Post by Cindy on Sept 13, 2015 13:10:48 GMT -5
So often when I'm reading God's Word, I see myself or the world and the ways sin has caught us unaware and trapped us. That happened again this morning as I was reading Matthew. It all came together in Matthew 9:14–17. Jesus had called Matthew, a tax collector, to follow Him. Matthew was so filled with the Joy of his salvation, that he invited Jesus to come to his home and eat with him and his friends. Of course his friends were all unsavory types, the kind we'd all probably despise too. Which is how the leaders and the public felt about Matthew himself. After all, he was in their eyes a traitor to the Jewish people and a thief, since only part of the money taken in "taxes" was given to the Romans; the rest went into their own pockets. Having been saved though,the first thing Matthew wanted was for his friends to be saved. I remember that feeling myself, don't you? I wanted to tell the whole world and wound up calling everyone I could think of to tell them what had happened to me and could be theirs as well.
Back then, the rules of etiquette for dinner parties were quite different then they are for us. We can get some idea of it by remembering the story about Lazarus and the rich man. The rich man was having a feast, and Lazarus lay outside his house and could see it all, and everyone could see him too. But there's more. Back then, it was perfectly acceptable for other people to go to a feast that hadn't been invited. They didn't literally "join" them in eating, but instead would stand around the room, or outside, looking in the windows, not only watching, but participating in the discussion. Sounds strange doesn't it? Especially since these people could be anyone -friends, foes, or even strangers to the host.
So Jesus is having dinner at Matthew's house with His disciples, and Matthew's friends. They were all that had been invited. But while they're eating and talking, others had gathered to watch, including some Pharisees who'd been watching Jesus, and some of John the Baptist's disciples. The Pharisees being so concerned with how things looked, immediately attacked what Jesus was doing, but interestingly, they didn't yet have the guts to directly question Him, and instead questioned His disciples. They wanted to know why Jesus would eat with tax collectors and sinners. What they meant was, "instead of righteous people like us". I know we hear different takes about this today. People who go to bars and other disreputable places will quote what Jesus says to them, to prove that it's perfectly ok to do that, when we're told to separate ourselves and to avoid even the appearance of evil. What they're often mistaking is that Jesus didn't just go into a den of thieves to enjoy Himself. He went with His disciples including His newest disciple Matthew who'd just been saved, with the sole purpose of telling Matthew's friends that they too could have a new life in Him. The people who'd been invited to this dinner knew why they were there, and had come because they were interested in knowing more about Jesus and what had happened to cause Matthew to apparently leave his senses! (for he left behind a very lucrative business, that had made him wealthy)
Instead of letting his disciples answer, Jesus did, and His reply did just what we're told the Word of God does. “On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”” (Matthew 9:12–13) His reply had two edges! It sounds perfectly normal, even polite, doesn't it? Looking at it, you could easily think that if it put anyone down in any way, it would be those He was calling "sick" or "sinners", but that's just one side of His reply! Notice He didn't say who was healthy or who was righteous. The Pharisees considered themselves righteous and the teachers. But the phrase, "But go and learn what this means" was the standard reply of a rabbi to a student that hadn't yet understood a basic teaching. “For I desire mercy, not sacrifice,” was a quote from Hosea 6:6, which they well knew. When He added “For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” that was “piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12) Well, all of it was, but I especially like that part! For by saying that He was letting them know that He knew they considered themselves righteous, and therefore were beyond salvation until they admitted that they were really sinners just like the men He was eating with! Put all together, His reply showed that the Pharisees tended to focus on the outward, and ritual aspects of God’s law and neglected the inward, and moral parts. (just as He told them at other times and continues to here). Salvation can't ever come to those who are self righteous.
Next John the Baptists disciples get in a question. They want to know why Jesus' disciples aren't fasting like they do and like the Pharisees do. You'd think they would have figured it out, but they hadn't yet. The first part of the Lord's answer to them was gentle and explained that there was no need for them to fast as He was there with them. He referred to Himself as the bridegroom which was a Messianic title. So basically Jesus was telling them that there was no need for anyone who knew Him to fast. Fasting was a means of seeking the presence and face of God, and He was right there with them! Instead, Jesus said, there would come a day when He was no longer with them that they would fast, but now, there was no need. It's really a shocking answer, and must have really turned a lot of heads. Because Jesus had just said, "you guys fast and pray for the Messiah to come, but you don't need to anymore because I'm here!" Interestingly, the word translated "be taken" in “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.” (Matthew 9:15) frequently refers to a person being led off to trial or execution! So this is the first time the crucifixion is implied.
