Good evening.
It's time for us to get started.
If you will, get your Bibles and open them to the book of Mark.
We're in the closing verses of Mark chapter 6.
And then we'll be in Mark chapter 7 for the majority of our time this evening.
All right, let's begin with a word of prayer.
A gracious Father in heaven, we bow before your throne, grateful for the day that you have blessed us with.
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grateful for all that you do for us on a daily basis.
We're mindful of your many bountiful blessings and gifts that you offer to us.
Lord, we know that the greatest gift that you have ever given us is your Son who came and died on the cross so that we might have eternal life.
We pray that we might look to the Scriptures to open our hearts and our minds to your Word, that we might both know how to live and how to serve
serve you in a way that is acceptable in your sight, that we might put on Christ and put on His mind and His actions and live in a way that is, as John describes, walking in the
light as you were in the light.
Lord, we pray that You forgive us when we sin and fall short of Your glory.
And we know that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from those sins.
pray that you'll be with those who are striving to do what is right through great difficulty, through great opposition, whether that be from their family or from those
around them, those who are in their uh sphere of influence, or maybe even from the nation and the country that they live in.
Lord, we pray that you be with leaders throughout the world.
May they make decisions which lead to open doors.
for the kingdom, we realize that sometimes those open doors don't come because of greater freedom, but rather from greater persecution.
Yet we pray that we might have boldness and that the church throughout the world might have boldness to stand for the truth and preach the truth no matter what comes.
All this we pray and ask in Jesus' name, amen.
Mark chapter 6, Jesus has appeared to the disciples as they are in the boat crossing the Sea of Galilee.
He is walking on the water and would have passed them by, but
they observed him walking on the water and they were afraid and so they called, they cried out as verse 49 says, they all saw him and were troubled, but immediately he talked with
them and said, be of good cheer, it is I do not be afraid.
I don't want to draw too much from this point other than to say this.
One of the things that helps when people are afraid or are concerned gravely about a situation is communication.
A lot of times you can solve or disarm difficulties with just a little communication.
There are circumstances in people's life when someone, for instance, a parent says,
be home by nine o'clock and then the person who's supposed to be home by nine o'clock isn't there and it's 9.05, 9.10, 9.15, 9.20 and they're starting to become concerned,
panic and potential death for the person when they arrive home late.
And yet if they had called at 850 and said, Sister So-and-so who I happened to be with fell while we were at her house and we were currently sitting at the emergency room with
Sister So-and-so, guess what would have changed?
The communication would have dissolved, disarmed the difficulty.
It would have allayed the fears.
just with the communication.
Now.
What changes?
when they go from seeing a person walking on the water to hearing Jesus and His voice and recognizing who it is?
The answer is everything.
Everything changes about the situation.
They go from a state of concern and fear and dread over what's going on.
Bear in mind, they're already in a bit of a spot.
It's the middle of the night.
and they're out on the Sea of Galilee, and they're making no progress whatsoever, though they are rowing with all their ability to get to shore.
And in spite of the fact that there are at least four experienced fishermen on the boat who made their livelihood on the Sea of Galilee, they are making no progress.
And now it's the middle of the night, and now they're seeing this person walking on the water.
They're afraid!
but it all changes.
When Jesus says, of good cheer, it is I, do not be afraid.
Communication matters.
And when there is a failure of communication, you often have strife and difficulty and fear and uncertainty and doubt.
Verse 51 says, then he went up into the boat to them and the wind ceased.
And they were greatly amazed in themselves beyond measure and marveled.
By the way, where was their amazement exhibited or manifested?
According to the text, they were amazed where.
in themselves.
What does that tell you about their amazement?
What did they not say out loud?
They did not look at Jesus as He came into the boat and start expressing all the thoughts that were in their head.
Why would the disciples not do that?
Say again.
All right.
I would say that's potential, but it's the, they were in greater amazement at the wind and everything ceasing the moment he stepped in the boat than they were at him walking on the
water.
Do notice that?
It is when everything changed that you see the immediate discussion of their amazement, their marveling at this.
And there's something for us to observe here and that is when people
realize that they haven't been doing what they should have been doing or they haven't understood what they should have understood, quite often they will not open their mouths
and say it.
They will not admit
their own state and their own lack of understanding.
Now, did that hide anything from Jesus?
No, but it might hide something from us.
Right?
