Study of Matthew |
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Matthew Chapter 15
Substituting the word of God in its original meaning for the tradition of men has always been the weakness of both the Jewish believers as well as the Gentile Christians. The Jews had the Torah but soon had Talmudic Judaism. The Gentiles had the bible but soon had church tradition along side of it and eventually replacing it. If one searches the scripture you will not find any worship of Mary, bowing before images, forbidding of priests to marry and many such traditions. It is not found in scripture. Adding to scripture the commandments of men will actually water down the scriptures concerning salvation by putting emphasis on things that are not necessary for salvation and covering up that which is necessary for salvation.
They used the excuse that their service was for God, so they didn't have to provide or take care of their parents. We are to honor our parents and if we have the means, we are to take care of them when they cannot take care of themselves like they took care of us when we were children who could not take care of ourselves. We are to respect them and not badmouth or misuse them. In saying that, there is a time when a man shall leave his father and mother to cleave to his wife and start a new family. He puts his new family first but he is still to honor and care for his parents should they get to the place where they can't take care of themselves. In the case of unbelief, a person must put God before family or parents but they still must take care of their needs if for instance they have no way to make a living and need food or shelter. Still one must not abandon faith in Christ if a parent demands that they do so in order to have fellowship. To put Christ first never means to neglect the support of one's family if they cannot support themselves but it does mean that we do not allow our family to influence us away from our commitment to Jesus Christ. The call of God on our lives does not excuse us from our obligation to our parents, spouses or children.
To not take care of one's family is an act of unbelief in the word of God. The commandment to honor one's father and mother is not null and void. It is still part of the moral law that should be in our hearts when we have come to Christ for salvation. Again though this never means we forsake our committment to Christ if our relatives demand us to do so. God comes first but that is no excuse to forsake them when they are in need.
This has been going in the past and is still going on. We like to change God's word either to soften it so we can go and do what we want to do or we tend to add to it to mean more than God intended it to say. I'm reminded of the story of the rich man who came to Jesus and Jesus told him to sell all he had to give to the poor. The man went away sorrowful. Jesus made a statement that it is harder for a rich man to go to heaven than a camel to go through the eye of a needle. He then did say that with God anything is possible. Sometimes when someone thinks the scripture sounds a little too strong on a certain topic, they try to look up Greek meanings and such to try to water down the real meaning. It is okay to look up Greek meanings but if our motive is to water down what Jesus says, we might find a different meaning but really be deceived. If our hearts desire something we usually will find a scripture to back it up but it will usually be taken way out of context. We can actually take a verse here and a verse there and teach any doctrine we desire to teach. It is called proof texting. We think of something we want to say and then look up scriptures to try to prove what we are saying is truth. That can be a little dangerous somewhat. We must be careful to read chapters before and chapters after the text we are speaking on to make sure we are not misusing the passage to say something the bible really isn't saying. That particular story about the rich man is a good example of what I'm saying here. Many down through the years that I have heard teach on that subject will read the passage and then soften the passage by telling of the story about a certain gate in Jerusalem that a camel cannot go through unless someone removes the baggage, and the camel then kneels down and passes through the narrow opening. It sounds like a nice story to show that we remove our burdens when we come to Christ but when the truth is told and research is done, there is no such gate in the past or present Jerusalem. It is hard for those that trust in riches to enter heaven. The eye of the needle is a literal eye of a needle. There is no gate called the needle's eye. I try to tell people this and they look at me like I'm preaching heresy. You hear something taught so much that in the mind, it becomes actual scripture. Many have changed that scripture to justify being rich. Sometimes we hear something preached over and over until we actually think it is truth whether or not it is true. This is what has happened all throughout church history. Be careful of substituting any book for the bible whether that book is "The Institutes of the Christian Religion", "The book of Mormons" or the "Purpose Driven Life". Some Christian books are very good but it is so easy for the writer to change some of the meaning of scripture to conform to the writer's own agenda or ideas. Some are written with good intentions and are not meant to deceive but they can mislead one into accepting a watered down or changed meaning of what the passage originally was meant to say. In many cases the person who writes the books are great men or women of God who would never purposely deceive but if one begins to rely on their work too much and exalt it either over the bible or equal to the bible, we are going to be deceived whether we want to be deceived or not. I love to read. I like to read books other than the bible but when it's time to seek God and worship, when it's time to go to church or go to bible study, the bible is the only book I want when its church time. I can study other books at home. Here is the key to right understanding. Jesus warned of those who draw nigh with their lips but their hearts are far from Him. When we read, study and seek God because we desire to understand His word no matter what and to live for Him no matter what, we will be more likely to understand the truth. Our motive may have a lot to do with our understanding. It is possible even to say all the right things and have a heart that is far from God. That is why it is said, We shall know them by their fruits. True conversion will produce good fruit not evil.
