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Poem: Mercy Triumphs!

Am I a modern day Pharisee- a white washed tomb, consumed by knowledge that I have forgotten to love?
Or am I Hosea’s wife, caressing an adultress world satisfying lust and greed?
There’s a deep thirst that’s unquenchable
Even the best things in the world seems to miss.
Ah! All is vanity under the sun.

Passing by wounded lives, unmoved,
Whatever happened to the child who would break at the sight of hate.
Why am I changing to look like the world compromised and cold?

A deep cry, a raging storm with a beautiful mask
How I wish one can look deep within
You promised you can
My heart longs for You my Saviour
Rescue me before my heart grows cold

You said even in my abundant sin your grace would abound
You promised to rescue me even if I make my bed in hell. And Yes You did, You found me.
Even though I run far away from You. You relentlessly pursue me
My wounded heart screams vengeance
But then Your sweet Spirit reminds me You were pierced for me
Broken and rejected for me
There on the cross, you bled for my transgression
Making a plea of forgiveness for my offenders
Gently whispering –“You’ll rise my love. Just follow me and see mercy triumph.”

Visit her blog: Beauty for Ashes

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Sermon

The Blinding Vision of Self Righteousness – Mark 3:1-6

I once read a story about a man in a foreign country who calls up the police to report that he saw a car speeding above the speed limit.

He called and said “Right now I’ve witnessed a car speeding well over 100 mph. The license plate no. is……” The cops respond by telling this man a thank you for reporting this. At the end of the conversation, the cops ask the man for his own license plate number. He’s a little surprised.

He asks them “Why do you need my license plate number? I just called to report this speeding car”. The cops reply “You are aware that it is illegal to drive and talk on your cell phone, right?” “Click”– They hear a disconnected tone on the phone.

That’s exactly what self-righteousness does. It gives you the feeling that you’re seeing something particularly wrong in someone else but ignores your own blindness. Because self-righteousness is blinding, it disturbs our overall vision! And we’ll see in today’s passage how self-righteousness affects every aspect of our lives.

Through our study of Mark, we are now beginning to see how the Pharisees are getting uncomfortable with Jesus. He forgives people’s sins, eats with sinners and tax collectors and doesn’t observe the traditions of fasting and the Sabbath as they expect. We’ll see how things get a little more tense in today’s passage.

Let’s turn to Mark chapter 3.

[1] Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand. [2] And they watched Jesus,[a] to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him. [3] And he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come here.” [4] And he said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. [5] And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. [6] The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.

Interestingly this is a story about a wonderful healing but that moves in the background. The main story is about the blindness and hard-heartedness of the Pharisees. Because self-righteousness is blinding, it disturbs our overall vision! There are three ways in which we can see our overall vision being impaired:

1. It prevents us from seeing God

[1] Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand. [2] And they watched Jesus,[a] to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him.

Here you have Jesus – the Son of God standing in front of them displaying the beauty, the heart and the power of God and yet all the Pharisees intended to do was find a reason to accuse him. As we learned last week [READ], the Sabbath was a commandment from God designed for our good.

By observing the Sabbath, the Israelites were to reflect God who rested on the seventh day after creating the universe and everything in it. God said that no one should work on the Sabbath but the Pharisees interpreted “work” in their own terms.

Plucking grains when the disciples were hungry – they called that as work. In this case, healing a person – “work” according to their interpretation. So just because Jesus didn’t follow their human traditions and expectations, they rejected him and wanted to find a reason to accuse him. They rejected and wanted to accuse the Son of God!

Sometimes that might be the way we approach a Sunday morning Gathering. We come here to assess the worship and the preacher’s performance rather than seeing God! What we fail to see is that God wants to meet with us. God wants to speak to us.

God wants to specifically deal with the issues you are facing. God wants to capture your heart. He wants to change you from the inside out. He wants to encourage your soul. He wants to use you as His handpicked instrument.

But our self-righteous desire to rate the preaching and the worship blinds us from seeing God. If all we notice on a Sunday morning is few people singing, one person giving a speech for 40mins…I would say that is pointless.

