Let the Shepherd Lead

Originally Proclaimed: 02/24/19

Intro:

• Two Wednesday nights ago, I went home very quickly after our service with nausea and discomfort in my abdomen.
• All through last week, off and on during the day, I experienced the same symptoms. Added to that was a sense of fatigue that would set in much earlier than usual in my routine.
• Finally on Thursday, I had enough. I went to the doctor. There, I found out that my symptoms were consistent with gastritis, which is an inflammation of the stomach lining, further being irritated by the stomach’s own acid.
  • The treatment for this is to…
    •  avoid foods that increase stomach acid,
    • Avoid medicines that increase stomach acid,
    • Reducing stress which also reduces stomach acid,
    • And to take  an acid reducer and related medicines that reduce stomach acid.
  • Did you notice the key point of the treatment plan? I have to reduce the acid already inside of me in order to heal.

Hook:

• As Christians that is exactly what we believe about our human condition.
  • We believe that every person, though created in God’s image, due to the fall is born with the stain of original sin.
  • Our sin nature does not come from outside of us.
  • We believe that sin nature is inward, tied to our soul’s essence just as surely as DNA is tied to our physical essence.
  • Our sin nature put simply by Augustine is that we are “not able to not sin”.
• Our sin nature is like that acid in my stomach.
  • It has become overactive and chronic.
  • It eats away at our conscience, little by little making our souls uncomfortable with all but the most selfish and sinful pursuits.
  • We become tired of the effort it takes to please God, and relax instead into what temporarily suits.
  • And I can assure you that no amount of outward change will reduce our sin nature encough; the change must occur inside of us.
• Unlike the acid in my stomach, we ultimately need that sin nature to be reduce to elimination.
• So today in Mark 7, I want to demonstrate Jesus’ two paradigm shifting truths that should motivate us to receive the type of change we all need.

Message Points:

