Stop Holding On So Tight! (Mark 7 pt. 1)

Every person and every family represented here today have at least one tradition in their life. It may be individual, familial, socially, athletically, religiously, or even work related.

This morning we are going to look at Mark 7:1-13 and look at what God has to teach us about tradition.

As I was preparing for this sermon, a song from a famous Broadway musical came to my mind. It was the song “Tradition” from Fiddler on the Roof. I thought about singing it for you this morning but first it would not sound good and two, it would not sound good.

Tradition is a part of life. Our bible dictionaries and theological dictionaries and English dictionaries define tradition something like this:

A body of wisdom or received doctrines passed down and developed by a historical community (C. Stephen Evans, Pocket Dictionary of Apologetics & Philosophy of Religion (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2002), 116.)

That which is handed down, particularly teaching handed down from a teacher to his disciples. (D. J. V. Lane, “Tradition,” ed. D. R. W. Wood et al., New Bible Dictionary (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996), 1199.)

tradition is defined as “an inherited, established, or customary pattern of thought, action, or behavior (such as a religious practice or a social custom)” 1. It can also refer to “the handing down of information, beliefs, and customs by word of mouth or by example from one generation to another without written instruction” 1. In other words, tradition is a set of customs, beliefs, or practices that are passed down from generation to generation. (Merriam Webster).

Lest your mind begin racing to the conclusion that I am going to be preaching on getting rid of all tradition I would firmly disagree. The sermon this morning is not about all tradition is evil and wicked. It is about tradition in our lives in comparison to the Word of God.

I, you, we all carry traditions at Christmas time. As a church we have as tradition, a Christmas eve service, every year. It is not a biblical command or mandate. It is strictly tradition.

When you take a look at the OT and the early church, Jews had the Mishnah. The further the world got to the 2nd century, the Mishnah was being elevated to the the level of scripture. Some crazy stuff was elevated.

Kent Hughes in his commentary on Mark jotted these traits down about the Mishnah:

The Mishnah, a compilation of Jewish oral laws made at the end of the second century A.D., says, “Tradition is a fence around the law.”1 Tradition, as the Jews saw it, protected God’s Holy Word and assisted his people in keeping it. (1 1. Herbert Danby, trans., The Mishnah (London: Oxford, 1974), p. 452. ; R. Kent Hughes, Mark: Jesus, Servant and Savior, vol. 1, Preaching the Word (Westchester, IL: Crossway Books, 1989), 162–163.)

Mark—Jesus, Servant and Savior (2 vols.) (Truly Clean ( Mark 7:1-23 ))

This fencing of the Law probably began well enough, but as the years passed it produced some famous absurdities. For example, in an effort to protect the Sabbath from being broken through inadvertent labor, the devout were given an amazing list of prohibitions—fences. 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. That meant if you were upstairs and wanted to take the handkerchief downstairs, you would have to tie it around your neck, walk downstairs, and untie it. Then you could blow your nose downstairs!

The rabbis debated about a man with a wooden leg: if his home caught on fire, could he carry his wooden leg out of the house on the Sabbath? One could spit on the Sabbath, but you had to be careful where. If it landed on the dirt and you scuffed it with your sandal, you would be cultivating the soil and thus performing work.

We are not all that different. We tend to hold tightly and often too tightly to tradition. Jesus in our text this morning points out the fallacy of holding tradition tightly and the end result of doing such.

Our main truth this morning is:

GOD”S WORD IS GREATER THAN TRADITION!

Jesus takes the Pharisees and Jewish leaders to task over their complete disregard for truth both in their belief and actions.

As we look at this narrative we will see a progression that these religious men had in their actions toward Jesus and the disciples. This progression is emphasized through God’s condemnation of their actions.

Our outline for today’s text is going to follow like more of a story than principled points and concluding with our big idea.

So our first point this morning is:

I. The Pharisees unbiblically accuse Jesus’ disciples of being unclean due to their failure to obey the tradition of the elders.

This accusation takes place a little after they have accused Jesus of breaking the law previously (Mark 2:23 “23 And it happened that He was passing through the grainfields on the Sabbath, and His disciples began to make their way along while picking the heads of grain.”). They were most likely furious with him and wanted to as they often did try and trip Jesus into incorrect answers. The problem with their plan was that they were going up against Christ. The response we will see from Christ in a minute was not what the Pharisees were expecting.

Again, the tradition and law they were dealing with was oral law that was written into the Mishnah around the 2nd Century, a smaller part of the law that was completely oral tradition that the Jewish leaders put together to fence in the law. At this point it was oral tradition with really nothing being written down. On a interesting side note, it is impressive that the Jews were able to even remember all of these oral traditions added to the Law that God had given them through Moses.

