August 5, 2025 • 25 mins
Have you ever felt like you're doing all the "right" spiritual things but still missing something? This profound question opens our exploration of how we can unintentionally trade relationship with God for routines centered around God.
The Pharisees were devoted, serious about Scripture, and committed to living how they thought God wanted. Yet when confronted with God in the flesh, they completely missed him. This series holds up a mirror asking not "What's wrong with them?" but "Where is the Pharisee in me?"
In Mark 7, Jesus confronts religious leaders who were upset that his disciples weren't following traditional hand-washing rituals. What began as good intentions had evolved into burdensome systems where human traditions carried nearly the same weight as Scripture itself. Rather than defending his disciples, Jesus addresses the heart issue: "These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me."
While we might not hide behind the same religious traditions today, we create our own barriers through personal preferences and emotions. We develop spiritual checklists that make us feel righteous without necessarily transforming our hearts. We go through motions – reading scripture, praying before meals, attending services – while avoiding true surrender.
God isn't impressed by religious performance. He's looking for integrity, a surrendered heart, and a life that reflects his character. The invitation is clear: trade performance for presence. Let God have your heart, not just your habits. Read the Bible to listen, not check boxes. Examine whether your spiritual practices are drawing you closer to Jesus or helping you avoid surrender.
If you've felt burned by religion, this is good news: Jesus doesn't want your perfection – he wants your heart. You don't need to clean yourself up or learn all the rules; you simply come as you are. The question remains: Are you honoring God with your lips while keeping your heart distant?
Join us next week as we continue examining where the Pharisee lives in each of us, exploring how we judge others while failing to show mercy ourselves.
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Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to our online church.
My name is Stephen Feith.
I'm the lead pastor.
Glad you're joining us.
I don't want to begin again, asI do almost every week, but
especially during this series,it's really important to ask
these questions.
Have you ever felt like youwere doing all the right
spiritual things but stillmissing something?
I think that's pretty common.
(00:21):
A lot of us go through seasonslike that.
We feel like we're doing all ofthe right things that the
pastors say, that Christians say, we read the Bible, we pray,
and yet it still feels like Godis far away.
You might pray before meals,read your Bible every day,
attend church every week, butyet it still feels like God is
really far away.
(00:42):
And that is the danger thatwe're exploring in this series
the Pharisee and Me Because ifwe're not careful, we can trade
our relationship with God,knowing God and being known by
God for a routine centeredaround God.
Now, most of us I mean if yougrow up in or around the church
or you've been around for just alittle bit you know that the
(01:03):
Pharisees are often notportrayed great in the gospels,
and so it's easy for us, thisside of Jesus, to look back and
be critical of them and be likeI can't believe they would do
this or I can't believe theywould say that.
And yet they're not the badguys.
I mean, they weren't thevillains of the story.
These people were devout, theywere serious about scripture and
(01:24):
they were committed to livinghow they thought God wanted them
to live.
I mean, they were the ones whowere all in, so they weren't the
bad guys.
And yet, though, we have torealize that when God in the
flesh stood right in front ofthem, they missed him completely
, and I worry that I do that himcompletely, and I worry that I
(01:46):
do that, I worry that you dothat, I worry that we do that.
We measure spiritual maturity byhow early we do our devotions.
You ever catch that whensomebody's talking about
spirituality and how much theylove Jesus, it's like I get up
at five.
Well, I get up at 4.30.
Well, I get up at 3.30 and Ipray for two hours.
I pray for three hours everyday and it's like, okay, I like
sleeping in.
(02:06):
I mean I love the Lord, butlike I also have a rhythm here.
We measure our spiritualmaturity by how many church
events we go to.
Well, I don't just go on Sunday.
I'm a part of a small group andI did that volunteer thing on
Saturday and then me and theworship team got together on
Thursday night and then, justfor extra, I had a meeting on
Monday night and we're likewe're measuring our spiritual
maturity by like how much weshow up to things.
(02:27):
But last week we looked atMatthew 23, where Jesus delivers
a very strong rebuke toPharisees, the men who honored
the law, taught the scripturesand looked impressive, and Jesus
exposed them for what they were.
Yes, those things they weretrying, but they were also full
of pride and greed and hypocrisy.
And today, in Matthew 7, jesus,in another scene, another event
(02:51):
, is going to confront thePharisees, not just for
hypocrisy, but for usingtradition to avoid obedience.
Using tradition to avoidobedience, their rule following
wasn't just empty, it wasn'tjust hollow, but it was a way to
sidestep the very heart of God.
(03:12):
And, as we're doing throughoutthis entire series, we're
holding up the mirror.
We're not looking back in thepast that these Pharisees,
they're awful, I'm not like that.
We're not talking about theperson in front of you or behind
you.
We're asking you to look in themirror and to say in what ways
have I become like a Pharisee.
Who is and where is thatPharisee?
(03:34):
In me?
And so we're going to Markchapter 7, if you want to follow
along.
Mark places this particularconfrontation we're about to
read.
Right after a series ofpowerful events, jesus has fed
5,000 people with just someloaves and some fish.
He's walked on water.
He's healing the sick.
So all of these things arehappening and the Pharisees come
(03:56):
to check him out.
They leave from Jerusalem tocome check him out and it has
nothing to do with any of thosethings.
It has nothing to do with the5,000 being fed, walking on
water, the sick.
It has something to do withhand washing.
Let's read One day somePharisees and teachers of
religious law arrived fromJerusalem to see Jesus.
(04:17):
They noticed that some of hisdisciples failed to follow the
Jewish ritual of hand washingbefore eating.
And then, if you look in yourBible and you notice parentheses
, this is actually Mark who'swriting these things.
He puts a little sidebar in forhis Gentile readers and so he's
like there's going to beGentiles, non-jewish people, and
they're not going to understandwhat's going on.
