MEETING AGENDA
- OPENING PRAYER – Ask one person to open the meeting in prayer.
- GROWTH QUESTIONS – Ask everyone the Growth Questions.
- ATTENDANCE – Take attendance through the DG Attendance System.
- TODAY’S LESSON – Go over this week’s DG lesson.
- GIVING – Encourage everyone to give on the App.
- CLOSING PRAYER – Ask for prayer requests and pray.
RELIGION VS RELATIONSHIP
TODAY’S PASSAGE:
Matthew 15:1-9 (NLT) 1 Some Pharisees and teachers of religious law now arrived from Jerusalem to see Jesus. They asked him, 2 “Why do your disciples disobey our age-old tradition? For they ignore our tradition of ceremonial hand washing before they eat.” 3 Jesus replied, “And why do you, by your traditions, violate the direct commandments of God? 4 For instance, God says, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and ‘Anyone who speaks disrespectfully of father or mother must be put to death.’ 5 But you say it is all right for people to say to their parents, ‘Sorry, I can’t help you. For I have vowed to give to God what I would have given to you.’ 6 In this way, you say they don’t need to honor their parents. And so you cancel the word of God for the sake of your own tradition 7 You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote, 8 ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 9 Their worship is farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’”
Verse 3 – “Jesus replied, ’And why do you, by your traditions, violate the direct commandments of God?”
- Religion is a system of man-made rules and regulations people attempt to follow in order to make themselves ‘right’ with God (without going through Jesus).
- Jesus’ response to the Pharisees (religious leaders) makes it clear God is more concerned with the spiritual condition of our heart than with outward appearances.
- Fulfilling man-made religious traditions does not save us because it does not change our sinful hearts. Only a personal relationship with Jesus can do that!
Galatians 2:16 (NLT) – “Yet we know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law… For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law.”
Verse 6 – “In this way, you say they don’t need to honor their parents. And so you cancel the word of God for the sake of your own tradition.”
- The Pharisees of Jesus’ day had replaced God’s Word with their man-made traditions. In some cases, their traditions directly contradicted the clear meaning of God’s commands.
- Any religious tradition that doesn’t line up with Scripture should be rejected. If it contradicts God’s Word, it will not please God.
1 Corinthians 3:11 (NLT) – For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ.
- God’s Word is the most important tool we have to determine if our actions and words are pleasing to Him. God uses His Word to reveal His will for our lives, and we should be careful to obey it above all else.
- Religious, cultural, social or even family traditions can never replace or cancel God’s Word.
Verses 8-9 – “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.”
- Jesus said the worship of the Pharisees was a “farce.”
- DEFINTION – Farce: an event that is absurd, a mockery, a joke
- Jesus is saying that pretending we are worshipping God through disobedience is a joke.
- The only way to truly show that we love God is by obeying His Word.
John 14:15 (NLT) – If you love me, obey my commandments.