Can you see the problem with what is taking place here in Mark 7:1-5? The Jewish leaders had put their own oral tradition ahead of God’s authority and in this specific case the OT Mosaic law. In fact the accusation had nothing to do with the mosaic law but rather the “tradition of the elders.” The disciples were not breaking anything of the Mosaic law.

The mishnah was crazy in their purity laws. The overall purpose of the Mishnah was not a bad idea. It was to keep one blameless and pure. The problem was that they took their oral tradition to far. They as we will see more clearly in a few moments, elevated the tradition of the elders about the authority of God’s Word.

We would all agree that purity and holiness are important and necessary. We are going to, on a different morning, share the holiness by which we are to live and where sin and true uncleanness really come and how in Mark 7 14-23 Mark helps to show us through Christ how to live.

Back to these five verses, the Jews were washing all the time. One part of the Mishnah spends 35 pages on washing dishes or things like it. Their commitment revealed their hearts of which were highly pious, self-righteous, and too obnoxious because they were the righteous and spiritual ones. These Pharisees so badly wanted to ruin Jesus. With these traditions and others the Pharisees wanted to see the Jews stay not clean with hygiene but ritual purity and religious tradition. All of this went beyond biblical truth! The ritualistic and legalistic tradition dominated their lives.

So what about you?

What traditions are you identifying in your life with this morning?

What are your traditions leading you to live like!?

Are your traditions being relied on to carry forth a status symbol?

Can you give scriptural evidence to your traditions?

II. The pharisees true character reveal a corrupt heart, Mark 7:6-8.

Here is these three verses Jesus goes on the offensive and I could see the Pharisees being surprised by it. Jesus’ response immediately hearkens back to the prophet Isaiah. He quotes from Isaiah in Mark 7:6-7

Mark 7:6–7 NASB95

6 And He said to them, “Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far away from Me. 7 ‘But in vain do they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’

telling the Pharisees that they are the ones who honor with only their lips and with empty worship. Jesus exposes them as the hypocrites they were.

Jesus calls them out as hypocrites. What is a hypocrite? It has been defined as someone who says one thing and does another. The actual word means playactor or pretender.

In the 90’s and early 2000’s a tv show titled Pretender had as its central character a genius that could learn and be anything he wanted. He was able to be and do so many different things that the true of who he was was questioned by even him.

Jesus is calling the Pharisees a pretender. They played the part of the righteous and spiritual but in reality were lost and wicked.

Christian, in what ways are you pretending this morning? How are you letting your traditions dictate your worship? How may we as a church body be allowing tradition to keep us from living biblically and righteously? Where have we perhaps elevated and taught the precepts of men as doctrinal truth?

We will come back to this thought!

Can you imagine the burning fire of anger welling up in Pharisees?

When someone points out biblical truth that may poke a hole in your tradition(s) how are you responding?

Jesus lays out a progression that is present in how the Pharisees elevated tradition over God’s Word. This progression begins with teaching their doctrine as God’s Word followed by neglecting/setting aside God’s Word and holding to the tradition of men. The next part of the progression is goes deeper to now they begin to reject God’s Word and finally they then rob it of its power through that rejection.

The Bible Exposition Commentary (Chapter Six: The Servant-Teacher (Mark 7:1–8:26))

People who revere man-made traditions above the Word of God eventually lose the power of God’s Word in their lives. No matter how devout they may appear, their hearts are far from God.

The Bible Exposition Commentary (Chapter Six: The Servant-Teacher (Mark 7:1–8:26))

The Mishna, a collection of Jewish traditions in the Talmud, records, “It is a greater offense to teach anything contrary to the voice of the Rabbis than to contradict Scripture itself.” But before we criticize our Jewish friends, perhaps we should examine what influence “the church fathers” are having in our own Christian churches. We also may be guilty of replacing God’s truth with man’s traditions.

Exalting Jesus in Mark (They Actually Play the Hypocrite with a Distant Heart (Mark 7:6–8))

They held that the ultimate authority for spiritual life was both Scripture and tradition, but if there was a conflict between the two, tradition won out every time. Sometimes the Bible wasn’t even considered. “We have our traditions. That is all we need.”

Conclusion/Application

So what about us? We look at the Pharisees and we Amen Christ going and rebuking them as hard as he did.

We as Christians struggle and fail in the same way. We have allowed tradition to run our lives too much.

Let’s look at this through two lenses: 1) personally and 2) Corporately.

