Traditions and Rituals 2

Mark 7:9-23.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, November 03, 2019.

We are picking up where we left off last week.  In the previous verses, Jesus was responding to the Pharisees regarding the ritual of hand washing.  In verse 9 Jesus continues his response to them.

Jesus responds to the Pharisees about ritual hand washing

In verse 8, Jesus said that they were “laying aside” the commands of God to keep their rituals.  Just in case they missed it, Jesus restates this point, but with the harsher verb, “reject.” In the end, the fact that they would choose their own traditions over the word of God is a stubborn rejection of God Himself.

Jesus then gives them an example of a way that they keep tradition and reject God’s command.  This example has to do with the 5^th Commandment (of the 10 Commandments), which is to honor your parents (see Exodus 20).  The first 4 commandments have to do with how we treat God and this command begins the section of how we treat others.  Our first relational duty before God has to do with honoring our parents.

The word “honor” is the concept of treating someone as being of great weight, i.e. that you do not treat them lightly.  God felt so strongly about this issue that He makes the dishonoring of parents (whether beating them or socially cursing them) a capital punishment in Exodus 21:15, 17.  Jesus emphasizes this aspect of the Law of Moses to show them that God is serious about this command.  It was a grave offense.

Here is the rub.  An exception to this issue had been permitted later by the elders of Israel and thus was a part of their tradition.  It is here that we get a very practical example of honoring one’s parents.  When you are a child in your parent’s home, honoring them generally has to do with listening to them and trying to obey them.  However, when you are an adult and your parents are unable to take care of themselves, honor involves making sure that they are taken care of both physically and financially.  So, in verse 11, the “profit” that is being referenced is the monetary care that an adult child can give their parent or parents.  It could be translated as assistance, help, or advantage.  If a person had adult children, it was like having security for your old age, or when a husband passes and the wife is left widowed.  Of course, not all kids grow up to be wealthy.  Yet, the command is to honor them.  To honor them is to do what you can to help them, to take their need upon yourself, whether you can do little or much.  The point is not the amount, but the heart behind any of your actions towards them. 

Even the New Testament in 1 Timothy 5:4-8 states, “But if any widow has children or grandchildren, let them [the children/grandchildren] first learn to show piety at home and to repay their parents; for this is good and acceptable before God.  Now she who is really a widow, and left alone, trusts in God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day…But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”  It is interesting that the issue that was a capital punishment in the Old Testament is now viewed as a rejection of the faith, i.e. a spiritual death, in the New Testament.  Adult children have a responsibility to care for their parents in their declining years.  Each family has to work out how this is practically done, but all should pitch in what they can for their parent’s care.  If the whole family is poor then let them be poor together, and also look to God for help, rather than ignoring the plight of their parents.  

Now that we have established what is being talked about in this passage, notice that verse 11 tells us that whatever money the adult child had is now “Corban.”  This is an Aramaic term that the Hebrews used to state that the money had been devoted to God (basically put in the temple treasury).  Whether this happened long before the parent’s decline or during is not stated.  Instead of providing for the care of their parents, the person has given the money to the temple.  This is not talking about tithes, but a gift that is above and beyond what is required, and is similar to the situation of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5.  Such a gift is supposed to be given to God as a show of honor to Him.  Yet, that same God has commanded you to care for your parents.  Why would a person give all their extra money to the Temple (Church) instead of caring for their parents?  And, why would the priests allow someone to donate to the Temple who was not taking care of their parents?  I am sure the reasons are many.  High on the list would be to get social esteem within the religious community, perhaps to move up within the circle of elders, and obtain power, honor, and influence in Israel.  To care for your parents apparently didn’t bring much honor within their society and seemed like a waste of money to some.  Notice that it is impossible to honor God while you are actively dishonoring His commands to you.

This functionally nullified God’s command to care for your parents, and was a kind of religious loophole that the elders had created.  The truth is that God would rather you cared for your parents than give a dime to his religious institutions.  This is not just true for Israel, but also within the Church.  Do leaders and elders pay attention to large gifts that are given to their churches?  Do we ensure that these kinds of things are not happening? 

Jesus then states in verse 13 that they have many such things in which tradition had created ways to get around doing what God commanded.  Those who want to honor God in their hearts are not looking for ways to get around His commands.  Love does not ask what exactly has to be done to honor parents.  Instead it purely acts in order to honor them and honor God.  Thus, our honor does not need to look the same as someone else.

So, what do I do if my parents are not honorable?  Sure, some situations are very difficult and full of a history of bad blood.  However, if your parents have failed in their duties towards you then you should show love to them by caring for them in their old age to the best of your ability.  This is what Christ would have you do.  Who knows, this may change their hearts and create reconciliation, but if it doesn’t, it is still not a loss.  God will bless you for doing your best to honor Him by honoring your parents.

