Evangelical Free Church of Embarass

Please open your Bible to Mark, Chapter 7, and pray with me before we go to God’s Word together.

Father, I pray that in these next moments You would give us understanding of today’s sermon topic and what Jesus was communicating. I pray that You would help us to know how to apply it to our lives and to the subject that You have directed us to these weeks. Father, we thank You for Your Word and we thank You that it is the final authority for everything we believe, everything we practice. I pray, God, that You would use it today to speak to our hearts and to challenge us. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Many years ago the Chicago Cubs had a manager named Charlie Grimm. One day during the off season, he received a phone call from one of his scouts that he had sent down to Florida to be scouting some of the teams playing winter ball. His scout was very excited on the other end of the phone. In fact, he was shouting. He told the manager, “Charlie, I’ve landed the greatest young pitcher in the land. He just struck out every man who came to bat this afternoon --- 27 in a row. Nobody even hit a foul until the ninth inning.” Then he went on to say, “The young man is right here with me. What should I do?” There was a moment of silence on the other end, and Charlie Grimm said, “Sign up the guy who hit the foul ball. We need hitters.”

Now, there’s an example of what I would call “misplaced emphasis.” The scout went to Florida, and placed his emphasis in the wrong area. Charlie wanted him to go down looking for hitters --- that’s where the emphasis was to be. But the scout got so excited that he misplaced the emphasis, and he was looking at pitchers.

Keep your place in Mark 7 and take a look at 1 Samuel, back in the Old Testament, Chapter 16. This is the record of a time when the prophet Samuel is asked to go to find God’s chosen man to be the second king of Israel. He goes to a family that has many sons. He looks over the boys, and in verse 6, Samuel determines who is the son that will be king. When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab, and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed stands here before the Lord.” However, in verse 7, “The Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him.’”

The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. Here we have Samuel going to find the person God has chosen to be the next king. Samuel thinks he has found the person, based on his criterion. And so he picks Eliab, because Samuel’s criterion is outward appearance, and Eliab looks kingly. But God says, “You have misplaced your emphasis, Samuel. You look on the outward appearance; the Lord looks on the heart.” We find out as the passage goes on that using this criterion and emphasis, God was going to choose a young man named David.

Again we have the problem of misplaced emphasis. The prophet emphasizes outward appearance. God emphasizes the heart. In Mark, Chapter 7, we have the Pharisees and the scribes mentioned right away in verse 1. As you go on in the passage, you will see that six times there are references to “tradition.” In verse 3, “the tradition of the elders”; verse 4: “and they observed many other traditions”; verse 5: “why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders?”; verse 8: “holding on to the traditions of men”; verse 9: “you observe your own traditions”; verse 13: “your tradition.”

That thought seems to come up a lot in this passage. The passage is about traditions, specifically the traditions of the elders. “Tradition of the elders” referred to a specific body of traditions called the oral law. They had in that day, of course, the written law, which would have been the Old Testament scriptures that they had available to them. They were written down, but there was also something called the oral law, the oral traditions. They weren’t written down, but over the years, the Jewish teachers accumulated quite a large collection of oral laws, rules, and traditions. Two or three centuries after Jesus, they were actually written down, and are known today as The Mishna. That is the collection of rules and traditions of the elders from way back there. I guess you would say they were a collection of explanations of how to follow the written law. The teachers had added many details as to how you go about following the written law of God.

On Thursday, I was in Duluth at Barnes and Noble, and I found a copy of the Mishna on the shelf. I had to carry it with two hands to my table. It’s a big book. It has over 1,100 pages and is three or four inches thick. The Mishna is divided into six sections by topics, and it contains many, many traditions, rules, and instructions as to how the Jewish people are to carry out different customs and laws. There are even traditions and rules in the Mishna about what you do in the synagogue, where you sit, what you say and when you say it, what scripture is read at what time of the day, who you sit with --- just a lot of detailed traditions and rules for meeting in the synagogue. It’s a huge collection. In Jesus’ day, it wasn’t written down, but it was an oral law called “The Tradition of the Elders.”

