Includes a suggested introduction to the lesson, text highlights and outline, illustrations you can share, discussion questions for your group, and spiritual life applications you can make. A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRODUCTION:

ILLUSTRATION:

Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius wrote a very introspective book called Meditations, in which he reveals many of his inward thoughts as he tried to live a good life as a ruler, and not be corrupted by the evil that often surrounds leaders. In Meditations he wrote: “It is the king’s part to do good and be ill spoke of.” 

That’s almost always true, isn’t it? Leaders are in for criticism; that’s often just part of the position.

???DISCUSSION QUESTION???

“Can you share something that you have heard a pastor, or church, or ministry, criticized for?”

(Like this is going to be hard to come up with, right? Pastors and churches and ministries get criticism all the time!  You and your group can likely think of many.)

When your group has shared some, then ask: are the criticisms we have talked about today, based on scripture? Or tradition or personal preference?

Then point out: it’s one thing to go against someone’s opinion or tradition — we all have our subjective opinions and traditions — but it’s another thing altogether to actually break the word of God; that’s ultimately more serious. 

In today’s lesson from Matthew 15, we see where Jesus was criticized — but it was because His disciples broke a TRADITION, not God’s word itself — and as He points out, the criticism came from hearts that were not really inclined towards the Lord.

CONTEXT:

We’re continuing our study of the Book of Matthew this quarter. Last time in Matthew 14 we saw how Jesus met His disciples in the storm on the Sea of Galilee, and Peter stepped out by faith on the water — and when his faith failed, Jesus was there to catch him. After they landed at Genessaret, people came to Him and He healed many.

That brings us to Matthew 15, the first verses of which are our focus passage for this week. It shows us that like all leaders, Jesus was criticized for what He and His disciples were doing — but His response to them points out some lesson that will test us and search our own hearts today. 

OUTLINE:

I.   Criticism for Breaking Tradition (:1-2)

II.  Condemnation for Breaking Commandments (:3-6)

III. Confronting the Heart of the Problem (:7-11, 16-20)

TEXT:  Matthew 15:1-11, 16-20

I.  Criticism for Breaking Tradition (:1-2)

“Then some Pharisees and scribes *came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, 2 “Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.” 

So after Chapter 14’s amazing walk on the water, and the healing that followed at Genessaret, now “here comes trouble”: “some Pharisees and scribes came up from Jerusalem (and think of it: it’s a long way from Jerusalem to that part of Galilee: between 70-80 miles! They did well back then to go 20-30 miles a day, so it took them about 3 days to get up to Jesus, so they could criticize Him! That right there says a lot about critics, right? They put so much effort and will go to such an extent to level their criticisms. If most of us would only put so much effort into doing good!)

And so after traveling for 3 days, and perhaps seeing Jesus heal some people and hearing Him teach, what did they have to say?

Verse 2: “Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.” 

They criticized Jesus’ disciples for not washing their hands before they ate. (Sounds like a bunch of kids, right? “Johnny didn’t wash his hands!”) 

On this particular occasion, it was Jesus’ DISCIPLES and not Jesus Himself that they criticized. But in Luke 11:37 we see the same thing happened to Jesus Himself when He was having lunch with a Pharisee: “When the Pharisee saw it, he was surprised that He had not first ceremonially washed before the meal.”

Now, as the text indicates, this isn’t talking about “washing up before dinner” like we do, to get germs off our hands. This refers to a specific RELIGIOUS practice that “the elders” of the Jews had established in years gone by. And it wasn’t for their physical, but supposedly for their spiritual benefit. As A.B. Bruce writes in his Training of the Twelve, pp. 80-81, “Their object was to secure not physical, but ceremonial purity; that is, to cleanse the person from such impurity as might be contracted by contact with a Gentile” or other “unclean” people or animals. actually referred to a specific, traditional Jewish practice: that of “baptizing” or washing hands before a meal. 

