God's Authoritative Word

Scripture must have an absolute authority. That's what we call sola scriptura. It's the norming norm that then helps us know how to use our reason and how to work through our experience and how to relate to tradition.

Another example, if reason rules over your thoughts about God and who he is, you ultimately become like the Bible of Thomas Jefferson. You remove everything that you don't understand. Instead of faith-seeking understanding, which is a foundational principle taught in scripture and carried out throughout tradition, if you only believe what you understand, you will deny the most essential tenets of the faith, the virgin birth, the death of a man on the cross for the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection, the trinity.

This morning we're looking at God's Word. We're gonna consider the authority of God's Word and what is called Sola Scriptura. Be very clear, I believe Scripture teaches Sola Scriptura. God's Word alone carries absolute authority. And the tradition I follow also teaches Sola Scriptura. The Nicene tradition The fourth century tradition that taught the Trinity most explicitly did so by practicing sola scriptura. Scripture was the only source by which we would know who God truly is as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They made it clear that they're not teaching something new. They made it clear they're teaching what all other Christians had taught because the faith once for all handed down is something that should be repeated and you can see what others have taught.

This morning we're gonna look at these two sources because they're in the forefront of our passage this morning, Matthew 15. Now the bigger section of scripture there is what was read, verses one to 20, but we're only gonna be looking at verses one to nine this morning. Because I think it's very important for us to understand how God's word should not relate to tradition and also make sure we actually say how it should relate to tradition.

The problem with many traditions is that they're man-made and they take us away from God's word. This is why we need to be able to look at them and ask how do they help promote and relate to God's word. This morning we're gonna be considering how God has spoken, so that we trust scripture as God's authoritative word, and we learn to appreciate those traditions that help you trust God's word. There'll also be a warning about the many ideologies and truth claims that contend for your life.

Scripture alone has final and absolute authority

Our first point, if you're taking notes this morning, Scripture alone has final and absolute authority to give life. If you look at the text, there's a significant contrast being made for Jesus between what the Pharisees teach as tradition and what God's Word says. The text has a really simple beginning and end. Verse 1 and 2 are about eating with hands and following the traditions of the Pharisees. How important is that? Jesus ends with that same kind of concept. We do see it's one unit. I believe these two teachings of Jesus' unit are extremely important to know what is right and good.

The next one might be even more pressing. Where's the problem law? Is it outside of you, or is it inside of you? The authority of God's word, though, is the assumption in this text. Notice Jesus' question,

why do you break the commandment of God?

Speaking there as the commandment of God has the authority that you're breaking with your tradition. Verse four, for God has commanded, this is an absolute truth that carries with it absolute authority as God's word. And the prophecy of Isaiah is true about you, and you make void the word of God. Jesus here is making clear he upholds God's word as written. We've seen this throughout Matthew. We need to make sure we understand what is scripture. It's the written works that carry a specific and unique authority from God. We count 66 books in our Bible. They were communicated by the hand and pen of men, but authorized by God.

It's incredible if you think about just God's word. Our God speaks. He's spoken verbally. He spoke to Adam. He spoke to Abraham. He spoke to Moses. We know this because it's written. God speaks to make himself known. Now, there's nothing unusual there. Because as image bearers, that's how we make ourselves known. We speak. When we meet somebody, we want them to know who we are. We use our words to communicate who we are so they know who we are. And we, well, we get to choose what they know. We get to choose what we reveal about ourselves and what might be known about us. And the same is true for God. He speaks to let us know what is good and right and necessary about who he is.

