"34 When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret. 35 And when the men of that place recognized Him, they sent word into all that surrounding district and brought to Him all who were sick; 36 and they implored Him that they might just touch the fringe of His cloak; and as many as touched it were cured.
Then some 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 bread." 3 And He answered and said to them, “Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother is to be put to death.’ 5 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. 7 You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you: 8 ‘This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far away from Me.9 ‘But in vain do they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’"
Welcome you to worship in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is such a privilege to come together with you today for the study God's Word. I praise God for those of you who have been moved to join us today, whether it's your first time or you are a faithful member of our family in Christ. I also would like to thank each of you who have faithfully continued to share the ministry website, and social media platforms with your family and friends. God has continued to bless your efforts in reaching the lost and the deceived. We are reaching people and places never before imagined, bringing people to Christ. I ask you will continue to join us in praying, asking God to continue to bless this ministry in reaching the lost, the broken and the hopeless. May He use each and every of us mightily to reach the lost, that they come to know Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. If
you have recently received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, please contact and let us know so that we can pray for you. If we can share your story with others let us know if
you would love to do so. Each one of us have been
blessed with a unique testimony. We'd love to hear from you.
If you've been a Christian for any length of time, you are aware that we are not to take the Lord our God's name in vain. That's not limited to cursing as some have presumed. Not taking the Lord’s name in vain means in an empty, irreverent, impious, insincere, blasphemous or fraudulent manner. Treating God in insincerity and Christ with dishonor, praying with indifference, reciting the Lord's Prayer without thought and reverence, singing the praises of God with empty feeling, hearing the Word of God but failing to apply it. That's hypocritical worship, which is condemned in the Word of God. It is a damnable offense. The church of all people need to understand this. God doesn't want your worship if your hearts aren’t right, Scripture affirms this.
Matthew 5:23-24 "Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your offering there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and present your offering."
Isaiah 1:13-16 "Bring your worthless offerings no longer, incense is an abomination to Me. New moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies—I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly. "I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts, they have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them. "So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood. "Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; Remove the evil of your deeds from My sight."
Because your hearts are perverted, God will not tolerate your worthless, empty, vain worship. Jesus is essentially preaching the same message of worship without integrity. Jesus repeatedly rejected the shallow, self-centered, self-indulgent, self-righteousness of the religious leaders of the day.
We worship the True Living God because
we're so profoundly grateful to the One who in His plan of redemption gave His only begotten Son for us at Calvary. There will always be those who truly worship Him and there will always be those who are hard-hearted, self-gratifying religious phonies. Those of us who are faithful to Christ do not
shrink back because of the opinions of hostile men towards us, but rather we wave the banner Christ all the more. In this passage, the Lord confronts the emptiness of their worship. It’s the same message that Isaiah, Amos and Malachi gave, and the same message I give today to those within the church who hypocritically worship God.
Father, thank You for Your Word for us today, for this illustration of truth and true worship. It is with deep gratitude in our hearts that we study this passage, we pray that the tongue of every person here with us would confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and worship Him as such, to the glory of You. We are thankful, having all our sins paid, that we will never know the destruction that is to come upon the ungodly, for we belong to You. We pray that those who have rejected You, dishonored You and worshiped gods other than You would heed the warnings about what is to come. May we live in the light of that which glorifies Christ, brings glory to His name and exalts Him before men, as we long for His glorious appearing. It is in His name we ask and pray. Today's Message: Truth or Tradition
Just the day before, Jesus had been feeding the multitude and healing and preaching the
kingdom, and at night, Jesus came walking on the water, and they had
arrived finally at the shore, and they came into the land of Gennesaret. Gennesaret was primarily a Gentile area. It is a fertile plain about three-and-a-half miles long and about two miles
wide at its widest point, that borders the northwestern coast of the Sea
of Galilee. It is not a city, a town or a village, it is a plain and that's where He began to minister again. By the way, according to Josephus, it was a lush land with unrivaled beauty, it's rich soil produced magnificent wheat fields and all kinds of vegetation, three crops a year, it had no less than four springs and a variety of products. It was said to be a very beautiful area. It was all farmland, and Jesus went there with the disciples to rest. However, when the people recognized Him, they alerted everyone in the area.
