Tradition, The Heart, and The Gospel

Reflections and my personal plead from Matthew 15:1-20

Photo by Mélissa Jeanty on Unsplash

“Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.” He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,” he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’” And he called the people to him and said to them, “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.” Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?” He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” But Peter said to him, “Explain the parable to us.” And he said, “Are you also still without understanding? 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.” Matthew 15:1-20 ESV

(Supporting scripture for this reflection are listed at the bottom.)

Now, the temptation for me, here, was to go into detail about the rituals and explain the big deal about washing of the hands. I wanted to explain the ceremonial washings and things like that.

I even had a pretty lengthy piece typed up. More lengthy than this. But, for the sake of your time and attention, I think it’s best if we look at the broad topics, and focus, mainly, on what will stir your affections for Christ and his word. Even, give you greater confidence in your decisions.

I hope that this may help you clear your conscience. A lot of men and women are bogged down and even unnecessarily frustrated with things that are tradition rather than the word of God. You may even find in your heart, anger and defense, over things you grew up with. Things that were deemed important, and maybe they are! I’m not trying to tear down walls!

Maybe they do benefit the good of your church or your family. Even promoting love for one another.

Each situation, people group, and culture are different. If we can pause, we can see things with a right judgement or maybe a clearer judgement. We can focus our attention on things of most importance. We may even find a greater peace in ourselves and with others.

Man’s Word vs God’s Word

Here’s a question, How much of what you do week to week, at home or at church could you really back up with the word of God?

Think hard about this. When you step into your church, and you look around, or listen to what you hear, how much of it is necessary? Even beneficial? How do you determine if it’s worth your time? How much of it is God’s word and how much of it is tradition?

And what do we find ourselves defending? And what’s the motive behind why we are defending it? One thing about traditions or what we grow up with, is that they become very personal to us. In fact how we answer these questions will dramatically change how our churches operate and the culture of each. It will determine the strain of our conscience or the freedom of it.

One person can grow up in a family who says we should eat turkey for Thanksgiving, while another can grow up saying we should eat tacos. I personally love tacos!

One person can go to a church with a full rock band, while another can go to a church with only a piano.

One church deems the King James Bible as the most reliable version, while others say English Standard Version is reliable.

One family says public school is the best way to teach our kids, while others say homeschooling is the best option.

Some say we must be baptized as infants to get rid of original sin.

Some say you must give ten percent of your income to the church.

Some of these examples even raise in our hearts a need to defend! Some of you may leave a lengthy comment of why one of these is very important. You are probably right!

We grow up with things and become very convicted about the need of these things. There are endless varieties of how this works out. We find ourselves in constant fights over things that seem very precious to us. Things we know for certain are needed and true because that’s the way we were taught. And maybe our conscience will condemn us if we find out what we believe is false or questionable. That would mean that our parents may be wrong or were wrong. This is scary because what if our parents have died? What does that mean for them? I understand the fear that many keep secret. What we’ve been taught has great impact on our lives and if confronted may be very hard to be convinced otherwise. Traditions, whether in the thought of God or in just unchristian life are held very dear and if someone threatens them, this could mean war.

This is partly what we see in the start of this text. We see Scribes and Pharisees traveling to Jesus in order to “put him on the hot seat.” They have traditions, they have ways that are, to them, very important. Things orally passed along. Things that they may even die for and later kill for. But let’s look further and think on something more. I want you to see the heart as the focus, not tell you that how you grew up is going to be attacked. Although the text is about tradition and we are covering that, the text and Christ want us to see another side. Christ is always about the inner-man and not necessarily the paint he uses to make his house look pretty. So let’s look at the heart and then how it changes how we view traditions.

Motives

Motives in relation to our traditions are very important.

You see, it’s not that the scribes and Pharisees care about washing hands, but as Christ points out, that the washing of hands is placed far too high in their judgement. Also, and maybe even more significant, is that they set their traditions over the word of God.

