Permanently Abandoning Ensnaring Traditions and Embracing Truth
Text: Matthew 15:3, 9,
Minister: Pastor W.F. Kumuyi
As we look at this chapter today, we are looking at the traditions of the religious people on the one hand, and the truth that Christ came to emphasize, the truth that saves, sanctifies and leads us in the way of the Kingdom of God on the other hand. Anything different from the truth of the word of God that saves, sanctifies, and establishes us in the Kingdom is of no value.
Whatever it is, be it the tradition, the opinion, or the religious rites of any group of people which turns the mind of people away from salvation and getting ready for heaven, it is the tradition of Pharisees and Sadducees, and Jesus said every plant that has not been planted by the Heavenly Father will be rooted out. Every doctrine, opinion, theology, or system not established on the truth of the heavenly Father must be rooted out. And of course, the perpetrators of such acts themselves will be thrown up and rooted out and they will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
So, we need to make up our minds and ensure that we stay on the side of truth, the revelation of God, and righteousness that comes by faith in the Lord, rather than the traditions of man. Enduring truth, truth that lasts and helps us in remaining in the Lord and with the Lord. We uproot and abandon and permanently destroy all ensnaring traditions and embrace, believe, internalize, preach, proclaim the truth permanently and consistently, and stand for the truth in the public as well as in the private, in the church as well as outside the church.
Point 1: The Graceless Fundamentalists in Terrible Transgression Through Tradition. Matthew 15:1-9
They claim to be fundamental but they are graceless. Fundamentalism without grace, salvation and faith in Christ saves no one, and they remain in their terrible transgressions through their traditions.
i. The Tradition of External Righteousness Without Salvation
Matthew 15:2-3; 23:25-28,33; 5:20; 1 Peter 1:18-19
The Pharisees were the custodians of the laws at the time of Jesus in the land of Israel. They were the people who defended seriously the old Covenant and Testament laws that God gave to them. They were the “defenders of the faith” at that time. They thought they were to oversee everything which was handed down to them in the Old Testament and to watch over and preserve them.
1. They watched over the prophecies that Christ would come, prophecies that were spread over the Old Testament from Genesis to Malachi, but they didn’t watch over it to know that Christ would come.
2. They did not watch over the promises of God. They had replaced the word of God with traditions, so the promises God gave them on what the Lord would do when He came: saving, forgiving, cleansing, and bringing the mind of God to them were all lost on them.
3. They didn’t watch over personal experiences they could have as Abraham, David, Samuel, Enoch, and Elijah had experiences that would have led them to God.
4. They watched over more things that they brought in on their own understanding of religion. There are people like this today, and even in our midst. We have come in and heard the word of holiness and righteousness and being ready for heaven, words about the coming of the Lord, that we who are alive will rise to meet Him in the air. Unfortunately, now we are no more watching over the prophecies, promises, and the Great Commission the Lord gave us. We now have a tradition of the denominations, and opinions which we are watching over, forgetting the word the Lord has given us.
Jesus said the Pharisees made void the word of God by their traditions. Where do you lean? Do you lean on traditions that at times may be very simple more than the word of God? For example, we start the service at a particular time, we set and gave the time, but if we watch over that more than people repenting, getting ready for heaven, obeying the word of God, and having the grace to live in righteousness. If we are no longer watching over holiness, and the truth of the word of God which saves and makes us to be upright and truthful, and watching over external things, we have lost focus.
There are people who watch over external dressing, whether you use jewellery or not, whether you wear long garments or not, insisting on the length of ladies’ dresses, and not watching over the anger and jealousy in the heart, not watching over the internal righteousness and holiness which God expects, we have become like the Pharisees. We are so serious and strict about what does not matter in getting to heaven and loose and careless about things that matter in getting to heaven. This is why Christ asked the Pharisees why they transgressed the commandments of God by their traditions.