Jesus addresses the crowd

At verse 14, Jesus calls the crowd to himself and begins to make a point about this to them.  The washing of the hands, cups, and utensils all had to do with keeping spiritual defilement from coming into a person, and it was a creation of the elders of Israel.  Jesus corrects the principle that they had been taught (i.e. that such things could spiritually defile you).  He tells them that they are not defiled by what goes into their body.  The washing of feet and hands by the priests in the temple was never teaching that spiritual defilement comes from the physical things that get on us or in us.  That then begs the question.  What exactly does spiritually defile a person?

Jesus categorically states that we are defiled by what comes out of us.  Later we will see that he is talking about the things that come out of our hearts.  You are defiled by what occurs in your heart, period.  It is not the abundance of food or money that makes a person a glutton or greedy.  It is the desire of their heart that craves beyond godly boundaries.  It is not the act of seeing someone naked that makes a person a fornicator.  It is what is stirred up within their heart.  Now, in this context, Jesus is talking about food, but it scopes out to all these other issues.

What about garbage in garbage out?  Even in the area of pornography, it is not the fact that you see a naked person that defiles you.  Otherwise, it would be impossible for us to be intimate with our spouse without wearing blindfolds.  Again, it is what is being stirred up in your heart.  Pornography is acid to the spiritual soul because it stirs up the desire to treat sexuality and another human as a means to an end, as a piece of bread to be consumed and to satisfy an insatiable appetite.  We are told to flee sexual immorality, and may God help us to do so. We guard what comes into our eyes, ears, and mouth, not because it can bring defilement into us, but rather because it will dredge up defilement from out of the depths of our own heart.

The main battle is not at the level of controlling what goes into our body.  The main battle is in our hearts where the love of God either wins out, or our love of sexuality, money, fame, fortune, and a flood of other such things, does.  The over-emphasis on the external allows the internal to remain in a state of spiritual defilement.  Oh Lord, help us to cleanse our hearts through reading your Word, repenting, and praying for the strength to live out a love of you over the things of this world.

Verse 16 challenges us to listen to what Jesus is saying.  Do I have ears to hear?  If we really want to understand what Jesus is saying then we will hear it.  It is easy to get so lost in nitpicking how something is said, and any exceptions, that we don’t listen to the importance of the point.  A person can stop drinking alcohol, but this act alone cannot purify them because it wasn’t the alcohol that defiled them in the first place.  In the end, the battle is always in the heart.  Am I going to live for Jesus, or am I going to live for my flesh and this world?  A person can look like they are clean as a whistle on the outside, and yet be a garbage dump on the inside.  I personally quit drinking alcohol in 1988, that is 31 years ago.  Yet, 31 years of abstaining from alcohol cannot purify one single thing from my heart by itself.  It can only be effective when coupled with a mind that is repenting of the things that lurk in its heart.  I pray that we both have ears to hear what Jesus is saying today.

Jesus further explains to his disciples

After this, when they had entered a private place, Jesus is asked about what he meant by the disciples.  Thus, Jesus emphasizes that he is talking about food and drink.  No food or beverage can actually defile a person.  He makes them think about the eating process.  The body takes in what it needs and expels what it doesn’t.  In a sense, the body is a purifying machine itself.

So, why did the Old Testament command not to eat certain foods?  It was an object lesson to teach them that there are things that can defile the soul and a person should avoid them.  It was also a test of loyalty and faith.

The other side of the lesson is to point to where the true defilement occurs.  We are spiritually defiled by what comes out of our heart.  Of course, the abuser who screams, “Why do you make me so angry,” is actually lying.  The anger was already there in their heart, unresolved and untended.  The monster was always lurking in the shadows, and, instead of going into their heart, hunting it down, and putting it to death, they have allowed it to live by giving it scraps from time to time, even large meals.  Quit pointing to everything else under the sun and blaming it for your defilement.  You are the man!  The problem is right there in your own heart. 

We as Christians are supposed to be the one people who get it.  It is not the Romans, Pharisees, Democrats, Republicans, Russians, Iranians, and the list goes on ad infinitum.  We are to be a people who are going through life, and doing the hard work of dealing with the stuff of our own heart.  This is the genius of the teachings of Jesus.  It calls us to clean our own house, our own heart, and to be merciful to others.  It calls us away from the external image, posing, and pretending to be something that we are not.

Jesus then gives a list of things that lurk in our hearts and often find exit through our mouth, hands, and body.  We should note that this is not an exhaustive list.  His point is that none of these things come from eating the wrong foods, or eating good food with hands that haven’t been ritually washed.

