INSIDE OUT

This message was preached on Sunday, June 29th. As you will read, it was a difficult message for me to preach, because of the opposition I ha received in the past and even that week leading up to it. If you would like to listen to this message, you can go to www.gbcwestlake.org and choose Listen now; and then choose this message.

INSIDE OUT
Mark 7:1-13

Please turn to Mark 7. In the Bible in front of you, it is page 871 or 889.

I should probably begin this message with some type of warning label. I can’t remember the last time I went into a message expecting bad things to happen. This past week, I had a spirited discussion with 2 different local pastors about this message; and even found myself becoming defensive in a conversation with Teresa about it. My own inconsistencies in life make it difficult to preach a message like this.

And 2 years ago, the last time I spoke about this topic, we had someone leave the church, stating that this was a main reason why. I have been warned that people will misunderstand what I am about to say; and that people may get up and walk out. I have been debating in my mind whether or not to just skip this message or change it in order to not potentially offend anyone. I have been praying about this all week. I have decided to go ahead with it and take the risks. So, I think it might be wise to begin this message in prayer.

PRAYER

In his book The Grace Awakening, Chuck Swindoll shares this story: “A missionary family had encountered legalism to such an extent on the mission field, that it drove them off of it. Believe it or not, it was over a jar of peanut butter! The particular place God called this family to serve did not have access to peanut butter. This family loved peanut butter, so they made arrangements with some of their friends in the United States to send them peanut butter, every once in a while, to enjoy with their meals.

But they soon found out that the other missionary families considered it a mark of spirituality to not have peanut butter with their meals. They would say something like this: ‘Since we cannot get peanut butter here, then we should all give it up for the cause of Christ.’ So, they believed you were bearing your cross if you went without peanut butter. This young family, however, didn’t feel the same way, and continued to receive their shipments of peanut butter.

The pressure began to intensify. In fact, so much pressure was applied to this young missionary family, that is caused them spiritual discouragement and they eventually were forced off the mission field – over a jar of peanut butter! Yes, this happens on the mission field. A tradition, such as no peanut butter, becomes more important than love, grace and kindness. And it also happens in churches here in the United States of America; maybe not about peanut butter, but other traditions that have become sacred.

You would think in religious circles, where loving God and others is encouraged, this type of legalism would not exist. But, if we go back 2,000 years, and examine the religious leaders of Jesus’ day, we might be able to see how easy it can happen and how long this has been going on.

In chapter 2 and the beginning of chapter 3 of the gospel of Mark, we had seen some of the conflict between the religious leaders and this man that they just could not accept as the Son of God He was claiming to be: Jesus Christ. We have seen that Jesus was incredibly popular with people, as He taught them with authority, cared for them personally, and healed them physically and spiritually. But, the rejection of Jesus and what He was teaching, by the religious leaders, was indicative of the rejection the entire nation of Israel of Jesus as the promised Messiah.

Mark 7:1-4 – “Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands, holding to the tradition of the elders, 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.”

The Pharisees and some of the religious law teachers from Jerusalem gathered to do another investigation or interrogation of Jesus and His followers. They were looking at everything through a critical lens, just looking for them to mess up. Do you know anyone like that? That is what these guys were like; and it didn’t take them long to find something to criticize: The disciples were not washing their hands before eating!

Now, this is not just like a mom who has to constantly remind her children to wash their hands, because she doesn’t want them to get sick. This is a ceremonial washing. According to Walvoord and Zuck: “[the word unclean] was a technical term among Jews denoting whatever was contaminated according to their religious rituals and thus was unfit to be called holy or devoted to God.”

As verses 3,4 explained, this was more than just a healthy thing to do, as we might think of it. It was a religious, ceremonial, tradition; as though the washing of the hands cleansed them spiritually, making them more holy. If they touched the food with ceremonially unwashed hands, the food became unholy. Not only that, the washing of the cups and pots and everything else that had to do with the meal, was not just the healthy concerns we have; but this was spiritual to them. To not do it every time was to be unholy, and unrighteous before God. For the Jewish people, these were not just good things to do, but traditions passed down by the elders as spiritual laws, binding as any other teaching of the Scriptures.

If a Jewish person was returning from the marketplace, they may have had contact with Gentiles, making them unclean or with money or other unclean things. They had to be ceremonially cleansed. They would take a handful of water to be cleansed before they would eat. As verse 4 states, there were many other ritual cleansings that were traditions as well.

It would be like a mom, instead of reminding her children to wash their hands so that they would n’t get sick; she might say to them as they begin to eat with unwashed hands: “SINNERS…SINNERS…YOU UNJUST, UNHOLY, UNRIGHTEOUS SINNERS - GO WASH YOUR HANDS!”…some of you have said that to your children, haven’t you!?

