Words of Jesus Podcast - A More Excellent Way

Episode Date: June 9, 2023

Embrace correction from Jesus. Tradition, ego, laziness, fear all contribute to dependence of a middleman or a sacrament to avoid the simple correction of our God. The message of the Kingdom of God is "repent!" In our vernacular, repent should be read as "change". Change is required for us to be restored to right relationship with God so we can enter the Kingdom of God. Let he who has ears to hear, hear; everyone will not understand.***Chapter 39: Jesus Defends His Disciples for Eating with Unwashed Hands Matthew 15:1-20; Mark 7:1-23Certain Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem came to Jesus, finding fault that his disciples ate bread with unwashed hands.             For, according to tradition long handed down, the Pharisees and Jews could not eat without first washing their hands. There were many other old laws concerning the washing of cups, pots, brass vessels, and tables.            The Pharisees and scribes asked Jesus:            “Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? They wash not their hands when they eat bread.”            Jesus replied:            “Well hath Isaiah prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, “This people honoreth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.’ For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups; and many other such like things ye do. Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. For Moses said, ‘Honor thy father and thy mother,’ and ‘Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death.’ But ye say, ‘If a man shall say to his father or mother, “It is Corban,” that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; he shall be free.’ And ye suffer him no more to do aught for his father or mother; making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered; and many such like things do ye.”            Then Jesus called all the people to him and said:            “Hearken unto me every one of you, and understand. There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him. But the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man. If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.”            When Jesus retired from the people into the house, his disciples came to him and said:            “Knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended, after they heard this saying?”            Jesus replied:            “Every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up. Let them alone. They be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.”            Then Peter, the disciple, said:            “Declare unto us this parable.”            Jesus answered:            “Are ye so without understanding also? Do ye not perceive, that whatsoever thing from without entereth into man, it cannot defile him; because it entereth not into...

Think Red Ink Ministries presents the Words of Jesus series with Don C. Harris. Hello my friends and welcome once again to the Words of Jesus series. Don Harris here, your host, and taking you through some more red ink. Have you started to think red ink yet? Should have started a long time ago. If you've been a part of our show, you've heard a lot of what Jesus had to say. And all of a sudden you start attaching what he said, not the nothing out there like we've been pretty much taught to do, to memorize what he says and to quote what he

says. But all of a sudden, within your mind, you're coupling what he said with a particular situation. It's almost like he's thinking about it. Well, of course he is thinking about it, and what he has to say and attaching it to a live situation is, I think it's a good exercise, so that we can understand that Jesus didn't say things for the sake of saying them. He didn't say little sayings or little memory verses. He was uh speaking to people about certain things and with certain purpose in mind in the 39th chapter where we've been reading uh the title of this particular chapter is jesus defends his disciples for eating with unwashed hands um the truth is is that he's not defending his disciples at all. He's actually condemning the Pharisees' ideas

of how they have questioned the disciples' commitment and how, I think kind of left-handedly or back-handedly, they're accusing Jesus of changing, as they said in, I believe it's the book of Acts, of changing the tradition of the elders. I've always been kind of fascinated with the book of Acts and how in that time, the Bible says that the disciples were brought before magistrates and they were brought before uh people and being accused of causing trouble and um i think that there's a

there's a the way that it's written there's a verse that makes us kind of go in the wrong direction in our thinking where it says that they suborned men that would come in and make accusation as if what they were accusing them of were violations that they'd done wrong that they really hadn't done and uh i i feel the opposite because when uh they say that well these disciples are saying that when that jesus's ministry is going to do three things it's going to destroy this temple it's going to open our nation our country to uh more roman occupation and it's and it is destroying uh the law of moses the traditions of the elders and and this he he's kind of letting on like there's going to be more than Jews in the kingdom of God. And they gave this list of so-called violations that the disciples were doing.

And we have a tendency to believe that they hired people to lie about the ministry of Jesus and subsequently the ministry of his disciples. But what you'll find is, as you look into the scriptures and start reading the stories, you'll find out, my goodness, that is exactly what he's doing. I mean, take the destruction of the temple, for example. It's long been thought among Jews that when Messiah comes, there would be no need for a temple anymore. Well, that's exactly what he did. And he was removing people's reverence for the temple. Master, behold what manner of stones these are. And he says, see, not all these things. You know, he's kind of downplaying their reverence for the temple.