That’s what the Pharisees and scribes are speaking of in this passage when they refer to the “tradition of the elders.” The Jewish teachers like to refer to this oral law as “the fence around the written law.” Somehow, they felt that these added rules and traditions would protect and help explain God’s written law.

The problem was that as the years went by, the teachers and Pharisees misplaced their emphasis. The emphasis began to be on the oral traditions rather than on God’s written law, and this fence around the law became so big and important to them that they couldn’t even see the written law. There would even be times when if it seemed the two were in conflict, the Jewish leaders would go with the oral traditions rather than the written law. They had misplaced their emphasis.

One of the traditions in the Mishna becomes the context for what is happening in the conversation with Jesus I’m about to describe. An instruction in the oral law had to do with washing your hands before you ate. It had nothing to do with health or cleanliness issues; it really had more to do with being pure or impure in some spiritual sense. It was a ceremonial cleansing. But the oral law taught that before you ate, you had to wash your hands, and it specified how. With your palms up and fingers pointed up, you would have someone pour water on your hands. Then with the fist of your other hand, you would rub the palm. You would then turn your hands, fingers pointed down, and the other person would pour water on the back side of your hands. Then you would rub with your fists. You had to do that every time before you ate, not for any health or cleanliness reason but because it was part of the oral law --- it was tradition. It was a way to keep ceremonially clean --- just in case you’ve been out in the marketplace and got too close to a gentile or to someone who might make you unclean, you went through this ceremonial washing before you ate.

Now, look what happens. The Pharisees noticed that Jesus’ disciples, before they eat, don’t wash their hands. It says in verse 2 that they saw some of Jesus’ disciples eating food with hands that were unclean, that is, unwashed. Jesus’ disciples weren’t going through this ceremonial washing that the oral tradition called for, and so the Pharisees criticized. They come to Jesus --- after all, these disciples are His men. Here’s a chance to confront Jesus. Verse 5 reads, “So, the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, ‘Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders (the Mishna) instead of eating their food with unclean hands? Jesus, look at your guys. They’re your disciples, and they aren’t keeping the tradition, they aren’t following the rules when they eat. What do you have to say, Jesus?’”

Jesus responds to this criticism, and His response isn’t a defense; His response is a challenge to the ones being critical. In verse 6, Jesus replied by referring back to the prophet Isaiah, saying that “Isaiah was right when he prophesized about you, you hypocrites.” That’s pretty strong. “Hypocrite” means “actor, spiritual phony.” So He says, “What Isaiah wrote long ago really applies to you guys, you hypocrites, you phonies.” He goes on to quote what Isaiah said that He thinks applies to these men right now: “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain.”

Notice, He brings up the subject of worship, which is what we’re talking about these weeks. The issue that the Pharisees were being critical of was handwashing before you eat. But Jesus brings up worship. He says, “Isaiah really was talking about you guys ---what he said applies to you: “These people honor me with their lips, but their heart is absent, at a distance, far away. They worship me in vain, in a meaningless way, in a surface, hollow, empty way. Their teachings are but rules taught by men.”

Now, turn to Isaiah 29. This is what Jesus is referring to when He says that Isaiah was right. Isaiah 29:13 (God is speaking through the prophet Isaiah to the people of Israel): “These people come near to Me with their mouth and honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. Their worship of Me is made up only of rules taught by men.” That’s what Jesus is referring back to when he quotes Isaiah.

The situation had arisen in Israel way back during the time of Isaiah, that was impacting worship, the worship of God, where God finally says to the people, “Hey, you’re worshiping me in vain --- it’s meaningless, hollow, empty. Why? Because you’re just doing it with your lips. There are words coming out of your mouth, but your heart isn’t there. You’re not worshiping me with your heart --- you’re just going through the motions.” In fact, the verse in Isaiah ends by saying, “Their worship of me is made up only of rules taught by men.”

