Religiosity - A damnable mistake

Welcome to God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in Morning Sun, Iowa. Check us out online at www.sharonrpc.org. We pray that this message will be a blessing to you and that the Lord will use it to transform your faith and your life. Will you turn in your Bibles with me to Mark chapter 7. Mark chapter 7. If you're using your New King James Pew Bibles, you'll find that on page 889. Mark chapter 7. Brothers and sisters, once again, this is the very words of God. Let's pay careful attention.

Then the Pharisees and some of the scribes came together to him, having come from Jerusalem. Now when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is, with unwashed hands, they found fault. For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands in a special way, holding the tradition of the elders. When they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other things which they have received and hold, like the washing of cups, pitchers, copper vessels, and couches. Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?

He answered and 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. And in vain they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men, the washing of pitchers and cups, and so many other such things you do. He said to them, all too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition.

For Moses said, honor your father and mother. And he who curses father or mother, let him be put to death. But you say, if a man says to his father or mother, whatever profit you might receive from me as Corban, that is a gift to God, then you no longer let him do anything for his father or his mother, making the Word of God of no effect through your tradition, which you have handed down. And many such things you do.

When he had called all the multitude to himself, he said to them, Hear me, everyone, and understand. There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him. But the things which come out of him, those are the things that defile a man. If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear. When he had entered a house away from the crowd, his disciples asked him concerning the parable. So he said to them, Are you thus without understanding also? Do you not perceive that whatever enters a man from outside cannot defile him?

Because it does not enter his heart, but his stomach, and is eliminated, thus purifying all foods. And he said, what comes out of a man defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts. adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man.

Prayer for Illumination

Let's end this reading of God's holy word. Let's pray. Father, we have heard from the very lips of Jesus, and we pray now that your Holy Spirit would teach us. Lord, we pray that these truths would be applied to our hearts. Father, I plead with you that the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart would be pleasing and acceptable in your sight, O Lord. that your people would be built up in their faith to love you and find rest for their souls in Jesus' name. Amen.

Sermon

You know, there's something interesting. When I was in Pittsburgh, or especially living in California, if you asked someone if they were a Christian, they would either start justifying their beliefs to you, or they would tell you different things. But there's something different in Iowa. In Iowa, it's interesting, it's a very traditional society. People, they've been farmers, their dad was a farmer, their grandpa was a farmer, they do things and they just do it.

And one of the answers I get when I talk to people about whether or not they're a Christian is often this statement, yeah, I go to church. I find that interesting. So I'm not a type of person who, well maybe people just get annoyed with me, that's fine, I like to ask questions. What do you mean you go to church? What does that mean to you, I go to church? Because in the best sense of that term it means it is where they go to find refuge for their soul, instruction from the Lord, to pray with the saints, to encourage other people, to live out the body of Christ, and for others it means, well yeah, I go to church.

Just what I do. Faith isn't there, but tradition is. But what Jesus is calling us to in this passage is something deeper than just sitting in a pew and making the cushion warm. Something deeper than just tradition, but he's pointing to us the necessity of having our hearts cleansed. And it is only Jesus Christ who can do that cleansing. We need cleanse by Jesus from the inside out, and so first I want to explore with you this idea of what I'm calling religiosity in the first 13 verses.

Notice in verse 1, Jesus is ministering, He's going throughout, and they call in reinforcements from the Capitol. All of a sudden, there's different scribes and Pharisees who come down from Jerusalem to Galilee, because Jesus' teaching and His fame is getting a little bit squirrely on them, and they're worried about what He's teaching, and they want to drill Him down. And one of the things they find fault with Him... By the way, you love religious people who find fault with everything, don't you? That's what these guys are doing. They see Jesus and His disciples, and they're doing something What in the world? They're eating their food without washing their hands! Now kids, your mom might think the same way of you if you go outside and you play in the dirt and then you come in and you haven't washed your hands, but that's not what this is actually talking about. Right?

Because in the Old Testament there was a whole sense of communal identity the ceremonial washings. Yes, there was a certain hygienic aspect to it, you know, you don't want to get sick, but the reality of what was going on is God was saying to them, you're going to have these different dietary restrictions, and you're going to have these different ceremonial washings, and all these different things that I'm giving you, go pick up the book of Exodus and Leviticus and read through the ceremonial laws.

What were they all pointing to? It was that they needed to be a separate people. A people who were God's own people. And it was going to show in the clothes they wore, and in the food they ate, and in the way they washed themselves. And the tradition of the elders, we need to recognize, was first well-intentioned. Right? It was well-intentioned, or we might say it was done with sincerity. What the Pharisees and the scribes were doing is started with something good. A principled decision.

