Real Discipleship - Dying for Change, Part 1

You know, growing up, my experience was following God was just a bunch of rules or, you know, like he was a strict parent that didn't want you to have any fun.

But have you ever wondered, what is it that breaks his heart? Well, that's what we're going to talk about today. Stay with me. Welcome to this Edition of Living on the Edge with Chip Ingram. Chip's our Bible teacher for this daily discipleship program, motivating Christians to live like Christians. I'm Dave Drewey, and we're in the middle of our series, Real Discipleship, How Jesus Chose to Change the World. Now, before we begin, I want to remind you that this is a classic Living on the Edge series that Chip taught many years ago, but it's going to sound a little different than what you're used to.

Well, with that, here's Chip with today's talk, Dying to Change. If you open your Bibles to Mark Chapter 7, there's a couple ways before you ever decide to follow someone, you ought to know two things. One, what breaks their heart? Because you need to find out what makes a person tender and the other, what makes their backbone stand up? Because if you're going to follow someone, you want to know how tender they are, but you also want to know that when it gets tough, they stand for certain things. As we've gone through this book, we've seen that the sight of children, hurting people, women in distress, people in pain, boy, they break the heart of God.

We've seen them reach out and feed people and touch people and heal people. Now we're going to learn a little of the other side of God's character. Have you ever wondered, I mean, if you could ask Jesus, what really makes you mad?

I mean, what's your hot button? This is what makes him mad. And as you see it, you're going to find that it is the number one source of irritation here and throughout the book and his life. And you're going to see why open to Mark Chapter 7 if you're not already there.

And let's start as we enter here. He's extremely popular. I mean, he can't go into a town now. He's healed people, whole people are bringing people out of the hills and he's just walking through towns now and they touch the hem of his garment and whole cities are being healed. And now Herod the king has heard about it and he's got questions and now it's made it down to Jerusalem and they realize they don't just have an itinerant preacher on their hands. They've got a movement.

How are we going to stop this movement? And so they're going to send a select group of Pharisees and lawyers or scribes and they're going to go examine this guy Jesus and find out what in the world is going on basically to come up with a strategy to stop him. And now we begin the second opposition section in this book. The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come down from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus and they saw some of his disciples eating with unclean that is ceremonially unwashed hands. The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing holding to get this phrase. It's going to come up a lot the tradition of the elders when they come from the marketplace. They do not eat unless they wash in this way and they observe many other traditions such as the washing of cups and pictures and kettles get get the picture. Here's the scene this official delegation dressed in their priestly robes and tassels in the whole bit.

They want to see what's going on. First thing they notice they look at the disciples they've been in the marketplace and they buy food and a good Orthodox Jew there was this tradition of the elders was oral tradition hundreds of years of interpretations application interpretations rabbi upon rabbi. So by this time they literally had hundreds thousands of little rules that would tell you almost down to how to brush your teeth. And part of their rules was that out of a genuine passage Leviticus 11 and Leviticus 15 the concept of the Old Testament is that if something is unclean and touches something that's clean now they're both unclean. And they took this and ran with it to the point that if they went into the market and they brushed up against a Gentile they went home and wash that those clothes because they're defiled they're unclean. If they bought a piece of fruit from a Gentile and their hand touched their hand they went home and I'll show you in a second they would go wash their hands ceremonially. Every time before they ate they would wash not not to get their hands clean this is because this whole world is defiled and they were special and they thought what defiled them was all the externals. So what they would do and I mean this is how meticulous it was you were put you were to put in a basin the amount of water that's contained in two and a half eggshells.

Is that getting picky? Then you would hold your fingertips up toward heaven and you would pour the water down over the fingertips and had to run to the elbow and then with your fist you would scrub. Now obviously they're not worried about dirt this is some way to get rid of all the you know cooties that the Gentiles have. And then they would do the same thing with the other hand and they would do this.

They would do this all day every day in every way. Now they had rules down to if it was a pitcher that had an inside and a handle if a Gentile touched the outside you it's okay you don't have to do anything if they touch the inside you have to clean it if it was a tube or if it was made out of leather you did one thing it was made out of metal something else if it was a key made out of metal and wood depending on which part was wooden which part was metal you had to clean it a certain way they had rules on top of rules on top of rules. So that's their mindset and they think see after all these years they've they have divided and all these great teachers this is how you get holy with God. And now they see this preacher with this power and these miracles the disciples aren't even doing the basics the ABCs they're not even washing their hands. So verse five they're gonna ask Jesus a question.

