Selective Service - Mark 7:1-13

Bruce Goettsche

Union Church of La Harpe Illinois

Mark • Sermon • Submitted a year ago • Presented a year ago

Mark 7:1–23

Scripture

Word of God

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Notes

Transcript

Some of us older folks remember when the military was staffed by Selective Service (or the draft) which was from 1948 to 1973. You would receive a letter stating you were going to serve in the military. This is how most people ended up in the Korean Conflict or Vietnam. In December of 1969 they began a draft lottery. Every date from 1970 was put into a pot and drawn out to determine the order of those who would be selected to serve. Every 18-year old male had to register for the draft. The lottery numbers ended in 1975.

My 18th birthday was in 1973. My lottery number (drawn in 1974) was 8! If the draft had continued, I would have been told to report for duty in 1975. My life would likely have turned out very differently if the draft had lasted just a little longer.

The passage before us today has nothing to do with military service, but it does have something to do with serving selectively. I am hoping the military draft image will help you better hang on to what Jesus is saying in our text in Mark 7.

One day some Pharisees and teachers of religious law arrived from Jerusalem to see Jesus. 2 They noticed that some of his disciples failed to follow the Jewish ritual of hand washing before eating. 3 (The Jews, especially the Pharisees, do not eat until they have poured water over their cupped hands, as required by their ancient traditions. 4 Similarly, they don’t eat anything from the market until they immerse their hands in water. This is but one of many traditions they have clung to—such as their ceremonial washing of cups, pitchers, and kettles.)

5 So the Pharisees and teachers of religious law asked him, “Why don’t your disciples follow our age-old tradition? They eat without first performing the hand-washing ceremony.”

6 Jesus replied, “You hypocrites! 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.

7 Their worship is a farce,

for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’

8 For you ignore God’s law and substitute your own tradition.”

This is an important passage. These men, according to Jesus, were selectively choosing to obey some of the Word of God and not other parts. They had substituted the authority of men for the authority of God’s Word. These are problems that continue to our very day.

Substituting Authority

The issue of authority is important. We all have some authority in our lives. It may be our friends, popular culture, the news media, the government, or even your personal feelings and opinions. There is something that serves as the key vote for your life, something that carries the greatest weight for what you do and why you do it.

The great “theologian”, Bob Dylan wrote a song titled, “You Gotta Serve Somebody” The first verse and chorus goes like this,

[Verse 1]

You may be an ambassador to England or France.

You may like to gamble, you might like to dance.

You may be the heavyweight champion of the world.

You might be a socialite with a long string of pearls. [Chorus] But you’re going to have to serve somebody, yes indeed You’re going to have to serve somebody Well, it may be the devil, or it may be the Lord But you’re going to have to serve somebody.

It is not a profound song, but it is accurate, you are going to serve somebody. The question is: whom will you serve? This is the real issue in this text.

The Pharisees were not happy with the fact that Jesus’ disciples were not following their age-old traditions. Some translations call this the “tradition of the elders.” These were a group of rules that were added to the commands of the Scripture. They were well-meaning rules. The idea was that God’s Word was so essential that it was important to specify what those His commands meant practically. The oral tradition was considered a “fence around the law.”

For example, the Ten Commandments tell us to “remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.” We are also told that on the Sabbath there is to be no work. But the teachers of the law asked, “What does it mean to ‘work’? So, they came up with numerous rules that were designed to help people know what was work and what wasn’t. At times they took this to ridiculous lengths.

For example, looking in the mirror was forbidden, because if you looked into the mirror on the Sabbath day and saw a gray hair, you might be tempted to pull it out and thus perform work on the Sabbath. You also could not wear your false teeth; if they fell out, you would have to pick them up and you would be working. In regard to carrying a burden, you could not carry a handkerchief on the Sabbath, but you could wear a handkerchief.[1]

When it comes to washings, according to the Law of Moses, the priests had to wash their hands before they went in and led worship. It was a symbol designed to remind the priests that God is holy and the priests could not approach God without first being cleansed. The ritual washing reminded the priests of that reality.

The tradition of the elders required everyone to wash constantly with water. They were very specific as to how this washing was to be carried out. They did it before eating, sometimes before washing clothes, washing furniture etc. This was in case you may have touched something unclean. This was beyond what God was saying. God was less concerned about cleanliness and more about respecting Him. His focus was internal, theirs was external.

