Look who Jesus condemns

So that's Matthew chapter 15 verses 1 to 20.

Matthew 15:1–20

Anyone tells his father or his mother, what you would have gained from me is given to God.

He need not honour his father.

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, these people honours me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

In vain 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 that 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 still without understanding?

Do you not see whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled?

But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart and that 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.

Well, for those who are visitors, my name is David.

I'm one of the pastors here and I'll be taking you through this passage, Matthew 15, 1 to 20.

Last Sunday, we started to ease back into Matthew's account of the life and ministry of Jesus after a 10-month break.

I spoke last week about the importance of understanding both Matthew's big picture and also the details of the many incidents and personal encounters people had with Jesus.

And I said that we needed to understand that the specific incidents stand alone.

They're stories in their own right.

But we should never take them alone.

Because together, they form what I'm calling this morning an identikit composite of Jesus, who he is and what he's come to do.

If you're familiar with identikit, it's what the police use.

They'll put the eyebrows on and the mouth on and the nose on and eventually they'll get a very, very close resemblance to the person they're trying to describe.

Well, that's what Matthew's doing here.

Bit by bit, he's brush stroking in the picture of Jesus, who he is and what his mission is.

And he's writing particularly to a Jewish audience.

And he's writing to convince the Jews that Jesus is the long-promised, long-awaited Messiah from the Old Testament.

The one who was called God's King and Savior.

The one who would come and establish God's kingdom, God's eternal kingdom, a worldwide kingdom.

That is, God's rule in the hearts and minds of people.

Matthew wants the Jews particularly to understand that Jesus is this man, this Messiah.

He's here.

It's happening.

And so therefore, the big picture of Matthew is that Matthew primarily wants us to see the Jesus that people met.

It's his picture that we want to see emerging from Matthew's account.

The Jesus people met as they encountered him individually and in groups, in all sorts of different circumstances and incidents.

And it's then that the details of the people that Jesus met become really helpful because we then see people's individual and perhaps also group conclusions about this Jesus they've been encountering.

People form conclusions and respond personally to Jesus, either positively or negatively, but they do respond.

So the details feed into the big picture.

And the big picture then, as I say, delivers perspective.

So from the start of Jesus' ministry, the public ministry, Jesus declared himself to be Messiah, God's King and Savior.

Now, we would expect, when that's declared by a Jew to the Jews, we would expect them to welcome Jesus and respond, fall in line and believe.

But in fact, as we trace through the life and times of Jesus, we find actually growing opposition.

Many of the huge crowds who initially flocked to Jesus out of interest had now left the crowds and gone home in bitter disappointment.

Jesus just wasn't the sort of person they expected Messiah to be.

And therefore, Jesus couldn't be Messiah that he claimed to be.

Perhaps some of them left because Jesus wasn't the sort of Messiah they wanted him to be.

In response to his growing opposition, as I said last week, chapter 13, Matthew teaches a series of parables.

And in those parables, he says, my kingdom is like.

And throughout that chapter, Jesus is really saying that in spite of opposition, his kingdom, that is his rule in the hearts and minds of people, was here.

It was happening, already happening.

And that in spite of appearing weak and pathetic and small in the face of opposition, it would flourish.

It would end as a massive, eternal, worldwide kingdom.

It would sweep up all sorts of people who would see him as the treasure they'd look for, the most desirable thing they could imagine.

And they would reorientate their lives to align with the Lord Jesus Christ.

And then after chapter 13, as I said again last week, Matthew illustrates this truth in a series of rejection incidents.

And we talked to those a little bit last week.

And I just want to bring them all together to build this big picture.

So Matthew introduces to rejection in Nazareth.

Nazareth was, of course, Jesus' hometown.

It was his local community.

Now, here's the thing.

In a culture, in a society, where pedigree was everything, lineage and pedigree was everything.

It was a major pillar of society.

What did they conclude about Jesus and his hometown?

Nah, Jesus is way too ordinary.

Way too ordinary.

He doesn't have.

