The Idolatry of Religious Traditions | Mark 7:1-13 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Gospel of Mark Series)

Would you gladly meet me in the book of Mark in chapter seven, please? Mark chapter seven together. Mark seven, and let's meet together in verse one. Now when the Pharisees gathered to him with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is unwashed. For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders.

And when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches. And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands? And he 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. In vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.

Lord, bless this time in your word. May it be accurate, may it be faithful, may you be pleased, and may your people be changed. In Jesus' name, amen. I love how Jesus in verse six says, while did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites. When Isaiah spoke this, he spoke it seven hundred years before this time, and yet Jesus faithfully and honorably relates this ancient text to his immediate audience and points towards the Pharisees.

It says, Isaiah was actually speaking about you. And I find that very encouraging because it shows me how Jesus viewed the scriptures. The scriptures are never out of date. The scriptures are always applicable. The scriptures are continually relevant.

If they're hundreds years old, if they're thousands years old, God designed the word of God, yes, for an immediate context, for an immediate audience, but more than that, for all people of all time, of all generations. And why I bring that up to you is because as we examine Mark chapter seven, we're not just looking at Jesus' discourse and conversation with a group of religious leaders. We are looking at Jesus' thoughts, his ideas, his desires, his will for us today. He's speaking to you and to me. This word is for you and for me, yes, in 2023.

And with that being said, today I wanna speak to you about something specific. My desire in speaking to you is to take this moment and to address the idolatry of religious traditions. The idolatry of religious traditions. Now in our culture today, there are many shapes and forms of idolatry, but I am persuaded that one of the most suffocating strongholds that keeps people back from experiencing true freedom is when they are tied to some expression of faith or worship even though such a custom clearly violates the will of God. And there are many of these kind of rituals and ceremonies and various kind of philosophies that are exercised in various circles today, but the erroneous elevation to and devotion of man made traditions were common during the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ as well.

Religious traditions. The masses find false comfort in them. Some global institutions promote them, and unfortunately, many people cannot fully commit to Christ because of them. And this was a conflict that Jesus faced, and that is proven by what we see before us today. Here is Christ confronting a system of ideas that were so elevated and esteemed by a certain group of people in the name of God, though it had absolutely no backing from God.

And from this text, we're not only gonna look at what exactly Jesus took issue with, we're gonna see the heart of Christ concerning tradition across the board. And this message is essentially just to prepare you as an introduction. All we're we're gonna do today is lay a foundation to prepare us to actually address some widely held philosophies and practices and traditions of our day. And the reason because is the is there ideas surrounding our faith that true Christians are either unaware of or unconcerned about, and that's concerning to me. The reason why we're gonna do this is because if we are not informed, what can happen is you can have genuine believers confused.

And beyond confusion, what you can have is illegitimate collaboration. And from a lit illegitimate collaboration, you can even have conversion. Conversion to false notions and false beliefs and misguided concepts. And that's what we wanna avoid in a day of growing deception. Do we not?

But Before we move on, let me clarify something from the start. I'm gonna be using the word tradition throughout this message, but I don't want it to be misinterpreted in any way. The general definition of tradition is any long held belief that has been passed down from generation to generation. It's a transmission of ideas or, some kind of custom or ideology that is given over from one person to another or one institution down to a group of people, but that is not what I am referring to nor is it nor is it what the Lord is necessarily concerned about. The tradition that we are speaking of is any concept or practice that is revered or recognized as divine authority, though it is absolutely not validated by the scriptures at all.

In simple terms, what I wanna speak to you about is any idea that originated with man and finds no basis in the complete word of God, but is treated as doctrine. And anything that fits in that category is not only dangerous for us, it's something that the Lord Jesus Christ denounces severely. Tradition itself is not evil. It's actually a neutral conviction. There are some traditions that are harmless.

There are some traditions that are even good. But the factor that makes all the difference is whether or not such a tradition cooperates with the word of God or challenges it. That's what makes the difference. And what Jesus is facing here is a catalog of teachings that challenge the supreme authority of the written word of God. Look here at verse five with me again.

