Matthew 15:13

PARTY SPIRIT

‘But he answered and said, Every plant, which My heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.’

Matthew 15:13

We need this lesson just as the disciples needed it, that they might not be startled by the fading away of much which had seemed to them fair and vigorous.

I. The opposition of sects.—The disciples learnt gradually from Christ’s lips that they were called and chosen out to preach to their own countrymen to bind together in one publicans and sinners—Jews, Galileans, Samaritans. With this message they were to go forth to Jew and Gentile. As they bore it, they soon discovered that the natural and necessary antagonists of it were the sects, Sadducees, Pharisees, etc. Then, when they found how mighty this sect-principle was, and what numbers were pledged to it, they must have recollected the words which had been spoken to them: ‘Every plant, which My heavenly Father has not planted, shall be rooted out.’

II. Party spirit.—There is a plant in your heart and mine which our heavenly Father has not planted, and which must be rooted out. It is that same plant of self-seeking, of opinionativeness, of party-spirit, which has shed its poison over the Church and over the world. It springs in us from that same root of unbelief in One who is the Head of us all, Whose life is the common life of all, out of which all sects and parties have proceeded. If once by His grace we are delivered from that presumption, we shall not doubt that He has taken care of His own name and His own kingdom in this earth of ours.

The Rev. F. D. Maurice.

Illustration

‘The plain meaning of our Lord’s words is, that false doctrine, like that of the Pharisees, was a plant to which no mercy should be shown. It was a “plant which His heavenly Father had not planted,” and a plant which it was a duty to “root up,” whatever offence it might cause. To spare it was no charity, because it was injurious to the souls of men.—It mattered nothing that those who planted it were high in office, or learned: if it contradicted the Word of God, it ought to be opposed, refuted, and rejected. His disciples must therefore understand that it was right to resist all teaching that was unscriptural, and to “let alone” and forsake all instructors who persisted in it.—Sooner or later they would find that all false doctrine will be completely overthrown and put to shame, and that nothing shall stand but that which is built on the Word of God.’