But if you came this morning to see our glorious Lord, that’s what will be tremendously satisfying and life-changing! Let’s be people who are zealously desiring to meet with God every day during our abiding time and corporately when we meet in GCs and Sunday Gathering. I have a meeting scheduled with Jesus – let that be our attitude!

2. It prevents us from loving people

[3] And he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come here.” [4] And he said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent.

This man had a hand that was dried up because it didn’t get sufficient nourishment from the body. All the power in the had was gone and there was no remedy to this until he met Jesus. Should Jesus have ignored the man so that the Pharisees would be pleased? Absolutely not.

Jesus had compassion on this man and called him forward. Jesus understood the hearts of the Pharisees and asked them “what was the right thing to do on the Sabbath”? “To do good or harm? To save life or kill”. But they remained silent.

That’s such a sad thing, don’t you agree? They were so zealous for their tradition that they didn’t care at all about the man who suffered from this disease for many years. Only he and God understood the pain that he went through all these years.

Is this attitude of the Pharisees common in our lives as well? Yes. It happens whenever we are very quick to judge our brothers and sisters on the basis of their failures in their spiritual walk. Whenever we pass judgments on their struggles rather than grieve over their sin. The question is: do we take pleasure in their struggles or is it grieving our hearts?

Is it moving us toward prayer? Is it creating a longing to help and encourage the other person? Self-righteousness means only being concerned about your own faith and how you can appear to be better than the other. As long as you are morally at a better place than the struggling brother, you are happy. Self-righteousness at its core is selfish!

So that’s why it’s always healthy to ask ourselves how we’ve been loving our brothers and sisters. Often that’s a good indicator of our level of self-righteousness.

3. It prevents us from knowing our own sin

[5] And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. [6] The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.

In these verses we see Jesus expressing a lot of emotions. There is anger mixed with grief when he sees the hardness of heart! They probably thought they were all in the right. They thought they had the zeal for God but no Jesus saw how cold, how stubborn and how hard their hearts had become. Jesus showing compassion toward the man and restoring his hand wasn’t wonderful and beautiful to them.

They responded by going out and meeting the Herodians –supporters of the Herodian dynasty who weren’t friends with them earlier – and plotted how to destroy Jesus. Can you believe? The most religious men of that time now are showing themselves to be killers because they didn’t know how sinful their hearts had become. Their self-righteousness blinded them to think that they were right when in reality they were totally wrong.

In my own life, I’ve had plenty of times where I’ve been convicted of self-righteousness. But I remember this one particular time a few years back when I was really blinded by my righteousness. I would go and attend church services and become really critical of the pastor. This reached its tipping point when I ended up becoming critical of the people that God gave me to minister to.

And that’s the thing about self-righteousness. It’ll make you feel like the whole world has a problem except you. A loving brother confronted me with my sin and I was really humbled that day. The correction was painful but I realized how it softened my heart and opened it up to be changed by God.

I now know that it’s all God’s grace because self-righteousness really can ruin a person’s life, make them bitter towards God and others without realizing how sour our heart has become.

I know the question that most of you are thinking right now, okay so how should we respond? What can we do to change this heart condition?

By God’s grace, these are the three things that need to be done:

1) Understand that we have sinned and admit that we are self-righteous

[8] If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. [9] If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:8,9)

I know this seems quite basic but the truth is that sometimes it’s not easy for us to say that we are a practicing sinner. It’s humbling to acknowledge that. It means to say no to self-pride and self-exaltation. Sometimes people say they aren’t comfortable saying that they still are sinners but the Word talks about it differently.

1 John was written to believers, not unbelievers. And the exhortation here is to admit before God that we are sinners. And if we confess…then he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

2) Renounce our dependence on ourselves and grieve over our sins

I think this is perfectly illustrated in the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax collector. The Pharisee loudly prays. “God, I thank you that I’m not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterer, or even this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all that I get”. Now you might think this is an impressive resume.

However, God wasn’t impressed because the Pharisee did all these superficial things to earn his righteousness before God. He didn’t come to God with his whole heart. He just wanted to brag about what he did. The tax collector, on the other hand, standing far off wouldn’t even lift his eyes toward heaven.