Alfred Edersheim describes the details this tradition:

“Water jars were kept ready to be used before every meal. The minimum amount of water to be used was a quarter of a log” (which, by the way, is defined as enough to fill one-and-a-half eggshells.) “The water was first poured on both hands, held with the fingers pointed upward. And it must run down the arm as far as the wrist and drop off from the wrist, for the water was now itself unclean, having touched the unclean hands. And if it ran down the fingers again, it would render them unclean. The process was repeated with the hands held in the downward direction, the fingers pointing down. And finally, each hand was cleansed with being rubbed with the fist of the other. And a strict Jew would do this before every meal and between every course in every meal.” (Edersheim: Life & Times of Jesus the Messiah)

The important thing to realize about this, is that it did NOT come from scripture! It was just a “tradition” that the Jewish elders had passed down from generation to generation. But they took it very seriously; they elevated this “tradition” to the level of scripture.

A. B. Bruce shares an example of just how seriously they took it:

“The extravagant fanatical zeal of the Jews in these matters is illustrated in the Talmud by stories which, although belonging to a later age, may be regarded as a faithful reflection of the spirit which animated the Pharisees in the time of our Lord: 

‘Rabbi Akiba was thrown by the Christians into prison, and Rabbi Joshua brought him every day as much water as sufficed for both (ceremonial) washing and for drinking. But on one occasion it happened that the keeper of the prison go the water to take in, and spilled the half of it. Akiba saw that there was too little water, but nevertheless said, Give me the water for my hands. His brother rabbi replied, My master, you have not enough for drinking. But Akiba replied, He who eats with unwashed hands perpetrates a crime that ought to be punished with death. Better for me to die of thirst than to transgress the traditions of my ancestors.” (Training of the Twelve, p. 82)

THAT shows you how strongly the Pharisees felt about this “tradition” of ceremonial hand-washing. They’d rather die than break it! 

It is significant that the criticism that the Pharisees here made against Jesus and His disciples was NOT based on scripture, but upon their tradition. That’s the point. Now how do we apply it? I think there’s definitely application for us in our churches today.

For example, from my almost 40 years experience in the pastorate (and those of my acquaintances) I have seen that most of the criticism brought against pastors is NOT for breaking commands of God, but for going against the subjective opinions of people or the “traditions” of the church. And that’s a big difference, isn’t it? Which calls for two entirely different responses:

— If your pastor (or deacon or board or ministry or whatever) says or does something that is unscriptural, then that needs to be confronted. Talk to him/them about it; and if he/they don’t respond, bring it to the proper authorities. That is absolutely an appropriate thing for you to do.

— But on the other hand if it’s just a matter of “I don’t like what he’s doing;” or “that’s not how we’ve always done it,” you’d better just leave that alone. That pastor, or those elders or leaders, are not called to cater to your personal tastes, or to carry out the church “tradition.” Just keep your mouth quiet and follow, as long as he/they being true to the word of God.

And remember: your pastors will be judged by God for how they leads your church — and YOU will be judged for the way that you treat your pastors! (Hebrews 13:17 “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you.” The word “unprofitable” here is a word that the Greek Hippocrates used for “unfavorable symptoms” — in other words, bad things (some “unfavorable symptoms”!) are going to happen to you, if you give your pastor grief for things that are not scriptural, but are only subjective opinions or human traditions. 

And of course it doesn’t only apply to pastors and church leaders, but to anyone. Let’s make sure that we are not found guilty, like these Pharisees, for condemning others for merely breaking the traditions of men. 

II. Condemnation for Breaking Commandments (:3-6)

:3 “And He answered and said to them, “Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother is to be put to death.’ 5 But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever I have that would help you has been given to God,” 6 he is not to honor his father or his mother.’ And by this you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition.”

So the Pharisees asked Jesus why His disciples were breaking the elders’ traditions. But Jesus turned right back around and went on the offensive in :3, “Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?” Jesus said, Yes, My disciples are breaking your “traditions,” but YOU are breaking the COMMANDMENTS of God! Which is worse? (And of course, breaking God’s commands is worse!) 

Then He gives an example in :4-6. He says, You remember the 5th Commandment, “Honor your father and mother.” Of course every Jew knew that. “Honor” means a lot of things: respecting them, speaking well of them (like :4b indicates, if you spoke evil of your parents it was a capital crime!), and also taking care of them financially when they are old. 