He had the ability to know their hearts and minds.
We don't.
But when people marvel and when they're astounded and when they realize that they've
always thought of things one way and now they think of them entirely different because of something that has happened, they don't always tell you.
Did the disciples think of Jesus the same way after the sea was calmed that they thought of Him before they left the shore?
And the answer is no.
What had Jesus just done before they left the shore?
Fed 5,000 people.
You would think that would have been enough to have caused them to marvel to think of Jesus in a different way.
Yet this was at a whole nother level.
But one last thought concerning that.
sometimes, not saying it's necessarily drawn out in the text here, but it's something worth observing because you see it in the text.
Who did the feeding of the 5,000 benefit?
the people eating.
ah When Jesus asked concerning their provisions, the seven uh loaves and two fish, who was that enough for?
them, their party.
They brought their provisions, they brought enough for them.
Matter of fact, what was their solution to the fact that the people needed to eat back at the beginning of the discussion?
Send these people away who didn't bring their provisions, who didn't make provision.
Go send them away and let them fend for themselves.
Now Jesus says, no, you feed them.
They we don't have any, we don't have enough money to do that.
But the point was, the miracle of feeding the people was not to the benefit of the disciples.
It was to the benefit of the people.
And guess what we typically as humans discount the value of?
Something that's good for everybody else but not necessarily any benefit to ourselves.
Like, well, that's nice for you.
I'm glad everybody got to eat our food.
What did they get to do, by the way, while everyone was eating?
Serve.
They got to not only distribute it, but they got to clean up after it.
Everybody loves doing both the preparation for the meal and the cleanup afterwards, don't they?
All the women in the room can just shake their heads and go, yeah, we love that.
So instead of them just getting to eat, they got to work, and to the benefit of the people, not to mention, they kind of got put on the spot by Jesus and then proved that
they should have been thinking differently.
So when they observed that miracle,
You can see it kind of didn't leave the impression maybe that it should have.
because it was to the benefit of someone else.
When they observe this miracle, who is it to the benefit of?
Them.
and they're finally learning the lesson.
We need to remember when we teach people, when we work with people.
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that it isn't until it affects them that they usually start paying attention.
One of the things that's true about evangelism and something that Rob pointed out in the evangelism training is that one of the things that we look for as we're looking at the
context that we have is what?
Something that happens in their life.
a life event.
Why?
Because it makes them think differently.
Because it happened to them.
It's happening in their life.
It's causing disruption in their life.
And it's not.
the same when you say, know what, I want us to all look for anybody who has a distant relative living in a far off place who gets sick.
It's not going to be the same, folks.
That's not going to impact their life the way this does.
It's something that happens to them.
So the impact of
the event in the end of the chapter is greater on the apostles than the impact of the event earlier in the chapter because it's happening to them.
And it's worthwhile for us to pay attention as to the opportunities and the moments when people learn.
People learn a little bit along the way.
People make dramatic strides in learning when they learn something the hard way because it happened to them.
Now.
Verse 52, we read, Mark says, "'For they had not understood about the loaves, because their heart was hardened.
When they had crossed over, they came to the land of Gennesaret and anchored there.
And when they came out of the boat, immediately the people recognized him.'"
ran through that whole surrounding region and began to carry about on beds those who were sick to wherever they heard he was.
Wherever he entered into villages, cities, uh or the country, they laid the sick in the marketplaces and begged him that they might just touch the hem of his garment, and as many
as touched him were made well." Mark records that they
left the crowds behind, they crossed the Sea of Galilee, they arrived at a new location, and the moment they touched ground, people recognized Jesus.
And once again, they were formed with crowds.
And it was people desiring just to even touch the hem of the garment of Jesus.
Now, what was Jesus's garment made out of that had such magical powers to heal people?
Because you know they're still trying to identify the correct garment buried in the correct tomb so that they can heal people today.
Y'all ever heard of the Shroud of Turin?
This nonsense, not the biblical text, but the nonsense of people today, still looking for a magical garment that they can make money off of to heal people today.
By the way, is there ever a text where you read about the disciples or anyone in the first century church selling healing to someone?
Or using it to raise money?
Or telling them if they'll just send their love offering, then they too will receive the...
No.
They just wanted to get close enough to Jesus to touch Jesus so they could be healed.