Hey, you know, we want to show that we are clean, so whenever we get something from the marketplace, or whenever we're going to eat food, we don't want to just wash our hands because we might end up having more... defilement, and so we should wash not just the front of our hands, but we should also wash all the way to the wrists. But then another tradition, you know, we could be even more pure than that, and so we'll get a pitcher and we'll pour water over our hands so it will run all the way down our arms, all the way to our elbows, and then we'll be clean. And some people went even further and said, no, no, no, no, no, we need to make sure we actually take a full bath every time. There's actually a whole word for these Ahabarim, people who would insist on this type of over-ritualized cleansing. Now the sincerity of it is they wanted to be clean before God. It started with the sincerity, but the problem is it went far beyond what the Scriptures required.

This is called fencing the law. The law said, don't sin in this area. And so what they did is they said, well, we don't want to actually sin, so what we'll do is we'll hedge it. We'll put a fence further out away from it, so that way it will protect us from actually breaking God's law.

So it was well-intentioned. It was sincere. They desired to be clean, but there's a problem. It becomes a replacement. These additional traditions of the elders become replacements for God's command itself. And what happens is a type of legalism that seeps into the community. I'm just going to encourage you sometime, go to YouTube. I know you might not think this is a Pastor's telling us to go to YouTube? Yes, I'm telling you this one thing.

Go to YouTube and look up, look up, Hasidic Jewish people light switches on Sabbath. And you will find all sorts of arguments by the different rabbis about whether or not you can turn on a light switch on Sabbath. And what type of light switches you can turn on and not turn on. And there's all sorts of traditions about, well, you can't do it, but you know what? If you live in New York and you see a non-Jewish person walking by, you can have the goyim, the non-Jewish person, come and they can turn on your light switch, because they don't have to keep Sabbath. Do you see?

It builds up all these different traditions. But we do it too in our church. The Christian tradition is just as guilty of this. There are sincere, well-intentioned things that end up becoming more than principle, but end up becoming verbal law. The principle I'm convinced of is coming to worship. And when I come to worship, I come before the King of Kings.

But some people will take that so far and say, well, if you're going to do that, then you ought to wear your absolute best clothes to church. What ends up happening is you end up with a fashion show in the church, and people looking down their noses at other people. Or I know of others in the community have told me who are part of another tradition in the Christian church, and they've talked about head coverings, and head coverings being in worship, but then they think, well, if it maybe isn't just for worship, and we want to show honor to God and submission, maybe we should wear our head coverings all the time. And then it actually ends up becoming looking down on people, because they aren't wearing head coverings.

Jesus says that they have become replacement legalists. See, the reality of this is what happens is every time we replace the laws of God for the traditions or commandments of men, what we actually do is we decrease God's holiness and the severity of His laws. This is what Jesus points out to them. He goes to the heart of it with the fifth commandment, and he talks to them about their tradition of korban.

Korban means taking something, taking a certain amount of money or income, and saying, I'm setting this aside for temple use. Right? So say you've been working hard as a family, and you make some money, and you're going to say, you know, we came into some money, we have 50 grand, and we're going to take that 50 grand, and we're going to say, we're devoting this to the temple.

But this is used as a loophole. All the while, your mother and your father are cold, destitute, and hungry. And when they come to you and ask for help, you can shut up your heart and say, nope, can't touch it. It's Corbin. It's dedicated to God. See, mom, dad, it's sacred.

Do you see how you can put on a veil of what looks to be holy and righteous, but really what's going on in your heart is a loophole through the tradition, because you don't want to provide for your mother and father. That's what Jesus is getting at here. You have nullified the law by your tradition. You've laid aside, verse 8, you've laid aside the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.

This has the appearance, but not the truth, of real religion. So Jesus, as He's explaining this, tells them the reality is this is a hard issue. In verses 14 through 23, Jesus is explaining to both the multitude and then to His disciples that what's really going on in the law, And the cleansing is an issue of the heart. Where is the problem? It's an internal problem. It's not a new problem. It's a problem that happened in Genesis chapter 3, when Adam and Eve rebelled against God Himself. When they took of that forbidden fruit and they ate of that fruit, they rebelled against God.

Things didn't get any better before the flood. Genesis chapter 6, the Lord looks upon humanity and He says that the thoughts and intents of their hearts are only evil continually. It doesn't get any better after the flood. Noah's drunk. His son, his voyeur, doesn't get any better for Lot, doesn't get any better for Abram, doesn't get any better. So much so that the prophet Jeremiah will say that the heart is deceitfully wicked above all else. And Isaiah cries out that even our righteous deeds are as a filthy rags.

So what was the point of all these purification laws? It's talking about both ritual separation and their belonging to God, but also every single time they ate a meal and had to wash their hands. Every time they touched a dead body and they had to go and be cleansed. Every time they had mold growing in their homes. Every time they had to put on their clothes and wear different types of clothing and it would wear out.

It's meant to show them that they needed a better cleaning. One of the things we've been explaining to the children is nobody really likes to clean their room or make their bed because what's going to happen the next night? You're just going to sleep in your bed again. You're just going to make your room dirty again, so why clean it? Well, because it's going to get dirty again and you're going to need to clean it.