So God's word is him speaking, but God's word is also, as we looked at in the Advent season, the word of God, Jesus Christ, the word become flesh, the perfect revelation of God, but was not received or perceived because he came incognito, his glory hidden. He also came to men whose eyes and ears and minds and hearts were calloused and dull. God's word is also written. It's what Jesus is referring to, the word of God here and the commands of God, what has been written in scripture, the Bible. God gave us this written word for a reason. Everything that's important is written. Raise your hand if your home mortgage is a verbal contract. If your marriage license will be a verbal contract. If your life insurance is a verbal contract. No, what's most important is written. Because you can go back to it. It's established. God has given us his written word so we can go back to it. And not depend upon hearsay, but see what he has said. Hear what he has said. God's word tells us who he is and what he has done. He tells us who he is as the Holy Creator, the faithful covenant maker and keeper, our Savior. He tells us what he's doing. He tells Abraham beforehand what he's going to do in giving him a child and a people and a nation and a land. He tells David, I'm going to give you a son who will rule forever. He tells the disciples, I'm going to send you out, but I'm with you always.

What's incredible about what God's word and how important the scriptures are, it's not just that he tells us who he is and what he's done, but he tells us why. Why did Jesus die on the cross? To deliver you from the domain of darkness. Why did he die on the cross? To forgive you. Why did he rise again? To give you new life, to walk in that new life.

Friends, God has spoken. And what he has said is necessary for you to know who he is, how to be saved, and how to love him and worship him. God's word is absolutely necessary because it tells us truths that we will not find anywhere else. Even more than necessary, God's word is sufficient. This is the basis for the regular principle where we seek to worship God based upon what he has said we must do.

Something else I want to make sure we understand, God speaks with clarity. Too many folks want to claim that God's word isn't clear enough. When we take up his word and we especially ask him for understanding, God's word is clear. There's challenging things. There's very high thoughts that are contrary to the way we often think, but his word is clear. God doesn't have a stutter or a lisp. God knows how to put every sentence and declaration in the perfect form. He doesn't need grammarly. He doesn't need AI. He forms every statement with perfection.

Now, it might seem unclear only because our sin makes it difficult for us to perceive. There's big ideas. God, praise God, he gives us this Holy Spirit to help us. Something else here with the clarity, mystery is revealed in the new covenant. The mysteries are not, it's mysterious and we need some kind of special decoder ring. No, you need the Holy Spirit of God who indwells you and illuminates you to read the words of the Holy Spirit actually produced by men. It's odd that some insist that God is incapable of speaking and that you need some source of tradition or church to help you understand it, as if man is a better communicator than God.

Something very important about the Nicene tradition I mentioned earlier, they were adamant that God's word is clear. And they were adamant that those who were heretics were those who were not pure in heart, therefore they could not see God. The problem does not lie in God or His Word, but in us.

Our God speaks. He has produced the words of Scripture. He gives us commandments. Notice here, verse 3. What Jesus is going to accuse the Pharisees of is breaking the commandments of God for the sake of their traditions. Verse four,

for God commanded, honor your father and your mother.

And then the warning,

whoever reviles father and mother must surely die.

Our New Testament reading earlier from 1 Timothy 5 said there's a lawful way of reading the word of God and an unlawful way. Jesus, remember, he upholds the law.

A key passage for Jesus' relationship to scripture is Matthew 5, 17.

I have not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it.

As we see here, a command of God, a law of God, what are the lawful uses of the law? First, the law reveals God. It shows us what's good according to God. Second, the law and showing us what's good acts like a mirror and showing us where we fall short. And going back to that first Timothy passage, the law shows us how sinful we are, so we repent.

Next, the law of God curbs our sin. It protects us from becoming more sinful. It should give us a hindrance of sin. And then finally, the law shows us how to live according to God's ways and order of life.

Well, what are some of the unlawful uses of the law? The law was not given to you as something to obey so that you might be saved. The law cannot forgive your sins. Only God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit can truly forgive you after you've seen your sin because of the law. The law cannot remove your sin. It's not designed to do that. The law shows you sin so that you cry out to God. The law is also not supposed to be used to beat up others or condemn them, but to show sin and invite repentance.

