Extremes
Many times we are caught in the trap of running to extremes. God’s will has been revealed and needs to be understood the way God intended it to be.
The Pharisees had this problem. They even had everyday life defined to the point where it was hard for a person to live. On the Sabbath day, they had problems with different concepts such as “work.” On the Sabbath you were to cease from work, and the Pharisees decided to define what God intended by this. Here are a few examples:
1. You could not turn over in bed more than seven times or that was considered work.
2. If you wanted to borrow something from your neighbor, you could not put your hand through the threshold of the door to receive it, nor could the neighbor do that. This would be considered work. If you both met halfway, it was not considered work.
Jesus said in Matthew 15:6, speaking to the Pharisees, “… And thus you invalidated the Word of God for the sake of your tradition.” For the sake of their definitions which they had made law, their extremes, they made void the Word of God. We laugh at the Pharisees and wonder how they could have been so ignorant. But if Jesus were here physically today, what would He say of us? Let us not run to extremes; let us seek what God intended and do it. Either extreme of a truth is no longer truth.
The Pharisees had this problem. They even had everyday life defined to the point where it was hard for a person to live. On the Sabbath day, they had problems with different concepts such as “work.” On the Sabbath you were to cease from work, and the Pharisees decided to define what God intended by this. Here are a few examples:
1. You could not turn over in bed more than seven times or that was considered work.
2. If you wanted to borrow something from your neighbor, you could not put your hand through the threshold of the door to receive it, nor could the neighbor do that. This would be considered work. If you both met halfway, it was not considered work.
Jesus said in Matthew 15:6, speaking to the Pharisees, “… And thus you invalidated the Word of God for the sake of your tradition.” For the sake of their definitions which they had made law, their extremes, they made void the Word of God. We laugh at the Pharisees and wonder how they could have been so ignorant. But if Jesus were here physically today, what would He say of us? Let us not run to extremes; let us seek what God intended and do it. Either extreme of a truth is no longer truth.