I was reading Mark Chapter 7 with some friends Saturday morning …
Mark 7:(NASV) The Pharisees and some of the scribes gathered to Him after they came from Jerusalem, 2 and saw that some of His disciples were eating their bread with unholy hands, that is, unwashed. 3 (For the Pharisees and all the other Jews do not eat unless they carefully wash their hands, thereby holding firmly to the tradition of the elders; 4 and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they completely cleanse themselves; and there are many other things which they have received as traditions to firmly hold, such as the washing of cups, pitchers, and copper pots.) 5 And the Pharisees and the scribes asked Him, “Why do Your disciples not walk in accordance with the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with unholy hands?” 6 But He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written:
‘This people honors Me with their lips,
But their heart is far away from Me.
7 And in vain do they worship Me,
Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’
8 Neglecting the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men.”
9 He was also saying to them, “You are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your tradition. 10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘The one who speaks evil of father or mother, is certainly to be put to death’; 11 but you say, ‘If a person says to his father or his mother, whatever I have that would help you is Corban (that is, given to God),’ 12 you no longer allow him to do anything for his father or his mother; 13 thereby invalidating the word of God by your tradition which you have handed down; and you do many things such as that.”
Verses 6-8 jumped out at me while reading this and what came to mind is … There are no worldly limits to what we will attempt to create, enable, consider and/or ignore to enable ourselves to live for ourselves, our habits and our feelings (comfort, self-righteousness, power, wealth, etc.). But God’s law has detailed some limits.
God has placed in us a desire for fellowship. Fellowship with God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) … and fellowship with other faithful believers, who, if they love us, should point out our “vain traditions.” Therefore, we have to stay in the midst of brothers and sister in Christ who will continually point out our shortcuts around God’s law. This won’t be easy – iron sharpening iron creates a lot of sparks.
Heavenly Father, I thank you for your Word and how You prune me through it. Please give me a heart to quickly accept Your truth and not be defensive, even when it’s challenging to me and my vain traditions. Thank you for my wife, my kids, and all the brothers and sisters you’ve placed to surround me. Soften my heart to receive questions, challenges and rebuke, and lead me through prayer, repentance and growth into Your faithful ambassador. Enable me to gently and humbly share with others their vain traditions and to walk alongside, building them up through your Word, as they work through their challenges. – Amen
Nice… in that same vein, this is from the commentary on Micah I’m preparing:
Micah 6:4 For I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage. I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. 5 My people, remember now what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous acts of Yahweh.”
The people answered God’s indictment by defending themselves with a pretty weak response.
Micah 6:6 With what shall I come before Yahweh, and bow myself before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? 7 Will Yahweh be pleased with thousands of rams? With tens of thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my disobedience? The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
The people were familiar enough with the outward requirements of the law to think that they had a good answer for God. After all, they brought their burnt offerings of calves and rams as required by Leviticus 1 They brought oil. Leviticus 2 They even dedicated their firstborn to the Lord. Exodus 13:13
But God knew the hearts of His people. God’s laws had become a burden to them. Worship had become a formality, an empty ritual. While they may have been following the outward requirements of the law, they had neglected the intent of the law. They had even forgotten God’s mighty acts of salvation on their behalf. They had come to believe that their actions would save them. They turned to worship other gods. God’s people were compromised and were pursuing the worthless practices of their pagan neighbors.
They set up for themselves pillars and Asherah poles on every high hill, and under every green tree; and there they burned incense in all the high places… 2 Kings 17:10-11
They made molten images for themselves, even two calves, and made an Asherah, and worshiped all the army of the sky, and served Baal. They caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, used divination and enchantments… 2 King 17:16-17
Centuries later Christ said the same thing to the people of Israel:
These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain… Matthew 15:8-9
And Christ said the same thing, accusing the Church of going through the motions, in His letter to the seven Churches in the book of Revelation:
You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. Revelation 2:20…I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Revelation 3:1…I know your deeds… you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17 You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. 18 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire… Revelation 3:15-18
The Old Covenant Church rationalized, ‘we can please God by bringing rams and oil to the temple, after all, we can afford it. And to stay in good standing with our neighbors and their gods, to be on the safe side, let us also join them in worship. Who knows, perhaps their gods will bless as well.’
Likewise the early New Covenant Church rationalized, ‘we are being persecuted and accused of being atheists because we don’t honor the gods of the Empire. We are ostracized and we are losing our jobs. We need to feed our families, what can it hurt to secretly believe in Christ in our hearts and also go along with the norms of our community, sacrificing to their gods and participating in their temple rituals?
Do Christians today ever compromise with the culture, following false gods, diluting or blatantly disobeying the Word of God in order to gain the acceptance of unbelievers?
“The matter is quite simple. The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand, we are obliged to act accordingly. Take any words in the New Testament and forget everything except pledging yourself to act accordingly. My God, you will say, if I do that my whole life will be ruined. How would I ever get on in the world? Herein lies the real place of Christian scholarship. Christian scholarship is the Church’s prodigious invention to defend itself against the Bible, to ensure that we can continue to be good Christians without the Bible coming too close. Oh, priceless scholarship, what would we do without you? Dreadful it is to fall into the hands of the living God. Yes it is even dreadful to be alone with the New Testament.” (Søren Kierkegaard, Provocations: Spiritual Writings of Kierkegaard, Plough Publishing, 2014)
In effect, because they did not understand the Gospel, Israel had answered God’s challenge the same way many in the modern Western Church answer God’s challenge. ‘We go to Church as often as it is convenient. Hebrews 10:25 We place some money in the offering plate. 2 Corinthians 9:7 We might even sing along with Christian radio. Ephesians 5:19 God should be pleased with us.’
To which Micah responds, God rejects your pitiful defense. Your attempts at self-salvation. Your worship is in vain. You have missed the entire point of worship. Like ancient Israel, God has rescued His New Covenant Church from slavery. God has offered you forgiveness of sins that you could not deserve. God freely offers you the security and joy of eternal life. Stop and reconsider the predicament you were caught in. You were captive to Satan and his lies and believed that following the desires of your heart, your passions, your sins, would bring you freedom. You are slaves of the one you obey… you are slaves to sin, which leads to death. Romans 6:16 But instead of freedom you were left with fear, anxiety, futility, and condemnation. And despite experiencing fleeting pleasures and joys there was always lurking in the background the cold reality of death and the reality of hell.
Stop going through the motions, stop compromising, realize all that God has done for you, and become a disciple, accept the free gift, and filled with the Spirit begin imitating Christ. Enter into life, keep the commandments. Matthew 19:17
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I wholeheartedly agree, but add. We were created to be in fellowship with the Father (through the Son and the Spirit), we were created to be in fellowship in marriage (with that person who is closest to us) and with each other (in community). We cannot live without manna (Him), and I believe we were created to be known (intimately) by our partner/spouse and we thrive when placed in community with each other. These last few years of being locked down and covered up, for many of us, that stripped living in community and for for some it also stripped us of our partners. But God remained there for us.