It says here at the end of verse five, in the questioning and and the fault finding from the Pharisees, they wondered why didn't you hold to the tradition of the elders? This was a a set of extra biblical teachings that the Pharisees promoted and regulated, but were also observed by majority of Jew Jews. How do I know that? Look at verse three. For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders.

And so this is not only proposed by the Pharisees, it was popular in Jesus's day. But I think it's worth asking the question, well, where did the tradition of the elders begin with? It's clear that it was prominent, but what was the genesis of this? Where what was the conception of this? And some believe that the tradition of the elders and I need you to lean in because this is gonna be more teaching than preaching, but it's absolutely essential.

The tradition of the elders is widely believed to be the oral law among the Jews. And two centuries later, right, this oral law, this is this something that was verbally transmitted was officially recorded and compiled in what is known today as the Mishnah. Right? A collections of commentaries and even commands about and around the word of God and often beyond the word of God. But at this time in Jesus' day, Mark chapter seven, the tradition of the elders was still verbal.

It was not concrete. It was not inscribed anywhere. Again, it was transmitted word by word. And we see here that these kind of traditions actually, in their own tradition, explains where they came from. In the Talmud, you can look this up yourself, it is recorded that these Jews believe that this oral law was given by God at Mount Sinai and downloaded to Moses.

And from Moses, he entrusted certain men by teaching these kind of laws, and then the cycle started. These men, faithful men, would then transmit it to the next generation, and and that would happen from generation to generation. And as time went on, this oral law would be expounded upon and sometimes expanded as well. And what's interesting is that the oral law, not the same as the written law as what you see in the Hebrew scriptures, the oral law was heavily enforced after the Babylonian captivity. So the Jews were taken from their land and brought into Babylon.

You remember that? That's in our bibles. When they returned, there was such a fear of experiencing God's discipline again that the Jews of that time decided to really implement the oral law. And why was that? Because they wanted the oral law to function as a fence around the Hebrew scriptures, the clear commands of God given in the word of God.

They wanted a cushion to make it that much more difficult for the people to actually violate the word of God. And so it it provided parameters that before you come to the central idea of the word of God and either disobeying it or fulfilling it, you would have to go through all these other hoops and all these other kind of ideas before doing that. And so it seems intelligent, it seems like there's good intentions there, but you can imagine the problems with this. And what was the problem with this? That eventually, the line between the oral law and the written law of God was blurred.

It was blurred to the point where the oral law is now seen as equal and in some cases even superseding the written law of God. And now you have people even in Jesus's day that are measuring their godliness up to the standard of the tradition of the elders instead of the clear revealed will of the Lord. And so now everything about their supposed sanctification is about rituals, it's about ceremonies, it's about external formalities instead of true heart devotion to the Lord the way he designed it to be. And so this is what Jesus was dealing with, this kind of a practice. And again, it might have originated with good intentions, but it became extremely problematic.

You know, you ask some people today why it is that they do certain things in the name of God or in the name of religion, and you've probably heard it. I've heard it many times. Well, this is just what our family has done for generations. This is what our great grandfathers have done on both sides of my family, so this is why we attend the church that we attend. Or this is what our culture is all about and so our culture has done this for centuries, so why would we break that lineage?

We're gonna uphold that because this is something that we've known since we could even remember. And here's the point that I wanna make. Whenever the word of God is not recognized as sufficient, pay attention. I didn't say divinely inspired. Nor did I say without error.

You have people who hold to traditions that view the word of God as divinely inspired and without error. The problem is whether or not it is sufficient. And if you do not see the word of God as sufficient, you open yourself up to what you might believe to be compatible authorities. In other words, other ideas or beliefs or instructions or teachings that seem to work with, in your understanding, the will of God is revealed in the scriptures. But what often happens is whatever you think to be compatible ends up conflicting and even contradicting the word of God.

You're saying, really? Is that really the case? Yes. It is the case. One of the strongest examples of that is Roman Catholicism.

Oh, look at all the heads that just came up. Roman Catholicism doesn't see the scripture as the sole authority of their teaching in faith and practice. They actually have three streams of authority. The first stream is what you and I hold to, but we hold to completely and sufficiently, and that's the sacred scriptures. But they go beyond that to say that no, no, no.