BUT He said in :5, YOU guys are saying that whatever you could have helped your parents with is (according to your translation) “given to God” or “Corban.” “Corban” is actually a Jewish religious term, that means “dedicated or given to God.” It would be like part of a vow, where you say, “I am giving all this portion of my crops, or animals (or whatever) to the Lord.” And that can be a legitimate thing; we should give things to the Lord as we’re led to. But Jesus said many of these Jews were supposedly “giving all their possessions to God,” and then turning around and telling their parents, “Hey, I’m sorry I can’t help you; all my stuff is ‘Corban,’ I’ve given it to God. Wish I could help!” 

Again, A.B. Bruce points out yet an even more hypocritical level of practice of this: 

“According to the pernicious system of the rabbis, it was not necessarily to really GIVE the thing to God in order to be free of obligation to give it to man. It was enough to CALL it Corban. Only pronounce that magic word over any thing, and forthwith it was sealed over to God, and sacred from the use of others at least, if not from your own use.”  

Do you see what Bruce is saying? They didn’t actually even have to GIVE the money to God to keep from giving it to their parents, just SAY it was “Corban” and it protected you from giving!  It was just such a rotten, legalistic, selfish, hypocritical system. And Jesus called them to account for it. 

Of course, that was all a bunch of religious nonsense; and Jesus has a low tolerance for religious nonsense (that ought to be a warning to us on a lot of levels!). He said, You’re BREAKING the Command of God to care for your parents, to KEEP your “tradition” of Corban!   

So we need to think about how to apply this: we need to make sure that SCRIPTURE is our authority, and not the traditions of man. 

One way to apply this is that it brings to mind a very important DOCTRINAL DISTINCTION between Baptists and many other denominations. What is our source of authority? How do we determine what is right and wrong in our church? This is an important factor in any church or denomination, right? What is our source of authority?

Baptists (and some other Protestant denominations) profess that our source of authority is God’s word, the Bible. The cry of the Reformation was “sola scriptura,” “scripture alone.” Martin Luther famously told the Catholic authorities when he was on trial for violating their traditions and practices: 

“Unless I am convinced by Scripture and by plain reason and not by Popes and councils who have so often contradicted themselves, my conscience is captive to the word of God.” 

Scripture alone is the authority for what we do in our churches.

But many other denominations do NOT have that same basis of authority. They profess that scripture AND CHURCH TRADITION are the basis for authority in their churches. This is a very important distinction!

ILLUSTRATION:

The Roman Catholic Church (I am quoting from their own website, catholic.com) “Therefore both sacred Tradition and sacred Scripture are to be accepted and venerated with the same devotion and reverence.”

Do you see the difference? Baptistד and some other Protestant churches say that scripture alone is our authority. (Our Baptist Faith & Message statement on the Scriptures says the Bible is: “the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried.” Scripture is our authority.) But the Catholic church says tradition and the Scripture are of equal authority. That is a huge difference! Elevating tradition to the level of scripture is just what the Jews were doing with their “traditions of the elders” (which became the Talmud). And Jesus says when we do that, we err. God’s word alone is to be our rule and guide. 

DISCUSSION/APPLICATION QUESTION:
“Can you think of any ways in which OUR church traditions might infringe upon or even break the Commandments of God?”

(I hope you and your group can’t think of any! But give your members this admonition: let’s make sure we keep God’s word in its place, as our one true authority — and our church traditions in their place, as perhaps good on some level, but nowhere near on a level with scripture.

And whenever we’re confronted with a decision to be made in our church, let’s not ask, “What have we always done” (our tradition!) but instead let’s ask: “What does GOD’S WORD say?”  It would be a good habit for many of us to get into, in our church conversations, committee meetings, and business and ministry meetings, to always use Martin Luther’s statement: “Show me scripture!” God’s word is our authority. Let’s make sure that’s not just something we just say; let’s make sure it’s really true among us. Let’s make sure that Jesus won’t condemn us for breaking God’s Commandments, in order to keep our traditions! 

