Never-Ending Adventure Sermon V: Jesus Corrects Series

THE CHRISTIAN’S NEVER-ENDING ADVENTURE

Jesus Corrects Errors of Interpretation By Informing the Misinformed

Mark 7:5-15 . . . Psalm 19:12-14 . . . I John 4:6 . . . James 5:20

As another year got under way, if you made resolutions, let me ask: Have you kept them so far . . . or, maybe you subscribe to the notion that “resolutions are made to be broken”? I suggest:

Resolutions made by Disciples of Christ should reflect a continuing desire to be what He wants us to be, to go where He wants us to go, do what He wants us to do. When we surrendered our all to Christ, whether at the time of conversion or baptism or rededication, we resolved in effect to be His disciples in the true sense of the word – to learn from Him and to live for Him.

A simple answer to the question, “What is the goal of the Christian life?, is: “The goal is to be God’s (possessive tense) and to do God’s Will.”

At the age of twelve, I committed my life to Christ, and have been seeking to keep that goal in front of me ever since (as if it were a carrot on a stick), and automatic renewal of that goal is an annual occurrence with me.

So I make no new resolutions per se, just simply resolve “no longer to linger, charmed by the world’s delight; things that are nobler, things that are higher, these have allured my sight”!

However, the longer I live physically, and seek to live for Jesus spiritually, the greater becomes my awareness of just how much I still need to learn from Him.

No one has arrived at a place where anyone can say, “Well, now, that’s that. There is nothing else for me to improve on.”

Granted, I know a lot of mature adults who, like myself and the apostle Paul, can indeed say, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course (insofar as my career is concerned)”, but I know of no one who has arrived at a state of perfection.

Now, there were those when our Lord walked this earth, as there are today, who live under the spell of a misguided notion that they have achieved perfection.

These religious legalists point to their self-perceived superiority, and they point the finger of accusation at others.

Jesus despised religious hypocrisy and sought to correct false notions about what it means to be God’s and to do God’s Will.

An example of how Jesus dealt with Pharisaical hypocrites occurred on one occasion when a few self-proclaimed “know-it-alls” came down from Jerusalem to challenge Jesus concerning His teachings, to do everything they could to destroy His credibility, to elevate themselves in the eyes of the people – Mark 7:5-15 . . .

We relate to questions raised by the encounter Jesus had with legal experts: In what way does a person become God’s? By what measure(s) does God define a godly person? Does God’s defining measure of righteousness originate from within or without the person? Is that defining measure God-ordained or man-concocted?

Jesus’ followers were beginning to understand what you and I have understood since Jesus came into our hearts: The Way to become God’s is by repentance toward God plus faith in His Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, to whom we made a commitment to do God’s Will, that is, to be like Jesus through obedience to God’s Word.

Back then there were religious sects – Pharisees being the most prominent – who insisted that only they were God’s because of their strict adherence not only to God’s Law but also elder-prescribed laws – minute rules and regulations governing every aspect of everyday life . . .

The rub came at the point where these Pharisees insisted that everyone must observe traditions that only the most highly educated Jews would be familiar with.

Insistence on such a system obviously had an ulterior motive – religious and political power. Common folks would have no choice but to look to self-anointed elitists (“knowing ones”) who, by virtue of their self-acclaimed superiority, “knew” what was best for everyone else.

Narcissism was as pronounced in the first century as it is in the 21st century. Powerful people could not stand the thought that anyone outside their established order would come along to challenge their way of doing things but, more importantly, threaten their power over the people by preaching, teaching, advocating a kingdom that is not of this world.

So, what we have in this account by Mark is a confrontation between elitists and an itinerant rabbi from Nazareth - which had nothing to do with their concern about the behavior of one or two disciples of Jesus, but yet another attempt to catch Jesus in a legal and religious breach that could be used against him - to discredit him in the eyes of people who had become so enthralled by him.