The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
Mark 7:1-23main passage read and taught through, on inner purity versus outward tradition
1 Then the Pharisees and some of the scribes gathered together to him, having come from Jerusalem.
2 Now when they saw some of his disciples eating bread with defiled, that is unwashed, hands, they found fault.
3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews, don’t eat unless they wash their hands and forearms, holding to the tradition of the elders.
4 They don’t eat when they come from the marketplace unless they bathe themselves, and there are many other things, which they have received to hold to: washings of cups, pitchers, bronze vessels, and couches.)
5 The Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why don’t your disciples walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with unwashed hands?”
6 He answered 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.
7 But they worship me in vain, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’
8 “For you set aside the commandment of God, and hold tightly to the tradition of men—the washing of pitchers and cups, and you do many other such things.”
9 He said to them, “Full well do you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition.
10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother;’ and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death.’
11 But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever profit you might have received from me is Corban, that is to say, given to God”;’
12 then you no longer allow him to do anything for his father or his mother,
13 making void the word of God by your tradition, which you have handed down. You do many things like this.”
14 He called all the multitude to himself, and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand.
15 There is nothing from outside of the man, that going into him can defile him; but the things which proceed out of the man are those that defile the man.
16 If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear!”
17 When he had entered into a house away from the multitude, his disciples asked him about the parable.
18 He said to them, “Are you also without understanding? Don’t you perceive that whatever goes into the man from outside can’t defile him,
19 because it doesn’t go into his heart, but into his stomach, then into the latrine, thus purifying all foods?”
20 He said, “That which proceeds out of the man, that defiles the man.
21 For from within, out of the hearts of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, sexual sins, murders, thefts,
22 covetings, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness.
23 All these evil things come from within, and defile the man.”
quoted to explain the worship song line about Christ coming on the clouds and everyone seeing him
1 This is the Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things which must happen soon, which he sent and made known by his angel to his servant, John,
2 who testified to God’s word, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, about everything that he saw.
3 Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and keep the things that are written in it, for the time is at hand.
4 John, to the seven assemblies that are in Asia: Grace to you and peace, from God, who is and who was and who is to come; and from the seven Spirits who are before his throne;
5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us, and washed us from our sins by his blood;
6 and he made us to be a Kingdom, priests to his God and Father; to him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
7 Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, including those who pierced him. All the tribes of the earth will mourn over him. Even so, Amen.
8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”
9 I John, your brother and partner with you in the oppression, Kingdom, and perseverance in Christ Jesus, was on the isle that is called Patmos because of God’s Word and the testimony of Jesus Christ.
10 I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, like a trumpet
11 saying, “What you see, write in a book and send to the seven assemblies: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.”
12 I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. Having turned, I saw seven golden lamp stands.
13 And among the lamp stands was one like a son of man, clothed with a robe reaching down to his feet, and with a golden sash around his chest.
14 His head and his hair were white as white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire.
15 His feet were like burnished brass, as if it had been refined in a furnace. His voice was like the voice of many waters.
16 He had seven stars in his right hand. Out of his mouth proceeded a sharp two-edged sword. His face was like the sun shining at its brightest.
17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead man. He laid his right hand on me, saying, “Don’t be afraid. I am the first and the last,
18 and the Living one. I was dead, and behold, I am alive forever and ever. Amen. I have the keys of Death and of Hades.
19 Write therefore the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will happen hereafter;
20 the mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lamp stands. The seven stars are the angels of the seven assemblies. The seven lamp stands are seven assemblies.
quoted that the human heart is the most deceitful of all things and desperately wicked
1 “The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond. It is engraved on the tablet of their heart, and on the horns of your altars.
2 Even their children remember their altars and their Asherah poles by the green trees on the high hills.
3 My mountain in the field, I will give your substance and all your treasures for a plunder, and your high places, because of sin, throughout all your borders.
4 You, even of yourself, will discontinue from your heritage that I gave you. I will cause you to serve your enemies in the land which you don’t know, for you have kindled a fire in my anger which will burn forever.”
5 Yahweh says: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man, relies on strength of flesh, and whose heart departs from Yahweh.
6 For he will be like a bush in the desert, and will not see when good comes, but will inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, an uninhabited salt land.
7 “Blessed is the man who trusts in Yahweh, and whose confidence is in Yahweh.
8 For he will be as a tree planted by the waters, who spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes, but its leaf will be green; and will not be concerned in the year of drought. It won’t cease from yielding fruit.