(04:38):
So I'm going to just kind ofsidebar and explain.
The Jews, especially thePharisees, do not eat until they
have poured water over theircupped hands, as required by
their ancient traditions, notlaw traditions.
Similarly, they don't eatanything from the market until
they immerse their hands inwater.
This is but one of manytraditions they have clung to,
(05:01):
such as the ceremonial washingof cups, pitchers and kettles.
So these Pharisees remember,these are the theologians.
They're kind of like here's howyou should live this stuff.
And the scribes, these are theones who study it, kind of check
some balances within theirreligious system.
They've come all the way fromIsrael's religious center,
jerusalem and yes, jesus isgaining influence and they're
(05:24):
there to investigate.
And what they point out is thatthe disciples are eating
without washing their hands.
This wasn't just aboutcleanliness or good hygiene.
This was about ceremonialpurity.
This was about being pure andto be clean.
To be physically clean was tobe close to God.
You've heard that praise To bephysically clean, was to be
close to God.
You've heard that praisecleanliness, is godliness or
(05:46):
cleanliness is like that right.
This is where this comes from.
Hand-washing rituals, althoughthey're not found in Scripture,
had taken a deep spiritual butalso cultural weight.
This was important amongst thepeople, the Jewish people, and
(06:11):
the system of rituals came fromwhat's called the tradition of
the elders.
So, again, this wasn't OldTestament law.
This was oral tradition, passedon and passed down to be
interpreted and applied, and byJesus' time.
After hundreds and hundreds ofyears of this, human traditions
carried nearly the same weightas scripture.
That might sound somewhatfamiliar to some things that are
going on today and which islike well, that's not in the
Bible.
So why do we take it soseriously?
(06:33):
Aha, see the Pharisee and me.
These things come up.
What started as a good idea, adesire to honor God, had become
a burdensome system of control.
Another unique aspect of thisis when we look at the Pharisees
and what they're doing.
They didn't just see themselvesas teachers.
They weren't coming to teachthe disciples well, you should
(06:55):
wash your hands.
This comes from the elders, andhere's why we do this and
here's where it's based from.
Rather, they came did you catchit?
As guardians of holiness.
Yes, guardians of holiness.
They are the gatekeepers ofwho's in and who's out.
And why did they do this?
Well, the world they believewas drifting.
They're seeing it all aroundthem.
(07:16):
People weren't taking theirfaith as seriously as they were.
Spirituality was on the declineall around them, and how they
fought back was by guarding andprotecting their traditions.
Now, today, we may not imposeritual systems, but we still
create unspoken rules inspiritual checklists.
(07:37):
I mean, like nobody's going toprobably follow you into the
bathroom to make sure you washyour hands before you eat, and
if you don't, we're going tothink that's gross, but it's not
like it's going to affect yourrelationship with God very much.
But we have our own signs ofspiritual maturity.
Again, go back to that idea howmuch quiet time do I spend with
God?
What's my church attendancelike?
Moral behavior?
Well, I don't swear I don'twatch bad movies, I don't listen
(07:59):
to bad music, I don't drink,etc.
Etc.
And so therefore, I must bespiritually mature and more
advanced than those who do dothose things and partake in them
.
Now, again, these things aren'tbad the quiet time, the church
attendance and moral behavior.
They're not bad.
(08:21):
But they easily become anexternal substitute for an
internal transformation that'ssupposed to occur.
And this becomes the turningpoint in Mark's gospel, right
here in chapter 7.
Jesus begins to reframe whatmakes a person truly clean Not
tradition, not the Old Testamentlaw, not washing your hands,
but a surrendered heart.
And that conversation gets moredirect in verse 6.
(08:43):
Jesus replied to them youhypocrites.
Isaiah was right when heprophesied about you, for he
wrote these people honor me withtheir lips.
They honor me with their lips,but their hearts are far from me
.
Their worship is a farce, forthey teach man-made ideas as
commands from God.
For you ignore God's law andsubstitute your own tradition.
(09:09):
So, in response to thePharisees' challenge, hey, they
should be washing their hands.
They're not clean, jesus.
How are you letting this go?
Jesus doesn't defend hisdisciples.
He doesn't get into a debate,he goes straight to the heart
and he does it with force, andhe quotes a prophet.
They all love Isaiah.
Now, the thing was this prophecyfrom Isaiah.
It wasn't like directly at thistime and place, it wasn't like
(09:31):
Isaiah had this vision.
Oh, I can see Jesus and he'swalking around and the Pharisees
come and they're mad thatpeople aren't washing their
hands.
And he writes it down and heputs it in a letter, and that's
what we have.
Rather, he's saying Isaiah'ssaying this is going to be a
pattern that continues to occur.
It's happened, it's happeningand it will continue to happen.
This isn't new.
(09:52):
This is what people do.
This is what specificallyreligious people have always
done.
The Pharisees honored Godoutwardly with their rituals and
their appearances, but inwardlytheir hearts were elsewhere.
Their hearts were elsewhere.
The Greek word here that Jesususes is in vain or pointless.
(10:14):
It looks spiritual but is empty, because they had replaced
God's truth God's truth withtheir own man-made rules.
They teach human ideas as ifthey were God's commands, and
Jesus goes on.
He explains what went wrong.
Their traditions had takenplace of God's word, which I
(10:37):
think is something that stillhappens today.
These were experts in the law.
They devoted themselves topreserving tradition and
teaching faithfulness, butinstead of leading people toward
God, and specifically God inthe flesh who was there with
them, they were blocking the way.
They were blocking the way and,like the Pharisees, I think
we're still prone to worship.
(10:58):
That's words or all words, it'sall appearances, it's all.
Look at me.
We can sing the songs and wecan know all of the words.
I joked last week.
We can raise our hands at theright part, right, never verse
one, always the bridge.