Evil thoughts are the beginning of all sin and opens up our list.  Most of these are obvious, and we should note that they begin internally with thoughts, and then move to external actions.  Adultery begins in the heart whether it is ever acted upon or not.  Fornication is a word that refers to any sexual relationship outside of a man and woman who are married.  Any sexual activity outside of marriage is a sin.  Murder is easy to rush on by, until we remember that Jesus also means the internal hatred that, again, may or may not be expressed in external action.  Thefts begin with a covetous heart that has an inordinate desire for the things that others have.  Wickedness is a general term that covers everything that is bad.  Deceit is obvious.  Lewdness is unbridled lust, and the lack of restraint.  An evil eye is greed and coveting.  Blasphemy means to slander and can involve people as well as God.  We typically call it blasphemy when it is done to God and slander when it is done to a person.  Pride is to be overly full of our own powers and merits.  Foolishness is a lack of godly understanding.

Why does mankind struggle so much at trying to fix our national and global issues?  We do so because all of our hearts are quite capable of generating all manner of evil, and we are generally too enamored with it to go to war against our own heart.  May God save us from ourselves.

Traditions 2 audio

Traditions and Rituals

Mark 6:53-7:8. This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, October 27, 2019.

As we head into the holiday season, the subject of traditions is an especially timely one.  The traditions surrounding Christmas within our society are quickly becoming outdated and tossed aside.  It is becoming controversial among some people to wish others a “Merry Christmas.”

Even the traditions of families require a bit of flux as the generations replace each other and the new stuff to do is determined.

In all of these issues, we can lose sight of the truth of God’s Word because of the sentimentality of a tradition that may or may not be based upon the commands of God.  Some of the traditions that our elders have passed down to us are healthy and worthy of keeping, but some of them are not.  As we approach Halloween and the celebration of all that is wicked and dead, it seems like harmless fun, but it has no connection to God’s Word, unless you consider the false religions that it describes.  Of course, some attempts were made to sanctify the period through the celebration of the saints on November 1, making October 31 All Saints Eve, or All Hallow’s Evening. 

Regardless of these things, our passage today will challenge us to make a distinction between the commands that are given to us by God and the traditions that were given to us by our fathers.  At the end of the day, we must never let tradition and rituals help us to lose sight of the commands of God.

Jesus continues to heal many

At the end of chapter 6, Mark starts with a specific event where Jesus and the disciples enter the Gennesaret Area.  This is on the western shores of the Sea of Galilee, southwest of Capernaum.  He then expands the scope from this specific event to how things were generally going at this period in the ministry of Jesus.  Jesus was still quite popular among the common people at this point, and he was still quite unpopular with the religious leaders.  Of course, this is easy to understand due to the fact that Jesus was healing so many and had also fed thousands in the wilderness.

Mark tells us that the presence of Jesus in these areas would draw people to him.  Part of his popularity was due to his novel character, the possibility that he was the Messiah, and his unique teachings, which were quite different from the religious leaders of their day.

However, the biggest driver of people towards him was the desire for a miracle, particularly healing.  We are told that the people were begging him to let them touch just the hem of his garment, and when they did touch it, they were healed.  Of course, the clothing Jesus wore did not have any healing power.  However, God saw their faith in Jesus and rewarded it with a healing.

We would like to think that people who come to us are always led by the Holy Spirit, and seeking God, but often they simply come out of desperate need.  It is challenging to help people in their physical need and yet open their eyes to their spiritual need.  There are many religious ministries that feed the poor and homeless to this day, but very few of the people who gather to them do so in order to be spiritually changed.  Notice that Jesus was compassionate enough to minister to these crowds even though many of them were only looking for a natural benefit.  Jesus could heal their bodies in an instant, but the healing of their hearts and minds would require their willingness to do more than travel to a particular city and beg to be healed.

So, we can see through the ministry of Jesus that drawing a crowd is not all that it is cracked up to be.  I am not saying that we shouldn’t draw crowds, but that we should be aware of the finicky nature of such things.  People gather because they want something, and if they are not interested in true spiritual food then you will only succeed in feeding their bellies, their curiosity, and their desire for entertainment.  It is in this that we must see that if anything spiritual is going to occur, it will only be by God’s Holy Spirit, and by the grace of Jesus.

In fact, it would be a crowd that would later shout, “Crucify him!”  So, when the people heard that Jesus was in the territory, they picked up their sick and gathered where he was at, hoping to be healed.

Jesus is confronted about traditions

As we go into chapter 7, Jesus is confronted with the fact that his disciples are not keeping certain rituals that had become tradition within Israel.

The Pharisees had been watching Jesus.  They had sent representatives to the Galilee area with the task of watching Jesus, and determining the best way to stop him.  This led to increasingly confrontational situations. 