According to Barclay: “There were definite and rigid rules for the washing of hands. Note that this hand-washing was not in the interests of hygienic purity; it was ceremonial cleanness which was at stake. Before every meal, and between each of the courses, the hands had to be washed, and they had to be washed in a certain way. The hands, to begin with, had to be free of any coating of sand or mortar or gravel or any such substance. The water for washing had to be kept in special large stone jars, so that it itself was clean in the ceremonial sense and so that it might be certain that it had been used for no other purpose, and that nothing had fallen into it or had been mixed with it.

First, the hands were held with finger tips pointing upwards; water was poured over them and had to run at least down to the wrist; the minimum amount of water was one quarter of a log, which is equal to one and a half egg-shells full of water. While the hands were still wet each hand had to be cleansed with the fist of the other. That is what the phrase about using the fist means (some of the translations include that in verse 4); the fist of one hand was rubbed into the palm and against the surface of the other.

This meant that at this stage the hands were wet with water; but that water was now unclean because it had touched unclean hands. So, next, the hands had to be held with finger tips pointing downwards and water had to be poured over them in such a way that it began at the wrists and ran off at the finger tips. After all that had been done the hands were clean. To fail to do this was, in Jewish eyes, not to be guilty of bad manners, not to be dirty in the health sense, but to be unclean in the sight of God.”

Mark 7:5 – “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?”

The religious leaders addressed this issue to Jesus, since He was the leader of this rabble, and in their minds, responsible for their actions. So, as though they had caught him in the middle of a great sin, they asked: Why don’t your followers abide by the standards passed down by their elders? Why are they allowed to eat without the ceremonial washing?

That was their concern: “We live by the religious traditions. These traditions are as important as any other Scripture; so why aren’t your followers abiding by them?”
You don’t think they were taking it to that extreme? We know they were because of what Jesus said next:

Mark 7:6-8 – “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; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”

Jesus doesn’t waste His time trying to defend His disciples’ actions. He gets right to the point, the real issue at hand: the hearts of the accusers. Jesus quotes:

Isaiah 29:13 – “And the Lord said: because this people draw near with their mouth and honor me with their lips, while their hearts are far from me, and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men.”

Jesus said : you are hypocrites. To be a hypocrite means to pretend. That is what they were doing. Now, let’s be honest here. To a certain extent, we are all hypocrites. I preach to you but I do not always fulfill the expectations I have for myself, or that God has for me. You don’t always do what you want to do, even if you look good on Sundays. But, this type of hypocrisy is pre-meditated. This is the person who does the external religious things, to be noticed by others; but in fact, there is no desire to truly honor God.

And Jesus called them: “hypocrites”. How were they being hypocritical? Because, on the outside, they gave every impression that they were dedicated to God and His ways. These guys had the “look” of being holy, loving God with their whole hearts. But, the truth was, their hearts were far from God. That made them hypocrites. I hear people say they don’t go to church because of hypocrites. Well, as I said, we all tend to say one thing and don’t always live up to it. The real, biblical hypocrites, whom Jesus is speaking to, are the ones who put on the religious show, but have no intention of humbly following Christ. There is a difference.

I read that the devout Mohammedan must pray to God a certain number of times each day. To do so he carries his prayer mat; wherever he is, he will unroll the mat, fall upon his knees, say his prayers and then go on. There is a story of a Mohammedan who was pursuing a man with upraised knife to murder him. Just then the call to prayer rang out.

Immediately he stopped, spread out his prayer mat, knelt, said his prayer as fast as he could; then rose and continued his murderous pursuit. The prayer was simply a form and a ritual, an outward observance, merely the correct pause in the middle of murder. And this happens in every religion.

Jesus said: you honor God with your lips, that is, you say the right things; but your heart, that place where the truth of your spirit lives, that place where your motivations, your intentions, are brought to light – your heart is far from God. And He continues: not only that, but your so called worship is in vain, that is, it is empty – nothing there. Why? Because you spend your time, not teaching God’s commandments, but your commandments as though they were God’s commandments. You have abandoned God’s Word, in this way, and are clinging to your own traditions instead.

The tradition itself, in this case, the ceremonial washing, was not bad. According to Vines: “It started in Old Testament times, when God commanded the priests who were to minister in the temple to wash their hands. The practice was intended to be a reminder that when they went into the presence of God they had to be clean in their hearts. So along the way somebody said, If it’s good for the priest, it’s good for the people. Let’s have the people do that too. Before long the truth that you have to be clean in your heart was lost and they became occupied with having clean hands.”

