Truth that Transforms the Nations into Members

ME Pickpocket (A hook):

If you are familiar with Oliver Twist,

You know that Oliver is taught,

That you’ve got to pick a pocket or two.

I remember as a kid,

I always wanted to try to pick pocket from my parents.

I would try to be all stealth,

And tip toe up behind,

Then sneakily take from their pocket without them feeling it.

But I was terrible!

It never worked,

They would feel it,

And catch me every time.

Then, in school,

They did a performance of Oliver Twist.

And I learned that its not just about being sneaky.

But when someone is pickpocketing,

They find some way to distract you.

For example, they may innocently enough bump into you.

Followed by a very polite apology.

To subconsciously trick you into assuming they are a good person.

But underneath that facade,

They actually did something evil,

Something harmful to you,

By taking from your pocket when they bumped into you.

This is a small example of how something evil can appear good.

In a much bigger sense,

Oftentimes our biggest threats come not from what is obviously evil,

But from what seems good.

This is true in both a physical and spiritual sense.

In fact, our greatest threat,

The devil,

Is a very subtle adversary.

2 Cor. 11:14-15 tells us,

That he disguises himself as an angel of light,

And his servants disguise themselves as servants of righteousness.

Throughout history,

And still today,

Some people,

And some traditions,

Have a reputation of wisdom.

But Colossians 2:20-23 asks,

Colossians 2:20–23 (CSB)

If you died with Christ to the elements of this world, why do you live as if you still belonged to the world? Why do you submit to regulations: “Don’t handle, don’t taste, don’t touch”? All these regulations refer to what is destined to perish; they are human commands and doctrines. Although these have a reputation for wisdom by promoting self-made religion, false humility, and severe treatment of the body, they are not of any value in curbing self-indulgence.

When Satan’s temptations for outright evil fail,

He is just as pleased to use seemingly good things to distract us from Christ and the Gospel.

Seemingly good things like deeply held religious traditions.

Matthew 15 shows us an example of this from the Pharisees.

They seemed really good.

But Jesus sees right through their fake holiness.

And instead taught the Truth that Transforms the Nations into Members.

This topic is a challenging topic to apply to one’s self.

So, as we prepare to look at this passage,

I want to encourage you,

Reject the temptation to begin conjuring in your mind someone else,

Other than yourself,

Who is just like the Pharisees.

Because just as Jesus could see through their fake holiness,

He can see through to each and everyone of our hearts.

With that in mind,

Slide

Our outline for this passage is:

Tradition ≠ Truth (vs. 1-9)

Clean Hands ≠ Clean Hearts (vs. 10-20)

Jesus’ Members > Jewish Members (vs. 21-39)

Teach the nations His truth over our traditions, that holiness starts in the heart.

WE Tradition ≠ Truth (vs. 1-9) (Why does this matter to us?):

Slide

Matthew 15 begins with the scribes and Pharisees coming all the way from Jerusalem to see Jesus,

Because they have an issue.

They need to find out not only what Jesus was teaching,

But more importantly,

How to stop Him.

So, they ask Jesus,

“Why are your disciples disregarding the tradition of the elders?”

“For they are not washing their hands when they eat.”

Now, the handwashing they are concerned with here is not about hygiene.

They are upset that the disciples are not doing the ritual handwashing that makes them pure.

A ritual established by the elders,

Dating all the way back to the time of Ezra and Nehemiah.

During that time,

The book of the law was discovered.

After that happened,

Scribes began to study it,

Then teachers began to explore all the ways the law should be applied to specific situations.

But this seemingly good thing,

Ended up developing into a human law,

Passed down generation after generation by respected authorities,

But then this human law was treated as equally authoritative as God’s law.

This continued during and after Christ’s time on earth.

Eventually being compiled into a book of Jewish oral traditions called the Mishnah.

So, over all those years,

Generation after generation of scribes and Pharisees added rules and regulations to God’s Word.

Man-made traditions treated with the same authority as God’s Word.

Slowly, what happened, was people learned and followed these manmade traditions more than God’s Word.

And disobeying them was just as bad,

If not worse,

Than disobeying God’s Word.

This is the handwashing they are talking about.

To us,

A ceremonial handwashing may seem silly.