See, Jesus is upholding a basic starting point in this confrontation. The word of God has absolute authority and your traditions cannot break it. Your traditions must be subservient to it. And what's, I believe here, the Pharisees would have the same assumption. The Pharisees would believe God's word is absolute, but they, in their own efforts, maybe they're aware of it, maybe they're not, have actually created traditions that are against God's law, and here Jesus is confronting them for that. So Jesus is upholding a clear, authoritative command of God and word of God, what we call scripture.

Traditions should promote scripture

But now let's consider the role of tradition. Second point, traditions should promote scripture. They cannot break it. This section. leads to, again, two of the most important, I think, relationships, the relationship of scripture and tradition, which is very much in the forefront of Christianity right now, and I think hopefully a good way. The other is, what is the real problem? Is it something outside of you so that you're always a victim, or is it something inside of you that God needs to come and heal? That's next time we come back to Matthew 15.

Jesus is confronting the Pharisees who were supposed to be teachers of God's word, and he's pointing out very clearly they're failing miserably. Look at verse three.

Why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?

Very clear contrast. Verse six,

so for the sake of your tradition, you've made void the word of God.

Very clear contradiction. And then don't miss that key transition between four and five. God commanded, but you say. Don't miss that one. Again, when God speaks, it's direct, it's clear, there's no need for interpretation here. It's pretty obvious. Jesus is confronting them that their own man-made traditions that they thought were holy and good, they're actually contradicting and breaking and making void the very word of God. There's a contrast here.

Now, while I believe it's clear what Jesus is teaching, I think we probably need to explain what verse five is because it's not obvious because it's not from scripture. Jesus is recording here what their tradition is. They said,

if anyone tells his father or his mother, but if you say, what you would have gained from me is given to the Lord, he need not honor his father.

Okay, so let's go to verse four,

honor your father and mother.

That is a command repeated throughout scripture. It is part of the good design of God and the family. There were no nursing homes in this day and age. There was no social security. A adult child was, called to honor their parents, and that would mean caring for them in their old age when they could not care for themselves. That the parents who cared for us when we're babies are now meant to be cared for by us when we're adults, and they're not able to care for themselves. It's a very important practice, and you can see how important it is. There's an entire chapter dedicated to widow care in 1 Timothy 5. God commands us, honor our parents. We never graduate or stop with that commandment. It's very straight forward.

But what the Pharisees had taught that is referred to there in verse five is called their tradition of Corban. And that you can make a promise that you're gonna give this money to the temple and that somehow relieved you from having to honor your parents with that money. There's a loophole. Here's a way to not give that money and care for your parents in their need. You can hold it, promise it to the temple, and therefore, you see how wonderfully spiritual that feels. Instead of caring for my parents in their time of need with the money that they would deserve, according to God's word, honor your parents, I'm going to be very spiritual. I'm going to promise it to the temple. Jesus is making it clear. You are breaking God's commandment. You're leading others to break God's commandment. You're making the word of God void with your loophole.

Now, some have taken this passage to say we need no tradition, no creeds, no confession, no tradition. I just need me and my Bible. There's a mantra, no creed but the Bible. That's what some people call solo scripture over against solo scripture, and that's just one of those little funny technical differences people come up with. What's funny about that mantra, no creed but the Bible, it's the shortest and most self-defeating creed in the history of Christianity. No creed but the Bible is a creed. It sounds pious, and what's interesting, it's usually stated with those who would be of a liberal persuasion.

A Charlottesville native by the name of Crawford Toy is maybe one of the most significant proponents of this. He was a liberal Bible teacher. He proposed to our Saint, Lottie Moon, and she knew to reject him because he had gone to Germany and adopted all the liberal beliefs of the higher criticism school that undermined the word of God. But he was one of the first to really make this proponent, a proponent of this creed, no creed with the Bible in Southern Baptist life. Thankfully, he's lost mostly. It's impossible to not have a tradition. The Bible's taught and handed down. Paul makes it very clear, I'm handing down the faith. It's a faithful word that is taught. The key is our scriptures, supposed to be the one and final authority. And tradition is meant to promote God and his word and what he says. Every church has traditions. You just practice a lot of traditions. What kind of songs do you sing? How many songs do you sing? What kind of instruments? These are all things that will be tied to somehow a tradition. What is it that we're doing to fulfill God's word to sing with one another and sing to one another? But those things are what we do by tradition.

