Tradition vs. Truth – part 2
Matthew 14:34 – 15:20 (15:10-20)
December 4, 2011
Last time we met we began studying this confrontation
Between Jesus and the Pharisees.
He spoke of their tradition, and this proves to be an offense truth.
(Any time you talk about tradition it is offensive to someone)
This entire confrontation started
Because the Pharisees were jealous of Jesus.
As we saw back in chapter 14, it all started with a CRISIS.
• The crowds were flocking to Jesus.
• They were enamored with Him.
That isn’t a crisis for us, but it was for the Pharisees.
The Pharisees were quickly losing their clout.
They are the ones who loved the best seats at the banquets
And the respectful greetings in the marketplace.
And they most certainly did not love Jesus cutting in on their popularity.
And this led to a CONFRONTATION
Now, they had tried many times before to condemn Him.
The only problem was they used the Law, and that couldn’t work,
For Jesus was perfectly righteous.
This time they attacked Him in regard to breaking tradition.
(1-2) “The some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, “Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.”
And so Jesus hadn’t broken the Law…
Jesus hadn’t offended God…
Jesus had simply failed to play their games.
And we talked about tradition a little last week.
1) We all have traditions we follow and live by.
2) Tradition in and of itself is not a bad thing.
But the issue is if the tradition is good,
But how much authority does it carry?
WE LEARNED OUR TRADITIONS MAY BE WELL AND GOOD,
BUT THEY DO NOT CARRY AS MUCH AUTHORITY AS SCRIPTURE.
That is why Jesus instantly flipped the argument back on the Pharisees.
(3) “And He answered and said to them, “Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?”
Jesus didn’t answer why He allowed the disciples to eat without washing, AND THE REASON IS BECAUSE IT DOESN’T MATTER.
Traditions are man-made and therefore carry no divine authority.
They may be good, they may be smart, they may be logical,
But they still have no authority.
And certainly they do not have the authority
To cause someone to break God’s Law.
Yet, that is what the Pharisees had done.
They used their tradition as an excuse to disobey God.
(4-6) “For God said, ‘HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER,’ and, ‘HE WHO SPEAKS EVIL OF FATHER OR MOTHER IS TO BE PUT TO DEATH.’ “But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever I have that would help you has been given to God,” 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.”
The Pharisees had a tradition of “vowing” their money to God
And this tradition gave them a loophole, not to help their parents.
Their tradition actually caused them to disobey.
And while tradition may be fine, no tradition justifies disobedience.
And that is why Jesus confronted them.
In fact, Jesus called them hypocrites.
(7-9) “You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you: ‘THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME. ‘BUT IN VAIN DO THEY WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN.'”
He actually called their worship “vain”.
Their worship was worthless.
WHY?
Because they esteemed the teachings of man
As important as the teachings of God.
This of course found no favor with Christ.
And so we saw the CRISIS, and we saw the CONFRONTATION.
#3 THE CORRECTION
Matthew 15:10-11
And I love this about Jesus.
Not only does He rebuke the Pharisees for enforcing tradition,
But here He sets out to free the crowd from those traditions.
The Pharisees had oppressed these people with their traditions.
Matthew 23:4 “They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger.”
The Pharisees would pick their own ox out of a ditch,
But didn’t want a man healed on the Sabbath.
And the people were oppressed by this legalism and tradition.
So Jesus turns to correct their theology and set them free.
(10-11) “After Jesus called the crowd to Him, He said to them, “Hear and understand. “It is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man.”
The Pharisees had held the defilement card over the people for years.
If you read the Old Testament you continually see the word “unclean”.
It was a picture of defilement.
And the Pharisees had effectively taught the people that
If they didn’t wash their hands the proper way before eating
Then somehow they were unclean before God.
And the people lived in fear and bondage.
AND THIS IS THE SECOND DANGER OF TRADITION.
1) It might cause you to disobey God’s Law
2) It can cause people to live in bondage.
