Study in Mark’s Gospel

Study in Mark’s Gospel Presentation 22

The Core Of True Religion Chap 7v1-23 Presentation 22

Introduction A school pupil constantly challenged his classmates to a game of chess, promising to wipe the floor with them in the process. There was only one problem, he could not play the game. And every failed challenge exposed that fact and folly of his self-confidence. His behaviour was similar to that of the Pharisees. They constantly set out to defeat Jesus. They came to criticise and to give him lessons in true religion only to be sent away aware of the inadequacy of their own religious life. Crossing swords with Jesus is a dangerous business for we find the weaknesses in our lives laid bare. In this passage Jesus asks three very important questions of us. Presentation 22

Is Your Morality Outward Or Inward? The Pharisees came to Jesus with a burning religious question, 'Why don't your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders....‘v5 The issue, washing ones hands before eating had nothing to do with personal hygiene but with ceremonial cleanliness. The Pharisees would wash their hands before eating just in case they had come into contact with a ceremonially unclean person, they might have touched the cloak of a sinner. For them unwashed hands meant spiritual contamination. The were obsessed with externals and this caused them to evaluate men in a very superficial manner. If they observed the outward ceremonies, then they were good men, but if they failed to keep these little observances, they were great sinners. Presentation 22

Is Your Morality Outward Or Inward? Jesus disciples did not share their obsession with religious externals thus causing great offence. When we exaggerate the importance of externals we minimise the importance of internal things like faith and love. There is a real pressure to judge people by religious, social and cultural taboos. 'They wear jeans in church! They speak with a funny accent. They don’t take their shoes off when they visit etc...’ But God’s passionate concern is not with man's outward but with his inward condition. The Pharisees had a superficial view of sin, which they had almost regulated it out of existence or, so they thought. They had 248 commands and 365 prohibitions, which they meticulously observed having added all sorts of human traditions and regulations to God's law. Presentation 22

Is Your Morality Outward Or Inward? Jesus once shocked his hearers saying, 'unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees you will not enter the kingdom of heaven’, Matt.5v20. The Pharisees knew outward conformity to the law but Jesus drove the law inward. 'You smugly think that because you have never killed someone that you're not a murderer but if you are angry with your brother you are guilty of murder’ Matt. 5v21-23. Morality involves our thoughts as well as our behaviour. However, when the external is seen as more important than the internal a pettiness is produced that blows up little things out of all proportion. We strain at the gnat and swallow the camel. Hand washing had become more important to the Pharisees than heart devotion. Presentation 22

Is Your Morality Outward Or Inward? The Pharisees obsession with an external religion did not deal with their most basic problem - their sinful heart. Jesus pours scorn on their whole approach in the parable of the body function which he tells in v15... The Pharisees were blind to the real source of evil and contamination v20-23. Evil has nothing to do with the food that passes through a man but with his heart. The Pharisees superficial religion was an attempt to paper over the biggest crack in the thinking of man. The fact that he possesses a sinful heart. Presentation 22

Is Your Morality Outward Or Inward? This kind of wallpapering has been popular in every age, a little bit of church going, a little bit of sacrament taking, a little bit of giving, a little bit church supporting. Much wallpapering, little major renovation! What men need is the renewing of God’s Spirit in their heart, changing them from the inside out. Before that can happen we must admit our obsession with externals. The Pharisees were disturbed because Jesus’ disciples enjoyed a liberty which they did not possess. Wallpapering over wide cracks requires constant hard work and never accomplishes the desired effect. Like all legalists, who want to mix merit with mercy the Pharisees would rather carry the burden of man made regulations than enjoy the easy yoke of Jesus’ freedom. Presentation 22

Is Your Authority Scripture Or Tradition? People who like wallpapering over cracks don't like to be challenged or, told that they are wasting their time. And so Jesus asks another important question, 'Is your authority for your belief and practice based on God's Word or on human tradition? v7-10. Jesus provides a scathing example of how they had allowed human tradition to nullify God's command. God had commanded through Moses, 'Honour your father and your mother'. That involved caring for them in their old age. Something, which required a financial outlay for then there were no pensions or social security. Parents who had expended time, energy and resources in raising a family could legitimately look to their children to provide for them in their old age. Presentation 22