• Because we surround ourselves with Christian community, where people have been redeemed by the blood of the lamb and transformed, our sin nature is not always so evident.
  • Christians, converted by the Holy Spirit are now “able to not sin” (Augustine).
    • We can choose to please God through following Jesus Christ.
    • And more than not, Christians decide to please God.
  • Due to this new transformed nature, we sometimes forget just how overbearing our sin nature is.
  • But do not mistake it, our sin nature is still there.
• Every so often we hear of something so jarring that we cannot mistake the continuing presence of our sin nature.
  • Just last week the Houston Chronicle published an article that brought us face to face with the reality of our sin nature.
  • In the article they brought to light 220 church leaders who in the last 20 years abused over 700 individuals inside of Southern Baptist churches.
  • We can and should react with outrage that such a thing happened in our churches, bringing shame to the name of our Savior.
• But before we take the role of judge, let’s just be real.
  • First, let’s remember Jesus’ statement that the judgement we use against others, will be the judgement used against us.
  • Second, in God’s eyes, is the deceit and sexual immorality of those church leaders any more sinful than the malice or gossip that occurs between church members in every church?
    • Their sin is certainly more public.
    • As a more public sin, it demands a more public response such as the SBC’s move to potentially disfellowship churches involved in abuse coverups.
    • But do not mistake it, every sin that we commit in secret will on the day of judgement be brought to light.
    • How many secret, respectable sins occur in any of our lives that just as surely reveal our sin nature and deserve God’s just judgement?
  • Finally, while the presence of sin should outrage us, and help us to war against it as Christians, it should not surprise us.
    • Our sin nature should help us to remember that sin is sin wherever, whenever, and with whomever it is found.
    • As Genesis reminds us with Cain’s sin, it crouches at the door, waiting to pounce on any one of us.
    • We all are susceptible to the world, the flesh and the devil’s temptations, so sin should not surprise us.
    • But it is righteousness by faith that surprises us. We should be happily shocked at every choice that happens by a Christians to confess and repent of sin in order to turn and please God by following Christ.
• This is exactly the type of controversy that begins chapter 7.
  • As the chapter opens verse 1 tells us that  there seems to be local Pharisees in the Galilee as well as teachers of the law from Jerusalem.
    • These teacher already came once before in 3:20-34 to accuse Jesus of healing by the power of a demon.
    • We can be certain they do not come with pure motives.
  • Now as they come, they observe Jesus’ disciples in verse two eating food with defiled hands.
    • These Jewish leaders reacted, not because of poor hygiene, but because of their repulsion at what they perceived as a grave sin.
    • It was the developing tradition of the Jewish leadership to ritually cleanse themselves from sin.
      • Such rituals were a symbolic means of washing the sin off of them, but they did nothing to actually prevent the person from sinning or suffering from the effects of sin.
      • So, the developing tradition of their elders according to verses 3-4 or spiritual leaders was that they should wash, which is the same word as baptize after every trip to the marketplace, or every day in which they might have sinned or come into contact with someone who did.
      • They did this just after coming home, before eating or any other activity so as to not bring sin into their bodies or into their homes inadvertently.
  • This developing tradition which clearly has been overlooked by Jesus’ disciples prompts the Pharisees to ask Jesus a question. If we were to paraphrase verse 5 it might sound something like this, “why do you all welcome the defilement of sin into your lives so freely?”
• Jesus answers this question with our first major truth that motives us to change. He makes the point that Outward Behavior Modifications does not offer real change (7:1-23).
  • To do so Jesus quotes from Isaiah 29:13.
    • In the beautiful Hebrew poetic fashion, the idea is stated that people honor God with their lips but not their hearts.
    • Then it is restated in a more blunt fashion that says worship is in vain when their teaching are merely human rules.
  • Do you grasp what Jesus says?
    • He is saying that to truly please God our outward behavior cannot be merely modified.
    • It is not enough just to come to church, be elected a deacon, teach a Sunday School class, participate in mission projects, or wear a Christian lapel pin or cross as if these behaviors were like the ritual bath that cleanse us from the defilements of this life.
    • If all our Christian behaviors merely act as a way for us to wash away our own defilement, we have missed the point.
    • There is no amount of ritual activity that can truly cleanse us and eradicate our sin nature. We cannot earn salvation for ourselves.
  • But Jesus does not end with this quote, he moves on to privately rebuke these Jewish leaders for their ritual practices.
    • If we were to sum up his rebuke it would sound something like this, When behavior is the focus, rule-following overshadows pleasing God  (7:1-13).
    • In verses 9-13 He calls out the Jewish leaders for their willingness to neglect one of the Ten Commandments to accommodate their own selfish, but ritually pure behaviors.
    • Jesus rebukes the practice of declaring one’s wealth as Corban – a sort of living trust – that devotes all of one’s possessions and wealth to God – while allowing the individual to manage the assets until death.
      • Those who did this would refuse to actually care for their parents, so that they could have more resources to give to God at death.
      • Jesus knew that their desire for ritually upright behavior such as giving their estate to God overshadowed their desire to simply and plainly please God.
      • In fact that is exactly what he says in verses 8 and 13.
        • He tells them they have let go of the commands of God, which they know please Him.
        • They had to nullify those commands in order to follow their traditions.
        • But those human traditions handed down do little more than modify outward behavior.
    • Every one of us who made it past being a teenager understands this point.
      • We all have experienced our parents giving us some rule that we find foolish or stupid like a curfew.
      • We know what will please our parents, but we also know that we do not really want to please our parents as much as we want to be in charge of our lives.
      • So while we outwardly focus on behaving the right way, we constantly look for ways to break our curfew and get away with it.
      • We focus more on the exceptions our parents offered or the acceptable ways that we can be late.
      • For instance, if our parents told us that we also had to fill the car with gas before returning it; we might wait, call at curfew to say we are filling the car up with gas so that we can be late to obey that other rule.