He beat his chest saying “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” And Jesus said that this man went home justified and not the Pharisee. (Luke 18:9-14) A question for you: which of the two renounced his dependence on himself? Which of the two had grieved over his sin? The tax collector.

God wants us to have the same attitude as that of the tax collector, not the Pharisee. When we come before God, it’s not the time to show off our knowledge of the Bible or talk about the great things accomplished in our life. When we come before God, it needs to be humble and honest like the tax collector.

3) Rely on Christ’s performance for us

[21] For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

The wonderful truth of the gospel isn’t complete only if we understand that we are sinners and renounce our dependence on ourselves. It’s completed when we trust in the Great Exchange that took place on the cross. Jesus Christ lovingly endured the death we deserved so that by believing in Him we can have His righteousness!

God doesn’t want us to remain in guilt and shame of sin but He wants to make us right through His Son. So after we have confessed our sins and renounced the dependence on ourselves, we now look at Christ’s life and righteousness to clothe us and cover us.

What about the thoughts of blame that Satan throws at us? What about the accusations that other people around us tell us? “Therefore, now there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus”. (Romans 8:1) There is nobody that can condemn you if you are in Christ!

In what areas has God been speaking to us today? Where have we noticed self-righteousness in our own hearts? We know that because self-righteousness is blinding, it prevents us from seeing God. We know that because self-righteousness is blinding, it prevents us from loving people.

We know that because self-righteousness is blinding, it prevents us from knowing our own sin. There is a way out – by admitting that we are sinners, renouncing the dependence on ourselves and relying on Christ’s performance for us.

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Sermon

Dealing with the Pharisee in us – Mark 2:23-28

[audioplayer file=”http://thegatheringcommunity.in/wp-content/uploads/Knowing-Christ-protecting-our-hearts-from-conforming-to-human-standards-Mark-2-18-22.mp3″]

We are continuing with our passage from Mark and today we will look at chapter 2:23-28.

One Sabbath he was going through the grain fields, and as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. And the Pharisees were saying to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God, in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?” And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”

Just like the issue with the fasting that we looked at last week, again in this passage we see how the Pharisees try to impose their way of interpreting the commandment regarding Sabbath.

Here we see … On the day of Sabbath Jesus was going through the grain fields, and as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain (probably because they were hungry and wanted to eat) and the Pharisees asked Jesus “Why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?”

This nagging attitude of the Pharisee started from Mark 2 when Jesus heals the paralytic man who was brought by his friends and Jesus heals him by saying your sins are forgiven… to which the Pharisees comment by saying who is this guy who can forgive sins.

Followed by Jesus’s visit to Levi the tax collectors (a sinner) house… to which the Pharisees accuse him of eating with sinners.

Followed by their question regarding fasting which we saw last week.

Can you for a moment feel the tension in the atmosphere? Where Jesus and the Pharisees are head-butting with each other.

Firstly, it is so irritating to have these Pharisees follow Jesus and keep pointing fingers at everything that is said and done.

In the corporate world, it’s like the boss or his men sitting over our head to make sure that we don’t break the rules, the culture and the traditions laid down by the management.

Isn’t that such an irritating thing?

Secondly, Jesus is constantly trying to explain to these Pharisees and even help them see HIM as the fulfillment of the promise made by God through his prophets. And instead of responding with reverence they choose to ignore him because of their pride, ego, and position in the society.

Even this time with the issue of Sabbath Jesus points them to David saying “Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God, in the time of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?”

Jesus is pointing to an incident that was written by Samuel in 1 Samuel 21:5-6 where David was running from Saul who was the King of Israel at that time and wanted to kill him. David and his men enter the temple hungry, but because there was no bread to eat except for the bread that was offered to God which only the priests were allowed to eat, David and his men ate that bread and carried on with their journey to a place called Gath.

Jesus talks about David to remind them that even after eating the holy bread from the presence of God which was unlawful to do, God didn’t punish them, like in the case of the prophet Aarons sons Nadab & Abihu who were struck dead for bringing an unauthorized fire before the Lord.

