2018-01-19
Good Morning Dear Ones,
As directed, my writing on the customs and practices of Jewish Christians vs. the Pharisees in the days of the early church continues. Mark, in MK 7: 1-15, took up their hypocrisy as brought out by the Pharisee leaders in departing from the teachings of their ancestors. Pharisees were very legalistic, and this can be seen in questions they raised regarding how the Jewish Christians washed their hands, prepared their food, and what they ate. “The Pharisees and the rest of the Jews followed the teaching from their ancestors: they did not eat unless they washed their hands in the proper way; nor did they eat anything that comes from the market unless they wash it first. And they followed other rules that had to do with washing their china-ware, pots, bowls, and beds” [MK 7: 3-4]. These Pharisees had no idea of what COL 2: 14-15 said. “He [Christ] canceled the unfavorable record of our debts and did away with it completely with its binding rules by nailing them to the cross. And on that cross, Christ freed Himself from the power of the spiritual rulers and authorities; He made a public spectacle of them by leading them as captives in His victory procession.”
The Pharisees and teachers of the law questioned Christ about these practices, which left both hands, the food, its way of preparation, and the dinnerware and utensils ritually unclean. Jesus answered by sharing IS 29: 13, a prophesy of their hypocrisy. “The Lord said, ‘These people claim to worship Me, but their words are meaningless, and their hearts are somewhere else. Their religion is nothing but human rules and traditions, which they have simply memorized.’” The prophecy continues by saying the wise will turn out to be fools, and all their cleverness will be useless [IS 29: 14]. They put aside God’s commands and obey human rules.
Citing EX 20: 12 and DT 5: 16, the Lord Jesus reminded the Jews to respect our parents, or they will be put to death [MK 7: 9-10]. Something which helps their earthly mother or father is considered “corban,” meaning it belongs to God. With corban, they are excused from helping their parents. [Corban, in Hebrew, means offering]. This nullifies the Lord’s teaching, something that Jesus rejected by rejection of the spirit of the law and practice of the letter of it. In MK 7: 14-15, Jesus asserts, “There is nothing that goes into you from the outside that is making you ritually unclean. Rather, it is what comes out of you that makes you ritually unclean.” God never intended obedience to one command to nullify another [found in His word]. NU 30: 1-2 is Moses’ words reminding the people that once they make a promise, they should never break it. The Pharisees taught that this surely applies to a vow of corban. Their teaching is clearly human-crafted and of the world. It opposes what Christ teaches, which is God-ordained.
In COL 2: 8-23, we find Christ’s teaching on freedom from being led by human rules and regulations by following Him. Being a follower of traditional legalistic Judaism, as the Pharisees taught, is Asceticism—a practice of do’s and don’ts which was difficult to follow at best and not God-ordained at worst. Certainly, this applies to the human-crafted practice of Gnosticism, which arose out of the Colossian heresy.
PRAYER: O Lord, from Your wisdom, which You make accessible to us, we can learn to discern what comes from You and what is human-crafted [PS 51: 6; PS 119: 125; JN 15: 13-15]. We are grateful and offer You praise for sharing Your wisdom through Christ and the inspired writers of Your word. Through our ability to discern what is godly and what is not, You have blessed us mightily. You have warned us not to be led astray by false teachers and not to fall into the habit of refusing to turn to You first when adversity hits us. By Your omnipresence, we can turn to You in prayer any time of day or night, any day of the year. Thus, we are never alone or abandoned [PS 9: 9-10]. We know that You have our best eternal interests in mind and that You keep any promise You make. That kind of knowledge gives us inner peace and solace. It strengthens our faith and leads us to make wise choices. With thanks and praise to You, we can work through our challenges, losses, and disappointments step by step. It is this way that You cause us to grow in our faith and know Your kindness. You have given us a way to live with joy, peace, and thankfulness [1 THESS 5: 16-18]. We offer this prayer in the holy/mighty name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
NEXT WEEK: I’m commanded by the Holy Spirit to write next week about godly principles that will last forever, taught by our Lord. We find these in several places in the Bible, which will be cited then. As I matured and got to know myself better, the Holy Spirit gave me faith. It was a weak, mostly head-trip at first. But over the years, it has grown and solidified like a brilliant diamond. As a person who didn’t recognize God’s presence in her life until she was 25, I can say He has had me in His sight from the time I was born. I had to go through a kind of spiritual misery for the first 33 years of my life. Then, as the Lord grew my faith in Him, things changed for much the better. Because of the Lord Jesus, I live with inner peace, a kind of joyfulness, and am deeply thankful to Him. I now have a second marriage, which has lasted so far for almost 41 years. My husband and I share our faith and serve a wonderful congregation, using the skill sets the Lord has given us. There is nothing more pleasant than knowing you are doing things which better the lives of others. If I am bragging, it is about the Lord. PS 115: 1, “To You alone, O Lord, to You alone, and not to us, must glory be given, because of Your constant love and faithfulness.” As far as Christ is concerned, we must say, “The Stone which the builders rejected as worthless turned out to be the most important of all,” PS 118: 22. Praise and thanks be to the Lord!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn
JS 24: 15
© Lynn Johnson 2017. All Rights Reserved.
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