Now this is where it gets fun. We recite creeds that contain and defend and promote what God's word says. The creeds are from scripture. The creeds are from the history of the church that whenever there's an accusation or a charge against God, Christians came together and summarized the faith in a way that defends God, helps the church teach who God is.

No creed but the Bible really denies the role of the Holy Spirit in the universal church to teach the same thing to all believers. Our goal should be to see what is universally agreed upon every Christian of every church throughout history. Every church has believed some significant truths that we must all say are central and absolute.

The first, there is one God who is Father, Son, Holy Spirit for your salvation. Second, Jesus is fully God, fully man for your salvation. We confess these two truths with the Nicene Creed and the Chalcedonian Creed.

Other truths that all Christians at all times have to believe. And we know this from what scripture has said and how the tradition has carried on these central truths. Jesus is born of a virgin. He died on the cross for sinners. He rose again to give new life. He is a sin of the right hand of the father and he will come again.

We know these truths from the 66 books of the Bible that tradition has said are authoritative, but that doesn't make them authoritative. The church has recognized the authority God has given them.

Everyone has to thoughtfully choose a tradition, or Frankenstein traditions, that's fun. You choose to stay in the one you know, or you choose to find one that you think articulates scripture more.

Let me be very clear. Anyone who thinks I'm going to question a tradition from Scripture, you're practicing Protestantism. Because the Catholic Church and the Greek Orthodox Church, they said the Church has an authority that can't be questioned. That's why the Roman Catholic Church said we don't want the Bible in the vernacular of the people. They control the language so people would be removed from Scripture.

Now, if you are asking the question, does this church align with scripture, you're asking a Protestant question. We're asking a Christian question. God has given us his word to help form the church according to his word.

The danger of the practice of the Pharisees is that their exact traditions contradict the word of God. It called people out of an obedience in God's word.

Some big problems with indulgences

I want to give an example of what this looks like, because it's one of the more obvious examples of how a tradition came and denied and made void the Word of God. I believe the Roman Catholic tradition of indulgences denied the Word of God. That is the tradition that was novel. We don't have any trace of indulgences until the 11th century. And that is what started the Protestant Reformation.

According to Roman Catholics, this is their words, an indulgence is

a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain prescribed conditions.

Let me read that again.

a remission before God of the temporal punishment due to sins whose guilt has already been forgiven, which the faithful Christian who is duly disposed gains under certain prescribed conditions.

Now that's supposed to be more clear than scripture.

To summarize it, indulgences are performed as prayers, pilgrimages, good works, in order to receive remission of sin, forgiveness. Again, we don't see any hint of this until the 11th century, so it's novel. The first 1100 years of Christianity did not have indulgences. And for the Catholic church, they don't have a once for all forgiven. They don't have an absolute, you are justified before God by faith. Now, the indulgences are one of the things of many that you must do to keep being forgiven.

There's some big problems with indulgences. First, it gives the church authority over the storehouse of merit. That's different than the church being the ordinary means of grace by which God speaks. No, the church actually becomes the storehouse of merit. Secondly, the believer works in order to receive more mercy and grace. Believers' works release them from the punishment of sin. They need something more than what Jesus accomplished on the cross. That is in direct contradiction to the gospel as taught in scripture.

God's word tells us

where sin abounds, God's grace abounds all the more.

That God gives more grace. Grace, faith, and works is always the pattern Grace is abundantly poured out by your generous Father. We don't work to earn it. This kind of legalism is explicitly condemned in scripture. You are saved by grace alone through faith alone in the works of Christ alone. This kind of legalism demands that you do something else for salvation.