Jesus then goes on to make a point regarding Sabbath and says “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”

You see, the Sabbath was not supposed to be considered as a ritual or tradition that supersedes human needs. Sabbath is, in fact, a gift from God and sadly it has become a bondage & oppression, been manipulated from its right intentions that were meant for man’s good.

If we read the context of Sabbath, we will know that it was given to bring rest, healing & joy. But in the case of the Pharisees they created their own version and dictated people to follow them as traditions and rules, but completely missed the point. And here’s what they failed to see.

  • They failed to see God’s love and care for his people in the commands and laws he gave them.
  • They failed to see Jesus as the lord over Sabbath – Who himself was God in the form of a man standing right next to them.

Instead of recognizing Christ the savior who came to make everything new, they mistreated him, questioned his intentions and even called him an agent of the devil.

At this point, it is easier for us to look at the Pharisees and say how wicked and manipulative these guys were and completely ignorant to see the Pharisee in us who behaves just like them and sometimes even worse.

You may ask how are we like the Pharisees.

There are a number of ways in which we carry the attitude of a Pharisee –

Firstly, when we fail to see the commandments of God as a delight and instead look at it as a burdensome rulebook that needs to be kept to gain approval from God like the Pharisees did.

Burdening ourselves and others in a way distorting the original intent of God when he gave it to us.

Instead of confessing like David in

  • Psalms 119:103: “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!”,
  • Psalms 119:130: “The unfolding of your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.”
  • Psalms 139:6: “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand”
  • Psalms 119:9-16:
    How can a young man keep his way pure?
    By guarding it according to your word.
    10 With my whole heart I seek you;
    let me not wander from your commandments!
    11 I have stored up your word in my heart,
    that I might not sin against you.
    12 Blessed are you, O Lord;
    teach me your statutes!
    13 With my lips I declare
    all the rules[c] of your mouth.
    14 In the way of your testimonies I delight
    as much as in all riches.
    15 I will meditate on your precepts
    and fix my eyes on your ways.
    16 I will delight in your statutes;
    I will not forget your word.

Instead of looking at the beauty of God’s heart towards us in his precepts … we see it as burdensome and task oriented. To the extent where now some of us have even given up reading our bibles because we think it is hard to keep up with obedience when the Spirit of God convicts us of our sins through the scriptures.

On the other extreme, there are some who to follow the law to the dot as it is written without experiencing a true heart transformation which only Christ and his sacrifice on the cross offers.

Let’s ask ourselves this morning – What is our attitude when it comes to God’s holy laws and commandments in the Scripture?

  • Do we see that God’s desire for us to a live Sanctified life by living in obedience to his commandments is meant for our own good?
  • Do we see them as instructions given to us, to follow wholeheartedly with joy & delight and not under pressure & fear?
  • Do we see the wonderful promises associated with true heart transforming obedience?

    The one promise that comes to my mind is Psalms 1:2-3 which says “Blessed are those who delight in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by the streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers”

Remember also that, our law-keeping has nothing to do with our salvation and gaining approval from God. God approves simply because of our faith in his son Jesus.

Trying to gain approval from God by our self-righteous acts are seen as filthy rages by God.

We receive approval from God not by our law-keeping or good works but by admitting that we are sinners just as the bible describes every human being to be, and by believing in Jesus, the son of God who came down to earth for our sake, lived a righteous life on our behalf, took the punishment that was upon us, suffered a horrible death on the cross to redeem us from the wrath of a holy God.

Rising up from death after three days he proved to the world that he is God indeed and has won victory our sin and broken the chains of slavery to sin and has set us free forever.

All because he loved us and meant everything for our good from the beginning – Even the laws, the commandments, instructions from the scriptures, leading of the Holy Spirit convicting our hearts of sin that needs to be dealt with.

All of his precepts are the evidence of his loving pursuit of our hearts meant for his Glory.

So, let us not be like the Pharisees who failed to see God’s heart of love in passing on his commandments and let us stop treating his words as a rule-book that’s burdensome and heavy. But instead delight in them, know the heart of God and walk in obedience persuaded by his love.