Is Your Authority Scripture Or Tradition? The Pharisees had invented a way to satisfy their greed and avoid their duty. They took a special vow dedicating their money in the bank to God - it was corban. It could be used only by the owner in his lifetime and would pass into the temple treasury at his death. Thus placing it beyond their parents reach. ‘I'd really like to help you dad but...’ Man-made human tradition nullified the clear teaching of scripture. Human tradition has a tendency to make ‘things’ more important than ‘people’ whereas the stress in God's Word and God's law makes it clear that people are more important than things. Beware of human traditions which prevent you from expressing our love to others and which challenge the clear directives of God. Presentation 22

Is Your Authority Scripture Or Tradition? Of course not all tradition is bad or wrong. Many of us have cherished beliefs and practices which we have inherited from our parents or our church fellowship. But we must not accept them uncritically so that we say, 'I must do this because this is what my mum and dad did...' 'I must do this because some in my church fellowship say I must...' If tradition contradicts scripture then view it with suspicion. The Reformed Church in Europe came into existence because men like Calvin, Luther, and Zwingli refused to place tradition above scripture. Presentation 22

Is Your Authority Scripture Or Tradition? Throughout the middle ages, the church was increasingly controlled by human traditions. Many of her beliefs and practices had no biblical foundation; the sale of indulgences, purgatory, an intermediary priesthood etc. There was a growing unease with the direction the church was taking having begun to neglect the authority of scripture. Luther and others reacted and sought to reform the church. Their watchword was ‘sola scriptura’, ‘only scripture’. This alone was to be the basis of the belief and practice of the church. The church must constantly reform itself, testing all of her beliefs and practices against God's Word. Presentation 22

Have You Lip Or Heart Worship? This passage asks, how we worship God. Not all worship is acceptable to God. Jesus’ quarrel with the Pharisees is not that they worshipped God but how they worshipped him. Jesus compared them with the people in Isaiah's day who worshipped God with their lips and not with their hearts. But what exactly is heart worship? The heart in the Bible is viewed as the seat of the human personality. When God says, 'Give me your heart' [Prov.23v26] he is asking for the whole of our life, all that we are. It means we will listen to him and seek to obey him. Presentation 22

Have You Lip Or Heart Worship? Isaiah likened his hearers to drunk men in worship because they neither knew nor understood what they were saying. They had failed to listen to God's Word and submit to it. Similarly, the Pharisees heard God's Word and God's Son but did not submit. They didn't open their mind to what God was saying and allow it to challenge their prejudice and tradition. In this context a minister received a letter which read, 'Whenever I go to church I feel like unscrewing my head and placing it under the seat because in a religious meeting I have never had any use for anything above my collar button'. The writer did not want to engage God’s word with their mind. Heart worship requires listening for God's voice. Do we do that? Presentation 22

Have You Lip Or Heart Worship? Heart worship also has a moral dimension associated with it. The hypocrisy of Isaiah's day, shared by the Pharisees, was to believe that as long as they got their religious practice right, attended worship, put in their offering, repeated appropriate words then it did not really matter what they did outside of church. God burst that bubble by telling them that they could not separate moral obedience from heart worship. This is not to say that those who are moral failures are excluded from worship. God listens to our broken heart, our admission of guilt, our genuine repentance and then assures us of full forgiveness and restoration. Presentation 22

Have You Lip Or Heart Worship? What God refuses to accept is a people who believe that as long as they go through the church ritual then they can then they can live as they please when they leave the church service. We cannot truly worship God, while at the same time negotiating a dishonest business deal or, while cultivating an immoral relationship or, harbouring a grudge in our hearts against someone. Heart worship is spiritual, inward, inspired by the Spirit of God within the spirit of man. The Spirit will only operate in the lives of those who are receptive to God's Word and who with his help eager to obey it. Presentation 22

Conclusion ? Jesus sifted the religious worship of his questioners. He continues to do so in our own day. He asks important questions of us. Is our view of morality is inward or outward? Are we ready to give up wallpapering over the many cracks in our lives? Do we view human traditions of greater importance than God's Word? And so upon what authority do we build our religious beliefs and practice. Do we bring him lip worship or heart worship? Worship is 24-7 and touches every aspect of our lives. How will we answer him? Presentation 22

Study in Mark’s Gospel