Priorities: The Traditions of Man or The Commands of God?

September 10, 2023
Pastor Jack

person washing their hands

Mark 7:1–23

And the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered to him. And they saw that some of his disciples were eating their bread with unclean—that is, unwashed—hands. (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands ritually, thus holding fast to the traditions of the elders. And when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions which they have received and hold fast to—for example, the washing of cups and pitchers and bronze kettles and dining couches.) And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with unclean hands?” So he said to them, “Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far, far away from me. And they worship me in vain, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ Abandoning the commandment of God, you hold fast to the tradition of men.” And he said to them, “You splendidly ignore the commandment of God so that you can keep your tradition. For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘The one who speaks evil of father or mother must certainly die.’ But you say, ‘If a man says to his father or to his mother, “Whatever benefit you would have received from me is corban” (that is, a gift to God), you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or his mother, thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down, and you do many similar things such as this.” And summoning the crowd again, he said to them, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand: There is nothing outside of a person that is able to defile him by going into him. But the things that go out of a person are the things that defile a person.” And when he entered into the house away from the crowd, his disciples asked him about the parable. And he said to them, “So are you also without understanding? Do you not understand that everything that is outside that goes into a person is not able to defile him? For it does not enter into his heart but into his stomach, and goes out into the latrine”—thus declaring all foods clean. And he said, “What comes out of a person, that defiles a person. For from within, from the heart of people, come evil plans, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders, adulteries, acts of greed, malicious deeds, deceit, licentiousness, envy, abusive speech, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a person.”

Message Outline

Defiled

  • Unwashed hands
  • Ritual or ceremony for purification
  • Many other traditions

Appearance verses reality

  • Lip service
  • Where is your heart?
  • What does God say?

Input verses output

  • What goes in us does not defile us.
  • What comes from within (the heart) defiles us.

Questions for Reflection

  • Where’s you heart?
  • What’s the overriding desire of your heart?
  • What is the authority in your life?
  • In what ways do we, like the Pharisees, tend to look on the outside?
  • Take a look at verses 18-20. What is the setting here?
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