278. Walking in the Word, Control Your Own Destiny

We each have ultimate control of our destiny. God has given us that gift through His son Jesus Christ. So how do we seize control and end up on the right path? Listen as Julie Jenkins unfolds this important teaching from Matthew 15:1-20 and Mark 7:1-23.

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Welcome to Walking in the Word, the biblical teaching arm of the Women World Leaders’ podcast. I’m you host, Julie Jenkins. I’m so happy you have joined us today as we study scripture together.

If you are new to our podcast, besides this, our Wednesday Bible teaching, we have two other weekly offerings for you. On Mondays, Kimberly Hobbs hosts Empowering Lives with Purpose – a 30-minute interview with a different woman of faith who boldly shares her story with the hope of empowering you to live as God has called you.  And on Fridays, we have a team of leaders who share their wisdom and joy from a life spent in pursuit of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in Celebrating God’s Grace.

If you are new to Women World Leaders’ ministry, our podcast is just a small part of what we do. We also offer prayer for the ups and downs of life, support through social media, fellowship through events, growth through daily devotions, empowerment through leadership development, encouragement through Voice of Truth – our free quarterly magazine, and creative growth and healing through coaching and writing. At Women World Leaders we offer a place to be served and to serve others. We believe that all Christians make up the body of Christ, and together, we can do what God has called us to today. We walk in faith knowing that God will guide us into projects of His creating and bring us the people He has called to grow together as we take on those projects. If you would like to join us, we would love to have you – and we know that God has a place waiting just for you. We are a 501c3 ministry, and as such we are sustained by donations from all over the world. If you would like to find out more about Women World Leaders or to help support the ministry financially, please visit womenworldleaders.com

But, before you do, you have something more important to do than going to a website. God has called you to this podcast for a purpose. There is something He wants to teach you – so please don’t put Him off. Allow me to pray before we begin that He will guide our learning…

Dear Most Holy God…we give you this time and we thank you for walking with us as we open the Bible together. Father, we know that every time we open the Bible you have something more to reveal to us, and today is no exception. You have called us together for this time because there is something you want us to know – so I ask that you allow our hearts to be teachable. Holy Spirit, cleanse us of any sin and of any strongholds or beliefs that are not from you, shine a light on YOUR meaning, and let us each leave this teaching with the clarity that we have heard directly from you. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.

We are currently walking through the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John chronologically. As we view Jesus’ words, actions, and life, we are asking God to show us what He wants us to learn today. Today’s teaching comes from Matthew chapter 15, verses 1-20 and Mark, chapter 7, verses 1-23.

When we see Jesus in today’s passage, He is in the throes of ministry. He has gathered His disciples, and as they travel together, He teaches the crowds, the twelve disciples themselves, and groups or individuals that He encounters. We’ve seen people amazed and awed by His teaching, and we’ve seen them turn away. In today’s passage, we see the Pharisees and the teachers of the law band together to come against Jesus as they travel to Him from their home base in Jerusalem. They are on a mission to discredit Jesus. But what they accuse Him of this time, might make us scratch our heads. Let’s begin with Matthew 15:1 from the New Living Translation.

15 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.”

Unlike during covid times – the lack of handwashing that they were complaining about had nothing to do with hygiene.

Mark chapter 7 verses 3 and 4 explains a little more in depth…

3 (The Jews, especially the Pharisees, do not eat until they have poured water over their cupped hands,[a] as required by their ancient traditions. 4 Similarly, they don’t eat anything from the market until they immerse their hands[b] in water. This is but one of many traditions they have clung to—such as their ceremonial washing of cups, pitchers, and kettles.[c])

To give you some background, the Israelites were God’s holy people, and were set apart for purity. The problem was, they couldn’t be pure of their own volition any more than you and I can. So they set about making rules, or traditions, and these ideas became more and more entrenched in society. In Exodus, we can read God’s law, which included water purification for the priests before they offered a sacrifice in the temple. It is VERY clearly laid out. But the religious rulers extended these teachings saying that any time any Jew ate, they needed to follow the ritualistic hand washing that was, by God’s law, given for only the priest to follow. This was just one of MANY man-created rules that the religious leaders enforced, and, for the most part, the Jews followed without question.

In that time, it was considered the teacher’s responsibility to make sure his disciples were doing the right thing, so the Pharisees accused Jesus on account of the disciples’ actions – or inactions in this case. They didn’t pour water over their hands before they ate.

But Jesus KNEW the law. And what’s more, He knew the difference between God’s law and man-made law, and He knew which one was more important. So He used this as a teaching moment for all those listening, saying in Matthew 15:3

“And why do you, by your traditions, violate the DIRECT commandments of GOD?

That question must have caused a stir. Jesus called out the leaders for violating God’s commandments. And before there was an uprising, He explained further…

 4 For instance, GOD says, ‘Honor your father and mother,’[a] and ‘Anyone who speaks disrespectfully of father or mother must be put to death.’[b] 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.[c] And so you cancel the word of God for the sake of your own tradition.

