Note: Devotion taken from last Sunday's sermon on Matthew 15:-9.
But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress
the commandment of God by your tradition? (Matthew 15:3).
There are two significant dangers in the practice of
religion.
One is the error of liberalism or licentiousness. This error
is characterized by subtraction, taking away from, ignoring, or minimizing
the Word of God, the commands of Scripture.
The Bible clearly condemns some practice, but we do it
anyway, justifying our behavior by taking away from God’s word. Example: Paul
said that, but that fit with the culture of his day, and it has no relevance
for our day.
The other is the error of legalism. This error is
characterized by addition. It attempts to add to, to augment, and to supplement
the Word of God with teaching and commands and practices that are not contained
within or required by Scripture.
Christ condemns both errors, one as zealously as the other.
The heading which
Spurgeon gives to his commentary on Matthew 15:1-20 is “Our King Combatting
Formalism.” Formalism is another term for legalism.
Here are some
questions we might ask ourselves by means of self-examination upon reading this
passage:
How am I like the
scribes and Pharisees?
Am I prone to
judge the disciples of Jesus, rather than examining first my own life?
I recently saw
this tweet from an RB pastor: “May the Lord help us not to be more worried
about other people’s sins than our own sins.”
Christ did not
teach that we should never offer any judgments, but that we should first
examine ourselves before judging others (see Matthew 7:1ff).
Have I taken up
extra-biblical standards (the commandments of men) rather than the commandments
of God?
This implies
first that I must dedicate myself to knowing what the Bible teaches. Can I cite
book, chapter, and verse to justify the beliefs and practices I set as a
standard for myself and for others?
Have I looked for
loopholes to justify my disobedience?
Have I said to
myself, It’s ok for me to break this aspect of God’s moral law, because the
circumstances allow it, or the ends justify the means?
Could it be said
of me, that I have drawn nigh to Christ with my mouth and honored him with my
lips, while my heart is far from him?
Have I offered to
Christ only what Spurgeon called “mouth-religion, lip-homage”? Has my religion
been, as a friend of mine from Kentucky would have called it, merely
“chin-music”?
Now, is the time
when things might be made right.
The Psalmist
says, “Today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your heart” (Psalm
95:7b-8a).
Grace and peace,
Pastor Jeff Riddle
No comments:
Post a Comment