9 The heart is deceitful above all things and it is exceedingly corrupt. Who can know it?
10 “I, Yahweh, search the mind. I try the heart, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings.”
11 As the partridge that sits on eggs which she has not laid, so is he who gets riches, and not by right. In the middle of his days, they will leave him. At his end, he will be a fool.
12 A glorious throne, set on high from the beginning, is the place of our sanctuary.
13 Yahweh, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you will be disappointed. Those who depart from me will be written in the earth, because they have forsaken Yahweh, the spring of living waters.
14 Heal me, O Yahweh, and I will be healed. Save me, and I will be saved; for you are my praise.
15 Behold, they tell me, “Where is Yahweh’s word? Let it be fulfilled now.”
16 As for me, I have not hurried from being a shepherd after you. I haven’t desired the woeful day. You know. That which came out of my lips was before your face.
17 Don’t be a terror to me. You are my refuge in the day of evil.
18 Let them be disappointed who persecute me, but let not me be disappointed. Let them be dismayed, but don’t let me be dismayed. Bring on them the day of evil, and destroy them with double destruction.
19 Yahweh said this to me: “Go, and stand in the gate of the children of the people, through which the kings of Judah come in and by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem.
20 Tell them, ‘Hear Yahweh’s word, you kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that enter in by these gates:
21 Yahweh says, “Be careful, and bear no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem.
22 Don’t carry a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day. Don’t do any work, but make the Sabbath day holy, as I commanded your fathers.
23 But they didn’t listen. They didn’t turn their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might not hear, and might not receive instruction.
24 It will happen, if you diligently listen to me,” says Yahweh, “to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but to make the Sabbath day holy, to do no work therein;
25 then there will enter in by the gates of this city kings and princes sitting on David’s throne, riding in chariots and on horses, they, and their princes, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem; and this city will remain forever.
26 They will come from the cities of Judah, and from the places around Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin, from the lowland, from the hill country, and from the South, bringing burnt offerings, sacrifices, meal offerings, and frankincense, and bringing sacrifices of thanksgiving, to Yahweh’s house.
27 But if you will not listen to me to make the Sabbath day holy, and not to bear a burden and enter in at the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in its gates, and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem. It will not be quenched.”’”
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
Monday night the group worked through Mark 7:1-23, where Jesus confronts the Pharisees over their hand-washing traditions and cuts to the real issue: what comes out of a person's heart, not what goes in. The pastor traced that argument through the Old Testament background and into the congregation's own experience with church traditions.
What was said
The trouble started when religious leaders came all the way from Jerusalem and, after watching Jesus heal the sick, cast out demons, feed thousands, and raise a girl to life, fixed their attention on the fact that some disciples had not washed their hands before eating. The pastor pointed out the painful irony: the one person perfectly fulfilling the law of love was being grilled over a ritual hand-washing rule.
The washing tradition itself had a real root. God gave strict hand-and-foot washing instructions to the priests in the tabernacle in Exodus, and he attached serious consequences to ignoring them. The Pharisees had taken those priestly requirements and extended them to all people in all places, filling in blanks God had not asked them to fill. The effect was to make God feel less accessible, not more.
Jesus called them hypocrites and quoted Isaiah: "these people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me." He walked through a concrete example, showing how their tradition around vows to God was being used to let people off the hook from caring for aging parents, effectively canceling the word of God in order to protect their own tradition.
Then Jesus turned to the crowd and said plainly: it is not what goes into your body that defiles you, but what comes out of your heart. He listed what actually lives in the human heart, including evil thoughts, greed, deceit, pride, and envy, a list the pastor noted every person in the room could find themselves in, including the religious leaders who were pointing fingers.
Jeremiah's description of the heart as "the most deceitful of all things and desperately wicked" confirmed the diagnosis. But Ezekiel's prophecy gave the answer: God promises to take out the stony, stubborn heart and replace it with a tender, responsive heart. That transplant, the pastor said, is exactly what Jesus came to perform.
The closing thought was that Jesus in Mark is consistently tearing down the walls and barriers the religious leaders kept building between people and God. The woman with the issue of blood, the leper, the outcast, each one reached out in faith and was met by Jesus. The Pharisees were gatekeeping; Jesus was throwing the gates open. Real holiness and purity come from him, not from food, ceremony, or religious performance.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages
in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
The religious leaders came all the way from Jerusalem and, with everything Jesus had been doing, zeroed in on a handwashing tradition. Where do you find yourself doing something similar, focusing on a secondary thing while missing what God is actually doing?