The next part of His answer though is directed at both John's disciples and the Pharisees as well and really cuts to the heart of the matter. I didn't really, truly understand His answer for a long time. I got part of it, but it also baffled me somewhat too. When I did, I realized how well it summed up what many often tend to do and the problems with a lot of churches today. He told them ““No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”” (Matthew 9:16–17) It helps if we study it in conjunction with how it's told in Luke. “He told them this parable: “No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews it on an old one. If he does, he will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, ‘The old is better.’ ”” (Luke 5:36–39) . It's also in Mark 2:21–22.
See, Jesus was offering a new way of life. For centuries the Jew's had left God out of their equation of religion. Yes, they had lots of laws, rituals, and traditions. They knew and followed them well. The problem was that it was all on the outside, their reason for doing all of it was really nothing more then "tradition" and for many, to get honor, praise and power. God wasn't part of it. Oh, I'm sure they said He was, but He wasn't really, which is what Jesus constantly tried to show them. Their biggest problem was that instead of studying God's Word and getting to know God, they studied the laws they had made and based everything on them. They literally said and taught that their rituals and traditions trumped God's Word! Of course, their laws were originally made to make it so that they wouldn't offend God, but that got lost the more and the longer they strayed from God's Word itself. (Please know that I'm speaking of the Israelites in general here, and not as individuals. God always had a remnant that really did know and honor Him)
Jesus was telling them though that they could not mix the law and grace (or you could say legalism and grace) because that would simply cause confusion. Nor can you mix the old covenant with the new one, or again you get nothing but confusion. As we know though, our God is not a God of confusion. For a long time though the Jew's had become more committed to their traditions and legalism than they were to God. Isaiah and many of the other prophets had been telling them that for ages, such as: “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)
When we look at how He explains it in Luke it maybe that will help make it clearer. Jesus was introducing a new way, a new covenant, the gospel, and that's the new cloth. (the old testament of course told them that God would send the Messiah and that He would do this). But the Jew's were so used to how they lived, thinking they were doing everything right and according to the old covenant. Jesus told them that you can't tear up the Gospel and try and make it fit into their legalistic way of life. That would just be stupid, because it ruins the new and won't fit in the old, so really you ruin both by doing that. He then told them that He understood that they had a problem accepting His new teaching, that God was beginning a new era of how He dealt with mankind..."And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, ‘The old is better.’ ” (Luke 5:39) We tend to hate change and we hate being told we're wrong, or worse that we're sinning. We become attached to our way of doing things and we simply don't want to change. The problem was that the old way wouldn't get them into heaven because none of them could live a righteous life (although they thought they could). So those who wanted to spend eternity in Heaven were simply going to have to give up their old ways and do things God's way instead, and that way is through Jesus.
When reflecting on all of this, I realized that's also why we today have things like "Hebrew Roots" movements, and why the Catholic Church holds on to their traditions and puts them above God's Word. It's mind boggling to me that people would purposely want to "go back" and follow Jewish ways, when Jesus came to free the Jew's from that and further told them that they could not mix His way with their old ways! It's even harder for me to understand, realizing that the Jew's had gotten it all so wrong for so long, and now people are acting like it's the total opposite and stand in line to learn "the Jewish ways"! One of the biggest problems the early church had - once they'd gotten past trying to mix the old with the new - was the problem of the division between the Jew's and the Gentiles. The Lord constantly tells us in His Word that He came to break down the wall of division between the Jew's and the Gentiles and that those who abide in Him are now one. There is no more Jew, Greek, Gentile, male, female, etc. We are all equally loved and equally righteous in His sight once we are saved. But thousands of years later, Christians are rushing to create the problem all over again and have brought division to the Body of Christ and are again trying to mix the old with the new.
Don't get me wrong. There's nothing wrong with learning Jewish history, culture and traditions. It helps us understand the era Jesus lived in and can help us understand what He was saying. What is wrong is trying to turn ourselves into Jews, when we're not. Even Jewish people who become Christians are no longer "Jewish" in God's eyes. God tells us that once someone is saved, they become a new person, a member of the Body of Christ, the Church. That won't last forever though. After the rapture, when someone gets saved, they will not become a member of the Body of Christ, the Church. That door is closed forever at the rapture. After the rapture, God will again see people as Jew's and Gentiles after they're saved, and that's how they will be judged. God has a different plan for them than He does for us - still wonderful and awesome, but different. Do you see then the futility and falsehood behind the Hebrew Roots movements? The false teaching involved in them is too much to go into here, so I'll post more about it tomorrow, God willing.
