Lent - Day 19
Tradition and Worship
"Then the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus, and they saw some of His disciples eating with hands that were defiled—that is, unwashed.
Now in holding to the tradition of the elders, the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat until they wash their hands ceremonially. And on returning from the market, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions for them to observe, including the washing of cups, pitchers, kettles, and couches for dining.
So the Pharisees and scribes questioned Jesus: “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders? Instead, they eat with defiled hands.”
Jesus answered them, “Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written:
‘These people honor Me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from Me.
They worship Me in vain;
they teach as doctrine the precepts of men.’
You have disregarded the commandment of God to keep the tradition of men.”
... Thus you nullify the word of God by the tradition you have handed down. And you do so in many such matters.” Mark 7:1-8,13
We continue our Lenten study by reading through the Book of Mark.
I pray you have been keeping yourself safe, maybe avoiding crowds and unnecessary trips outside your home and joining us in this journey to know what Christianity is all about or revisiting where it all started.
Organized Religion
Now the passage above is an example of what we ought not to be.
For those who do not know Christ many times would only get to know of Him through those who profess to know Him.
And many have the excuse that they were turned off and will simply not follow Christ for the very reason that they do not like what they see.
Excuses
I cannot blame them because we can see the folly of "organized religion" and even the errors of many of its supposed leaders. But as we have read from the passage above, even Jesus of Nazareth took a swipe at the religious leaders of His time and their ways. (And He did so, many times.)
True Worship
There is on the otherhand a way to get past this 'kind' of religion. And this is to get to know Jesus Christ, who is what Christianity should be all about. And we are now in the middle of this 40 day journey to do just that.
One of our goals is to take away the layers of man made traditions and rules and regulations. And to put away any wrong impression and inaccurate idea that we may have about Christianity.
If you were not able to join us since the start of this journey there is still time to start from the beginning -- Day 1. You just need to read one or two messages a day, until you are able to catch up. Don"t worry, if we are told to shelter in place, in our home, then we should have the time to.
We shall continue this 40 day Lenten journey tomorrow, and I pray that you will join us, reading through the Book of Mark, praying, fasting and abstaining from some of our daily activities that we could do without.
Lenten Series
"Then the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus, and they saw some of His disciples eating with hands that were defiled—that is, unwashed.
Now in holding to the tradition of the elders, the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat until they wash their hands ceremonially. And on returning from the market, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions for them to observe, including the washing of cups, pitchers, kettles, and couches for dining.
So the Pharisees and scribes questioned Jesus: “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders? Instead, they eat with defiled hands.”
Jesus answered them, “Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written:
‘These people honor Me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from Me.
They worship Me in vain;
they teach as doctrine the precepts of men.’
You have disregarded the commandment of God to keep the tradition of men.”
... Thus you nullify the word of God by the tradition you have handed down. And you do so in many such matters.” Mark 7:1-8,13
We continue our Lenten study by reading through the Book of Mark.
I pray you have been keeping yourself safe, maybe avoiding crowds and unnecessary trips outside your home and joining us in this journey to know what Christianity is all about or revisiting where it all started.
Organized Religion
Now the passage above is an example of what we ought not to be.
For those who do not know Christ many times would only get to know of Him through those who profess to know Him.
And many have the excuse that they were turned off and will simply not follow Christ for the very reason that they do not like what they see.
Excuses
I cannot blame them because we can see the folly of "organized religion" and even the errors of many of its supposed leaders. But as we have read from the passage above, even Jesus of Nazareth took a swipe at the religious leaders of His time and their ways. (And He did so, many times.)
True Worship
There is on the otherhand a way to get past this 'kind' of religion. And this is to get to know Jesus Christ, who is what Christianity should be all about. And we are now in the middle of this 40 day journey to do just that.
One of our goals is to take away the layers of man made traditions and rules and regulations. And to put away any wrong impression and inaccurate idea that we may have about Christianity.
If you were not able to join us since the start of this journey there is still time to start from the beginning -- Day 1. You just need to read one or two messages a day, until you are able to catch up. Don"t worry, if we are told to shelter in place, in our home, then we should have the time to.
We shall continue this 40 day Lenten journey tomorrow, and I pray that you will join us, reading through the Book of Mark, praying, fasting and abstaining from some of our daily activities that we could do without.
Lenten Series
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