Hey buddy what's with these guys? So the Pharisees and the teachers of the law asked Jesus hmm why don't your disciples live according to here's the phrase again these oral traditions the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with unclean hands by the way in passing 200 years after the time of Christ they had so many thousand traditions that they codify them all and put them in a book and it's called the Mishnah and there's some good information there but it's it's it's a book about the book that tells you everything to do from A to Z. Now I wonder how Jesus will respond. This is the religious elite. These are the people that all the common people look to as godly. These are the Pharisees and these these lawyers they expound and apply and they know the original languages and let's see how Jesus responds to the religious elite. He replied Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites as it is written he quotes Isaiah 29 the people honor me with their lips but their hearts are far from me they worship me in vain empty their teachings are but rules taught by men you have let go of the commands of God and you're holding to the traditions of men you get the idea this theme is the tradition of men is set against the truth of God and they are on a collision course it goes on verse 9 and he said to them you and you can hear his voice you have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions your man-made religion then he gives them an example verse 10 I'm not just blowing smoke this isn't a generalization I'll give you an example verse 10 for Moses said fifth commandment honor your father and mother in fact let me pull another commandment out anyone who curses his father or mother should be put to death that's how serious this is Old Testament law God viewed we have a responsibility for our parents especially when they're aging hmm but you you say that if a man says to his father or mother whatever help that I might have otherwise have received from me is Corban that is a designated gift or devoted to God then you no longer let him do anything for his father or his mother thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down and you do many such things like this what he was doing he was he was just reaching right in first of all I said you're hypocrites the word originally meant a person who gave judgment and did it behind a mask so you didn't know who it was later the word evolved to mean someone who was a play actor it eventually evolved into someone who is representing on the outside what's not true on the inside we would call him a phony the religious elite he says you're phonies you're stinking phonies you're playing games Isaiah was right you say the right stuff you pray the prayers you do the stuff but you know something your hearts your hearts are so far away from the father and then he gives them example he says you've elevated these traditions so much that you've God's Word is gone you don't even obey it let me give you an example and then he gives the word about honoring father and mother and this little tradition this Corban what they could do is they could say take this money and they would put it like in a special line item on the account sale this is designated to God now in the research I did they didn't even have to give it to the temple they could even spend it on themselves but they could just put it in a special line item column if you will in accounting terms and say this is designated to God and mom and dad we'd really like to help you but it's God's sorry it was basically a religious loophole so they could spend it on themselves and get out of the clear-cut command of God notice his summary statement here verse 14 now he's going to explain Jesus again called the crowd to him and said and I like this you know all through the book so far he teaches and then he just calls the disciples over now he's doing battle he's popular I mean they don't dare touch him where he's at and he says hey everybody over here crowd come on I got something I want to say see these religious leaders see my disciples I want to I want to make something perfectly clear I'm gonna I'm gonna set the record on what it means to be godly and holy okay come on guys what's he say listen to me everyone and understand this nothing outside a man can make him unclean by going into him rather it is what comes out of the man that makes him unclean see he reaches back into the passage in Isaiah and he says look people there's no external thing that you can put in your body that makes you unclean it's not rubbing up against a gentile or drinking out of a cup that someone else touched you've missed it it's what comes out of your heart that is what makes you unclean before God it's not a matter of rules and regulations and following lists it's not whether you wear makeup or not or whether your dress is above the knee just a little or above below the knee a little it's not whether you play cards or not it's not whether you dance or those who do godliness has to do with the heart some of those things may be right for some of you some of those things may be wrong for some of you the issue isn't those things now listen as he develops it in verse 17 now after the crowded left he has a group of people I fear that's too much like myself the disciples ask him about the parable you know you can almost see it uh excuse me lord you know that part about the inside outside thing uh it's I'm still a little unclear are you so dull the word means spiritually insensitive guys have you been with me this long you've heard me preach you've seen the miracles and you still aren't on first base you still don't understand he asked them don't you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him unclean for it doesn't go into his heart the heart is the seat of affections the will and the jewish thinking and ours the real you the decisions your heart the you but it doesn't go into the heart it goes into the stomach and out of the body you know it's a digestive system guys in saying this jesus