanded us to repeat?" In other words, ritual as such is not the issue. The issue is the command of God. The mere fact of repetition is not the problem. The problem is whether God has told you to repeat this certain thing that you're repeating in your religious exercises.
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Caleb Nelson grew up in Ft. Collins, CO. Born into a Christian home, where he eventually became the eldest of 11 children, he has been a lifelong Presbyterian. He professed faith at the age of six, and was homeschooled through high school. He then attended Patrick Henry College...