And the disciples did not turn that into a marketing opportunity that, yes, if you will just send us 12 gold coins, you too can walk past Jesus and touch the hem of his garment.
We need to be careful that we do not fall into the devil's use.
of good things and turn into no more than those who Paul accused of peddling the gospel for money.
But notice, we read then in chapter 7, and this text is one of those that has a parallel account, Matthew chapter 15, and is something that should be read in whole
before it's dissected.
It will help you get a perspective.
So we're gonna read uh a larger section than we normally do and then we'll come back and take it apart.
Then the Pharisees and some of the scribes came together to him having come from Jerusalem.
Now when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is with unwashed hands, they found fault.
For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands in a special way, holding the tradition of the elders.
When they come from the market, they do not eat unless they wash.
And there are many other things which they have received and hold, like the washing of cups, pitchers, copper vessels, and couches.
Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him,
Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?
He answered and said to them, Well, did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites.
As it is written, This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me, and in vain they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.
For laying aside the commandments of God, you hold the traditions of men.
the washing of pitchers and cups and many other such things you do.
He said to them, all too well you reject the commandment of God that you may keep your traditions.
For Moses said, honor your father and your mother and he who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.
But you say, if a man says to his father or mother, whatever profit you might have received from me is Corbin, that is a gift to God, then you no longer
him do anything for his father or his mother, making the word of God of no effect through your tradition, which you have handed down, and many such things you do.
When he had called all the multitude to himself, he said to them, Hear me, everyone, and understand.
There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him.
But the things which come out of him
Those are the things that defile a man.
If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.
When he entered a house away from the crowd, his disciples asked him concerning the parable.
So he said to them, Are you thus without understanding also?
Do you not perceive that whatever enters a man from outside cannot defile him?
Because it does not enter his heart, but his stomach, and is eliminated, thus purifying all foods.
And he said, What comes out of a man that defiles a man?
For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy,
pride, foolishness.
All these things come from within and defile a man." eh
So as you go through this text, understand first where are they when it happens?
Are they in Judea, Jerusalem, or Galilee?
Galilee.
These events occurring Galilee.
It is significant that that is the case because of what is stated in chapter 7 verse 1.
Then...
wait a minute, Mark's one of those people that strings things together so that you get a picture.
And he just began with the word then.
That's kind of like Paul starting a chapter with therefore.
You don't get to separate it from what just happened.
You get to connect it to what happened and see why these things happened.
So what did we just read about?
in the end of chapter 6.
What was going on in Galilee?
All right?
At the end of chapter 6, wherever Jesus went into a village, people started thronging there to be healed.
What happened before that?
All right?
Jesus was doing what when the people needed to be fed?
He was out in the wilderness teaching them.
And how many people showed up?
5,000 men plus women and children showed up and followed Jesus out into the middle of nowhere to be taught.
Wait a minute, I thought that was the job of the Pharisees and the scribes.
Now do you see what's going on?
The people are not going into the synagogue to be taught.
The people, which by the way is where the Pharisees would have taught and the scribes would have taught and the lawyers would have taught, they're all sitting there going,
where's everybody?
because the people are out there following Jesus every single day.
And they're being taught by Jesus.
Now, it's not the Pharisees and the scribes from the local synagogues that have shown up in chapter 7 verse 1, is it?
Notice Matthew chapter 15 verse 1, the parallel account to this text.
Then the scribes and Pharisees who were from Jerusalem came to Jesus saying,
These people are a little far away from home, aren't they?
kind of diminishing themselves to come all the way up into Galilee, where the unlearned people are.
So why in the world are Pharisees and scribes traveling all the way from Jerusalem, which by the way would have given their position towards Samaritans, required them to cross the
Jordan River twice, just to get up to the sea of Galilee, only to then go to where Jesus was.
Why have they come all this way?
The answer is because someone is stealing their power.
Someone is causing their power to be threatened in these outer regions.
Someone is drawing crowds of people and that's a problem.
So they arrive and the first thing they do is question the loyalty of Jesus and his disciples
to the Jewish religion.
Because they want to know why his disciples don't follow the traditions of the elders.
For a Jew, that's like saying, why are you people who don't follow the normal religion of the Jews?
Why are you breaking away from our religion?
because their religion was tied into their society.
It dictated what they did when they came in and out of the marketplace.
They held the traditions of the elders to be equal or greater than even the Scriptures, depending upon who was doing the teaching.