The pastor read from Exodus that the priests who failed to wash before approaching God would die, and then showed how the Pharisees extended that rule to everyone in everyday life. How do you think that kind of rule-creep happens, and what does it do to people's sense of whether God is approachable?
Yeah. There's vocal. We're coming to life here. We're coming to life. Check 121212.
Can I have just a little bit more vocal in this, monitor right here, please, Blake? Hello, everybody. Welcome to another Monday night. Good to see you. Good to see you.
And a big thank you to Jeff and Susan for dinner tonight. Question. Do you hand out recipes for your gumbo, or is it secret? It's all up here. Okay.
Seriously, it was it's it was really, really good. Thank you so much. It's such good comfort food too on a on a really cold day. And we're making our way through the the gospel of Mark right now. And it's conversation style, so keep that in mind for for the end, so for a little back and forth.
Encourage each other and build each other up with with the good news that we hear. Before we get there, though, can we sing together? Worship in song. Let the redeem. If the Lord has redeemed you, say so.
Alrighty. Let me out. Let me out of the desert. He brought me into his streams, river of living water. Turn my bitter end to sweet, and all my burdens are lifted.
He took the shackles off my feet. Say so and there is joy in the morning springing up in my soul there's light worth living my deliverer. You are my promise land again. You are my deliverer. Freedom I'm living in.
You are my deliverer. You are my promise
Lord, thank you for the gift of worship that we get to approach you. You say, come boldly before the throne of grace. And there we'll find mercy in our time of need. Thank you, Lord, that we get to come boldly before you. And so, Lord, we do.
We wanna pour out our thankfulness, our gratitude. We have much to be thankful for. God, thank you for every good. It says that every good and perfect gift comes from above. God, we thank you for, not just the the things that we receive like having, food tonight.
That's a wonderful gift there in itself. But thank you, Lord, for food that nourishes the soul. Lord, that we would be listening and taking in this soul food this evening. Amen.
Is coming on the clouds kings and kingdoms will bow down and every chain will break as broken
Alright, let's sing. Open up the gates.
And
let's sing who can stop.
And who can stop, Who can stop who
on
can stop is a lamb, a lamb that will slay the sins on the world. His blood breaks the chains. Every knee will bow before
Sometimes as we're singing, do you ever go, where does that come from? What does that mean? Well, it it's this these are based on scripture, these songs. So from Revelation one, all glory and power to him forever and ever. Look.
He comes on the clouds of heaven, and everyone will see him. That's why we sing. He's coming on the clouds. It's not gonna be, something that's hidden when Christ comes, when he returns. It's gonna be quite obvious.
Quite obvious. Also, it says this in Romans. The Lord says, every knee shall bow to me and every tongue confess to God. That's huge. If that's gonna happen when Jesus returns, that we would know that now.
And God be aware and preparing too. In Jesus' name, amen. In Christ alone.
In Christ alone, my hope is found. He's my God, my strength, my song. This cornerstone, this solemn ground, from near the fiercest drow and storm. What hides along here in the love of Christ I stare.
Amen. Man, those lyrics are powerful. Can I just say them again? I know that we just sang them, but can I just say, no guilt in life, no fear in death? This is the power of Christ in us.
Wow. You can have a seat here too. From life's first cry till final breath. So throughout our whole lives, Jesus commands our destiny. Wow.
No power of hell, no scheme of man can ever pluck us from his hand. If we're in Christ, we're in Christ. Till he returns or calls me home here in the power of Christ, we stand. Amen to that. Amen.
So we are we are in, excuse me a minute, Mark chapter seven verses one through 23 Tonight, this is where Jesus talks about inner purity. Here's a key verse tonight. Oh, one of many in here, but here's a key verse. Jesus says, it's not what goes into your body that defiles you. You're defiled what comes by what comes from your heart.
So that's the main idea tonight. But why does Jesus say that? We're gonna go ahead and read and find out why Jesus says this, why this conversation even comes up in the first place. And then I'll share a few thoughts as we go. And, I would also like to hear what spoke to you as well in this passage.
This is a really good one. And I'm I'm really hoping for some some back and forth and some conversation on this because I think it's really good and really powerful. So Mark seven one through 23. Here we go. One day some pharisees and teachers of religious law arrived from Jerusalem to see Jesus.