Jesus was referring to a well-know practice of formally vowing one’s wealth for spiritual purposes alone. When an individual made this vow, his money would be dedicated to the temple, and he would no longer be bound by the fifth commandment – Honor your father and mother – which carried with it the responsibility to care for one’s aging parents. So the individual could neglect God’s commandment in lieu of a man-made vow, and in fact, would be, according to the religious leaders, bound to that man-made vow OVER God’s commandment.

This is an example of living life by the standards of the world instead of by God’s standards. Of mindlessly bowing to human authority over godly authority. Of crying innocence due to ignorance of the law.

I can remember studying for my drivers test MANY years ago, and asking my mom, what if I get stopped for breaking a law and just say I didn’t know it was a law? She quickly and forcefully responded that if I was going to drive, it was my responsibility to know the law. You cannot claim innocence due to ignorance of the law when it comes to driving, or when it comes to God’s laws.

It is OUR responsibility to know God’s laws. We do that by reading the Bible for OURSELVES and asking God to reveal His teaching to us. Going to a Bible-teaching church is important, listening to sermons and podcasts is helpful, but we each must control our own destiny by going to God ourselves. By going to the Bible ourselves. And by not taking someone else’s word about what God teaches.

Our God is personal! He wants to speak directly to YOU. He made sure that the Bible was written in YOUR language. He gave you wisdom and the ability to think, reason, understand, and choose which path you will follow. God wants YOU to choose YOUR destiny. Oh, He has a path for you to follow. One that’s better than you or I could dream up. But He wants us to choose the path that HE has for us, not the path that any pastor, teacher, mentor, or best-selling author tells you to take.

Many of the Jews were obediently washing their hands, and many were obediently pledging their money to the temple while neglecting God’s TRUE law of taking care of their parents. Our job is to know and follow God’s true law. Jesus continues emphatically in verse 7, evoking the law and the prophets…

 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 a farce,
    for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’[d]”

Mark 7:8-9 puts it bluntly… 8 For you ignore God’s law and substitute your own tradition.” …“You skillfully sidestep God’s law in order to hold on to your own tradition. 

This was such an important point, that Jesus moves from speaking to the pharisees and addresses the crowd, Matthew 15:10…

10 Then Jesus called to the crowd to come and hear. “Listen,” he said, “and try to understand. 11 It’s not what goes into your mouth that defiles you; you are defiled by the words that come out of your mouth.”

Those man-made laws that required handwashing also regulated what could and could not be eaten. Jesus was teaching that God’s ways overrule man’s ways…and He was teaching the people to think for themselves. He wanted them to understand that what we say and how we act, the attitude of our hearts, is far more important than following the regulations of eating given to us by someone who is not even following God’s leading. I think this was a pointed attack at the religious leaders as nothing but nonsense was coming out of their mouths and their allegiance was clearly to their own self-made rules and regulations and not to God.

I’m thinking the Pharisees must have reacted visibly, because next we see the disciples caution Jesus. But Jesus was fully aware of the Pharisee’s response, and He did not shy away from speaking truth to them…verse 12…

12 Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you realize you offended the Pharisees by what you just said?”

13 Jesus replied, “Every plant not planted by my heavenly Father will be uprooted, 14 so ignore them. They are blind guides leading the blind, and if one blind person guides another, they will both fall into a ditch.”

Jesus wants us to open our eyes, and to be careful to not allow ourselves to be led by those whose eyes are closed.

Next, PETER asks for further explanation, and Jesus turns to Peter…to the one…because Jesus will ALWAYS answer every individual directly…and responds…

 “Anything you eat passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer.

This is about as direct as I’ve ever heard Jesus speak! Even so-called holy food becomes waste. God has more important fish to fry. He cares that our hearts are pure! Not that we follow some man-made law…especially not one that goes AGAINST God’s own law and desire! …verse 18…

 18 But the words you speak come from the heart—that’s what defiles you. 19 For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander. 20 These are what defile you. Eating with unwashed hands will never defile you.”

First, the pharisees approached Jesus about hand washing. Jesus discussed honoring your parents, and now He is talking about what we eat verses what comes out of our heart.

The common thread is that Jesus is extoling the fact that God’s laws, God’s desires, will always trump man-made laws. We, as Christians, are always to put God first. And to put God first, we have to know what He says.

The Jewish leaders had made laws about washing, and working, and giving, and eating…there isn’t much they didn’t make laws about. They were trying to build their staircase to heaven – one law at a time. And should an individual miss a single step, they would fall headfirst into the abyss.

But Jesus is teaching that ONLY God can show us the way to the kingdom. God’s way is to have our hearts right. And how do we have our hearts right? By entering into a relationship with Jesus Himself. When we do, we will feel the pull of the Holy Spirit and we will understand where He is calling us to walk and what He is calling us to do. We CAN control our own destiny, by giving God the reins of our life instead of blindly following someone else, who may be leading us in the complete wrong direction.

Dear Most Holy God – YOU know the way. Open our eyes that we might follow you. Give us a will to open your Word daily so that we will never be ignorant of what you want us to know. Give us the desire to meet with you individually. Give us the wisdom to listen for your voice in all that we do. Help us always remember that Your heart is for the one, and that you love us each as if no one else exists in the world. God, we claim control of our destiny by giving the reins of our life to only you, and never placing them in the hands of a someone who may be leading us blindly. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.