      • Jesus’ rebuke to the Pharisees and to us is that when we focus on behaviors that cover up our sin, we still inwardly in our sin nature reject and rebel against him.
  • Thus we find Jesus in verse 14 calling the crowd to himself  and publicly rebuking the Jewish leaders in the same way they had publicly called him out at the beginning of the chapter.
    • If we were to paraphrase Jesus rebuke it might sound like this, Inward rejection of what pleases God is a greater problem than outward behavior (7:14-23).
    • Notice verse 15 that tells us that nothing outside can defile and by implication nothing outside can cleanse.
    • Then Jesus delivers a knockout blow, “it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.”
    • Verse 16 which is ommitted by some translations because it is not included in every translation finishes this saying with the phrase, he who has ears let him hear.
      • This identifies verse 15 as a parable according to what Jesus teaches in Mark 4.
      • It further explains why the disciples gather around him and ask about “the parable” in verse 17.
      • But we should not mistake that that verse alone seems so plain, and unlike the other parables, that its meaning can hardly be mistaken.
      • That is why Jesus is so amazed at his disciples that he bluntly says in verse 18 “are you so dull?”.
      • But he then explains it to them in the following verses. Again we should focus on verses 20-23 where Jesus restates his main point.
        • The inward rejection of what pleases God drives us to evil thoughts.
        • He then lists twelve specific types of evil that we could spend hours describing, but let’s just say that this list represents every type of sin we can do – either public or private.
        • And Jesus’ point again is that they come from within.
  • As I have counseled people, most of the time they come in because there is some outward behavior or circumstance that prompts their visit.
    • Perhaps it is that they have finally been caught looking at pornography by their spouse.
    • Or maybe there is a conflict with someone in their Sunday School class or in their family.
    • They desire for me to give them a quick three or four step plan that will help them stop what they should not do and start what God wants them to do.
    • But before we ever enact such a plan, we must first address the root issue. That issues is always what makes you want to sin?
      • What gives you the opportunity, access, and desire to look at porn?
      • Or what gives you the opportunity, access and desire to either explode at someone or avoid that person with whom you have a conflict?
    • Friends, all of us have some sin that readily comes out as our first response to a situation.
      • We must recognize that sinful response is an area in which our sin nature is on display.
      • It is an area where we want our way instead of God’s way.
        • We might be seeking escape from the rigors of living for God.
        • We might be seeking retribution instead of the forgiveness and reconciliation that God commands.
        • We might be seeking control because we realize we must allow God to control all of our lives.
      • Before we can ever follow Christ with steps to combat sin, we must first confess our rejection of Him and desire to allow Him to wash cleanse, forgive, and reorient our lives.
      • After all that is what salvation is all about. It is about coming humbly to Christ, by faith, asking him to transform us with his amazing forgiveness and grace.
• In the remainder of this chapter, Jesus points out in two vivid demonstrations his second major truth, Inward Faith converts our motivations towards change (7:24-37).
  • Both of these events happen in Gentile territories. The first in in Tyre and is recorded in verses 24-30.
    • While we do not know exactly why he comes to this Gentile territory, we can assume that he is trying to get away and recoup because it tells us in verse 24 that he could not keep his presence secret.
    • The major point though is that a Gentile woman, who was a Greek by birth, had enough faith in Jesus to ask Him to heal her daughter. In fact this woman is begging.
    • She provides us with the example that Conversion gives us faith to seek Jesus’ solution to our problem (7:24-30).
    • This woman would have been defiled to a Jew, which is illustrated when Jesus uses the common Jewish derogatory term for a Gentile, namely the dogs in his response to the woman.
      • His statement is a reminder that Jesus’ mission was first to the Jews, or the children of Abraham.
      • But it also is a reminder that Jesus’ foresaw a time when the Jews would have enough of him  and then the “bread” could be thrown to the dogs.
    • And yet this woman shows a resolve to seek Jesus’ solution to her problem when she says, “Even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs”.
    • Due to this woman’s faith, Jesus healed her daughter. That is an inward change that made her willing to go and beg Jesus for help and to accept his solution.
    • Have you ever hung a picture or a sconce into your drywall?
      • Before you do that you must prepare the wall by drilling a hole and  installing an anchor.
      • By doing this you have prepared the wall to receive the weight of the screw and of whatever you hang.
      • When God converts us, it is like he has drilled a pilot hole into our soul and installed an anchor that allows us to bear the weight of seeking to please him in Christ.
      • No matter what we must bear to follow Christ we become willing and able to do that.
  • The second even is like the first. This time it occurs in the Decapolis.
    • Perhaps the demoniac Jesus healed in chapter 5 and left as a missionary, had already done his work so well that now there were people who came begging Jesus for help again.
    • This time they desire for Jesus to place his hands on a deaf and almost mute man.
    • In this second example, we see that when conversion is the focus, pleasing God overshadows potential humiliation (7:31-37).
    • Jesus takes the man aside in verse 33 and note what he does. He puts his fingers in his ears and spits and touches the man’s tongue.
      • These bizarre action may seem humiliating, but it appears to be an attempt according to R.T. France in his commentary (303) to dispel a common belief that a holy person’s saliva could heal blindness, deafness and other maladies.
        • Tacitus said a blind man healed by Vespasian’s saliva.
      • The defiling culture of the Decapolis which may have believed in such magical superstitions probably led Jesus to take this bizarre action.
      • But Jesus in verse 34 looks to heaven and deeply sighs and then just as he spoke the world into existence, commands this man’s ears and mouth to be opened.
    • The tradition of this region of Gentiles was humiliated be the real power of God in Christ to transform a life, and according to verses 36-37 this only increased his fame.

Conclusion:

• Friends our major problem is not the need for more outward behaviors, it is the need for inward change.
• Will you today respond to Jesus’ desire to inwardly change and convert you?