Why is that? Well, the temple represents what Jesus was trying to do on a personal level. And again, here we have this personal and institutional balance that is constantly going on. It goes on today. Is the church an institution? Or is the church a gathering of people that have individual relationships with God? Well, I'm here to tell you that the second is exactly what he's trying to do. That's exactly

what the church is supposed to be, a place of fellowship and a place of congregation and convocation of the people who have a personal relationship with God. it's not to be an institution it's not you don't join the you know the church in order to be a part of the kingdom of god it's not an institution it shouldn't be an institution any more than uh i always give the example of uh would attend? I ask people, would you attend? I shouldn't say attend. I should say would you want to go to a hospital whose reputation it is that anyone who ever goes in it never comes out of it? Well,

the church's reputation in the world should be more like a hospital than a glee club or a rotary club or a moose club or whatever kind of a lodge or a gentleman's club or whatever clubs we might have in mind. It's the thought of church should be a place where people in need come, receive from God and develop personal relationships with God, not through a church or through a pastor or through a liturgy or through denominational guidelines, articles of faith, or all the rest of this stuff, and even baptism. It's not a matter of coming through the church to God. You're putting it into a wrong idea, a wrong connotation. Jesus, his whole purpose in ministry was to eliminate that institutional idea,

which subsequently eliminates the need for the temple at all. If the sacrifice of God, the atonement of the Lord for our sins is all done within us, if Christ is indeed within us, and if the kingdom of God is, as Jesus said, within you, if these things are all internal, how can they develop an external institution? So you find the disciples being accused of, you know, if these people have their way, you know, it's going to destroy the temple. And as I say, some people think that they hired liars to say this, but the truth is is they hired men to say this other than the people

to whom there was benefit. Sometimes if a person who doesn't necessarily benefit in a certain situation that they're promoting, they feel like that they're neutral. And so these men, they came and made these accusations, but those accusations were so. It says that he's come to destroy the law of Moses. Well, you might have real trouble with that, and a lot of people do. But I don't.

I understand exactly. It wouldn't surprise me at all that that's what they were preaching, that the law of Moses is for people who are of no spirit whatsoever. It shows us how we can and should live in a republic, in a society. It's perfect for that.

However, when a person becomes regenerated, when Christ starts to be formed in them, the law all of a sudden starts to evaporate. This is why Paul said that if you live live of the spirit you're no longer under the law well if that's not an elimination of the law i don't know what is so we can eliminate the law by obeying it by our own volition by our own power within us so the law is not to be uh and i i happen to believe that this is what jesus was saying when he said that not one jot or one tittle of the law shall in any wise fail until all be fulfilled all what be fulfilled well until the church is fulfilled until you're fulfilled until

you have that relationship with god now i don't have to worry about you killing anybody not if the Spirit of God is in you. I don't have to worry about you keeping the Sabbath day if the Spirit of God is in you, or taking your wife, or taking a man's wife, or taking his money, or stealing from him, or not honoring God. All the whole list of commandments,

all these are going to be kept. They're going to be kept from the inside out. So the outer law, I can see it being destroyed. How about the fact that they were accused, the disciples were accused of taking away our nation? The idea of the elimination of bloodline salvation. Jesus says, I have sheep that are not of this fold. What fold? Children of Israel. His intention was to save the entire world

in the way that he had in mind to do so. I don't think he had in mind at all that the Gentiles were to come and sit in the seats that were designed for the Jews. I don't know that he had any idea at all that the gentiles were to come and sit in the seats that were designed for the jews i don't know that he had any idea at all that the jews would reject himself and murder him and plot against him but that's exactly what happened so i i'm just saying that as we look at at the ministry of the disciples and we see the institutions of God, we find that Jesus' ministry carried to its fullest extent eliminate this institutional type religion, which

requires laws to be written. As I say, the Jews were really concerned about disobeying God to the point of being brought back into captivity. So they built fences around the laws and made things. Well, Jesus said it this way. You lay on men burdens grievous to be born, but you won't touch them with one of your fingers. He was talking about the hypocrisy of the whole thing.

