[Note: This sermon continues the exposition of Mark 7:1–15 from the previous session (Part 2). Delivered 8 July 1979, Montreal.]
We continue our study in the word of God in Mark chapter 7. On the previous occasion, we examined the vertical aspect — our relationship to God — and saw how man, even through his religious behaviour, corrupts the teachings of the Lord. Instead of teaching God's truth, they were teaching man's doctrines. We saw that this very thing has been happening in the church today, and we are no better in this respect than the Pharisees. We have twisted the word of God in regard to the doctrine of salvation, and in regard to the life of the church.
As I have shared before, and as I have shared again at the communion today, the church today is simply not a New Testament church. The more you study the New Testament, the more you see this. What we call a church today is basically a meeting. Is the church equivalent to a meeting? How does this meeting differ from a lecture at the university? Instead of the professor, you have a pastor; instead of students, you have churchgoers. And after a lecture of an hour or forty minutes, we stand up and go our separate ways. That is a meeting, not a church.
We may congratulate ourselves that we do not make the mistake of identifying a church with a building. But we make the mistake of identifying the church with a meeting. In the New Testament, the church is far more than a meeting. Consider: if a meeting is a church, how do we fundamentally differ from a lecture on theology at the faculty of divinity? They also talk about God; they also talk about the Bible. The difference is that if you stay there long enough, you come out with a degree, whereas if you stay in the church long enough, you come out with nothing — no degree, no diploma, nothing. A meeting is not a church. A meeting may be part of the life of the church, but a very small part.
What then is a church? The church is a body — a body of people who share the life of Christ and who are committed not only to God but to one another. A church is a community of people who are committed to one another. Students in a faculty lecture are not committed to each other; each person is doing his own thing. But when I say that we have not yet arrived at being a church, you see what I mean: how great is our commitment to one another here? The church only becomes a church when the people are genuinely committed to each other, when you can truly look at the person sitting beside you and say, that is my brother, that is my sister.
I say we do have one distinction better than many churches: after our meeting, we actually have a cup of tea and a biscuit. I have been to churches in Hong Kong where nobody even wants to shake your hand — not because they knew me, but because they do not know you. As the Lord Jesus said, if you only greet those who greet you, how are you better than those in the world? We must strive forward to implement God's word into our lives. When we do this, we will have exciting possibilities — we will begin to live as a church. Others will come in and say, how they love one another, how they care for one another. But to arrive here, we must overcome our selfishness and our shyness. The love of Christ must bear us up until we are carried on that current, as Romans 5:5 says — the love of God shed abroad in our hearts.
I will change my job if all we are ever going to be is a meeting. What is the difference between what I do and what a lecturer does at the faculty of divinity? One important distinction: his pay is a lot better than mine. But the reason I do not go there is this — I aim to build a church, not a college, not a school, not another meeting. Paul was a church builder. I am not going to be a meeting builder. Today pastors judge their success by attendance. McGill has fifteen thousand students — should the university be considered more successful than the church? Success is not measured in numbers. It is measured in the quality of community life, in the depth of commitment of one person to another. That is my dream, and it is particularly appropriate to speak of it now after Camp Magog, where perhaps you had a taste of what it means to be a community, a family of people. I intend to keep speaking about Camp Magog for the next few weeks.
We also saw on the last occasion that the way in which the church trains its people today is unscriptural — something I confess came as a great shock to me when I first examined it carefully. There is not any scriptural basis for a Bible college or a seminary. The apostles did not think that the way to train people was through institutional lectures with professors. Schools existed in the time of the Greeks; it was not a question of not having the idea. But they did not start a Bible college. They trained people within the community of the church, in the midst of actual ministry, under the living example of those already serving. We decided we know better than the apostles how people should be trained. No wonder, if you train people in this way, you end up with meetings — because that is how they were trained, and they know no other way.
Now today, in the remaining moments, I need to come to the other aspect of this passage: the horizontal aspect, our relationship to one another. And there is one question we need to address before we close, and that is the scriptural teaching on our relationship to our parents. Let me read again this passage. "For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and 'Whoever speaks evil of father or mother, let him surely die.' But you say, 'If a man tells his father or his mother, Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban' — that is, given to God — 'then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the word of God through your tradition.'"
Most of us in this church are young people — perhaps eighty or eighty-five percent — and therefore it is very important that you understand this matter of your relationship to your parents. Even pastors today are so poorly instructed in the word of God that they give the wrong advice. I told you last time how a girl from our church in London who wanted to serve the Lord as a missionary went to our pastor, who told her: "The Bible teaches you must obey your parents — therefore, if your parents say don't become a missionary, don't become one." Her parents were non-Christians; what else did you expect them to say? To this day, she is not a missionary. That pastor was not alone; there are pastors in Canada today who give the same counsel. They say: you must obey your father and your mother. But is that what the scripture actually says?