He's the son of Mary.

Yeah, Mary, that Mary.

Then there was rejection by the Jewish royal household.

Chapter 14.

Herod Antipas, who's the son of, also called Herod the, I don't know, I'll get it.

The son of Herod the Great.

He had murdered John the Baptist.

And now he's on the trail of Jesus, thinking that Jesus is a reincarnation of John the Baptist.

Now, remember, this is the second major pillar of Jewish society.

This is the king.

The king who is supposed to rule God's people with God's righteousness.

And here he is lining himself up for a second murder.

Why?

Because he didn't want to be called out for his sinful behavior.

And then as we move into chapter 15, we find the third pillar of Jewish society, the Jewish religious leaders, the Sanhedrin.

They also are ganging up against Jesus.

But we'll get to that in a minute.

But in the meantime, in the midst of all that opposition, and Jesus teaches and shows some miracles, he's providing ample evidence.

He's calm.

He gets on with the business of what he's here for, of healing people.

That is, demonstrating that he's here to undo the effects of sin and renew people.

To bring them into the kingdom.

That is, to bring them under his rule in renewed form as they were created to be.

He's getting on with the business of doing that, calmly, and providing at the same time ample evidence that he is who he says he is.

Only God could do the things that Jesus is doing.

And in the doing of those things, he shows himself to be Lord of the universe, able to suspend the laws of nature at will.

He shows himself to be a compassionate saviour who comes to his people in the midst of their brokenness and sin and lostness and restores them.

And he shows himself to be the one worthy of worship.

We saw all that last week.

Now, we bring all that with us into chapter 15.

That's big picture stuff.

Rejection is real.

But Jesus calmly gets on with the job of building the kingdom.

So let's walk through the incident in chapter 15 then.

So, the Jewish religious leaders throughout his public ministry have constantly challenged Jesus

about what they believed was careless disregard of various aspects of God's law.

And so, you can see what they were pushing for.

They believed that Messiah would never act like that.

So, since Jesus was acting like that, conclusion, well, Jesus had to be a fraud.

That Jesus was misleading God's people.

Verse 1.

It all comes to head when a high-level delegation of Pharisees and scribes, that's the Jewish religious leaders,

arrive from Jerusalem.

And essentially, they ambush Jesus as he's getting about his business.

And what is happening here is that these scribes and Pharisees essentially put Jesus on public trial.

And they do so by launching a formal, serious charge against him.

And the charge is that he's got no regard for the very important practice of ritual cleansing

as defined by the tradition of the scribes and the Pharisees.

Now, in the judiciary of the time, when you were charged like that, you had to respond.

You had to defend yourself.

For Jesus not to defend himself, for Jesus to be found guilty at this point,

left himself open to a punishment of death.

So, this is a major ambush by a high-level delegation.

Let me tell you how it all works, if I can, very briefly.

So, the Pharisees and scribes were very, very, very religious people.

And they wanted people to know that they were very, very, very religious people.

And essentially, they were.

They were good people.

They spent their lives trying to do good, trying to do right, trying to honour God's law.

And they thought they were pretty good at it, to be honest.

Now, they had, the scribes and the Pharisees, we might consider them to be sort of high-level academics

and professors at our sort of theological colleges or something like that.

That's the sort of people we're dealing with here.

But they also had legal responsibility to ensure that God's written law to Moses was kept on every detail.

And also, to ensure that Jewish culture, defined by the ceremonial law given to Moses,

was preserved from generation to generation.

So, the way they did that was they took each written law from the Pentateuch.

And alongside that, they spelled out in detail how that should be applied in any situation,

especially new situations that weren't around at the time of the giving of the law.

And so, what happens over a period of years is that you have these laws,

and then around about them are things that the Pharisees and scribes wrote in

as essential to keeping these laws.

And these things became known as the tradition of the elders.

And they were legally binding and came to have equal authority with Scripture.

Now, a little bit more specific.

They charged Jesus with being careless in regard to the laws of ritual cleansing.

Well, there's some logic to what they've done here.