And so year in, year out, day in, day out, washing, washing, washing, washing, washing. When will the defilement stop? When will the cleansing be done? When will they finally be good enough to be holy before the Lord? This world Yes, this world has its sinful influences on us. It is corrupt. But notice it doesn't corrupt Jesus. Notice Jesus isn't having to go through this washing. Why? Why? Because Jesus is the one who washes us.

See, this is what we're getting at here is legalism. Legalism says, I can make myself holy. Following the traditions of men thinking we can make ourselves clean is delusional. I can do it. I can make myself holy. I can make myself clean. But it diminishes God's holiness. Because in order for us, this is the two-step that has to happen. In order for us to think, I can make myself clean and make myself stand righteous before God, you have to lower the bar of God's holiness. If you're going to think that you can make yourself clean enough, pure enough, holy enough, righteous enough to stand before the thrice holy God, you have not come face to face with the God of Isaiah when he sees him in the temple and he cries out, woe is me for I am a man of unclean lips.

He is holy. And legalism decreases his holiness. And it's a delusion. This is why Jesus calls them, in a later chapter, whitewashed tombs. Have you ever thought about what that imagery is? Go to a mausoleum. It's all pretty on the outside. Looks nice. Take a step inside, and the smell of decay and rotting flesh is there. Jesus says, that's what your hearts are like. Jesus says, woe is you Pharisees, you whitewashed tombs. You think you look good on the outside, but you've got a serious problem going on in your soul. The problem is our hearts.

You know, at certain times of the year, there's a nice wake-up smell. At certain times of the year, there's a breeze that comes up from the south. And it wakes me up. And I get to smell the hog enclosure down the road. The problem is, that's what the smell of our own hearts is like. Filth.

The problem is you can wash all we want. We can clean our clothes. We can try to make ourselves look better. We can wear all the self-righteousness we want on the cuffs of our sleeves. But if we open our mouths or if we had God examine our souls, He sees the sin.

He sees the filth. He sees the corruption. Imagine you went into a palace. You're going into a palace and there seated on the throne is God. On His throne of righteousness and justice. And as you walk in the doors, you've tried to scrub your clothes after you've slept the night in the chicken coop. And you've tried to scrub them, tried to scrub them, tried to scrub them. But the smell won't come off. Until as you come up to the throne, you think, maybe He won't see it. Maybe he won't smell it and then you open your mouth and something more foul comes out of it.

We can't hide our hearts from the Lord. He knows the deep recesses. He knows the flaws in our character. He knows the cracks in our integrity. He knows those thoughts that you would be scared to confess to your closest of friends. So what do we do? This is what Jesus is getting us to. We need to be cleansed by Jesus Christ. We need to come to Jesus Christ and find cleansing for our souls.

See, it didn't matter how much the Pharisees and the scribes washed their hands, their hearts were still impure. It didn't matter how much they scrubbed the copper vessels, Their hearts would still stay impure. It didn't matter if they even washed their couches. I love that it notes that they washed their couches.

The problem wasn't where they were sitting, the problem was the hearts that were sitting in the seats. It's the same for each one of us. He's trying to point out to them that where does it come from? This evil thoughts, fornications, adulteries, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, and evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness, all these things come from within. Within. And this is the beauty of the gospel.

This is what's promised to us in 1 John 1.9. Brothers and sisters, if we will be those who confess our sins, it is Jesus who is faithful. It is Jesus who is righteous. And it is Jesus who will forgive us of all of our sins and cleanse us of our unrighteousness. Do you see the beauty? This is the free offer of grace.

It is Jesus Christ who is saying to them, you can't cleanse your heart, but I'm going to go to the cross and die for you. I am going to pour out My blood for you that you may be washed as clean as snow. I am going to sprinkle you with the hyssop of My own blood that you might be holy unto God. I am going to make you by My sacrifice and righteous life a people for God's own possession. I am going to make you a royal priesthood who can stand before the glorious throne of God and worship Him in spirit and in truth. This is why we're going to celebrate communion. This is why we cling to Jesus Christ, because it is His finished work.

Closing Prayer

There's no place for our righteousness. There's no place for our legalism and our pride. Jesus strips us of that. He says, come. Come. And there we find washing for our soul. I love that sweet Sunday school song. Who can wash away my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. This is the truth that has been held on to for over two centuries. This is the truth of why we suffer as Christians, but also why we die with hope. because Jesus Christ is the one who cleanses us from all of our sin. Is David's hope? Is Jesus' teaching? Is it your faith? Do you cling to him alone for salvation? Do you rejoice in his finished work on the cross? Let's pray.

God, we confess to you that we are sinners, but you are a gracious God, full of loving kindness and mercy that we do not deserve, full of inexhaustible grace that we could never earn. Lord, please apply these truths by the power of your spirit to our hearts. and give us a hope that will last forever. In Jesus' name, amen. Thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in rural southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith in your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue, Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.