Let’s look first at the definition again:

an inherited, established, or customary pattern of thought, action, or behavior (such as a religious practice or a social custom) b: a belief or story or a body of beliefs or stories relating to the past that are commonly accepted as historical though not verifiable : the handing down of information, beliefs, and customs by word of mouth or by example from one generation to another without written instruction

Verses for understanding:

Key Verses

Mt 15:1–9

1 Then some Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, 2 “Why do Your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread.” 3 And He answered and said to them, “Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 “For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother is to be put to death.’ 5 “But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever I have that would help you has been given to God,” 6 he is not to honor his father or his mother.’ And by this you invalidated the word of God for the sake of your tradition. 7 “You hypocrites, rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you: 8 ‘This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far away from Me. 9 ‘But in vain do they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the precepts of men.’ ” / tradition of men; a parallel passage to Mark 7

1 Co 11:2

Now I praise you because you remember me in everything and hold firmly to the traditions, just as I delivered them to you. / Positive tradition of the gospel

Ga 1:14

and I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my contemporaries among my countrymen, being more extremely zealous for my ancestral traditions. / tradition of the Pharisees

Col 2:8

See to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men, according to the elementary principles of the world, rather than according to Christ. / tradition of men

2 Th 3:6

Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from every brother who leads an unruly life and not according to the tradition which you received from us. / Positive tradition of the gospel

So again what about us? What tradition are we genuinely holding onto? Lets look at two areas we see tradition in our lives today.

Personal Tradition

Position on how one dresses

the time one eats dinner

celebration of Christmas

where one goes to school

church attendance

how often

denomination

occupation

Are their traditions that are to be consistently lived out at the level of the gospel?

2 Thessalonians 3:6 “6 Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you keep away from every brother who leads an unruly life and not according to the tradition which you received from us.”

WE out to always be handing down the tradition of the gospel but what we can never do is elevate our human tradition to the level of the gospel and the whole counsel of God’s Word. We not only struggle with it on a personal level but we struggle with it on a corporate level.

Corporate Tradition

Worship Style

The Pharisees worshiped but they did so in vain Jesus says.

Ministries of the Church

Services of the Church

"Few people want to be a part of a church that doesn’t pray, but few people want to attend a prayer meeting. You should ponder this conundrum.” - (Tim Challies, 32 Random Thoughts About the Local Church)

We are pretenders all too often. I understand work can make it difficult for the weekly meeting. Does it bother you that you cannot make it? I use this as an example of how easily we can allow traditions to impede our walk with Christ. This is a thought of application to stir our minds. Yes, traditionally we meet on Wednesdays and have other scheduled times for focused prayer. These are 2 Thess 3:6 kind of traditions where they are exalting truth not superseding it.

This afternoon over 65,000 people will be living out the tradition of watching their sports teams. Unfortunately, too many Christians allow the tradition of sports to supersede the commands of God. People will be willing to miss the gathering of God’s people and the opening of God’s Word for a temporal game.

We often impose tradition of men not only on ourselves but also as the Pharisees on the lives of others. We could take the time to list multiple ways of how tradition in the church has hindered spiritual growth because it was elevated above scripture. Now lest we start feeling good about ourselves individually and start pointing fingers, we have areas where we have allowed tradition in life to keep us or others from spiritual growth. Our tradition may be on the opposite spectrum of someone else but it is tradition nonetheless.

The problem with the Pharisees in this passage was that they were and did do away all to often with the Word of God. When we let tradition drive our lives and the life of our church we are like those claim Corban and no longer permit the truth to work. We nullify the working of God’s truth.

God will not honor a church of pretenders, of people playing the part of a church member. God’s commands matter and righteousness is not living according to my own traditions and way of doing life but according to God’s word!

We must be a people and a church of the Word. Our actions must be aligned with God’s Word. When God’s Word leads to change than we change. We do not stay firm in our tradition. We have always done it so why change. Many of the things I grew up with in my life as a pastor’s kid were done out of tradition, much of what is still good but much of what was raised to a level that was in reality equated with biblical truth.

I am not saying this morning that tradition is bad. I am saying that when man’s tradition is raised above God’s tradition, God’s Word then we have usurped God’s authority and stand in a dangerous place as pretenders.

We need to strive to be sincere and real! We need to live spiritually pure not ritually pure. IN the coming weeks we are going to look at the next section of this passage where Christ goes into more detail on what truly defiles a man and that it is not walking through the market and bumping up against a Gentile.

Christian, where are you this morning? Personally, this passage has made me evaluate what traditions in my life have I elevated above truth? Is my worship before God being held back because I am unwilling to change the way I live in certain areas because that is how I have always lived. The Jewish Mishna as we saw at the beginning, is full f daily rituals that had to be followed.

How many daily activiities have we adapted into our life and they really have become tradition for us each day?

Because:

God’s Word IS GREATER THAN TRADITION!

Let’s not neglect God’s Word! God’s Word is how we live out God’s tradition!

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