Mark 7:1-23 - That's Not How We Do Things
Notes
Transcript
Adler makes up games
He changes the rules the moment he realizes he’s losing
You’ll begin declaring victory
He’ll shut you down!
“No, that’s not how you play! That’s not how this works now!”
Jesus is going to have an interaction with the Pharisees because they’re showing people “That’s not how we do things”
That’s not how we do things
That’s not how we do things
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1 Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, 2 they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. 3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders, 4 and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.) 5 And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?”
Leader: This is God’s Word to you and to me
Everyone: Thanks be to God
The Pharisees were looking for a reason to take Jesus down.
They gather together and invite theological “hitmen” from Jerusalem, about 117 miles away to come and pick a fight with Him.
The Pharisees were a Jewish sect who were devoted to observing Jewish Law
These guys gave their lives to memorizing and doing the first 5 books of our Bible.
Also, they devoted themselves to religion based on tradition
Traditions that were passed down as customs and beliefs through generations.
They developed a tradition of strict interpretation of the law.
They viewed their oral tradition to be authoritative and holy, although it was not in the Scriptures.
For them, living according to the oral law was just as important as living according to God’s Word
They constrained the moral law so that they could maintain their religious identity and purity.
This is a rules-based lifestyle
This conflict arises when the Pharisees accuse the disciples of being unclean.
According to the Jewish law, the only time you needed to be ceremonially washed was if someone came into contact with bodily discharge
Other than that, only priests were required to wash before entering the Tabernacle.
Their standards for uncleanliness go beyond the commands of Scripture (vv. 3-4)
For example, looking in a mirror on the Sabbath was forbidden. You may see a gray hair, and be tempted to pull it—thus working on the Sabbath.
You couldn’t wear false teeth, because if they fell out and you pick them up then you’d be working.
They were always washing everything!
Imagine how long this dinner party is.
Mark is very descriptive of the Pharisee’s traditions because he’s writing to primarily non-Jews.
which is helpful for me because why do you do dishes before the party?
The Pharisees see that the disciples didn’t wash their hands before dinner and they are pronouncing them unclean.
5 And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?”
Why do your disciples not behave the way we do? Why do they not look as religious as we are?
Why do they eat with defiled hands?
Why do they not hold to our traditions?
They looked at the disciples as rebellious of the law, fake in their faith, and not submitting to the authority of the temple.
They were counterfeit-godliness
Jesus fires back:
6 And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, “ ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 7 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ 8 You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”
You know it’s going to be good when Jesus lights you up with “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites”
Jesus takes a term from the theatre: “Hypocrite”
In Greek theater, actors wore various masks according to the roles they impersonated.
“Hypocrite” means someone who acts a role without sincerity, hence a pretender.
Someone who acts like something matters to them, but they are completely separated in the intentions of their heart.
They say one thing but think another.
They’re pretenders.
Jesus begins to quote Isaiah 29 (vv. 6-7)
Isaiah prophesied that the people proclaimed their love and faith in God.
They went to church/posted about Jesus on Facebook/attended events.
But their hearts was far from God.
They did all kinds of religious things and looked like believers
But their relationship with God was worthless.
Their “worship” was garbage.
They were sincere in their dedication to the written law, but they weren’t worshipping God
They worshiped the rules they had made up.
These guys began to choke: “How dare He say that?!”
What Jesus teaches us here is:
Worship is a matter of our hearts; not our hands
Worship is a matter of our hearts; not our hands
Worship is not what you do for God, but who God is to you.
Jesus just called these guys phonies/fakers.
They were considered the spiritual athletes of the day
They were considered godly by everyone else.
It is possible for people who go to church, look like Christians, but their hearts be far from Jesus.
This may be true of you.
You think you’re going to heaven based on the things you do for God, but not on the relationship you have with God.
You think your righteous acts are what secures you favor with God.
Silas does not stay in my house because of what he does for me. Silas lives in my house because of who He is to me.
He is my Son. No matter what he does, he will always have that status.
The same is true of Christians. Those who have God as Father, will never not have Him as Father.
We go to heaven and live eternally with the Father because we are His children, not because we’ve earned the eternal vacation.
We do not worship God through acts or gifts. We worship through our enjoyment of Him.
APPLICATION: Enjoy being with God. Stop believing your acts can save you.
Jesus continues blistering their self-righteous teachings
9 And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! 10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ 11 But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban” ’ (that is, given to God)— 12 then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, 13 thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”
Jesus intensifies the issue
Not only do they leave God’s Word, but they reject it!
They reject God’s Word to establish their own unbiblical traditions.
