Journey to The Journey

Sermon on the Mount Subheader

In a nutshell the Scribes & Pharisees were dangerously shallow in their teaching. They managed to interpret, manipulate and alter the meaning of God’s word in horrible ways. Observing how they toyed with Scripture can help us avoid the same pitfalls in biblical interpretation. At The Journey we’ve spent the last several weeks studying Matthew 5 and the shallow teaching that Jesus was correcting in his sermon on the mount. Below are 5 examples (based on Matthew 5:21-48) of how bad teaching can corrupt and destroy a pursuit of holiness.

 

1. Shallow teaching leads to sin.

Self-preservation seemed to be the biggest motive when it came to following the Law for the Scribes & Pharisees. They simply taught that you shouldn’t commit murder because you’ll get in trouble, that was their big takeaway from the 6th commandment. Their interpretation of “Thou shalt not kill” could be reduced to the old phrase, “because what goes around comes around.”

Jesus made it clear that there should be a deeper level of conviction attached to the Ten Commandments. The command to not kill people should have us avoiding broken relationships altogether. Murder always starts small. Any feelings that would even start us down the path of murder (bitterness, resentment, anger… etc) need to be dealt with rather than ignored. In other words, it’s not ok to harbor ill-feelings towards people in your life so long as you’re not killing them. “Thou shalt not kill” should compel us to make amends with people we’re not right with.

For further study:  Matthew Part 19 - Anger Issues

 

2. Shallow teaching will have you crossing the moral line.

The Scribes & Pharisees likely avoided in-depth teaching on adultery so that they could commit a version of adultery themselves. It’s the same principle teenage virgins use when they claim to be sexually pure all while participating in a vast array of sexual acts with the exclusion of intercourse itself. When teaching gets vague we can move the moral line wherever we want and even feel good about it.

Jesus again rose the bar of conviction. The 7th commandment should not only have us remaining physically faithful but mentally as well. What goes on in our minds and hearts matters. Nobody wakes up one day and randomly decides to commit adultery, it’s a result of countless hours of unchecked immoral thinking. Jesus wasn’t afraid to draw the line and call out our sexual fantasies for what they are, sinful.

For further study:  Matthew Part 20 - Lust Issues

 

3. Shallow teaching often uses the bible to justify sin.

In Matthew 5 the Scribes & Pharisees were guilty of altering the meaning of an Old Testament passage (Deut 24:1-4) in order to justify exactly what that passage was meant to prevent, an unwarranted divorce. Divorce is a pretty popular course of action in our culture making this is a common area in which it’s tempting to play games with scripture.

Jesus didn’t play games with divorce and got uncomfortably specific with his teaching on it. It’s no surprise that so many people walked away from his preaching when he taught hard things (example, John 6:66) but let’s face it, difficult teaching on sin makes us uncomfortable because we’re sinful.

For further study: Matthew Part 21 - Divorce Issues

 

4. Shallow teaching produces liars.

Consciously or not the Scribes & Pharisees even managed to use the Jewish practice of oath taking to avoid being honest (for further study examine Matthew 23:16-22). They taught that some oaths were binding and others were not depending on how you worded the oath. Perhaps this is where the concept of crossing your fingers behind your back while making a promise originally came from?

Jesus wasn’t a fan of their unbiblical conclusions and vehemently opposed that teaching. Rather than searching for or creating clever loop holes to escape honesty Jesus said, “Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.”

For further study: Matthew Part 22 - Truth Issues

 

5. Shallow teaching leads to hate.

(Matthew 5:38-48)

The Scribes & Pharisees taught that it was the duty of every Jew to take revenge on anyone who did them wrong and hate anyone who wasn’t like them. How did they manage to justify these principles? You guessed it, by corruptly manipulating truths in the Bible. First, they used the law of retaliation “eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth” in a way it was not intended to be used. Secondly, they took a well-known Old Testament phrase “Love your neighbor” and added to it “and hate your enemy.”

This is the method of operation for shallow teaching. The Pharisees would use parts of scripture to win the trust of their listeners and then add whatever unbiblical concept they desired. Ultimately they used scripture in ways it was clearly not meant to be used. Shallow teaching is often dismissed by believers as harmless, and as long as what a preacher says sounds at least partially true most won’t take the time to ever question it. However in each of these cases we can see that playing with biblical truths leads to hating people in thought and deed.

For further study: Matthew Part 23 - Retaliation Issues (Part 24 is this Sunday)

 

Thankfully we have a savior who boldly stood up and spoke out against these shallow teachers when it wasn’t the popular or the well-received thing to do. May we be the sort of people who diligently study God’s word not to harm people in the way the Scribes & Pharisees did but instead love people in the way that Jesus did.

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Cody

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