There's other kinds of legalism. Adding rules or measures and expectations to what God's word says. And I believe oftentimes when we call this legalism, those traditions were usually added to explain how to obey a certain law. And then it just lost sight of the law and the tradition became the rule. All churches have to agree to some form of tradition and application of what God says. We need to make sure we know what God's word says clearly and what traditions we've added.

Traditions can sear the conscience

Tradition has extreme importance and incredible power. Traditions can sear the conscience. Let me try to give an example. I enjoy grilling. And I know there's various methods and philosophies of grilling a cheeseburger, but I was raised in the tradition that you can only flip that burger once. It's a rule, as if the 11th commandment written on my heart Men flip one. It's a manhood thing, as delivered to me by my ancestors. My conscience is bound to one flip. I know God will still love me if I flip again. My family doesn't care how many times I flip. I don't think it'll taste any different if I flip it again. But my conscience is bound to one flip. And it's something I think about every time I grow.

Our consciences can be misinformed. Our consciences are extremely important. That's one of the ways God orders us and designs us, and traditions are forming us. The way we even have our worship service designed is forming us according to our conscience. So we need to be very clear, church, about what kind of must we insist upon people.

Traditions are helpful as ways to be obedient and faithful. For example, Christian scripture commands that we pray, that we be hospitable, that we fellowship. But there's lots of freedom that we need to make sure we have in terms of when that happens, how that happens, with whom that happens. We need traditions that help us know how we're going to make sure we obey the commands of God. We make sure those traditions don't become the priority.

Our goal as a church is to do what God has clearly commanded in scripture. And then we've learned a lot of things from tradition that have helped shape who we are. For example, we read from the Old and the New Testament every Sunday because we learned that from tradition. It helps us promote scripture. We confess a creed of God or read God's word before taking the Lord's supper. That's something we've learned from tradition. We open our service with a call to worship and we hope to send you out with a benediction, opening with God's word and closing with God's word. We learned that from tradition. We say, this is the word of the Lord. We say, this is the word of the Lord. We learned that from tradition.

None of these things are prescribed explicitly, but I hope there are ways in which we're promoting Scripture as the one sole authority of who we are and over us. Here, the tradition of the Pharisees has made void or broken the Word of God.

Underneath the norming norm of scripture

I want to make one last connection here. There are many worldviews that borrow from Christianity, and there are ideologies that overlap with your faith. And it's absolutely important that we consider constantly our pre-understandings and the other ideas that we're bringing into our life. What are we thinking with reason? What are we experiencing? What other traditions are coming in? And are they underneath the norming norm of scripture?

For example, one of these would be what kind of theory from science? might impact the way you view God and read his word? Is there a theory of science that carries ultimate authority that makes you question if God could have actually spoken creation into existence, as he has said? Or are there ethical norms and morals that you're insisting upon that when you read God, you're judging God based upon his actions? The righteous, just, and holy God? Do we, as C.S. Lewis says, do we put God in the dock? Do we make judgments of God based upon some moral understanding that we have?

There are lots of traditions that lead people away from biblical faithfulness. They're oftentimes good things. An idea of what a family is, or what work is, in a way that prioritizes something that does not allow you to obey all of what scripture says. It could be other ideas, psychology or philosophy. For example, Christian hedonism. I find that confusing, but I get it. Mixing of Christianity and hedonism, that's a strange mixture of concepts. I myself am privy to Christian Platonism, but we need to be very careful about what that means and where we think other ideas and non-Christians have said things that, by God's grace, are true but not ultimate.

One of those areas that I find concerning in our current Christian context is Christian nationalism. What's fun about traditions, same thing that makes rumors fun, maybe it's true. Here, this is an important topic, but if it's all you're thinking about and all you're talking about, you're clearly not prioritizing what God's word says most. My concern about the folks who really want to talk about Christian nationalism, they don't seem to have a whole lot to say about Jesus Christ, grace, forgiveness, faith, and the church. We make sure that as we're making something important, it's important according to where it fits in God's word.