We can show up on Sundays, wecan be early, we can stay late,
we read the Bible in a year, andyet we can do all of those
(11:21):
things and the reality is ourhearts can still be far from God
.
Our hearts can still be farfrom God, because what happens
is our spiritual routine helpsus avoid surrender to God that
he actually wants.
God is calling us to surrender,and that's difficult and that's
challenging, and so what we dois what we do with what the
(11:41):
Pharisees did.
We create rules.
Well, these are a little biteasier than what God wants me to
do, and I can kind of guardthese better than those, and I'm
good at these and other peoplearen't, so this kind of makes me
feel good about myself.
And so then, in the verses thatfollow, we're going to verse
nine.
Now Jesus is going to offer aspecific example to show how the
(12:03):
rules don't just distance themfrom God, but it distracts from
what God wants to have happen,that their man-made traditions
actually replace the word of God, and that's what makes the
moment here a turning point.
Jesus exposes the core issue ofthe Pharisees who have come to
see him Vain worship, distanthearts and a faith that looks
(12:26):
right but lives wrong.
He said Jesus said youskillfully sidestep God's law in
order to hold on to your owntradition.
Skillfully sidestep, forinstance, moses gave you this
law from God.
Honor your father and motherand anyone who speaks
disrespectfully of father ormother must be put to death.
(12:48):
But you say it is all right forpeople to say to their parents
sorry, I can't help you, for Ivowed to give to God what I
would have given to you, and inthis way, you let them disregard
their needy parents.
And so you cancel the word ofGod in order to hand down your
own tradition.
And this is only one example ofmany.
(13:09):
Jesus moves from a confrontationto an illustration.
His tone turns.
If you're reading this in theGreek and you were in the first
century reading this, this issarcasm at its best.
Jesus is saying you skillfullysidestep for your own tradition.
It's intentional.
This wasn't an accident.
They didn't stumble ondisobedience.
They were actively avoidingGod's will under the appearance
(13:32):
of devotion.
And to prove it, jesus usesjust a foundational command,
something that they wouldn'thave been able to argue with.
He says well, you remember?
In the Ten Commandments?
It says honor your mother andfather.
And in a world without socialsecurity, retirement plans,
honoring your parents waspractical.
This was how we're going tocare for them in their old age,
so they don't starve to death.
(13:53):
And Jesus reinforces theseriousness of this.
He says well, it's not just theTen Commandments.
Do you remember when Moses saidthat anyone who speaks
disrespectfully must be put todeath?
This is a big deal.
It's not just about beingpolite.
This was a covenant-levelresponsibility.
And then he says you guys havea man-made rule, a tradition
(14:15):
that lets people break that,Because if you vowed something
to the Lord land or money youcould still use it and access it
, but you wouldn't have to giveit away.
Then, sorry, mom and dad, Ican't give you that money
because I've already promised itto the Lord.
Well, I can't give you thatmoney because I've already
promised it to the Lord.
Well, I haven't given it to himyet, but I'm going to.
(14:35):
Meanwhile, mom and dad arestarving to death.
Sorry, mom and dad, I can'tgive you this land.
I've promised it to the Lord.
I'm going to use it for alittle bit longer, but then I'm
going to give it to God.
Mom and dad aren't doing well.
So a person could label theirresources as set apart from God,
so that they didn't have tohelp their parents.
(14:56):
This was a way of lookingdevout.
Look at all that I've promisedthe Lord my land and my money.
But actually it was a way thatthey avoided sacrifice, avoided
loving people.
Jesus calls out thismanipulation.
You cancel the word of God inorder to hand down your own
tradition.
What meant to be sacred at onepoint, this was a good idea.
(15:17):
It was honorable.
Hey, you know what?
We're going to set things apartfor the Lord.
We're going to plan ourgenerosity.
What ended up being a goodthing turned into a bad thing,
because then it was like well,you know, I'm not just planning
my generosity, I get to now keepthis myself and avoid giving it
away.
The very system that wasinitially there to form their
(15:37):
hearts was now protecting theirselfishness.
And then he adds, he goes, andjust so you know this isn't just
like a one-off thing.
There are many other examplesof this.
Jesus is saying we can go downthe list of all of the other
ways that this happens.
It's a pattern.
Your traditions, which weresupposed to help people draw
near to God, are actuallyinsulating them from God.
(15:58):
Now, this isn't something thatI think a lot of us could
particularly relate to today,because we prioritize freedom
and independence, individuality,sincerity and independence,
individuality, sincerity.
So we are a people I think hereat Madison Church too that are
less likely to hide behindtradition.
I don't think we're going tohide behind tradition at Madison
(16:19):
Church.
But that doesn't mean thispassage isn't applicable to us,
because I think what we do do,rather, is that we hide behind
our personal preference or ouremotion.
So we may not be able to lookat a church council that made a
decision 600 years ago or even1,000 years ago, but we
internalize it.
We might say well, god knows myheart, I shouldn't have done
(16:43):
that.
It was wrong.
I knew it was wrong going intoit.
I had plenty of opportunitiesto not do that thing, but I did
it anyway.
But you can't judge me, onlyGod can judge me.
Well, man-made, personal versuswhat God has said.
Or we can say this just doesn'tfeel right to me.
This is a common one, right?
(17:03):
We can say like well, we have aspecific command.
God wants you to love yourenemies.
Love your enemies so well, youknow what.
It just doesn't feel right tome to love my enemies.
Well, you don't really like.
That doesn't take claim overthe word of God.
And so, again, while we mightnot have tradition, I think we
have the emotion and I think wehave personal preference.
(17:24):
And Jesus is calling that out.
The rules didn't distract fromscripture.
They use the rules to overrideit, and I think that that might
be, in some of our cases, thePharisee in me that I hide
behind my preferences or myemotions to avoid what I know
God is telling me to be.