You're making the commandment of God of no effect whatsoever by your traditions. Now, here you have this particular thing being talked about, and it's come to light because the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the scribes, the religious leadership of the day sees that there is no concern whatsoever on the part of the disciples to follow the traditions of the elders well if you want to make them mad that's a great way of doing it because these things are very very

important to them jesus says i don't see any importance in this and the reason i don't see any real importance in what you're saying is because there is there is only one concern for people who are true worshipers of the lord jehovah of the lord god jehovah and that is that we do what he says to do. Not what men say to do. And that's the way this is going to end as we continue to read. He was. And as we finished the last show.

We were talking about how the word of God has made none effect through tradition which you have delivered the lord god didn't deliver these traditions to the people they delivered the traditions to the people and many such thing many such like things you do then jesus called all the people to him and said hearken every every one of you unto me and understand. There is nothing from without a man that entering into him can defile him. Oh man, do you realize who he's talking to here? The Jews are convinced that there are many things we can do to defile us and make us unworthy

of worship a lot of the the laws of the old testament have to do with ceremonial cleanliness you remember you know touching a dead body touching the carcass of a dead animal there were some things that required the priest to be so sanctified so set apart he said that if a priest needs to minister in the temple if he's had a death in the family or he's had to deal with these kinds of things he's exempt from his service in in the temple but there were some things that were so important the lord said that um even the uh that we have to be concerned about defilement even from a father or a mother that has died um not even for these will a priest defile himself uh that perhaps um the day of atonement was approaching and there were certain priests that were designated to serve in the temple

and if his if his mother or his father were to die he couldn't even attend the funeral he couldn't get near the body of his loved one even if it's for his mother or his father you know some close kin so these kind of things were taken very very seriously and here you have jesus saying that there's a misunderstanding here. We talk about defilement by eating foods that are unclean, for example. Jesus is saying here that there is nothing entering into a man's mouth that will defile him. Wow, man, you're going against years, eons of tradition here against the Jews. They're not going to like what you're saying.

But he says it's not what goes in a man's mouth that defiles him. It is what comes out of him that defiles him. And in other gospels where this is found, he goes on to say that it is because for, he says, for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks and in the heart of man there are defilements, there is corruptness there's excess, there's

so much bad within mankind that the indicator of some of this badness that defiles him is what comes out of his mouth it's what he says with his mouth i really don't think that that the that the the modern conventional church takes this seriously at all oh they don't want you cussing they don't want you saying ugly things you know they don't want you using certain words but if you're able to curse a man without using curse words it seems to be okay if you can you know say that a a guy is going to hell because he believes a certain thing that's okay but if you were to just outright say damn him oh i can't believe you said

that what is going on here this is this is traditions that is violating the or making the commandment of God of no effect. He's saying, we have this whole thing back to front here. You're concerned about little things that irritate you or that you don't like. Perhaps your grandmother didn't like them. Perhaps your church doesn't appreciate it. They don't like it. But the end result is worse than had you done it the other way. Well, how do these things happen? We just don't think. We're just operating

in knee-jerk reactions to life and to religion and to everything else. And our traditions seem to be more important to us than anything else. Again, you're having traditions replacing commandments of God. He says, but the thing which comes out of the man, those are they that defile a man. If any man has ears to hear, let him hear. You know, every time you hear that, here's what you should hear the Lord Jesus say.

Not everybody's going to understand what I'm saying here. That's exactly what he's saying. Not everybody's going to understand what I'm talking about. If you understand what I'm talking about, then hear what I'm saying. Make these changes in your life. Perfect yourself in this area. But frankly, not everybody's going to understand this.

And you know what? Not everybody does. Now, when Jesus retired from the people into the house, his disciples came to him and said, knowest thou that the Pharisees were offended at these things? Oh boy. out that the pharisees were offended at these things oh boy and jesus says duh okay maybe i added that but jesus was sure he was aware that it offended the pharisees do you realize there's people out there that need to be offended they need to be they they need to have that rock of offense that stands in front of them these things need to be said to them and we ought not be so um i think this was just the old-fashioned respect for the pharisee and the sadducee,

you know, the spiritual leadership of the day. I think this is just the old-fashioned respect. Oh, my goodness, I can't believe you said that. Do you realize that when you said that, you offended these people? Now, here's the way Jesus replied. And this is, this goes back to what I was saying before, that there are certain traditions that are good. Some of them are not so good.