These rules became the measure by which holiness was evaluated rather than the heart, which is what God wanted. Much the same thing can happen today. Anytime we go beyond what the Bible itself says, we are appealing to an authority other than the Word of God. It is something we all tend to do. We add requirements to salvation. For example,

· You must follow a certain format for worship (You need to sing and preach for so long). In the Best Selling book, The Purpose Driven Church, Pastor Rick Warren said the church should only sing contemporary music (i.e. no hymns) because the Bible says, “Sing a new song to the Lord.” This is taking his idea and elevating it to a Christian “law.”

· You need to have a certain experience (walk and aisle, say a certain prayer, have tears)

· Read from a certain version of the Bible

· Hold a particular view on the end times, or politics, or spiritual gifts

All of these things are beyond the Bible. In other words, they are manmade rules that have been elevated to a position of Law. This puts the focus on the externals when God is concerned about the heart.

The disciples were not doing anything wrong according to God’s Word. All they were doing was violating manmade rules.

In any discussion or class, we need to get out our Bibles and ask “What does God’s Word actually say?” The best example of this were the Bereans in the book of Acts.

And the people of Berea were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, and they listened eagerly to Paul’s message. They searched the Scriptures day after day to see if Paul and Silas were teaching the truth.

It is easy for us to be devoted to a particular teacher, church, discipline, or even personal preference rather than being students of the Scripture.

Tim Keller suggests there are three things we need to do. First, we have to adjust to the Bible’s authority. Too many people today are trying to adjust the Bible to some other authority. The quickest way to know when someone is doing this is when they say, “I know the Bible says this . . . but…! What comes after the “but” is evidence that we are trying to adjust the Word of God to some external authority.

Some of the things the Bible says are unpopular and hard to hear, but it is not our job to edit the Bible; our job is to adjust our lives to submit to God’s authority rather than the other way around. We should believe what God says about creation, gender, the Flood, Sin, redemption, and life beyond the grave because this is what God says is true. There will be times when we disagree about how a particular teaching is to be understood in our contemporary lives. When this happens we need to approach each other with humility and a desire to be faithful to God’s Word, rather than to change it to our thinking. We are given this sober warning in Proverbs.

Every word of God proves true;

he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.

6 Do not add to his words,

lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar. (Prov 30:5-6)

Not only should we not add to the Word of God, we are told that we are in danger if we do so.

The second principle is to grasp the purpose of the Bible. The Bible is given to us as a revelation of God’s heart and purpose for our lives. It is not there to “restrict us” or to dominate us. It is not merely a “rule book.” It is a gift out of God’s grace to help us navigate the world we live in. We tend to read the Bible as if it were an assignment we have to fulfill to be blessed, or a class we have to take. Instead, we should open the Word of God like we would a gift from someone you love; we should approach it with great anticipation and excitement.

As you read and submit to the teaching of the Word of God, you will see things about your life that help you understand who you are. You will not only see your need for a Savior, you will be introduced to the God who made you, and the God who came to redeem you from your sin and rebellion. You will be shown what true godliness looks like and why it is important. In the book of Deuteronomy God said to Israel what I believe He would also say to us.

I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, 20 loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days. (Deuteronomy 30:19-20)

The purpose of the Bible is to draw us into a relationship with the Lord because only in that relationship will we find true, abundant, and eternal life.

Third, as I have already mentioned, the Bible points us to Jesus. All of the Old Testament points to Him and the New Testament tells us about Him and the implications of walking with Him. He is the only way of salvation. His sacrifice on our behalf shows us just how much He loves us. People sometimes seem upset that Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father, except through me.” (John 14:6) They believe this is too exclusive. What people should see is God has provided A WAY FOR US TO BE FORGIVEN and begin a new life walking with Him in the joy we were intended to know. The assumption that God OWES us a variety of ways we can be saved is an expression of the one who still thinks they ARE God.

Looking for Loopholes

Jesus pointed out to these teachers of the law that they were not only using their traditions to overshadow the Word of God, they were also using their traditions as loopholes to avoid the clear teaching of God’s Word.

9 Then he said, “You skillfully sidestep God’s law in order to hold on to your own tradition. 10 For instance, Moses gave you this law from God: ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and ‘Anyone who speaks disrespectfully of father or mother must be put to death.’ 11 But you say it is all right for people to say to their parents, ‘Sorry, I can’t help you. For I have vowed to give to God what I would have given to you.’ 12 In this way, you let them disregard their needy parents. 13 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.”

