A "Traditional" Heart

WELCOME AND GREET EVERYONE!

THANK THE MISSION FOR BEING WITH US AND ALSO FOR DOING ALL OF THE WORK IN THE CHURCH BUILDING!

ASK DAVID SMOUTHERS TO COME UP AND STAND IN FOR MARGO.

PRAYER FOR PRESIDENT TRUMP!

I love to start off messages, by asking everyone questions. It’s a great way to stimulate your minds and get you to thinking and also, it serves to set the stage for the message.

That being said, let me ask you a question or two.

Why are you here this morning?

That is, why did you get up and get dressed and drive here today, as opposed to going out to the lake, or playing golf, or going for a hike, or just plain old, sleeping in?!

WHY are you here?

Obviously a huge perk for being here this morning, was the amazing breakfast that we had earlier, AMEN?!

But was that the reason for all of us getting up and making it here for the service?

In fact, why do people all across this county and state and nation, get up and drive to services in buildings like this, on Sundays?

Why will some of you engage this message with your undivided attention and hang on every word that is read from the Holy scriptures and yet others, will acknowledge the reading from the Word of God with a nod of their heads, or a curt “amen” occasionally and then look down at their phones, or carry on a conversation with someone sitting next to them, but never fully listen and allow Holy Spirit to speak to their hearts through the scripture and through the message that is being given.

And please don’t misunderstand me about saying “amen”, or “hallelujah”, or any other affirmative declaration, about something that is said or read during the service.

I am ALL FOR and ALL ABOUT your getting into hearing of the Word of God and the sermon message and acknowledging it through your verbalization's!

I wish that more people were excited about hearing God’s Word being read and passionate about the teaching of that Word in the churches of this county!

What I meant about someone giving a curt “amen” during the reading of the Bible, was someone who wasn’t paying a lick of attention to the scripture being read and who only said “amen”, so as to give the appearance of listening and not look out of place to those around them.

So, in general, why do we do the things that we do, that pertain to Body of Christ, (A.K.A. “the church”)?

Why will some of us share our faith and belief in Jesus the Christ with other people this week while others will avoid it like the plague?!

Why will some of us engage the Lord on a daily basis in an intimate time of prayer and reading in the Word of God and others feel fine with simply reading a one paragraph devotional on their smartphone and then going on with their day?

And there are other questions like these, that I could ask you this morning, but my point in asking these things, is to simply get each one of us to think about, “Why do I do what I do for the Lord, or why will I not do those things?”

Is it because of compulsion and because we have been taught that it is a commandment and a law to do what we do for God?

Just like in the days that Jesus walked this earth, teaching and healing and bringing the kingdom into the people’s midst, He was asked by the religious zealots, as to which was the greatest of the commandments, and He replied, “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Jesus stated and as well as proved, through His own life, that the driving force of our ability to adhere to and follow the commandments of God for our lives, should be our LOVE for God.

In the days of Jesus, many, many people followed the law and the commandments of God, out of religious compulsion and fear of repercussions from the religious leaders of the temple and of the synagogues!

The people were taught to know God, through the lens of RELIGION and through the TRADITIONS of their forefathers.

And it’s this very situation, the weight of the law and the unyielding TRADITIONS of the leaders, that we see Jesus dealing with in our scripture passage this morning.

So please turn with me in your Bibles this morning, to the gospel of and we will begin reading this passage, once everyone is there.

Mark 7:1–13 ESV

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?” 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.” 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.”

Now let me stop here real quick and kind of update everyone as to what is going on in this passage and why Jesus says what He says to the religious leaders that confronted He and His disciples.

If we go all the way back in the Old Testament to the time at which the people of Israel were given the Law of Moses at Sinai, we find that there was a dual component to the law.

There was the written law, or what is called the written Torah, but there was also what is called the ORAL Torah.

You see, the Oral Torah was the oral explanation of how the written laws should be executed and followed.

The Oral Torah was never written down, for centuries, because it was meant to flow and be taught to the generations and under the guarding of the leaders and the priests.