And Christ points out, and uses a certain example to reveals their hearts. Showing that the reason that they point fingers is for the benefit of their lust. We read,

“And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,” he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God.“

He points out that they have neglected family and used their traditions to justify their actions. Even though the word of God said honor their father and mother and even take care of them. They in turn, said they don’t need to provide because, what was going to be given to their parents, was given to God. Now did they actually give it to God? That is the obvious question that rises in our minds. What is the motivation?

So their motives were determining their decisions rather than Gods word.

This is a dangerous evil of the hearts of men. And indeed, Jesus points out that everything arises from the heart. The heart defiles the man.

Jesus says,

“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.”

His point is that they choose tradition over the word of God because it benefits them and their glory, and that this happens because they are defiled from the inside, not from acting out a tradition. Tradition doesn’t justify men, neither does it defile him.

The Gospel

Here are a couple things that I hope causes your heart to relax.

1. You are not made right with God based on your traditions.

   If you went to church every Sunday with your parents, and they pinched your ear to drag you into the building.

   If you grew up and never cussed or listened to heavy metal.

   If you never drank a lick of beer.

   If you wear only long dresses and tightly fit suits.

   If you say certain prayers over and over again.

   If you use carts pulled by horses or use a Chevy pickup.

   If you have long hair, short hair, no hair, colored hair, curly hair, or tall hair.

   If you help every granny cross the street.

   If you have never stolen anything.

   None of this makes you right or good before God.

   None of it.

   Many men and women consider themselves good people, even righteous people based on the fact that they do or don’t do things.

   A recent thing that occurred to me as I pondered this was that, even what we call “manners” are in fact passed down from tradition. People deem others as upright based on this one tradition alone. The question is, are our children good based on a, “please and thank you?”

   The answer in the gospel is a resounding no.

   The reason is that the standard to be considered “good” is to be perfect like God. When talking to the rich young ruler in Matthew 19, the man calls Jesus “good.” He was right in calling him good. Jesus is one of the trinity. But he was wrong in his concept of good. This is why Christ points out, “why do you call me good? There is no one good but God.”

   But like many today, the young ruler obeyed commands and even claimed innocence but never realized what the true problem was. His Heart.

2. The problem is your heart!

Many today, fall into the trap that they are good and acceptable because of outward actions. Outward laws.

In fact every religion you and I read about and witness, focus on do and don’ts. Men will dress a certain way to be deemed important. Women will put immense pressure on themselves to parent in a way that is accepted by their elders. We place pressure on outward appearances. We continue to view the wealthy as “having it together.” While we shrug our noses at the man on the corner. We have been taught that some things are acceptable and set us above the rest while other things are unacceptable and make us “low class.” One thing about tradition is that it has a tendency to set standards and to put people on a scale in relation to each other. (There is a better way, keep reading.)

All of these things are handed down, intentionally or not and though some of them are good, none of them make you good.

That’s what I want you to understand. I am not roasting your decisions, but none of your decisions, alone, are able to make you right and forgiven in Gods sight.

Why?

Well, you are dead in your trespasses. Not only this, apart from Christ work in the heart, you are incapable of doing what is actually good. You and I are not good.

Why?

Let me try to explain.

Apart from Christ, every motive of every man and woman on this earth is corrupt. It’s like someone doing dishes with a dirty rag. It’s as if you are building a house with nails made with clay. This way of explaining it is not enough to get the point across but it may help.

In Genesis 3, we hear the serpent tell Eve, “you will be like God.” And “knowing good and evil”

In this You and I can decide what we consider good. If we read Judges, we will hear that every man, “did what was right in his own eyes.”

The problem is that, we, apart from God, call good evil and evil good. What we deem good is actually evil and rebellious against God. We can look at the fall in genesis 3 to prove the point.

The most severe part of this, is that in every case that we conclude for ourselves what is good, if it is against Gods word, we are calling him a liar.

Do you see the offense?

Eve did this, I do this, you do this, every single person does this. We call the creator of the universe a liar!

Our hearts are wicked.

Traditions are born from this kind of heart. They are born from hearts that declare, “I’m right.” And in this, we are prone to place our traditions over the word of God. This is exactly what we are seeing in the text above.

