Bold Faith By: O'Neill Trull Mark 7:24-30 24 And from there he arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And he entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet he could not be hidden. 25 But immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet. 26 Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27 And he said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.” 28 But she answered him, “Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs.” 29 And he said to her, “For this statement you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter.” 30 And she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone.
There are several fascinating events in Mark 7, but I really enjoy this particular encounter. Here we have a gentile woman, an outsider, approaching Jesus. Yet she approaches Him with more faith than most of the Jews. If anyone had barriers in coming to Jesus, it was her, yet she still pursued him. She was able to look past the cultural, social, and racial barriers, because she saw the goodness of Jesus. But she answered him, “Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs.” I don’t believe it was her statement that moved Jesus, as much as her faith. She knew He was a man of kindness and generosity.
How often do we approach Jesus as outsiders, when we are the ultimate “insider”, because He is living in us! How often do we fail to see his goodness, and approach Him with timidity rather than boldness? How often do we miss His kindness? May we approach Jesus with the same courage as this woman, and experience what He has for us.
we are the ultimate “insider”, because He is living in us!
💀Dead Traditions | Mark 7:1-8 Pastor Shaun Frankland "Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders, and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.) And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, “‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” Mark 7:1-8 In your childhood did you ever ask your parent or guardian why they did something the way they did? Did they ever tell you that was how their parents showed them to do it but with no clear explanation as to why? That's tradition. Tradition can be a dangerous spiritual disease. It can keep you married to ways of doing things that have little to do with how Jesus or the disciples did them. It can be easy to point out the obvious traditions of other denominations that draw people away from following Jesus. It can be much harder to take a real look at our own and ask if they go back to Jesus and His way of doing things. They may instead be an invention of someone else, handed down to us from someone who thought they had a good idea but may have cut something crucial out in the process. "And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must 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 by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.” Mark 7:9-13 Tradition is so dangerous because it is deceptive. It can have you checking off all the boxes of what you believe is good to do in following Jesus with no idea that Jesus is calling you to something entirely different. This is why it's so important to study the Scripture yourself and not just take someone else's word for it. We can make the word of God totally ineffective (void) when we follow a religious tradition over what God was really communicating. We need to ask ourselves if we are really following Jesus in that area or if we are being more loyal to the traditions we've been taught. Examine your life today. How can you follow Jesus wholeheartedly? Is there any traditions keeping you from doing so? If so you'd do well to break from those traditions and pursue what Jesus has for you.
Mark 7:7–9 (ESV) 7 Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, 2 they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. 3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders, 4 and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.) 5 And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” 6 And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, “ ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 7 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ 8 You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.” 9 And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition!
Jesus is exposing motivation.
They were honoring tradition over people.
They were honoring tradition over God
Jesus was saying “You have clean hands but your hearts are filthy.”
“Being traditional doesn’t make you moral.”
Mark 7:14–23 (ESV) 14 And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: 15 There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.” 17 And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. 18 And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, 19 since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) 20 And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. 21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
Matthew 12:35 (NLT) A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart, and an evil person produces evil things from the treasury of an evil heart.
They had made up their mind about God….based upon their tradition.
You may not have methodical practices or rituals but you have trending mindsets—predetermined ways of viewing the world, viewing others, of viewing God.
Reforming our inner-man 1. Re-think thinking
“Having a strong mind is not the same as a stubborn mind.”
A weak mind is one that is un-willing to change. “Hard-Hearted”
“We must unlearn what we have learned.” -Yoda
“In the Kingdom, repentance is always at the threshold of what we are coming into.”
Think about your thoughts….
Don’t dismiss all your thoughts, ask questions about them.
“Why am I thinking this way?”
2 Corinthians 10:5 (NIV) We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
2. Renew & Reform patterns Romans 12:2 (NIV) Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
"That the way that you feel is determined by how you think."
3. Re-learn what you have leaned
4. Reconnect and realign Encounters will reconnect and realign our inner-man. Mark 7:31–36 (ESV) 31 He returned from the region of Tyre and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. 32 And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged him to lay his hand on him. 33 And taking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue. 34 And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.” 35 And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly.
Ephphatha: What comes into man, the way we hear. What comes out, the way we speak.
Ministry: Ephesians 3:16–17 (NLT) 16 I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. 17 Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong.