Imagine living with the guilt that if you failed to wash your hands
You were displeasing to God!
TRADITION CAN BOG YOU DOWN CAN’T IT?
Think about Homecoming. (No, I’m not dogging homecoming, I’m no fool)
But if I had a dollar for every time I heard someone involved in the work say something like, “Oh, if I can just get this week behind me”
Because trying to keep all the traditions going is WORK.
Now imagine if your being pleasing to God
Depended upon how well the class meeting went.
Or imagine God was judging the parade to see
If your float was good enough to get your class into heaven.
And yet the Pharisees had used tradition to do that to people.
And today some religion does that to people.
You can see that we are taking the Lord’s Supper this morning.
I had a roommate in college who had been told that if he didn’t take the Lord’s Supper every Sunday then he would be under the judgment of God.
Even on the weekends that he went home with me, he had to find a church where he could take it, because he was afraid of judgment.
And that is a tragedy.
If you want to get technical about the Lord’s Supper
One could easily argue that it should be done once a year.
WHY?
Because Jesus said, “Do this in remembrance of Me”
DO WHAT?
The Passover.
He was teaching His disciples that when you come to take the Passover,
Don’t take it thinking about Moses, take it thinking about Me.
And so you could argue for once a year.
Now, it is also clear that the early church did it far more often than that,
It was called “The Love Feast” and they may have done it every week.
But certainly a person’s acceptance before God doesn’t hinge upon it.
And yet my friend lived a life of fear that if he missed it one Sunday,
God was going to strike Him.
That was the type of bondage the crowd was under,
And so Jesus turns to set them free.
“It is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man.”
Jesus says, if you want to guard something,
Don’t guard what goes in your mouth, guard what comes out of it.
We already learned this:
Matthew 12:33-37 “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit. “You brood of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak what is good? For the mouth speaks out of that which fills the heart. “The good man brings out of his good treasure what is good; and the evil man brings out of his evil treasure what is evil. “But I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment. “For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
Jesus clearly taught us that the tongue is a gage of the heart.
On the day of judgment,
You won’t give account for what you put in your mouth,
But you will give an accounting for what came out of it.
“For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
And Jesus wanted the crowd to “Hear and understand.”
Don’t live your life under the bondage of tradition.
Don’t let man’s laws burden you down.
Jesus chose to set them free.
The Crisis, The Confrontation, The Correction
#4 THE CAUTION
Matthew 15:12-14
Now this is mind boggling,
But it greatly illustrates just how powerful tradition can be.
“Then the disciples came and said to Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this statement?”
WOW!
The disciples couldn’t believe that Jesus would offend the Pharisees.
They didn’t seem to have any problem with the Pharisees offending Jesus,
But they were concerned about Jesus offending them.
It just illustrates how deep this tradition had run in their lives.
But it also reveals the truth about hypocrisy and tradition.
Three things here.
1) HYPOCRITES ARE CONVICTED BY TRUTH (12)
“the Pharisees were offended when they heard this statement”
Of course they were.
They were wrong.
They were sinning.
That is why I told you last week that tradition is a touchy subject.
People don’t like you messing with them.
But if your worship merely consists of tradition
It likely will convict you to find that it is worthless.
So it was no surprise to Jesus that the Pharisees were offended.
2) HYPOCRITES ARE CONDEMNED BY GOD (13)
“But He answered and said, “Every plant which My heavenly Father did not plant shall be uprooted.”
DO YOU RECOGNIZE THE REFERENCE?
Matthew 13:37-42 “And He said, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one; and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels. “So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. “The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
This is a direct reference by Jesus to the parable of the tares of the field.
• They exist sure enough.
• But they weren’t planted here by God.
• And when the judgment comes, they won’t last.
First Jesus called their worship “vain”
And now He calls their judgment “sure”.
And the point is, there is no possible chance
That a hypocrite will inherit eternal life.
A person can keep every church tradition there is,
And be the most faithful little Baptist the world had ever seen
And still split the gates of hell wide open.