The second way in which we behave like the Pharisees is when we judge others like the Pharisees did. Judging others for their words, actions, and attitudes just because we think we’re doing it right, and fail to see them through the merciful eyes of God.

The perfect example is the ender brother in the story of the prodigal son. He failed to understand his Father’s heart of love, even though the younger son rebelled and went away with the Father’s wealth and misused them for his own pleasures, the Father still loved him.

Romans 5:8, Paul reminds “While we were sinners

(the time when we hated him, the time when we were committing adultery or fornicating with the opposite sex and even with the same sex, while we were indulged in watching sinful pornography, while we will expressing our hate towards another human by robbing and killing them, while we were high on alcohol and drugs, while we were worshipping idols made of mud, worshipping animals & birds and defaming God)

…Paul says God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for our sins for which we deserved the punishment but Christ took it upon himself.

What right do we have to look down and judge others?

The Pharisee like attitude shows up in subtle ways in our case and we take it lightly. Here are some of the things we say that show the Pharisee-like attitude in us.

“If He Knew The Bible As Well As I Did, His Life Would Be Better.”

Judgement and self-righteousness rolled up in a neat little package

“I follow the rules and that is what makes me a true Christian”

Instead of humility, we carry an air of being a rule keeping Christian, isn’t our attitude be one of gratitude, amazement and, humility.

“You Shouldn’t Hang Around People Like That.”

This comes mostly from parents. I understand that we have to choose friends for our kids carefully. But when applied to adults, this thought process is unscriptural.

The other way of expressing the same condition is when people say “I’m Simply More Comfortable With People From My Church Than I Am With People Who Don’t Go To Church.”

But, look at the kind of people Jesus hung out with.

One of the reasons many churches aren’t growing is because Christians don’t know any non-Christians. They think they are holy and have nothing to do with the unholy people of the world.

“God listens to my prayers”

That’s boasting!

In Matthew 6:5-7 Jesus says “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others.”

The biblical portrait of prayer is as much about broken people embracing the mystery and majesty of a forgiving God as much as it is about anything.

“Sure I Have A Few Issues, But That’s Between Me And God.”

Perfect on the outside and flawed on the inside—but that’s the accusation Jesus pushed against the Pharisees.

A biblical way of dealing with internal issues is not by keeping secrets that no one knows but it is transparency, vulnerability, and honesty.

These are just a couple of examples to help you see how subtly we carry the attitude of a Pharisee and fail to see the other person from Gods perspective, through his eyes of love, grace, and mercy.

As I conclude, I think this passage is a beautiful reminder for us to keep a check on our heart from a Pharisee like mindset.

Knowing that Jesus doesn’t appreciate or approve of it. Instead, he wants us to see him as the Lord over everything and to appreciate his sacrifice on the cross with humility and reverence.

And also to see the heart behind the warnings, rebukes, instructions, commands written in the bible as one given to us with love and for our benefit and well-being and not to burden us, and therefore delighting in them, obeying them so we bear fruit in season and out of season.

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Sermon

Guarding our hearts from conforming to human traditions – Mark 2:18-22

We are continuing with our Expository preaching from Mark.

Today’s Passage – Mark 2:18-22

Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to him, “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day. No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made. And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.”

When we look at this passage the most obvious thing that stands out is the mention of fasting and I can probably preach a sermon on fasting using this passage. But as I’ve read & re-read this passage I realize that preaching on fasting from this particular passage would not do justice to the actual context in which it is written, here’s why I say that …

  1. Firstly, the emphasis is not on fasting but on the foundational beliefs of the people which needed correction, which is what I will be focusing on.
  2. Secondly, if I have to preach a sermon on fasting then I believe there are much better passages that explain the concept of fasting. And because our goal today is to explicitly focus on this passage only, it is important that we don’t divert our attention from what the author is trying to tell us.

Mark is telling that one particular day some people came to Jesus and said: “Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?”

On the onset, it sounds quite like a genuine question to me. Did you see anything wrong with that question?