III.  Confronting the Heart of the Problem (:7-11, 16-20)

:7 “You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you:

8 ‘This people honors Me with their lips,
But their heart is far away from Me.

9 ‘But in vain do they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’”

10 After Jesus called the crowd to Him, He said to them, “Hear and understand. 11 It is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man.”

:16-20

“Jesus said, “Are you still lacking in understanding also? 17 Do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and is eliminated? 18 But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders. 20 These are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man.”

So having answered the Pharisees and taking the offensive against them for their hypocrisy, Jesus then literally gets to “the heart of the matter” — and says that really all of this goes back to a “heart problem.” 

In :7 He calls them “hypocrites” and says that Isaiah was speaking of THEM when he wrote “This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me.” (a quote from Isaiah 29:13). In other words, He said these people TALK a good religious game — but they are not really seeking Me in their heart. And there is a huge difference. And in :9 He condemns them for “teaching as doctrines the precepts of men” — just what we’ve been talking about: making man’s traditions more important than God’s Commandments. But it all comes from their hearts, which are not really with God.

???DISCUSSION/APPLICATION???

“What are some ways that we today might confess God with our lips, but show that our hearts are far from Him?”

(— Talk about Jesus in Sunday School/church, but then not mention Him to any else all week long!

— Study the Bible at church on Sunday, but then never come back to it during the week.

— By paying more attention to manmade rules and traditions than to the heart of loving God and people

— By finding excuses, like the Pharisees did, not to help people)

You/your group can think of many. Let’s make sure we apply God’s word to ourselves, today! But their problem was their heart, not the “unclean hands,” which Jesus emphasizes in this next section: 

Then He called the crowd together and gave them this word in :10-11, “‘Hear and understand. 11 It is not what enters into the mouth that defiles the man, but what proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man.’”

(:12-14 are not in our Lifeway “focus passage,” but in them the disciples tell Jesus “Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this.” I’d be like, ‘Duh, you think Me calling them ‘hypocrites’ ticked them off?!’ Jesus was obviously more concerned with safeguarding the truth than possibly offending these hypocrites. (And the truth is, anything He said and did was going to offend them anyway!) He tells His disciples in :13 that “every plant which My Heavenly Father did not plant will be uprooted” — remember, that was the message of the “Wheat and the Weeds” a couple of weeks ago! Jesus is saying, These people are weeds/tares. And they’re showing it by their lack of fruit.)

Then in :15, getting back to the Lifeway “focus passage,” Peter asks Jesus to explain the parable to them. So Jesus said in :17, “Do you not understand that everything that goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and is eliminated?” In other words, these Pharisees are SO concerned about “what goes into the mouth” — that they might eat something unclean/or with unclean hands, as if that would “contaminate” them. He says, when you eat something, it’s eliminated from the body; that’s not what’s really bad for you.

Then He said in :18 “But the things that proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and those defile the man.” He says the problem of most people is not what’s going INTO their mouth, but what’s coming OUT! He says in :19 “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.” He says in :20, THESE defile the person — NOT what they eat/drink.

(NOTICE: that what Jesus mentioned in :19 was the breaking of COMMANDMENTS: murder (6th Commandment); adultery (7th Commandment); theft (8th Commandment); false witness (9th Commandment)— not just breaking “traditions.” There is a big difference!)

But Jesus says here, “the heart of the problem is the heart”! That’s where all these sins come from. The Pharisees were SO worried about being “unclean” on the outside; but He said the real problem is that people are unclean on the INSIDE! 

Jesus spoke a lot about that in Matthew 23, where He brought the strongest words He ever spoke against these men who focused on the outside instead of the heart:

:25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. 26 You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also. 27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. 28 So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”

And of course it’s not just the scribes and Pharisees who have this problem. Millions of people today are just like them: trying to make themselves look good on the outside, but their HEARTS are not right with God on the inside. They’ve got to address the “heart issue” of their life.

ILLUSTRATION/DISCUSSION:

“Do you know what the #1 cause of death of Americans is?”