It's not just sacred scriptures. You need sacred tradition. And what is sacred tradition? Sacred tradition is what the Pharisees viewed as their tradition, the oral law. In other words, what the Catholics would believe, the Roman Catholics is that what the apostles have taught not necessarily in the word of God, but through their own mouth, that has been transmitted over time to the true church which they believe is their church, and only the church holds those understandings and are able to present those teachings to the common people.

Sacred tradition. You're saying there's more than that. Yes, there's more than that. It's not just sacred scriptures, not just sacred tradition, it's the Magisterium. What's the magisterium?

Well, it's their church. And what they believe about the magisterium is that their church and and their leadership alone is able to give the proper interpretation of scripture. And beyond the proper interpretation of scripture, they even had the authority given supposedly by God to determine what is actually doctrine and what is not doctrine, whether it's found in sacred scripture or not. Seeing is that real? Oh, prepare yourself for the coming weeks.

It is very real. And one of the recent examples of that, you can already feel how that is an issue. One of the the recent examples of that is the idea of the assumption of Mary. What is the belief of the assumption of Mary that bodily Mary at the end of her life rose into heaven. And there's debate whether she died first or she didn't die first, but what's more important is that this is a teaching that has been established by the Roman Catholic church as dogma.

What's dogma mean? Dogma means that it is something that was given by God and is binding. It's not optional. It's not secondary. If you claim to be a Christian, you have to believe that doctrine.

And you're saying, well, okay. But isn't that an ancient thing? No. It was actually established in 1950. So so you understand why I'm bringing this up.

And I'm gonna bring up different examples in the coming weeks, but it's crucially important. And Jesus shows in this text how this happens, not just in one kind of institutions, but in many kind of institutions, and it can bleed into what we know as legalism even in in evangelical churches. But look here with me quickly in verse eight of Mark chapter seven. You read the first six seven verses. Look at verse eight.

He addresses the Pharisees and he says, you leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men. The NASB uses the word neglect instead of the word leave. You neglect the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men. See, the danger of valuing tradition is that it can easily lead you on the path of ignoring the word of God as your supreme authority because of how much you cherish another ancient or familiar idea. Do that long enough and what tends to happen is that the word no longer becomes the standard by which you scrutinize any idea or belief concerning faith and practice.

And for the for some, what happens is the the scriptures eventually become something that's totally ignored altogether and not consulted at all concerning certain issues. What happens is people say, well, whatever is passed down is more important than whatever is written. And you see with the Pharisees at, that's what they do right here. I mean, they approach the disciples, and what's their issue with the disciples at this point? You didn't wash your hands before you you ate.

This is not a hygiene problem. I advise you to wash your hands before you eat. That's not tradition. That's just good hygiene. Yeah?

No. But there's a ritualistic idea behind this that I don't have to break down to you. It's clear enough here. This is more about piety than it is about personal hygiene. And let me put this as a side note.

If you're a disciple of Jesus Christ and the only criticism that the enemies of the gospel have against you is concerning futile, empty spiritual ideas, you're in a really good place. You're in a really good place. Point something in my life that harms or violates the word of God, I'm in trouble. Point it to anything else that doesn't concern God's will, I'm in a good good place in my walk with the Lord. So this is what they're doing.

Is it surprising? It shouldn't be surprising to us. And they come and they and they question the disciples, why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders? And you know this perhaps in your walk that you've had similar questions asked of you. Why don't you view again Mary the way we view Mary per se?

Or why don't you baptize the way we baptize? Or or why don't, you seek the intercession of the saints? And why why do you why do you deprive yourself of such a wonder and such a a grace? And when those questions usually come to me, the initial response and I hope it's yours as well is, well, because the Bible says. Because the Bible says.

But what happens is when tradition is so upheld, it begins to outshine scripture and takes primary place. Look at verse 13. Jesus says, thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down and many such things you do. You know what making void means? To deprive of its force and authority.

