"Then some Pharisees and Scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, “Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.” And He answered and said to them, “Why do you yourselves also break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘The one who speaks evil of father or mother is to be put to death.’ But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever I have that would help you has been given to God,” he is not to honor his father or mother.’ And by this you have invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: ‘This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far away from Me. And in vain do they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ After Jesus called the crowd to Him, He said to them, “Hear and understand! It is not what enters the mouth that defiles the person, but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles the person.” Then the disciples came and said to Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this statement?” But He answered and said, “Every plant which My heavenly Father did not plant will be uprooted. Leave them alone; they are blind guides of blind people. And if a person who is blind guides another who is blind, both will fall into a pit.” - Matthew 15:1-14 Hello, my name is Matt, and I come from a lineage of offense.
My native language is sarcasm, and I was partially raised on stand-up comedy (the funny kind) and thirty-minute television programs that held onto their agreement with the network by their fingernails. As a confession, I will tell you that this personality quirk has hampered my spiritual growth more than once and has brought me to my knees as I have read passages in Scripture. As a “Hallelujah to Jesus,” I will tell you that this ridiculous trait that God has built in me (or allowed me to fall into) has also kept my head above water when a shallow Christianity could have drowned me in the fallacy of moralism. In theological terms, this concept is the wrestling match between legalism and antinomianism. You may not be familiar with the words, but you are likely versed in the pendulum swings of their definitions. Legalism, as defined by me, focuses on the letter of the Law and the abandons it’s spirit. Legalism is the pernicious chasm that we fall into after slipping from the Biblical command to avoid drunkenness (Eph. 5:18, 1 Cor. 6:10, Gal. 5, Is. 5:11, etc.) and land in the viewpoint that someone with a cocktail in their hand has lost sight of the cross. To quote Sinclair Ferguson: “Legalism is separating the Law of God from the character of God. It reduces Biblical commandments to mere rules instead of seeing them as an expression of God’s loving will.” Legalism is afraid that grace is not enough. Antinomianism is the antithesis. It says that the laws, commands, and directions of God are not as valuable as the things that they represent: primarily, love (whatever that means in a lawless society). Antinomianism says that freedom, for freedom’s sake, is the greatest corset chart in life. “Drunkenness is not the end of the world, the Bible means something more nuanced; just love others.” John MacArthur stated: “Antinomianism is the idea that because we are under grace, obedience to God’s moral law is optional. It cheapens grace and leads to licentiousness” Antinomianism is afraid that grace will be canceled out or misrepresented by your effort. There is a profound irony in how we live. It is unlikely that you struggle with one of these categories and not the other. It is even less likely that you struggle with neither of these, so check your ego at the door. Each of us possess something akin to moral and spiritual selective hearing. My children are perfect examples of selective hearing, and I love messing with them. I will ask one of my boys to pick up their toys and they will pretend that they don’t hear me. Clever little sinners, huh? They are my children, however, so I counter with my own precociousness. To check their hearing I will float out a better option after I think they have ignored me… “Micah, do you want a chocolate bar?” Boom! He whips his neck around. I find out that he heard me the first time. He is now obligated to clean up his toys. I eat a chocolate bar in front of his face to show him that I have bested him, yet again. (Maybe not that last part). Other than my questionable parenting, here is the point: we vacillate between antinomianism and legalism. Once more the Scottish sage Sinclair Ferguson speaks with profundity: “Antinomianism and legalism are not opposites but twins. Both distort the gospel--legalism by adding to it, and antinomianism by taking from it.” It must have been a trip to be around Jesus when He was walking around doing ministry. I can only imagine chasing Him around trying to impress Him and get His approval, as if He was withholding it with a carrot and a stick. One minute He preaches to a huge crowd saying that His followers must have a righteousness that surpasses that of the Pharisees (see Matt. 5:20). The next He torches the Pharisees for their unnecessarily strict and oppressive behavior (see passage above, Matt. 15:1-14). I picture myself grabbing the cleanest Phylactery so that I could loudly belt my prayers in front of Jesus, and then quickly punting it into the Sea of Galilee when He confounded the Pharisees for their disobedience. Flip-flop. Flip-flop. I would play that chameleon. Does He want the rules followed, or not? Jesus is a wild follow; He keeps you on your toes! The passage above is a perfect example: He is approached by His interlocutors, the Pharisees. They totally rain on His parade, saying that His disciples don’t wash their hands according to tradition (not God’s and not to avoid bacteria), insinuating that He and His followers ignore what God wants. That's a bear of an accusation. Jesus then battles back, calling them hypocrites and hammering them with the words of the Old Testament prophet Isaiah. Allow me to summarize: “You are punks that say you care about God and His Law, but you do not. You have found a religious way to pull the rug over on God’s people. You are… guilded turds.” (Again, my translation). The end of this passage is saturated with strong statements: 1. It is not what is in the mouth that defines a person, but what comes out - this is a statement about the heart’s sinfulness. Sin is within you, you are not primarily tainted by the world. Instead, you are one of the guilty parties that helps to progress the brokenness of the world. 2. All the plants that don’t belong to God are going to be completely removed - The Pharisee’s commandments and traditions will not last. The Father will sort them out soon enough. And it will be final. 3. Leave these bums alone, they are blind. Blind people leading blind people end up in gulleys - Do not be tricked into their religious system, or their folly will corrupt and bury you as well. Notice the statement in the middle of all of this that links Jesus’ explanations (which continue in Matt. 15:15-20). Jesus has combatted His woefully inept combatants, but before His explanation, His disciples offer the effect of His truth bomb: “Then the disciples came and said to Him, ‘Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this statement?’” (Matt. 15:12) Jesus offended these guys. Granted, His phrasing was pretty tough if you give it another gander. He calls them hypocrites. He quotes one of the guys they had memorized and says that his pulled bow and sharpened arrow were aimed at them. That being said, this is what happens to every single one of us when we come into contact with God. We are offended. And it should. Truth often hurts, and it is frequently very abrupt. Gravity does not gently deal with stunt devils who jump from too high. Gravity is true and faithful to its truth. You will learn about it’s accuracy when you test it. God is true, and you, by nature, are less than true. God is accurate —like 100% on every test— and you are, at best, a C-minus. You cannot run into the truthfulness of Jesus’ truth and not be offended, any more than you could swim in space without an oxygen mask and breathe. Your finitude will not stand up to infinity. Your imperfection will be dwarfed before the Perfect. The antinomian is offended by the solid accuracy and truthfulness of God’s Law. The legalist is offended by the spirit of God’s Law, and the fact that He did not ask for any additional guidelines or suggestions. If you have not been offended by Jesus, then you have not met Him. If you are not slightly ruffled by Jesus at this very moment, even as His disciple, then you are not walking with Him. He is graciously long-suffering and abundantly merciful, and He is also too loving to leave you the way you are. Even in your selective hearing, He wants to grab you and teach you what is right… even if that means He eats a chocolate bar in front of your face while you pick up your toys.
0 Comments
|
Matt CantrilI am a husband to Auna, a father of two and a baby on the way. I love asking questions and writing to find out if I have any answers. ArchivesCategories |