Jesus didn't follow allof the Pharisees' rules.
I’m going to tell you something really disgusting about Jesus and his disciples.We can credit the Pharisees and teachers of the law for first calling it to our attention. Of all the things Jesus and his disciples did, this really takes the prize.
Mark 7:1-2 (NIV) tells us, "The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus andsaw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were 'unclean,' that is, unwashed."
"Dirty fishermen, dirty tax collectors, dirty carpenter! Have they no manners? No sense of social etiquette? No personal hygiene? What, was one of them born in a stable or something? Didn't their mothers teach them to wash their hands before eating? They’d be banned by the Public Health Department if the same thing happened today. The nerve of them!"
As always, there is more to this text than meets the eye. Mark 7:3-5 (NIV)adds aparenthetical note."(The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.) So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, 'Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with 'unclean' hands?"
I told you! This passage isn't just about dirty hands. It's also about dirty dishes being left in the kitchen sink. Real men wash their hands. But they also wash cups, pitchers, and their kettles before eating out of them. How dare Jesus presume that he and his disciples were above doing the dishes, or washing up before a meal? Savages!
We tend to focus on exterior appearances rather than on what really matters.
Okay, enough messing around. This passage is about the tendency of men to focus on exterior matters while neglecting their interior lives. Let’s just switch up our metaphors and dig into this a little bit more.
These days, mentake great pride in exterior things. I had a neighbor who would spend hours washing and waxing his cars. Shiny cars were his thing. Another neighbor spends hours power-washing his siding, his porch, his sidewalk, and his gutters. He’s very particular about everything in his yard.
For a lot of men, it's all about their appearance— their Armani suit, their abs and biceps, and their hairline. They never pass a mirror that doesn’t catch their eye. For other men, it's the voltage of their power tools or the size of their toolbox.By the way, Brion Kauffman has the biggest toolbox I’ve ever seen! Come on, you know what I am talking about. For some men it's the horsepower under the hood, the size of their flat screen television, the job title, the promotion, the corner office, the neighborhood they live in, how pretty a girl they can get, their toys, their trophies, their kid’s trophies, or their academic credentials.
Man's identity gets wrapped up in exterior things. Look at Mark 7:1 again. The Pharisees and teachers of the law came all the way to Galilee from Jerusalem in orderto see if Jesus measured up. He did not live up to their exterior standards. Men, have you noticed as we've studied the gospels that Jesus' life is not defined by any of the things we define our lives by?
Jesus' life was defined differently.
Here's a quick quiz. How many square feet was Jesus' mansion? What kind of boat did he navigate? What kind of clothes did he wear? Where did he graduate from? How much could he bench press? What tools did he use in the woodshop? None of these things matter for eternity. None of these things matter to God, and you know what?They don’t matter to the people we're trying to impress either!
Sad but true. Men today are overly consumed with their exterior lives. Meanwhile, we're badly neglecting our interior lives— our character, our relationships, our faith, and true righteousness.
Wow, everything on the outside looks squeaky clean. Everyone's impressed. Too bad none of it matters. The Pharisees adopted meticulous rituals for purifying their exterior lives. But God wants to know what kind of man you are underneath all the stuff you use and all the stuff you do to mask (cloak) your true self.
In scripture we're repeatedly told that God sees the heart. Jesus always preached to the interior, to the heart, and never to the exterior. Jesus' gospel wasn't, "Attend church, read your Bible, give a tithe, sing this hymn, do this ritual, and say this liturgy."
Jesus' gospel was "Repent! Believe! Be baptized!" Butdon't be baptized in a ritualistic, exterior sense. Baptism is a pledge of a clear conscience to God. It's an interior act of dedication. It's the submission of one's heart, mind, body, and soul to the lordship of Christ. So let's look at what our text says abouta man'sinterior life.
God desires authentic worship.
God desires worship that comes from the heart. He doesn't want our petty exterior traditions.
Mark 7:6-8 (NIV) records Jesus' reaction to the Pharisees."Jesus replied, 'Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: 'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.' You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men.' "
This quotation of Jesus comes from Isaiah 1:10-20 where God rebukes the nation of Israel for going through the motions of worship. I hope you’ll sit up and listen.God is not impressed by appearances in worship. He is not impressed by our petty traditions. He wantsour hearts! Fathers, the best gift you can give your family is a heart of authentic worship.