Tradition can do that. It can seek to empty the power of God's word in their life or in a face faith based institution. And how many of us in this place have addressed these issues within within our own families or friends, and we've sat with people with with open hearts and genuine hearts and trying to convey the truth of the gospel. And when you bring out certain things from the word of God and you confront certain practices that they might hold to, it has no effect on them. In fact, what you learn is that they are more willing to break the word of God for their tradition than to break their tradition for the word of God.

How does that happen? The same way it's happening here. And Paul was like this before his conversion. In Galatians one fourteen, he declares, and I was advancing in Judaism beyond many of my own age among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the traditions of my fathers. So extremely zealous.

People get very passionate about tradition to the point where it's more important than anything else including the word of God. You know what that tells me about Paul? Here's what it tells me. That when you truly come to Christ, you give up everything including your tradition. No matter how binding it is on you, no matter how binding it is on your family, no matter how binding it is on your culture, when you truly come to Christ, you turn away not just from your sin, not just from your rebellion, not just your sexual morality, but even concepts and beliefs that challenge the word of God.

Unfortunately, many people today are like Paul, who are like Paul before when he came to Christ, think that they are honoring Christ at the same time. But Jesus here has a different opinion. Because when you have that kind of a zeal, what tends to happen is there is some kind of form of abandonment of the word of God. And that's what he shares. He says, first, you lead the commandment of God, but that's step number one.

Step number two is what you find in verse nine. So in verse eight, he says, you lead the commandment of God. And in verse nine, he said to them, you have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition. It always starts with neglecting. It always starts with ignoring.

It always starts with adding, thinking that it's compatible. And over time, if you're not watchful and careful, you end up doing what the Pharisee did and that's outright defying what the word of God is. Now here's what I find interesting. I don't believe the Pharisees would admit that their ideologies and their concepts and their theology rejected the word of God. No.

They praise the prophets. They memorize and esteem the law. They would speak highly of what was delivered by Moses and the psalmist. Right? But Jesus accuses them of rejecting it.

Why? Because in theory, they did that, but in practice, they didn't. In practice they spurned the Lord in what they were doing and what God clearly laid out in his preserved truth. And that's what many people do today. They claim to honor the Bible.

They have beautiful Bibles in their homes. Beautiful Bibles in their gorgeous artistic buildings, but does it have authority? What's really being taught? What's really being conveyed? What's really being passed down?

What's really being delivered? That's the most important question. And Jesus exposes the Pharisees for this by pointing out one of their misguided practices that they thought and taught as God's will. Come here to verse 10. For Moses said for Moses said, honor your father and your mother, and whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.

But you say, if a man tells his father or his mother whatever you would have gained from me as Korban that is given to God, then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother. Look with me again in verse 10, the first two word three words here. For Moses said, hold on to that. Now look at verse 11, but you say, that's the heartbeat of tradition. Tradition, the way I gave you the definition earlier, will always add or subtract from the word of God.

Moses said when he says Moses, he's referring to his authorship as given by God. Moses said this, but you're saying this. And Jesus quotes the fifth commandment as inscribed in Exodus twenty twelve, which deals with honoring your father and your mother to remind the Pharisees that it is a lifelong call to care for your parents. It's a lifelong responsibility for you to look out for those who have taken care of you, given birth to you, and even if they didn't necessarily treat you the way you desire to be treated, there is still a demand to honor them. And so serious is in the eyes of God that to disobey this kind of a command is worthy of the capital punishment.

And why is the Lord bringing this up? Because one of the traditions of the elders is that they would escape that responsibility by claiming that their resources were Korban. Korban, which means as we just heard devoted to God. How how would this play out? It's very easy.

Let's say, aged parents needed financial assistance and rightfully so, they approached their son or their daughter to ask for that kind of an aid. If a person wanted to, they could declare that their resources have been devoted to God, Korban. Set apart and consecrated assuming that it is given over to some charitable cause, whether that's a donation to the temple or to some local synagogue. The idea here is that because of Korban, you cannot claim this from me even though you're my father or you're my mother. And this is heartbreaking for many reasons and one of the reasons why this is a despicable vow is because although a person would declare their finances as core bond, there wasn't a requirement for an immediate pledge.