Jesus said they appeared righteous to men but they are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. This is what we need to check up on on our own personal experiences. Many people try to maintain the outward form and format of Deeper Life Bible Church. They are very strict on that while neglecting the internal. No time to pray or examine the heart, no time to check their readiness for the coming of the Lord. No time to check if they are watching over the prophecies of the word of God, or to check if they have in them the heart to obey the Lord all the time, they are just serious about external things.
ii. The Transgression of Exploitative Reformers Without Sincerity
Mathew 15:4-6; 23:14-20; Galatians 1:14; Isaiah 57:12,14-15
The Pharisees were watching over people washing their hands. To them, it was a religious thing, they were not thinking of the hygiene or health of the people because if you want to remain healthy, you must wash your hands when you go to the restroom, or you go out whether covid is there or not. But in the case of the Pharisees, it was all about religion, and they accused the disciples of not washing their hands when they ate.
The Lord Jesus corrected them because they were exploitative. They presented themselves as wanting to reform the land, religion and actions of people. There are people like that in our midst who join the church and become workers and watch what we are doing but are not concerned about righteousness and holiness but how to reform the church. How? They must cut down the time of preaching to this length, they must change way the word of God is communicated and applied, they want to reform the time of service, how marriages are done, and everything not according to the word of God, but according to some human traditions. That was how the Pharisees wanted to reform Christ even though He came from heaven, their concern was more of that they wanted to reform.
They might come to you to ask for help so you can join them and form a clique and special group in the church who will reform the church by force, lying and hypocrisy so that the church will become nominal. I pray that they will not succeed.
Does this happen in our midst? Does anyone brainwash our young people not to respect their parents and give honor to them? Do you want to replace their father and mother so that whatever you tell them is what they do no matter what their parents say? And when they say this is what the Bible says, do you assert yourself over the word of God? That was the attitude of the Pharisees.
The word of God is very clear on the position of true leaders in the church. We are to obey them and be subjected to the word of God they teach us but the Pharisees would come and say there is nothing like that. The Pharisees would try to influence the people, telling them not to look up to a man and woman leader. They even want to subject the pastor to their whims and caprices and they subtly threaten that they will deal in all kinds of ways with the pastor if he stands in their way. Have you not made your traditions and reforms to have supremacy above the word of God? Jesus condemned this.
The Jewish leaders also did same, and rejected Jesus when He came, but where are they now in eternity? We need to ensure we read these Scriptures carefully, and not condemn the Pharisees but check on what we are doing in our own time.
iii. The Transformation with Evident Righteousness by The Saviour
Galatians 1:23-24; 1 Thessalonians 1:5-10; Acts 19:18-20; Romans 12:1-2.
When the grace of God came to Apostle Paul, he got converted and transformed to the extent that he started working against what he used to uphold and vice-versa. He was no longer willing to change the people but he now helped them to know God more and the people praised God on his behalf. We must jettison and abandon anything that will make people forget the word of God but move them to obey and honor it. We now surrender ourselves to be used by God to honour and defend His word, and not to defend tradition or be swallowed by it.
Apostle Paul beseeched believers who have tasted the mercy of God to present themselves as living and acceptable sacrifices to God and not conform to the traditions, practices, and ways of the world. When you get to a new company to work, you are schooled on how things are done in various sections, and at times, including some dirty stuff that they claim must not go out or be heard of outside the section.
There are religious, political, and worldly traditions, but when you come into the midst of the children of God, you don’t bring in the worldly things they do. For example, in an establishment, there are signs they use in communicating that other people may not understand. Have you brought that into the Kingdom and you have secrets you want people to keep so that your traditions will be intact but they will not be free to obey the Lord? Standing for tradition against the truth of the word of God will hinder people from getting to heaven. Hypocrisy, worldliness, and tradition of man have come in, but the Apostle is pleading with the people of God to ensure that they don’t conform to the world so that they can prove what is the good, perfect, and acceptable will of God.
Point 2: The Gloomy Fate of Trapped Teachers Of Trending Traditions. Matthew 15:12-20
There are traditions that are trending. They hold on to that tradition here and there, and people think that because it is trending religiously, either in any country or denomination, those teachers are trapped by their own ideologies.