The tradition taught that,

Before,

During,

And after each meal,

They had to pour water over their hands with their fingers pointed up,

So, the water would reach their wrist.

Then they would point their fingers down,

And pour water again.

So, the water would drip off their fingers.

If they mixed the order up,

Or poured the water wrong,

Or pointed their fingers in the wrong way,

Their hands would still be considered ritually unclean.

Next, each hand had to be rubbed with the other.

But they couldn’t until the other hand was clean.

To neglect any part of this was seen as a sinful.

Because their tradition was treated as law.

Slide

Col. 2:8 warns against this, saying,

Colossians 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.

Slide

Hand washing happens to be the tradition the scribes and Pharisees are using to try and take the disciples captive.

So, Jesus turns the tables on them,

Making a sharp distinction that human tradition does not equal God’s truth.

First, He asks them why they break God’s truth for their traditions.

Christ’s question here does not only apply to handwashing.

No human tradition, law, or teaching can take the place of,

Or twist the Bible itself.

The authority of Scripture stands alone from all human tradition.

Therefore, we must minimize the thoughts of people,

To prioritize God’s Word.

This danger is just as rampant for us today,

As it was during Christ’s time.

This is how we are deceived.

Because obeying God is good, right?

Slide

1 Tim. 6:18 says Christ’s members...

1 Timothy 6:18 (ESV)

...are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share,

But these good works must be done according to the right standard,

Which is God’s revealed will in the Bible.

Must be done with the right motive,

Which is love for God and others,

As Jesus says is the Greatest Commandment.

And they must be done for the right purpose,

Which is to glorify God,

Our ultimate purpose as human beings.

When any of these three are missing,

Then our human traditions get elevated over God’s truth.

So, although ceremonial handwashing may not be a concern to us,

We are still in danger of falling prey to our own traditions.

Similarly to the scribes and Pharisees,

We will treat good works as a way to earn God’s favor.

Which ultimately promotes self-centeredness,

And squeezes all humility, kindness, and compassion out of our hearts.

As descendants of Abraham,

The scribes and Pharisees thought they had to be approved by God.

So, they formalized their daily observance of the law,

Down to the tiniest of details.

In doing so,

They completely missed what the law truly required.

They made it about their ability to obey their own rules,

At the expense of all the people who they deemed as disobedient.

Similarly, after Christ returned to heaven,

A group of Jews who identified as Christian,

Taught that all who wished to become Christian,

Had to first convert to Judaism.

They said this was the only way to gain God’s favor.

Today, when we try to earn God’s favor through Christian works,

We are guilty of the same thing.

Because any additional requirements to the Gospel reject the all-sufficient nature of Christ and His sacrifice.

Additional requirements do not perfect the gospel,

They pervert the gospel,

Corrupting the way of salvation.

So, Jesus does not tolerate these burdens being laid on others.

He teaches us to be Gospel-centered rather than self-centered.

Because if we remain self-centered,

It will inevitably manifest into self-righteousness.

If we trust our Christian works to make us righteous,

Then we are not trusting God to make us righteous.

This slowly and subtly fosters a spirit of pride and contempt.

Pride in thinking we don’t need God to make us righteous.

For example,

The scribes and Pharisees were convinced they were the truly faithful keepers of the law.

They stood on their soapboxes of legalistic tradition,

Instead of the truth that Jesus taught matters most.

Later, Jesus says to them,

Matthew 23:23–24 ESV

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel!

Any elaborate,

Yet misguided interpretations of God’s Word,

Deny It’s true spirit and purpose.

It substitutes human traditions for God’s truth.

It binds consciences that God sets free.

Jesus calls this hypocrisy.

It is a legalism that serves one’s own self-interest.

For example,

If the scribes and Pharisees rightly held God’s truth as supremely authoritative,

They would be out of a job,

They wouldn’t feel needed by the people.

So, by reinforcing our traditions,

We really serve our own self-interest,

While condemning others.

But in the end,

Jesus says,

Slide

Hypocrisy is what He condemns.

Back here in our passage,

He quotes two OT references,

Then, compares it to one of their traditions,

That contradicts these references.

This tradition was called the vow of corban.

It was a vow that would “dedicate to God,”

By dedicating to the temple,

The resources an adult child would have used to support their parents.

Since, according to the scribes and Pharisees,

The child’s obligation to God outweighed their obligation to their parents.

