Tradition vs God's Commands

Good Morning

Lydia told me this joke.

What is the difference between Outlaws and Inlaws?

Outlaws are wanted!!

It is amazing to me how different siblings can be from each other. Even thought they come from the same parents, they can be polar opposites. For example Albert Einstein was a brilliant Physicist, but his brother Frank was scary!!

Today we are going to be in Mark 7:1-13. Last week we talked about the healing at Gennesaret. We saw what it was like to be a true friend. We should all want to be Gennesaret friends! We saw the power of Jesus. Everyone that just touched His garments were healed. I wonder how much sickness was left after Jesus was gone? I imagine that for a while there was not much sickness or lameness left. But it wouldn’t take long for it to return.

Today we are going to look at man’s traditions. Jesus calls us to trust not in our own external righteousness(legalism) but in His perfect work on our behalf.

Let’s pray

Mark 7:1–13 NASB 2020

1 The Pharisees and some of the scribes gathered to Him after they came from Jerusalem, 2 and saw that some of His disciples were eating their bread with unholy hands, that is, unwashed. 3 (For the Pharisees and all the other Jews do not eat unless they carefully wash their hands, thereby holding firmly to the tradition of the elders; 4 and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they completely cleanse themselves; and there are many other things which they have received as traditions to firmly hold, such as the washing of cups, pitchers, and copper pots.) 5 And the Pharisees and the scribes asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk in accordance with the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with unholy hands?” 6 But He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘this people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far away from me. 7 ‘and in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ 8 “Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.” 9 He was also saying to them, “You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition. 10 For Moses said, ‘honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘the one who speaks evil of father or mother, is certainly to be put to death’; 11 but you say, ‘If a person says to his father or his mother, whatever I have that would help you is Corban (that is, given to God),’12 you no longer allow him to do anything for his father or his mother; 13 thereby invalidating the word of God by your tradition which you have handed down; and you do many things such as that.”

We can see here that the Pharisees and Scribes are back to their old tricks again. Trying to trip up Jesus. The problem is that you can’t trip up the person who is the author of the Law. Since they had failed so many times at that, they are now focusing on their man made traditions. Mark tells us that they were questioning Jesus as to why His disciples were eating without washing their hands first. The Jews had a long list of man made rules that they had to keep. This washing of the hands was not a command from God. The only washing that God commanded them to do was for the Priest to be washed before they entered into the Temple. Now don’t think that this washing they are talking about had anything to do with getting the dirt off of their hands. They were talking about a ceremonial cleansing that barely used enough water to get their hands wet. They did not wash their hands like we do. This had nothing to do with actual cleaning. This was a ritual that they had imposed on the Jews. They were more concerned about their outward appearance and not the internal cleansing that God requires. Mark mentions that when they came back from the market that they would have to cleanse themselves before they could eat. This was because in the market they would have been around Gentiles and more than likely touched them. The Jews thought that salvation came from cultural and national cleansing. They thought that by isolating themselves as much as possible they would be righteous. The yolk of their rituals was extremely heavy and got them no closer to the righteousness that they wanted and thought that they were achieving. It is tiring and burdensome to just read all the things that the religious leaders required everyone to do to be considered clean. The religious leaders had created a book of their man made traditions, it was called the Talmud. This book was so large that it had multiple volumes. There was a whole volume about rinsing your hands ceremonially. They had 30 chapters on how to clean pots and pans! 30 chapters!!? That is crazy, but this is what happens when we try to add to what God has written. We have to be good with God’s commands being enough. His ways are good! We don’t have to add to them. We don’t know better than He does.

Jesus responds in His typical way. He quotes the Old Testament. He quotes Isaiah. He calls them hypocrites! They actions don’t match their words. He tells them that their hearts are far from Him. They are white washed tombs. Though they look good and clean on the outside, they are as dead as the people in those tombs.

Jesus tells them that they would rather keep the traditions of men and not what God has commanded. You can not keep God’s commands and the traditions of man. The traditions of man are laws that man has added to what God said. When we add a law to God’s law, We take away the ability to keep on of God’s. It is just like our government, when they create a new law, someone loses a right. That new law keeps someone from something that they want to do, right or wrong. The same thing happens when we add to God’s Word. We can’t keep God’s commands and the traditions of man. God’s ways are different that man’s. We must chose His ways and not ours.