They read in the Pentateuch that God is a clean God

and will not have any fellowship or relationship with unclean or dirty people.

The Pharisees believed that you could become unclean

even just by touching someone or something.

So, to ensure that God's people didn't inadvertently become unclean,

they formulated these ritual hand-washing traditions.

So, before any eating, you had to wash your hands in a particular way

for a particular length of time.

Now, you can see the logic.

They were trying to protect God's word, trying to protect God's people.

And the traditions grew up around that.

So, they insisted that every person had to ritually cleanse their hands.

Not to do so was to risk treating God with contempt.

And if that was proven, then the sentence was death.

Now, this is what they charged Jesus with.

But verse 3, Jesus immediately launches a more serious counter-charge

saying that they gave their own laws, that is their traditions,

greater authority than the word of God.

And he cites a very, very damning piece of evidence in verses 4, 5, and 6.

So, here's how this works.

God's law was clear that children ought to honor their parents

by supplying their needs as they were able.

But one of the interpretive rules of the scribes and Pharisees

gave people a way out of that.

That is, if they said to their parents,

look, mom and dad, the money and energy and time

I would ordinarily have been putting into you,

I'm actually dedicating that to the Lord's cause,

then they could ignore God's written word.

And so, what they had done was they'd used a man-made tradition

as the basis of excusing people from obeying God's written law.

And that's what Jesus accuses the scribes and Pharisees of

as a counter-charge.

But not only does he accuse them of that,

he really goes to town on them.

They tried to king-hit him.

He's effectively king-hit them.

And he continues then to publicly condemn

these prominent religious men.

Men who appear to be concerned for God's honor,

but he condemns them as the worst sort of religious frauds.

They came to him thinking he was a religious fraud

and misleading God's people.

The tables are turned and now he's accusing them

of being religious frauds

and misleading God's people.

Verse 7-9, look at the harsh words that he uses.

He calls them hypocrites.

Apparently, they're concerned for God's honor,

but even more concerned to see their own traditions upheld.

And they're prepared to distort God's law

about the basis of acceptance and relationship with him.

And Jesus is really saying,

that renders all your so-called worship useless.

Verses 12 and 13.

Effectively, he calls them noxious weeds.

Completely out of place in God's kingdom.

They might claim the authority of God,

they might look and sound like wheat,

like God's holy people,

but Jesus is really saying,

no, I didn't plant them.

They're a totally different species

and they do not belong among my people.

Those are strong words.

In verse 14, he calls them blind guides.

He's speaking of them now with contempt.

Because not only have they been misled themselves,

but they lead God's people to destruction,

not life.

And the irony is just palpable.

The very reason for forming all these traditions,

they said,

was to lead God's people to life.

To make sure they didn't break God's law.

To make sure that in the keeping of God's law,

they would be acceptable to God.

And Jesus says,

blind guides,

you're leading God's people to death

down this pathway.

So the question then is,

is Jesus over the top

in his condemnation of these

eminent,

religious,

good people?

Surely,

you could say,

they had good concerns.

Surely,

you could say,

they wanted people to come to God

carefully and properly.

Surely,

they were right to point out

that God expected his people

to keep the ceremonial law.

That was the whole purpose

in giving it in the first place.

Surely,

their desire to protect

traditional values and practices

was commendable.

Surely,

these guys deserve some credit.

And yet,

there's just

complete condemnation.

So the question

the rest of my time this morning is,

why?

Why does Jesus condemn them

so completely?

I think the answer is really,

really simple

and I'll dig into it.

I think he condemns them

ultimately because

he hates religion.

Jesus hates religion

and religious people.

That might sound a bit weird

for somebody in a church

to say that Jesus hates religion.

The religious understanding

and thinking

was so fundamentally wrong

that affected everything else

and undid everything else

about these people.

it's a little bit like a house

can look absolutely magnificent

when it's just been built.

But if it's discovered

that the foundations

are totally dodgy,

then there's only one way ahead

and that is

you demolish the whole thing.

