What did Jesus say about religion?

120 The Lord touches distinctly this moral plague, shewing at the same time that the worship of these hypocrites was as far as possible from being accepted of God; that the commandments of men could not but put God aside and exalt man to the detriment of the divine glory. The commandments of God were nullified. His worship encroached on by the false authority of man, and in vain offered by the same persons who were dragged along in the current (for the heart of man is easily subdued by such pretensions to piety), and man replaced God in what acted on the heart.

The Lord takes care to protest openly against the very principles which led to this hypocrisy while addressing the crowd that He called to Him. There is nothing the Lord detests more than human religion, the traditions of men. Nothing shuts out God more while abusing His name and thus subjecting consciences which do not know Him truly. Nothing however is more simple; what issues from the heart is what defiles the man. But we see how the heart of man is influenced by these things, and how the simple by this means fall under the influence of hypocrites and of every class of religious teachers. The Pharisees were scandalised at it, said the disciples. And no wonder. To have a conscience before God according to His word, and in the light of God for itself, spoilt all their business. But through love for us, through the necessity of what is true and good, this is what must be. Then, at the point at which we have arrived in the history of the Saviour, it was no longer a question of minding these false doctors - these were not plants that the heavenly Father of our Lord had planted. They were to be rooted up. It was needful to leave them - a solemn thought with regard to the people and still more for Christianity! These were blind leaders of the blind; both were falling into the ditch.

273 But there is a further point, not yet noticed, not only: "Ye reject the commandment of God," but "making the word of God of none effect through your tradition." Not only was a particular, or any particular commandment set aside that they might keep their tradition, but they rendered null, and rejected, nullified the authority of the whole word of God by this. If I break one, I am guilty of all; but in setting up another authority, I displace and render void and null the whole word of God which claims all authority. If another can direct, I am not sole master, and the man is not my servant; and not only is the servant misled but the master is set aside. God's authority, and His revealed will as authority is entirely set aside by one who adds one tittle. If it be only to wash my hands, another can meddle and claim obedience - the word of God is not the sole authoritative rule. God may be patient, but it is entire apostasy from the whole mercy and will of God saving the soul, He in mercy having taken the pains to take it into His hand, and to guide us. So was Paul jealous as to Titus. God, therefore, is jealous of His word, for whenever we get out of it, we get into the darkness and bondage of Satan. It is the only light and guide we have - the fulness and truth of the light of creation being embodied in it in all its clearness as far as an evidence to the conscience and soul. "Many such things," adds the Lord, "ye do." This solution of God's will was found in and by many things as well as tradition. Man, be it under the form of godliness, desires it everywhere, and everywhere to be without God; and the enemy can provide religion for that, as well as anything else, provided it is for nature worship, for nature is just what Satan does provide for, that we may not feel the need of grace, and man then can be zealous for that against the truth, for it is something of his own - ours, not God. The Lord then goes straight to the thoughts and purity of the heart - the plain direction for the whole multitude. He answered the enquiries (and therein us) as to all the principles of judgment against their tradition - a special subject before. Yet the disciples could not understand this plain principle. And here we have the further evidence of the deadly evil of the system, that so entirely does it rest the mind upon what is external that so plain a principle as this is darkened to the mind, even of those who are sincere, and had been led as followers of Jesus with unfeigned intention. They had not sense enough to see that it was not what went into the belly, but what came out of the heart, that defiled a man. There was that which "purged all meats." What a reproof! But the great principle of all Christ's dealings and ministry, the great ground of plain moral righteousness making the real difference, was brought out; at least the great principle on which He rested His controversy with them, for grace they did not understand. And the Lord, by their own petty objection, came now to the direct question of righteousness, and showed how, in their selfish and self-sufficient traditions, they set even their own law aside. The Lord looked, when asked by His disciples, to the heart, and showed what came forth out of it. He had addressed the great principle to the multitude carefully, that all who had ears to hear might hear. The Pharisees had been convicted on the law as it stood, in which they boasted, while the Lord withal judged them Himself. He left them, and turned to Gentile quarters.