Another one. We live in an over-psychologized culture. Therapy rules the day of our culture. We're looking for diagnoses to help us understand ourselves and others and relate to others. We look for labels to make sense of what has always been confusing and hard for all people at all times. These things can be helpful, but we must see the limited value they have under God who designed you, created you, and tells you who you truly are. When we start speaking therapy more than we speak of God, we run into the danger of making the word of God void. When we want man-made labels rather than what God has said to be central, we run a danger of self-deception. God's word is true. It tells us all we need for life and godliness. It must be the absolute norming norm.

Traditional religion can make us hypocrites

Our last point. Traditional religion can make us hypocrites. Verses three to six are that great contrast. Scripture is the absolute authority. Traditions must submit and not make void or break, but Jesus then really drops it down with one last final word to be real clear.

You hypocrites. Well, did Isaiah prophesy of you when he said, This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.

Again, verse seven to nine seem to be very clear. So clear that the disciples are telling Jesus, aren't you worried you offended the Pharisees? I don't think he's worried about that. Seems like he's trying to be as offensive as possible. The charges are clear. Again, God's word is very clear. You worship with lips, not with hearts. Your worship is in vain. You promote a man-made religion. You do not promote God. Call them hypocrites.

We oftentimes think of a hypocrite as somebody who teaches something but does not do it. A hypocrite is somebody who says, do this, but they themselves don't do it. Here, the kind of hypocrite he's referring to is someone who is a mere external religion. It's not internal. Internally, they're opposed to God. Externally, they're simply pretending. They're presenting. The Sermon on the Mount was very clear about this with the Pharisees. This is what made Jesus' teaching that your righteousness must exceed the Pharisees. The Pharisees externally seem very righteous. He makes it clear there's nothing inside. It was merely external. There was not a pursuit to love God. There was not a pursuit of internal pursuit to godliness.

They practice. They practice with sincerity. But they lack zeal. They lack faith. False worship can be done with great zeal and sincerity and practice. One must worship God according to his word, his way, with hope, faith, and love.

This word from Isaiah comes from chapter 9. It's a judgment that comes with a promise that God is restoring Israel. As God makes a condemnation, as God makes a judgment like this, it's to redeem his people. He calls them out of their false worship. And a passage a little later than this, he tells them,

you turn things upside down.

What a fantastic summary of what false religion really is. And there he says,

you call the potter of the clay.

We make God according to our own image. The God who made us in his image, we want him to be conformed to what we think. We want him to like our greatest ideas.

When man's tradition becomes unhinged, we end up making God like ourselves. You turn things upside down. Another way of saying this would be found in Romans 1. You exchange the glory of God for things he created. And then the most terrifying words in scripture, God gives you over to your sin. We're prone to worship anything and everything but God. That's what it means to be a sinner. The hope you have, the only hope is that his grace abounds to produce life and real worship.

Most important thing we understand about ourselves, We're designed to be worshipers, and we are always worshiping. This is what God's Word, why it's so central. God's Word tells us who we're supposed to be worshiping, how he saves us to worship him, how he renews us to worship him, and how to worship him. True worship is meant to be done with our lips and our hearts. This just reflects Jesus' teaching of what the greatest commandment is.

Love the Lord your God. with all your heart, your mind, and your strength.

As we consider what God has told us, let's go to one fantastic creed that makes it simple.

What is the chief end of man? To glorify God and enjoy Him forever.

He has given us His word so that we can glorify Him, know Him, and enjoy Him.

Will you pray with me? Father, we thank you that you have not been silent, that from our first forsaking you and seeking to see something better than you have provided you You came and spoke and called us out and you made a promise that a son would come and reverse this curse, to open our eyes again, to tear off the calluses on our heart, to renew and illuminate our minds, so we might know you and worship you. Forgive us for the ways in which we've patterned false worship, the way we prioritize other ideas. Lord, may we be renewed and transformed by your word. May your Holy Spirit work in us to conform us more to Christ by your word. May we know how to speak your truth in love so that we all attain that likeness and maturity of the manhood of Jesus Christ. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.