Raleigh
Bible Study Materials
HONOR GOD WITH YOUR HEART
Matthew 15: 1 - 20
16 Apr 2023
Message
HONOR GOD WITH YOUR HEART
(Matthew 15:1-20)
“You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: “‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’” (vs. 7-9)
Every part of the body is crucial for survival, but if we have to rank the importance of each organ, it seems the brain and the heart would be at the top. Today we’re going to learn about the heart. The heart that we’re going to talk about is not about the heart as a vital organ, a muscle that pumps blood throughout the body. Instead, we’ll focus on what the Bible has to say about the heart as the spiritual part of us. Just as the organ heart is crucial to maintain our physical life, the heart seems to top the list of importance for our spiritual life. The heart in Greek is kardia, and in Hebrew is leb. Do you know how many times the Bible mentions the heart including Greek and Hebrews? More than a thousand times! According to my research, 1206 times! It reflects the importance of the heart. In today’s passage, Jesus teaches us why the heart is so important. May God give us a deep spiritual desire to renew and keep our hearts pure!
It was toward the end of Jesus’ Galilean ministry, and Jesus and his disciples were in a place called Gennesaret. (14:34) A delegation of the Pharisees and teachers of the law came all the way from Jerusalem. (1) They must have been wearing dignified garments, carrying official documents signed by the high priest. They must have collected information about Jesus’ ministry. Upon their arrival, they did not praise God for all the wonderful life-giving miracles Jesus had performed. Taking an imposing stance, they spoke with deep voices, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat?” (2)
This might seem rather funny to us. But to the religious leaders, it was very serious. The washing they refer to was not for the sake of hygiene. It was a ceremonial washing. In the Old Testament, there were things that God regarded as unclean, such as dead bodies, people with disease, some animals, fish and birds, and so on. Anyone who touched the unclean was prohibited from public worship, and God provided purification rituals to restore cleanness. The purpose of such purification law was beyond public health and human hygiene. God’s deeper concern was about the Israelites as holy people to distinguish what is clean and unclean and grow in God’s holiness. Leviticus 20:26 says, “You are to be holy to me because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own.” Ceremonial uncleanness made a person realize that they needed cleansing and purification to approach the Holy God.
The Jewish Rabbis greatly extended the law and taught that people should wash their hands before they eat to keep them ceremonially clean. And they observed many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles. (Mark 7:3-4) In the meantime, they put great authority on their teaching by calling it “the tradition of the elders.” They asserted that the tradition traces back to Moses who gave it as oral teaching in addition to the written law in the Scriptures. They even gave more weight on the tradition than the Law, calling it the embodiment of the law. The truth, however, was that the tradition was an invention of the Jewish Rabbinic community.
Jesus did not wash his hands before meals. (Luke 11:38) So there was no reason for the disciples to wash their hands before they ate. To the religious leaders, however, it was a serious offense to the tradition of the elders. How did Jesus answer? Look at verse 3. “Jesus replied, ‘And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?” In this counter-question, Jesus resolutely confronted the folly of the Jewish religion based on the tradition. Jesus called what the Jewish religious leaders adhered to as “your tradition.” In Mark 6:8, Jesus says, “human traditions.” The tragedy was that, as people blindly relied on the tradition, they broke the command of God. Jesus wanted the religious leaders to know how seriously their religious life had degenerated against God.
Jesus pointed out one example to show them how they broke the command of God by their tradition. Look at verses 4-6. “For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’ But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition.” Here, “devoted to God” was called “Corban.” (Mark 7:11) It referred to money pledged to devote to God. The religious leaders said, “It is Corban” to avoid the responsibility of looking after their parents’ material needs by telling them that their money was dedicated to God. Ideally, the money thereafter belonged to God, but actually the one who made the vow used the money in a devious way to enrich themselves. In this way, they broke the fifth Commandment: “Honor your father and mother.” (Exodus 20:12)
The Jewish religious leaders broke the Command of God by their tradition. They lost their discernment about the truth. They became spiritually blind and even the enemies of God. Through the prophecy of Isaiah 29:13, Jesus explained what their fundamental problems were. Look at verses 7-9. “You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’”
First, their hearts are far from God. Jesus uncompromisingly rebuked their hypocrisy because they honored God with their lips, but their hearts were far from God. No one can deny that the Pharisees and teachers of the law were religious people. They kept worship services, offered tithes, fasted twice a week, and prayed three times a day. Moreover, they observed their traditions and the regulations of the Law outwardly. But their problem was that their hearts were far from God. Through Jesus’ explanation, we can know that God wants our hearts.
Why does God value the devotion from our hearts? Look at verses 10, 11. “Jesus called the crowd to him and said, ‘Listen and understand. What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.” Heart makes a person truly clean or unclean. Heart is the seat of a person’s emotion, desire, thought, and decision. In fact, many things can fill or dwell in the heart and come out of a person’s mouth. In verses 19, 20 Jesus further explains, “For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them.”
Plans are made in the heart, and it is the place where evil thoughts and actions are determined. Therefore, God repeatedly calls his people to love God with all our hearts, indicating that our hearts can be divided. If we do not love God wholeheartedly, we worship idols and consequently break his Commandments. God does not ignore our deeds, or actions, but he focuses on our heart. In 1 Samuel 16:7, God says, “…The Lord does not look at the things people look at. People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
We human beings, however, have a heart problem. Our biggest problem is not external but internal; In Genesis 6:5, “The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time.” Since Adam’s fall, sin has affected us at the deepest level. The human heart, after Fall, in its natural condition, is evil, rebellious, and deceitful. From birth, man’s heart is not clean. It is badly contaminated by sin. Furthermore, the Bible says that our heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. (Jeremiah 17:9) In order for a person to be saved, the heart must be changed. But the problem is that no one can change his sin-sick heart by his good will or decision. No religious ritual or ceremony can cleanse man’s heart. It's so hopeless. However, what we could not do for ourselves, God did for us.