You didn't have to give that money up necessarily to that charitable cause right away. You can withhold that money and you can actually do with it as you please. The main point of it is that it puts a restriction on you of giving up something that you wanna hold on for yourself. Even if that something would honor God's word and fulfill the fifth commandment. And here's where it gets extra nasty.

Because while you would dedicate this, the idea is that you were actually selfishly holding onto it while maintaining a form of piety. I'm honoring God by doing this. I'm sorry, mom. I'm sorry, dad. I I I know you're in need, but I I I'm I'm giving what you're asking for to the cause of Yahweh, so I cannot help you.

And Jesus points out this hypocrisy, and he shows just how deadly tradition can be and that's exactly right. You see what tradition does and people don't even realize and and this is why I'm bringing this to you because I want you to feel the heart of Christ here. This is not my idea. If you're upset here, don't get upset with me. Get upset with Christ.

Jesus here realizes that man can so pervert the idea of tradition that it literally sucks away the power of God through the word of God unto salvation and unto true sanctification and transformation. That's what tradition does. This is why he comes at it with such aggression and sternness and clarity. Because ultimately what it's trying to do is usurp what God had given to us as the source of our true godliness. So he deals with it head on.

And when you look at the Lord here, you know, I realize something so inspiring. Do you get any impression that Jesus here promotes another kind of authority apart from the scriptures? Do you have any kind of inclining, any kind of leaning that the Lord is open to the concept that besides scripture, you can have a, b, or c? No. You don't.

He keeps alluding to the commandment of God. He keeps pointing back to the word of God. And even when they come to their with their initial accusation, Jesus quotes the word of God. When the Sadducees approach Jesus about their ideas of the resurrection and they try to trap Jesus because the Sadducees did not hold to an afterlife, you know what Jesus says? You neither know the scriptures or the power of God.

It's always the scriptures with Jesus. It's always the word of God with the Lord. And as a side note, may I say this, I think it's worth it. It may not tie into the theme, but it's worth mentioning. There's a principle here with the core bond idea.

Right? We may not use that word core bond, but it is a very real temptation for us to dodge our duties to our our spouses and to our children in the name of serving God. Be careful. Be watchful. The way that you honor God, one of the strongest ways that you honor God is by loving your family well.

Loving them very well. A lot of people are committing Korban without using the word and their families are starving for love and affection and time. And it's all done in the name of serving him. But again, this is why I'm bringing this to you as a form of introduction because I want you to realize how crucial this is. And you just amended, it's clear.

Right? Jesus obviously upholds and esteems the scriptures above all else. Everything else is subservient. Everything else surrenders to what has been written. That's not how many people feel.

And even in this day, the reason why I'm doing this and I and and the reason why I think it's crucially important is because even in our day today, there is a as a a great enamoring with tradition these days. You have some people who've come from and some of you have come back from a a traditional background, and the Lord opened your eyes to that and you've turned away from that. And for some, it still has a clutch on them. And for others, especially young people today, because I believe they're uninformed and and they are they are allured by a veneer, they are drawn to this concept of tradition. And what begins to take authority is historicity.

How long something has been going on for. And then so you have people turning away from clear scripture and now willing to flirt with concepts that they think is compatible, that they think is harmless, when in fact is leading you down a path of danger, great danger in your doctrine. Now you might not like the direction that we're heading into for the next few weeks. You might be thinking to yourself, brother, why don't you just stick to preaching what we believe? Why touch on what other people believe?

And I get what you're saying to some degree, but can I remind you of the words of Jude? Let's turn that before we break bread together. Go to Jude chapter. Well, there's no chapter. Jude three.

Jude three. So pastoral of him in the first word of verse three. Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation. What does he mean by that? I was I was looking to actually initially write to you about the elements of the faith that you and I share.

Our common salvation, what you and I as a community of faith hold to as the essentials of our faith. I was actually planning to write these things to you. And then he goes on to say, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. As a leader, Jude felt it necessary to lean into actually addressing issues that were challenging the truth, and he wanted to train the people to know how to contend, meaning to defend, to fight for. It's a very strong word.

