Man Made Traditions or God's Commands
Notes
Transcript
Honoring God with Your Life...
Honoring God with Your Life...
Good morning all!
Hope everyone is well today. I am glad you made the effort to come out to God’s house today.
Let me start by asking you a question today: Do you love Jesus?
Now look around at those next to us, across the isle from you perhaps… Do you love them?
We are called to love one another and do good toward each other. We are to pray for each other and finally build each other up as we serve the Lord.
Talk about the week of Prayer for God’s work in the state of Virginia
Today we are coming back to the Gospel of Matthew and with that, we are moving over to chapter 15.
Now the opening of this chapter speaks to the danger of traditions, traditions that seem good but violate the the purpose God has set forth for us in this world.
So lets look at the text and then we will see what the Lord wants us to hear
So we are gonna begin to by moving through the first 9 verses and the rest later.
1 Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, 2 “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.” 3 He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ 5 But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,” 6 he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. 7 You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:
8 “ ‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me;
9 in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ”
So remember, Jesus has just fed the masses in the story of the feeding of the 5000, then we find him walking on the water moving across the sea of Galilee to aid those disciples who are being buffeted by a great storm.
They then make it to their destination, they made it to the area called Gennesaret, where many came and were healed by Jesus. Some believing like the lady with the issue of blood, to only touch the hem of his garment.
Now as we open chapter 15, many Pharisees and Scribes, the religious leaders have come from Jerusalem to see Jesus and talk to Him.
They have questions plus wishing to see him I am sure preform great miracles and this is where we open our text today my friends.
So lets consider this first thought...
1. Man Made Traditions.....
Now as we start with this topic - Please do not think I am generalizing all traditions into one category and calling them all bad.
No, not by any means...
I know there are many types of traditions. -
In our homes, as families grow so do traditions in regard to holidays, vacations and so forth.
And there are times when traditions change, they take on new parts and people in an effort to consider the needs of everyone.
Now consider the church, we make traditions all the time. Some concerning holidays and others around events in the life of the church, some are healthy and I know there are some in various churches that might be un-healthy.
Traditions have existed across many plains of life, we know this to be true.
So in our text today, there are some religious leaders who come to Jesus wondering why He and his disciples fail to keep certain Jewish traditions that they have learned since their childhoods
Lets look at our text again..
1 Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, 2 “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.”
Now I would have you noticed that these religious leaders have come all the way from Jerusalem.
Now listen to this phrase “from Jerusalem” would probably imply leaders these are the highest ranking members of the Pharisees and Saducees. Now this is a greater presentation than others before them that have to see and talk to Jesus. They would have a greater zeal, a greater authority and yes they pose a greater threat to Jesus and his disciples.
And these two groups that are represented, they come asking a question.
Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders, they do not wash their hands when they eat.
It is interesting they didn’t ask Jesus why He didn’t do this… Being His disciples they have copied His ways. They would have not left this tradition unless Jesus had led the way so to speak. Perhaps it was a round about way to ask without insulting the “rabbai or teacher” that they ascribed to Jesus at times.
So 2 thoughts where I want you to pay attention too
A. Traditions of the Elders - This truth tells us this is a “tradition” - a common practice that has become acceptable among the people even though God the Father did not establish it.
B. The Practice Itself, the Washing of Hands - These religious leaders in fact all Jews, had practiced this “tradition”. It has developed along with other actions based on the Oral law ( called the Misnah). The Oral law had teaching that had been developed to help explain or apply the teaching of Scripture.
So this event here is more than just the washing of hands, it was a part of their ritual cleansing. An outward action to help demonstrate one’s holiness or cleanliness before God
There in is the danger, my friends, we cannot take our practices and our desires and say, oh look at this.. doesn’t it make you feel better when you do it?
Our walk with God is about pleasing Him with the attitude of our hearts and not only empty actions.
Actions need to be ordained by God...
So often God’s people confuse sentiment with spirituality.... The tradition that is held too makes us feel good, it puts lump in our throat and thus we assume God is glorified, yet that doesn’t mean that He is glorified.
When in truth God is glorified when we look to him alone and uphold empty hands seeking His presence and power to move in our lives.
God desires our heart, not just our hands....
2. God’s Command’s.....
Now I think we would agree, God has given us His commands that we might now how to live and walk in front of Him. But ultimately the law while inportant, we do not do away with it. But we know it is meant to show us the need of a Savior.
Now they have inquired of Jesus , in truth that have accused Him in this matter. So Jesus employs a standard rabbinic technique of the time and fires back at them with a counter question.
Lets go back to our text today
Verses 3-6
3 He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ 5 But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,” 6 he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God.
Did you hear what Jesus said....
You are worried about the Mishnah, the oral law ( Man’s traditions) more than keeping the true law of God.
I love it, Jesus does pull any punches, He speaks the truth....
Jesus says why do you break the law, the 10 commandments so that you can keep the oral law.
Common sense would tell us that God’s law is the gold standard if you will..