So, if there was a resource a child didn’t want to give to their parents,

They could simply say it was dedicated to the Lord.

This allowed them to revile their parents,

Directly disobeying God’s Word,

While being taught that what they are doing is righteous.

So, Jesus is just giving one example of the hypocrisy of legalistic tradition.

And how it is used to disregard God’s truth.

Again, we may be tempted to think we are nothing like the Pharisees,

Because their traditions are so irrelevant to us.

But if we think this way,

We are certain to miss the many ways human tradition is still exalted over God’s truth.

So, let me share some examples in our context.

The first example is cults.

Some have even become organized religions.

Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons claim to be Christian as well.

On the surface,

They may seem very similar.

They do a lot of good things.

But they have written additional books of teachings that they claim are just as authoritative as the Bible.

Mormons, for example,

Have the Doctrine and Covenants,

The Pearl of Great Price,

And the Book of Mormon,

Which, Afton’s own, Joseph Smith said is,

“The most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts, than by any other book.”

So, these groups embrace several false teachings.

They don’t hold to the truth of the Gospel,

They don’t teach that we are saved by grace through faith in Christ.

There are many other groups that deny or twist the truth of the Gospel.

Christian scientists, Scientology, and Universalists are just a few more examples.

But there are also smaller-scale,

Equally dangerous cults.

Often driven by the charismatic personality of the leader.

Another example is a significant portion of Catholic teaching.

The Catholic church affirms three sources of authority:

The Bible, including the Apocrypha,

Their traditions,

And what they call the Magesterium.

The Magesterium includes the teachings from the current Bishops and the Pope.

The Catholic Catechism says these three sources of authority...

“Are so connected and associated that one of them cannot stand without the others.”

Now, the temptation to follow these other religions may not be that dangerous for us.

But before we get on a Baptist high horse.

We still have our own temptations that are a danger to us.

First, is our own traditions.

The reality is,

As 21st century Christians,

We do things that are not explicitly prescribed in the Bible.

Why?

Why do we do what we do?

Because these traditions have been passed down to us as being biblical.

Why do we say grace before a meal?

Why do we have a constitution as a church?

Why do we collect an offering during service?

None of these things are prescribed in the Bible.

So, we do them because of our traditions.

When we elevate our traditions to the same level as God’s truth,

Then we get ourselves in trouble.

That is why we must constantly look to the authority of God’s Word.

Ask God to reveal our blind spots,

And be on guard against the areas where we put our thoughts, preferences, and traditions above the Bible.

But it is not only traditions that can be dangerous for us.

Also trends can threaten to push the truth of God’s Word to the side.

Today, we are bombarded with new way to do church,

With great new teachings we hear online or in a devotional or at a conference,

That is sweeping across every church.

We feel pressure to adopt the newest ideas.

But in the buzz of the trend,

Have we stopped to consider what the Bible says on this matter?

Should we be live streaming services?

Should we use videos during service?

Should we project Scripture on powerpoint?

Again, none of these things are prescribed in the Bible,

But they are trends we see today.

And this is the challenge.

Not all trends or traditions are bad.

Some can be good and helpful.

But the key is,

They must promote the authority of God’s Word.

So, regardless of the tradition or trend,

It must always be minimized,

And God’s truth must be magnified.

We must let God’s Word consume our teaching and preaching.

If anyone is not preaching the Word of God,

Myself included,

Don’t listen,

Don’t follow.

Authority in the church does not come from any tradition or trend,

It comes from Christ alone,

Who is the Head of the Body, the church,

And who leads us by His Spirit-inspired Word.

If we are truly magnifying the truth of God,

Then we must let the Word of God drive our decisions,

And our practices.

Whenever we are facing an issue,

We must go to God’s Word,

Open it up,

Pray,

And seek His will.

The Word is alive and active,

It will lead Christ’s body,

The church.

Slide

Another element to faithfully exalting the authority of God’s Word,

Is promoting true worship of God.

After declaring the Pharisees as hypocrites,

Jesus calls them out for a lack of true worship,

Quoting Isaiah 29:13 in vs. 8-9.

In Isaiah,

The prophet called out the people for worshiping God in vain.

Their hearts were far from God,

Why?

Because they were teaching human laws and traditions as truth.