In Ezekiel 36:25-27, God promised the Israelites, “I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” As he promised, God sent his one and only Son Jesus Christ as a ransom sacrifice for our sins. God opens our hearts, enabling us to respond to his grace. When we acknowledge our sins and accept Jesus’ death and resurrection, God forgives our sins, cleanses our hearts, and puts his Holy Spirit in us. In doing so, God creates a new heart in each of his children. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!” God fills our hearts with new desires, hope and vision.
However, because we still remain in our sinful bodies, there can still be struggles in our hearts against sinful nature and temptation. Therefore, what we need to do now is to keep our hearts pure as Proverb 4:23 says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” But our human heart is invisible, so we may easily neglect our hearts and focus on our external activities just as the religious leaders did. How can we keep our hearts pure? In our hearts, we must revere Christ as Lord (1 Peter 3:15a) and be faithful to him and devote to him with sincere heart. We need to keep our heart from anything that hinders our love relationship with Christ. It needs spiritual fighting against such things that hinder our heart. This spiritual fighting involves our sincere repentance for our specific sins based on the word of God. In our spiritual fighting, we need faith in Jesus, who suffered, died and rose again to give us a new heart. Christ is with us through the Holy Spirit. Christ continually upholds us, forgives us and strengthens us to live as children of God. 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” In our spiritual struggle, we are not alone, but we have the Holy Spirit, who dwells in us. The Holy Spirit is the perfect Resource for us. He helps us to lead us to Christ, fix our eyes on Jesus and live a Christ centered life. Therefore, in Christ Jesus, we have hope in spite of our weaknesses or failures. We have confidence that God, who began a good work in us will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:6).
Now God’s ultimate goal for our lives is to help us to become mature to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ, and bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit: Love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Ephesians 4:13; Galatians 5:22,23) Furthermore, through our daily renewed hearts, God wants us to grow as his true worshipers, who love him with all our heart, soul and strength. When we love God wholeheartedly, God’s love overflows in the heart and we can love our neighbors as ourselves. Finally, out of God’s love, we can be witnesses of Christ and serve God’s mission to make disciples of all nations. Praise be to God for granting us a new heart and new desire to grow in Christ’s image. Thanks be to the Lord Jesus for his sacrifice and love to embrace our weaknesses unconditionally. Praise be to the Holy Spirit for empowering us to repent of our sins, live by faith in Jesus, and bear the fruit of the Spirit in our lives!
Second, they worship God in vain. Read verse 9 again. “They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.” Jesus pointed out that the religious leaders worshiped God in vain because they substituted God’s words with their traditions that originated from human thoughts and will. God chooses to be worshipped in no other way than according to his own way, that is the word of God. He cannot endure the human way of worship beyond the truth.
The Jewish religious leaders worshipped God by their own tradition. They minored in major and majored in minor. In other words, they lost discernment about the truth of God. The result was catastrophic. They became proud and self-righteous. They could not see the Messiah, God’s truth, whom they had waited for so long. They could not see the wonderful grace of God manifested through him. Finally, they crucified him.
Religious traditions that supersede or displace God’s law have been around since the earliest days. When we cling to tradition, as if it were God’s word, we keep the door closed on God’s revelation of truth to us and worship God in vain. Only the word of God is the absolute standard. The word of God reveals the heart of God. To know the heart of God, we need to read his word and live by them, for that is God’s revelation of himself and his message to all. When we know God rightly based on his word, we can worship God rightly.
Jesus says in John 4:23, 24, “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” God seeks true worshipers. True worshipers worship God with sincere heart by the help of the Holy Spirit. True worshipers worship God based on God’s word, the truth.
Look at verse 12. “Then the disciples came to him and asked, ‘Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?’” The Pharisees were offended because they sensed that Jesus' words were directed against them. It was certain that the tension was so serious, and Jesus’ disciples felt nervous and fearful. How did Jesus respond? Look at verses 13,14. “He replied, ‘Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. Leave them; they are blind guides. If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.’” Jesus predicted the failure of the Pharisees and their teachings. Their tradition, which was man-made, would be uprooted. At the same time, the Pharisees had not been planted by God, and their day of judgment was coming. At that time, God will collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into his barn. (Matthew 13:30)
Today’s passage reminds me of the importance of keeping my heart pure. To change my lifestyle, I realize that I have mostly concentrated on my outward actions. For example, I have struggled to devote my time to reading the Bible and spiritual books and prayers. But many times, I failed because of distractions from worldly desires by watching news from the internet. Jesus teaches me that the main reason for my failures was that I have neglected my heart. My heart is like a steering wheel in a car and the helm of a ship. Without keeping my heart pure from worldly pleasure, my lifestyle cannot be changed, and I cannot grow as a true worshipper. However, God has been merciful. God knows my spiritual struggle and prayers to love God wholeheartedly. He has revealed his truth through the word of God to know the importance of my heart’s change. He also teaches me that I have great resources to keep my heart pure such as the Cross of Jesus’ Christ that I need to fix my eyes in my repentance and the Holy Spirit, who dwells in me and empowers me to obey God’s will. Thank God for giving me a new heart and new desire to grow in Christ’s image and worship God with my heart! May God continually bless us to grow as true worshipers, who worship God with our hearts!
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