Here we are. There it is. So this is the the second time that the religious leaders came from Jerusalem to see and hear Jesus. Right? Because remember, his reputation is growing.
People are coming to see him. The word is spreading. And and you think, alright. They're coming to see Jesus too. But of all the things to notice, the religious leaders, all the things to notice about Jesus, look what they observe.
They notice that some of his disciples failed to what failed to follow the Jewish ritual ritual of hand washing before eating. Like like, guys, really? Seriously? I I mean, that's the way I feel about this, I think. He's been healing the sick.
He's been inviting singer sinners. He's opening wide the gates to the kingdom. He's he's casting out demons. He raised a little girl to life. He's showing authority over the wind and the waves, over nature.
He just fed the 5,000 people plus with five loaves and two fish. He is fulfilling this law that these these people came from Jerusalem. He is fulfilling this law perfectly. The love God and love others, he's doing this perfectly. And the religious leaders go, why aren't you following our traditions?
It's just so sad to me. Verse three. The Jews, especially the Pharisees, do not eat until they've poured water over their cupped hands as required by their ancient traditions. So note tradition there. Okay?
Because it's gonna come up again and again. Tradition. Tradition. Similarly, they don't eat anything from the market until they immerse their hands in water. This is but men one of many traditions they have clung to, such as ceremony washing of cups and pitchers and kettles.
So the Pharisees and the teachers of the religious law asked him, why don't your disciples follow our age old tradition? They eat without first performing the handwashing ceremony. So just
all of
scripture here, holiness, purity, being set apart, a good thing. Right? A biblical thing. The law required holiness, being set apart. Like, take a look at this.
I just I wanna go back here because there is context for this. These were the instructions for the priest in the tabernacle in Exodus. Look how extreme this is. The Lord said to Moses, make a a bronze washbasin, place it between the tabernacle and the altar, fill it with water. Aaron and his sons will wash their hands and feet there.
They must wash with water whenever they go into the tabernacle to appear before the Lord. And when they when they approach the altar to burn up their special, gifts to the Lord or they will die. I wait. Or they will die. Okay.
Did I hear that right? Verse 21, they must always wash their hands and feet or they will die. So let me ask you this. Is holiness important to God? Purity.
Absolutely. For the priest in the tabernacle, for sure. No doubt about it. This is serious business. But those were the instructions for the priest in the temple.
The Pharisees' tradition, however, extended these laws to everybody in the land and to all food, not just holy offerings. So they said, okay. A home is like a temple. We're extending these we're extending these these rules to that too. Are you getting a picture in your mind like God is getting harder and harder to be accessible right now?
Because that that's the picture that's coming to my mind is. They're they're adding these traditions to laws and and for for people. These aren't priests. This is just kinda common everyday people, and they're they're adding these things, filling in blanks that they don't need to. Look what Jesus has to say about it.
He said, you hypocrites. Woah. Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote, these people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Oh. So lip service is like, man, these guys look shiny.
They are so well put together on the outside, but their hearts are so far away from me. Their worship is farce. Oh. For they teach man made ideas as commands from God. They're going, hey, God teaches this to you, when God never said that.
Verse eight, for you ignore God's law and substitute your own tradition. Verse nine, then he said, you skillfully sidestep God's law in order to hold your own tradition. And here's the example. Here's the example. For instance, Moses gave you this law from God.
Honor your father and mother. Honor your mom and dad. And anyone who speaks disrespectfully of father or mother must be put to death. That's very serious. But you say, he's saying to the Pharisees, but you guys, the religious leaders, the ones that are supposed to be watching out for everybody and Israel's teachers, he goes, you guys say it's alright for people to say to the parents, sorry, can't help you, for I vowed to give to God what I would have given to you.
In this way, here we go, verse 12. In this way, you let them disregard their needy parents, and so you cancel the word of God in order to hand down your own tradition. And this is only one example among many others. Wow. Jesus is really handing it to him right now, isn't he?
Verse 14. Then Jesus called to the crowd to come here. He said, all of you listen. Try to understand. It's not what goes into your body that defiles you.
You are defiled by what comes from your, let's say it together, heart. From your heart, from inside. Verse 17, then Jesus went into the house to get away from the crowd. And his disciples asked them what he meant by the parable that he had just used. They're trying to figure it out.
They're trying to understand. Verse 18. Don't you understand either, he asked. Can't you see that the food that you put into your body cannot defile you? He's going, it's not food that makes you unclean or impure here or unholy.