It can be easy to worry about people who are “watching us.”  What if political operatives were coming into our churches and watching us in order to determine how best to stop us?  What if the things that we teach were to end up reported in the headlines of tomorrow, only twisted and put in the worst possible light? 

Jesus knew these things were happening, but he did not fear them.  He kept focused upon the mission that had been given to him by the Father.  We also must remain focused upon the mission that has been given to us.  Unless we shine the true light of Christ, people will have no hope of finding salvation for their souls and rescue from their sins.  May God fill us with strength by His Holy Spirit.

This issue that is noted in our passage has to do with washing one’s hands before eating.  For us today, we would think that this is about hygiene, and that those backwater, Galilean fishermen were eating without cleaning their hands.  This is not what the passage is highlighting.  There was a whole ritual of hand washing that started with the physical cleaning of the hands, or pot, or utensil that would be used to eat.  After this, a ceremonial or ritual washing would be done to cleanse the hands or cooking pot spiritually.  I won’t go into all the details of how they would do this.  However, the point is that the disciples were not doing the ritual hand washing as was tradition.  This passage reminds us that religious tradition can be very powerful.

So, how did this tradition get started?  The Law of Moses refers to the priests washing their hands and feet at the bronze laver before they entered the tabernacle (later the temple).  It clearly represents cleansing oneself spiritually before entering the place of God’s presence.  Over the years, one rabbi’s ideas stacked on top of another rabbi’s ideas, the idea developed that all of Israel should observe ritual cleansing for particular situations, and eating was one of those.

The Pharisees put the question to Jesus rightly.  Why don’t the disciples of Jesus observe the tradition of the elders in this matter?  This is going to set up an important distinction, which Jesus points out to us here.  We must learn to discern between what is a command of God to us in the Scriptures, and what is a tradition that our elders have given to us.  God’s commands must always be obeyed.  Traditions are not so.

Traditions can be good and healthy if they encourage us spiritually to follow the commands of God.  Yet, traditions accumulate changes and lose meaning over the years.  We can fall into the habit of ritually observing traditions that have long since lost their meaning.  The very nature of traditions requires every generation, every individual, to search their heart before God and seek the truth beneath them.  It also requires us to be honest about how useful these traditions are today in highlighting the truth of God.

A classic example of this is all the commercial trappings that have become connected to Christmas.  Or how, about the overeating and, again, commercialism of Thanksgiving?  May God help us to hear the voice of Christ through this ancient custom of ritual, hand washing.

Let’s analyze the first part of the answer that Jesus gives, and next week we will look at the second part. 

Jesus reminds them of a passage in Isaiah 29:13 (I would suggest reading this whole chapter).  God chastises Israel for saying the words that honor Him, but not having a heart that honors Him.  The outward talk of honor is not enough.  It is not enough to say that Jesus is the reason for the season when our heart is really fixed on something other than Jesus.  In other words, our hearts are actually dishonoring God when we are not caring for His ways and longing for Him, period.  Do I want the grace of God that Christmas promises, or do I want merry, nostalgic emotions that make me feel good?  Do I want to give thanks to the God who provided for me when I wasn’t sure how I was going to make it, or do I want to overindulge my appetites, watch entertainments, and then go buy a bunch of stuff? 

The problem is not the eating, football, and new gadgets.  The problem is whether we are truly thankful to God and honoring Him in our hearts.  The problem is whether or not I am truly amazed at the incarnation of Jesus and the hope it brings to all mankind.  Is there an inner honoring of God that matches the outward words and actions?

The Isaiah passage then mentions empty worship, or worshipping in vain.  Many in Israel had fallen into the sin of empty worship and exalting the dictates of men over those of God.  God does not need all of the churches that exist in this country today.  He does not need the millions of songs that are sung throughout each week.  He is not impressed with our amazing talents, musical ablilities, and laser light shows.  He is listening to the hearts involved.

To worship in vain is to be like a person who brings someone else a cup of water and yet it is empty.  What good is it?  We can do all the right things on the outward, but if our heart is not honoring God, worshipping Him, desiring Him, then those things are empty.  Don’t settle for being an empty vessel.  Don’t settle for filling your life with the things of this world, and yet, not have the hunger for God that you should.

Israel had fallen into the trap of exalting the teachings and dictates of wise men throughout their history.  We must never forget that.  No matter how wise men or women may be, they cannot give the Words of Life without God.  Only God can give the words of life, and He has been faithful to give these to those who seek Him with all their hearts. 

This holiday season, let’s not just say that Jesus is the reason for the season.  Let’s also invite Him into our hearts in a fresh way, and truly make it about Him.

Tradition and Ritual Audio