Jesus is addressing their complaint about the disciples eating without washing their hands. For health reasons it is much better to wash the hands first but this has nothing whatsoever to do with the salvation of the soul and the necessary things that God wants us to learn by His word. What comes out of us, our words, our actions and our motives is what counts, not whether we eat or drink without washing first. This is not a passage to excuse excessive drinking of fermented beverages because there are many other passages warning against those kind of things. It is also not an excuse to smoke or do things that harm our body physically. Neither is Jesus making an excuse to take drugs or eat things that are harmful. He was just emphasizing the need to understand the spirit of the law rather than nit pick on things that have nothing to do with the inner man or the condition of his soul.
Sometimes we have to teach the word of God without worrying about whether or not it offends. While I do not believe a preacher who has a bone to pick with a certain member should purposely arrange his sermon around that one thing and use his pulpit as a bully pulpit, I do believe that the word of God should be preached without fear or favor. Jesus said truly that if the Father has not planted something, it shall be rooted up. Every false religion will one day be plucked up and will be no more. The truth will stand in the end. Those that are blind and deceived shall fall if they do not find or seek the truth.
We must not add to what Jesus said here to mean that we can smoke and drink and still make heaven our home. We know He is not teaching us that we are free to eat or drink anything whether or not it is good for our body. He is stressing the fact that the things that count are how we live. That which proceeds from our hearts like evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, lying against someone, or blasphemies will defile us. Outward religion usually will put on great shows to those that observe it. Ceremonies, rituals, ordinances, dressing holy, and even entertaining praise and worship services can just be done to be seen of men. They can look holy and pleasing to God but God is looking on the heart. He knows whether or not what we do is because we love Him and love the souls He has entrusted to our care. The temptation to show off our talents when we worship instead of really worshipping God from the depths of our soul is really challenging. I'm not putting down any of these things of course. I love to see people use their instruments to worship God. I'm all for it. Our motives though is what God sees rather than our talent. Our talent does not necessarily impress God by itself. However, if a guy for instance has a talent for music and wants to use it for worship instead of for the world, I think that is great and God will reward him (her). I'm all for making a joyful noise to the Lord. Music stirs us very soul and to use it to worship God is biblical. I love it, but we do have to watch that it doesn't just become humdrum and a ritual. God is just as pleased with an elderly lady that sings out of tune but is singing from her heart as one who can sing like an angel but is concerned more with getting every note perfect. I'm not excusing lack of working or practicing for just anything goes, but just emphasizing that our worship should be with our hearts reaching out to God in love and worship.
The gospel was first given to Israel before going to the Gentile nations. Israel then was to take the gospel to the other nations. The Lord though has a purpose in the way He handled this certain incident.
Here is the purpose for the reaction of Jesus. He wanted to show this woman's humility and great faith in taking what crumbs she could get and be thankful for those crumbs. Some among the high and mighty religious hierarchy wouldn't believe even though they were given the whole table but this lady was willing to accept the crumbs that fell from that table.
A lot of us give up if we don't get answers right away. This woman was persistent. She fought for what she needed to have. It is like she said, "I know it's not really meant for me but I'll take whatever crumb that falls from the table because I believe that even a crumb from the master is worth more than anything else I can desire."
The sole reason for signs and wonders are to see the God of Israel glorified. Why? Because He is the only power in heaven and earth that can grant eternal salvation. There are no other gods before Him. He sent only one that that was closest thing to sending Himself as He could get. He sent part of Himself. The Son, Jesus Christ. Without Him there is no possible way to be saved from sin and enter eternity in the kingdom of Heaven. None.
Imagine being so hungry for the word that one, much less a whole multitude would spend three days listening without worrying about what is for dinner.
This shows again that the most important issue was the word of God and that came first but Jesus also was concerned for the immediate need of the people to have food for their bodies as well as food for their souls. It is not wrong to feed the spiritual food first and then offer the food for the stomach. Jesus showed us the right way. Jesus refers to these two incidents where He fed the multitudes in Matthew 16.
Jesus was concerned about the need of the people for food but He was more concerned that they do not worry about or major in the temporal need for food and the things of this life. He was more interested in that they avoided the false doctrine of the Pharisees and kept the word of God in truth. That should be our main emphasis also. Many who use to preach the gospel have also added supplying food to the hungry. That part is great but many have left the good part of the gospel and major only feeding the hungry. DC
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