Commandments of men or God

Matt 15: 7 Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying,

 8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.

 9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

The first reason that the worship of these men was rejected – was because of their hypocrisy . . . as they only pretended (or acted) like Christians.

The second reason that the worship of these men was rejected was because they had replaced “the teachings of God” – with the teachings of man.

In vain “do they worship me” is defined as worship that is totally worthless . . . worship that has NO VALUE to God at all . . .

To draw nigh unto God with our mouth – to honor God with our lips . . . does not mean that we have chosen to honor God in our heart.

Ro 10:10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

We can talk about relieving hunger in third world countries . . . we can give speeches – and we can start fund raisers . . . but if we never fall in love the those who are hungry so that we feed a starving 

child with our own hands – then we are all talk “but no action”.  We can say this because we know HOW to feed the poor – we tell others that

THEY should feed the poor . . . but if we never enter into the slums of this country to do it ourselves . . . and if we then justify our “lack of

action” and our unwillingness to provide DIRECT help where it is needed with a number of different excuses . . . that all sound really important and

that give the outward appearance of being important enough to relieve us of this responsibility . . . Then we are guilty of saying that we love the

starving children – but our actions prove that we DO NOT love them enough to meet them on their own ground and to make the necessary sacrifices in our lives to literally put food into their mouths ourselves.

We can talk about serving God – we can talk about doing good things . . . if we never actually “do the things” ourselves that we encourage others to do – then in terms of Christianity - what have we really done besides “talk” a good story?

The good Samaritan did not send “someone else” to help man that was wounded – he did it HIMSELF.

James 2: 14 What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?

15 If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food,

16 And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?

17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.

As a hypocrite {In order to act like a Christian} we have talked about how we must first KNOW how a Christian is supposed to act . . . this is the meaning of drawing nigh unto God with our mouth – and honoring Him 

with our lips – but “withholding” (or keeping) our hearts from Him . . . God says “it is in vain” that people like this worship me . . . because just 

like hypocrisy taints a person’s personal behavior – it also changes what those people teach in their churches.  The personal life of a

hypocrite is only an act . . . likewise the “church-life” of a hypocrite is ALSO an act.

“Teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” . . . Replacing the doctrines of God with the commandments of men . . . will spoil the worship of ANY church.

The “commandments of men” refer to the restrictions or to the bans that men place on their respective “religion” . . . for instance I once heard

of a church in Arizona who loosened the restriction of the TEN COMMANDMENTS requiring their members to “obey” only seven out of ten . . .

It is more common for churches to remove “the restrictions” of Christianity rather than to add new restrictions . . .

The purpose of “removing restrictions” is to make going to church “easier” so that it will appeal to a greater number of people . . . for instance

In order to “get more members” to join churches - it is common for a church to broaden the definition of baptism to basically include anyone that has gotten wet in a religious setting.

Matt 28: 19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

This scripture is directed to the local NTC “in Jerusalem” that Jesus personally established about three years before His death on the cross.

Jesus did not give the command "to baptize" to those who practiced religion by teaching the “commandments of men” . . notice the next verse

20 Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

The idea here is this . . . if “our church” wants to obey Jesus’ commandment to baptize THEN our church ALSO needs to obey Jesus’ commandment to teach WHAT HE TAUGHT – not what men teach

Another example is how many churches do not restrict the Lord’s Supper to members of their own local congregation as they “ease up” on the

doctrines (teachings – instruction) that Jesus taught to the church before He died on the cross.  It is in this manner that we can become guilty of

“spoiling our worship” as we teach for doctrines the commandments of men (by literally replacing) what Jesus taught in the first church - with what

man teaches in order to make worship more convenient so that it will appeal to more people and result in a LARGER following – which gives the religious leaders more POWER.