274 All tradition, though the tradition of the elders so designated by the word, and so even called by man, for it has authority with him, is called by the Lord "your tradition." Man's religion glorifies man; it is his. God says: "From within, out of the heart, proceed" - what a catalogue there is when God's religion begins! A man, such as he is, can wash his hands, and say "Corban," but it is a terrible thing to see so laid bare - quite another thing. First, it is "tradition of men," then "your tradition." A Mahomedan likes Mahomedan tradition; an Establishment person that of the Establishment; a Roman Catholic that of the Romanists; a Greek that of the Greeks; it is his own, and it has that value to him. Nothing is so dear to a man as the cover of his corruption, or so full of Satan's power as false religion. This is true even in the worst of apostasy, the chief priests and Pilate, the prophet and the beast. Next, if I add anything, God is imperfect in what He has given as a guide - actually, I ever substitute, in fact I must, for the guide is perfect for the man of God, and this is the subtlest substitute of the man of nature. But, if God has been imperfect in one tittle, I can reckon upon Him in none of the rest; but indeed, on the contrary, "in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." The word of God to man, as he is, becomes purely a detective, a pure detective as the light, whereas the traditions satisfy the natural cravings after religion by what the flesh can do, and therefore are the worst securer against, and barrier of light, besides making void the sole authority of God's word, and therefore all of it, as well as rejecting the actual commandment. It is the arranged religion of nature, and therefore the stronghold of Satan; compare verse 21, taking man as he is, the light entering into the heart, and He was the light. They break through Moses, worship in vain, make void the word of God - whereas God's commandment detects man as he is; so of all true religion.

Outward things are easy to do; man likes to make his religion of them, for they do not need a pure heart; man likes to do them, and to exalt himself and to distinguish himself from others in doing them. By them man boasts of great piety before other men, and gains a great reputation for it; but he can be bad at the same time; these outward acts do not bring him into the presence of God who searches the heart. Man by these acts is religious without possessing holiness, and he finds that this just suits him. One does not find Pharisees only in our Lord's time; they are to be found in all times. This system always attaches itself to the influence which a man exerts over another by means of a position outwardly holy; it is not the faith which possesses truth and grace for itself (which truth and grace came by Jesus Christ, and which produce holiness and communion with God who reveals Himself in them), but the official influence that a man uses to his own advantage, carelessly leaving on one side the will and the commandments of God. Thus it was amongst the Jews; they washed their hands, but not their hearts; they were very scrupulous about that which entered their mouth, and careless about that which came out of their heart.

Thus is man's religion always; he can observe such a religion as this, and deck himself with it as with a glory. But he cannot get real holiness in this way, and this is evident to the eyes of God, who sees all that goes on in the heart. True holiness shews itself in the practical walk; one may fail, but the soul sustained by grace only seeks the approbation of God; it has the consciousness of failure, and rejoices in God, for it is He who dwells in the soul, and keeps it humble. But the Pharisees and Sadducees amongst the Jews profited by their reputation and position to induce the pious to give many gifts to God, whom they represented. Thus duties towards parents were slighted, and God's law countermanded. They honoured God with their lips, but their heart was far from Him. They drew near to Him with their mouth, but not with their heart; this was full of covetousness and iniquity. God refuses altogether this kind of honour. "In vain do they worship me," says the prophet Isaiah, and the Lord repeats it. God wants a pure heart sanctified by the Spirit and by the truth; and He wants a worship which is to be rendered in spirit and in truth: the Father seeketh such to worship Him. He wants grace, but the truth is required to be able to draw near to God, a heart where the divine life exists. All this human religion, outward, Pharisaical, priestly, is judged of the Lord once and for all times. God demands a pure heart and true obedience. Men put on this kind of religion, giving honour in it to antiquity and to the traditions of their ancestors, to which man's imagination attributes great value. All that is seen through the shades of antiquity is imposing enough; but with God it is a question of the heart, and it was the same then as it is now with us: we are before God, and He sees us just as we are. Man's actual state is the question.

