Examine Your Traditions

Introduction

If you had to answer this question: “Where did the Pharisees and Scribes start to go wrong?” how would you answer? Much of Matthew’s gospel has been hinting at the source of the problem. Through Jesus’ rebukes of the Pharisees, through Matthew’s narrative retelling of how they acted toward Jesus, and so on, we’ve been getting glimpses of some quiet, yet explosive, issue in the Pharisees. Jesus has previous referred to them as “hypocrites” in Matthew 6:2 and 5 when He tells the crowds to not be like the Pharisees in giving offerings and prayer to God.

This “hypocritical” nature (actingone way, but truly being another) of the Pharisees is not necessarily evident to normal, everyday Jews. The Pharisees had studied up on all things “Bible” in the eyes of the Jewish people, they were people who really lived the faith with everything that they did. But, sadly, they weren’t actually living the faith, and they didn’t really know what God had said.

Today, we’re going to get another hint at the issue the Pharisees and Scribes have. We’re going to see a distinction between how they approach Jesus and how the crowds approach Jesus, first off, and we’re also going to hear Jesus charge the Pharisees and Scribes of the depth of their hypocrisy.

Spoiler alert: It’s very deep.

Narrative Outline

1. Jesus travels to Gennesaret after walking on water and stilling the storm

a. Perhaps the Gennesarenes had seen the storm and were in awe that Jesus and His disciples made it?

b. Jesus’ reputations has preceded Him, so the people begin to bring out all their sick and lame

c. They pay Him honor by asking to touch the fringe of His garment (an act of veneration in Jewish society)

i. Jesus responds to their faith and honoring Him by healing them, typical of His earthly ministry // Note: Nobody should come to Jesus expectingany blessing by Him other than the best of blessings (salvation from sin)

d. Note:Those who had not been blessed by Jesus, but only those who had heard of Him began bringing others to Him

i. This is the way it works, when Jesus has a good reputation, even those who do not know Him will want to bring their ailing people to Him

ii. This is why it used to be that people would bring their alcoholic family members to churches, because Jesus had a good reputation in our culture

iii. This is no longer the case, and Christians should bear the brunt of that failure

2. The Pharisees come from Jerusalem, probably to examine Him

a. It would make sense that the biblically educated would be sent to examine new teachers, to see if they were worthy to be brought among the Pharisees and Scribes

i. But that was not the Messiah’s goal // He did not come to join the religious elite, but to enact the plan of salvation that the Father and He had designed (“…even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world…” [Eph. 1:4a])

b. They bring a charge against Him, that He and His disciples do not obey the tradition of the elders, that they do not wash their hands before eating food

i. Jesus makes clear that the real problem is that they are conflating traditionover God-mandated, biblical commandments (15:20)

ii. Christ is not against proper hygiene, but against people holding a tradition at the same level as God-decreed doctrine

iii. The Pharisees had made “tradition” and “doctrine” synonymous

3. Jesus responds to the Pharisees by pointing out their hypocrisy

a. “ὑποκριτής” is an actor who wears a mask in a drama // Jesus is saying the Pharisees are putting on a performance of godliness, but are really just making excuses to disobey God

b. They are apparently ignoring the 5th commandment (Honor your father and mother) by ignoring the duties that sons are meant for // They are somehow excusing themselves by a Pharisaical tradition of devoting themselves to God and not making time to care for their parents.

i. They are “boast[ing] in [their obedience to] the law by breaking the law” (Rom. 3:23)

c. “So, for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God”

i. Application: If your traditions trump God’s Word, or cannot be examined by God’s Word, then we are worshipping a foreign and made-up God.

d. The Pharisees are hypocrites

i. Pharisaical hypocritical worship is what Isaiah prophesied in Isa. 29:13 (what Jesus quoted)

ii. “For the sake of” in 15:3 and 6 means “as an offering toward”

1. Jesus is implying that the Pharisees are worshipping a different god, made up in tradition

2. They were making offerings by their actions, but it was not to the God of the Bible

iii. It looks like this:

1. Honoring only with lips – Sounding holy, but lacking repentance

2. A heart far from God – No adoration of God in His Word

3. Self-glorifying “worship” – Wanting to look good in appearance of godliness and not looking to show God is glorious

4. Teaching traditions as synonymous with God’s commands – A stubborn and hard-heartedness to change that turns back to the Word of God as sufficient

iv. Every person has traditions that they hold sacred, but nothing in a true Christian’s life is as sacred as the Word of God. May our human traditions crumble to the siege weapon that is God’s Word

4. Jesus calls the people to Him to show more of the Pharisees’ hypocrisy

a. Jesus draws the peoples’ attention and says this: “It is not what goes into the moutht hat defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth”

i. He expands this in 15:19 to mean what comes from the heart and turns into action, not simply the words that a person uses

ii. Interestingly, the only spoken thing listed is “false witness,” which would be another way of saying “lying.” Jesus is implying that the Pharisees are lyingabout their trust in Yahweh

b. The Pharisees are offended, the disciples point out (15:12)

5. Jesus announces the inevitable doom of those men, the Pharisees

a. We can trust that anyone opposed to God will inevitably meet with their being “rooted up” by God Himself (15:13)

b. Jesus commands His Apostles to “Let them alone”

i. Even though the Pharisees killed Jesus, they still served the Father’s plan

ii. We need that same faith that nothing will thwart God’s plan, therefore it is acceptable to “let alone” some opponents

iii. “They are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit” (15:15) // Those who follow fake believers will inevitably find themselves falling into destruction

6. Jesus explains the parable further

a. Jesus rebukes Peter in 15:16, probably because the meaning was so clear and Peter was asking a dumb question

b. The Pharisees strictly obeyed the dietary restrictions of the Law

i. The dietary restrictions were meant to show the distinctiveness of God’s people, but the Pharisees were following them to show themselves as distinct fromGod’s people

ii. What a person eats is expelled, but what a person expels from their heart (affections) proves what they really worship.

iii. What comes from the heart, not what goes into the stomach, defile a person before God

iv. Teaching a man-made rule and saying it’s on the level of God’s teaching (doctrine) defiles a person before God

c. Eating with unwashed hands doesn’t defile anyone

i. That is, a person with unwashed hands is still able to approach God

ii. They are not defiled like the Pharisees are

Conclusion/Applications

In order to remind us of the applications of this text, let me list them out for you:

1. We must “let alone” many opponents, knowing they are destined for destruction even though they may destroy us

a. There are many opponents to the gospel of Jesus Christ, many who claim to know Him and yet teach as doctrine the commandments of men, but we cannot fight them all

i. We must be willing to entrust their destruction ultimately to the Lord

ii. They will fall to their hypocrisy one day

2. We must examine our traditions by God’s Word

a. If we have traditions we hold dear and they are untouchable to examination, then we are hypocrites like the Pharisees

i. This means doctrine like that expressed by Arminius or Calvin, Augustine or Chuck Smith, Greg Laurie, Matt Chandler, Paul Washer, ANYONE!

ii. Doctrine, which is best understood as “The commands and promises of God lived out in the life of people who worship God” must be examined constantly to ensure we are worshipping the right God

b. We must have the humility to not explain away teachings that God has inspired, but must examine everything by God’s Word

3. We must make sure that we are worshipping the true God

a. We must avoid the hypocritical heresy of the Pharisees by always making sure that we are looking to Jesus

i. Not traditions, not fulfilling our own desires, not worshipping ourselves

ii. We must only be worshipping Jesus

iii. Only He is worthy.

b. Anybody who detracts from that is in the condition of the Pharisees and needs to repent