Food doesn't go into your heart, the wellspring of life, the seat of your emotions. Food doesn't go into there. Come on. It passes through the stomach. It goes into the sewer.
And by saying this, he declared every kind of food is acceptable in God's eyes. Verse 20. And then he added, it's what comes from inside that defiles you. For from within, out of a person's heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. That is quite a list that he just gave.
One that all those religious leaders could see themselves in that list and one that we should all see ourselves in that list as well. Of course. But that doesn't have that list doesn't have anything to do with the food that we're eating. They're about what's happening on the inside, what's already there. Is this making sense?
So verse 23. Here we we'll keep going. All these vile things come from within. They're what? Defile you.
So the religious leaders, they're going, here, listen. On the outside, we've got it. Do this. You're good. That that way you'll be holy.
And Jesus is going, mm-mm. Let's look under the hood here. Let's let's go below the surface. So we're gonna end there in Mark. But doesn't this so confirm to me, I I should say?
I think to us, it should. It ought to. It so confirms the condition of the human heart. It really does. We find ourselves in that list.
But this is why Jesus came. This is why he came. Check this out in Jeremiah. You've heard this one before? This is what Jeremiah says about the the heart in in in chapter 17.
He says, the human heart is the most deceitful of all things and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? Or who can understand it? Who can who can even understand it? But there is good news too.
This isn't all bad news, my friends. Jesus can transform a heart. Check this out. This is from, Ezekiel. And Ezekiel prophesies about the restoration of Israel.
New covenant fulfilled in Jesus to the nations. Right? This is for us too. I'm gonna give you a new heart, and I'm gonna put a new spirit in you. I'm gonna take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.
I'm gonna give you a heart transplant, he says. Because Jeremiah just said, hey. It's desperately wicked. Who can even understand it? And now in Ezekiel, we go, but when Jesus comes and he fulfills this this covenant, he's gonna take out that old, stony, stubborn heart, and he's gonna give you a tender, responsive heart.
Isn't that good news? It's it really is. And we need this. We need this heart transplant. But this is what Jesus does.
That is why he came. So on the outside, the religious leaders appeared holy, didn't they? Man, they were so put together. But in Matthew, look at this. Jesus calls them out.
He says, you're like whitewashed tombs. You're beautiful on the outside. I mean, seriously, can you imagine hearing this? But on the inside, filled with dead people's bones and all sorts of impurity. You get the point here.
My takeaway my takeaway from from tonight, and I wanna hear yours as well, but one of my takeaways here is a real change of heart has to happen through Christ. When we sang the words to in Christ alone, they hit home tonight for me because of this passage right here. A real change of heart has to happen through Christ. And it's it's not gonna be from, the certain foods we eat or the traditions that we have in church. I was just thinking, how many of you grew up in church with very, very strong traditions?
Any of you? I I did too. I did too. And how many of you like those traditions? Okay.
I'd I happen to love them. I love traditions. Like, our advent tradition. Right? That's not a that's not a biblical thing.
That it's it's a it's it's more of a something that we created, to prepare our hearts for Christ's coming, looking back at his first coming and looking forward to his second coming. I love Advent season. It's a little bit different. It's something that is I I just enjoy it. I just enjoy it.
Right? Jesus isn't saying traditions are awful, they're terrible, they're bad, don't do them. Traditions are good and they have their place. Please hear me say that. We have traditions here.
A meal, music, and message on a Monday night. We've been doing this tradition for years now. But listen. If it stops working and if it's and if it's deterring us or distracting us from the main message of Jesus, let we'll can it. We'll do something else.
We'll do another kind of, alliteration. I'm open to suggestions. It's not certain foods or traditions or religious gestures that make us holy. It's Jesus. Jesus is what makes us holy.
Jesus is what makes us pure on the inside. His life, death, resurrection, and ascension, he sends his Holy Spirit to transform our lives. That's what makes us holy. It's Jesus. And I love in Mark that Jesus is breaking through all kinds of barriers.
I love that he's breaking through all sorts of barriers where those who would have otherwise been considered unclean. Like, remember the woman with the issue of blood? She was unclean, like, don't even be near. And she gets an encounter with Jesus. She's in.
She's in the kingdom of God. The leper. Nobody got to touch lepers. They're unclean. He's in.
