Matthew 15:1-9 Mark 7:1-13 John 7:1

http://biblehub.com/parallelgospels/Eating_with_Unwashed_Hands.htm

Confrontation is something most of us try to avoid but we tend to respond to confrontation with confrontation.  When we feel like we are being attacked, our first reaction is to respond by going on the offensive ourselves.  The teachings of Jesus were very offensive to the religious leaders.  However, instead of recognizing their failures, they confronted Jesus in an attempt to discredit Him and take the attention away from themselves.  It was easier for them to attack Jesus and His disciples than it was for them to admit that they were wrong.  This is what happens when pride becomes the motivating factor in our lives.  When we are confronted with our own sinfulness, repentance is the right response.  Unfortunately, retaliation is a more common tendency.  This “blame game” may be an effective way to avoid change and make us feel better about ourselves; but it is a dangerous way to live our lives.

BROKEN RITUALS: The scribes and Pharisees confronted Jesus about the way He and His disciples broke their religious rituals.  In their minds, eating with hands that were now washed was not just bad personal hygiene, it was rebellion against their traditions.  They believed that their ritualistic cleansings contributed to their spiritual well-being and gained them favor with God.  Their performance based religion kept growing and growing with more and more traditions that were necessary to follow in order to impress one another.  They had all kinds of different ways that they had to wash themselves and anything that they used.  As we look at their traditions of washings for the purpose of purification it seems almost silly to us.  However, we have the same tendencies.  The religion of rituals has always been attractive to men.  We like to feel like we are earning what we have.  We attend services, do devotions, pray at meal times, and have all kinds of lists of do’s and don’ts.  These may all be good things but we must never come to the point that we believe we are earning some sort of favor from God by doing these things.  We can never earn the love of God.  He loves us more deeply than we could ever imagine and there is nothing we can do that will make Him love us more or less.  Our focus in life must be to rejoice in His love instead of performing rituals in an attempt to earn it.

BROKEN REGULATIONS: Jesus responds to their questions and accusations by quoting Scripture to them.  He applied the teaching of Isaiah that the people honored God with their lips but their hearts were far from Him.  They had an external relationship of works that they piously performed in order to feed their own pride but it had nothing to do with loving God.  Jesus demonstrates this truth by showing them the hypocrisy of their ways.  The Scriptures clearly teach that we are to honor our father and mother.  To speak evil of their parents was punishable by death.  This is a clear regulation from the Word of God that requires us to honor and care for the basic needs of our parents.  However, the Pharisees had invented a saying that basically excused them from following this regulation simply by saying “corban”.  This meant that all they had was dedicated to the service of the Lord.  It meant that they didn’t have to care for their parents because all they had was dedicated to the Lord.  They continued to use their money for personal gain but simply claimed that it was dedicated to God.  In essence, they were correct because they had become their own gods.  This kind of rationalization demonstrated that their hearts were far from God which made their worship useless.  We must be careful not to rationalize our sin and violate the clear commands of Scripture.

BROKEN RELATIONSHIP: Pride will tear any relationship apart and it is no different in our relationship with God.  When we try to earn favor with God through rituals and we rationalize our own sin in the name of dedication to God; we demonstrate that our relationship with God is broken.  Their hearts were far from God and their worship was useless.  God loves us and wants us to love Him.  We are not to go through the motions of religion simply to fuel our own pride.  God wants us to follow His instructions and live in light of His Word and not use “dedication” to Him become an excuse for neglecting the clear instructions of Scripture.  Rejoicing in His love and submission to His commands from our hearts is how God wants us to relate with Him.  True worship is not about rituals or regulations it is about a personal a loving relationship with God.


APPLICATION: Don’t allow the religion of rituals to rule our hearts.  Enjoy a personal relationship with God and demonstrate our love for Him by obeying Him from our heart.  Follow God with our heart and not just pay “lip service” to Him.

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