YOU MUST KNOW THE WORD FOR YOURSELF
Matthew 15:1-9
DON'T LIVE BY THE WORLD'S STANDARDS
V:1-2. "Then some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus
from Jerusalem
2 "Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the
elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread."
A. The Scribes and the Pharisees had a second book which
became known as the
Mishnah. It is a
collection of teaching of the elders starting from 200 BC.
1. They held these
teachings to be more authoritative than God's Word.
2. They used their
oral traditions to amend the Word of God.
3. This excessive
washing of hands was their tradition and not God's command.
4. You have to be
careful that you don't allow yourself to be bound by someone's
made up standards.
5. The only
standards that really matter is God's.
B. One would wonder why the Pharisees and the scribes were
so determined
to find fault
with the teaching of Jesus.
1. Jesus always
referenced the Old Testament in His teaching.
a. Jesus taught the righteousness of God.
b. They should
have been on the same side, yet they were His enemy.
2. The Pharisees,
the scribes and the Chief Priests had power, prestige
and a source of
income from controlling all civil actives
of the
Jewish people.
a. The Roman
government allowed the leaders to control the civil activities of
the Jewish
people.
b. The leaders
used this control to their selfish gain and not for the
welfare of
the people.
c. They did not
use this God allowed leadership for the righteousness of Him.
d. We must not
use what God has given us to discourage or harm other.
e. What ever
God has given us should be used to bring Him glory.
THE WORLD
IS AN ENEMY TO THE CHRISTIAN
3. When Jesus came
on the scene, the crowd follow Him, listening to his teachings.
a. Jesus used
His healing powers to draw large crowds to Himself.
b. He preached
the good news about the kingdom of God
c. The message
of Jesus was one of compassion and love.
4. The ruling group
felt threaten and sought to kill Jesus.
Matt 12:14
5. When they
couldn't accuse Jesus of violating the Law, they tried to
use their
traditions.
C. Their tradition of washing their hands before eating was
a rule they followed
but had no
bearing on Christian living.
1. Jesus states in
Matthew 15:17-18:
"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 the mouth come from the heart, and
these make a
man 'unclean."
2. The Jewish
leaders were spiritually unclean because their hearts were filled
with pride,
and injustice toward their own people.
THE WORD IS THE AUTHORITY, NOT TRADITION
V:3-4. " And He answered and said to them, "Why do
you yourselves transgress the
commandment of God
for the sake of your tradition?
"For God said,
'HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER,' and, 'HE WHO SPEAKS
EVIL OF FATHER OR
MOTHER IS TO BE PUT TO DEATH."
A. Jesus was always two steps ahead of His accusers.
1. Jesus knows
what you going to say, before you formulate it in your mind.
2. The Jewish
leaders presented their tradition as the authority over the Word.
3. Jesus presented
the Jewish leaders with hypocrisy of their traditions.
B. Honor their mother
and father was the first command with a promise.
1. The Jews
dishonored their parents by not selling property to take care
of them.
2. They claimed
the property was devoted to God so it would not have to
be sold.
LET THE WORD BE YOUR GUIDE
V:5-6 "But you say, 'Whoever says to his father or
mother, "Whatever I have that would
help you has been
given to God,"
6 he is not to honor his father or his mother.' And by this
you invalidated the word of God
for the sake of your
tradition."
A. The first thing Jesus did was to inform the leaders that
their traditions was not
the authority
over God's people.
1. The Word of
God is the standard by which we are commanded to live and
not mans
traditions.
2. No one should
use the Word of God for the purpose of harming another person
or denying
justice.
3. They use their traditions to justify keeping
property for their use that should have
been sold to support their parents.
2. They were
blessed to do good, but selfishly refuse to, violating the fifth
commandment.
B. They overlooked the promise of blessing for taking care
of their parents.
1. It is a worthy
sacrifice to care for your parents.
2. The actions
against their parents showed how corrupt the Jewish leaders were.
3. Not only were
they enemies of God, but enemies of their own families.
4. They were more
concerned about their wealth than their parents.
5. They violated
at least four of God's commands with their traditions.
a. Love the
Lord with all their heart, mind and sole.
b. Love your neighbor as yourself.
c. Thy shall have no other gods before me.
d. The
positions and wealth of the Jewish leaders became their gods.
e. The Jewish
leaders coveted the popularity of Jesus with the people.
6. By holding on
to their tradition, the hearts of the Jewish leaders became
unclean.
7. The Jewish
leaders burden the people with their traditions which they
themselves
did not keep.
Matthew 23:4
states; " They tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders,
but they
themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them."
THE WORD IS GIVEN FOR REPROOF
V:7-8 "You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of
you:
8 'THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS
FAR AWAY FROM ME. "
A. It is easy to claim to be a Christian.
1. It takes the
love of God to be a Christian.
2. The love of God
requires us to dedicate our lives to God.
3. Love requires a
sacrifice of our desires for the desires of God.
B. To honor God we must keep His commands.
1. God command us
to humble ourselves before Him.
2. When we
surrender our lives to God, we take on the yoke of Christ
3. Our words and
actions must line up in the love of God.
4. They that
worship the Lord must worship Him in spirit and truth.
5. One of the
problems of the Jewish leaders was the application of the legal
aspects of
God's commands without any spiritual involvement.
6. When the spirit
of God is not involved, there is no true love or
compassion.
DON'T TAKE WORD OF GOD IN VAIN
V:9. "BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS
DOCTRINES THE
PRECEPTS OF
MEN."
A. You cannot serve God and man at the same time.
1. According to
scripture, you will love one and hate the other. Matt 6:24
2. Our personal worship
can become a show, without a change in heart.
B. Some people worship to be seen.
1. Some come to
Church to have their name on the role.
2. They bring
their Bibles to Church, but never open them at home
3. Without the
Word of God, we are controlled by the traditions of the world.
4. Nothing can
seprate us from the love of God if we follow His word.
C. The Jewish leaders were responsible for teaching the Word
of God for the
righteousness of
God's people.
1. Instead, they
used their leadership to pervert the Word for personal gain.
2. Outwardly,
their appearance was clean and righteous, but their hearts were
dirty as
filthy rags.
3. Jesus used
every encounter with the Jewish leaders to point out the
hypocrisy of their teaching and to encourage
them to repent and follow Him.
D. A good friend points out your sins for the purpose of
getting you to repent
and follow God.
1. The Christian
community should exhibit the righteous of God for the
world to follow.
2. We should not
follow the world to bring down the Church.
Rev M. Mitchell
Asst Pastor Of Greater Macedonia
Baptist Church
For more lessons follow me on facebook
and visit my blogs;
revmmitchell.com and goodnewsrevmitc.blogspot.com
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