Mark 7:1-23

Bringing the sermon home:

Having just supernaturally fed thousands of people in a deserted place, as God had done in the first Exodus, and having just supernaturally crossed the waters of a sea, as God had enabled the people of Israel to do in the first Exodus, Jesus now instructs God’s people in the way of holiness, as God had done through Moses at Mount Sinai.

To the people’s surprise, the way of the Pharisee is not the way of holiness, because outward discipline divorced from inner devotion dishonors God. The Pharisees had invented new laws focused on outwardly observable disciplines, enabling them to “practice [their] righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them” (Matthew 6:1). But when you add to God’s Word, you begin to so fixate on your man-made traditions that you soon trust in them for your acceptance before God, blinding you to your failure to satisfy God’s true demands.

Revering tradition above God’s Word reveals a defiled heart that is easily distracted from God’s calling. Whether we’re spending our energies off-mission or placing unnecessary obstacles between us and our unbelieving neighbors or between us and fellow believers who would otherwise partner with us, every church must be on guard against the dangers of tradition. We must instead prioritize strategy over sentimentality, mission over emotion.

God cares about the heart, and His law exists to reveal our need for clean hearts, washed in the blood of Jesus. Holy living must be motivated by gratitude for grace already received through faith in Christ.