They thought they werepreserving holiness, but instead
(17:46):
they were dismantling it.
And Jesus flips the wholeconversation.
He says you're worried aboutclean hands.
That's how this wholeconversation started, remember.
You're worried about cleanhands when your rules are
letting people abandon theirneedy parents.
You're worried about cleanhands and people are suffering.
(18:07):
It's a devastating reversal.
If you're there, you're like.
This makes a lot of sense whathe's saying right now.
They saw themselves asguardians of purity, but Jesus
reveals they're corrupting thevery law they claim to uphold.
So we have Jesus' confrontationwith the Pharisees and again,
the issue here isn't traditionitself.
It's that they were usingreligious structures not to draw
(18:30):
near God, but to sidestep hiscommands.
They were using the traditionsnot to honor God, to draw people
close to him, but to sidestep.
And what we ought to take awaytoday is that true worship flows
from a heart aligned with God,not from external rituals,
traditions or appearances, Notfrom the outside.
(18:53):
In God isn't impressed by yourreligious performance.
I don't know if somebody needsto hear that, but he's not
impressed with your religiousperformance.
What God is after is integrity.
Who are you when no one else islooking?
He's after a surrendered heart.
Is your heart reallysurrendered or does it just
appear to be surrendered?
(19:13):
He's looking for people whohave a life that reflect his
character.
Think back to the Old Testament.
This isn't a new concept Psalm51, verses 16 and 17.
David talking to God you do notdelight in sacrifice, or I
would bring it.
The sacrifice you desire is abroken spirit, a broken and
(19:34):
contrite heart.
You, god will not despise.
You see, david understood thatGod isn't moved by empty big
rituals.
He's drawn by honesty and he'sdrawn to surrender.
And it continues into the NewTestament, in which Paul in
Romans, chapter 12, tells us useyour body as a living sacrifice
(19:55):
.
Offer everything to God, not asa ritual but as a response.
Jesus has changed you from theinside out.
God has always cared more aboutthe condition of our hearts and
the performance of our religion.
Nt Wright says you can tell thestory of the Bible as the story
(20:16):
of how human beings have againand again substituted religion
for God and how God has againand again sought to call them
back into real relationship withhim.
This is the story Again andagain and again and again
throughout the whole scriptures,thousands of years.
People constantly substitutingrelationship for religion, and
(20:38):
constantly Jesus and God.
They're pursuing usrelationally.
God isn't looking for peoplewho look holy.
He's calling people to be holy,which always begins with
humility and obedience and love.
And so the next step for ustoday isn't to do more religious
(21:01):
things.
It's not to do more religiousthings.
Rather, it's about looking inthe mirror and asking whether
the things we're already doinglook in the mirror and ask are
the things that I'm alreadydoing forming me into a person
who loves God and reflects hischaracter?
That's the question.
(21:23):
Where is your faith just goingthrough the motions?
Where is your faith just goingthrough the motions?
Where is your faith just goingthrough the motions Yesterday,
today, this week?
Maybe you read your Bible inthe morning because you're
supposed to right, somebody saidyou're supposed to, so you read
your Bible in the morning, butyou read it real fast so you can
go check your email.
So you got work to do.
And maybe you pray beforedinner I mean, god forbid you
(21:46):
don't pray over your Big Mac.
Maybe you pray before dinner Imean, god forbid you don't pray
over your Big Mac but youhaven't had an honest or real
conversation with God outside ofthat little moment in months.
Maybe you go to church everySunday, but you avoid the hard
places God is actually callingyou to obey.
Going to church is a little biteasier than doing what he wants
you to do.
This Thursday, right, we canlook faithful and still keep our
(22:07):
hearts from God, and so thechallenge for us today is to
trade performance for presence.
Let God have your heart, notjust your habits.
And that might mean you'regoing to read the Bible this
week, but not to check a box,but rather you're going to read
the Bible to listen to what Godmight be saying to you in this
moment.
(22:28):
Not to say I did it now, I canmove on with the rest of my day
Grandma would be proud but toopen it up and to hear what is
God saying to me today, it mightmean examining your spiritual
habits.
Are these things drawing youcloser to Jesus or are they
helping you avoid surrender Alot of the things that we do as
(22:49):
people?
We're following Jesus.
It might start off as a goodidea that help us, but at some
point it stops being that and itbecomes a rule.
We've outgrown that, so we canlet go of that rule, whatever
that might be in your ownsituation or your circumstances.
Look at your habits.
Those things that were oncegood, are they still?
(23:10):
This one's scary.
But ask someone close to you Doyou see congruence in my life
between what I say, I believeand how I live?
Are you open to that kind offeedback?
That kind of scares me a littlebit.
And if you're new to faith oryou felt burned by religion in
(23:31):
the past, this passage is greatnews for you, because Jesus
doesn't want your perfection.
Jesus simply wants your heart.
You don't need to cleanyourself up, you don't need to
learn all the rules.
You just come as you are.
So the key question for us thisweek am I honoring God with my
lips while keeping my heart at adistance?
(23:52):
That's the thought, thequestion that we need to ask.
The key step here is to do onething not to look spiritual to
anyone else, but to draw near toJesus in truth and to let him
meet you there, because Jesusisn't interested in religious
performance.
He wasn't then and he isn't now.
(24:14):
He's interested in your heart.
The Pharisees looked the part.
The Pharisees knew the rules,but in clinging to tradition,
they lost sight of God's heartfor love and justice and mercy.
And if we're honest, when welook in the mirror ourselves, we
can do the same.
(24:36):
We follow habits that make usfeel spiritual, while resisting
the very obedience God isinviting us to.
And that's why we come to thecommunion table every week at
Madison Church.
It's not to perform a ritual.
We don't have a denominationthat tells us we have to the
communion table every week atMadison Church.
It's not to perform a ritual.
We don't have a denominationthat tells us we have to do this
every week.
