Mark 7
January 15, 2013
As I read through this chapter this morning, the verse that caught my attention is Jesus quoting from the prophet named Isaiah. Once again the Pharisees were giving Jesus a hard time – accusing him and his disciples of breaking the traditions of the elders (which they implied equaled the breaking of God’s commands).
To this Jesus responded with the prophet’s words: “‘T...hese people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.”
Apparently these words from Isaiah didn’t even faze the Pharisees but they cut me to the core. There is this nagging fear that this tendency toward “man-made” religion is not just a problem for the religious leaders of Jesus’ day. From these words spoken hundreds of years before Christ’s birth, and then spoken again by the Lord Himself, I learn that we all have this desire for our own personalized set of human traditions.
Do I have them? When I take these words seriously, I find that they are not all that hard to find. They show up in the comfortable parameters I place around my worship. We all have a heart language in which we tend to worship, but it is easy to criticize others whose heart language takes them a different direction. We all have areas in our life where we tend to hang a sign on the doorknob that reads: “Do not disturb.” If worship is really about presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice before God” (Romans 12:1), then my human preferences, off-limits areas, and quick judgments of others, have to go.
The Charlie Hall praise song based on Psalm 24 comes to mind. The chorus simply repeats: “Give us clean hands. Give us pure hearts. Let us not lift our souls to another.” When I sing those words, it is a prayer of confession crying out: “God, I know I’ve set up idols that would take Your place in my life. Tear down those idols and replace them with the life that only You can give. Give me a pure heart that truly seeks Your face and Your grace instead of another set of rules to follow.”
So what did God impress on your heart from this chapter?
January 15, 2013
As I read through this chapter this morning, the verse that caught my attention is Jesus quoting from the prophet named Isaiah. Once again the Pharisees were giving Jesus a hard time – accusing him and his disciples of breaking the traditions of the elders (which they implied equaled the breaking of God’s commands).
To this Jesus responded with the prophet’s words: “‘T...hese people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.”
Apparently these words from Isaiah didn’t even faze the Pharisees but they cut me to the core. There is this nagging fear that this tendency toward “man-made” religion is not just a problem for the religious leaders of Jesus’ day. From these words spoken hundreds of years before Christ’s birth, and then spoken again by the Lord Himself, I learn that we all have this desire for our own personalized set of human traditions.
Do I have them? When I take these words seriously, I find that they are not all that hard to find. They show up in the comfortable parameters I place around my worship. We all have a heart language in which we tend to worship, but it is easy to criticize others whose heart language takes them a different direction. We all have areas in our life where we tend to hang a sign on the doorknob that reads: “Do not disturb.” If worship is really about presenting our bodies as a living sacrifice before God” (Romans 12:1), then my human preferences, off-limits areas, and quick judgments of others, have to go.
The Charlie Hall praise song based on Psalm 24 comes to mind. The chorus simply repeats: “Give us clean hands. Give us pure hearts. Let us not lift our souls to another.” When I sing those words, it is a prayer of confession crying out: “God, I know I’ve set up idols that would take Your place in my life. Tear down those idols and replace them with the life that only You can give. Give me a pure heart that truly seeks Your face and Your grace instead of another set of rules to follow.”
So what did God impress on your heart from this chapter?
Does God really explain to us how we should worship him? I feel like this is why there are so many different ways to do it. Each church has its own flavor because there are so many different opinions and desires and comfort levels on how to worship. We are given the free choice to find the way we feel most comfortable worshiping. The problem is when we get so comfortable, that we forget what we truly desire which is a connection with God and we find ourselves just going through the motions in order to fulfill a requirement.
ReplyDeleteGreat thoughts Vickie. I can relate to your last sentence especially about the connection between getting comfortable and going through the motions. And let me add that since you're on FB, if you haven't already, check out the NT 5.1 Facebook page as well.
DeleteIf Jesus doesn't want people to tell about his miracles so they follow him for the right reasons, yet they keep proclaiming the miracles, why does he continue saying "don't tell anyone"? it leads me to think there is an ulterior motivation because I would imagine Jesus knows they are going to tell everyone they have been cured regardless of him saying tell or don't tell.
ReplyDeleteNick,
ReplyDeleteI know this seems confusing at first glance and I can see where you're coming from. Let me just tell you how I approach it. The problem Jesus was facing was that the more people talked about what he was doing, the crowds kept crushing in on him where he could barely move around. Although this is no where the same thing (since I have no power to work miracles of my own), there are times when I have shared something with someone (helped them in some instance) or shared a secret and specifically asked them not to tell anyone. I can assure you that I had no ulterior motive about it. I just didn't want the "publicity." And yet at times, the person shared it anyway and I ended up with something I didn't want. I guess for me, Jesus (and I am far, far from saying I understand his mind), was genuinely not wanting them to go running around talking about the miracle. In a different instance where Jesus was in a more Gentile area where he would not be affected by the crowds, and he healed the man held demonically, he told him to go back and tell his family/friends how God had set him free. So I don't see an ulterior motive - just a practical desire to reach people beyond the "I want a miracle" crowd. Just my thoughts on the matter.