This is a very important passage, first we see Him as the compassionate Healer. Then we see Him as the condemning Judge, setting right was is wrong. As we conclude our study of chapter 14, we'll look at verses 34 through 36, which gives us the context out of which the incident occurs in chapter 15.
Open our Bibles to the fourteenth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew. Verses 34-36. Matthew 14:34-36.
I invite you to follow along with me as I read them.
Let us open our hearts and see what the Spirit of God has to say to each of
us. I pray that the Lord would help us to hear and apply what He's saying to each of us today.
"When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret. And when the men of that place recognized Him, they sent word into all that surrounding district and brought to Him all who were sick; and they implored Him that they might just touch the fringe of His cloak; and as many as touched it were cured.
Then 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 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.’ 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. 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.’"
It is likely that Jesus went there with His disciples to find some quiet time as He had sought the day before in the mountain on the other shore and before being interrupted by the multitude. Verse 34, "When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret." In chapter 5, of Luke's parallel account, he says "Now it happened that while the crowd was pressing around Him and listening to the word of God, He was standing by the lake of Gennesaret." So here we see the same thing that happened in Matthew 14:13, Jesus again interrupts His plans for peace an quiet and takes time to minister to the people. Verses 35-36, "And when the men of that place recognized Him, they sent word into all that surrounding district and brought to Him all who were sick; and they implored Him that they might just touch the fringe of His cloak; and as many as touched it were cured." So when the people there recognized Him, they sent word out to all of the people that were sick and diseased. They knew He could heal their sick and work miracles among them, we don’t know how many exactly, but we do know that in past ministry there, He had healed multitudes and multitudes. They were so confident of His power, which had been demonstrated in their area previously, some were asking only to touch the fringe on the end of His robe. At the end of verse 36, we hear from these powerful words, "and as many as touched it were cured." They simply touched Jesus’ robe and they were healed. Perhaps they had heard about the woman, in chapter 9 of Matthew, who grabbed His robe and was healed of her suffering for twelve years. I believe there’s a certain sensitivity in their approach as if they didn't want to be a burden, they just need Him so desperately, they'll just touch Him. And they were made completely well in the instant that they touched Him. Jesus has they power to change your life as well, if you will just come to Him in faith. Jesus, the Son of God is a miracle worker and a compassionate Healer. Even though there was a sensitivity to their approach, there's a pathos in all of this, an element of evoking pit to get what they wanted from Him. That seems to be so with Jesus, once people get what they want, they leave. I see a lot of that in modern contemporary Christianity today. People see Jesus as some sort of genie waiting to grant their wishes. Such an ungrateful attitude toward God and Christ. And so it was in Jesus' day. However, in spite of their ingratitude or in spite of having a faithful commitment to Him, He healed them. Revealing the compassion of God. Now we come to chapter 15, verses 1 through 9, here we see the condemning Judge. As loving and compassionate as God is, He is also a God of great judgment and justice. As the events of these nine verses begin to unfold, first notice the confrontation. Let's look at verses 1-2, "Then 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." Imagine the awkward position it puts you in when someone wants to critique what you were doing implying that you're not doing it correctly, and you actually know more than they do. When Jesus faces that situation when the self-righteous, hypocritical religious leaders despise the truth that is in Christ. He takes it from awkward to offensive. There were some among the people of Israel whose hearts were turned toward God, these phony religious are not among them. They despise the light because they are in darkness. They hate Jesus because they are not of God. Notice verse 1, "Then some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem." Not only is Galilee angry at Jesus but now Jerusalem is in on it. Jerusalem was the center of Judaism. The Pharisees and scribes traveled from Jerusalem to Galilee. This was not a short walk, it's about 50-60 miles, this would have taken some time. They've come to attack Jesus' teaching and discredit Him publicly. Jesus taught a relationship that was internal in the heart, they taught the exact opposite, a religion that was external. Since they were the most eminent minds He deals with them with severity. In verse 2, the scribes and the Pharisees challenge Jesus, dealing the first blow, cleanness and uncleanness from Leviticus.
"Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread." They would ceremonially wash their hands to signify that they were clean, it was about appearances, not about actually being clean.
"Tradition of the elders" or the Greek word "korbán," a gift or offering dedicated to God. Often, the Jews misused korbán as a way to evade their rightful responsibility to God to care for aged parents. Their question sums up the fact they were committed to tradition. They had probably thought about it during their long walk from Jerusalem. Tradition is handed down by man from one generation to the next, and must not to be confused with Scripture, that which comes from God. The problem is when tradition has been added to Scripture, and people no longer know what’s from God and what’s from men. When God gave Moses the oral law, he was told to pass it along to great men of the synagogue. Upon receiving the law of God, they were to do three things with the law of God: First, to properly apply God’s law. To be deliberate in judgment. Second, they were to raise up many disciples, so that future generation would be there to apply the law. And third, they were to build a wall around the law, to let it not suffer attack.They were to be protectors of the law. The problem occurred when they began adding laws and more laws, enforcing those laws which served to obscured the law of God. That is the issue with Judaism, they were committed to a lot of traditional teaching. In verse 2, they weren't accusing Jesus' disciples of breaking God's law, they’re accusing them of violating religious tradition.
In
chapter 7, Mark gives us more detail than Matthew, because Matthew was writing to a Jewish audience who would have known these traditions.
Mark writes "The Pharisees and some of the scribes gathered around Him when they had come from Jerusalem, and had seen that some of His disciples were eating their bread with impure hands, that is, unwashed. (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they carefully wash their hands, thus observing the traditions of the elders; and when they come from the market place, they do not eat unless they cleanse themselves; and there are many other things which they have received in order to observe, such as the washing of cups and pitchers and copper pots.)"
So in verse 3, Jesus confronts their tradition which was centered around a ceremonial man-made law. "
And He answered and said to them, "Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?" I'd like you to notice the admission of guilt. Jesus is saying, we don’t deny that we break your tradition because it’s meaningless. That's why He never even addresses it directly. They were their traditions, not God's commands. Instead, He asked, "Why do you break the commands of God by your traditions?" That's a serious indictment. Then, He givens them a clear illustration by quoting
Exodus 20:12 in verse 4. "For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother is to be put to death.’"
In other words, we’re supposed to take care of our parents. We’re supposed to give them to live. Bound up within honor is respect, love, reverence as well as financial support. When they have a need, God commands us to care for them and to meet that need. However, He also quotes
verse 17 which says "
He who curses his father or his mother shall surely be put to death." They would have understood that's right out of the Ten Commandments, "Honor your father and mother." Jesus was pointing out to the Pharisees and the scribes didn't obey that command, they violated it, they obliterated God's command for the traditions of the elders. Worse yet, they knew it.
Look at verses 5 and 6, " 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." When our parents have reached old age, and we’re responsible to meet their needs. They had developed a tradition that if you said "korban which means an offering or dōron," means a gift, so they wouldn't have to give it to their parents. They were saying over their possessions meaning "I’m giving all of this to God." Therefore, it was exempt from any other use.
They justified it by
Numbers 30:2 which says "If a man makes a vow to the
Lord,
or takes an oath to bind himself with a binding obligation, he shall
not violate his word; he shall do according to all that proceeds out of
his mouth." Scripture does say to keep a vow, however, it also tells us if we make a ridiculous vow, to change it. So they would say korban over everything they owned, to prevent them from giving anything to people who were in need. Jesus was saying that their tradition was a direct violation of the law of God. Their tradition caused people to disobey God in honoring their parents. They were teaching "If you’ve said korban, you really have a choice. So there's no need to feel guilty about it." The Talmud said, "To be against the words of the scribes is more punishable than to be against the words of the Scripture." However, the Talmud also said you could later decide to keep it for yourself. This was not a God-given commandment, they had created their own rules, this was a man-made tradition. Jesus was saying they worshiped God in vain.