So, Jesus is making a clear connection:

As long as human traditions are central in the church,

The worship of those traditions will remain central in the church.

But in contrast,

When the truth of God is central in the Body,

Then true worship of God is central in the Body.

A Body that is saturated in Scripture will glorify God in worship.

Jesus teaches us that worship is about far more than just physical action.

The scribes and Pharisees were honoring God with their lips,

But their hearts were far from God.

This same danger can be true for us today.

We can preach God’s Word,

Pray,

Take the Lord’s Supper,

Sing loudly,

Serve in a variety of ways,

And do a number of things as worship.

And yet, our heart can still be miles away from God.

So, we must be on guard.

Both as a church and as individuals.

True worship is not overly concerned with form.

It is not overly concerned with what we do physically.

More important than what we do outwardly is who we are.

Jesus is clear,

The heart is the real issue when it comes to worship.

That is what true worship is concerned with.

True worship is all about spiritual affection.

It is about lifting our hearts to God.

Not just in praise.

But also in brokenness or contrition over sin,

In grief over our circumstances,

In fear or awe over God’s greatness,

In gratitude for His grace,

Hope in His promises,

And celebration for His salvation.

These are the type of responses that represent true worship.

In fact,

Slide

God says in Isaiah 66:2,

Isaiah 66:2 (ESV)

This is the one to whom I will look: he who is humble and contrite in spirit and trembles at my word.

This is genuine spiritual affection.

It includes our emotions,

But it is more than just emotions.

Spiritual affection for God is compelled by faith.

Our response to God,

Emotions and all,

Are hastened by our trust in Him.

In His commentary,

Slide

J.C. Ryle wrote,

“Let it be a settled resolution with us that in all our religion the state of our hearts shall be the main thing. Let it not content us to go to church and observe forms of religion. Let us look far deeper than this and desire to have a heart right in the sight of the Lord.”

True worship,

Spiritual affection,

Comes from our heart,

As we honestly listen to,

And engage with,

Our great God,

Who reveals Himself to us,

Through the truth of His Word.

GOD Clean Hands ≠ Clean Hearts (vs. 10-20) (Teach the text):

Slide

Since true worship is about a clean heart,

Jesus summons the crowd to Him in vs. 10-20,

To teach them that clean hands do not equal clean hearts.

He teaches this with a short parable,

Saying, it is not what comes in the mouth that defiles a person,

But what comes out of their mouth.

The disciples are stunned,

They ask Jesus,

“Do you know your offending the Pharisees?”

Of course Jesus knew what He said was not going to be well received.

But why were they offended?

Because Jesus was calling them out for their hypocrisy in front of everyone.

These guys seemed to honor God,

They were well-respected.

But Jesus’ point is that no matter how clean their hands were,

Their hearts were still dirty.

So, Jesus needed to completely transform the disciples way of thinking.

Slide

And that is what He does.

First, He tells His disciples to leave the Pharisees alone,

To avoid them.

Because they are not planted by the Father,

So, they will be uprooted,

Foreshadowing the judgment they will face for being hypocrites,

Who blindly lead themselves and whoever listens to them to their demise.

Slide

But the disciples still do not understand.

So, Peter comes to Jesus,

And asks Him to explain the parable.

Jesus goes on to teach the fundamental truths about holiness.

Our greatest need,

Is not cleaner hands,

Not an outward, physical cleansing.

Jesus asks Peter,

“Don’t you realize that whatever you eat goes through your stomach,

Then is eliminated?”

What goes into the body will eventually come out.

Therefore, dirty hands are not the biggest problem.

But these scribes and Pharisees,

They were so focused on the externals,

That they totally missed what is most important,

The internal.

That, Jesus says, is our greatest need,

Clean hearts.

Slide

Why?

Because the human heart is inherently corrupt.

This is why Jesus says your speech is what defiles you.

Because what you say reflects what is in your heart.

Your words are a product of your heart.

Just as Jesus taught back in ch. 12,

Your words,

Even the careless words you speak,

Have an eternal importance.

In vs. 19,

Jesus gives a list of sins;

Murder, adultery, sexual immorality, and stealing.

All these evil things come from the heart,

But in the same breath,

Jesus condemns lying, gossip, and insults.