And so when they ask this question, this is not a benign curiosity.
This is a question asked to inflame the crowds that Jesus' disciples were violating the religious norms.
This was an attack.
This was a discrediting accusation.
This is something that they would ask so as to show the people.
You're following this guy?
He doesn't keep your traditions.
He doesn't follow your religion.
Because as far as they were concerned, they decided what the religion was.
All right?
So understand that as we open this text that these people have traveled a long way.
to head off a group of people in the northern region leaving their religion that was the center of their power.
and following after Jesus.
Now when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is with unwashed hands, they, what does the text say?
Found fault.
One of the things that I've observed, and I've observed it in myself as much as I've observed it in anybody else, is if you look for fault in somebody, you'll find it.
Right?
If you start out with the intent and goal of finding something that somebody does wrong, you will find it.
except Jesus.
What is it that Pilate said after he had had Jesus scourged and as the text says, inspected?
uh I did all the normal processes for finding fault.
This is a pretty tried and true way.
If you put someone through enough pain, you will find out they've done something wrong.
They'll eventually own up to it.
It doesn't have to be what you started out accusing them of, but you'll get something to accuse them of by the time the scourging is done.
Pilate says, I can't find any fault in this person.
There was no fault to be found.
But they, as they're watching, found fault.
They couldn't find it with the law.
They couldn't find it with the scriptures.
So they had to find it where?
in their traditions.
So they saw some of the disciples eat bread with defiled, that is with unwashed hands.
They found fault.
Now Mark is going to tell you more about this than Matthew does.
So we're actually kind of benefited by looking at this in Mark's context because Mark is explaining it most likely because Mark's audience is Gentile and Matthew's audience is
Jew.
So for a Jew, they didn't need the explanation.
They knew what the traditions were all about.
For the Gentile, they needed to know a little bit more about the Jews in order for this to make sense.
So Mark's going to explain it.
For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands, and notice the phrase, in a special way.
This is not about you come in from the marketplace, you've been traveling all day, you've been doing business with somebody, you've been buying and selling stuff, and man, you just
feel like you need to wash some of the dirt off.
That is not what this is about.
This was a ceremonial washing.
This didn't have anything to do with being clean.
It had everything to do with who you had come in contact with while you were out.
and who you needed to be cleansed from.
So Mark's going to tell us that they would wash their hands in a special way, holding the traditions of the elders.
When they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash.
And there are many other things that they have received and hold, like the washing of cups, pitchers, copper vessels, and couches.
Now, there are laws
in the Old Testament about the washing and the cleansing of things that have been defiled.
There were actual laws about that and there were actual ordinances about that.
This is not what's under discussion here.
This isn't about what the law said concerning washing and cleansing something so that it was once again made holy and no longer uh defiled and therefore something that was holy
could be used in the worship or a sacrifice.
That's what the ordinances had to do with.
This is something that they practiced when they sat down to eat, when they came in from the marketplace.
What is it that was significant about the fact that they had been in the marketplace?
Because notice it doesn't say when they came in from the field.
It doesn't say when they came in from working.
And it doesn't say when they came in from traveling from grandma's house back home.
But rather when they came in from the marketplace, this is what they did.
What was significant about...
All right?
It was because they had passed down traditions about how you wash the Gentiles off of you so you don't become defiled because you've been in contact with Gentiles.
So you can, by the way, can go grab out your, you know, personal copy of the Talmud that you probably have at home and go read about it, okay?
The traditions of the Jewish elders are still around.
They're still following them in large part today.
But the point is that this was something they did because they could have come in contact with a Gentile.
And if they came in contact with a Gentile and then they touched their food with the same hands that touched the Gentile, then they ate the food they would have considered
themselves to have become defiled.
because they touched a Gentile and then consumed food.
So they didn't want to become defiled.
So they'd wash their hands, they'd wash the couches, they'd wash the clothes, all these things they were doing to avoid the defilement of Gentiles.
Now, the Pharisees asked him,
Why do your disciples not walk according to the traditions of the elders, but eat bread with unwashed hands?
He answered and said to them, well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites.
Have you ever asked somebody a question and they don't answer the question?
One of the things that I love about
what Rob teaches, since this has kind of been on our minds for a number of months, is he teaches us to answer questions the same way Jesus did.