But let me give you little bit background … The three main pillars of Judaism at that time and even today are prayer, almsgiving, and fasting. And about fasting, it is said that during those days the Pharisees fasted twice in a week, on Mondays and Thursdays although there is no indication or mention in the laws about fasting twice in a week and fasting on Mondays & Thursdays.

Scriptural references to biblical fasts were on the Day of Atonement mentioned in Leviticus 16:29 and four days post-exile mentioned in Zacharias 18:19.

The Pharisees fasted twice in a week in addition to this.

Now notice Jesus had no complaint with fasting per se as it is practiced by the disciples of John and the Pharisees. If he had any complaints he would have mentioned it.

Instead what we see Jesus do is to draw their attention to himself and his ministry on earth. He describes his mission as a wedding – himself as the bridegroom and disciples as the guests of the bridegroom. And his point is that wedding is not a time to abstain but to live it up.

John’s disciples, the Pharisees, and their disciples missed to see the significance of that moment and did not see it as an occasion to celebrate.

In the Old Testament, the bridegroom is referred to as an image of God, not the Messiah (of course later in the New Testament we see Jesus clearly been referred as the bridegroom). So, at that time, Jesus, by even mentioning that he was bridegroom was indicating the fact that he was God himself. Those were actually provocative statements least expected by the Pharisees.

And then from there Jesus goes on to tell them two parables

Parable number one“No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made.”

Parable number two“And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.”

What we see here is the Pharisees and the disciples of John had a way of doing things. Especially with respect to fasting, they fasted two days in a week even though it wasn’t required for them to do so.

What essentially was happening there was that people were trying to convince Jesus to fit in their model of doing things, in this passage, it was about fasting. They wanted to make room for Jesus in their already full agendas.

Maybe you might be able to relate with me here as I give this example … It’s like when we join a new company or an organization, we join them with full of zeal and enthusiasm to make a difference to the company and grow ourselves.

But we often find ourselves in a place where we are made to comply with the already existing traditional ways of doing things by the seniors. Even when there are better ways to do the same task with much efficiency we and made to stick to the old methods and fit into their already existing methodologies and processes. You want to make a positive difference by bringing in new ideas but you are restricted from doing so.

Have you been in a situation like that?

I believe that’s the kind of pressure the people were trying to put on Jesus when they wanted him to fit in their mold, and in response to their expectations, Jesus’s tells them these two parables.

Now let’s read those parables once again.

Parable number one – “No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made.”

Parable number two – “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.”

Did you get the point?

Wish we had the liberty to speak that way with our company bosses. But I’m sure it would put them off, so did the Pharisees. Why do you think they became even madder at Jesus.

What I want you to see is that – Jesus is in a standing debate with Pharisees and the people, primarily over the issue of tradition, in this case, it was fasting. But he addresses it even more harshly in Mark 7:1-13

Jesus wanted the people to see how blinded they had become because of all their traditions, so much so that they were unable to see the Son of God who came to make everything new.

Paul beautifully elaborates this fact in 2 Corinthians 5:17 where he says “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

The old way of doing things, the old way of thinking, the old way in which we lived our lives, has passed away.

  • They failed to see and accept Christ as the promised Messiah who came down to earth as a representative of God to make things new.
  • They failed to see how their traditions and so-called godly lifestyles had made them even more corrupt and sinful and wretched in the eyes of God.
  • They failed to see that they needed a savior to save them from their wretchedness and make them a new creation – holy and acceptable to God.

Instead, they wanted Jesus to fit in their way of thinking and doing things as per human traditions to which Jesus opposes them and explains what happens when a new cloth is stitched into an old one and when a new wine is poured into an old wineskin.

He said it will make the worst tear if a new cloth is stitched into an old one and the new wine will burst the old wineskins.

What he is saying is that if you try to fit the redemptive work of God through Christ into your old wretched traditional ways of doing things then you will do more harm than you can ever imagine.

Now, how do this passage and this understanding help us?

It helps us to see Christ’s life, death, and resurrection far more glorious and life-changing than we’ve ever thought of.

We don’t believe in the gospel because it sounds great, but we believe in the gospel because it transforms us into a new person.