So,

let's dig into that a little bit

about why Jesus

condemns them.

The first point

I want to highlight here

is that they refused

to know themselves

properly.

They refused

to know themselves

properly.

what they had done

was convince themselves

that externals

or appearance

was what mattered

in terms of being

acceptable to God.

Do this.

Keep this law.

Not only will you look good

to those around you

but you'll be acceptable

to God.

And the doing of religious things

was what they emphasized

as pleasing to God

but were completely

oblivious

of heart attitudes.

Now,

I remind you again

that these guys

were the gatekeepers

of God's word.

But they were willfully

ignorant of it.

Verse 11,

Jesus tells them

sin or uncleanness

comes from the inside out

not the outside in.

Jesus said

it's what a person

is in their heart

in their nature

born state

which makes a person

unacceptable to God

and unworthy

of relationship

with him.

Now,

here's the rub

for these Pharisees

and the scribes.

This was not new teaching.

This is what

Moses had taught.

This is what

Joshua taught.

This is what

King David had taught.

This is what

the prophets

one after the other

over a hundred of years

had all testified to.

they had condemned

any thought

of self-righteousness.

They kept on saying

to God's people,

your heart

is far from God.

You're doing all

the right external things

but your heart

is far from God

and God is not

pleased with you.

And the prophets

condemned

any notion

of self-righteousness,

self-salvation

and they pushed

God's people

to look

for God's grace.

self-righteousness.

So these guys

willfully

refused

to know

themselves properly

but even worse

they failed

to know God

properly

and were actually

I think in practice

determined to shape

God

to their own

thinking.

Possibly they weren't

even conscious

of doing that

but because of the way

they viewed

their traditions

I think they inevitably

started to do that.

These religious people

and they were

religious people

they were good people

they had enormous

reputation

across society.

They believed

sincerely

they could create

good relationship

with God

through their own

actions and efforts.

But as Jesus

says in verse 9

quoting

from the Old Testament

the whole thing

is worthless

in vain

do they worship me.

In other words

good actions

underpinned

by a bad heart

are useless.

Their engagement

with God

was not because

he was desirable

and the ultimate

treasure

as Jesus

had taught

in the parables

in Matthew 13

their ultimate

reason for engaging

with God

was self-salvation.

Their life

was spent

trying to be holy

trying to be good

trying to look good

because they believed

this would

secure

and guarantee

their place

in heaven.

And so

they brought

that with them

when they came

to God.

And as I was

preparing this

I was thinking

about the

other reference

where the

Pharisee

and the tax

collector

and the Pharisee

said

in his opening

of his prayer

Lord thank you

I'm not like

these other people.

That was

where they'd

got to.

And verse 12

even when

Jesus

made

it clear

to them

that they

were wrong

these

guys

and remember

again

they're gatekeepers

of God's word

these guys

chose to be

offended

rather than

be corrected.

they didn't

like

the idea

of having

to look

at their

heart

attitudes.

They didn't

like the idea

of being guilty

and rebellious

on the inside

in their hearts

before the Lord

because they

had put all

their efforts

into what

was on the

outside.

And ultimately

in being

offended at

Jesus

rather than

being open

to correction

and thinking

my goodness

me

he's right

we're the

gatekeepers

of God's word

and somewhere

along the line

we've lost it.

Rather than

taking that

line

they thought

how dare

Jesus say

that to us.

ultimately

they rejected

Jesus' word

for their

own views.

And ultimately

as Jesus

here says

to them

ultimately

they were

very keen

on salvation

and talking

about salvation

but it was

salvation

according to

their standards.

and they

were showing

themselves here

prepared to

manipulate

God

and even

twist or

bypass his

standards

for their

standards.

And for those

who claim to be

gatekeepers of

God's word

you can sense

now something

of Jesus'

ire at them.

And the

third thing

is that they

wouldn't accept

their need

for what

Jesus was

offering.

Verse 19

Jesus gives

a catalogue

of the heart

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

hand

that doesn't

defile anybody.