These things are what make you impure,

Jesus says,

Because these things are issues of the heart.

They are the fruit demonstrating the sinful condition of the heart.

So, breaking human traditions doesn’t defile you.

Your greatest need is not fixing your life on the outside.

Your greatest need is a clean heart on the inside.

True holiness begins in the heart.

And only Jesus can clean your heart.

He transforms your corrupt heart,

Diminishing your love for sin.

This transformation begins with Jesus’ forgiveness for all your sin.

God promises in Ezekiel 36:25 that He...

Ezekiel 36:25 (ESV)

...will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.

He fulfilled this promise through Christ’s death on the cross.

Jesus forgives your sin by His blood.

But He doesn’t stop there.

Jesus simultaneously fills you with His Holy Spirit.

Again, God promised this in Ezek 36:27, saying,

Ezekiel 36:27 ESV

And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.

It is only Christ’s forgiveness paired with the filling of the Spirit that can change you from this inside out.

This is what makes you holy.

Not your clean hands.

But at the same time,

You cannot be casual about holiness.

By the power of the Spirit,

Jesus commands us to be holy as He is holy.

Slide

Again, J.C. Ryle spells it out so well in his commentary:

“What is the first thing we need in order to be Christians? A new heart. What is the sacrifice God asks us to bring to him? A broken and contrite heart (Psalm 51:17). What is the true circumcision? The circumcision of the heart (Romans 2:29). What is genuine obedience? To obey from the heart. What is saving faith? To believe with the heart. Where ought Christ to dwell? To dwell in our hearts through faith (Ephesians 3:17).”

Everything revolves around the heart.

We see this all throughout the Bible.

You need to cultivate a holy heart,

That is transformed by God’s Spirit.

No one needs you to spread superficial religion.

That’s what these human traditions offer.

The world is lost,

Blinded by sin.

It does not need more blind people,

Carrying out more rules and more regulations,

And calling it Christianity,

While blindly leading others into a pit.

It does not matter how respected a person may be as a teacher,

All who spread human traditions as God’s truth,

Are false teachers bound for judgment.

They are a danger to themselves and others.

Don’t just assume that you are immune to this.

The Bible warns about wolves in sheep’s clothing.

Be on guard against superficial religion,

And don’t spread superficial religion.

Because that’s not what we need.

The whole world needs supernatural regeneration.

So, don’t be satisfied with superficial holiness.

Yearn for a heart that produces holiness,

Something only God can do in us.

YOU Jesus’ Members > Just Jews (vs. 21-39) (Response):

Slide

After all this back and forth about holiness, tradition, and truth,

The narrative takes an interesting shift in vs. 21-39,

Where Jesus turns His attention from just His disciples,

To demonstrate how Jesus’ Members are more than just Jewish Members.

By miraculously healing many people,

In two non-Jewish cities that were viewed as notoriously wicked and deserving of God’s wrath according to the Jews.

Slide

In this region,

Jesus heals the daughter of a Canaanite woman who is severely tormented by a demon.

But I have to confess,

I initially found this interaction quite confusing.

It helped to take a step back and understand the context.

For one, Canaanites were ancient enemies of the Jews.

Secondly, from the disciples perspective.

Jesus has just flipped their world upside down,

By teaching them that the way they always thought to get clean,

Does not actually make them clean.

Now, in this Gentile region,

Filled with unclean people,

Some Canaanite woman asks Jesus for help,

And she calls Him the Son of David.

From their perspective,

The Son of David was a promised blessing to the Jews.

So, when Jesus initially says nothing to her,

They jump at the chance to urge Jesus to get rid of her.

Because they have had enough of her incessant crying.

But what follows shows How Christ’s plan involves much more than just the Jews.

He has a salvation plan that is unfolding before the eyes of Jewish members,

Spreading to the ends of the earth.

We can only imagine how shocking this realization would have been to these Jewish disciples.

Jesus’ words and demeanor completely contradicted the way Jews viewed Gentiles.

First, He tells her He was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

At this time in redemptive history,

Jews were His primary focus.

But at the end of Matthew,

Jesus explicitly commissions His disciples to the Gentiles.

But because He has not yet died and risen from the dead.

The wall of hostility Eph. 2:14 still stands.

The ethnic tension caused by this wall was fully alive during this time.