Over time and under a falling away of the people of Israel from the Law (both the written and the oral law), there came years of punishment of God and the Babylonian captivity for 70 years.

At the end of this time, a man that we are familiar with, named Ezra began teaching the Torah to the returning Jews in Jerusalem, because the people had walked away, large and in part, from any understanding of the written or the oral Torah!

Ezra was a SCRIBE, meaning that he wrote the books of the Torah and the prophets.

Ezra, upon seeing the great falling away and lack of understanding of the people of Israel on the Law, began to read ALOUD to the people and to teach the oral law to the people.

Thus Ezra became a TEACHING Scribe, which is what we find going on in times of Jesus, when you find the Scribes and the Pharisees being the teachers of the Law.

But throughout centuries, the oral Torah was taught and with oral traditions being taught between many, many different leaders and people, you got many, many different flavors and additions to that oral Law!

Then, after the destruction of the second temple in Jerusalem in 70 AD, there began a strong movement to write down all of the oral Torah, to preserve it.

This happened and was completed somewhere around 500 AD, where we get what is know as the Jewish Talmud, the book of the oral Torah and traditions of the Jewish people.

The first part of the Talmud is all of the oral teachings and it is called the Mishnah, comprised of some 525 chapters!

But because of all of the difference and discussions about the Mishnah and different opinions on how it should be taught, they added another section to the Talmud, called the Gemara.

The Gemara is a compilation of the various rabbinic discussions on the Mishna, and as such completes the understanding of the Mishna and makes up the other half of the Jewish Talmud!

You just received a crash course on the background of the Jewish Law and oral traditions and their writings!

So, flash forward again to the passage in Mark that we just looked at and you can see and better understand what it taking place between Jesus and the religious leaders.

In this passage, the Scribes and the Pharisees have located Jesus in the area, known as Gennesaret, where He was working mighty miracles for the people of that region.

All who were sick in Gennesaret, that were brought before Jesus, received their healing, even if they but, stretched out their hands in FAITH and touched the fringe (hem) of His outer robe!

So, you have great and mighty miracles taking place in this passage and people are beginning to see and believe in Jesus and then, THANK GOODNESS, here comes the RELIGIOUS crowd, the Pharisees and the Scribes!

The really interesting thing about them showing up on the scene, is that they didn’t just walk across town to make their grand entrance.

The Bible tells us that they came from Jerusalem to Gennesaret. That’s like 85 miles away! ON FOOT!

These guys travelled around 85 miles, just to pick a fight with Jesus!

Do you see the great lengths that RELIGION and pride will go to prove themselves.

When you combine religion and pride, you get a very nasty bi-product!

So, let’s look again at verses 1-5, under the light of what I just shared with you about the Jewish oral traditions.

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Mark 7:1–5 NLT

1 One day some Pharisees and teachers of religious law arrived from Jerusalem to see Jesus. 2 They noticed that some of his disciples failed to follow the Jewish ritual of hand washing before eating. 3 (The Jews, especially the Pharisees, do not eat until they have poured water over their cupped hands, as required by their ancient traditions. 4 Similarly, they don’t eat anything from the market until they immerse their hands in water. This is but one of many traditions they have clung to—such as their ceremonial washing of cups, pitchers, and kettles.) 5 So the Pharisees and teachers of religious law asked him, “Why don’t your disciples follow our age-old tradition? They eat without first performing the hand-washing ceremony.”

These guys roll into town and start watching Jesus and His disciples’ every move and this is the fault that they find to pick a fight about.

“Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?”

They are not talking about hygiene in this passage, you know like actually, dirty hands.

Like when I was a kid and I came home from fishing and cleaning fish and I was ready to plop down at the table and eat, and I got that MOTHER look!

I was told very quickly to get up and go wash my dirty, stinky hands, before I could eat!

That is not what the Pharisees are talking about here. They are talking about the fact that, in THEIR oral TRADITIONS, that had been passed down and added to throughout the centuries, there were ritualistic hand washing traditions that must be performed, so that one’s hands would be, ritualistically and ceremonially clean!