(According to both the Center for Disease Control and the American Heart Association, the #1 cause of death of Americans is heart disease, with over 680,981 deaths from heart disease in the last recorded year (2023).

What are some symptoms of heart problems that you know of?

(some symptoms include: chest pain, shortness of breath, muscle weakness, etc.)

So what if someone addressed these “symptoms” in their life:

— took Tylenol for the pain

— used an inhaler to help their breathing

— lifted weights to make their muscles stronger.

Would that help? 

(Of course the answer is “NO!”)

Why? Because the problem is not those “symptoms,” the problem is the HEART! The heart has to be addressed!

THAT is exactly what Jesus is saying here. He says people have all these “symptoms” of sin: “evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.” We can try to address all these symptoms: go to counselors, try behavior modification, etc. But that won’t really help. We have to address the “heart issue”: the problem is our HEART.

And this is where we share the Gospel: our hearts are bad! We all have “spiritual heart disease.” Jeremiah 17:9 says, “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?” And this affects us all: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Romans 3:23 says. So what can we do? 

We can’t just treat the “symptoms.” We can’t just treat what goes into us from the outside. Like Jesus said, it’s not a matter of what goes INTO us. This is why several times in the New Testament, God tells us NOT to be concerned with food and drink:

— Mark 7, commenting on this same episode in Matthew 15, says in :19 “Thus He declared all foods clean.” So spiritually speaking, it doesn’t matter what you eat or drink. (Now, that doesn’t mean there are not more/less healthy things to eat; it’s just that you are not more/less “spiritual” or right with God because of your diet. Contrary to some “fads,” there is no “God’s diet,” or “New Testament diet” or whatever. New Testament Christianity is not a matter of food! 

— Colossians 2:20-22 “If you have died with Christ to the elementary principles of the world, why, as if you were living in the world, do you submit yourself to decrees, such as, 21 “Do not handle, do not taste, do not touch!” 22 (which all refer to things destined to perish with use)—in accordance with the commandments and teachings of men?”

— Romans 14:17 “for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” God’s kingdom is not about what we eat; it’s not about what we drink; it’s about HEART issues; spiritual issues: “righteousness, peace, joy, the Holy Spirit.” It’s not about food!

— Colossians 2:16 “Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day.” 

So the Bible says don’t let anybody judge you based on what you eat or drink; that’s not what God’s kingdom is about. That’s what Jesus is saying here: it’s about the heart.

Jesus’ answer to what we need is NOT a “Christian diet.” He says, it’s not what goes into us. It’s our hearts! So we need “heart surgery”! It doesn’t do you any good to treat the “symptoms,” when we need new hearts. And God says He will do that for us: Ezekiel 36:26 says: “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.” 

This is just what Jesus told Nicodemus in John 3:7, “You must be born again.” Jesus died on the cross to pay for the sins of our wicked hearts, and when we repent of our sins and trust Him as our Lord & Savior He sends His Spirit and gives us a new heart! And THAT changes everything!

???DISCUSSION/APPLICATION QUESTION???

“Have you ever known anyone who benefitted from a heart transplant?”

(Several likely have. While I was serving as pastor in Louisiana, one of our associate pastors had several heart attacks, and by the fall of 2009 he had to resign, and the doctors did not believe he had long to live. But a couple of months later, Jack got a heart transplant (actually heart and kidney) and it turned his life around. In fact, my friend Jack is STILL ALIVE TODAY, almost 20 years later. He got to see his daughter get married in 2019. He has continued to serve the Lord all these years — because he got a new heart! Diet wasn’t enough; exercise wasn’t enough; medication wasn’t enough; he had to have a new heart. And by God’s grace, he DID get one. And that changed everything!

And the point we’re making this week from Matthew 15, is that this is true spiritually as well. Jesus says it’s not what goes into your body that makes you right with God; you need a new heart. And thank God, that is what He came to freely give everyone who would ask Him for one! So as Christians, let’s make the “heart issue” the most important thing. Let’s not “major on the minors” — especially when it’s just man-made traditions. God cares about our hearts — and the lives of others who need Jesus to change their hearts as well.  

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