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Mark 7 "The Commandments of Men"
"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 marketplace, 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 coushes. 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 commendments of men."
The Pharisees found fault with Jesus because His disciples weren't following the tradition of the elders. But Jesus quoted Isaiah back to them. The real problem was that the Pharisees were substituting a set of traditions for real worship of God.
We had a wonderful time at camp last week. I got to spend a lot of time with Jose, and as we talked I was encouraged by what he said about our church. I was encouraged because when he told me what he saw in our church I recognized that it was exactly what the Lord has been putting on my heart. I would like to share with you today what my vision for this church is. But I started out by reading Mark 7 for a reason. My vision is no substitute for the word of God. If we start to follow my vision, our worship will be empty, we might sing the words but our hearts will be far from God. Please don't say Jonathan says this, or pastor says that, instead be sure that our hearts are with Jesus Christ, our foundation is the word of God and we worship Him in spirit and in truth.
My vision for Horizon, centers on two things, and I wrote
them on the tract that we hand out with the map on the back. The first
is "Loving as Jesus Loves" and the second is "Teaching
the Word of God." These two are connected. It is very hard to do
one well without the other.
"Loving as Jesus Loves" means that we are trying to imitate
Christ. Of course this means that we are studying what Jesus Christ
did in the Bible, but we also learn through experience, through what
Jesus has done in each of our lives. And we are not just learning what
the love of Jesus is, we are loving others in practical ways, working
that love into the life of our church. My hope is that some of the best
lessons about the love of Christ are taught to you not from the Word
or through the mouth of the pastor, but through the actions of people
in our church. My vision for this church is that everyone who comes
to visit, will not leave without experiencing the love of Christ firsthand.
How does Jesus love? First of all, the love of Jesus Christ is forgiving.
We see this everytime we take communion. How Jesus forgave all the disciples
even though He knew that not one would stand by him at the end. He even
offered forgiveness to Judas, when He said "take drink, all of
you." Many people come to church thinking that what they have done
is too much for God to forgive. They usually think this way because
if they tell what they did to Christians the Christians wouldn't be
able to handle it. We are shocked and start to look at them funny. But
is God shocked? Has God changed His mind from when He said "all
of you"? The greatest love we can share with people is the forgiveness
of Christ. The best way to share that is to accept people unconditionally
in Christ's name. Sure they have rough edges, sure there is still sin
in their lives, but if we accept them, forgive them through our actions,
then Christ will have a chance to change their lives.
The love of Christ is secondly, self-sacrificing, giving. Jesus Christ
said greater love has no man than this that he lay down his life for
his friends. God so loved the world that He gave! Real love is not just
a smile and a warm handshake at church. It involves giving of ourselves,
beyond what is comfortable, without regard for what we will get in return.
A very practical way that we are loving in this regard is through Ai
No Kesshin. Giving of ourselves for children is very good, because there
is no possible chance of getting something back out of it except from
the Lord. The kids are not going to suddenly write you out a check to
say thanks for all that you have done. And yet our church has really
been blessed through Ai No Kesshin. The mission to Cambodia is the same
kind of thing. It is our chance to love as Jesus loves. Our chance to
go to the other side of the sea, not to minister to thousands but to
meet the one man that needs help there. Someone asked me the other day,
why are you going to Cambodia when there is so much work to be done
in Japan? A very good question. I have to answer it first that that
is where the Lord is leading, and second that I am expecting the Lord
to bless our ministry here mightily as we give to Cambodia. Because
mature Christians give, and the mission to Cambodia will train our church
to give. Ai No Kesshin and Cambodia are very visible ways we give sacrificially,
but on a more personal level, my hope is that we are loving each other
this way constantly. Each member looking for ways to be a servant for
the others.
"Teaching the Word of God" is the second part of what we are
about. As you know, on Sundays we are going through the Bible chapter
by chapter. We might jump around a little but we are working through
the whole thing. Why is it important to teach the whole Bible? First
it important because it keeps us from getting focussed on any one thing
except for Jesus Christ. There are passages in the Bible concerning
prophecy, or healing, or the end times or miracles, or marriage, or
missions, or evangelism... the list goes on and on but the whole Bible
is not about any of these subjects. Let me tell you what the whole Bible
is about, its thesis, from the beginning to the end, is that God loves
you, and wants to have a relationship with you and His means to establish
that relationship is Jesus Christ. It is very easy for a pastor like
me to get caught up in teaching what interests me most at any time.
But that is bad for you. But if I teach through the entire Bible then
we will stay focussed on Jesus.
Another reason why we teach the whole Bible is that the Bible says in
2 Tim 3:16 "All scripture is inspired by God" This means that
even though we are reading Leviticus or Habbakuk, God put it in the
Bible for a purpose and that it holds something for us. If we skip over
it we are missing out on what God wants to teach us.
If we keep looking at 2 Tim 3:16 we find that God uses His word to build
us up... "All Scriture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable
for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good
work." Each book of the Bible that we teach helps to equip us for
God's work. The Pharisees who came to Jesus were confused about what
was really important. They put more emphasis on washing hands and such
traditions because they had neglected the Word in favor of passing on
the words of their teachers.
Finally, in 2 Tim 4:1 Paul says to Timothy and to all pastors, "I
charge you therefore before God and the Lord Jesus Christ, who will
judge the living and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom: Preach
the word!
This is what we are about as a church. We want to learn all we can about
Jesus, and then imitate Him as best we can.
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