When we started the church, wedecided we wanted to do it, not
because of a religious thing wehad to do, but because of a
(24:57):
relational thing we get to be in.
And every week we take the timeto reflect on not just what
Jesus did back then, but whatJesus is doing in my life today.
We remember the one who didn'tcancel out God's commands but
who fulfilled God's commands,the one who invites us to stop
pretending and to just bringyour real self broken, hungry
(25:20):
and in need of grace.
And so, as we take communiontoday, let this be your prayer,
god I don't want to just lookfaithful, I want to be formed in
you.
And next week Kyle willcontinue with another encounter
that Jesus has with thereligious elite, a moment where
everyone was ready to castjudgment and seem justified in
(25:44):
doing so, except him.
And the question we're going towrestle with is I judge others,
but do I show mercy?
Welcome to our online church.
My name is Stephen Feith.
I'm the lead pastor.
Glad you're joining us.
I don't want to begin again, asI do almost every week, but
especially during this series,it's really important to ask
these questions.
Have you ever felt like youwere doing all the right
spiritual things but stillmissing something?
I think that's pretty common.
(00:21):
A lot of us go through seasonslike that.
We feel like we're doing all ofthe right things that the
pastors say, that Christians say, we read the Bible, we pray,
and yet it still feels like Godis far away.
You might pray before meals,read your Bible every day,
attend church every week, butyet it still feels like God is
really far away.
(00:42):
And that is the danger thatwe're exploring in this series
the Pharisee and Me Because ifwe're not careful, we can trade
our relationship with God,knowing God and being known by
God for a routine centeredaround God.
Now, most of us I mean if yougrow up in or around the church
or you've been around for just alittle bit you know that the
(01:03):
Pharisees are often notportrayed great in the gospels,
and so it's easy for us, thisside of Jesus, to look back and
be critical of them and be likeI can't believe they would do
this or I can't believe theywould say that.
And yet they're not the badguys.
I mean, they weren't thevillains of the story.
These people were devout, theywere serious about scripture and
(01:24):
they were committed to livinghow they thought God wanted them
to live.
I mean, they were the ones whowere all in, so they weren't the
bad guys.
And yet, though, we have torealize that when God in the
flesh stood right in front ofthem, they missed him completely
, and I worry that I do that himcompletely, and I worry that I
(01:46):
do that, I worry that you dothat, I worry that we do that.
We measure spiritual maturity byhow early we do our devotions.
You ever catch that whensomebody's talking about
spirituality and how much theylove Jesus, it's like I get up
at five.
Well, I get up at 4.30.
Well, I get up at 3.30 and Ipray for two hours.
I pray for three hours everyday and it's like, okay, I like
sleeping in.
(02:06):
I mean I love the Lord, butlike I also have a rhythm here.
We measure our spiritualmaturity by how many church
events we go to.
Well, I don't just go on Sunday.
I'm a part of a small group andI did that volunteer thing on
Saturday and then me and theworship team got together on
Thursday night and then, justfor extra, I had a meeting on
Monday night and we're likewe're measuring our spiritual
maturity by like how much weshow up to things.
(02:27):
But last week we looked atMatthew 23, where Jesus delivers
a very strong rebuke toPharisees, the men who honored
the law, taught the scripturesand looked impressive, and Jesus
exposed them for what they were.
Yes, those things they weretrying, but they were also full
of pride and greed and hypocrisy.
And today, in Matthew 7, jesus,in another scene, another event
(02:51):
, is going to confront thePharisees, not just for
hypocrisy, but for usingtradition to avoid obedience.
Using tradition to avoidobedience, their rule following
wasn't just empty, it wasn'tjust hollow, but it was a way to
sidestep the very heart of God.
(03:12):
And, as we're doing throughoutthis entire series, we're
holding up the mirror.
We're not looking back in thepast that these Pharisees,
they're awful, I'm not like that.
We're not talking about theperson in front of you or behind
you.
We're asking you to look in themirror and to say in what ways
have I become like a Pharisee.
Who is and where is thatPharisee?
(03:34):
In me?
And so we're going to Markchapter 7, if you want to follow
along.
Mark places this particularconfrontation we're about to
read.
Right after a series ofpowerful events, jesus has fed
5,000 people with just someloaves and some fish.
He's walked on water.
He's healing the sick.
So all of these things arehappening and the Pharisees come
(03:56):
to check him out.
They leave from Jerusalem tocome check him out and it has
nothing to do with any of thosethings.
It has nothing to do with the5,000 being fed, walking on
water, the sick.
It has something to do withhand washing.
Let's read One day somePharisees and teachers of
religious law arrived fromJerusalem to see Jesus.
(04:17):
They noticed that some of hisdisciples failed to follow the
Jewish ritual of hand washingbefore eating.
And then, if you look in yourBible and you notice parentheses
, this is actually Mark who'swriting these things.
He puts a little sidebar in forhis Gentile readers and so he's
like there's going to beGentiles, non-jewish people, and
they're not going to understandwhat's going on.
(04:38):
So I'm going to just kind ofsidebar and explain.
The Jews, especially thePharisees, do not eat until they
have poured water over theircupped hands, as required by
their ancient traditions, notlaw traditions.
Similarly, they don't eatanything from the market until
they immerse their hands inwater.
This is but one of manytraditions they have clung to,
(05:01):
such as the ceremonial washingof cups, pitchers and kettles.
So these Pharisees remember,these are the theologians.
They're kind of like here's howyou should live this stuff.
And the scribes, these are theones who study it, kind of check
some balances within theirreligious system.
They've come all the way fromIsrael's religious center,
jerusalem and yes, jesus isgaining influence and they're
(05:24):
there to investigate.
And what they point out is thatthe disciples are eating
without washing their hands.
This wasn't just aboutcleanliness or good hygiene.