Christ And Faith

The gospel says that Jesus Christ came into the world, lived the life we should have lived, and died the death we deserved. It says that his shedding of blood paid for this rebellion and sin. It forgave our insult of calling God a liar. It forgave our messy motives. It forgave us deciding our own way and it now offers a new heart and life through faith in Christ. This is very important.

What’s faith? It’s trust and admittance of our sin. It’s saying, “I trust you. You aren’t a liar. I have no clue what good is and I raise my tradition over your words because I think they make me good, but I’m not.”

Faith clings to Gods promises. It does what obeying laws could not. It realizes it can’t be good and therefore every law it keeps condemns it. So it clings to Christ’s life and death as its own. It takes the payment for its sin. It takes the gift and the grace.

And in this, it’s free to love and really do what is good. It receives a new heart. Becomes a new creation. With this it loves the word of God and aligns its whole life up with it.

Through Christ it’s made right with God. Justified. Forgiven.

No tradition claims hold on this kind of man. Instead every tradition is filtered through the word of God. Every tradition is put in place for the praise of Gods grace and the exaltation of His glory. Tradition is then used to love the brothers instead of control the brothers.

In fact, the heart that embraces Christ doesn’t need controlled by a rule or tradition. It’s controlled through the compelling love seen in Christ and the overwhelming joy in what Christ has done for it. It is taught by the Spirit. Tradition that is used in this life brings joy and freedom. Because love does what is right and good.

Practical Application

So what about chairs or pews?

What about clothing?

What about schooling?

What about the version of Bible our church uses?

What about if I dress fancy or if I wear a potato sack?

What about everything I’ve been taught?

Scripture says, “the whole law is summed up in this, love your brother.” (Paraphrase.)

Are you asking what’s right in order to be accepted? Or are you asking what’s right in order to love your brother?

Because one will make this life a competition filled with manipulation and the other will make it a joy.

So here’s the final thought:

Are you putting your thoughts and traditions over Gods word? Especially when we critique others?

Are our laws that we mandate in order to promote love and wellbeing for our brothers or are they manipulation to get what we want?

Are our traditions our basis for our acceptance? Or are they flowing out of a gospel saturated heart? Do we need a new heart if they’re not?

Oh friends, how much Christ has given us. We are free!

He’s made us for so much more than outward appearances and rule keeping. Let us live in the gospel and do all things for love for our brothers. Your brothers don’t need more rules and burdens set on them that neither of you can keep. They need Christ. They need good done to them that comes from true compassion and love. That’s Gospel oriented and grounded in truth, the word of God! Make every tradition you want if it has that as its foundation!

The warning though, is if our motives and tradition are grounded in any other thing, Jesus says our actions and hearts aren’t in line. We will be blind men leading blind men. In our self righteous minds and actions and traditions we will continue to ignore that our hearts are evil. We will continue to make things that benefit our desires. We will continue to see ourselves as good and able to make right decisions. We will neglect the word of God and in the end be found calling him a liar. This is a burden. It is heavy. But Christ has made it new! He’s all you need!

Be free my friends. You have all you need in Christ! All left now to do is believe and love each other. This will transform every tradition into things that fill the hearts with joy, not fill us with more burdens. It will change decisions made day by day. It will change how much unnecessary guilt we carry. It says we don’t have to worry about being accepted anymore! Christ set us, you, free to do what’s good! Not to earn anything or manipulate how others view you or try to control outcomes so you can be viewed as better, but to do good because it’s good! You’re free in Christ!

Read the Bible. Love in the way you were taught by Christ.

Be free.

Cling to Christ!

“For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Gen 3:5

“Therefore, let it be known to you, brothers and sisters, that through this man forgiveness of sins is being proclaimed to you. Everyone who believes is justified through him from everything that you could not be justified from through the law of Moses.” Acts 13:38-39

“For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.” Romans 3:20

“For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.” Romans 3:28

“yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified.” Gal 2:16

“Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.“ Romans 13:10

“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Romans 5:1

“In those days there was no king in Israel. ● Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” Judges 17:6

“Every way of a man is right in his own eyes, but the Lord weighs the heart” Proverbs 21:2

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23