Mark 7: 1-13; Matthew 15:1-9

Sometimes I am troubled that a lot of what we do and think is too much like the Pharisees of Jesus day.  I wonder if we have done things so long in routine that we have made them into law in some cases. 

In the discourse at the beginning of Mark 7 notice that first of all these Pharisees found fault.  Are you a fault finder?  We have too many people who are examining others and the way they do things in order to find fault.  If someone is doing something different from the way you have always done so, then you find fault in their action.  We have some who spend their time just looking for wrong in others; fault finders.  I know many people who have become discouraged in the Lord's work because of fault finders.

With all the tremendous work that Jesus and His disciples were doing at this particular point in the earthly ministry, here comes these fault finders criticizing them for not washing their hands before eating, which was an established Jewish tradition.  

Jesus reply to the fault finders of His day and to fault finders today is that their faith is a faith of the mouth and not of the heart.  They claimed to be religious but they made laws and rules which were the teachings of men and not written on the heart by God.  Fault finders were supporting the way they always did things over God's way. Do we do that today?

If we were to alter the way we did the Lord's Supper for example, and instead of passing the emblems we had everyone pass by the table and take them for themselves; would that be wrong?  I do not think that it would be, but I know that in every congregation that changed, there would be some who would cry out that total apostasy had arrived.

Some will say that we do things expediently and this is the best manner of doing things decently and in order as we are commanded.  This may be so but to make it law for everyone else and to find fault with someone who does it some other way puts you in the class with these Pharisees in Mark. 

However, if I changed the serving of the emblems just to aggravate others and just because I could, or just changed to be changing, then I do believe I would be wrong as if I had introduced apostasy.  To break the union of a group of believers is very serious.  God's way of doing things is written on the heart and done out of love.  "Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment." (1st Corinthians 1:10) I have no problem with that as longs as everyone agrees with me. 

Traditions are a part of culture that are passed down from person to person or generation to generation.  They become a commonly held system.  There are good things about tradition but the problem we are examining in our study today is when tradition overrides God's law.  Matthew 15:6 "So for the sake of your tradition, you have made void the word of God."

We are to observe the traditions taught by Christ and handed down to us by the apostles.  "I praise you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions just as I passed them on to you." (1st Corinthians 11:2)   "See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ." (Colossians 2:8) “So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by our spoken word or by our letter.” ^[1](2^nd Thess. 2:15)

The problems that have divided believers over the years have been the interpretation of what was taught and how man has adjusted that interpretation for his own pleasure and convenience.  We do things today just because this was the way they did things when we were growing up.  My mom and dad did it this way so I know this is the way to do it. A young husband watched his wife has she prepared to bake a ham.  She took a knife and cut off both ends of the ham and placed it into the baking pan.  He ask her why did she waste so much of the end pieces and her reply was well that is the way my mom always did it.  So they called mom and asked her why she cut her ham so much before baking and her reply was that was how her mom always did it.  So grandma was called and her reply was that in those days we just had one small baking pan and the ham had to be cut to fit into that particular pan.  Do you ever wonder where you would be today if you were born into a Baptist or a Muslim family?

When the essence of our religion becomes the obedience of laws and rules then we need to examine our hearts.  I do not want to be a part of a religion where it is all about obey rules and you are ok and disobeying rules you are sinning.  My God is bigger than that and my belief is different if it is from the heart. 

“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.”

My dad use to tell me “if you cannot say something nice about someone or something, just do not say anything at all.” I have remained silent on many an occasion.  As a shepherd of the church I am required to protect the flock from false teaching and false teachers.  I have to examine people in light of Scripture to see if they declare truth or falsehood.  Jesus says we shall know them by their fruits.  I have to be a fruit inspector on occasion.  But too often we just want to find fault in others. 

Our plea this morning is that we be very careful in finding fault with other believers.  Who are you to judge another man’s servant?  Let us not go into a situation seeing what fault we can find but with what good our heart can reveal.  Look for the good!

“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.”

The tradition of the Jews

 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.

^5 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?”

^6 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.

⁷      And in vain they worship Me,

     Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’

Our faith is based on Jesus Christ and not on rules and laws.  The moral rights and wrongs are imbedded in our hearts and we know what to do and not to do in our walk with Him. When man injects rules that are contrary to what He has written on our hearts then they must not take precedence over God’s will for us. 

How do we determine God’s will from man’s tradition?

1.   What is the purpose of the tradition?

2.   What is the history of the tradition?

3.   Does it contradict Scripture?

Ask which of these are men’s tradition and which are God’s rule:

1.   As a church we come together on Sunday.

2.   We come together on Sunday at 10:30.

3.   We assemble again on Sunday nights.

4.   We sing when we come together.

5.   We use song books when we sing.

6.   We pray when we come together.

7.   We bow our heads and close our eyes when we pray.

8.   We partake of the Lord’s Supper on the first day of the week.

9.   We sing a song to prepare our minds to partake.

10 We offer the Lord’s invitation in our assembly

11 We sing a song when we offer the invitation

One must be baptized to accept Christ.