Matthew 15:12-14..Ready

Matthew 15:12-14..Ready

15:12  Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended (At least those Pharisees who had joined the crowds-(V. 10) As Religious Leaders they still needed to be respected. The disciples may have had some empathy for the Pharisees, thinking they may have got some things wrong. But look at how religious they are and all the good they do.-(New) when they heard this (People are always offended when the truth exposes their sin and hypocrisy.-(New) 13 He replied, Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. (Does not mean God is going to rid every false doctrine and teaching from the Church. See Matthew 13:24-29)n14 Leave them; (We’re not to continue arguing with those who have already made up their minds about Jesus-(New) they are blind guides. If a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit”. (For additional Expository Notes see Book)

    Extended Sermon 

“Calls for seeing that were rooted in God’s Saving Grace and not in a religion of rules, rituals, and good deeds..” → We come to God no based on what we have done, but based on what His Son Jesus has done. Don’t let your faith be marked merely by outward rituals or appearances; instead, embrace the profound work that Jesus has done.  Let grace, not self-effort be your foundation. Root yourself in God’s love & Grace, not by how you measures up to God’s Commandments. Jesus fulfilled the Law for us. He came to do what we couldn’t do. He lived the life you & I couldn’t live. By fulfilling the Law Jesus becomes our righteousness., our justification, our right standing with God.

“Calls for not allowing the fear of offending others keep us from sharing the Gospel. (Don’t measure success by numbers.)” ⇒ The clearer the Gospel gets the more people are going to be offended and pushed away. Never measure the success of your church on numbers. Never measure your own evangelism on numbers. People don’t mind a message that says Jesus loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. People don’t mind hearing a Prosperity Gospel of health & wealth. But when you start telling people that Jesus has a claim on their lives, that’s when they start to get uncomfortable. When you start telling people that Jesus is the only way to heaven. That’s when they get offended. When you start telling people their a sinner heading for hell unless they repent and receive Jesus as Savior. That’s when they get offended.. Or when it’s a message that says pick up you cross and follow Christ. That’s when they get offended. Remember in the Gospel of John where Jesus said” Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.”-(John 6:53-54) Where on hearing this many of his disciples were offended and turned back and no longer followed him. accept the Twelve.-(John 6: 66-67) Or remember how Jesus preached to thousand and thousands of people for three and half years and healed all kinds of sickness and diseases, and ended up with only 120 followers in the upper room when all was said and done-(Acts  1:12-14)

“Teaches everything we believe, hold true, and thought important has to come crashing down if were to receive Jesus.” → Sometimes it takes being offended if we’re going to change. Sometimes we need a little cold water thrown in our face, if may hurt a little but it’s what we need. Sometimes, the journey of faith calls us to lay down everything we’ve built, everything we thought was solid, and let it fall away—so that something far greater can be received. When we hold loosely to our traditions, our reputation, and even our certainty, our hearts become open fields where new seeds of hope are sown. Don’t fear the falling down and letting go. Trust that by surrendering what you used to hold as most important, you make space for something far more beautiful to flourish. Let your spirit be brave enough to start over, hopeful enough to grow, and humble enough to receive the fullness of what’s possible when you let everything else go.

“Calls for rejecting anything that’s not of God, no matter how religious, popular, or big a following it may have.” → Don’t follow some Pastor just because of they’re popularity or the size of their church. The size of a following or the noise of a movement doesn’t make it right.  A Pastor can be charismatic and engaging speaker, and not necessarily an adherence to biblical truth, theological soundness, or spiritual maturity. The danger of some Evangelical Pastors and Mega Church’s is they’re way of softening the Gospel message in order to sound less harsh on non-believers’ ears. The Gospel is often watered down or barely brought up at all. The topics of hell, judgment, sin, repentance are rarely ever mentioned. And the Word of God is frequently used only to back up the main points of a friendly, feel-good, human-centered sermon.  And when it does touch on real, godly, Bible-centered talk, the sermons don’t plunge deep or carve out the meat of the Word, leaving the veteran church attendees to get only a few drops of spiritual milk every now and then.

More Notes & Applications

Teaches how sometimes we need to question old established traditions even if it causes offense. Even if it goes against years of accepted practice. Don’t ever think who am I to question long held beliefs.

Warns against uniting with religious organizations just because you want to show your solidarity with them, even though they reject core Christian doctrines. It’s like Baptists coming to the defense of Jehovah Witness. Why would you do that, their enemies of the Gospel

Teaches rather than backpedaling and apologizing stay firm to what you believe to be true. Don’t allow sympathy to sway you or deter you. Don’t accommodate people out of the fear of offending and alienating them.

Teaches though were to be carful that our words are not causing division, we’re not to evade truth and duty for fear of offence either.

Warns against watering down Truth to make it more palatable and appealing to others. The disciples did not want the Pharisees to go away angry or displeased with Christ’s Words and sought to have Him modify it

Teaches how we must be willing to take the risk that ministry is going to offend someone.

Teaches how sometimes it takes being offended if were going to change. Sometimes we need a little cold water thrown in our face, if may hurt a little but it’s what we need.

Emphasizes an essential truth: If it is not from God, it won’t last! In fact, if something pretends to be from God, but isn’t, it will lead to disaster.

Warns if were not careful in holding to the truth, we can end up giving hypocrites the benefit of doubt. Or we can end up thinking the best of everybody. Don’t be so naive in believing that people are naturally good at heart. Don’t think the best of everybody, but think accurately.

Teaches rather than backpedaling and apologizing stay firm to what you believe to be true. Don’t allow sympathy to sway you or deter you. Don’t accommodate people out of the fear of offending them.

Even the culture and world we live in today a lot of people would also take issue over even having such a problem. Were basically good people, and if there is something wrong with us it’s nothing we can’t overcome by our own effort. All it requires is a little self-will or at worse a little counseling.  Or they believe they can rightly relate to God by living a moral and upright life by being nice to people around us, not hurting, not stealing, not insulting, etc. Or if they do agree, they have a few flaws, but at least they’re not as bad compared to people who murder, rape, and commit adultery .

Does not mean Jesus didn’t know He offended them. Of course He knew! Jesus doesn’t do anything that’s not intentional and purposeful. Jesus foreseen that the Pharisees would be “caused to stumble”. No doubt. But, the feelings for those who were ruling it over others were really of no consideration to Him. Jesus was, and still is, more concerned with the truth than feelings, and He is more concerned that those who are seeking real guidance get what they seek.

Jesus is not saying we shouldn’t care about truth or be advocates for what the bible says. Nor is He saying that every false teaching & doctrine is going to be uprooted. Or God is going to eliminate every heresy. Heretical teaching have been around since the birth of the Church. But rather there’s going to be times that we have to say we were faithful to the truth, we beared witness to the truth now we have to leave it in God’s hands.

Jesus answers them with an agricultural example. Being an agrarian society, the disciples understood the agricultural parallel to what Jesus was saying. That parallel finds a farmer planting his field, but when the plants grow they are joined by other plants, called weeds, that the farmer did not plant. The plants that the Father did not plant, the weeds, were the Pharisees. They will one day be rooted up and destroyed in hell, but for now they are to be left alone as blind guides. No doubt Jesus’ words may have reminded the disciples of another parable that He had already told them about the “Weeds and the Wheat”.-(Matt. 13:24-43)