Sometimes, traditional people and religious hypocrites know that what they are doing is wrong and have the innate fear that they are likely to miss heaven if they continue but they don’t know how to get out, so by habit, they continue even though their hearts are telling them that they are trapped in the habits and not serving the Lord anymore. If you are in this situation, you are like an empty carcass and you need to break the bond and come to Christ because your allegiance should be to Him and no one else. You need to come out of the trap.
i. The Reactions of Pretenders in Religious Traditions
Matthew 15:12; Luke 20:19-20; John 8:34,44-47; Galatians 4:16
The disciples of Jesus gave Him feedback on how the Pharisees were offended by His words. Think about this, when the woman who was taken in adultery was brought to Jesus, she was not offended by His words. Anyone who wants to get to heaven doesn’t get offended by the word of God. When Zacchaeus was called a sinner to his face and the people accused Jesus of coming to his house, he was not offended. Those who want to change and make heaven can never be offended. The word of God may condemn their allegiance to traditions and the position they hold, they will not be offended. It is those who are not asking for salvation but only for religion who get offended. I pray you will not be offended.
I praise God for my own life because when I became born again, all I was asking for was the salvation of the Lord and to spread and propagate the gospel to others. My Pastor at that time was not happy with me that I was not giving all the needed attention to music. An organist was needed at that time and I was not really coming up as expected, but I was looking in another direction.
He was preaching one Sunday morning and he mentioned me directly, rebuking me. Even though he wanted me to stand up and I did, but he told me to sit down, and I wasn’t ashamed, he is the pastor and I don’t have the right to teach him how to preach. The following Sunday, I still came to church and remained there until because of evangelism and Bible study I was involved in, I was told that I won’t be able to stay because, according to them, they didn’t want a church within a church, I wasn’t offended.
And when he announced my name and excommunicated me, I was not offended. The following week, I went to see their Overseer to discuss with him and ask why he did that, and he said what he wanted to say but my focus was on salvation and how to get to heaven. The people in our text were offended, but I will not be offended, and you will not be offended. May this not be our attitude in Jesus’ name. It is the reaction of pretenders and religious people.
ii. The Rooting Up of Plants in Reprobate Trenches
Matthew 15:13; Romans 1:28; Titus 1:16; Hebrews 6:7-8
Every preacher, religionist, traditionalist that is not sent by the Father but wants to upturn the doctrine of salvation by faith through grace, every plant, every preacher that just comes in and wants to elevate tradition above the truth of God’s word, the Lord said the heavenly Father will root them out. Amen! Every idea, ideology, principle, every kind of authority and authoritative person, every tradition or religious devotion which the heavenly Father has not approved is destroying the Kingdom, turning the hearts of the people away from the truth of salvation and Sanctification and wants the church to be nominal and prayerless without any transformation shall be rooted up. I pray that you will not be among those whom the Heavenly Father will decide to root out, but we will remain steadfast in the Kingdom of God in Jesus’ name.
iii. The Recompense of People Rigid in Traditions
Matthew 15:14-20; Hosea 4:17; Isaiah 9:16; 2 Peter 2:17-22
God has spoken over and over and the Ephraimites and Pharisees and the traditionalists said to themselves, let him keep talking, after some time, when he gets tired of emphasizing the truth, we are still here. They remained rigid and God decided to leave them alone. We will not be like them.
Jesus said, if the blind leads the blind, they both will fall into the ditch. The rigid people who claim to be leading others will fall into the ditch along with those they are leading on the day of judgment.
Point 3: The Great Faith for Total Transformation Through the Truth.
Matthew 15:21-28
Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free, and if the Son, who is the personification of the truth shall make you free, you shall be free and free indeed.
A Syrophecian woman came to the Lord for help on her possessed daughter. Even though the Lord did not at first give her an encouraging response, she persisted in humble faith and eventually got her miracle. May the Lord give us the grace to have this kind of faith.
i: The Test of Guided Faith Against All Hindrances
Matthew 15:21-24; Isaiah 11:10; Matthew 12:21; Romans 15:12-13
While the woman was coming to Jesus, it was for a definite thing in her mind, and she was determined that whatever Jesus would say or His disciples would do, or any other negative situations would not hinder her. You need to have this kind of attitude whenever you are coming to the presence of God, you need to make up your mind to receive the best from God, and be revived, renewed, and ready for the Rapture. When everyone has this mind in the Lord, whatever you see or comes your way will not move or jolt you.