The worship in Israel had become mechanical, just going through the motions, following the worship rules. You see, in the oral tradition of the elders, there were specific rules, even about worship: what you do, what you don’t do, where you sit, where you don’t sit, what time of day you use this text, what time of day you use other texts, when you sing, when you don’t sing, what you sing here and what you sing there, what you don’t sing here --- very specific rules. And God is saying through Isaiah in that day that it’s become mechanical: “You are just worshiping with your lips and your heart is absent. Because of that, your worship is in vain.”

That’s what Jesus picks up on when He says to the Pharisees that what Isaiah said a long time ago applies to them as well. When He responds to the Pharisees’ criticism that the disciples aren’t following the rules, He is moving the emphasis from that of violating the tradition of the elders by not keeping a rule, and turning it to the hearts of those criticizing. Do you see that in this text?

Jesus decides not to emphasize the traditions and the accusation that His disciples are violating it. He chooses to emphasize the heart condition of these men who are criticizing. He wants to talk about their hearts, not their rules. He even says, “Your misplaced emphasis is impacting your worship.” He brings up worship, they didn’t. He’s saying, “Getting so hung up on emphasizing the tradition of the elders has impacted your worship, so that your worship now is hollow, mechanical, just with the lips. Your heart is absent, so your worship is in vain.”

The Pharisees can consider themselves challenged by Jesus, because He wants to focus on their hearts, rather than on the traditions of the elders. Now, when we read, “Your heart is far from me”, what is meant by “heart” here? When you look in the scripture for references to the heart, especially in the New Testament, you realize that when you talk about the heart of the person, you’re talking about love, you’re talking about devotion, affection, commitment, passion; you’re talking about all those things.

When Jesus says to them, “You’re worshiping with your lips. The words are coming out, you’re doing it the right way according to the Mishna, you’re following the rules, yet your heart is absent. There’s no love, there’s no devotion, there’s no commitment, there’s no passion, there’s no affection. They are all absent.” He’s saying to these men that when they are absent, when the heart is absent and it’s only the lips, worship is empty, worship is hollow, worship is in vain.

I think as we look in on this conversation between Jesus and the Pharisees, we begin to have our thoughts provoked about our own worship. Do you think that we have worship rules today? Do you think that there are groups of people today who within their group have worship traditions and worship rules, and sometimes they get very detailed? I think we do; I think that same situation is present today. Do you think that some of us might have personal worship rules, personal worship traditions? Sometimes they get pretty specific: “I will only worship if…”, “I will only worship when…” We have rules for when and how we will worship that are probably no different than in those days. There are group rules for worship, there are personal rules for worship. The danger, just like then, is of misplaced emphasis, where we get so hung up on the worship rules and traditions that pretty soon the heart isn’t even there. The emphasis on the condition of the heart --- the love, the devotion, the passion, the affection, the commitment that should be communicated in worship --- is lost.

Even though we’re looking in on some guys who lived a long time ago and their misplaced emphasis, and even how it affected their worship, I think we have to acknowledge that we are vulnerable to that today; and we have to be careful. Even in the area of worship we can misplace our emphasis and pretty soon, when we’re in a worship setting or have an opportunity to worship, it becomes just something from the lips. We’re just speaking words, or we’re just singing words, and the heart is at a distance, the heart is absent. There really isn’t any love being expressed from my heart; there’s no devotion, no commitment, no affection, no passion communicated from the heart. I’m just being mechanical. I’m doing it properly; I’m following my rules or the group rules, or whatever might be the tradition, but that’s it. The heart isn’t even there, which is really what worship is all about, isn’t it? It’s the expression of our hearts to God, declaring His greatness, declaring our love for Him, declaring our thanks, declaring honor from us, our hearts to Him because He’s worthy. We have to be very careful that we don’t lose sight of our hearts and misplace our emphasis, like these men, in worship.