declared all foods clean now we can't even grasp how radical that is we we can't I mean we don't have a relationship in our society right now that we can grasp how radical he just he said you know all those dietary laws all those were were laws guiding my people to protect them and help them he said they have become a rule and set into themselves and people have lost me in the midst of it and he said look there's nothing you can eat you know you're poor that can't get you down hoofed animals nothing you can eat can really defile you it was only in the obedience to that from the heart that ever brought favor with god I had a chance several years ago to be in a missionary's home in Haiti and we went on this jeepney ride and and along the way the guy I was with who was part of the missions organization said this family's been having some struggle and they're getting some counseling here and let's see if we can just encourage him a little bit and just keep your eyes open if you see something that might be some insightful you know let me know we'll help them great so we got there kind of late and went to bed and got up the next morning and so we ate breakfast and it was a pretty normal type breakfast and then dad goes it is time for family devotions in a voice like that I'm thinking is there a I mean it must be other people gonna show up and then he takes his Bible you know nine feet by four feet boom you know and you watch these two kids he's got a teenage girl and a preteen son and they just slink back in their chair like oh brother here we go again and so he reads you know out of first chronicles or Leviticus or something I mean forever I mean I'm bored and then he turns and no one says anything you don't discuss it he didn't talk about what it means to his life it just reads you know and I'm sure they're gonna get through the whole Bible too way to go gang and then he turns to his wife and says mother that always kind of gets me but mother it's time to pray and so she pulls out this notebook and I mean you know she's got lists and numbers and marks and and and so she bows her head and you know gosh we're you know just bow my head and see what's going on here and I watch these kids are going and she prays for almost everyone on this side of this hemisphere and you know I'm fighting sleep at this point you know then they shut it thus saith the Lord may God bless the reading of his word and you know I'm thinking as I look at these two kids boy you know if they don't embrace the Lord it won't surprise me they were having major problems with their kids and now they're gonna go over the hill to a Christian counselor in Port-au-Prince and say we don't understand God called us to the field every day we're in the scriptures we pray with our kids we have family devotions every day why is God allowing this to happen to our children you know why because they missed the boat you know I saw this couple relate for about three days and I think the last time he kissed his wife was about five years ago I mean I'm not sure but that's there was icicles in the home I mean such a cold I didn't see any love and warmth and passion and and life and encouragement that's what kids catch do you need to have family devotions you bet but they need to have some life and power and you know I think those two a couple I don't know what background they came out of that you know it was lemon juice in the morning and you know prune juice at night and gee gosh I mean you know I don't know what they had but I didn't want it either but see they were absolutely convinced they were absolutely convinced they were doing what God wanted them to do because you know what they did they didn't have the Mishnah they didn't have an oral tradition but somewhere along the line they thought it's just reading the Bible praying so often and we got our list don't we huh don't some of you feel real guilty boy didn't read the Bible this morning I'll have a flat tire may lose my job never know I got to do this and we can make up different lists and we all have these little lists traditions now those things need to be done with the right spirit from the heart but there is a trap and the trap Jesus wants us to see is the tradition always has to do with the status quo tradition has to do with don't change there's whole churches that operate you know on the front of their stationery it says it's never been done that way before and it never will be and under that on the letterhead it says don't rock the boat nothing new see tradition we love it because it provides comfort because the status quo what you're going to find is truth liberates but it means what change truth demands that I change I don't know about you I don't like it it makes me uncomfortable it stretches me it makes me dependent I have to cry out to God I can't handle it I'm inadequate I know I can't do it it's too big it takes too much faith and God says I know and this is the kind of conversation I wanted to have with you I love it when you come to me this way and I'll empower you so when you get done you'll know I did it oh okay see tradition strangles the truth but the truth is what liberates it's tradition that builds political factions in churches it's tradition that says these flowers this way must always be here you have to have an act of Congress in some churches to change the order of worship let alone bring in a synthesizer and drums and all the rest and you know something I don't think God I don't think God is any more pleased with drums and synthesizers and guitar and bass than he is with a beautiful huge organ and stained glass window I think he could care less how you do it you know what I think he cares about if you're on your knees hearing that beautiful organ music through stained glass windows that your heart is filled with Christ and you you want to do what he wants to do and you want to hear from him and if that style of worship that's all it is meets the need of your heart fantastic because you can hear you can bebop here and clap and sing you are my rock and have your