Jesus gives

a description

of what's

inside each

one of us

and that's

not a

comprehensive

that's just

an illustrator

of the list.

All of us

in our

nature born

state

have the

same

bad heart

and are

capable of

the same

terrible thoughts

and attitudes

and actions.

we can't

explain it

away.

Our society

wants to

explain it

away.

Well

it's only

looked at

because of

unemployment

or because

our youngsters

have bad

role models

or because

there's so much

violence online

and in gaming

videos

or because

they get into

bad company.

we don't

need circumstances

to prompt

us to

these sorts

of things.

We don't

need others

to teach

us these

sorts of

things.

Just hang

around a

two-year-old

for half an

hour.

We don't

need Satan

to tempt us

into these

things.

We can't

blame it on

him either.

Not

ultimately

or not

immediately.

sin

naturally

arises

in our

own

hearts

and

overflows

out of

us.

What a

tragedy

that these

religious leaders

for all

their knowledge

of God,

for all

their knowledge

of the Old

Testament,

for all

their years

of study

did not

see what

is on

almost every

page of the

Old

Testament.

that God

measures the

state of

our hearts

against his

word.

And that

leaves us

undone.

But the

tragedy is

even worse

because these

guys, because

they were so

committed to

their actual

thinking and

so dull to

what Jesus

was saying

to them,

they couldn't

even see

that they

were actually

talking to

the heart

specialist.

As people

who had bad

hearts desperately

needing them

renewed,

they were

actually talking

to the

heart

specialist.

the one who

knows the

nature and

extent of sin

in the

heart.

The one who

knows precisely

how to

treat it,

how to

undo its

effects.

The one

who's shown

himself in

preceding

incidents to

be the one

who comes with

compassion to

those who are

lost and

destroyed by

sin with a

willingness to

heal and

restore and

renew.

the people

at Gennesaret,

they just

came to

Jesus and

Jesus willingly,

gladly dispensed

grace and

healing to

them at the

very moment of

their most

being aware of

being caught up

in the tragedy

of sin.

And that's

why the

Jesus people

met in

this public

confrontation

hates religion

and religious

people.

And as I've

already said,

this incident

is in such

sharp contrast

with Jesus

reaching out

as the

compassionate

saviour to

those who

knew they

were

caught up

in the

power and

the effects

of sin

and came

to Jesus

in their

sinful,

hopeless state

for healing.

As opposed

to these

guys who

came to

Jesus wanting

to take

him down

because they

didn't need

healing.

They were

the ones who

were telling

Jesus what

was right.

The contrast

couldn't be

clear.

And next

week when we

jump into it,

the next

incident is the

faith of a

Canaanite woman.

And I can't

help but just

dip into it

for a minute.

Here was

this woman.

She wasn't

a Jew.

She wasn't

even a Jew.

So she

didn't have

any lineage,

any pedigree.

She was a

woman in

those days,

a Canaanite

woman.

She had no

power influence.

She had no

access to the

Jewish temple.

all she had

was her words

to plead with

Jesus to

heal her

daughter.

And the

contrast, he

condemns these

religious leaders,

these guys who

know their

Bible back

to front, and

he commands

this woman.

contrast is

just phenomenal.

Big picture,

contrast is

phenomenal.

So friends, let

me just wind up

here now.

Please don't

settle for

religious

appearance

without gospel

reality.

It's so

easy to

do.

So easy

to do.

Jesus'

gospel message,

the very

reason Jesus

came into

the world,

is to tell

people that he

is the

complete

provision

for our

most desperate

need.

He is the

only provision

for our

most desperate

need.

Jesus'

mission is

about telling

us that he's

come to people

who have bad

hearts, and

he's come to

his people with

bad hearts as

the one who's

able to renew

bad hearts.

He comes to

those who have

a bad track

record with

God because of

sin and

disobedience, and

he comes as

the one who

will wipe that

bad track

record.

he wiped the

bad track.