Scripture

What could you and I do to make sure that our heart is in our worship, whether it’s private worship or group worship? I’m going to suggest three things that tie in to the text here. First of all, I’m going to suggest scripture. Scripture can help us make sure our heart is in our worship. Jesus mentions a number of times what had happened to the Pharisees. Notice in verse 8: “You have let go of the commands of God, and are holding on to the traditions of men.” So, He says, “You guys have let go of God’s Word --- the written Word --- so that you can hold on to the oral traditions that were made up by men.” Then He goes on to say the same thing in verse 9: “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions. You have just set aside the Word of God to follow your rules.” And He says it again in verse 13: “You nullify the Word of God by your tradition that you’ve handed down.” Three times, Jesus identifies a problem. These men had set aside the Word of God; it had become secondary to their traditions.

Now, let me suggest that when that happens, the heart of worship tends to go away. And worship becomes routine, mechanical, when all it is just following the rules and traditions. But I also want to suggest that when you and I are in the Word of God, and by being in the Word of God we are spending time with God Himself and we are learning about Him and His ways --- one of the responses is worship. When we spend time in the Word, there is a tendency to want to worship, because we are again being exposed to the worthiness of God, His greatness, the greatness of His nature, His ways. And when we do that, our heart wants to worship and, it wants to pray.

Just by being in scripture and making sure it maintains a priority in your life, you can be making sure that your heart is in your worship. I’ll tell you what, folks, if you go through a whole week without once opening your Bible and being exposed to the Word of God, I have a hard time believing you could show up here on Sunday, open your mouth, and worship with your heart. If you haven’t been with God and His Word all week, how can you just turn on worship for Him from the heart when we gather? There’s something about scripture and being in it that causes a response of wanting to worship from the heart.

If you want to make sure your heart is in your worship, the one place to go is scripture. Spend time there with God, learning about Him, being reminded of His greatness. You’ll want to worship; your heart will want to respond in private or group worship.

Wonder

A second suggestion to make sure your heart is in your worship is wonder. I think wonder helps in making sure our heart is in our worship. “Wonder is the basis for worship”, Thomas Carlyle says. I’m not sure if he’s right or not, but it’s a good place to start on this subject. Wonder is amazement, it’s awe, it’s admiration. Wonder says “wow” about things. It’s a great quality that many children have --- they say “wow” about many things. So many things amaze them; they’re in awe often.

A few weeks ago Jeannine was sitting in our family room on the couch with a little boy. If you know our family room, you know that for 20 years we’ve had exposed floor joists and electrical wiring and heat ducts. Well, Jeannine is sitting there on the couch with this little boy, and all of a sudden he says, “Look at that ceiling. It’s beautiful!” For 20 years we’ve been looking at that ceiling , wondering when Marlin is going to get around to finishing it. But, this little boy, in whose life wonder is a primary thing, looks at it and he says, “That’s beautiful.”

Somewhere down the line, we adults have lost wonder. Do you know what wonder says? It says, “Oh, Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder, consider all the worlds thy hands have made. I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder, Thy power throughout the universe displayed. Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee, how great Thou art….” What’s happening? Wonder is leading to a heart of worship.

A prayer written by Warren Wiersbe, a great Bible teacher, says, “Loving Father, make my heart like that of a child. Give me again the excitement and joy of wonder, how wonderful it is that I am even able to wonder. Remove the scales from my eyes, the callousness from my heart, the stubbornness from my will, and enable me to enjoy the wonder of it all. Deliver me from routine worship, from business as usual, from form without force and liturgy without life. May your Holy Spirit energize that new creation that is now within me, and may it be ever new, ever wonderful, to the glory of Your Name. Amen.” Warren Wiersbe is praying, “God, bring the wonder back to my life.”

Do you know what the Pharisees did? They came to a place where they thought they had God all figured out, and there was nothing that amazed them any more. There was nothing that created wonder in their lives any more. They had it all figured out, they had their rules down pat, there was a routine that they followed, but there was no wonder. And if there’s no wonder --- if you’re not amazed with God any more, if you’re not in awe of Him any more, if there’s nothing about Him that you admire --- why would your heart want to worship? It’s not surprising their heart was far from God. They had lost the wonder of Him.