In verses 7 to 9, He's not mincing words, He goes right from the confrontation to the condemnation, rebuking them for their hypocrisy. Jesus is saying true religion is all bound up in one word, "obedience." Obeying the commandments of God from the heart. So He directly quotes from Isaiah 29. "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.’" What a strong indictment! Hypocrite is the word "hupokrités," is speaking of one whose profession does not match their practice. Being the most highly respected teachers in Jerusalem, they should have known better.
If we know anything about Satan, we know that he corrupts the truth. Quite possibly He's speaking to some of you right now, because this same problem exists in the church today, doesn't it? We would never claim true worship service requires certain types of instruments or music, or to be held at certain times, or that in order to truly worship God a person is required to dress a certain way or would we? We would never violate the commands of God in order to keep traditions. If you look at the Word of God, the commandments of God and compare them to what is being taught in many churches today, there is hypocrisy.
Tradition is not what stirs our hearts to worship beloved. We know that no person was ever saved from their sin because they kept a tradition or followed man-made rules. Peoples lives are changed by the living and active Word of God, by an authentic relationship with our Lord and Savior. True worship is not empty of love, admiration, reverence to God, worship must come from the heart. God has no interested in ceremonial, ritualistic, traditional religion. If that’s all you’ve got, you're damned. What God wants is the heart. The religious leaders held a form of religion, but not the heart.
That's He says in verse 9, "But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the precepts of men." This explains His indictment in
Matthew 5:20. "
For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven." The righteousness the scribes and Pharisees had was shallow, superficial and external. Holding the rules and regulations of men over the commandments of God. Because their hearts were so hardened and so sinful, they could not tolerate Jesus' teaching, He demanded worship of the heart. The human heart is the real source of uncleanness.
We'll deal with that next time.
In Closing..
Today, many say they are Christians, but that's all there is to it. As if saying the words are just as good as actually living the life; they've adapted a "that's good enough attitude." I submit to you nothing could be further from the truth.
If we are going to call ourselves Christians, if we claim to be followers of Christ, then our life must be an accurate representation of Him. As my grandmother used to say, "You can't just talk the talk, you've got to walk the talk." We could be the only representation of Christ some people see. If those of the world who watch us, and they are watching us, if they see us living no differently than they are, how much weight does our witness of a transformed life carry? When we confront the sin of others, yet we do not keep His commandments? Do we talk about forgiveness yet continue to hold on to that 20 year old grudge?
2 Corinthians 5:17 says "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come."
When we become a follower of Christ, we should no longer talk as the world talks, walk as the world walks. Does your life back up what you say you believe? The world is constantly engaged in sin, transgression and unrighteousness abound. They live by the motto "If it feels good, do it." They have a way of making bad seem good and good seem bad. When we are cleansed by the blood of Jesus from all sin and unrighteousness, we walk in the light, not the darkness. Sin is disobedience of God.
Jesus walked all the way to Calvary, hanging on a cross, He died for your sins and mine. He didn't just talk the talk, He walked the walk to save you and me. His death and resurrection fulfilled His talk. His life backed up His words. How much more should our lives back up ours?
Some of you sit there and pretend like you don’t know what I am talking about. And chances are you will keep doing things the wrong way instead of God's way. But if you do, you're not only deceiving yourselves; you are defying God.
I encourage all of us to examine our hearts, to look deeply at our lives. Ask ourselves, "Am I going through the motions, or do I love Jesus Christ with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength? Do I worship Him with my lips, or worship Him from the heart?" There can be no genuine worship unless Christ is exalted in our lives, if we do not worship God from the heart.
May we enter into His presence from today forward with a newly created heart.
May it be so..
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen
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