She asked for mercy because that was exactly what she wanted. If she didn’t have steadfast faith in the Lord, she would be bothered when the disciples told Jesus to send her away. She kept her expectations up. This is the right attitude to have. Some people see only the clouds, the rain has not started falling and they will stop and not go to church. If someone told them about serious traffic in town, or they are hungry and have not eaten, or a friend calls them, or any other distraction comes up, they will decide not to go to church.
Some people have a project or journey to embark on the following week, and that is enough to stop them from going to church this week. As for this woman, nothing would stop her, nothing will stop you. So, she kept on hoping and believing. Jesus told her He was not sent, but to the house of Israel, yet she didn’t stop, you will not stop.
ii: The Tenacity of Guarded Faith with Humility
Matthew 15:25-27; Luke 11:8-10; Isaiah 57:15; James 4:6-7,10.
After the Lord said He was only sent to the house of Israel, after the disciples said Jesus should send her away, the woman still came to worship Jesus. This was an attitude of guarded faith. She went on to call Him Lord and begged for mercy. Even when the Lord said it was not right to give the children’s food to the dogs, she did not take offense that she was called a dog, and thereby talk back at the Lord, challenging His choice of words and religious and racial discrimination.
Watch your language. If you have the right disposition or intention, you will speak like someone who needs something from the Lord. Have the right disposition and respect for God and His servant through whom you are expecting a blessing.
I need to say this, sometimes, after searching the Scriptures on Sunday, we give people the opportunity to ask questions. This is a great privilege, but many people at the headquarters here are misusing the privilege. They come out and stand there and in their question, you can see the outburst and open disrespect for the GS, for the Pastor.
Whereas the GS has nothing to do with what you were taught that Sunday morning and he is trying his best, going here and there, to various locations, preaching two times daily. And he takes no vacation, but still comes on Saturdays, Sundays, and Tuesdays to preach, and the man is sitting there, and a fellow is asking a question and saying, all the preaching of the GS is not affecting her, whose fault is that?
That Jesus’ messages were not affecting the Pharisees, whose fault was that? That with all the miracles that Jesus did, the Pharisees and Sadducees did not partake, whose fault was that? When we ought to bring respect for leadership that the Lord has ordained over us to teach us the word of God, and he is trying his best to do all he needs to do.
This woman did not show disrespect to Jesus despite all He said, but he responded: “Truth, Lord: yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their masters’ table“ (Matthew 15:27). She still called Him Lord! No wonder she got what she wanted. With the right attitude and disposition, you will get what you are asking for.
iii: The Triumph of Great Faith in The Heart
Matthew 15:28; 8:8-10; Romans 4:19-25; 1:17.
God will answer your prayer, and your faith will not derail in Jesus’ name. Your heart will not become disrespectful, you will still respect the source of the word, wonder, and work of God coming into your life in Jesus’ name. As you open your mouth and tell the Lord what you want, and you are not diverted here and there, a supernatural answer will come to your prayer in Jesus’ name. Amen!
Your faith will triumph, overcome and overpower anything and whatever stands in your way in Jesus’ name. Traditions, transgressions, hypocrisy, and defiled heart is gone. Your heart is centered on God and the blood of Jesus cleanses you from all sin and you are standing steadfast. And if you have gone into sin in the past and you are now defending an opinion, religion, hypocrisy, or religious rites above the truth of God’s word, the Lord has called you back today and you will come back to the centre of the will, word, and way of God.
Either mistakenly or intentionally, you will not steal the word of God from the hearts of the people, and you will stand for the truth, by the truth, and with the truth all the days of your life. And you and I will join hearts, minds, and consecration together and earnestly contend for the faith once delivered unto the saints in Jesus’ name.