Growing Up From Infancy

Author: Joseph

Date: July 5, 2020

The problem with the Pharisees was never their desire to obey God’s commandments, their true fault was their desire to perform the commandments of God the way they wanted to do it instead of the way God intended them. In other words, they used the commandments of God and distorted them in order to justify their own wants and desires. Their primary desire was to manipulate their authority for selfish gain, yet Yeshua reproved the Pharisees and reestablished His authority various times, redirecting His listeners to heed God’s words rather than man’s.

Yeshua used Scripture to counter the arguments of the Pharisees (their arguments were based on tradition). He also revealed the heart of God within the Scripture by expanding on God’s intentions for the commandments He gave throughout the history of Israel. Being perfectly blameless, Yeshua never nullified or dismissed any of God’s words, rather, He established them as the final authority.

God’s words are the final authority and His intention is the one we need to seek when trying to understand what He desired throughout the teachings of the Scripture.

Once, when walking through a field of grain on the sabbath, Yeshua’s disciples began to pick grain and eat it, for they were hungry and could not buy any food since markets were not open on the sabbath. The Pharisees used this opportunity to accuse His disciples and told Yeshua they were breaking the sabbath. Yeshua responded by quoting examples from Scripture of when people were showed mercy even though it was not lawful. He uses these examples not to say He is permitting sinful acts, but to amplify how much more innocent His disciples are since they are not doing what is unlawful.

Yeshua’s disciples were not breaking any commandments by eating grain (ex. Deuteronomy 23:25). The Pharisees, as always, were seeking to accuse them based on a corrupt understanding of Scripture.

Yeshua also did not bring them through the field of grain to torment them with something they could not partake, rather, He knew what their need was before they were even aware and brought them through the field for that purpose. He chose to have mercy on them instead of imposing man-made extensions of God’s commandments on them. Though they could have also remained blameless in the eyes of the Pharisees if they had not picked grain, Yeshua’s disciples would have unnecessarily suffered through hunger to appease the Pharisees.

Within the community of believers there are those who wish to impose extraneous standards that although they are based on Scripture, unnecessarily add burdens and difficulty to otherwise simple commandments by distorting them. Love them, as we are one community, however, do not take heed to their words (cf. Matthew 11:16-17). Only God’s words, God’s authority, and His desires for us are what matters.

In your pursuit of obedience, remember not to add to God’s words and create restrictions He never meant for you to have. You need not get confused between what you think is necessary and what God has already asked from you. Don’t misunderstand this precaution as a deterrence, rather, you should have courage in seeking to do what God desires. He has made what He wants plain and clear in the Scriptures; He will guide you by His Spirit to understand it. He is pleased when you eagerly seek to live your life the way He desires and will faithfully guide you in your journey.

"...become His disciple, learn from Him, seek to do His will and live out His commandments."

There is a great need among believers to understand God’s commandments and to seek to do them the way that He desires. There is also a great need for believers to recognize God’s voice and to be led by His Spirit instead of being confused by the multiplicity of voices that come from the world. Too often, there is often a feeling of being lost that new believers face after coming to salvation: they want to live the life God wants for them, but don’t know how. They don’t know how to hear from God or to recognize something as good or evil. Instead of being directed, they are often given vague instructions that don’t really lead to a life of discipleship and obedience, but instead keep them in an infant state of faith. Sadly, most never grow up and mature in their faith because of it. If you want to understand what God desires and truly live out the life He wants for you, become His disciple, learn from Him, seek to do His will and live out His commandments. When you do so, He will grow your faith and your relationship with Him like you’ve never experienced before. You will not be discontent in infancy of faith, but will find yourself being led and matured by the God Who saved you.

Matthew 12:1-12

Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible (NASB). Copyright by The Lockman Foundation (www.lockman.org).