This was about ceremonialpurity.
This was about being pure andto be clean.
To be physically clean was tobe close to God.
You've heard that praise To bephysically clean, was to be
close to God.
You've heard that praisecleanliness, is godliness or
(05:46):
cleanliness is like that right.
This is where this comes from.
Hand-washing rituals, althoughthey're not found in Scripture,
had taken a deep spiritual butalso cultural weight.
This was important amongst thepeople, the Jewish people, and
(06:11):
the system of rituals came fromwhat's called the tradition of
the elders.
So, again, this wasn't OldTestament law.
This was oral tradition, passedon and passed down to be
interpreted and applied, and byJesus' time.
After hundreds and hundreds ofyears of this, human traditions
carried nearly the same weightas scripture.
That might sound somewhatfamiliar to some things that are
going on today and which islike well, that's not in the
Bible.
So why do we take it soseriously?
(06:33):
Aha, see the Pharisee and me.
These things come up.
What started as a good idea, adesire to honor God, had become
a burdensome system of control.
Another unique aspect of thisis when we look at the Pharisees
and what they're doing.
They didn't just see themselvesas teachers.
They weren't coming to teachthe disciples well, you should
(06:55):
wash your hands.
This comes from the elders, andhere's why we do this and
here's where it's based from.
Rather, they came did you catchit?
As guardians of holiness.
Yes, guardians of holiness.
They are the gatekeepers ofwho's in and who's out.
And why did they do this?
Well, the world they believewas drifting.
They're seeing it all aroundthem.
(07:16):
People weren't taking theirfaith as seriously as they were.
Spirituality was on the declineall around them, and how they
fought back was by guarding andprotecting their traditions.
Now, today, we may not imposeritual systems, but we still
create unspoken rules inspiritual checklists.
(07:37):
I mean, like nobody's going toprobably follow you into the
bathroom to make sure you washyour hands before you eat, and
if you don't, we're going tothink that's gross, but it's not
like it's going to affect yourrelationship with God very much.
But we have our own signs ofspiritual maturity.
Again, go back to that idea howmuch quiet time do I spend with
God?
What's my church attendancelike?
Moral behavior?
Well, I don't swear I don'twatch bad movies, I don't listen
(07:59):
to bad music, I don't drink,etc.
Etc.
And so therefore, I must bespiritually mature and more
advanced than those who do dothose things and partake in them
.
Now, again, these things aren'tbad the quiet time, the church
attendance and moral behavior.
They're not bad.
(08:21):
But they easily become anexternal substitute for an
internal transformation that'ssupposed to occur.
And this becomes the turningpoint in Mark's gospel, right
here in chapter 7.
Jesus begins to reframe whatmakes a person truly clean Not
tradition, not the Old Testamentlaw, not washing your hands,
but a surrendered heart.
And that conversation gets moredirect in verse 6.
(08:43):
Jesus replied to them youhypocrites.
Isaiah was right when heprophesied about you, for he
wrote these people honor me withtheir lips.
They honor me with their lips,but their hearts are far from me
.
Their worship is a farce, forthey teach man-made ideas as
commands from God.
For you ignore God's law andsubstitute your own tradition.
(09:09):
So, in response to thePharisees' challenge, hey, they
should be washing their hands.
They're not clean, jesus.
How are you letting this go?
Jesus doesn't defend hisdisciples.
He doesn't get into a debate,he goes straight to the heart
and he does it with force, andhe quotes a prophet.
They all love Isaiah.
Now, the thing was this prophecyfrom Isaiah.
It wasn't like directly at thistime and place, it wasn't like
(09:31):
Isaiah had this vision.
Oh, I can see Jesus and he'swalking around and the Pharisees
come and they're mad thatpeople aren't washing their
hands.
And he writes it down and heputs it in a letter, and that's
what we have.
Rather, he's saying Isaiah'ssaying this is going to be a
pattern that continues to occur.
It's happened, it's happeningand it will continue to happen.
This isn't new.
(09:52):
This is what people do.
This is what specificallyreligious people have always
done.
The Pharisees honored Godoutwardly with their rituals and
their appearances, but inwardlytheir hearts were elsewhere.
Their hearts were elsewhere.
The Greek word here that Jesususes is in vain or pointless.
(10:14):
It looks spiritual but is empty, because they had replaced
God's truth God's truth withtheir own man-made rules.
They teach human ideas as ifthey were God's commands, and
Jesus goes on.
He explains what went wrong.
Their traditions had takenplace of God's word, which I
(10:37):
think is something that stillhappens today.
These were experts in the law.
They devoted themselves topreserving tradition and
teaching faithfulness, butinstead of leading people toward
God, and specifically God inthe flesh who was there with
them, they were blocking the way.
They were blocking the way and,like the Pharisees, I think
we're still prone to worship.
(10:58):
That's words or all words, it'sall appearances, it's all.
Look at me.
We can sing the songs and wecan know all of the words.
I joked last week.
We can raise our hands at theright part, right, never verse
one, always the bridge.
We can show up on Sundays, wecan be early, we can stay late,
we read the Bible in a year, andyet we can do all of those
(11:21):
things and the reality is ourhearts can still be far from God
.
Our hearts can still be farfrom God, because what happens
is our spiritual routine helpsus avoid surrender to God that
he actually wants.
God is calling us to surrender,and that's difficult and that's
challenging, and so what we dois what we do with what the
(11:41):
Pharisees did.
We create rules.
Well, these are a little biteasier than what God wants me to
do, and I can kind of guardthese better than those, and I'm
good at these and other peoplearen't, so this kind of makes me
feel good about myself.
And so then, in the verses thatfollow, we're going to verse
nine.
Now Jesus is going to offer aspecific example to show how the
(12:03):
rules don't just distance themfrom God, but it distracts from
what God wants to have happen,that their man-made traditions
actually replace the word of God, and that's what makes the
moment here a turning point.