Jesus throws more Bible at the Bible guys.
He hammers them with the Law they claim to uphold.
He gives them what seems to us easy commands and shows them how they fail at it.
Honor your father and mother
If you don’t, you’ll die.
Thats simple enough.
Every Jew understood that they held the responsibility to take care of their parents in their old age.
But wait. “You say… Corban” (v. 11)
Corban means, “a gift offering to God that precludes something from usage in the non-sacred sphere.”
The owner keeps possession of it until he dies, then it goes to the Temple.
This oral tradition meant that if I had a million dollars and something happened to me, the money would go to the Temple, not to the care of my parents.
It appears to be nice, since it’s given to the church.
Jesus is calling it trash.
In Jesus’s example, it’s a gift “given to God”, not to honor God, but to prevent his parents from having it.
It’s a sinful loophole around the Fifth commandment.
This is a twisting of God’s Word by the people who were esteemed as “holy”
Those who say they love God’s Word, yet modify it in order to escape its authority.
These guys spent their lives memorizing the law, but it’s all worthless because they functionally reject it.
This shows us that:
Rigid religion takes us away from God’s Word (vv. 9-13)
Rigid religion takes us away from God’s Word (vv. 9-13)
There are traditions that some “Christian” groups follow that are not biblical
People tend follow what we agree with: Politically, culturally, philosophically.
We tend to use our religious behavior to justify our worldview.
If the Bible doesn’t fit our views, we hit it with a loop hole. “Yeah, but!”
“Yeah, but what about LGBTQ+?”
“Yeah, but what about my money?”
“Yeah, but what about the right to choose?”
“Yeah, but what if they’re democrat?”
someone sent this to me recently
This is going to land hard on some of you, but there will be democrats in heaven!
We are all guilty of distorting God’s Word to fit our own beliefs!
In doing so, we make the Word of God void and worthless in our lives (v. 13).
APPLICATION: We conform to God’s Word, not conform it to us.
If our culture and traditions don’t line up with God’s Word, then we surrender the view and hold to God’s Word.
God’s Word never changes, we must change (as believers) to it.
In doing so, God’s Spirit makes us more like Christ!
We get to experience the true blessings and presence of God instead of arm-wrestling Him into submission to us.
Jesus is going to transition into explaining the root of the problem
What defiles us then?
14 And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: 15 There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.”
For the Jews, eating certain foods deemed someone unclean.
There were some foods previously forbidden because they make someone unclean.
Jesus flips the script and teaches that it’s actually inner impurities that defile things outside of us.
Defilement is a matter of the intentions of the heart, not the violation of cultic rituals and formalities.
It’s not about what goes into your body that makes you unclean. It’s a matter of your heart.
After He finished saying this, His disciples asked for a deeper explanation of the parable.
The problem is, this was no parable at all. Nothing was concealed here.
Jesus was as straightforward as He could be here.
17 And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. 18 And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, 19 since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) 20 And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. 21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
My boss and I were trying to get office furniture from one of our schools for our office.
As we were coming in and out of the door, I noticed that inside the handle was a wasp nest.
Have you ever seen an angry, black wasp bring their army and rise from the next like dark helicopters ready to destroy whatever target has the misfortune of getting in their way?
Verses 21-23 describe the ugly swarm of death and evil rising from within our soul.
From this we learn that:
Dirty hands don’t defile us; a dirty heart does (vv. 14-23)
Dirty hands don’t defile us; a dirty heart does (vv. 14-23)
So often we think that it’s the negative actions people do that makes them bad people.
The problem is that we miss the action.
Each of us have sin-filled hearts.
We’re each guilty of some, if not all of these things.
Our outward actions are influenced by our hearts.
It’s from our heart that all of these things come.
This is why the statement “Follow your heart” is super bad advice.
Jeremiah 17:9 “9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”
Our hearts are dark.
APPLICATION: We need a new heart.
Gospel presentation
God has not left us to the dark evils of our heart.
God told Ezekiel 36:25–29 “25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. 28 You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. 29 And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses.”
He sent His Son to pay the penalty for all our sin!
All of our uncleanness was poured out onto Jesus and He took it to the cross!
Now, through Jesus’s shed blood we can be forgiven and made permanently clean!
Jesus was raised three days later, showing that death no longer has authority over God’s people!
We need resurrection, not religion!
Now, Christ has given us His Holy Spirit who comes and gives us a new heart!
He cuts away the sinful parts of our hearts and replaces it with His own heart!
What’s coming out of your heart?
Is it defilement or is it deliverance in Christ?
If you’re here not a Christian, you can have a new heart today!
“Go