Our Beliefs : Sermons : Sermon Archive - 2003 : September 21, 2003

Is It Enough, Lord?

Pentecost 15

In any great forest you will find many huge trees. They tower above other trees and appear to be the very picture of strength and maturity. However, many times loggers will not even bother to cut down these trees. We might think, "Why? They have two or three times the wood in them as the other smaller trees." But a logger could tell you that the reason is simple. Those huge trees are often rotten on the inside or even hollow because they have more chance of being attacked by disease or insects.

That's one way to picture hypocrisy. Someone might look like a Christian on the outside, but inside they are anything but -- they're hollow or rotten, and their lives show it. Do you sometimes feel like a hypocrite -- hollow and rotten? We say that we love God, yet our lives too often show failure in praising God, loving God, imitating God, thanking God. Have we done enough to say thanks or are we more or less hypocrites? That's the thought we will consider as we look at Mark's gospel: Is It Enough, Lord?

The first thing we need to ask is: Is what I have given to you enough, Lord? If you could take a snapshot of your life, where would God be in that picture? You're a good parent, husband or wife, a son or daughter. You work diligently at your job. But is what you have given back to God for all he's done for you enough?

The Pharisees in our text thought they had given the Lord enough. The Pharisees were the religious experts in their day. They wouldn't just do everything written in the Old Testament law that God gave through Moses, but to show their zeal for God's law, they would follow even stricter laws than God gave. These man-made laws became known as the tradition of the elders. The whole purpose of the tradition of the elders was to "build a fence around" the Law and guard against any possible infringement of the Law by ignorance or accident.

Suppose your neighbor has a ferocious dog. You don't want that dog to bite you, so you are happy when your neighbor puts a fence around his yard so the dog can't get out. It makes you feel more comfortable and puts you at ease. God's law is like that ferocious dog. The Pharisees had put a fence around God's law with their traditions. If a person observed the traditions, they would feel at ease because they would be sure that they could never go against the law of God. For example, God commanded that no work be done on the Sabbath so they could spend a whole day every week remembering what God had done for them. By Jesus' day, the Pharisees had taken that law and obscured it. They made a hard and fast rule -- you can walk only 600 steps on the Sabbath. Anything over that was considered work and breaking the Sabbath. That took away the law's entire purpose. Instead of remembering what God had done for them, the Pharisees were more concerned about what they did -- not walking too many steps on Saturdays! And, most importantly, the people wouldn't see how they had broken God's Sabbath law by not keeping him and his Word #1 in their lives every minute of every day. The problem is that God didn't want the law to have a fence around it because the law is meant to show us our sins, as the Apostle Paul says in Romans 3:20: "through the law we become conscious of sin." The law is meant to bite us. The law is meant to accuse us and condemn us. It should torment us. The fence of tradition that the Pharisees had built meant that they couldn't see God's law. Since they couldn't see God's law, they couldn't see their sins. By not seeing their sinfulness they would see no need for a Savior. So Jesus tore down their fence.

The specific tradition that concerns us this morning is the tradition of washing unclean hands. The Pharisees "saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were 'unclean'." Mark tells us that meant that they didn't wash their hands ceremonially before they ate. There was only one problem: God had never commanded this ceremonial washing of hands before eating. They thought that washing their hands made them right with God, in fact, even more right than God demanded. They were wrong. So while they criticized Jesus' disciples for having dirty hands, they failed to recognize their own real problem: they had clean hands, but filthy, sinful hearts.

That is why Jesus had such stern words for them:

Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: " 'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.' "

So Jesus came to the point of the issue in verse 8: "You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men." They had become hypocrites. Their tradition of the elders had maybe started out with the best of intentions, but it had turned into a way to earn salvation.

Have we been guilty of hypocrisy? We know we can't earn salvation, but all of have a little Pharisee that needs to be exposed. I've often heard from those who don't go to church that the reason they don't is because of all the hypocrites there. They see them going to church, but then their lives aren't any different than anyone else's. I used to instantly deflect such a charge against Christians. 'They are still sinners, after all, and that is why they go to church in the first place -- to hear about how their sins are forgiven.' But do these people have a point? Do our lives always follow what we confess. Or do we worship with the feeling, "Boy, I'm glad that service is over. Pastor's sermon and communion made the service go two minutes over again this week. Now that church is done, I can get back to having fun with my life until next week"? How many of you grew up as perfect kids -- never had to be yelled at even once? How many of your moms used a telephone voice? You know, when she was yelling at you for being a bratty kid one second and then heard the phone ring. Then instantly it was a pleasant, "Hello!" Do we use the telephone voice in our lives, going through all the motions of being a Christian -- serving God and our neighbor -- but then when no one is watching, we bicker, we argue, we use foul language, we are lazy, we talk behind other people's back and a whole host of other things? We all do. And that is why we need to hear Jesus' words just as much as the Pharisees did: "For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly."

Let's just look at one of the sins Jesus lists that makes our hearts rotten -- greed. Does greed pour out of our hearts? Well, are you more concerned about making a regular contribution into your retirement account than giving a regular contribution to the Lord's work? Do you have to own a brand new car and a beautiful house while your church's overseas missions are struggling to survive financially? If God took all your money and cars and house and possessions away, would you still say, "May the name of the Lord be praised" like Job did? Would you be willing to give up all you had -- every last penny -- like the widow at Jesus' time -- and rely completely on God to get you through the next month, the next day? Is what I give to the Lord enough? Not just with money, but with everything? Is sharing my faith once a year enough? Once a month?

When we take a good, close look at our hearts, we must confess that our hearts are hopelessly stained with sin, and our lives show it. It's very sad, really, after all God has done for us. Is it enough, Lord, what I have given to you? For all my sins, can even call myself a Christian?

No, and, yes. No we haven't done enough to thank our Lord. We never could thank him enough for the salvation he has given us. But we can still call ourselves Christians. Why? Here's why. Our status of being a Christian doesn't depend on us. Let me say that again because it is so important. Our status of being a Christian doesn't depend on us. It depends solely on God. Just listen to what the Bible says: "Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word," (Ephesians 5:25,26) a reference to holy baptism where God washed our sins away. "The blood of Jesus purifies us from all sin." (1 John 1:7) Jesus cleansed us; Jesus purified and continues to purify us. God did it all for us.

We have never given God enough, but Jesus did. He never had a greedy thought, even though he had no place to call home during his earthly ministry. Jesus gave God enough -- perfection -- exactly what God needed to be able to declare us righteous because Jesus died on the cross that we deserved to take our sins away and give us his perfection. Have we given God enough? No, but Jesus gave God enough for us.

The question that remains for the Christian who has been redeemed by Christ is not, "Is what I have given you enough, Lord?" but rather, "Since you, Lord, have given me enough, in fact, all I need for eternal life, what more can I do to thank you, my Lord and my Savior?" What can I do to put God #1 in my life? After all, isn't that what God's law tells me? Put God first in my life, serve others. And when I see that I don't ever measure up to that law, I look to Jesus, who gave God enough for me, so I can now live for him. Now I praise God and thank him with my entire life.

Go and be that great tree in the forest -- made great by God himself who has filled your hollowness with his Spirit and has taken your rottenness away forever. Then live your entire life as a thank-you to God. The hymnist said it well:

Thus might I hide my blushing face while his dear cross appears,
Dissolve my heart in thankfulness, and melt my eyes to tears.
But drops of grief can ne'er repay the debt of love I owe;
Here, Lord, I give myself away -- 'Tis all that I can do. Amen.