To the Jews,

This Gentile woman was a dog.

She had no right to the Jewish blessings.

Slide

But she is not here to steal the Jews’ blessings.

She hoped to benefit from the overflow of their blessings.

So, kneeling before Jesus,

She simply calls Him Lord,

And pleads for His help,

For His mercy.

So, Jesus responds in a way that aims to change His Jewish members’ mentality.

In the midst of this Gentile region,

During an encounter with a Gentile woman,

Jesus teaches how even here,

And among people like this woman,

The harvest field is ripe.

He did not send her away as they asked.

Instead, He highlights her persistence and her faith.

He does this by first telling her that it wouldn’t be right to take the children’s bread and feed it to the pets.

He is saying it wouldn’t be right to take what belongs to the Jews and give it to the Gentiles.

But unlike the Pharisees,

The woman is not offended by Jesus,

She does not argue,

Nor even deny what He says.

In fact, she joins His illustration,

Identifying herself as the dog,

And instead of taking the blessings from the Jews,

She says,

“Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”

She has faith that a crumb of Jesus’ blessings will heal her daughter.

And Jesus commends her for her faith!

Instantly healing her daughter.

This woman,

And a Gentile centurion back in ch. 8,

Are the only two people in all of Matthew,

That Jesus commends for their faith.

Jesus tears down our dividing walls of hostility.

If I am one of those first century Jewish members,

I would find this interaction jarring.

And that is Jesus’ point.

His plan is not just for the Jews,

It is a global plan.

He has come to save members from all nations.

This has been God’s plan from the beginning,

As God had promised to Abraham in Gen. 12.

The Jews just missed it.

Slide

After this interaction,

Jesus continues to journey into more Gentile regions.

Mark tells us that vs. 29-39 take place in the Decapolis.

This large crowd of Gentiles is amazed.

Because by Christ’s miraculous power,

The mute were talking,

The crippled were healed,

The lame were walking,

And the blind could see.

So, in their awe and wonder,

This Gentile region glorified the God of Israel.

Once again,

Jesus’ ministry is pointing Gentiles to the one true God.

He is doing the same things among the Gentiles that He did among the Jews.

Meanwhile, His disciples are witnessing all of this.

Having their perceptions constantly challenged by Jesus.

Something, that should still be happening among His members today.

Where we continue to be a part of His global purpose,

Nurturing a similar passion for the nations,

Working and preaching and serving among the nations.

So, that, every tribe, tongue, and nation in the world will give glory to God.

Still today,

There are people groups around the world that have not heard the Gospel,

And are not yet giving glory to God.

That is why we exist to go and make disciples.

Both here in Afton,

And to the ends of the earth.

This must be a part of our DNA as a body,

That every nation would glorify the One true God.

Slide

In vs. 32-38,

It feels like,

Haven’t we seen this already?

And the answer is,

Yes, sort of.

And that is Matthew’s point.

It is another crowd of thousands,

This time,

It is 4,000 instead of 5,000.

In both cases,

Jesus is moved with compassion,

Satisfying each person with a small amount of food,

Then leftover pieces are collected.

Slide

In this case,

They collected seven large baskets worth of leftovers.

But the most significant difference,

Is that this miracle feeds Gentiles,

Not Jews.

You can almost imagine the disciples seeing the scene starting to take shape,

Then asking themselves,

“Would Jesus really perform this same miracle among the Gentiles?”

This prejudice was deeply rooted in the disciples,

Even after Jesus died,

Rose from the dead,

Commissioned the disciples,

And began building the church,

Peter still needed a vision from God in Acts 10,

To be reminded that what God has made clean,

You must not call common.

This prejudice would keep the disciples from spreading the Gospel to more than just Jews.

So, Jesus is showing how His members are more than just the Jews.

WE (Paint a picture of the future):

Slide

This lesson is made clear by the end of our passage.

Jesus came to save people from all nations.

He was the messianic host to the Jews when He fed the 5,000.

Now, we see Jesus is the host for all peoples,

Just like the future banquet foreshadowed in Revelation,

Where one day,

Every tribe, tongue, and nation will be represented.

Today, as Christ’s members,

Our desire must be the same.

We must give our lives to the fulfilment of God’s mission.

Teaching the nations His truth over our traditions,

That holiness starts in the heart.

Pray.