Matthew 15:7-9..Ready

Matthew 15:7-9..Ready

15:7 You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you  8 “‘These people honour me with their lips, (Lip-service, quote scriptures, recite prayers) but their hearts are far from me.  9 They worship me in vain;  their teachings are but rules taught by men.’” (For Complete Expository See Book)

Extended Sermon 

“Teaches how God doesn’t want religious show, but a personal relationship.” ⇒ If not careful we can have religious actions and customs that look good on the surface, but not really homering God. God wants a sincere of heart that truly seeks Him, not just one goi9ng through the motions. God is more interested in genuine faith than religious image for the sole purpose of impressing others. Are you going to Church because your expected? Or are you going to Church because you love God and want to grow in a closer and deeper relationship with Him.

“Teaches how God isn’t after us checking off all the boxes and looking good before others, He’s after our hearts.” ⇒ There’s a great temptation to be “check box” Christians, to go for the “form” over the “substance.” It’s easier to have a checklist than actual having to follow God. It’s easier coming to church on Sunday and then live the rest of our week however we want, because we checked the box of going to church. It’s easier to pretend in front of your friends that your sobriety is going well, when your on the brink of relapse. It’s easier to judge those who do things in public that you do in private. It’s easier in going after all the external requirements, or at least the important ones. And that’s the advantage of a law based system. Following rules and laws makes everything nice, clean, and tidy. Everything is black & white, it’s clear and easy to follow, we know how to act and what’s expected. But the danger here is that it can lead to self-derived sense of satisfaction and accomplishment, “Look I did it myself”. Not only that but it also leads in not having to do more that is required of us, or having to go deep in our hearts in dealing with biblical imperatives. Just go to confession and say some Hail-Mary’s and your good to go. It keeps us from having to take the risk to step up and do what we already know is the good, and right, and faithful thing to do! This is not saying that God is against doing things to be good Christians, but He’s after the intent and not simply the action. It’s okay to grab a pen and make a list of things you need to do to strengthen your faith and grow closer to God. But don’t allow it to be a means to an end in itself. Make sure your doing it because you want to live a life that is holy and pleasing to God, and not to earn God’s favor.

“Even today, we can go through the motions; Attend church, pray the prayers, sing the songs, raise our hands, say all the hallelujahs. And then go home, yell at the wife, criticize the kids, and speak bad about the neighbors” ⇒ We praise God’s greatness Sunday mornings and then deny Him in practice the way we live our life the rest of the week. You can’t have God on your lips Sunday morning and the World in your heart the rest of the time.  We’ve bought into the Theology of God on Sunday, between the hours of 10:00 and 11:30 and then the World the rest of the week. We need to ask ourselves why are we in church this morning? Is it just something we grew up with. Are we here out of appearance sake. Are we here to look good before others? Or are we here to take what we’ve learned and apply to our lives the rest of the week in being more loving, kind, forgiving, compassionate, understanding towards others.

Additional Notes & Applications

Warns against a devotion to God that is at a behavioral level and not a heart level.

Warns against having God on your lips and the world in your heart.  People can honor God with their lips on a Sunday morning, but depart from His commands throughout the rest of the week. We’ve bought into the Theology of God on Sunday, between the hours of 10:00 and 11:30, and then buy into the Theology of man and the world the rest of the week.

Warns how some can have all the outward forms of being religious, but not the inner realities that go with it! The question isn’t, “Do you worship according to the rules?” but rather, “Do your words and your life reflect true devotion to God?” You maybe tricking others with your acts of outward religion of rituals and traditions. Look how holy and religious we are. Look how devoted and passionate we are for God. But were not tricking or fooling God for one minute. Because God looks not at the outward, but what’s in the heart. So how’s your heart? Is it cold towards God.

Warns how we can become religiously zealous and still have our hearts far from God.  It’s possible to see ourselves as the defender of truth & righteousness, and yet still have our heart far, far from God. We can pride ourselves on being theological conservatives, which can be a good thing. It’s good to care deeply about what the Word of God says so we don’t drift into liberal hypocrisy. But know this blind conservatism is just as dangerous as wide eyed liberalism.  We should be worried about liberal drift in the church. Especially where the Gospel is being watered down into easy believism and be true to yourself doctrine. We should walk the straight and narrow road when it comes to following God. But not at the expense of undermining or ignoring what the bible teaches.

Warns if not careful we can just go with the flow of religious culture in how it’s been done, while our hearts are far from God. Do we engaged religious practices just because that’s the way they’ve always been done. Think of Christians and congregations in the 50s and 60s who discriminated against people of other skin colors. That was vain worship! They were honoring God with their lips, but their hearts were far from Him. They maintained their custom of discrimination, segregation, and racism, saying, “That’s just the way things are done around here,” while they rejected God’s commandment to love their neighbor as themselves.

Warns if you offer yourself up as an illustration, whether good or bad, expect to be used as an example.

Warns how religious business is no substitute for a heart that is truly drawing near to God.

Warns against thinking that because we did our little song and dance on Sunday, we can than pursue those things we really love to do the rest of the week.

Warns in not careful we can fall in the rut of doing things because it’s expected. Or we do things to appease God so He won’t be mad at us, or so we won’t feel guilty

Teaches how the “Why” in what we’re doing is more important than the “What”. That God is more concerned with the heart behind the action than just the action itself.

Jesus is not wrong for calling theses guys out. Jesus did not chase theses guys down to make an example of them. Or to point fingers and throw hot words in their face. Remember it was they who came to Him. But rather simply uses it as a teachable moment.

In context the quoted passage of Isaiah was a warning of judgment to come by the invasions of Assyria & Babylon as a judicial act from God upon the Nation of Israel because of their sin of idol worship, false piety, and evil deeds. (Is. 29:1-14)

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