And as you saw in this passage, the Bible also mentions that there were oral TRADITIONS on how to wash and clean cups and pots and copper vessels. I read yesterday, that within the Mishnah, there are like THIRTY CHAPTERS, written on this one subject!

30 chapters on the ways in which someone must wash pots and pans to meet the TRADITIONS of men!

Now, listen to what Jesus says to the religious zealots and to their accusation. In verses 6-9 we read of Jesus tearing into their prideful accusations. ()

Mark 7:6–9 NLT

6 Jesus replied, “You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote, ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 7 Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’ 8 For you ignore God’s law and substitute your own tradition.” 9 Then he said, “You skillfully sidestep God’s law in order to hold on to your own tradition.

Do you see what Jesus says to them, first of all, He mixes no words and doesn’t beat around the bush about who and what they are, in terms of being a true follower of Yahweh. He calls them, “You hypocrites!”

And then notice the theme runs throughout this passage, TRADITIONS!

It is all throughout this passage, because it was what ruled and was held above the heads of the people; the TRADITIONS of the elders, down through the centuries!

Just like the Catholic church today. It is steeped in traditions and man-made rules and concepts, that have no part in the Christian faith!

And notice what Jesus does in answer to their prideful accusations, HE QUOTES THE WORD, not more man-made TRADITIONS.

He says, “You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”

And in saying this, HE was very, very right about what they taught.

The oral law and TRADITIONS of the religious leaders and the measure in which they taught and enforced it, even superceded that of the actual Law of God.

Listen to the words of the Jewish Talmud describe the Mishnah and the weight of the oral traditions that the leaders lived under, it says, “The words of the scribes are more lovely than the words of the law.” It says, “It is a greater crime to transgress the words of the school of Rabbi Hillel than the words of the Scripture.” It says, “My son, attend to the words of the scribes more than the words of the law.”

Do you see what they were teaching? Their religious TRADITIONS were taking precedence over the very WORDS OF GOD and His commands!

One Rabbi actually said this, about this about their tradition of hand washing, he said, “Whoever has his abode in the land of Israel and eats his food with washed hands may rest assured that he shall receive eternal life.”

So, there you go, that’s all that you need. Live in Israel, wash your hands and in your guaranteed a spot in heaven!

In other words, keeping the TRADITIONS of the religion, were enough to get someone into heaven!

How similar of a thing, that we see today. “Do this, do that, say this and say that, and you’re in!”

Jesus calls the leaders and their TRADITIONS, hypocritical! He doesn’t side step what they said, He doesn’t try and smooth it over; NO, Jesus calls the things of man that have been used to usurp the authority and the commands of almighty God, HYPOCRITICAL!

Are there still hypocrites operating in the church body today? ABSOLUTELY, there are many people who live a double standard lifestyle. They say and do one thing on Sunday in church and then live a totally different way throughout the week.

But that is NEVER an excuse to say, “Well, I just choose to not go to church, because it is full of hypocrites.”

No, you choose to not go to church, because you CHOOSE to not go to church!

The person who doesn’t go to church because so many hypocrites attend does not hesitate to go to other places where there are just as many hypocrites.

Zig Ziglar said that he invited a friend to go to church with him. The man answered, “Well, I’d like to go. But the church is so full of hypocrites.” Ziglar replied, “That’s okay. There’s always room for one more.”

The traditions of men, are subject to the thoughts and the desires of “men” and these things can and will lead people astray.

If a heretical idea comes from the mouth of an authoritative figure, then it is ever surprising to me, how many people will jump on board and believe it! Even in the face of danger, or outright blasphemy to God.

Does anyone remember Jim Jones and people that followed him.

This has always been the case and the Bible warns us of it today, as Paul says in ,

Colossians 2:8 ESV

8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.

The traditions of men and the things that seem religious and seem right, can ensnare you and lead you astray from the Word and the will of God!

And the only protection against being led astray from the Word and the will of God, is stay engrossed in and fully learn the Word and the will of God in your own PERSONAL life!!!!

