Stories Jesus Told Part 3
Notes
Transcript
Let’s read in Matthew 15 starting in verse 1.
1 Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, 2 “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!”
The Pharisees applied a rule from Exodus 30 that instructed the priests to wash their hands and feet prior to ministering. This was a ceremonial cleansing of the dirt and grime that defiles as they went through life.
They taught - unclean hands touch food which then makes it unclean prior to eating and if they eat unclean food then that makes the person unclean....Therefore, wash your hands before you eat. Great idea, wrong reason.
I want to pause here and explain what the Pharisees mean by “tradition of the elders.” Whenever you have a list of do’s and don’ts, there are usually exceptions. As a father, I’ve dealt with a few of them. For instance…Go to bed and don’t come out until morning…What if the house is on fire? OK, go to bed and don’t come out until morning unless the house is on fire....What if I’m bleeding...
This is how the tradition of the elders came about. Here is an actual example...
29 Bear in mind that the Lord has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Everyone is to stay where they are on the seventh day; no one is to go out.”
A command that was given during the desert wandering became “law” for the nation of Israel as a permanent command, but what if someone was hungry and you wanted to give food to them on the Sabbath? Well, you couldn’t leave the house…but, the traditions of the elders reasoned, if you stand inside your doorway and hand the gift out the door, that is ok since you didn’t actually leave the house.
So many times people can distort the meaning behind the command that was given and before you know it, there is volumes of “traditions of the elders” that no one really knows the full extent of. Jesus was having nothing of this attack and accusation. He turns it right back on them...
3 Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’ 5 But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ 6 they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition.
In the tradition of the elders, it was written down that if there is a conflict with resources that should have been used for a person’s parents were promised to God, then God would get the resources. In reality, those resources were going to fund the work of those who wrote the rules. Jesus makes clear that this command to honor father and mother came from God himself while these other rules end up nullifying the word of God on the basis of man’s tradition.
God’s commands > Man’s tradition
This is a very important point. I think we can implement good things, chase after good things, elevate and honor good things without realizing they contradict the Word of God.
I remember being asked 6 or 7 years ago, “Are there any sacred cows in this church.” Meaning…is there anything that can’t be changed in this church? I answered only one: God’s Word. I have since learned that this answer was a bit naive. There are things that people hold onto for tradition sake. Maybe at one time these traditions were well intentioned and met a need at the time, but if a tradition is contrary to God’s Word, then it must go.
Understand that I am not saying this because I want to change something or remove something…I am just teaching what Jesus said. I must examine myself and my preferences to see if there are any traditions in my way of thinking that go against God’s Word. I have to hold onto all things loosely except for the Word of God.
31 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 32 Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God—33 even as I try to please everyone in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved.
Let’s read what Jesus had to say next...
7 You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:
8 “ ‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
9 They worship me in vain;
their teachings are merely human rules.’”
Teaching human rules will only gain as much as humans can do themselves.
Human rules = human results
I don’t know about you, but I’ve seen enough of human results recently. When we act according to our human rules with our hearts far from God, we can really mess things up.
Jesus then clarifies what defiles a person:
10 Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. 11 What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.”
This was radical thinking. The Jews and teachers of the Law were so focused on the exterior of the man that they neglected the root of man. At the root of all of us, we are evil. 2 Timothy 3 says this about people, specifically in the end times, but this is true of man without God:
2 People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3 without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—
When our hearts are not right, when are hearts are far from God, this is the result. Jesus is saying that it’s not the food you put in your mouth that is defiling, it is what comes out.
Obviously the Pharisees didn’t like this idea…if the people in power lose the ability to control people with rules then they are out of their position of power, but rather than approaching Jesus directly, they go to the disciples and they bring the message to Jesus:
12 Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?”
13 He replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. 14 Leave them; they are blind guides. If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”
Because eye care was not great, there were a large number of blind people during Jesus day. The image of a blind man leading a blind man would have been very effective. If you were blind during this time in history, you could not navigate around without a guide. If the guide was blind, then they were both doomed.
So it is with a teacher who’s heart is not right with the Father. How can that teacher teach the things of God and what He wants if they don’t understand themselves? They can’t.
Jesus answer to the disciples - You can’t reason with them. Leave them. Continue on your path in serving God. Until their heart changes, they won’t understand.
Then the disciples want further explanation about this idea that it’s not what goes into the mouth, but what comes out defiles the man. Naturally the disciples have Peter ask the question...
15 Peter said, “Explain the parable to us.”
16 “Are you still so dull?” Jesus asked them. 17 “Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body? 18 But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. 20 These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them.”
Jesus is using the digestive process as the parable. We eat, our body takes the useful stuff out and expels the waste and toxins. What we eat doesn’t change what is already in our heart. Our actions, our speech reflect what is already in our heart, what is in our nature.
The remedy for that is not to clean our hands before we eat, the remedy is heart change. Human rules and reasoning will not change a heart - only God can change a heart.
As I’ve witnessed the events of the last week, I was sorrowful, but not discouraged. I prayed for wisdom and how to address what is happening and God just allowed me to soak it all in for a few days before he gave me a revelation about what was happening.
He said to me that what I am seeing is the result of the heart of man. What is being represented and causing this turmoil is not from God, although He has allowed it. This is the enemy using the tendencies of man to create chaos and strife. And before we are quick to condemn those that disagree with our point of view, let me say that there is plenty of condemnation to go around.
While it would make us feel better to point our fingers at the world and all that is wrong with it, I believe Jesus would rather have us focus inwardly.
While I certainly have some thoughts of my own about how Jesus might respond to the church in America, I am more clear about how Jesus would speak to each one of us.
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight.
7 Do not be wise in your own eyes;
fear the Lord and shun evil.
8 This will bring health to your body
and nourishment to your bones.
30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”
31 But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.
32 “Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Where is your treasure? I’ve been asking myself that question this week. I don’t know about you, but I want to make sure my treasure is in the right place. If my treasure is in the right place, my heart is in the right place. If my heart is in the right place, then what I say and what do will come from the right place.
Rules won’t do it. Religion won’t do it. Only relationship with the Father will.