Sermon Tone Analysis
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1. Introduction
Well friends, what went wrong?
The Church, we all started at the same place, but we’ve all ended up looking very different.
For example, how is it the Catholics don’t allow bishops priests and nuns to get married?
The orthodox don’t allow bishops to marry, and the protestants – well we allow anyone, a man, and a woman to get married.
How can the church that started at the same place, end up so different?
We’re in our second week in our summer series: exploring the faith.
Last week we learnt that we are Christians.
Pretty obvious statement right.
This week, we’re zooming in a little.
We are protestant Christians.
Someone once said to me: You Mormons, Catholics, Protestants, 7th day Adventists, you’re all Christians, it’s all the same.
That’s simply not true.
Friends, blood sweat tears was spilt over this issue.
Why did the word protestant come from?
2.
Where did the term ‘Protestant’ come from?
Martin Luther protested against the abuses of the Catholic church.
that’s where the word comes from.
protestants – to protest.
What was the problem?
Luther saw that the Catholic church – only one church at the time, they held onto traditions, especially in the form of indulgences.
It was a tradition where you pay your hard-earned cash for an indulgence.
If you buy an indulgence, we’ll slash time off that you will suffer in purgatory.
Purgatory is a place you go to suffer before you make it to heaven.
It’s a good deal.
It was a get out of jail free card if you could afford it.
But it was corrupt.
You had travelling indulgence sellers raising money for the church, taking a cut for themselves.
It was just corrupt.
You can understand why people think the church is just on about your money in that time.
But Luther came to realise that’s a man made tradition.
That doesn’t save you.
these indulgences.. it was a tradition not found in the Bible.
So in 1517 He nailed his 95 theses on the door of Wittenberg Cathedral in Germany.
And one of the big events happened at the Imperial Diet of Worms (think formal assembly) in 1521.
All the power of the Western world – the new emperor in all his splendour, the princes of Germany, the representatives of the Pope.
They want him to renounce his criticism of indulgences, submit to the pope.
Luther said “My conscience is captive to the Word of God.
I cannot and will not recant anything.
Here I stand.
I cannot do otherwise.
God help me.”
What brilliant brave words.
Luther stood for truth, no matter the cost.
3. Why is it important?
(7:1-23)
Luther was willing to die in protest.
It was that important.
why was it so important?
Because of the protest, we now hold that The Bible alone is the ultimate authority.
not the Pope.
not tradition, If you want to please God, submit to his word, not man made traditions.
Friends, Jesus faced this same issues.
We will continue to face these issues.
Do we cling to the Bible alone or man made traditions?
That’s the key issue.
A protestant says - the Bible is God’s supreme authority.
So I want to anchor the rest of this talk in the Bible.
We’re in Mark 7. I want to show you why being a protestant is so important.
If you want to be right with God.
You got to trust the Bible alone, faith alone, grace alone, in Christ alone, to the glory of God alone.
That’s the catch cry of protestants.
Now notice in our passage, the Jews are treating the traditions of man like they are the words of God.
They come to Jesus to put him in his place.
Friends, hasn’t COVID changed our think about cleanliness?
Since COVID, I see hand sanitisers are everywhere.
I was at play centre.
every trestle table had a huge bottle of hand sanitiser.
Never seen a cleaner clean the crumbs off the floor so quickly.
One minute I’m looking at the crumbs, I turn away turn back it’s gone.
We understand cleanliness.
But eating here is not about hygiene.
It’s not about bacteria.
It’s about being spiritual clean before God.
But the problem is, like indulgences, these man-made traditions are not from God. It’s made up long ago.
They thought washing cups and pots and copper vessels and even dining couches makes them spiritually clean.
You have heard of cleanliness is next to godliness, here its cleanliness is godliness.
So they ask Jesus, what’s going on?
Why don’t your disciples wash before they eat?
Jesus says to them verse 9
Now that’s direct isn’t it?
This is serious.
No one likes to have words put in their mouths.
No one likes to be misrepresented.
That’s what these Pharisees – these are supposed to be teachers of God’s law – they get it wrong.
The have misrepresented God.
They put words in his mouth.
And they’ve been doing it for a long time.
Cyprian said this in 3rd century.
He was a famous theology.
He said, a tradition – means that which is passed on.
A tradition may be an error in its old age.
Just because 20 generations believe a lie taught by the church for 1500 years, it doesn’t make it any more true.
Even if I keep telling you coffee stunts your growth, it’s not true by the way, it’s passed down, written in books, gets sold all over the world.
It doesn’t matter how many copies of my book is reproduced.
Doesn’t matter if its 1500 years down the track.
If its not true its not true.
So Jesus makes his point clear.
he gives an example of how a man-made tradition cancels out the word of God.
verse 9 again
You can get lost in the details.
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