It's similar with the Catholic Church. They looked and liked the way the Jewish people had their traditions and how they'd placed their traditions above God's Word. That will always appeal to our sin nature, because it puts self and humans above God. For whatever reason, (I personally believe it was to control the people which is what it did with the Jewish community too) that's what they did and still do. It's why so much false teaching has entered their church for they only have man made rules and traditions and not the power of God to guide them. Like the Pharisees though, they see themselves as righteous and refuse to repent. Praise God He sent us men like Martin Luther to get us back on the right track!
These are the very things Jesus was addressing that day at dinner. Amazingly, 2000 years later, we still see the very same things.
Back then, the rules of etiquette for dinner parties were quite different then they are for us. We can get some idea of it by remembering the story about Lazarus and the rich man. The rich man was having a feast, and Lazarus lay outside his house and could see it all, and everyone could see him too. But there's more. Back then, it was perfectly acceptable for other people to go to a feast that hadn't been invited. They didn't literally "join" them in eating, but instead would stand around the room, or outside, looking in the windows, not only watching, but participating in the discussion. Sounds strange doesn't it? Especially since these people could be anyone -friends, foes, or even strangers to the host.
So Jesus is having dinner at Matthew's house with His disciples, and Matthew's friends. They were all that had been invited. But while they're eating and talking, others had gathered to watch, including some Pharisees who'd been watching Jesus, and some of John the Baptist's disciples. The Pharisees being so concerned with how things looked, immediately attacked what Jesus was doing, but interestingly, they didn't yet have the guts to directly question Him, and instead questioned His disciples. They wanted to know why Jesus would eat with tax collectors and sinners. What they meant was, "instead of righteous people like us". I know we hear different takes about this today. People who go to bars and other disreputable places will quote what Jesus says to them, to prove that it's perfectly ok to do that, when we're told to separate ourselves and to avoid even the appearance of evil. What they're often mistaking is that Jesus didn't just go into a den of thieves to enjoy Himself. He went with His disciples including His newest disciple Matthew who'd just been saved, with the sole purpose of telling Matthew's friends that they too could have a new life in Him. The people who'd been invited to this dinner knew why they were there, and had come because they were interested in knowing more about Jesus and what had happened to cause Matthew to apparently leave his senses! (for he left behind a very lucrative business, that had made him wealthy)
Instead of letting his disciples answer, Jesus did, and His reply did just what we're told the Word of God does. “On hearing this, Jesus said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”” (Matthew 9:12–13) His reply had two edges! It sounds perfectly normal, even polite, doesn't it? Looking at it, you could easily think that if it put anyone down in any way, it would be those He was calling "sick" or "sinners", but that's just one side of His reply! Notice He didn't say who was healthy or who was righteous. The Pharisees considered themselves righteous and the teachers. But the phrase, "But go and learn what this means" was the standard reply of a rabbi to a student that hadn't yet understood a basic teaching. “For I desire mercy, not sacrifice,” was a quote from Hosea 6:6, which they well knew. When He added “For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” that was “piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12) Well, all of it was, but I especially like that part! For by saying that He was letting them know that He knew they considered themselves righteous, and therefore were beyond salvation until they admitted that they were really sinners just like the men He was eating with! Put all together, His reply showed that the Pharisees tended to focus on the outward, and ritual aspects of God’s law and neglected the inward, and moral parts. (just as He told them at other times and continues to here). Salvation can't ever come to those who are self righteous.
Next John the Baptists disciples get in a question. They want to know why Jesus' disciples aren't fasting like they do and like the Pharisees do. You'd think they would have figured it out, but they hadn't yet. The first part of the Lord's answer to them was gentle and explained that there was no need for them to fast as He was there with them. He referred to Himself as the bridegroom which was a Messianic title. So basically Jesus was telling them that there was no need for anyone who knew Him to fast. Fasting was a means of seeking the presence and face of God, and He was right there with them! Instead, Jesus said, there would come a day when He was no longer with them that they would fast, but now, there was no need. It's really a shocking answer, and must have really turned a lot of heads. Because Jesus had just said, "you guys fast and pray for the Messiah to come, but you don't need to anymore because I'm here!" Interestingly, the word translated "be taken" in “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.” (Matthew 9:15) frequently refers to a person being led off to trial or execution! So this is the first time the crucifixion is implied.
The next part of His answer though is directed at both John's disciples and the Pharisees as well and really cuts to the heart of the matter. I didn't really, truly understand His answer for a long time. I got part of it, but it also baffled me somewhat too. When I did, I realized how well it summed up what many often tend to do and the problems with a lot of churches today. He told them ““No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch will pull away from the garment, making the tear worse. Neither do men pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”” (Matthew 9:16–17) It helps if we study it in conjunction with how it's told in Luke. “He told them this parable: “No one tears a patch from a new garment and sews it on an old one. If he does, he will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the new wine will burst the skins, the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, ‘The old is better.’ ”” (Luke 5:36–39) . It's also in Mark 2:21–22.