He's in. This is what I love about Jesus. He's breaking those barriers. And and what I see, or what we're seeing in Mark, with the religious leaders at the time, it's like they're building up walls and barriers between the people and God, and Jesus is tearing those down. Can I just say Jesus is still tearing down those barriers?
We do pretty good at gatekeeping, I I'd say. I don't wanna be a gatekeeper. I don't want to be a gatekeeper. I don't want to, get in the way of people coming to Christ. I just I just wanna here you go.
There he is. That's that's what we that's what we're trying to do here. And the people that reach out in faith, they're healed and restored by Jesus because Jesus always answers the call of faith. But I just I want you to hear that. Jesus answers that call of faith.
He He's throwing open the gates to the kingdom. And I I just I want us to hear that because that is what Mark is showing us here. That's right. That's right. And he's fulfilling the law of love the way it really ought to be fulfilled too.
He's gathering the wounded here in Mark, and he's ushering them into the kingdom as he as he goes. It's just beautiful. It's absolutely beautiful. One more verse. I think this is kind of a good summary too of of the of these 23 verses.
Paul says in Romans, he goes, the kingdom of God, it's not a matter of eating and drinking. K? Let's put that stuff aside. But of righteousness. And may I add, righteousness in Christ.
Righteousness because of Christ. That's what makes us right. It's Jesus. And peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. I love that.
That's what the kingdom is about. That's what we're to be about. So I'm gonna end with that. But you've heard this right here. You've heard Mark seven one through 23, the best as I as I could present it tonight.
You've listened to my ramblings. And now I would love to hear from you. If there was a verse, a thought, a word of encouragement that you'd like to share, I would love to open it up to you. But may I pray one more time? Lord Almighty, you see into our hearts.
No doubt about it. You see through traditions. You see through outward appearances. We're not fooling you. We can't fake you out.
God, you see through religious performance. God, that we would not be about that stuff, a a facade, a fake front, that we would just bear ourselves to you to say, God, open to you. Do what you would in us. God, would you purify our hearts? God, we come to you confessing that, we see ourselves in that list that we that we saw tonight.
And we could be maybe fooling one another here, but we're not fooling you. And so would you purify our hearts once again and remind us that real righteousness and purity and holiness, they come from you. And thank you, Lord, for the work that you do. You are transforming us little by little, part by part. And we're not we're we have not yet arrived.
But, God, would you sanctify us and make us more like you. In Jesus' name, amen. Alright. Any thoughts? Any thoughts from tonight?
Any thoughts just on, you know, the the trad the traditions that that they, that they had or traditions that you had in in church. I I wondered if maybe that would kinda make tonight's conversation or I'll open it up to you.
Can I start with something silly? Please. Thank you. Don't let this sway you from talking after me though. But I just think of this illustration.
You talk about Jesus being the fulfilling the law of love.
Yeah.
And these religious folks that are just all about these these rules and sort of rigid rigidness. And I think of an illustration of in today's, like, our world, like, a family that has even even in the rules, it's the ceremonial washing of hands, the ceremonial washing of tea kettles, and like, can you imagine if we did that at our, like, we all wash our dishes, but if we made a ceremony out of it every time and like, I think of a dad like loading the dishwasher a very specific way, a very religious way.
Which I do by the way.
And I picture like a family that's full of like these rules and it's very proper and it's prim and looks amazing compared to like a family that's maybe goes to fast food and eats sloppy and is loving and laughing and just the difference between the rigid sort of piety of like following these rules and how it probably looks right and looks better. Looks, but where's the where's the real joy and love? And I think to me, it's a silly illustration, I know, but I think of like a family laughing and, you know, spilling honey mustard all over the car from the fast food and having a good time about it. And just the joy and love. And I think that that's, for me, that's how I think of Jesus and bringing that into into our family and then and into our lives.
And specifically, like, I would hope that our my girls and my family will see Jesus that way by the love. Not the rules and the piety and all of that, but by how we love each other and how we have joy and live in the moment. And so, that's what tonight was for about me, seeing the the religious folk with these rules and the purity. And I know it's silly, but I picture a sloppy family eating some fast food.
Sloppy jokes.
Hanging out with Jesus.
I like it, Blake. I like that illustration. Thank you.
Okay. Hello everyone. So a couple of things came to mind. One little maybe less silly of a comment than than Blake's. Mhmm.
