By Sight or Faith?

 Are there ever times when perhaps we find ourselves upset over things that are not that important while missing the actual big things...? I've probably been guilty of that.

Imagine I'm a race car driver - the morning of the big race I'm getting ready. I'm going over my car and notice there's a scratch in the paint, "That wasn't there before!" I was taught to fix it quickly before it becomes a bigger issue. So I spend hours going out and buying touch up paint, and I do a quick fix just in time for the start. But as soon as they say, "Start your engines!" I realize I forgot to put gas in the car.

That would be a big problem. The scratch was real and needed to be addressed - but I'd say an empty gas tank is a much bigger problem. I want to start this morning by looking at a passage from scripture where some well educated religious people got very angry at Jesus for what they believed to be a major infraction of the law.

Mark 7:5-15 (NIV)

So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, "Why don't your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with 'unclean' hands?" (6) He replied, Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: 'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. (7) They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.' (8) You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men."

(9) And he said to them: "You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! (10) For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and, 'Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.' (11) But you say that if a man says to his father or mother: 'Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is Corban' (that is, a gift devoted to God), (12) then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother.

(13) Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that." (14) Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. (15) Nothing outside a man can make him 'unclean' by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him 'unclean.'"

The problem the Pharisees had was one of...

I. Elevating tradition

If you were paying close attention, you might have noticed that Jesus wasn't necessarily condemning tradition. But when you elevate tradition - the way we do things - over the faith that's supposed to be behind that tradition - that's when you have a problem. Jaroslav Pelikan, a Christian scholar said, "Tradition is the living faith of those now dead. Traditionalism is the dead faith of those still living."

When you elevate tradition over faith - it's more about going through the motions without paying attention to the motivation behind those actions. The action, the tradition, then becomes an end in itself rather than why it was established in the first place.

In Jesus' day, the Jews had a very elaborate ritual hand-washing law. The amount of at least 1½ egg-shells of water had to be poured over their hands with the finger-tips held upwards until it ran down the wrists. Each palm was then cleansed with the fist of the other. Then, their hands were held with the fingertips pointing downwards - water was poured on them from the wrists so that it ran off at the fingertips. Now, mind you, this was not really a matter of hygiene. It was a matter of ritual to be ceremonially clean. It had to be done even if a person's hands were spotless.

They taught that not doing it exactly that way was actually a sin. The teachers of the law added rituals to the ones written down in the Old Testament Law to help people avoid ritual defilement. Now that's not a bad thing, but after many generations of practice, these traditions were seen as much a part of God's law as the things that God actually directed Moses to write down. The ritual washing of hands before the meal was one of these traditions – a tradition which Jesus' disciples broke.

This conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees came down to a question - which takes priority, God's way, or…

A. Man's way?

Jesus didn't condemn this particular tradition but the fact that they were choosing it over God's way. Their tradition was originally meant to help them in obeying God's law but they used their tradition as a way of trying to discredit Jesus and His disciples; to judge them. Their tradition had stopped being something useful and instead had become a burden - and in this case even a weapon against Jesus.

When any teaching of man gets in the way of God's ways or commands – it needs to change or stop completely.

Jesus mentioned another of the Pharisees traditions – 'Corban'. Tradition held that if you had money or property, you could declare it as a gift to God to be given in the future. You could then still hold on to it, but it couldn't be given to anyone else or spent on his or her behalf.

Good intention – putting aside a gift for God's work – nothing wrong with that. But, that tradition, too, was misused. Religious people would declare their wealth or lands as dedicated to God. But if their aging parents found themselves in poor health and hard financial straits - the religious leaders would insist that they had more of a right to that money than the man's own parents. In order to not break the religious tradition, a man would have to say, "Sorry, Mom. I'd love to help you, but all my savings are designated for the Pharisees and priests."

When Jesus was questioned about breaking a tradition, He went to the deeper issue and questioned the motivation of the Pharisees. Was their motivation…

B. 'Religion' or love?

Jesus questioned why they did what they did. Was it out of religious duty and self righteousness - or was it an act of love toward God? Was it to benefit God or other people or simply to make them feel good in their own self righteousness?

We know that Jesus called all who followed Him to love God and to love others…

Mark 12:28-31 (NIV)

One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?" (29) "The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.

(30) Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.' (31) The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."

Have you ever asked yourself - does your 'religion' only benefit you? Is your 'religion' an actual blessing to God's Kingdom and His work? James, the brother of Jesus wrote, in James 1:26-27 (NIV)...

If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. (27) Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

To the Pharisees, Jesus said, "Nothing outside a man can make him 'unclean' by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him 'unclean.'" It's easier to outwardly follow religious laws than it is to actually choose to love your neighbors, those around you – that comes from inside.

We will always have ways and preferences that we do things – in our own families and in our Church family. But which things help us to love God and to love other people? - Which ones simply feed into religion and become more important than the relationship with the One they were meant to serve? AND most importantly, we always need to place…

II. God's Word first

Many religious denominations today continue to argue about what they teach and many are changing their views. And it's not based on what they read in the Bible - but because of what the changing culture around them demands. They're 'updating' their religious beliefs - not because scripture has changed - but because people disagree with God's Word.

