Scripture Reading: Mark 7:1-8 | Spanish/Español

Introduction

A. As much as Jesus sought to serve the people around Him, He made it clear that He answered to none but the Father who had sent Him.

B. There are some who think they are serving God while they are in reality working against Him (John 16:2-3; Acts 26:9).

C. We need to make sure that it is God that we are serving first.

Discussion

I. The Pharisees looked for clean hands; Jesus looked for clean hearts.

A. Washing hands and dishes was a time-honored tradition for the Pharisees (Mark 7:3; cf. John 2:6).

B. Where the Pharisees saw clean hands, Jesus saw polluted hearts (Mark 7:6-7; cf. 1 Samuel 16:7).

C. Jesus can cleanse our hearts (Acts 15:9; 1 Peter 1:22-23).

II. They honored human traditions; Jesus honored heaven’s traditions.

A. Jesus made it clear to the Pharisees that He did not answer to them (Mark 7:1-13; cf. John 6:38).

B. Jesus openly disregarded other Jewish traditions, such as those regarding fasting (Mark 2:18-20; cf. Matthew 11:19) and Sabbath observance (Mark 2:24-3:5).

C. The only traditions worth keeping are those that come from heaven (Mark 7:9-13; 11:27-33; 1:9-11).

III. They worried about what went in; Jesus cares about what comes out.

A. They were concerned about external impurities that might make them unclean (Matthew 23:24-26).

B. Jesus was more concerned about the filthiness that proceeded from within them (Matthew 23:14,23-28; Mark 7:15-23).

Conclusion

A. As a Pharisee (Acts 26:5), Paul had once been a slave to men and to human tradition, but now he was a slave to Jesus Christ (Galatians 1:10).

B. If we are going to be the kind of servants that we need to be to those who need us, we must not be enslaved to the will of mortal man.