What is the benefit of a ritual with respect to the salvation offered freely through the biblical teaching that salvation is a free unmerited gift from God, given to each true believer in His Son Jesus Christ? How should we view ceremonies of sacramentalism? Is it possible to nullify the truth through ritual or tradition? And what about baptism, the Sabbath, the LORD’s supper, and prayer; just how do they fit in as a part of Christian practice? Well, this week our study in the gospel of Saint Mark deals with this important topic. Listen in as Pastor: Fisher teaches a lesson called: “The Folly of Corrupting the Glory”
Old Testament Scripture Reading: Leviticus 10:1 – 6 (NASB)
Lev 10:1 Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective firepans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense on it and offered strange fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them.
Lev 10:2 And fire came out from the presence of the LORD and consumed them, and they died before the LORD.
Lev 10:3 Then Moses said to Aaron, “It is what the LORD spoke, saying, ‘By those who come near Me I will be treated as holy, And before all the people I will be honored.'” So Aaron, therefore, kept silent.
Lev 10:4 Moses called also to Mishael and Elzaphan, the sons of Aaron’s uncle Uzziel, and said to them, “Come forward, carry your relatives away from the front of the sanctuary to the outside of the camp.”
Lev 10:5 So they came forward and carried them still in their tunics to the outside of the camp, as Moses had said.
Lev 10:6 Then Moses said to Aaron and to his sons Eleazar and Ithamar, “Do not uncover your heads nor tear your clothes, so that you may not die, and that He may not become wrathful against all the congregation. But your kinsmen, the whole house of Israel, shall bewail the burning which the LORD has brought about.
New Testament Scripture Reading: Mark 7:1 – 13 (KJV)
Mark 7:1 Then came together unto him the Pharisees, and certain of the scribes, which came from Jerusalem. Mark 7:2 And when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is to say, with unwashen, hands, they found fault. Mark 7:3 For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders. Mark 7:4 And when they come from the market, except they wash, they eat not. And many other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups, and pots, brazen vessels, and of tables. Mark 7:5 Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands? Mark 7:6 He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Mark 7:7 Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. Mark 7:8 For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do. Mark 7:9 And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. Mark 7:10 For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death: Mark 7:11 But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; he shall be free. Mark 7:12 And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother; Mark 7:13 Making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.
Transforming Power Statements:
#1) So far in the gospel of Mark we have seen many clashes against the doctrine and practices of Jesus from many sources, but mostly from the “religious” leaders who had set themselves up to be the authority on the implementation of God’s Word but instead had adjusted the interpretation and applications to fit their own traditions and even their sins.
#2) Creating any system, ceremony, or traditional practice not based on the Word of God, or that denies any precept of the Word, is to make yourself a higher institution than God.
#3) The prime issue at hand is the glory of God in all situations, therefore rituals that divert our attention from the total sufficiency of the cross of Jesus Christ make an attempt to steal the glory from God. In other words, the gospel is complete for all our spiritual needs, for which God alone gets the glory!
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