But they all come from men. So I would say that the default reaction to a tradition is to reject it you'd be safer to reject all tradition than to accept all tradition however there are some traditions that are just they're just good they're just plain old good and uh and they keep us on track and they keep keep life happy and they you know they're just they're just good traditions none of them, none of them supersede the laws of God. Ever. Ever. Is it your tradition to keep Easter on Sunday? Well, you know, if this offends the Lord, if it offends truth,

if it offends logic, if it offends common sense, even if, in that particular case, it offends arithmetic. It offends mathematics. It offends the natural course of the planets. It's not right. It needs to be laid down. I don't care how good it is. I don't care how wonderful it makes you feel. But there are some traditions that are just good.

And they're just, they're lovely in our life and they don't hurt a thing. But when it comes to these kind of things, when it comes to making this decision, we have to use within ourself, we have to have this red ink within us so that we can make these decisions. And here's what Jesus said that finished off,

essentially, this whole idea of traditions versus the commandments of God. Every plant which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up. Let them alone. Now, that sounds like a contradiction. Every plant that my father had not planted shall be rooted up. Let them alone.

Wait a minute. What did you just say? What did you just tell me to do? You said that if the father didn't plant the plant, that it needs to be rooted up, and now you're telling me to leave them alone? Who told you to do the rooting up where did you get the idea that it's your job to root them up every plant that my father has

not planted do you know which plants he planted and which one he didn't listen you're not going to know until the end you're never going to know i doubt you know and you're going to know until the end. You're never going to know, I doubt. You're going to suspect some things. I certainly suspect some things, but I'm going to be surprised. We're all going to be surprised, but it's his job to root them up, not yours. Every plant that my father didn't plant, he's well aware of what he planted. He knows exactly what's going on, and what father didn't plant he's well aware of what he planted he knows exactly what's going on and what he didn't plant he's going to root up so what's your job leave them alone leave them leave them alone well that sounds like isn't silence consent not all the time absolutely not silence can very well be to consign this situation to someone that's better than you

at at at dealing with this situation you know silence in some cases is you know i don't know therefore i i i relegate delegate turn this over to someone who does know and if the father's intention is to root up everything that's not right uh well i thank god he never didn't give me that job but you know a lot of people take it on to themselves and then he says you need to understand as well that many of these are many of these ideas and and traditions and and uh you and the way it's always been done for so many years, these things are propagated by blind people. They're blind. And whether their heart is right,

that's all for God to judge. How does the apostle say it? Who art thou that judges another man's servant to his own master he stands or falls and so you know that judgment and actually condemnation is is really not ours to even mess with at all and he says that these these things are going to happen and uh and and you can take comfort in knowing that it's not it's not really your duty to do this but the beautiful thing about blind leading the blind is they don't they don't carry each other into the center of the highway they don't prosper in this situation they both end up in the ditch peter the disciple said declare unto us this parable jesus says are you also without

understanding you know these things are so familiar to me because i've spent time before the lord and had him ask me these questions you know you know i really like i've been reading this and i don't understand it i'd love for you to enlighten me on this and i'm i'm just i'm going to wait for you to open these things to me and you just feel like why don't i understand this he says are you without understanding also do you not perceive that whatsoever thing that uh from without entereth in into a man it cannot defile the man because it entereth not into his heart but into his belly and goeth out into the draft purging all food well he got a little graphic there didn't he and that which cometh out of the man that defileth the man for from within out of the heart of men thefts covetousness wickedness deceit hate, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things

come from within and they defile the man. What a list. And where did he get this list? From your heart. So listen to what we say. Listen to what comes out of our mouth. If you want to deal with things that will make you better, these are the things we need to deal with. Let's talk about this next time. Can we do that? Time's gone for now. I'd love for you to write to me,

Don, at ThinkRedInc.com. Until next time, Think Red Inc., my friend. ThinkRedInc.com. That's ThinkRedInc.com. Join us again for the next episode in the Words of Jesus series. you