Jesus, goes on and gives an example to the zealots of how they had omitted the Word and the commandments of God and substituted them with the TRADITIONS of men, where He says, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ 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)— then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”

If you go back and read , you will read about the 5th commandment, within the Ten Commandments. The first four are vertical commandments, that is they are how we approach and honor God.

The first one that is on the horizontal plane, how we interact with one another, is the 5th one which says, “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.”

Now pair this up with the continuation of this law found in and it shows a very steep and serious commandment. says,

Exodus 21:17 NLT

17 “Anyone who dishonors father or mother must be put to death.

God took this issue pretty seriously, right?! And what exactly does it mean to HONOR mother and father?

The understanding is that you do honor them in all ways. By word and deed.

As the parents aged and became old and feeble and needed help in life, you HONORED them, by helping them and providing for them, just as they did for you early on in your life!

If you dishonored your parents, it was punishable by death!

So, look what the religious leaders did, in order to be able hold onto their money.

They developed what was called the Corban vow. (This is the only place in the NT where you will see this word, by the way.)

Corban, based on a Hebrew word for offering, or gift, referred to something that was offered, or dedicated to God. That is, is what counted as sacred and set apart for God.

So, a person would say to their parents, who were in need, “I am sorry that I can’t help you, but my money that I would have had to use for you, has been declared, CORBAN, and thus it is set aside for God. Sorry!”

Now look at the loophole that the religious zealots made for themselves.

The Corban was considered a future pledge. In other words, the person could call it, Corban, and hold onto their money the rest of their life and then say that when they die, it belongs to God.

The Talmud basically says that a person was not completely bound to the vow after they had made it and could use it for other things, or for other people, thus legally breaking the vow.

Again, breaking another commandment of God, as says,

Numbers 30:2 ESV

2 If a man vows a vow to the Lord, or swears an oath to bind himself by a pledge, he shall not break his word. He shall do according to all that proceeds out of his mouth.

Here’s the thing about what Jesus was saying to religious leaders then and what He is screaming to us today, our relationship with God and our desire to serve Him and please Him, is a matter of the heart.

This is why Jesus finishes this passage with the mentioning of it is not what goes into your mouth and the body that defiles you, but rather what comes out of the mouth. He said that the things that are in your heart and that come out of your mouth, are truly what defiles you!

And Jesus told the religious leaders, “ You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”

He said that they “left” the commandment of God and upheld the traditions of men; they placed their own laws and wants and desires that made them feel good, above what God had said.

Look at the warning that Jesus issues to the church in ,

Revelation 2:4 NASB95PARA

4 ‘But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.

The same thing that Jesus said to the religious hypocrites, He warns the church of today. You have “left” your first love.

Which is to say, “You have walked away from your love for Me, that you first had when you came to me.”

Our hearts are leaning towards God, or away from God. Our heart’s desire is to either serve Him, or serve ourselves. THERE IS NO MIDDLE GROUND!

A. W. Tozer, another wonderful devotional writer said this:

The widest thing in the universe is not space; it is the potential capacity of the human heart. Being made in the image of God, it is capable of almost unlimited extension in all directions. And one of the world’s greatest tragedies is that we allow our hearts to shrink until there is room in them for little besides ourselves.

Back to my original question, at the start of this message, “Why you here this morning?”

Are you here because it is the tradition of men, that is, the tradition of a spouse, or a parent, or even a tradition that you have embraced for yourself, to convince yourself that everything is “OK” between you and the Lord, but your HEART is not in this at all.

OR, are you here this morning, because it is your HEART’S truest desire to fellowship with God’s children, your brothers and sisters and to worship and praise His glorious name as one body. As well as to hear the Word of God being spoken and taught, because you love hearing the Word of God being read and declared, in all of its authority and power?

Like the BIble says in , “All deeds are right in the sight of the doer, but the Lord weighs the heart.”

Proverbs 21:2 NLT

People may be right in their own eyes, but the Lord examines their heart.

And as Jesus said in , “The good person out of the good treasure of the heart produces good, and the evil person out of evil treasure produces evil; for it is out of the abundance of the heart that the mouth speaks.”