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 and said,
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
5510 West Sam Houston Park Way North
Houston, Texas 77041
For more lessons follow me on facebook
and visit my blogs; revmmitchell.com and goodnewsrevmitc.blogspot.com