But Jesus, knowing their heart and actions bring to light their violation of the law.
Specifically Jesus points to the 5th commandment. Let me share it with you.
12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
So lets break this down and see what is happening here....
A. God’s Standard - Keep the law, Honor your Father and Mother, that is God’s law, in doing this God is pleased with our actions.
B. Jesus condemns their actions Their action of following the oral law selfishly in order to please themselves.
Go back to verses 5 and 6 specifically...
5 But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,” 6 he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God.
As children, we are commanded to honor our Father and Mother, we are called to do so all the days of our life. This means when when we are grown and they are old, we are to continue to help bless and serve them in every way we can.
Jesus condemns the religious leaders for abdicating their responsibility for selfish gain.
What’s happening? There are parents, and since Jesus is calling them out, ( I would say that some in the group that have come to talk to him are guilty of this issue)
Anyway, there are parents of these men who are in real financial need as they have grown older. They may not have the health, or ability to raise crops, produce from the farm animals and the like which would sustain their physical needs.
So these elderly adults as in need, and some of the religious leaders are guilty of saying “…What you would have gained form me is given to God.”
Now there is a saying for these actions.... According to Pharisaic traditions, one could live by Corban laws.
Corban laws are man made traditions that would allow a person to be released from the responsibility of the law, because they have promised a certain amount of devotion for God.
The only place that these are ever referenced in Scripture is in regard to this issue.
These religious leaders had the responsibility to care for their aging parents, but they refused saying I have promised what I would have given to help you to the Lord, thus I have nothing for you.
In truth they did this and kept the money for themselves in their selfishness.
Thus their own actions broke the commandment of God… Jesus says “...they make void the word of God..”
And what’s worse, they didn’t care....
Heinrich Brunner, (a Swiss theologian) said “There is a devotion to God that hurts God because it hurts people
Listen my friends, we are called to obey the law. Jesus himself said I have not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill it.
God never calls us to do anything that would hurt, neglect or slander another person, we are called instead to love. - Listen we can apply this truth to all the law...
If you break the first commandment, you hurt God. If you break the 8th “You should not bear false witness against your neighbor.” If we lie to our neighbor who have we hurt. Well for one, we have hurt God. But we have led our neighbor astray, when they find out… does it hurt our relationship with them? Yes.
Jesus even quotes the prophet Isaiah in his statement to them,,,
13 And the Lord said:
“Because this people draw near with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,
while their hearts are far from me,
and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,
The commands of God are meant to keep us in a right relationship with God and with mankind around us.
Do your best to live correctly in front of God and others my friends.
Now just one last thought today as we walk though this passage please understand God calls us to faithfulness
3. Heart of Faithfulness....
God taught his children over and over again, it’s not the outside that He truly desires, it is the inside.
One great example is when King Saul took it upon himself to disobey Samuel and wait, sacrificed before the Lord and violated what God desired and the words of Samuel were simply this
22 And Samuel said,
“Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
as in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
and to listen than the fat of rams.
God desires faithfulness above all.
Lets go back to our text as we see Jesus explains His teachings to those who were following Him.
10 And he called the people to him and said to them, “Hear and understand: 11 it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.”
The oral law taught if you did not wash your hands before certain parts of a meal you had made yourself ritually unclean...
But Jesus says this is not the command of God, it wasn’t what you did or didn’t do at the table that made you unclean, it was truly what was in your heart as you sat before God, your family and or peers that made a person unclean.
And this upset the religious leaders… Jesus did this often in speaking the truth to them.
Listen no one likes it when you call out their sin… But Jesus calls it out, not to embarrass or hurt people, but to make them better and more like Jesus.
And when a person fails to make the change, it means you are not His and judgment awaits.
Look at verses 13-14
13 He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. 14 Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”
These leaders Jesus says are not the plants the Father planted, as such they will be uprooted. In fact their actions lead people astray toward death.
And Jesus does on to share with his disciples the meaning of His words as Peter asks for clarification.
16 And he said, “Are you also still without understanding? 17 Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? 18 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. 20 These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”
Jesus explains it easily, what we eat goes in one place and comes out the other.. how can this defile a person.
The real issue is the heart of a person. Verse 18 Jesus says our words, and truly our thoughts whether spoken or not is what proceeds from the heart of a person, what is in the heart is what makes a person defiled.
Do you hate a person… you are defiled.
Do you gossip and talk about people… You are defiled.
Do you think unclean or covetness thoughts, you are defiled.
Do you lie and cheat, you are defiled.
Do you think poorly of your family, espeically your parents, you are defiled...
Jesus lays it out in verse 19...
19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.
It is what is already in your heart that condemns you… it is what defiles you.
What is the remedy, Get your heart right.
God desires a right heart, a heart of faithfulness… and it begins with surrendering yourself today.
What are you hiding away in your heart. Will you let it go today.
I am going to challenge you this morning to leave your seat, come to this altar and confess that before God privately and ask Him to forgive and change you.And go away from this place better than you came in today.
Lets pray!