Holiness From The Heart - Mark 7:1-23

Mark 7:1-23 Holiness from the Heart 2019-11-17 Holiness is the result of a heart transformed by Christ. The Major League Baseball rulebook has 71 rules, is 173 pages long and details how the game is to be engaged in. Umpires are at different positions on the field during the game to enforce these rules. But along with the written rules, there are a number of unwritten rules. These rules aren’t enforced by the umpires, but are enforced among players themselves. Have you ever seen one of those bench-clearing brawls? Oftentimes they are the result of unwritten rules being broken. Don’t bunt to break up a no-hitter. Related, don’t talk about a nohitter during a no-hitter. Don’t over-celebrate a home-run. Don’t rub the spot where you got hit with the baseball. Don’t steal bases when you have a big lead. How do you learn all of these rules? Simply by playing the game, making mistakes, and being corrected. That might seem intimidating, and so it is. But we’re a people that like rules, aren’t we? So much so that we heap rules upon rules. Even those among us that might claim to not like rules, in reality harbor a love for our own rules, rather than rules imposed on us by someone else. Scripture Passage: Mark 7:1-23 The Bible contains rules, or commands (though it isn’t primarily a rulebook). In fact, the Old Testament contains 613 commandments. But the Jews heaped more rules upon God’s commands. Going beyond the inspired Word of God, they made rules about the rules, and rules to help them interpret the rules about the rules. But rule making does not produce righteousness, any more than climbing a taller tree gets you any closer to God. It simply wears you out and puts you in a more precarious and dangerous place, with even farther to fall. In our passage this morning we see religious people, caught up in their traditions, opposing Jesus. They believed that their acceptance by God would come through their rule-following, by outward deeds. But we see that Jesus teaches that outward deeds acceptable to God come from an inward heart transformed by God. Holiness is the result of a heart transformed by Christ. The Problem of Rating People (vv.1-5) 1. v.1 “Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem…” Who are these Pharisees and scribes, and why did they come all the way from Jerusalem to Galilee to gather to Jesus? The Pharisees and scribes were the religious experts of the day, and they were zealous in their religion. They didn’t come to Jesus to learn, but rather to oppose him, to stand against him and find fault with him. 2. v.2 “…they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed.” - Here they find fault. By watching the disciples of Jesus they learn about Jesus. What does he teach? What does he require? What does he allow? The same is true today, that others watch us, the present day disciples of Jesus, and they form their opinions about Jesus. 1. The Pharisees and scribes find fault with Jesus because his disciples eat with unwashed hands. 3. vv.3-4 “For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders…” - Now understand, this is not about hygiene. It wasn’t that the disciples were out playing in the mud and then began taking handfuls of food. This was about ceremonial purity. 1. Tradition of the elders - this was their oral tradition, not God’s written Word. God’s Word didn’t require ceremonial washing before eating, or bathing after coming from the marketplace before eating. These were, as Jason put it weeks back when he taught, extra fences they put up to try and prevent the people from breaking the Law of God. But they were unnecessary, unhelpful, even hurtful. They distorted God’s Word and distracted from God’s Word. 2. These originated from a zeal, a strong desire for purity, for holiness. They even had an understanding that eating was worship, as all of life is, so they wanted to enter into their eating in a way acceptable to God. Unfortunately, their zeal for purity had become skewed, focusing more on man-made rules than it was about pursuing the Lord, who is holy. Their attempts were about outward obedience, rituals and traditionalism, rather than inward transformation of the heart. 4. v.5 “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” This statement is a fallacy. It’s a false dilemma they are presenting. If you don’t wash according to the tradition of the elders, then you are unholy in God’s eyes. But that really isn’t the case. That was only the false belief of these religionists. Transition: To these accusations Jesus responds. The Problem of Rejecting God (v.6-13) 1. v.6 “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites…” - Jesus quotes to them from Isaiah 29:13. This is all about a people who are focused on the outward, the external, with no regard to the heart. Their worship is in vain; it is empty because it has lost sight of God. Because of this, they aren’t holy, but hypocrites. They go through the motions, like actors on a stage, but it is only a display, it is only a production, and isn’t genuine, isn’t reality. 1. Attention must be paid to the heart. Not the outward and external actions. 2. Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” We must pray and ask God to search our hearts (Ps. 139:23-24). 