heart next door you're no closer to God just because the style is different you've been listening to part one of Chip's message dying to change he'll be right back with his application for this teaching from his series real discipleship in recent times it seems like more and more Christians are falling into the traps of hypocrisy scandal and corruption so how can we change that in this series chip reveals that it comes down to two words real disciples as he teaches through Mark chapter 6 through 10 he shares how we can authentically follow after Jesus and avoid the obstacles and distractions that so easily entangle us don't miss how genuine disciples of Christ can radically change our world for more information about our resources for this series go to Living on the Edge dot org or the chip Ingram app or call triple eight three three three six zero zero three well chip joins me in studio now and chip we've gotten a lot of response from a newer resource we've developed here at Living on the Edge called daily discipleship with chip well tell us how this tool came about and maybe share where your heart for discipling others came from I'd be glad to Dave I say this a lot but I'll keep saying it a lot a bricklayer named Dave Marshall met with me individually and he taught me how to study the Bible he taught me how to hear God's voice he taught me how to pray and so during the pandemic we just literally tried an experiment I said I will meet with people one-on-one and I set up a couple cameras and literally just got a cup of coffee and open my Bible and walked people through passages of scripture not so much just to teach them what it says but way more about how to study the Bible for themselves and so we started with one that was really applicable kind of overcoming difficult circumstances it's called growing deeper with God and I went through the first couple chapters of Philippians and help people understand our circumstances can't define us and then we went to the book of Ephesians and we talked about yes you can really change and we walked verse by verse through Ephesians chapter 4 learning what it says and how to study it and and then we went back to Ephesians 1 2 & 3 in a series called discovering your true self and we just I mean literally a paragraph by paragraph slowly went through learning our identity in Christ and then we went through Romans chapter 12 which everyone knows is a big favorite of mine about what true spirituality is and what it means to be a disciple and our latest series was in the book of James as we understood the art of survival and whatever study you pick I think you'll really grow from it let me encourage you to check them out choose one and then join me one-on-one and let me mentor you the way Dave Marshall mentored me here's how it works for each series I begin with a short teaching video no longer the ten minutes and then there's a little assignment that I'm going to ask you to take ten minutes on your own and do some study and here's what I know people that have done this with me who make it a habit just to spend 20 minutes with me day after day for somewhere between 10 days to a couple weeks they learn to hear God's voice they learn to discern the spirit God begins to change them from the inside out this is a habit that you cannot afford not to develop thanks chip well if you're looking for a practical way to deepen your faith let me encourage you to sign up for daily discipleship with chip this free video resource will really help you learn more about God and his word to sign up for any of our daily discipleship sessions just go to Living on the Edge org app listeners tap discipleship well chip as we wrap up this program your focus today was on the Pharisees opposition to Jesus ministry while he was more concerned about true holiness the religious leaders only cared about their customs we'll unpack that a bit for us well some of these stories sound a little odd to us in our day Dave about you know their traditions and you know we can kind of lean back and think gosh how how blind could they be and yet during the pandemic we received hundreds and hundreds if not thousands of emails as we prayed for people and I couldn't help Dave with sorrow in my heart seeing how many of the requests were about the division and families or pastors telling us that they were caught between the rock and the hard places church members who knew each other for years and years were attacking one another over secondary issues and don't get me wrong there is a place to have convictions about safety and masks or no mass or vaccines and all the rest but Jesus was teaching them and I think he's teaching us there can be no room for any of our traditions or our perspectives that are higher than our relationship with him at the end of the day it's our love for one another it's our sacrificial commitment it's accepting one another the way Jesus accepts us that doesn't mean we agree with people but it means we treat everyone with dignity it means we don't attack we don't post we're not harsh we don't blame we don't assume the worst Jesus is teaching us that genuine holiness is a matter of the heart and then it gets expressed through our lips and our attitudes and our behaviors and what Jesus did with those who disagreed with him the most was he forgave them first and then he loved them right where they're at that's my prayer for the church today great wordship thanks as we wrap up this program if you've never partnered with Living on the Edge we'd love to have you join us and right now through july 7th any gift you send will be matched dollar for dollar thanks to the generosity of a small group of donors to give go to Living on the Edge dot org or call us at triple eight three three three six zero zero three that's triple eight three three three six zero zero three or Living on the Edge dot org app listeners tap donate and thank you for giving whatever the lord leads you to give well for all of us here this is dave druy saying thanks for listening to this Edition of Living on the Edge