Look carefully at verse 10: "Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother.'" Do you see the word obey there? No. You see the word honor. Honor and obey are not the same thing. The scriptural evidence for this is very clear. In 1 Samuel, the Lord says, "Those who honor me I will honor" — that does not mean God will obey us. Honoring in no way means obeying. The same word for honor that we find in the fifth commandment is used in 1 Peter 2:17 in the instruction: "Honor all men." Our attitude to everyone as a Christian must be an attitude of courtesy and respect. Now if you are to honor all men, it follows that you must especially honor your parents — always and unconditionally, with no exceptions.
When my parents did not want me to serve the Lord — and of course they opposed me, because they were non-Christians and I was their only son — I disobeyed them in that one matter of serving God. But I did not break the word of God, because I honored them. I served my mother; I asked her to let me wash the dishes, sweep the floor, vacuum the floor — she was not used to the idea, but I insisted, because this is how you show honor. My father cut me off financially, which of course was his right. I said, all right, of course. I did not expect him to support me. But I continued to honor them in my attitude. And the eventual result was that my mother came to the Lord. I will never forget the day I knelt down with my own mother before the Lord, and the tears streamed down her face, and she committed her life to him. She said to me afterwards: Eric, I gave to you physical life, and you have given to me spiritual life.
So let me repeat very clearly. As a Christian, unconditionally and with no exceptions, you honor your parents. But honor does not necessarily imply obedience. Obedience to human beings is never unconditional in scripture. Acts 4:19 is plain: when the authorities commanded the apostles not to preach, Peter refused, saying it is more important to obey God rather than man. When those in authority are not themselves obeying God, they have lost the right to be obeyed. Ephesians 6:1 says: "Children, obey your parents in the Lord." Two things are often missed. First, the Greek word translated "children" — technon — refers to a dependent child, someone being supported by their parents. If your parents are paying your fees and supporting you, you are in the position of a minor and under obligation to listen to them. If you have given up their support and are on your own, you are making your own decisions. Second, the passage says not merely "obey your parents," but "obey your parents in the Lord." If your parents are not in the Lord, the situation stands very differently.
# Man's Way or God's Way (Part 2) — Mark 7:1–15 (Matthew 15:1–11) (Part B) — Korban: Twisting God's Word; Purity of Heart as the Solution
[Note: This is Part B of the sermon on Mark 7:1–15 (Matthew 15:1–11) Part 2, continuing directly from Part A. Delivered 8 July 1979, Montreal.]
What was the crime of the Pharisees in this passage? It is not a question of disobeying parents — it is a question of not honoring and respecting parents as they ought. The Pharisees taught a religious device by which you could get out of the obligation altogether. This centres on the word korban in verse 11, a Hebrew word meaning to offer as a sacrifice. Here is how it worked: if a son had been supporting his parents and they offended him, he could take revenge by declaring, "The money that you receive from me henceforth is korban." In saying this, he was swearing an oath. From that moment, he would give his parents not one cent.
The remarkably tricky part is this: declaring something korban did not mean he actually offered it in the temple. What he said was that it was "as an offering" — not that it is an offering, but as an offering, equivalent to one. Because it was not an actual offering, the money stayed in his own pocket. But because it was as an offering, he did not have to give it to his parents. You need a rather twisted mind to follow the reasoning, but I assure you that is precisely how it worked.
When I looked into the Mishnah — the book of Jewish law — I found an actual case of this very thing cited. A son had declared his support to his father as korban, and then found himself in an awkward position when he wanted his father to attend his wedding. Because of the korban oath, his father could not even eat of the food in his son's household. The son therefore hit upon the legal device of giving all his possessions as a gift to his best friend, but only for the seven days of the wedding. Since during those seven days everything technically belonged to his friend, the korban oath did not apply, and the father could partake of the feast. At the end of seven days, he would of course get everything back. You need a very twisted mind to manoeuvre through the word of God in this fashion.
Now if we feel self-righteous and say, "Those Pharisees were really twisted" — wait until you read some theology, and then you will be amazed at how twisted are the minds of Christians too. It is not because Jews are more complicated or devious by nature. The fact is that sin twists our thinking. It makes your thinking very complicated when you fool around with God's word. So many times when I have pointed out to a Christian that a particular doctrine is wrong, I have watched what I can only describe as an exercise in spiritual gymnastics: twisting this way and that, seemingly making no sense, yet to themselves appearing to make sense. Compared to what Christians can do when confronted with wrong teaching, the gymnastics at the Olympics are nothing.
Let us pray above all things that God will cleanse our minds so that we live in holiness before him. To be a good theologian, a good Bible teacher, a good Christian — the most important thing is not that you understand the Mishnah or have attended theological college. It is a clean heart. When your heart is unclean, you are going to twist around the word of God. But when your heart is pure, you will neither go too wrong in one direction nor in the other. I have met some Christians who, with very little academic training, had a spiritual discernment far sharper than professors of theology — because their hearts were so pure. As the Lord Jesus said: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." They see clearly. The secret of spiritual vision is purity of heart. Let us be quiet before God in prayer.