2. v.8 “You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” - This isn’t about tradition being evil. Tradition can be quite helpful. Especially around this time of year my family benefits greatly from traditions we’ve practiced. The problem is when tradition takes the place of God’s commands. Sometimes traditions are added that go beyond God’s Word, and they become the new rule, the new standard, and God’s Word is diminished or lost altogether. This is precisely what the Jews had done. 3. vv.9-13 An example using Corban. 4. What to do with God’s Word? The converse of what the Pharisees and scribes did. 1. v.7 They adopt the commandments of men. Sometimes this is in addition to, other times it is in place of. 2. v.8 They leave the commandment of God. Soon the commandment displaces God’s Word. 3. v.9 They reject the commandment of God. Eventually the commandment opposes God’s Word. 4. v.13 They make void the word of God. Ultimately the commandment empties God’s Word of its power. 1. “Here is the irony: every time we add to the law of God, we inevitably subtract from it, because instead of putting our attention on the things that God is concerned about, human regulations cause us to lose sight of what concerns Him.” - R. C. Sproul 2. Let’s make up an example of this. God’s Word says to not make any carved image of God, so you prohibit any carving of any thing for any purpose. Over time, such emphasis is placed on no carving that the reason for the prohibition is forgotten. At some point people instead begin collecting sticks and branches in the shape of animals, and they begin worshiping them, ignorant to the fact that they are breaking the commandment, because all of their focus has been on “no carving”. The power of God’s Word is lost in the rules. 3. The trouble with legalism is that it is an abandoning of the true law, and a seeking justification by a means other than that which God provided in Christ, by faith. The Solution of Reforming the Heart (vv.14-23) 1. vv.14-15 “And he called the people to him again and said to them…” - Hear. Understand. This is important! Eating with hands that haven’t been ceremonially cleansed doesn’t make one unclean. The things that come out of a person, from their heart, are the things to be concerned about. 2. v.16 not included because it is not in the better manuscripts found and isn’t believed to be original. 3. v.17 “And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable.” 4. vv.18-19 What goes in from outside does not defile. It goes in to the stomach and out to the toilet. 5. vv.20-23 What goes out from inside does defile. The heart of the matter is that the heart is the matter. Are any of these evident in your life? 1. Galatians 5:19–21 “Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” The works of the flesh spring from a heart that is unconverted, unchanged by Christ. These are the things that make a person unclean in God’s sight. What are we to do? 2. Galatians 5:24 “And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.” The fruit of the Spirit springs from a heart that belongs to Christ. Does your heart belong to him? Conclusion: Perhaps today you realize you’ve been going through the motions of religion, but far from God. Jesus invites you to him, to have your hear transformed by him. Perhaps today has served as a check-up, and you realize, though you belong to him, there has been a wandering or straying from him. He welcomes you back, declares you are righteous and holy, and invites you to walk with him in holiness. Proverbs 4:20–23 “My son, be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Let them not escape from your sight; keep them within your heart. For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh. Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.” y l i m Fa Table Talk November 17, 2019 GOD’S TRUTH Holiness is the result of a heart transformed by Christ! Family Discussion & Bible Searching Key Verse “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing…By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.” John 15:5 & 8 1. Are you a rule follower? Do you like to make rules and see that others follow them? Whose rules do you follow? Do you know why you follow them? 2. Following rules or commands is a good thing when we do it to obey God, to glorify Him. But, how careful we must be to consider the heart of the matter- our hearts! What do we know about our own hearts? Read the following Scripture: Jeremiah 17:9; Romans 3:10-12 3. Thankfully, if we have confessed our sinfulness and placed our faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, we have been saved! We belong to Jesus! AND, He has given us new hearts! What do we know about these new hearts of ours? Read the Scripture: Ezekiel 36:26-27 4. When walk in the Spirit, which is to follow Christ and His leading, the rules we follow produce good fruit in us and bless others. Let’s take a look at what commands are most important to God and how we are now able to please Him as His children. Read the following Scriptures: Matthew 2:36-40; John 15:5 & 8-10; Romans 8:1-11; 2 Corinthians 5:14-21 Scripture Memory: Exodus 20:8-11 “And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” - Deuteronomy 6:6-9 (ESV)