Right guidance

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

RIGHT GUIDANCE

Matt 16:5-12

5 When they went across the lake, the disciples forgot to take bread. 6 "Be careful," Jesus said to them. "Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees."  7 They discussed this among themselves and said, "It is because we didn't bring any bread." 8 Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked, "You of little faith, why are you talking among yourselves about having no bread? 9 Do you still not understand? Don't you remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? 10 Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? 11 How is it you don't understand that I was not talking to you about bread? But be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees."  12 Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

NIV

This whole idea of being on guard against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees brings us to a place we should consider what they taught in order to see how that applies to us today. First the Pharisees believed in both the Oral and the Written Law. The Sadducees rejected the Oral Law and adhered strictly to the Written Law which was the Torah. The Oral Law was what God gave Moses and was passed down for Generations until about three hundred years when it was codified and written down which is known as the Talmud. The Pharisees thus had many rules of their own, interpretations of the Law while the Sadducees would only follow the Law itself. The Pharisees believed in the afterlife in which God punished the wicked and rewarded the righteous. They also believed the Messiah would come and bring world peace. The Sadducees did not believe in the afterlife as it was not mentioned in the Torah and adhering to a literal interpretation of it they could not accept the afterlife. While the Pharisees were more or less the blue collar men of the day, the Sadducees were more concerned about the rituals associated with the temple. So how does all that relate to us? Jesus told his disciples to be on guard against both their teachings. So then we could conclude both their teachings were false, or at least contained false doctrines. Certainly the rejection of the afterlife was false. Certainly the adherence to an Oral Law was false. With all the ways in which both lived out their beliefs may also have lead Jesus to warn his disciples against their teachings. The idea here is that we are also subject to many false teachings today. This is not to say that every denomination is filled with false teachings, but it could be that each has some false teachings among those that are correct. Why else would there be so many denominations with such a wide array of differences? It is true some differ over such slight amounts of scripture, yet they still differ and thus who are we to know to be on guard against. It has its own form of yeast which infects the whole of its congregation and if we allowed them to convince us their interpretation of the scripture is the one and only correct one, then we would be infected as well. Then we have the non-denominationalist, those churches that do not ascribe to any larger authority and thus they are allowed to make up their own set of beliefs along with their rules and regulations or the rejection of any rules and regulations. Then on top of that we have so many voices using multi-media methods of spreading their beliefs. In a world of both inclusion and exclusion we have those who accept all beliefs as valid while others reject all but theirs.  So what are we to do? It would seem appropriate to follow the teachings of Jesus. But then there are some who are Jesus only churches. Still we have the truth in the words of Christ as well as in all scripture. We have to know that all scripture is God-breathed and therefore profitable for teaching, correcting, rebuking and training in righteousness. We have to believe that God ordained men to collect all the right manuscripts. So we have to believe the Bible is the inerrant word of God. Yet how do so many believe so differently regarding what it says. We know we are not to forsake the assembling of ourselves so we have to at least come to terms with the basics. God so love the world he sent Jesus to die on the cross to be a sacrifice for our sin. If we want to be saved we need to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. We believe in the trinity, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. We believe we should be baptized, but after that the challenge starts. What we are left to conclude is we need to be on guard against any false doctrines. What we need is the Holy Spirit who leads us into all truth, the only truth therefore. So then do we listen to men or to God? Do we look for praise from men or from God? When we start to adhere to rules and regulations of men, even if they believe there are Gods rules, it develops the attitude of looking good before others and thus receiving their praise as to how a good Christian we are. There is just so much that can go wrong whenever man gets in the way of God. Could we say that God moves differently in each person and so then our faith is a very personal unique faith? That would discount the truth then. There is but one truth. Jesus said he was the light, the truth and the way. They is no other way. We therefore must rely totally on the Spirit. One of the gifts he bestows upon us is the gift of discernment and thus we should be able to discern what is correct teaching and what is not. So then again let us look to the Spirit for right guidance.