The thought occurred to me the other day as I was reading in Matthew 15, how often are we like the Pharisees as Jesus applied the words of Isaiah the prophet to them?
The Lord says:
“These people come near to me with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship of me
is made up only of rules taught by men.”Isaiah 29:13 NIV
- Following a form, but not the function.
- Concerned with looks, but not substance.
- Adhering to the letter, but not the spirit, of the commands of God.
- Casting something in a “spiritual” light that really is in opposition to the revealed truth of God because we’ve convinced ourselves “God told me so.”
The Pharisees lived this way every day. Matthew 15:1-7 paints a clear picture for us.
Some Pharisees and teachers of religious law now arrived from Jerusalem to see Jesus. They asked him, “Why do your disciples disobey our age-old tradition? For they ignore our tradition of ceremonial hand washing before they eat.”
Jesus replied, “And why do you, by your traditions, violate the direct commandments of God? For instance, God says, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and ‘Anyone who speaks disrespectfully of father or mother must be put to death.’ But you say it is all right for people to say to their parents, ‘Sorry, I can’t help you. For I have vowed to give to God what I would have given to you.’ In this way, you say they don’t need to honor their parents. And so you cancel the word of God for the sake of your own tradition. You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you.
Matthew 15:1-6a NLT
We often chastise the Pharisees for not getting it or having the wrong focus, but how often do we find ourselves standing right next to them?
May each day be a day we worship, not according to traditions or forms, but with pure and transformed hearts that draw close to God the Father through the Lord Jesus Christ in accordance with the revealed truth of God.
Oh, that was convicting and so true. Thanks for the thoughts.