See, Jesus was offering a new way of life. For centuries the Jew's had left God out of their equation of religion. Yes, they had lots of laws, rituals, and traditions. They knew and followed them well. The problem was that it was all on the outside, their reason for doing all of it was really nothing more then "tradition" and for many, to get honor, praise and power. God wasn't part of it. Oh, I'm sure they said He was, but He wasn't really, which is what Jesus constantly tried to show them. Their biggest problem was that instead of studying God's Word and getting to know God, they studied the laws they had made and based everything on them. They literally said and taught that their rituals and traditions trumped God's Word! Of course, their laws were originally made to make it so that they wouldn't offend God, but that got lost the more and the longer they strayed from God's Word itself. (Please know that I'm speaking of the Israelites in general here, and not as individuals. God always had a remnant that really did know and honor Him)
Jesus was telling them though that they could not mix the law and grace (or you could say legalism and grace) because that would simply cause confusion. Nor can you mix the old covenant with the new one, or again you get nothing but confusion. As we know though, our God is not a God of confusion. For a long time though the Jew's had become more committed to their traditions and legalism than they were to God. Isaiah and many of the other prophets had been telling them that for ages, such as: “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)
When we look at how He explains it in Luke it maybe that will help make it clearer. Jesus was introducing a new way, a new covenant, the gospel, and that's the new cloth. (the old testament of course told them that God would send the Messiah and that He would do this). But the Jew's were so used to how they lived, thinking they were doing everything right and according to the old covenant. Jesus told them that you can't tear up the Gospel and try and make it fit into their legalistic way of life. That would just be stupid, because it ruins the new and won't fit in the old, so really you ruin both by doing that. He then told them that He understood that they had a problem accepting His new teaching, that God was beginning a new era of how He dealt with mankind..."And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for he says, ‘The old is better.’ ” (Luke 5:39) We tend to hate change and we hate being told we're wrong, or worse that we're sinning. We become attached to our way of doing things and we simply don't want to change. The problem was that the old way wouldn't get them into heaven because none of them could live a righteous life (although they thought they could). So those who wanted to spend eternity in Heaven were simply going to have to give up their old ways and do things God's way instead, and that way is through Jesus.
When reflecting on all of this, I realized that's also why we today have things like "Hebrew Roots" movements, and why the Catholic Church holds on to their traditions and puts them above God's Word. It's mind boggling to me that people would purposely want to "go back" and follow Jewish ways, when Jesus came to free the Jew's from that and further told them that they could not mix His way with their old ways! It's even harder for me to understand, realizing that the Jew's had gotten it all so wrong for so long, and now people are acting like it's the total opposite and stand in line to learn "the Jewish ways"! One of the biggest problems the early church had - once they'd gotten past trying to mix the old with the new - was the problem of the division between the Jew's and the Gentiles. The Lord constantly tells us in His Word that He came to break down the wall of division between the Jew's and the Gentiles and that those who abide in Him are now one. There is no more Jew, Greek, Gentile, male, female, etc. We are all equally loved and equally righteous in His sight once we are saved. But thousands of years later, Christians are rushing to create the problem all over again and have brought division to the Body of Christ and are again trying to mix the old with the new.
Don't get me wrong. There's nothing wrong with learning Jewish history, culture and traditions. It helps us understand the era Jesus lived in and can help us understand what He was saying. What is wrong is trying to turn ourselves into Jews, when we're not. Even Jewish people who become Christians are no longer "Jewish" in God's eyes. God tells us that once someone is saved, they become a new person, a member of the Body of Christ, the Church. That won't last forever though. After the rapture, when someone gets saved, they will not become a member of the Body of Christ, the Church. That door is closed forever at the rapture. After the rapture, God will again see people as Jew's and Gentiles after they're saved, and that's how they will be judged. God has a different plan for them than He does for us - still wonderful and awesome, but different. Do you see then the futility and falsehood behind the Hebrew Roots movements? The false teaching involved in them is too much to go into here, so I'll post more about it tomorrow, God willing.
It's similar with the Catholic Church. They looked and liked the way the Jewish people had their traditions and how they'd placed their traditions above God's Word. That will always appeal to our sin nature, because it puts self and humans above God. For whatever reason, (I personally believe it was to control the people which is what it did with the Jewish community too) that's what they did and still do. It's why so much false teaching has entered their church for they only have man made rules and traditions and not the power of God to guide them. Like the Pharisees though, they see themselves as righteous and refuse to repent. Praise God He sent us men like Martin Luther to get us back on the right track!
These are the very things Jesus was addressing that day at dinner. Amazingly, 2000 years later, we still see the very same things.
!!