I would say anytime there are many times in the gospels where Jesus is talking to the pharisees that I'm like, oh, man. I'm kinda relating to the pharisees a little too much. And I'll said to myself, I also think on a broader scale, I think this is a important reminder. It's only me personally, but I think just in general, the church as a global body and zoom in a little bit, an American body of believers. We need to it's an important reminder to check ourselves and to be like, what has become the hand washing in our in our circles, in our spheres?
Because it just seems like there's so many things that get in the way of the true meaning of Jesus. And, you know, you know, the more and more I try to follow Jesus, more and more I'm just reminded that it's all about Jesus and a lot of the stuff is fluff, extra fluff, and it can be discarded. Not everything, of course, there there are things God calls us to do. The Bible sets certain guidelines, of course, but I think it's a point of reminder to think about and in my own life too, what has become the hand washing in my own life. Like, oh, these people are worshiping Jesus in a meaningful way, but they're doing something differently, and I am judging their spiritual journey with Jesus.
So, yeah, that's just this is good ex an example of a passage where I'm like, oh, man. I'm connecting too much to the Pharisees and situation. Like, and I I think it's just a good reminder to check ourselves into what has become cultural, not what have we taken and made cultural, but not necessarily biblical, not necessarily actually true following of Jesus. And then another thing that stuck out stood out to me was that passage. I think it was from was it Ezekiel where it said tenderness and responsiveness?
Yes. Ezekiel 30.
I I really like that passage because I often find myself stubborn. And I'm not trying to toot my own horn, but I'm kind of a tender heart. Like, I just I'm a softie. Like, I just I'm a feeler. But so I'm pretty, like well, I totally feel like I'm trying to brag right now, but I'm not.
Like, I'm pretty good at like feeling like, oh, I feel convicted in that sense, or I feel sorry for this person. But what I'm, what I want to, an area in which I need to grow is that responsiveness, that responsive heart. You know, yes, maybe the Holy Spirit is convicting me in a way. Yes, I feel this connection to Jesus. I feel this yeah, guess like this feeling of I guess connect connection or conviction or love, but is my heart being responsive?
And am I being faithful after that feeling? Am I being generous? Am I being loving outwardly? Am I being giving? Am I being responsive with my heart?
So that was a I really like that verse because it just speaks to how I'm often reminded of how I need a lot lot of hard work done. So and now I will, I guess, pass it to Florine.
Thank you, Gannon.
I will definitely take it. Well, when I look at the text, honestly, it makes me close my eyes and just say, Lord Jesus, thank you for living the the paradise, living the he he was sitting at the right of the father. Right? And he came here so he I can have the right to be called a child a child of God. Mhmm.
There is no way no no other way for Florin to be in connection with the father without Jesus. When you look at the condition of human heart, oh my goodness. We're evil. We're mean. You know?
It's the sinners.
It's the blood. But Jesus is the one that can transform our lives. And, honestly, I was listening to the sermon. I was just praying saying, Lord Jesus, thank you for coming down on this planet earth and making a way for me so I can know you and know the Father. Lord Jesus, I want to know you more and more.
Actually, want to pray right now. Father, help us to know you more. Help us not to focus on the things of this earth that much, but rather, Lord Jesus, help us to focus on our relationship with you in connection with the sermon from yesterday, Lord. Help us to stay right next to you at your feet to listen to you, focusing on what is important, Lord. In light of the yesterday's sermon, yes, Martha is a good example of doing, and we need people that are willing to do, to do, to do.
But, Lord, we want to be more focused on you and your will. Please transform our lives, Lord. We do will to to And be do in front of others, but rather may we be transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit in such a way that we reflect joy, the joy that comes from you, Jesus. That's my prayer tonight for me and for everyone that is here present tonight. Thank you for your word.
What would what could what could can we do without the word? So, Lord, may we study it, reflect on it, and, through the Holy Spirit, please transform our lives as you please. In your precious name, I pray. Amen. Amen.
Thank
you, my friend.
I was thinking about a little something a little different than Pharisees, but just reading, you know, the verse about how our righteousness is, you know, like, you know, the heart who can understand it.
I think,
people can be and how much we need our Lord. And it just makes me think our righteousness being so like filthy rags, you know, it you know, sometimes I feel like I've said that too much, but the fact is the the worst the bad news is, the better the good news is. Mhmm. Know, just that, you know, our Lord would would die for us in such a sorry state, a helpless state, and give us life through his son. That's, you know, good news but it's it's just incredibly great news.
