What Makes us Moral? Mark 7:1-23 1. Moral License (aesthetic) 2. Moral Legalism (ethical) “The Mishnah, a compilation of Jewish oral laws made at the end of the second century a.d., says, “Tradition is a fence around the law.” Tradition, as the Jews saw it, protected God’s Holy Word and assisted his people in keeping it. This fencing of the Law probably began well enough, but as the years passed it produced some famous absurdities. For example, in an effort to protect the Sabbath from being broken through inadvertent labor, the devout were given an amazing list of prohibitions—fences. For example, looking in the mirror was forbidden, because if you looked into the mirror on the Sabbath day and saw a gray hair, you might be tempted to pull it out and thus perform work on the Sabbath. You also could not wear your false teeth; if they fell out, you would have to pick them up and you would be working. In regard to carrying a burden, you could not carry a handkerchief on the Sabbath, but you could wear a handkerchief. That meant if you were upstairs and wanted to take the handkerchief downstairs, you would have to tie it around your neck, walk downstairs, and untie it. Then you could blow your nose downstairs! The rabbis debated about a man with a wooden leg: if his home caught on fire, could he carry his wooden leg out of the house on the Sabbath? One could spit on the Sabbath, but you had to be careful where. If it landed on the dirt and you scuffed it with your sandal, you would be cultivating the soil and thus performing work.” Kent Hughes “Would God say something similar to us? · They attend church, but their heart is far from Me. · They read their Bible, but their heart is far from Me. · They pray eloquently, but their heart is far from Me. · They contribute money, but their heart is far from Me. · They do ministry, but their heart is far from Me. · They love to sing, but their heart is far from Me. · They talk to others about Jesus, but their heart is far from Me.” David Guzik “Premise 1: If hypocrites exist in the church, then Christianity must be false. Premise 2: Hypocrites exist in the church. Conclusion: Therefore, Christianity is false. The problem with this argument is easy to detect. It doesn’t necessarily follow from the fact that hypocrites exist in the church that Christianity isn’t true. Remove the word Christianity and plug in a few of the belief options discussed above—say atheism or Islam—and what do you discover? The same thing. You can try it with Apple or Walmart. And what do you have? Apple is false, Walmart is false. Absurd, right? Merely looking at the hypocrisy of an individual or individuals is not enough to explain away one’s beliefs. We must look at the belief itself.” Yours Truly. 3. Moral Love (religious) Three Takeaways: *Strive to integrate what you say with what you do *Settle to put God’s Word above what others say *Remember to guard your heart above all else “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it” (Proverbs 4:23). "The heart is used as a metaphor for the seat of our most basic orientation, our deepest commitments — what we trust the most (Proverbs 3:5; 23:26); it is what we most love and hope in, what we most treasure, what captures our imagination (Matthew 6:21). Every heart has an inclination (Genesis 6:5), something it is directed toward. The direction of the heart, then, controls everything — our thinking, feeling, and decisions and actions. What we most love we find reasonable, desirable, and doable. Whatever we cherish in our hearts most controls the whole person. No wonder Jesus is so concerned about our hearts.” Timothy Keller