Matthew 15 - We don't go to "church", we go to "worship God".
Matthew 15 - NIV
That Which Defiles
15 Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, 2 “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!”
One of the things the Pharisees (the religious leaders) were constantly trying to do was trip Jesus up on minor details of the Law. If they caught him or his disciples disobeying a command, they could accuse him of a being a false teacher. Many of the laws were not even in the original Law of Moses, they were added by the religous leaders as time went on.
3 Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’[a] and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’[b] 5 But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ 6 they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. 7 You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:
8 “‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
9 They worship me in vain;
their teachings are merely human rules.’[c]”
Jesus calls this on them it by saying, "Why do you break the command of God for your tradition". Clearly they are being hypocritical. They were distorting commandment of honoring one's father and mother to get more money for the synagogue, which meant more money for the synagogue and for them. Then he quotes Isaiah who had a similar thing to say the people of Israel.
Isaiah gives the ultimate rebuke by saying, "These people honor me with their lips but their hearts are far from me." We might say today they were giving God "lip service". They appeared to be religious in their worship, but they were far away fro God in their relationship with Him. (i.e. their hearts)
Worshipping God is more than reciting words, liturgies, and praise music. Worship is lifting our hearts up to give adoration and praise to God, and allowing God to transform our hearts by the inspiration of His Word (preaching). We don't go to "church", we go to "worship God".
A lot of church services seem like more on a concert or going to movie to be entertained. This is expressed by the saying, "I didn't get much out of worship today". We get something out of worship when we worship God. We don't rely on someone else to make us FEEL like we worshipped based on our emotions, or how much we loved the sermon or music. None of those things are bad and do lead to us "getting a lot our worship", but that is not the primary reason we go to church. We are the church!
10 Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. 11 What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.”
Jesus reminded them worship is not about what is going on the outside of us, but on the inside of us. When we speak our words reflect the condition of our hearts.
12 Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?” 13 He replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. 14 Leave them; they are blind guides.[d] If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”5 Peter said, “Explain the parable to us.”
When the disciples related the Pharisees' ire for Jesus, he dismissed it calling them "blind guides". How could they lead others to God, if they did know or truly have a relationship with God themselves?
16 “Are you still so dull?” Jesus asked them. 17 “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 a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. 20 These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them.”
The disciples were still not getting this, so Jesus sounds a little irriated by this. He wonders why they are "so dull". Jesus explains that when something comes into our bodies like food or water, it eventually goes out our bodies. But the words and actions show what is happening in our hearts. When Jesus says things like murder, adultery, and sexually immorality come out our heart, is shows that our hearts are the center of our will. A person's actions, what they are passionate about, and where they invest their time, energry and resources reveal the condition of someone's heart. Remember Jesus said,
"Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." - Matthew 6:21
The Faith of a Canaanite Woman
21 Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22 A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.” 23 Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.” 24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.” 25 The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she said. 26 He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.”
27 “Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.”
28 Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that moment.
1. Canaanites were seen as Israel's enemies. When Israel came into the land of Canaan (aka the Promised Land) they had to defeat the Canannites and other nations to take hold of it.
2. The first sign that showed the Canaanite woman was sincerely seeking Jesus was when she called him, "Lord, Son of David". This acknowledged she knew something about Jesus, especially using the term "Son of David", which showed his Messianic lineage.
3. "Have mercy on me." She didn't come thinking she deserved anything. She knew Jesus would help here because he was kind and merciful.
4. Her daughter was demon possessed. She might have heard that Jesus had cast out other demons, because he did that a lot.
5. The disciples tried to cast her away probably because she was a Canannite.
6. Jesus even admitted that he was sent, "only to the lost sheep of Israel", or at least initiatlly.
7. The woman showed incredible faith pleading for only the crumbs a dog would eat.
8. Jesus recognized her great faith and publicly extolled her for it. Her daughter was healed that moment. I.e. Jesus did not have to be near her to cast out the demon.
Jesus Feeds the Four Thousand
29 Jesus left there and went along the Sea of Galilee. Then he went up on a mountainside and sat down. 30 Great crowds came to him, bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid them at his feet; and he healed them. 31 The people were amazed when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled made well, the lame walking and the blind seeing. And they praised the God of Israel.
Jesus continued to heal the multitudes of people who followed him. These people had every type of disease and sickness. When people who were crippled got up to walk and people who were blind saw, there was no way to explain away the true nature of these miracles. This resulted in praise to the God of Israel. The purpose of all of Jesus' miracles was to point to God!
32 Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away hungry, or they may collapse on the way.” 33 His disciples answered, “Where could we get enough bread in this remote place to feed such a crowd?” 34 “How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked. “Seven,” they replied, “and a few small fish.” 35 He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. 36 Then he took the seven loaves and the fish, and when he had given thanks, he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and they in turn to the people. 37 They all ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. 38 The number of those who ate was four thousand men, besides women and children. 39 After Jesus had sent the crowd away, he got into the boat and went to the vicinity of Magadan.
1. Jesus was tired and could have walked away after doing all of this healing ministry, but he realized the people were hungry. They had been waiting for three days with nothing to eat. This was a sign of how bad they wanted to see Jesus and be healed by him.
2. The disciples didn't think they could feed all these people with such limited resources. They only looked at what they could do with what they had.
3. Jesus asked them to give him what they had. He didn't expect them to meet this need on their own.
4. Jesus prepared for God to do a miracle by asking the people to sit down. He expected God to provide and made a plan for when He would.
5. Jesus took what he had been given by the disciples and offered it up to the Father with THANKS. He thanked God for what He already had and trusted in God to multiply it.
6. In the process God multiplied it so greatly that not only did it feed 4,000 people, but there were even LEFTOVERS!
You can probably see the practical lessons of this story. Most importantly when Jesus saw the need, he decided to do something about it. Secondly, he asked the disciples to participate by giving what they had. He offered it up to God in thanks and let God do the rest.
Importantly he planned "AS IF" God would provide. This showed his great faith!
Where do you need to take what you have, give thanks for it, and offer it up to God so that God can meet the needs of others. It could be your time, your talents, or your treasures.
The bottom line is God can do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine when we give God utmost for his highest. (See book by this title by Oswald Chambers. It is a classic!)
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