Jesus told them that they had become experts at setting aside God’s commands to keep their traditions. Moses told them to honor their mother and father, and he who speaks evil of their mother and father is to be put to death.

Exodus 20:12 “12 “Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be prolonged on the land which the Lord your God gives you.”

Exodus 21:17 “17 “And one who curses his father or his mother shall certainly be put to death.”

The Jewish religious leaders had created the term Corban, which means given to God. They did this so that they could keep what they wanted by saying it was commited to God, thus throwing aside the command of God to take care of their parents. They had many such traditions that kept them from keeping God’s commands.

Liberty, we must make sure that above all things, we are keeping what God says for us to do. Not all traditions are bad. They become bad when we put them on the same level as Scripture or in place of Scripture. There is no place for a Bible + kind of religion. By adding to the Bible, you for all practical purposes make void the Bible and nullify its truth and power in your life.

Let me introduce you to a prospective church member. He will attend every service, including special events. He will go on mission trips with a passion to convert the heathens. He will tithe, sing in the choir, read his Bible daily, and memorize Scripture. He will be happy to pray in corporate worship. He is thoroughly orthodox in his theology. He believes in Heaven and Hell. He never gets drunk, is not addicted to porn, never uses profanity, is a family man, loves his county fervently, weeps on July 4th, and votes the right way. His reputation in the community is stellar. If any man ever earned the right to go to heaven, it is this man. His religion is certainly something to admire.

Sadly this man is headed for hell. I have just introduced you to a 21 century Pharisee! 1st century Pharisee’s were not scorned as a legalist. No, he was looked up to as a model citizen and a person of piety and religion. They had a zeal that was misplaced! They had a passion for God, but did not know Him. We can be deceived, captured, and enslaved by the deadly lure of legalism! Tragically, those who have been raised in the church are the most susceptible to this deception. Our pride in our religious rituals, church practices, and cultural traditions blind us to both our great sinfulness and the great Savior who alone can rescue us from our sin. Pride is the root to all sin. Human pride is in opposition to God. It thinks more of itself than it should. It thinks more of itself that God does!! Pride is lurking around every turn. It even disguises itself as legalistic bondage to the traditions of men.

Why we do things is just as important as to what we do. If we do something and no one knows why, there is a good chance that it is a tradition of man. We must never do things just because we always have. We need to make sure that everything we do is honoring and glorifying to God.

I heard this story about cooking a ham and it fit today’s lesson well.

A young girl was watching her mother bake a ham for a family gathering and noticed her mom cutting off the ends before placing it in the oven.

“Mom, why do you cut the ends off before baking the ham?” she asked.

“Hmmm… I think it helps soak up the juices while it’s baking. I’m not sure, though. That’s just the way your grandma always did it, so I’ve just always cut them off. Why don’t you call grandma and ask her?”

So, the little girl phoned her grandma and asked “Grandma, mom is making a ham and cut off the ends before placing it in the oven. She said that it’s probably to help soak up the juices but wasn’t sure. She said you’d know because she learned how to cook from you.”

“That’s true. I do cut off the ends of the ham before baking. But I’m not sure why either. I learned how to cook from my mom. You should ask her.”

So, the inquisitive little girl called her great grandmother and asked “Great grandma, mom and grandma said they learned how to cook a ham from watching you. Do you cut off the ends of the ham to help it soak up the juices?”

The great grandmother chuckled. “Oh, no sweetie. I just never had a pan big enough to hold a whole ham, so I always had to cut off the ends to make it fit.”

All this time they were cutting off perfectly good pieces of ham for no reason.

We have to make sure that we are not cutting off God’s word by adding man’s.

Not all traditions are bad! It is just when they replace or keep us from obeying God’s that they become bad.

I re arranged today’s order of service as a live example of that. Our order of service is not a bad tradition, but it is just that, a tradition. There is no Biblical order of service in the Bible. I have no desire to change our order of service at this time. Some day God may lay it on my heart to make some changes, but not today.

If the order of service today had upset you, I strongly urge you to seek God and make sure that you are not being legalistic. Do you come to church because you like the way we do things, or do you come to church to worship our King and learn more about Him and His commands? Again, I have no desire to make changes in our service. But if you got upset just because we made some changes, that could be a problem of the heart.

Let’s pray