Isaiah 1:10-20 (NIV) says, "Hear the word of the LORD,you rulers of Sodom;listen to the law of our God,you people of Gomorrah! 'The multitude of your sacrifices—what are they to me?' says the LORD.'I have more than enough of burnt offerings,of rams and the fat of fattened animals;I have no pleasurein the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. When you come to appear before me,who has asked this of you,this trampling of my courts?' "
"Stop bringing meaningless offerings!Your incense is detestable to me.New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations—I cannot bear your evil assemblies. Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feastsmy soul hates.They have become a burden to me;I am weary of bearing them."
"When you spread out your hands in prayer,I will hide my eyes from you;even if you offer many prayers,I will not listen.Your hands are full of blood; wash and make yourselves clean.Take your evil deedsout of my sight!Stop doing wrong, learn to do right!Seek justice,encourage the oppressed.Defend the cause of the fatherless,plead the case of the widow."
" 'Come now, let us reason together,'says the LORD.'Though your sins are like scarlet,they shall be as white as snow;though they are red as crimson,they shall be like wool. If you are willing and obedient,you will eat the best from the land; but if you resist and rebel,you will be devoured by the sword.' For the mouth of the LORD has spoken."
God desires authentic relationships.
God wants men to becaring for their families. Too many of us have been selling out our families.
Mark 7:9-13 (NIV) says,"And he said to them: 'You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! For Moses said,'‘Honor your father and your mother,' and, 'Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.' But you say that if a man says to his father or mother: 'Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is Corban' (that is, a gift devoted to God),then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother. Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that.' "
So check it out. In Jesus' day there was something known as the Corban tradition. So let’s say your mother or father were gravely ill, or destitute, and you had the means to help them. Instead of helping them, people in Jesus' day would declare their money as "Corban"—as an offering for God. Effectively they were saying, "Sorry mom and dad, can’t help you. My pot of cash is for a more sacred purpose than caring for you. That’s for my retirement,my hobby, my vacation,my new car,my new television......."
Jesus' point isthat nothing ismore sacred or holy than providing for your family! There is no shelter in Christianity for neglecting your family. I mean, consider 1 Timothy 5:8 (NIV)."If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever." Your hands may be squeaky clean. But is that your momor dad scrounging in the dumpster for food?
Fathers, the best gift you can give your family is a heart of authentic worship.But you also have a responsibility tofulfill your responsibility to your immediate family. It's fulfilling the obligations of love.
God desires authentic change in our lives.
God wants us to change ourselvesfrom the inside-out. He doesn't care what we look like from the outside.
So check out Mark 7:14-23 (NIV). "Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, 'Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. Nothing outside a man can make him 'unclean' by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him 'unclean.' ' After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable.'Are you so dull?' he asked. 'Don’t you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him 'unclean'? For it doesn't go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body.' (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods 'clean.')He went on: 'What comes out of a man is what makes him 'unclean.'For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed,malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man 'unclean.' ' "
God desires authentic change, from the inside-out. Men, the heart is what directs your thought life. If your heart is filled with lust, you're going to entertaining lustful thoughts all day long. If your heart is filled with greed, you're going to be prowling around for financial quick fixes all day and night.The heart is our problem. Our problem is not our circumstances, stress, peer pressure, chemical imbalances, depression, our childhood, this thing, or that. Our problem is we haven't let God captivate our hearts! When God captivates our hearts, everything else has a way of falling in line!
A lot of people want to be changed without changing the core ambition of their heart. It doesn't work that way. This is why repentance, faith, and submission in baptism is the starting point of our Christian journey. Our journey doesn't begin until our heart is yielded.
For many of you, that journey hasn’t started. You major in exterior things whileyou areneglecting your interior life. That can all change this Father's Day. Today can be a day of dedication— a day of faith, repentance, confession, and baptism. This can be a day to receive true forgiveness, true righteousness, and true power to live for Christ. Today you can decide to define your life by exterior things, or by an interior life fully yielded to God.