This can happen so easily. In fact, I believe it is the natural path that people and churches take. They begin by holding firmly to the Word of God alone; but over time, they try to make everything work just right, by adding rules and making traditions. Those rules or traditions, that are not necessarily wrong in themselves, and may even help some people, are then inducted as laws, treated as binding as the Word of God itself.

We could talk in general terms here; and I could just say: SO WHAT? Don’t be legalistic like the Pharisees. SO WHAT? Don’t hold the traditions of man over the truths of God. I could say that; but it is not going to help us very much if we remain in generalities. It’s safe, but I don’t think it is right. So, some of the following may be uncomfortable to you. You might even feel offended. I don’t mind if you completely disagree with me. But, here is what we are after.

We must take the context of what Jesus is saying here; and bring those truths into the 21st Century and apply it to real life. The only way to do that is if we are willing to consider some of the realities of our traditions, that some people have indeed held as equal to or even above the Word of God. It is the only way we can really see what this might look like; and then evaluate for ourselves whether or not we are guilty of the same things. Make sense?

So, let me just give you a sampling, some real life examples from churches I grew up in and have experienced myself along the way. These are not made up. I have shared this with people before. And it is sad to me. Many people grew up in churches, hearing the truth about the deity of Christ, the infallibility of the Scriptures, and that the only way to God was trusting in Jesus Christ alone for salvation. They were taught these things and were committed to them. But, right along with the Ten commandments of God, they were also taught the Ten commandments of Men. This list might vary, but it looks something like this:

Commandment 1:Thou shalt only use a piano and organ and hymns in worship services

Nothing wrong with pianos , organs or hymns. The problem comes when we think they are the God –ordained instruments and songs and we condemn other instruments and music as ungodly or entertainment driven. We have to be careful. If a church chooses to only use those instruments and hymns, no problem. But once that church says that other churches that use guitars and hand held microphones and sing something other than hymns are not honoring God, then you have a spiritual problem.

Commandment 2: Thou shalt not allow women to wear pants or anyone to wear jeans or shorts or tee shirts in church

I think I might have told you about the person who left our church, partly because we allow women to wear pants here? He believed the Bible said it was a sin for women to wear pants and he made sure everyone knew about it. The problem was not that he had the belief that women should not wear pants. That wasn’t the problem. If he held to that, and I know many people do, fine. The problem came when he said that any woman who does wear pants or any church that allows women to wear pants are sinning against God, violating Scripture. Now we have a problem.

Commandment 3: Thou shalt only listen to music with Christian writers, singers and lyrics

Is there music out there that is not good to listen to? Of course. If it causes us to sin, to dwell on sinful things, we can argue it is wrong. However, just because a Christian did not write it or just because the song is not meant to be a Christian song, does not make it dishonoring to God. The same goes for books or art. God is the One who created all of these things; even the music that does not use His name. It is ok if your tradition is to only listen to Christian music; but just don’t cross the line, and accuse others of sin who enjoy other music as well. I believe that is the principle Jesus is teaching here.

Commandment 4: Thou shalt not play any games with the Devil’s cards (if you are unfamiliar with that term, it means playing cards)

When I was growing up, this was in church constitutions. The idea was that people gambled with playing cards; therefore, it was a sin to use them. Most churches have taken that out of their constitutions but there are still people who hold to this. If you don’t use playing cards, that is fine. If you use them to gamble away the resources God has given you to use for Him and your family, then yes, that is a problem. But to use the cards to play a game? Personal choice.

Commandment 5: Thou shalt go to church 4 times a week (Sunday school, morning service, evening service and mid-week prayer meeting), and whenever the “doors are opened”

Many devoted people go to church at every opportunity and there is nothing wrong with that. In fact, we pastors like it when people come to church! However, the problem comes when we begin to think that the more times we enter this building, the more spiritual we are. Or, once we start to criticize others and believe they are dishonoring God because they don’t have a certain service anymore or come to the building as often as we do – then we start to do what Jesus warned against: holding tradition above His Word.

Commandment 6: Thou shalt not use drums or electric guitar in church (the Devil’s instruments, as they have been called)

Many individuals and churches have chosen these particular instruments as ones that should never be allowed in the church. But, it just comes down to tradition – which is fine, as long as we don’t cross that line.

Commandment 7: Thou shalt use the only Bible authorized by God: The 1611 King James Version

I have to share with you a voice mail message I heard a few weeks ago. I was trying to contact someone I knew in the past and finally found a church phone number where they worked. It happened to be the church number and the number for the senior pastor’s home. I reached his voice mail and it sounded like every other one I’ve heard, until he said: “And God has left a message for you…” I was expecting to hear something like I’ve heard on other church or individual Christian’s answering machines: “And God has left a message for you – Jesus loves you; or God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life; or God sent His Son to die for you – have you received Him?”