When he died,

for his people,

he wiped the

bad record of

unacceptable

thoughts,

attitudes,

and actions,

and he gave us

a good record

instead,

putting us back

into good

relationship with

God, but not

done there.

He gave us

new hearts,

changed us from

the inside out,

changing us from

the inside out,

so we have new

thoughts, new

desires, new

attitudes, which

prompt us to new

obedience to love

God.

So, friends,

believers or

Christians are

chug and cheese

with religious

people.

Now, we've got to

nuance that a little

bit.

At first glance,

it might not

look that much

different.

It's hard to see

sometimes the

difference between

a religious person

and a true

believer,

because they do

the same sorts of

things.

The critical thing

here is they do

the same sort of

things, but for

vastly different

reasons and

motivation,

from a vastly

different perspective.

religious people

go to church,

they give their

money, they read

their Bible, they

try to be good,

in an attempt to

make themselves

acceptable to

God, to save

themselves.

Believers do

the same thing,

believers do the

same things, by

and large, but

it's because they've

already been saved

by grace, and

they want to

respond to that in

an overflow of

love and

thankfulness and

obedience.

Because Jesus

has done for

them what they

could never do

for themselves,

and that is deal

with their sin and

truly make them

acceptable to

God.

So a believer's

orientation and

motivation to do

what is pleasing to

the Lord is

heart-driven,

inside-out

overflow of joy,

overflow of

delight, an

overflow of

love in

response to

God's grace and

mercy.

So I just want to

wrap up by

pointing two

different directions.

So if you're a

religious person

here this morning,

that is if you

haven't actually

encountered Jesus,

if you haven't

realized that you

cannot do it on

your own strength,

you cannot earn

God's favor,

then I point you

to verse 10 and

verse 16 where

Jesus says,

you need to pay

attention, you

need to understand,

because your bad

heart will actually

make you dull to

the basic truths

about yourself and

God.

God's favor of

God.

You need to ask for

understanding these

key areas.

Ask for Jesus to

show you how your

best efforts will

never be good

enough because you

cannot meet God's

standard of

perfection in your

own strength.

And that will point

you to the Lord

Jesus Christ.

And as you're doing

that, remember this,

that these guys

here came with

impeccable

credentials.

They had massively

good reputations.

They were just good

people.

And Jesus

condemns them.

Yet in previous

incidents, he opens

his arms warmly to

anybody who comes to

him with an

awareness of sin.

Just saying,

Jesus, I need your

help.

I need you to fix

me on the inside.

I need you to

renew me.

And if you've

already been

changed by Jesus

and now trust him

alone to make you

secure and keep you

secure, then my

friend, I don't need

to tell you, you

know just how much

grace you've received

in your life.

And you know that

grace every day in

face of your

disobedience.

grace.

And you know that

grace.

So then surely we'll

want to guard our

thoughts, guard our

hearts so that they

continue to overflow

with thankfulness and

joy because the Lord

is our treasure.

Pray with me.

Lord, everything in our

society and indeed in

so many churches

around Australia would

say that religion is

good.

And yet your word,

Lord, shows it's

condemned.

I pray, Lord, that

there might not be

anybody here this

morning who

perseveres in a

religious way of

thinking.

Lord, help us to

measure ourselves

against your

standard of

perfection and from

there, Lord, see

that we're done for

because we cannot

consistently do or

say the things that

would be acceptable

to you.

Lord, help us to

come to Jesus for

that first encounter

and have the freedom

of knowing that he

will do for us that

which we could never

do even though we

spend a lifetime of

effort trying to.

That is he will make

us acceptable to

Jesus by dealing

with our sins.

Make us acceptable

to God by dealing

with our sins.

And Lord, help us to

just throw ourselves

on Jesus knowing that

he will never

reject or condemn

those who come to

him with a full

awareness of sin and

a full desire for his

renewal.

But Lord, help us

also remember that he

will condemn those

who dare to come to

him on a religious

basis, pleading their

own merits as a

reason for acceptance

and passage into

heaven.

Help us to

understand these

profound things in

Jesus' name.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.

Amen.