Jesus exposes the core issue ofthe Pharisees who have come to
see him Vain worship, distanthearts and a faith that looks
(12:26):
right but lives wrong.
He said Jesus said youskillfully sidestep God's law in
order to hold on to your owntradition.
Skillfully sidestep, forinstance, moses gave you this
law from God.
Honor your father and motherand anyone who speaks
disrespectfully of father ormother must be put to death.
(12:48):
But you say it is all right forpeople to say to their parents
sorry, I can't help you, for Ivowed to give to God what I
would have given to you, and inthis way, you let them disregard
their needy parents.
And so you cancel the word ofGod in order to hand down your
own tradition.
And this is only one example ofmany.
(13:09):
Jesus moves from a confrontationto an illustration.
His tone turns.
If you're reading this in theGreek and you were in the first
century reading this, this issarcasm at its best.
Jesus is saying you skillfullysidestep for your own tradition.
It's intentional.
This wasn't an accident.
They didn't stumble ondisobedience.
They were actively avoidingGod's will under the appearance
(13:32):
of devotion.
And to prove it, jesus usesjust a foundational command,
something that they wouldn'thave been able to argue with.
He says well, you remember?
In the Ten Commandments?
It says honor your mother andfather.
And in a world without socialsecurity, retirement plans,
honoring your parents waspractical.
This was how we're going tocare for them in their old age,
so they don't starve to death.
(13:53):
And Jesus reinforces theseriousness of this.
He says well, it's not just theTen Commandments.
Do you remember when Moses saidthat anyone who speaks
disrespectfully must be put todeath?
This is a big deal.
It's not just about beingpolite.
This was a covenant-levelresponsibility.
And then he says you guys havea man-made rule, a tradition
(14:15):
that lets people break that,Because if you vowed something
to the Lord land or money youcould still use it and access it
, but you wouldn't have to giveit away.
Then, sorry, mom and dad, Ican't give you that money
because I've already promised itto the Lord.
Well, I can't give you thatmoney because I've already
promised it to the Lord.
Well, I haven't given it to himyet, but I'm going to.
(14:35):
Meanwhile, mom and dad arestarving to death.
Sorry, mom and dad, I can'tgive you this land.
I've promised it to the Lord.
I'm going to use it for alittle bit longer, but then I'm
going to give it to God.
Mom and dad aren't doing well.
So a person could label theirresources as set apart from God,
so that they didn't have tohelp their parents.
(14:56):
This was a way of lookingdevout.
Look at all that I've promisedthe Lord my land and my money.
But actually it was a way thatthey avoided sacrifice, avoided
loving people.
Jesus calls out thismanipulation.
You cancel the word of God inorder to hand down your own
tradition.
What meant to be sacred at onepoint, this was a good idea.
(15:17):
It was honorable.
Hey, you know what?
We're going to set things apartfor the Lord.
We're going to plan ourgenerosity.
What ended up being a goodthing turned into a bad thing,
because then it was like well,you know, I'm not just planning
my generosity, I get to now keepthis myself and avoid giving it
away.
The very system that wasinitially there to form their
(15:37):
hearts was now protecting theirselfishness.
And then he adds, he goes, andjust so you know this isn't just
like a one-off thing.
There are many other examplesof this.
Jesus is saying we can go downthe list of all of the other
ways that this happens.
It's a pattern.
Your traditions, which weresupposed to help people draw
near to God, are actuallyinsulating them from God.
(15:58):
Now, this isn't something thatI think a lot of us could
particularly relate to today,because we prioritize freedom
and independence, individuality,sincerity and independence,
individuality, sincerity.
So we are a people I think hereat Madison Church too that are
less likely to hide behindtradition.
I don't think we're going tohide behind tradition at Madison
(16:19):
Church.
But that doesn't mean thispassage isn't applicable to us,
because I think what we do do,rather, is that we hide behind
our personal preference or ouremotion.
So we may not be able to lookat a church council that made a
decision 600 years ago or even1,000 years ago, but we
internalize it.
We might say well, god knows myheart, I shouldn't have done
(16:43):
that.
It was wrong.
I knew it was wrong going intoit.
I had plenty of opportunitiesto not do that thing, but I did
it anyway.
But you can't judge me, onlyGod can judge me.
Well, man-made, personal versuswhat God has said.
Or we can say this just doesn'tfeel right to me.
This is a common one, right?
(17:03):
We can say like well, we have aspecific command.
God wants you to love yourenemies.
Love your enemies so well, youknow what.
It just doesn't feel right tome to love my enemies.
Well, you don't really like.
That doesn't take claim overthe word of God.
And so, again, while we mightnot have tradition, I think we
have the emotion and I think wehave personal preference.
(17:24):
And Jesus is calling that out.
The rules didn't distract fromscripture.
They use the rules to overrideit, and I think that that might
be, in some of our cases, thePharisee in me that I hide
behind my preferences or myemotions to avoid what I know
God is telling me to be.
They thought they werepreserving holiness, but instead
(17:46):
they were dismantling it.
And Jesus flips the wholeconversation.
He says you're worried aboutclean hands.
That's how this wholeconversation started, remember.
You're worried about cleanhands when your rules are
letting people abandon theirneedy parents.
You're worried about cleanhands and people are suffering.
(18:07):
It's a devastating reversal.
If you're there, you're like.
This makes a lot of sense whathe's saying right now.
They saw themselves asguardians of purity, but Jesus
reveals they're corrupting thevery law they claim to uphold.
So we have Jesus' confrontationwith the Pharisees and again,
the issue here isn't traditionitself.
It's that they were usingreligious structures not to draw
(18:30):
near God, but to sidestep hiscommands.
They were using the traditionsnot to honor God, to draw people
close to him, but to sidestep.