Which is stop giving everyone who asks a question an answer that is not the appropriate discussion for the moment.
They came to Jesus because of what was going on.
They looked for a fault and thought they had found one and they confronted Jesus in front of the crowds.
Now, the reason we read through the text was so that you would know and see that the crowds right there when all this is happening.
They didn't do this in private.
They didn't come to Jesus and say, I don't want to really.
embarrass you or anything, but it seems like maybe your disciples are overlooking some of the traditions.
And I thought maybe we would address it privately so it could be solved so you don't leave a bad impression with the people.
Like, this is not how they addressed this!
They did it in front of everybody!
Why do your disciples not keep the traditions of the elders?
And Jesus replies with...
Isaiah really did a good job when he prophesied about you, you hypocrites.
There's some things we need to be reminded of and we're not gonna get a whole long way into the Isaiah discussion tonight.
We're gonna introduce it but I want you to do some reading before, I won't be here next Wednesday, before we discuss this again, all right?
I'll be somewhere in the air on the way to the Philippines next Wednesday but anyway.
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Before we get there, want you to think about this.
Sometimes we get very upset with teachers or preachers or elders.
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because we think they handled a discussion or a controversy or an argument the wrong way because they did not respond with a quiet, calm, loving, and very accommodative reply.
And we better be careful because Jesus didn't always either.
Now, Jesus, when you see Him respond this way, never does it because He's frustrated and put out and tired and annoyed by people who ask too many questions.
That's not the reason Jesus responds this way.
Jesus responds this way and every time you see Jesus respond with this type of immediate attack response
is because he is defending the hearts and the minds of the people who are trying to be influenced.
And there is an appropriate time that usually will occur at some point in every congregation's life where it is necessary that good, godly, sound men stand up and rebuke
something that is being taught because of what is happening in the influence of the hearts and the minds of the people.
Jesus responds with an immediate discrediting of their character.
He says, Isaiah did very well when he prophesied about you hypocrites.
True or false?
You can rightfully judge someone's motivations when they say something to you.
That's a nuanced, undefined question that you should be careful with the answer of.
Because you have experienced and I have experienced a conversation where someone says, know what you're thinking and they don't have a clue.
And then they tell you what they think they know you're thinking and it's clear they don't have a clue.
But sometimes it's not just the words that people speak.
It is the actions that they do in connection with the words that they speak that identify their true motive.
And when Jesus says, you're hypocrites, he doesn't do it based upon some
personal insight he has by knowing their hearts and minds, he backs it up with proof from their actions.
So if you're going to accuse someone at any point in time of being a hypocrite, you better have their actions as a record and proof that they actually are.
because Jesus says, well, did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites?
As it is written, this people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.
Jesus says, you're over here arguing that people ought to keep your elders' traditions so that they could be close to God, because if you were defiled, you were separated from God.
So if you touch a Gentile and then you consume food, you're separated from God.
Here you are trying to argue that people should be close to God in their actions, and yet you promote them being separated from God in their heart.
And he quotes Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 29 verse 13 where Isaiah says, in vain they worship me teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.
Jesus said, here's the text where Isaiah condemned your hypocrisy.
And then he gave the evidence of their actions which confirmed the prophecy.
He says, for laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the traditions of men.
You see, they had just accused his disciples of laying aside what?
the traditions of the elders.
Jesus turns around and says, as a matter of fact, the problem you have, you hypocrites, is you've laid aside the commandments of God so you could keep the traditions of the elders.
He evidences that by pointing out that they keep the washing of pitchers and cups and many other such things you do.
Yet all too well, he says, you reject the commandment of God that you may keep your traditions.
For Moses has said, honor your father and your mother, and he who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.
But you say, emphasizing your traditions say, and you keep the traditions.
You say if a man says to his father or mother, whatever profit you might have received from me is Corbin, that is a gift to God, then you no longer let him do anything for his
father or his mother.
Making the word of God of no effect through your tradition, which you have handed down and Jesus says,
This is not the only instance of the problem.
Many such things you do.
Now, when we come back and discuss this again, we're go back into Isaiah chapter 29 because this text is worth looking at.
It gives a whole lot of color and vibrance to what Jesus is accusing them of.
So we're gonna spend our time there and then loop back into chapter seven once we do that and hopefully we see even more depth to what is going on.
But we're out of time.
Thank you for your attention this evening.