God’s command was very clear: we are to honor our parents. Later in 1 Timothy we are told that we should care for our immediate relatives. God wants us to take care of our families. What the teachers of the law had done was create a loophole so they didn’t have to do what God had said.

You could take, for example, a piece of property or a specific amount of money and declare it to be “Corban,” meaning you had given or dedicated the land, money, or whatever else for the Lord’s use. Some people did this in such a way that they did not have to give the land or money to the temple (It was a vow that it could only be used by the person making the vow . . . for the Lord). This vow however, made it impossible to give it to needy family member. They could look spiritual yet find a way to disobey a command in Scripture.

Jesus said, this is only one example among many others. These men were telling others how they should serve the Lord through the many additional laws they had created while at the same time avoiding the Law of God in their own lives. Jesus quoted the words in Isaiah, “These people honor me with their lips but their hearts are far from me.

There are many, including us on occasion, who try to relate to the Word of God as something to be manipulated rather than something to be obeyed. We must repent! We are hurting ourselves and we are negating any witness we give about our faith.

Applications

This passage of Scripture says some important things to the contemporary church.

We must approach the Bible Differently. Instead of viewing the Bible as an ancient document that could use some updating, we need to see the Bible as a timeless document the gives us unchanging principles and guidance from our loving and unchanging God. We need to see the Bible as being the measuring stick of contemporary culture rather than the Bible being measured by culture.

Our Bibles should not be decorations on our shelves but a handbook for our lives and the map leading to forgiveness and new life. It speaks the final word on many of our present debates.

We must realize that we don’t really love Jesus if we don’t also love the Word of God. Jesus was always pointing to the Word of God. He talked about fulfilling Scripture and that certain things had to happen the way the Bible said they would happen. It was Jesus who said there was nothing in the Word of God that would perish. To quote Time Keller,

Listen. You can’t follow Jesus and reject the very basis of his whole life. At the very best, that’s just not thinking. At the very worst, that’s hypocritical. It’s like, “I want the warm fuzzies of saying I’m with Jesus,” but you reject the very basis of your life. Listen. Unless you are willing, like Jesus, to conform, to adjust, your life to the supreme authority of the Scripture in every detail, even where it hurts, even where you don’t want to do it …

Unless you’re willing to conform and adjust your life to the authority of the Scripture, especially at the places where it contradicts your heart or your tradition or your culture or the experts or your friends, there’s no way you can follow Jesus. The authority of the Bible and the authority of God and Jesus Christ stand or fall together.[2]

Our Additions to the Bible do not make it more relevant but rather serve to control or judge others. If you are ever attending a church where you are constantly being hit over the head with the Bible to try to get you to conform so you will be “good enough” to get to Heaven; if you feel each week that you need to be a little bit better so you can ‘get saved,’ it is time to change churches. The message of the gospel is that God already loves you. If you will look to Christ as your only Savior, you will be forgiven of your sin and embark on a brand-new life.

The Bible proclaims this good news and tells us how to live out that reality. It points us to Jesus, the lover of our souls. Worship should motivate us to serve Him out of gratitude rather than out of guilt.

Finally, we must ask whether we are merely honoring God with our lips or with our hearts? It is easy to engage in the formalities, to sing the songs (even if they go on and on), to go through the ordinances of the church, to know the answers to all the trivia questions, and to feel really good about God and about your church, and still be only honoring God on a superficial level. It is easy to be satisfied with the various laws and commands of our particular church and miss the life-fulfilling relationship with God that comes through walking with Him.

We are called to more than a mere rote performance of worship. The Lord wants a relationship with us. He is more concerned about the individual than He is about our attendance figures. He wants us to pursue His Kingdom rather than have us try to build our own kingdoms. He wants us to love Him and submit to Him rather than simply pay lip service to Him. How do we know this? He had it all written down for us in the Bible.

[1] R. Kent Hughes, Mark: Jesus, Servant and Savior, vol. 1, Preaching the Word (Westchester, IL: Crossway Books, 1989), 162–163. [2] Timothy J. Keller, The Timothy Keller Sermon Archive (New York City: Redeemer Presbyterian Church, 2013).

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