And what we ought to take awaytoday is that true worship flows
from a heart aligned with God,not from external rituals,
traditions or appearances, Notfrom the outside.
(18:53):
In God isn't impressed by yourreligious performance.
I don't know if somebody needsto hear that, but he's not
impressed with your religiousperformance.
What God is after is integrity.
Who are you when no one else islooking?
He's after a surrendered heart.
Is your heart reallysurrendered or does it just
appear to be surrendered?
(19:13):
He's looking for people whohave a life that reflect his
character.
Think back to the Old Testament.
This isn't a new concept Psalm51, verses 16 and 17.
David talking to God you do notdelight in sacrifice, or I
would bring it.
The sacrifice you desire is abroken spirit, a broken and
(19:34):
contrite heart.
You, god will not despise.
You see, david understood thatGod isn't moved by empty big
rituals.
He's drawn by honesty and he'sdrawn to surrender.
And it continues into the NewTestament, in which Paul in
Romans, chapter 12, tells us useyour body as a living sacrifice
(19:55):
.
Offer everything to God, not asa ritual but as a response.
Jesus has changed you from theinside out.
God has always cared more aboutthe condition of our hearts and
the performance of our religion.
Nt Wright says you can tell thestory of the Bible as the story
(20:16):
of how human beings have againand again substituted religion
for God and how God has againand again sought to call them
back into real relationship withhim.
This is the story Again andagain and again and again
throughout the whole scriptures,thousands of years.
People constantly substitutingrelationship for religion, and
(20:38):
constantly Jesus and God.
They're pursuing usrelationally.
God isn't looking for peoplewho look holy.
He's calling people to be holy,which always begins with
humility and obedience and love.
And so the next step for ustoday isn't to do more religious
(21:01):
things.
It's not to do more religiousthings.
Rather, it's about looking inthe mirror and asking whether
the things we're already doinglook in the mirror and ask are
the things that I'm alreadydoing forming me into a person
who loves God and reflects hischaracter?
That's the question.
(21:23):
Where is your faith just goingthrough the motions?
Where is your faith just goingthrough the motions?
Where is your faith just goingthrough the motions Yesterday,
today, this week?
Maybe you read your Bible inthe morning because you're
supposed to right, somebody saidyou're supposed to, so you read
your Bible in the morning, butyou read it real fast so you can
go check your email.
So you got work to do.
And maybe you pray beforedinner I mean, god forbid you
(21:46):
don't pray over your Big Mac.
Maybe you pray before dinner Imean, god forbid you don't pray
over your Big Mac but youhaven't had an honest or real
conversation with God outside ofthat little moment in months.
Maybe you go to church everySunday, but you avoid the hard
places God is actually callingyou to obey.
Going to church is a little biteasier than doing what he wants
you to do.
This Thursday, right, we canlook faithful and still keep our
(22:07):
hearts from God, and so thechallenge for us today is to
trade performance for presence.
Let God have your heart, notjust your habits.
And that might mean you'regoing to read the Bible this
week, but not to check a box,but rather you're going to read
the Bible to listen to what Godmight be saying to you in this
moment.
(22:28):
Not to say I did it now, I canmove on with the rest of my day
Grandma would be proud but toopen it up and to hear what is
God saying to me today, it mightmean examining your spiritual
habits.
Are these things drawing youcloser to Jesus or are they
helping you avoid surrender Alot of the things that we do as
(22:49):
people?
We're following Jesus.
It might start off as a goodidea that help us, but at some
point it stops being that and itbecomes a rule.
We've outgrown that, so we canlet go of that rule, whatever
that might be in your ownsituation or your circumstances.
Look at your habits.
Those things that were oncegood, are they still?
(23:10):
This one's scary.
But ask someone close to you Doyou see congruence in my life
between what I say, I believeand how I live?
Are you open to that kind offeedback?
That kind of scares me a littlebit.
And if you're new to faith oryou felt burned by religion in
(23:31):
the past, this passage is greatnews for you, because Jesus
doesn't want your perfection.
Jesus simply wants your heart.
You don't need to cleanyourself up, you don't need to
learn all the rules.
You just come as you are.
So the key question for us thisweek am I honoring God with my
lips while keeping my heart at adistance?
(23:52):
That's the thought, thequestion that we need to ask.
The key step here is to do onething not to look spiritual to
anyone else, but to draw near toJesus in truth and to let him
meet you there, because Jesusisn't interested in religious
performance.
He wasn't then and he isn't now.
(24:14):
He's interested in your heart.
The Pharisees looked the part.
The Pharisees knew the rules,but in clinging to tradition,
they lost sight of God's heartfor love and justice and mercy.
And if we're honest, when welook in the mirror ourselves, we
can do the same.
(24:36):
We follow habits that make usfeel spiritual, while resisting
the very obedience God isinviting us to.
And that's why we come to thecommunion table every week at
Madison Church.
It's not to perform a ritual.
We don't have a denominationthat tells us we have to the
communion table every week atMadison Church.
It's not to perform a ritual.
We don't have a denominationthat tells us we have to do this
every week.
When we started the church, wedecided we wanted to do it, not
because of a religious thing wehad to do, but because of a
(24:57):
relational thing we get to be in.
And every week we take the timeto reflect on not just what
Jesus did back then, but whatJesus is doing in my life today.
We remember the one who didn'tcancel out God's commands but
who fulfilled God's commands,the one who invites us to stop
pretending and to just bringyour real self broken, hungry
(25:20):
and in need of grace.
And so, as we take communiontoday, let this be your prayer,
god I don't want to just lookfaithful, I want to be formed in
you.
And next week Kyle willcontinue with another encounter
that Jesus has with thereligious elite, a moment where
everyone was ready to castjudgment and seem justified in
(25:44):
doing so, except him.
And the question we're going towrestle with is I judge others,
but do I show mercy?
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