That is what I expected. Instead, I heard this: “And God has left you a message: The KING JAMES BIBLE!” It took me back for a minute, because I had never heard a voice mail message like that. Instead of saying that God’s message had to do with Jesus Christ, He was representing His entire church by saying that God’s message has to do with just one of the versions of the Bible. I couldn’t believe it.

The King James Version is a great translation of the Bible. And because of tradition, many people still read it and carry it to church. I’m sure some of you brought yours today – no problem. But, you probably already know where the problem is, don’t you? The problem comes when we begin to think that the King James Version is the only good version of the Bible. It’s not. And, as I have had people tell me before – if you think all other versions are a part of the New Age movement and that if you don’t use the King James to lead someone to Christ, then they aren’t saved, now you’ve got a real problem – with God.

Commandment 8: Thou shalt not drink alcohol for any reason, any amount, at any time, nor shall you work or shop or eat in a place that sells alcohol

This used to be in many church constitutions as well, although most have dropped the last parts of that commandment, for obvious personal reasons. I have never had a drink of alcohol. I don’t think I’ve missed anything. We hope our children never take a drink. The Bible talks about the deceptiveness of strong drink; and we all know the destruction that comes, at times, from people who abuse it.

However, my tradition of not drinking is just that – a tradition. I do think it is wise not to drink; but it not a command of Scripture. No where will you find Scripture making a blanket statement not to drink alcohol. The sin is in getting drunk. The Bible is clear about that. I will tell anyone who wants to listen that it is not wise to drink. I recommend you never touch the stuff. I think you will be better off. However, I will not cross the line like the Pharisees did, by condemning those who choose to take a drink. God does not condemn them; and neither will I.

Commandment 9: Thou shalt not go to the Devil’s playhouse: The movie theater
This was also in my old church constitution and has also been removed from most. There is a lot of garbage in movie theaters that can hurt someone’s purity and put things in their minds that go against what God wants in our minds: no question. If someone chooses never to watch a movie, they aren’t missing anything that is going to hurt their godliness. However, we also must give people the liberty to watch movies if they choose, realizing that going to a theatre is not sinful. If we put impure things in our minds, then we are sinning. Discretion must be used; but don’t let tradition cause you to unjustly condemn others, as the Pharisees did.

Commandment 10: Thou shalt not allow anyone divorced to serve God in a significant way, since this sin has disqualified them from service

Somehow, in many church circles, the tradition became that divorce was a worse sin than any other; even though the Bible makes it clear that are even some cases where divorce is not a sin for the “innocent” party. Either way, even if sin is committed, God has made a way to take care of that sin and restore all of those involved. It became tradition to look down, forever, on those who had been divorced, regardless of their circumstances or when they were divorced or why. They could not serve in any position of leadership. In many cases, they could not teach. It is ok if a church holds to that tradition because they think it is best. It is not ok to say that the Bible clearly states this as a law, when it does not.

I know I spent a lot of time here; and you may not struggle with any of what we have just given as examples. But, I’m sure you can come up with other man-made commandments, traditions, that you and others do struggle with. So, what is it you struggle with, when it comes to traditions you hold to, that you are treating as doctrines? Are you willing to identify them? Are you willing to confess your sin? Are you willing to change the way that you push that tradition on others?

We all have traditions. Traditions are not evil. Holding traditions as doctrines of God is the sinful action. My prayer for myself and this church, is that we would never have to hear Jesus say these words to us. Come back to the middle of v.6:

Mark 7:6,7 – “…this people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.”

Jesus, then, gives a specific example of what the religious leaders were doing, as they tried to escape God’s commandments and emphasized their own instead.

Mark 7:9-13 – “And he said to them, 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 our tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”

At first reading, this doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to us; atleast it didn’t to me. What is Jesus referring to here? He uses one of the clear biblical commandments for the illustration. In order to give an illustration of what the religious leaders were doing, He quotes the positive command of God concerning parents and the negative one. Let me show them to you:

Exodus 20:12 – “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.”

That was the positive command. Here it is in the negative. He is quoting:

Exodus 21:17 – “Whoever dishonors his father or his mother shall be put to death.”

You can see the seriousness of this command. As I Timothy 5:4 alludes to, it was the understanding that to honor your parents included taking care of their physical and financial needs as they grew older.