Because God is not interested in traditional worship.
WHAT KIND OF WORSHIP DOES GOD WANT?
John 4:23-24 “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”
Romans 12:1 “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.”
God isn’t looking for people who will keep tradition.
God is looking for people who will die to self and worship Him.
It was tradition that kept the Jews coming back and offering sacrifice after sacrifice, and yet Paul says, “You don’t get it!”
God doesn’t want you here offering sacrifices.
YOU ARE THE SACRIFICE!
Present YOUR bodies!
Micah 6:6-8 “With what shall I come to the LORD And bow myself before the God on high? Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings, With yearling calves? Does the LORD take delight in thousands of rams, In ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my firstborn for my rebellious acts, The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?
Psalms 50:13-15 “Shall I eat the flesh of bulls Or drink the blood of male goats? “Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving And pay your vows to the Most High; Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me.”
Isaiah 1:11, 16-17 “What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me?” Says the LORD. “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams And the fat of fed cattle; And I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs or goats…”Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil, Learn to do good; Seek justice, Reprove the ruthless, Defend the orphan, Plead for the widow.”
TRADITION DOESN’T CUT IT!
God wants true worship.
All of those hypocrites who only got good at tradition
Will someday be condemned when they are plucked out of God’s field.
Hypocrites are Convicted by Truth Hypocrites are Condemned by God
3) HYPOCRITES ARE CONTAGIOUS TO OTHERS (14)
“Let them alone; they are blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”
Wow, what a statement!
Jesus says, “Stay away from them!”
These men are headed for destruction and they will take you there too.
Matthew 23:13 “But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.”
Matthew 23:15 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.”
These men are dangerous.
They promote tradition and men love tradition.
And if you fall into their trap, they will leave you worshiping
Your whole life and never pleasing God at all.
What a tragedy and so Jesus says, to stay away.
AND THAT IS THE CAUTION TO THE DISCIPLES.
They couldn’t believe
Jesus would say those things to the Pharisees,
That only indicates that to at least some degree
The Pharisees had convinced the disciples.
IT RUNS DEEP.
Sometime read the book of Acts
And see how hard it was to break their traditions.
Remember when Peter went to Cornelius and saw him saved?
When Peter got back he got in trouble for eating with a Gentile.
There was a long debate and finally the church agreed that God would save Gentiles (there’s a tradition I’m glad got broken)
But notice how hard it was to fully let go of it.
Acts 11:18-19 “When they heard this, they quieted down and glorified God, saying, “Well then, God has granted to the Gentiles also the repentance that leads to life.” So then those who were scattered because of the persecution that occurred in connection with Stephen made their way to Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except to Jews alone.”
Remember Peter later?
Galatians 2:11-13 “But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For prior to the coming of certain men from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began to withdraw and hold himself aloof, fearing the party of the circumcision. The rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy.”
The point is that tradition can become so deep rooted,
That Jesus told the disciples to stay away from the Pharisees.
It Corrupts worship,
It is Convicted by truth,
It is Condemned by God,
It is Contagious to others.
The Crisis, The Confrontation, The Correction, The Caution
#5 THE CLARIFICATION
Matthew 15:15-20
Again, leave it to Peter.
“Peter said to Him, “Explain the parable to us.”
To which Jesus responded:
“Are you still lacking in understanding also?”
YOU SEE, WHAT JESUS TAUGHT WASN’T A PARABLE.
BUT LISTEN:
The tradition of washing your hands was so deeply engrained
That Peter could never imagine Jesus saying they didn’t have to.
That’s like Jesus telling a Baptist it’s ok to dance.
Or telling someone from the church of Christ to play a song on the piano.
Folks it just reiterates how deep tradition can run.
And we have them too.
Traditions so deep it might shock you to know
It was never commanded in Scripture.
• Try to find where God outlined the qualifications for committees.
• Try to find where God said that parliamentary procedure should be used in a
business meeting.
• In fact try to find a business meeting.
