Matthew 15:1 Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying, 2 Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread. 3 But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? 4 For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death. 5 But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; 6 And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. 7 Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, 8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. 9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
Religion in its general sense is any system of faith and worship. It is simply any form of belief. Muslims are religious as are Catholics, etc. In Jesus’ time on earth, the main religion within Israel was Judaism. The Chief Priests, Pharisees, Sadducees, Scribes and even the lawyers made up the “authority” within Israel. The Temple was still there, and the priesthood was still there, however, the chief priests were corrupt. Jesus needed to cleanse the temple twice during His earthly ministry. John the Baptist was sent by God to prepare the way for Jesus Christ to come. There was so much false teaching and John was called upon to preach the truth. His main message was a message of repentance. The people needed to change their thinking. They had many traditions that were keeping them from believing the truth. John was obedient to God and he served God faithfully. Many of the common people were glad to hear his preaching. They responded well to his message. Jesus Christ came and spent 3 1/2 years proving that He is the Messiah. Many people heard Him gladly, but they had a very difficult time throwing out the traditions they had been taught. We know that, because at the trial, many people cried out “crucify Him, crucify Him.” Traditions are not all bad.
II Thessalonians 2:15 Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle.
The apostles taught the Word of God. They also wrote down that which God told them to write. Because they had been changed by God, and they were truly changed, they did not teach the traditions of the Pharisees. We can be thankful that they were holy men. We can be thankful that we will never be led astray by the Word of God. This needs to be true of the churches that Jesus Christ is building. We cannot just claim to be a true church and then assume that everything we do is approved of by Jesus Christ. The apostle Paul stated:
II Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Paul also stated:
II Corinthians 10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: 4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) 5 Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; 6 And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.
In our opening Scripture, Jesus exposed the scribes and Pharisees for their false teaching. Notice that the Pharisees admitted their traditions were “the traditions of the elders.” They admitted they were not teaching the Word of God (although they equated them as God’s Word). They had placed the elders above the Word of God. Jesus exposed them for their wrong thinking. They were transgressing the commandment of God by their tradition. We cannot hold something as sacrosanct when it is not based in the Bible. We know that the Bereans were praised by God because they gladly received the apostles’ doctrines, but they also searched the Scriptures daily to make sure that what the apostles were teaching them was founded in Scripture. The Bereans were doing this before the Scriptures were completed. They obviously had enough Scripture by that time that they could examine what the apostles were teaching and be safe. Today we have the completed Scriptures. There is no new Word from the Lord. There are false teachers today, who claim to have new revelation from God. They are heretics. They need to be exposed and rejected. We cannot hold any human tradition higher than God’s Word. As we noted in a previous devotional, “good Friday” and Easter Sunday do not add up to three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Easter bunnies and chocolate chickens and eggs do not add up to anything Biblical. I have had to learn many things regarding traditions and the Word of God. Some of the things that God has opened my eyes to have caused me some concern. I have been more afraid of what men would think of me than what God already showed me. Human traditions are powerful. We can try to hold on to them and claim that we know the truth, but this is what works. Who does it work with? We can even claim that this many people were saved because we held to some tradition against God’s Word. We can also claim that this many people were exposed to the Gospel because we had a meeting on the day of some worthless tradition. We can try many things to try to justify ‘what we have always done.’ The apostle Paul shows us a different path in Philippians 3. He saw the past wrong teaching he had received as dung. You do not keep a pail of dung at your bedside, or beside your favourite chair. You throw it out. It is important to learn that situational ethics is not Biblical ethics. If we try to suggest that many people are saved by the way we do things, we need to also ask what are they being saved to? As we look at Christianity today, and we compare that to Biblical Christianity, I at least see a vast difference. I am not the standard. God is. His Word is Truth. As we pursue the Truth we will be free just as Jesus declared in John 8:32. It is important to be free in God’s eyes, not man’s. Pastor Bartel
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