We take another little break from the Psalms to look at some Spiritual Diaries from the book of Mark.
SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/19/2012 7:39:02 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Condemnation
Bible Reading &
Meditation Reference: Mark 7:6-13
Message of the verses: In today’s SD we will continue to look at the
seventh chapter of the Gospel according to Mark.
Condemnation (vv. 6-13): “6 And He said to them, "Rightly did
Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ’THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME
WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME. 7 ’BUT IN VAIN DO THEY
WORSHIP ME, TEACHING AS
DOCTRINES THE PRECEPTS OF MEN.’ 8 “Neglecting the commandment of God,
you hold to the tradition of men." 9 He was also saying to them, "You
are experts at setting aside the commandment of God in order to keep your
tradition. 10 "For Moses said,
’HONOR YOUR FATHER AND YOUR MOTHER’; and, ’HE WHO SPEAKS EVIL OF FATHER OR
MOTHER, IS TO BE PUT TO DEATH’; 11 but
you say, ’If a man says to his father or his mother, whatever I have that would
help you is Corban (that is to say, given to God),’ 12 you no longer permit him
to do anything for his father or his mother; 13 thus invalidating the word of
God by your tradition which you have handed down; and you do many things such
as that."’”
In this
section we see what Jesus had to say about these Jewish traditions that the
Scribes and the Pharisees had accused His disciples of not following. I have to say that I truly love and admire
the courage that Jesus demonstrated in situations like this. Jesus said of the truth in the Gospel
according to John that He was the truth (John 14:6) and He also said that the
Word of God is truth (John 17:17).
Because He is the truth and the Word of God is truth then it was because
that the Jewish did not stand up to the truth that Jesus came down on them so
hard, but they surely deserved it.
In verse
six Jesus gives a quote from the book of Isaiah (Isa. 29:13) where Isaiah was
speaking of those in Israel who were not serving the Lord with their hearts,
but were really using ”religion” (trying to make their way to God through their
good works), to live for God. Isaiah was
not buying this and neither was Jesus.
In verse
seven and eight we see that Jesus is coming down on the Scribes and Pharisees
for teaching the doctrines and precepts of men.
This is a continuation of the prophecy of Isaiah. One would think that in order to worship God
in a true way that one would need the Word of God, and not the precepts of
men. As believers in Jesus Christ we
have to be like those who lived in Berea which is described in the book of
Acts, “10 The brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea,
and when they arrived, they went into the synagogue of the Jews. 11 Now these were more noble-minded
than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness,
examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.” The Bereans did not take for granted that
Paul was speaking the truth so they went back to the Word of God to study and
make sure they were hearing the truth.
When one listened to the Scribes and Pharisees and then check out the
Bible they would see that what they were teaching was false.
Now we move on to verses nine through thirteen
where we see that Jesus will give an example of how their traditions were in
direct conflict with the Word of God.
Jesus goes to the fifth commandment stating that we are to honor our
fathers and mothers and if we don’t do that we are in danger of being put to
death. Now we don’t live under the Law
like those in the OT did, but we still are to honor our fathers and mothers as
this commandment states, however there is no death penalty if we don’t follow
this like in the OT, but surely there will be discipline from the Lord for not
following this commandment. Dr. Wiersbe
states “They had an ingenious way of breaking the Law and not feeling
guilty. Instead of using their wealth to
support their parents, the Pharisees dedicated that wealth to God (‘Corban’=’an
offering, a gift;’ see Num. 30) only for ‘spiritual purposes.’ However, they
continued to get the benefit of that wealth, even though it technically
belonged to God. These men claimed to
love God, but they had no love for their parents.”
Dr. Wiersbe
writes about these traditions by quoting from a Rabbi and also from two Jewish
books. “Rabbi Eleazer said, ‘He who
expounds the Scriptures in opposition to the tradition has no share in the
world to come.’ The Mishna, a collection of Jewish traditions in the Talmud, records, ‘It is a greater offense to teach anything
contrary to the voice of the Rabbis than to contradict Scripture itself.’” By looking at these two quotes we can understand
why Jesus was so upset at the Scribes and Pharisees.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: I think that one of the most important things
that I can do is to study the Word of God.
One of the reasons that I study the Word of God is to make sure that
when I am in church listening to someone who preaches that I will know whether
or not I am hearing the truth. We know
that those who work in banks study what real money looks like so that they can
spot a counterfeit bill. They don’t
study counterfeit bills, but the real bills.
This is why a person who is a true believer in Jesus Christ must study
the Word of God.
My Steps of Faith for
Today: Continue to abide in the Vine
in order to understand what it is that the Lord desires for me to accomplish
for the cause of Christ.
Memory verses for the week:
2Peter 1:1-2: “Simon Peter, a
bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those
who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our
God and Savior, Jesus Christ: 2. Grace
and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord;”
6/19/2012 8:47:20 AM
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