And yet many would be shocked if those things disappeared.
The point is tradition can get deeply engrained
And it is even possible to assume that tradition is doctrine,
But it is not.
Peter was so convinced he thought Jesus was giving a parable.
“Jesus said, “Are you still lacking in understanding also? “Do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and is eliminated?”
Jesus there points out the holes in this revered tradition.
Food can’t defile you!
The food in your mouth does not go to your heart, where does it go?
The stomach
And from the stomach it still doesn’t go to the heart, it is eliminated.
IS GOD CONCERNED ABOUT THE STOMACH?
1 Corinthians 6:13a “Food is for the stomach and the stomach is for food, but God will do away with both of them.”
WHAT IS GOD CONCERNED ABOUT?
The heart
1 Samuel 16:7 “But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
Jeremiah 17:10 “I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give to each man according to his ways, According to the results of his deeds.”
And if we have learned nothing from Jesus,
We have learned that the heart is what matters.
Anyone remember the Sermon on the Mount?
Murder = hatred in the heart
Adultery = lust in the heart
And so God isn’t concerned about what goes into the stomach,
He is concerned about what comes out of the heart.
“But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. “These are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man.”
If you are really concerned about being defiled,
THEN CONCERN YOURSELVES WITH SIN, NOT SOAP.
This is where the Pharisees continually missed it.
Matthew 23:23-24 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. “You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!”
It was a massive problem.
And one that had clearly affected even the disciples.
But Jesus tells them to shift their focus.
SO – “TRUTH VS. TRADITION”
TRADITION ISN’T BAD – UNLESS:
• It is followed more than Scripture.
• It enslaves others to bind them in legalism.
AND JESUS SAID TO STAY AWAY FROM PEOPLE WHO ENFORCE IT.
DO YOU WANT TO BE PLEASING TO GOD?
It isn’t through tradition, it is through the truth.
Worship God in Spirit and in Truth
THAT IS A GREAT SEGWAY INTO THE LORD’S SUPPER.
We aren’t made pleasing to God
Because we partake on a certain schedule.
No tradition does that.
We are made pleasing through the blood of Jesus,
And so when partake of the Lord’s Supper,
We do so in a spirit of humility and worship.
That is why Scripture warns us to examine ourselves before we partake.
1 Corinthians 11:27-32 “Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly. For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep. But if we judged ourselves rightly, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world.”
We make sure that we are worshiping God from the heart,
And not expecting to please God because we kept some tradition.
If our worship doesn’t come from the heart, God is not interested.
We will have a time of preparation; a time of self-examination.
And the question of the day is
• Why do I worship?
• Do I do it out of tradition, or out of love for God?
• Am I determined to give God what He wants, or what I’ve always given Him before?
Will I worship in truth or do I worship in tradition?
I will pray and we will have a time
To examine our hearts before God.
LORD’S SUPPER
Deacon’s Come
Isaiah 53:1-6 “Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? For He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, And like a root out of parched ground; He has no stately form or majesty That we should look upon Him, Nor appearance that we should be attracted to Him. He was despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. Surely our griefs He Himself bore,
And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him.”
Give bread to deacons
Deacon prayer
Pass out bread
Matthew 26:26 “While they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.”
Take Bread
Isaiah 53:7-12 “He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth. By oppression and judgment He was taken away; And as for His generation, who considered That He was cut off out of the land of the living For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due? His grave was assigned with wicked men, Yet He was with a rich man in His death, Because He had done no violence, Nor was there any deceit in His mouth. But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. As a result of the anguish of His soul, He will see it and be satisfied; By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, As He will bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great, And He will divide the booty with the strong; Because He poured out Himself to death, And was numbered with the transgressors; Yet He Himself bore the sin of many, And interceded for the transgressors.”
Give juice to deacons
Deacon prayer
Pass out juice
Matthew 26:27-28 “And when He had taken a cup and given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you; for this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins.”
Take Juice
Prayer
Parting Chorus