Now, what Jesus does here in verse 11, is to quote a tradition that the religious leaders had. In the tradition, a person could title their possessions (which should be available to honor their parents) Corban. Corban comes from a Hebrew term that means “a gift devoted to God”. So, here is what they might do:

They could ceremonially call their possessions Corban, thereby saying that they were going to use those resources for God’s work. If they did so, those resources could not be used for other things, including to assist aging parents in need!

According to Walvoord and Zuck: “If a son declared that the resources needed to support his aging parents were “Corban” then, according to scribal tradition, he was exempt from this command of God, and his parents were legally excluded from any claim on him.” And then this explains verse 12: “The scribes emphasized that his vow was unalterable and held priority over his family responsibilities. So they no longer let him do anything for his parents.” Can you believe that?

Here’s the thing. It was right for them to give the first 10% of what they had to God. That was a command for the Jewish people. That was clear. However, after that, they were to take care of their family, including the honoring of their parents. But, they might try to get around that by claiming that they were giving the rest of their resources to God as well, which would then prohibit them from giving needed assistance to their parents. This was irresponsible; and according to Jesus, it demonstrated empty worship and a heart far from God.

This would be like someone here committing money above 10% and not buying the needed bread for their parents who were out of money. You could say you are giving to God, but if your words of committed giving means you are not caring for your family, for their basic needs, your worship in giving is empty – according to Jesus.

Jesus’ summary of what they were doing here is in verse 13. Let’s read that again:
Mark 7:13 – “Thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”

I hope you do understand the problem that Jesus was dealing with. It was not the traditions themselves. It was the fact that they were holding those traditions closer, more dearly, than the clear commands of God. The problem was not that they tithed their money to God through the church. The problem was that they used religious terminology and tradition in order to by-pass their responsibilities to take care of their parents financially.

The problem was not that they observed the Sabbath Day. The problem was that they observed all the extra rules for the Sabbath Day, even if that meant ignoring another person’s real needs. The problem was not that they fasted. Fasting was good. The problem was that they held to their fasting rules to make themselves look holy; and condemned others who didn’t practice it the way they did.

This was just one example of how they dismiss the very commandments of God, choosing to go with religious tradition instead. And they did this ALL THE TIME!

We saw some of that back in Mark 2:23-3:5. They had strict laws about fasting that went outside of the biblical principles for fasting. They expected more than God did; and when they had to make a choice between fasting and helping others with real needs, they chose the fasting. Wrong answer, Jesus said. They also had many problems with Jesus concerning the Sabbath Day, because they had a ton of extra rules for the Sabbath Day.

I shared with you several weeks ago, that according to the Talmud, the book of Jewish traditions: “On the Sabbath, you could not travel more than 3,000 feet from your house. You were not allowed to carry anything that weighed more than a dried fig. You couldn’t carry a needle for fear you might sew something. Taking a bath was forbidden. Water might splash on the floor and you might try to wash it. Women were not to look in a mirror because they might pull a gray hair!”

So, it is clear that the religious leaders were more concerned about their traditions than the clear commands of God.

Traditions are not wrong; but holding them over God’s commands are wrong.
Let’s say it was your family tradition to be baptized as an infant. And let’s even assume that the baptism you had as a baby was not meant to promise you eternal life, but was for some other spiritual purpose. And then, you grow up and become a follower of Jesus Christ, and you find out that He expects you to be baptized. But, in the opinion of your family, including you, you don’t believe you need to be re-baptized since you were baptized already. In that case, you would be holding tradition above the Word of God.

Let’s say you hold a grudge against another believer, for whatever reason – I’m sure it’s a good one. And you are confronted with the truth that you need to forgive that person, as Christ has forgiven you. However, you have a personal tradition, that you learned from your parents, and it goes like this: If he doesn’t ask me to forgive him, then I don’t need to. If he doesn’t come and grovel at my feet, then he doesn’t get my forgiveness. That is the way it has always been done! That is an example of taking a tradition and escaping the application of the truth of God’s Word.

These are examples of what the Pharisees were doing. If we are not willing to forgive someone who has sinned in a terrible way against us; or not willing to see our sin on an equal level as theirs, then we are overlooking the clear commands of the Word of God, in order to help us feel more spiritual and punish others with our man made rules. If we put aside grace and mercy and forgiveness, which are clear commands in the Bible, so that we can hold to our man made regulations, we are exactly where those religious leaders were.

Will you take some time to pray? This is about the inside coming out. We will see this in more detail next week. Will you take some time to think about your own heart (the inside); and how it comes out in your attitudes and actions? Is it possible that your heart, at this moment, is far from God? Are there any traditions that you are treating as doctrines of God? Is there anything God is asking you to do?