Let’s never stop being amazed at God, who He is, what He does. Let’s ask God to amaze us every week, so that when we come here to worship as a group, we are in wonder of what a God He is, and we’re ready to express that from a heart that’s amazed and in awe.

Relationship

Third, there’s relationship. I would guess that a primary reason the people of Israel in Isaiah’s day and the Pharisees and scribes of Jesus’ day could only go through motions of worship with their lips was because there was no relationship. The relationship with the God they were worshiping wasn’t there. And if the relationship isn’t there, why would your heart want to be part of worshiping? Why would there be anything in your heart that would want to express itself, that would want to express love, express honor, glory, and thanks?

I can see why their heart would be far away, with just words coming from lips --- there’s no relationship. Friends, if you want to make sure your heart is in your worship, first of all make sure you have a relationship with the One you’re worshiping. If you don’t have a relationship with God through His son Jesus Christ and know Him personally, any involvement in worship is going to be simply saying words, singing words, going through the motions.

You must have a relationship. Those of us who have a relationship with God still need to be working on that relationship, because how that relationship is going from day to day and week to week will impact our worship. What is the condition of my heart? How am I doing with God right now?

On Friday I asked a pastor friend of mine, “What would you say to people about worship?” When I told him I was talking about our heart in worship and how our heart has to be involved and not just our lips, the first thing he said was that for him, the big thing is sin. “When I have unresolved sin in my life, I cannot worship authentically even if I’m the pastor. My heart is far from the worship. I’m just singing or saying words if there’s sin in my life that I haven’t dealt with before God, because that sin has come between me and the one I’m supposed to be worshiping and expressing myself to. My heart can’t connect with Him if I’ve allowed sin to be there.”

I think he was talking about relationship. How my relationship with God is going is going to have a direct effect on whether my heart can freely and authentically worship Him and express itself to Him. So, that makes a relationship with God on a daily basis and weekly basis so important. Usually, if my relationship with God isn’t going well, I just won’t have personal worship. If things aren’t going right between God and me, then I will just go through the motions in group worship. The heart won’t be there, because I’m not right with God in my heart.

So, relationship is very important when it comes to worship. Keep the love, the affection, the passion, the commitment, the whole relational thing with God. Keep it up. And if you do, you’ll have a heart that wants to worship; your heart will be in your worship as you express yourself to someone you have a close relationship with.

Rick Warren, from Saddleback Church in California, says, “Worship must be genuine and heartfelt, it’s not just a matter of saying the right words but meaning what you say. When we worship, God looks past the words, music, instruments, and the place. He sees the attitude of the heart.”

Remember, God looks on the heart; we tend to misplace our emphasis. His emphasis is on the heart, even in worship. So, the condition of our heart becomes very important. Being in the Word of God, with the God we’re going to worship, is important. Learning to have wonder toward God is important. Building a close relationship with Him, keeping that love and devotion going, is important. Those things can help us make sure our heart is in our worship.

As one man said, “The music and the liturgy can assist us, and help us express the worshiping heart, but those things cannot make a non-worshiping heart a worshiping heart.” When a group of people stands up here on a Sunday morning to guide us in group worship, they are not here as though they have any ability to create in you a worshiping heart. If you show up here with a non-worshiping heart, there’s nothing these people can do, or are supposed to do, to create in you a worshiping heart. The music and liturgy are not supposed to make a worshiping heart out of a non-worshiping heart. They are there to help the worshiping hearts express themselves. The crucial factor for worship in the church is not the form of worship, but the state of the hearts of the worshipers.

Let’s not misplace our emphasis. Let’s make sure our emphasis is where God puts it --- on the heart. I don’t want us to be a body of people about whom someone could say, “They honor God with their lips, but their hearts are far from Him. They worship in vain.” To avoid that, we must make sure we have worshiping hearts. For that, we need to be in the Word, we need to cultivate a wonder for God, and we need to keep up our close relationship with Him. Then, we will have a heart that wants to be a part of worship, a heart that wants to express itself to God. We’ll have a heart of worship.