Once we were sinners, we deserved God’s wrath and our destiny was eternal death and life in hell. We lived selfish lives, hated and mocked God by creating idols out of mud and worshiped them, we even worshiped animals and birds, much worse we worshiped & desired money, wealth and possessions of this world more than the living God himself.

And mind you – just like the Pharisees and the people who questioned Jesus, even we followed the traditions of the world, we manipulated one another, we robbed, we killed, we lied. We did all the evil in this world.

There is absolutely no man who can say he never did anything wrong, there is no man who can say he is sinless. Not even the sadhus and monks of this world can claim to be holy.

And because of all this, we deserved punishment, and the punishment was eternal death.

Until one day the promised Messiah, the savior of the world, the Son of the most holy God, Jesus, came down on this earth – not to improve our living conditions by fitting into our ways of doing things but to reform us and make us a new creation.

He did that by taking the penalty of our sins – the wrath that we deserved – the punishment that we should have endured – upon himself by dying on the cross. And his last words before his final breath was “It is finished”.

Finished forever – the old has gone – the new has come.

Three days later Jesus rose again from the dead, defeating the power of sin in us, giving us the freedom that once was unknown to us, restoring back our relationship with God our creator.

The old sinful man is now dead and the new man is alive.

And we receive this free gift of salvation not by any good works but by putting our faith in Christ and his finished work on the cross.

I believe Jesus wanted the Pharisees to see him for who he is.

I believe even today, Jesus wants us to see him for who he is, the one and true God who transforms our lives and makes us into new being in him. Not by fitting into our ways of doing things but by his ways.

Here are some questions we should ask ourselves this morning:

  • Did we put your faith in Christ only because he does miracles in our lives?
  • Did we put our faith in Christ only because he provides for our needs?
  • Did we put our faith in Christ only because having associated with him makes us look cool.

Or did we put our faith in Christ because we truly believe in our hearts that it is only through him that we can be set free from sin & death, have eternal life, and be transformed into a new man that doesn’t fit into the traditions of this world?

The second application of this passage is that it warns us not to fit Christ into our ways and even our expectations from him like the people did.

Our human tendencies are always to get our work done, our way. Whether it is in business, whether in looking out for a suitable job, whether it is in our workplace, our family, our church, our surroundings.

We like it that way.

But once we become a Christian, we need to be careful that these tendencies don’t manifest in our relationship with Christ, that we don’t try to fit Jesus in into our dreams, our desires, our way of doing things, our human, earthy expectations. Even bind him to our traditions and customs.

Even in the church and more often in our ministries we can try to fit Jesus into our goals & our agendas.

And the warning is, in doing so we will cause more damage than we ever imagined.

It will suck out the life in us and paralyze us from enjoying a grace-filled, sanctified relationship with Christ.

In Romans 12:2 Paul reminds us by saying “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect”

In all things, we should always discern what the will of God is for our lives and allow him to be in the driver seat.

Go where he takes you, speak what he asks you to speak, do what he tells you to do.

It could be that God is calling you to go and settle in a new place among strangers

It could be that God is asking you to take a risk with your job and start something new so you can serve him in bigger measures.

It could be that God is asking you to give more of your time and energy into serving him and his church.

And probably it may not fit into our contemporary ways of thinking and living. Nevertheless, follow him who is faithful and knows the end from the beginning.

He’s given us the Holy Spirit as a helper to help us pursue the right things to be led by the Spirit at all times.

If I had to fit Jesus into my dreams and desires that I had before I became a Christian I wouldn’t be where I am today. I feel blessed and happy for where God has kept me at this moment.

Yes, there are moments when I sometimes try to fit Jesus into my thinking and way of doing things but I’m thankful that his Spirit always convicts my heart, reminds me of the Gospel and enables me to let it go.

Let’s evaluate our hearts this morning and identify the areas where we try to fit Jesus into our mold instead of giving him the reins of our lives.

Let’s repent of those ways as his words convicts our hearts this morning.

And finally, as I end my sermon my encouragement to you this morning is to cherish this new life you have in Christ in full measure breaking out of all human traditions that binds you and allow him to rule over you 100% percent by following the leading of the Holy Spirit in your life.