In light of the traditions, in Romania and please don't take it the wrong way. I I don't judge other religions at all. I love everyone. What is the doctor's religion? Unfortunately, they focus a lot on afterlife, especially when you when you are after you die.
They believe that there's so much that can be done by your family and friends and stuff like that. So after my father died, we were extremely poor. And I I know what it means poor. No food on the table, literally. Right?
But my mom used all her savings to buy new makes me mad right now. Nothing about she used all her savings to buy cups, fancy stuff, to invite other people in our house to offer them food so my father can have on the afterlife. Because in the Orthodox in the Orthodox religion, they believe that when you do something good here for someone that died in your family, they can be better in in the kingdom of God. So something like that tradition, which was extremely bad. It was bad for us, for our family, but it was bad for as
That's okay. I think on the lines of what Tim was saying too, I think what struck me tonight is, yes, like when we see that list and we're convicted of something, we can have a tendency to put it in like pharisaical things like, okay, well, this is my little path back to righteousness. When really like the Lord just invites us to repent and to say like, hey, you there is no path except for me back to righteousness or back to purity or back to right standing. And so that's yeah. Just an encouragement, like a good reminder even though I think humanly our tendency is to wanna make sense or wanna have a part and that really is our only part is to repent and to recognize that Jesus is the only way to purity to to accomplishing that list, right?
Like his life in us is the only way we can be righteous and pure and and say no to all those things that our heart is bent towards. And so that's yeah. It's just an encouragement to me. I can also, I think, maybe be a little, like, pharisaical or just wanna, like, earnestly honor the Lord or please the Lord. And so when I don't, when I fall or, you know, it's, really devastating.
And then I can wanna, like, do something about it, but really all I can do is repent. Yeah. Genuinely.
Yep. Yep. Very well beautifully stated. Thank you. Really.
That's just it. Because we we can come up with our own. Well, then I'll do this and this and this and this is what makes me. In fact, I'm going to now tell you that you have to do these things. Uh-uh.
And humility and repentance. God, I've messed up yet again. You're righteous. You're the one who gives me a pure heart. Have you got one too, Laura?
I do. Yes. I think that within Protestant, Baptist nondenominational traditions, we're really quick to say, oh, yeah. Down with tradition. Right?
We don't need traditions. We'll just do it however we want. And I think it's really important that even when we're reading this text to remember that Christ is the fulfillment of the law. Christ isn't a replacement for the law. He is the fulfillment of the law.
And especially that those traditions the Pharisees had developed came from traditions as you pointed out that the Lord instated. Mhmm. And that they were meant to point us to the Lord. They were meant to draw our hearts to the Lord. Yeah.
And it's not necessarily the tradition itself that was the cause of that was the problem, but it's the fact that our hearts get numb and our hearts get hard and we stop seeing those things as a sign of a greater reality, but we start seeing them as a thing themselves. So as a appreciator of tradition, I think I it's just necessary to be careful with them. Are they pointing our hearts to the Lord? Mhmm. Or are they actually closing us off from knowing the Lord?
Well done. Yep. Yeah. And, Gannon, you said something similar too is to put those traditions in check. And if we have them here at First Bee and you're like, why do you guys do that?
Come and ask Ray and I. We're bouncing around. Shall we shall we close in one more song? Hey, Ray. Would you like to share a little something?
Why?
I believe. I believe you gave sight to the blind. I believe that the dead came to light. I believe there were wonders and signs, and you're still the same. I believe every word that you say.
I believe there's scars in your hand that your goodness is good without end you'll never change and I will tell and I will tell of your wonders sing of your grace God of creation knows me by name. Is faithful. Yesterday, now I've always his mercy. Your mercy is mighty. Away I believe you will come in the clouds I believe you will hear even now in your presence I know there's power power to save and I will tell I will tell all your wonders sing all your praise, God of creation, knows me by name, the Lord is faithful, yesterday, now, and always, you always will be God.
Let's sing that again. Were you are you always will be God is faithful. Yesterday, now, and always, all ways. Your mercy is mighty. Age after age, all generations bow down in praise.
The Lord is faithful. Yesterday, now, when always, always, the Lord is faithful. The Lord is faithful. Yesterday, now we're no ways.
Amen. That's such a great closing song. How about this for a closing verse here before we part two? For the kingdom of God, it's not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Lord, may we go in that righteousness that comes from you, the peace that you give, and the joy, God, that we would be a joyful expression of who you are to the world around us so that they can see you and know you.
