preached @ Metro 26th March 2006 by Pastor Jeff Williams

Matthew 12:7 "I prefer a flexible heart to an inflexible ritual'--you wouldn't be nitpicking like this.(The Message) Key word here is “heart”. The Pharisees were more attached to the actions/ deeds, the external than the heart and spirit behind those actions. 

Inflexibility

– is to show a lack of mercy.

NLT Matthew 12:7 I want you to be merciful, I don’t want your sacrifice. A few words earlier here in verse 7 it says our lack of mercy, lack of flexibility can condemn others. We can be very quick to condemn and pass judgement.  our heart becomes hard, we start to become inflexible to others.

MERCY:

“To get inside someone’s skin until we can see things with his eyes, think things with his mind, and feel things with his feelings; to move in and act on behalf of those who are hurting.

Being inflexible, lack of mercy means we stay in our own skin, our ways.

In John 8 we read of the story of the woman caught in adultury being brought to Jesus. The law required her to be stoned, but Jesus response wasn't one of condemnation, but accpetance. He still stood by the fact that her actions were sinful, and that she should stop living that way, but she started by accpeting her. It is a heart that has been touched by the compassion of Jesus that will repond in grace rather than law.

Man so often creates systems, rituals, formulas RELIGION . God goes pass the external to the heart.

Remember the choosing of David as King. The bible says that man looks at the external and passes judgements, God sees a person’s heart, and provides a remedy!

Matthew 18: 21Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, "Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?" 22Jesus answered, "I tell you, not seven times, but seventy times seven 490 times

He was trying to discover a mathematical formula for grace.

Jesus wants us to be flexible, contiually grwoing and changing. Teh crucial thing is to have a heart that is soft towards God, so that we can be compassionate to others.