I want you to know how to contend for the faith and this is the part that bless blesses me that was once for all delivered to the saints. Once for all. It's settled. It's done. We're not waiting for extra revelation.

We're not waiting for God to add to the word of God. We're not waiting for God to subtract from no. No. No. No.

It's been settled. And the foundation, that concrete is dry. Right? The foundation of the apostles and the prophets according to Ephesians true two, That has been determined. It's once and for all settled.

But some people don't feel that way. They don't feel that way and that's why I'm calling you as the saints of Christ's church to know how to contend. And that's my intention. I don't know how long we'll stay in this, but we'll trust that as God has brought us to Mark chapter seven, he will give us exactly what we need for us to be equipped. And so as we close, it was very hard for me to give you just a brief introduction.

You know what a struggle is in preaching, at least for me? It's not, oh, how am I gonna say this and fill up the time? It's how am I gonna say this with so little time? Every week, pray for me. I know maybe there are some questions you have or you feel like some things were not complete.

I'm fully aware of that. All I'm doing and all I did by presenting this was to prepare you for where we're headed together. Where we're headed together. But for now, we turn our attention to the Lord's Supper, not a tradition of man, An ordinance that Jesus Christ has given us, that he wants his church to honor and honor in a specific way. Here's where we're gonna do things a little differently.

Usually, we stand, we sing, we have you approach the table, take the elements, you're seated, and then pastor Daniel Bennett will provide some meditation before we partake. But listen to this order now. We're gonna stand, we're gonna sing, but then right away, you're gonna be seated. We will have our time of meditation, and then we will call you forward to partake. We'll give thanks, and then we'll eat.

Alright? Let me remind you, and I'm sure Daniel will remind you, that this is a ordinance for the church of Jesus Christ. Those who have given their hearts to the Lord by faith in him and believing that what he has done on the cross is for your salvation. You have repented and you have believed, and you recognize that this is done in remembrance of him. You recognize that it's not by your own works.

It's not by your own efforts. It's not by your own striving that you enter into eternal life, but what he has done alone through his body, through his blood. If you're a person who can't say confidently, that's what I believe in, then we ask you kindly to refrain from participating because this is reserved for the children of God. You're more than welcome to observe. And as you're observing, I love to say this, when you see Christians coming forward to eat of this and to partake of this, what you're seeing is people walking up to a revelation.

And that revelation is, I cannot save myself. What Jesus Christ has done has saved me and delivered me, and I am saved based on his merit, not my own. And maybe you can come to that realization yourself, and maybe one day you too can partake of this table. And so I can invite the praise team to come up at this moment. As we prepare to sing, I would like to address the person in here who might, even in this introduction, who might be holding to traditions.

Time did not allow me to address one of the the the more popular traditions that are clearly concerning, But what I wanna call to you to do is ask yourself, what is the authority in my faith? What is the authority? Is it the word of God, or is it the word of God end? Can I ask you something? Even you evangelical believers, can I ask you something?

Why is it that you do what you do? Why is it that you believe what you believe? Is it because of the word of God? Is it because it is written? Really, what this boils down to is an authority issue.

And if you think that this is legalistic or if you think that this is nitpicking or let me give you a popular one. If you think that this is divisive, then you think Jesus is divisive because Jesus cares about the truth. And Jesus cares about what agrees with the truth and what disagrees with the truth. I know it's not popular, but I wanna please him. That's my desire.

And if you wanna be in the truth, if you wanna be in the totality of the truth, then you'll be concerned about one thing as your driving motivation. Does this please my god? Even at the expense of offending people that I know, even at the expense of maybe disturbing people that I care about and who care about me, you have to determine something. Do I want Christ to be pleased above all else? And if you can say yes to this, then you can rejoice in a chapter like Mark chapter seven.

But if you feel offense, then I'm gonna ask you to step back and wonder why And ask yourself, does my emotional disturbance make sense according to what Christ has said? As we come forward today, as I said, it's no mere tradition. It's God inspired. Can we stand and sing to the Lord together?