But in John 4 it is not the case of a proud ruler of the Pharisees who is made to feel the need of regeneration, but a depraved woman, that had lost her character, to whom no one would care to speak, except — wonderful to say — the Son of God! It is to her that the Lord brings out this great truth, the gift of the Spirit: no longer merely acting morally on the soul or quickening, but Himself dwelling in the heart, the Holy Ghost the power of divine fellowship and worship. What a joy! the Holy Ghost dwelling in believers, the Father seeking such to worship Him. Do you know this? Or are you still tramelled by what is now passed, what once existed and then had the sanction of God? by the role of a past dispensation for an earthly people? by rites which no longer have the slightest value in His sight who reveals Himself as Father? The day of forms and ceremonies is entirely gone. How often people say, We do not attach importance to such things! The truth is, that they are now a very bad thing, and contrary to God's actual order. It is not only that fine sights and sounds should not be an object in worship, but it is a positive sin to seek or admit them. It is, in principle, a going back to idolatry and a condemned world. Therefore, in John 4, our Lord brings in, "The hour comes and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth." There is the truth enunciated about worship. At Jerusalem the splendour of ceremonials had been at its height; but now all this is over, and any one fighting for it now unwittingly rebels against Christ. Our Lord shows that it is no longer in that mountain nor at Jerusalem that God should be worshipped. There was just about to dawn a new condition of things. And what does God value now? The true worshippers adoring the Father in spirit and in truth. What are they? His children. "The Father seeks such to worship him." He is gathering children, forming them for His own praise, putting the Holy Ghost within them to give the consciousness of their relationship with Himself, and, having this, to draw near to Him as their God and Father.

This new revelation was ushering in a new "hour," which had indeed already begun. The worship which is to characterize that hour must be in keeping with the revelation that has formed it. God who is Spirit is seeking that worship as Father, so now worship to be acceptable must be "in spirit and in truth." Notice this further "MUST." Worship is not something optional, or to be varied as suits our tastes. God must be worshipped in the way He Himself prescribes. All else that may claim to be "worship" is no worship at all.

True worship is "in spirit"; that is, not in flesh, not in bodily posture. This word of our Lord negatives the ritualistic and ceremonial line of things which has been a snare to so many. Our capacity to offer worship in spirit lies in the possession of the Spirit of God — the Fountain of living water springing up into everlasting life — as is also indicated in Philippians 3:3. The Spirit of God may engage our spirits in true worship at any time and in any place; not merely in some sacred shrine as in Judaism.

Having given this sketch of the position of the Jews, as the result of their rejection, as before had been given one of the kingdom of heaven, the Lord pronounces His moral judgment upon the religious forms and pretensions of the most religious among the people. It was only outside and hypocrisy, a walk already condemned by Isaiah: their worship was vain, their doctrines were but the commandments of man. God wished for realities.

The Father seeks worshippers — precious thought! But He seeks those who will worship Him in spirit and in truth. This implies that the inner man is engaged under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and that His truth is known and controlling the soul. This is in direct contrast with mere forms, which require neither God's truth nor His spirit, and can never satisfy His heart.

Then, the second thing is in that chapter in the 18th verse: "Jesus walking by the Sea of Galilee saw two brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishers," and in verse 21 — two more; and they immediately left the ship and their father and followed Him because He called them. This is to me a very wonderful thing. I think that we ought to take it to heart, seeing that all that organized religion, although originally inaugurated and instituted by God, was but an empty show, as the Lord Himself said of them, "This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me." That being so, you find God present among His people in the Person of Jesus, for His name is Emmanuel, "God with us," apart from it all, and calling individuals around Himself.

Observe too the consistency of the system, so far as regards its idea of an earthly priesthood, and of sacramental ordinances as the only means of salvation — for this is the doctrine. When our Lord Jesus Christ was here below, when He, the Son, became incarnate, before His death and resurrection, He carefully acknowledged priesthood according to the law — a priesthood vested in Aaron and his sons, which in no way belonged to Himself. And as He respected the Jewish priesthood, so He maintained all the shadows of the law. In other words He threw His own divine weight into the support of the ritual system till the cross closed it. The time was not yet come for God's grace and glory to displace it. It would have been contrary to God's mind to have overthrown it then, and the Lord Jesus, in word and deed as in person, was the expression of God and of His ways. Consequently, as long as the Lord was on the earth, we see His adhesion to the temple, feasts, sacrifices, everything. Nay, in the case of His own person we know it was so from the first, as we find in Luke 2. The Lord observed the times and seasons, and owned fully that earthly system of ritual which God had brought in by Moses.

So when the Lord came on earth, His problem was not with the law God had given; He was a perfect Jew, He lived His life according to the law God had given through Moses. He said, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil”(Matt.5:17). He was a law-keeping Jew, the only One who ever kept the law. His conflict was with the Jews’interpretations of the law and man-made traditions as recorded in the Mishna, the Talmud, and in other rabbinical writings. The conflict the Lord had was with rabbinic Judaism, not with the Law of Moses with which He was always in disagreement. Before his conversion, Paul was promoting rabbinic Judaism and was therefore, by definition, in conflict with the Lord, as he was “exceedingly zealous of the doctrines of my fathers.”