Truly Honoring God

Notes for the Ekklesia Meeting
Sundays @ 10:00 a.m. Info: (651) 283-0568 www.dtminc.org Today’s Date: May 1, 2005

Truly Honoring God

"‘…for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. 7 You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: 8 ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 9 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ 10 And he called the people to him and said to them, ‘Hear and understand: 11 it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.’" Matt. 15:6b-11

The context for this episode in both Matthew and Mark are identical. In both gospels, Jesus returns across the sea of Galilee after feeding the 5,000. As the people on shore see Him approaching, they recognize Him and send word throughout the countryside that He was there. People began bringing their sick to Him to be healed. As many as touched the hem of His garment were healed.

At some point during this, or immediately afterwards, some Pharisees and scribes came to Him from Jerusalem. They noticed Jesus’ disciples beginning to eat without properly washing their hands in the customary ritual manner. They asked Jesus why His disciples disregarded the traditions of the elders and ate with unwashed hands.

(It is interesting that they did not ask the disciples directly. Apparently Jesus Himself had washed His hands, or was not eating, for they did not accuse Him. This is the second time that the Pharisees took issue with Jesus over the behavior of His disciples. They had criticized them for working on the Sabbath because they had plucked some wheat kernels as they walked through the fields, rubbed them between their hands, and then popped the hand-threshed kernels into their mouths [12:1,2]. On both occasions they came to Jesus about their behavior. Isn’t that a little dysfunctional? Why not simply correct the disciples themselves? Interesting, too, that both incidents involved the eating behavior of the disciples. Does that possibly say something concerning the priorities of the disciples? They appear to have been a little overly-focused on feeding their faces [Cf. Phil. 3:13-19; Rom. 16:18], a sign of their spiritual immaturity. If this episode took place after the message recorded in John 6, the disciples’ behavior is even more ironic [cf. Jn. 6:27].)

Here Jesus and His disciples had spent the entire day working with the people. The power of God was evident by the many miracles which were being performed. Yet, when they finally break for supper, the Pharisees and scribes were quick to point out an apparent inconsistency, or at least an impropriety, because they did not wash properly according to their religious tradition. They tried to turn this impropriety into an opportunity to attack Jesus.

(One lesson to be observed here is that we are always on display before others. Our behavior reflects back on Jesus, if we claim to follow Him. Even though we may claim that we are not faithfully walking out our faith, those who are opposed to Christ will use our inconsistency to attack both Him and the Christian cause, crying, "Hypocrite!" It is vital that we "walk our talk" all the time.)

What is this "tradition of the elders" the Pharisees and scribes were so concerned about? Why was Jesus not so concerned about keeping these? In Jewish history, between the time of the last OT books and the first century, there was an oral tradition which began to accumulate, consisting of interpretations by well-known rabbis of the Torah. These were applications of Mosaic commands which were not specifically expressed in the Scriptures.

This custom of hand washing is one example of a tradition that was taught in these commentaries, and became an accepted practice among the Jews. The custom was that you were supposed to carefully wash your hands in pure water before eating a meal, and again immediately afterwards. You were supposed to dip your hands up to the wrist in water, and then dry them. Eventually, prescriptions were created concerning the kind of vessels that could be used to hold the water, and instructions were given regarding the washing of plates and cups involved in the meal. Particularly zealous Jews went so far as to wash their hands between courses.

While probably a commendable practice, as far as cleanliness and sanitation are concerned, none of this was specifically mentioned in the OT Law, at all. It was purely the creation of these rabbis who were commenting on and expanding upon what the Word of God actually said.

So, when the Pharisees and scribes approached Jesus about this totally unbiblical practice, making it sound as if the disciples were breaking God’s Law, when actually it was just a human tradition, Jesus put them in their place.

He took the opportunity to expose the foolishness of human religious traditions, even to show how they actually can conflict with the direct commandments of God. The example He used exposed a loophole for selfishness in regard to honoring and caring for one’s parents.

It is not unlike some estate planning schemes promoted by certain religious groups today. What was going on was that the adult child would take an oath to dedicate the fruits of his income or property to God after he died. He could continue to utilize and enjoy this while still alive, but it was to be dedicated to God upon his death. In the meantime, if the parent would come to be in need, the child would say, "Gee, Dad/ Mom, I’d like to help you, but I’ve dedicated my wealth to God, so I can’t make use of it to help you. That would be like stealing from God."

What a crock! They were using this "religious loophole" to appear righteous, but at the same time escape their responsibility to care for their parents in their old age. Jesus pointed out that their human traditions actually countermanded the teachings of the Scriptures! One of the ten commandments was to honor your father and mother (Ex. 20:12). This practice did not value or esteem them, but actually disregarded their needs.