Some complain different passages of the Bible are 'mean spirited' or go against this or that different group's 'rights'. People complain a Church's biblical teaching of scripture is just outdated, or misogynistic or even too political. God's Word is true and right whether a man understands it all or not.

I can't change what I teach. I teach the Bible and I don't have the authority to change what scripture says. We cannot forget that God is in charge! We can hold all sorts of opinions but nothing trumps God's authority! If the Bible is silent on any particular matter, there can be all sorts of opinions as to what is most beneficial. But where the Bible clearly speaks – we must follow God's Word!

God doesn't ask our advice. He doesn't need it and He doesn't want it – He wants our obedience; He wants our obedience as a response to His incredible love! God's Word comes first! We have to read His word, more than just on Sunday morning to really have it in us and to learn to more fully understand it. We need to make it a central part of our life before we can then effectively follow!

When we don't put God's Word first, when we don't value what He values first – it's then that we find ourselves more upset about the fact that 'they didn't sing my favorite song' than we are about our lost neighbor. It's then that we find ourselves more upset about 'who's in charge' than we are about those who are lost. It's then that we complain that 'the Church' isn't doing enough - but then we don't spend that same amount of energy down on our knees in prayer...

Just as with the Pharisees, it's a matter of…

A. Actions vs. heart

When you truly love God and others, different, sincere actions will naturally follow. If you see actions or habits or values in your life that do not match up with God's Word – you don't need to focus so much on changing the action as you do changing your heart!

Let's say you're having a problem with your well at home. The water test comes back and the health inspector says it's contaminated and needs to be addressed. So, you wash the bathroom faucet with soap and call it good enough. – Just cleaning the tap where the water comes out isn't really going to fix things. You need to purify the well.

If we want our attitudes and actions to match up with God's Word – we need to fix our hearts; a change in our actions will then follow! And the good news here is that we don't have to do it alone! The Bible never says, 'just do better' or 'just try harder' - you will not find it... It's just as God told Ezekiel regarding the nation of Israel…

Ezekiel 36:26-27 (NIV)

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. (27) And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.

We need new hearts! When we allow God to change us, to give us a new heart – we won't have to worry about what we're outwardly doing, whether it's in line with God's Word or not. If our heart is in line with God, our actions will automatically follow in that direction.

The Pharisees didn't have a tradition problem, they had a heart problem! That heart problem made them focus on the wrong things and devastated their relationship with God to the point where they couldn't even recognize God's own Son standing right in front of them! As religious leaders they were supposed to be pointing people toward God and they ended up attacking 'God in the flesh'.

That's what happens when we start to think that we're as smart as God and can add or subtract things from His Word. We may not intentionally attack God but there are times when we may attack His authority. That happens when our lack of humility before God causes us to think that our plans and attitudes or traditions or ways are somehow better than His ways.

We may not have traditions like the Pharisees - but what might our modern ways be? 'The government has lots of programs to help the poor - so I don't have to give to the less fortunate...' We can discuss the extent of what government should or shouldn't do - but Jesus still said I should be generous with the poor.

'I know there are things in the Bible that God says are wrong, and I wouldn't do those things or support those things' - but should I support a politician who would support those things...? Since God says human life is sacred - I had better learn to live like that. Since God says His design is to treat marriage as sacred - I need to treat marriage as sacred. Since God says to forgive others and to love my enemies - I need to make my ways match His ways!

And the only way to deal with my heart problem is…

B. Surrender

And a 'surrender to God' is not a show of weakness, but strength. It's not easy to give up your will to His - even when you know that His ways are always better than yours. It's a matter of letting go; allowing Him to change you in every way! When your heart is changed, your thinking is changed and then your actions are changed.

One of our problems is that we tend to place our faith in what we see as real, what's tangible, what we can physically hold and touch. For the Pharisees, they could physically do their ritual cleaning, their traditions. It was something very real for them. But faith only in something you can see and touch isn't really faith. Where is your faith – in traditions, or habits, or actions, or things – or in God?

So What?

Back to the race car story from the beginning - having a well maintained car is certainly a good thing. However, winning the race is the more important thing. I want to get my ways lined up with God's ways.

The fact that you're here is a very good thing. But why are you here? Are you here because it's your family tradition? Has it become simply habit? After the 'covid shutdowns' - for many, Church attendance was shown to just be a habit - until they found something else to do... Are you here because 'that's just what Christians do' – Christians go to Church. Or, are you here because you want to see Jesus?

God doesn't want you to show up just because you think you're supposed to. God doesn't want you to go through the rituals and traditions, sing the songs, take communion and listen to a message and then just go home until next week. God wants you! He wants you, heart, soul, mind, and strength every day – He wants you!

If that doesn't describe your relationship with God, you may have become just like the Pharisees, going through the motions without remembering why you do them in the first place. If your heart doesn't break with the thought of seeing your Savior face to face – your faith may have become simply religion, and you're missing out on so much more that God has in store for you!

Are you living by what you can see and touch, or are you living by faith in the risen Savior who is coming back to gather His children home?