Then the Lord got to the real underlying issue, "What is it that defiles a person in the sight of God?" The focus of their human tradition of hand washing was to clean the outside of the person. Somewhere the belief lurked in their minds that if they managed to look clean and good on the outside, then they must be clean and good on the inside. Instead, Jesus got to the heart of the matter (no pun intended). It is not what is outside of a person that can defile him. There is no food that a person could eat that would truly spiritually defile someone. Why? Because it just goes through the digestive track and into the latrine.

(Mark underlines the impact of this teaching for his Gentile audience by saying, "Thus He declared all food clean" [Mk. 7:19]. What he meant was that Jesus’ statement indicates that the dietary restrictions of OT Law no longer applied because the Lord "cleansed" all foods [cf. Acts 10:14-16].

Food could not "defile" anyone. How does this fit with Jesus’ saying in Matt. 5:17-20 that He had not come to annul the Law or the Prophets, but to fulfill them? The purpose of the OT dietary laws was to set the Jewish people apart from other people to be dedicated to God [An added benefit to keeping them was that they avoided eating things that could be more prone to disease and parasites, if improperly cooked, but they did not necessarily know that.] The dietary practices were just a word picture, a symbol of the fact that they were God’s people. What Jesus came to do was to truly set free us from the defilement of sin, and to set us apart for God by a genuine transformation of the heart.

Furthermore, God’s intent was not to make all people Jews, but to make both Jew and Gentile into an entirely new humanity in Jesus Christ [Eph. 2:11-22]. In that sense, the purpose of the dietary laws was figurative, and they are fulfilled by the sanctifying work of Holy Spirit [I Cor. 6:11].) The real issue regarding a person’s standing before God has to do with the condition and focus of his or her heart.

The Pharisees and scribes had developed "religious loopholes" because their hearts were not in agreement with God’s heart. They wanted to "be righteous", by outwardly keeping the requirements of the law, but they devised methods for still protecting and accomplishing their selfish interests, many of which were in conflict with direct teachings of God.

The schizophrenic approach to spirituality was alive and well back in Jesus’ time, and it still is today. On one hand, people are devoted to keeping religious practices and duties, but at the same time they are living lives that are immoral or clearly in conflict with God’s purposes for them. They give God a little acknowledgement, a little "corner" of their lives, but they retain control. They live life as they want. They just want to assuage their consciences a bit, and maybe appear righteous and respectable to others, by going to religious meetings and doing religious activities, but, at the core, they still are calling the shots, determining their own life-plan, setting their own course. They have not truly surrendered or sold out to God. Their heart is readily evident by their attitudes, speech and behavior. As Jesus said, "You will know them by their fruits" (Matt. 7:16-20; 12:33-35). Jesus quotes from Isa. 29:13, "This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. In vain do they worship Me…".

What defiles a person before God? What is the source of the "bad fruit" in their lives? It is an unregenerate, self-centered, sinful heart, and the things that "flow out" from that deceitful heart. Proverbs 4:23 says that "the springs of life" flow out of the heart. What that means is that our thoughts, words and actions are the expressions of our inner hearts.

Jesus’ comment to the Pharisees focused on the mouth, because they were so concerned about what went into their mouths. He declared, "Hear and understand: it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person." Later on, when the disciples asked for an explanation of what He meant, He explained in more detail, "Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone."

So what do we do? How do we deal with the "heart problem". The Pharisees and scribes had it all wrong. Jesus called them "blind guides of the blind. And if a blind man guides a blind man, both will fall into a pit." Their "outside-in" approach doesn’t work. We can’t change the heart by doing religious activities, good deeds, or by any acts of self-effort, at all. What we must do is get a new heart, and learn to live out of that inner "spring".

That’s precisely what Jesus came to give us in fulfillment of OT promises regarding a new covenant God would make with His people, putting His law inside them, writing it upon their hearts and minds (Ezk. 11:19,20; 36:25-27; Jer. 24:7; Heb. 10:15-25). This inner transformation produces an outward change in thoughts, words and behaviors, if we learn to live out from that new inner source.

Note that Jesus said the Pharisee’s hearts were far from God. We must draw near to God in reverence, humility and repentance (Jas. 4:8), and accept the gift of a new heart from Him. Then we must remain connected to God as our Source (cf. Jn. 15:1-8). He becomes our well-spring (Jn. 7:37-39). Paul talks of this in terms of "walking in the Spirit" (Gal. 5:16-25). If we abide in Him, we will be filled with life and vitality. From Him as the center and truest love of our lives, we will find ourselves able to do His will (Jn. 14:15,23).

This is what truly honors God, lives that are genuinely lived from Him as the Source, bearing the fruit and character which are an honest and clear revelation of His presence in the life of His people.