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This Week's Sermon THE TWELFTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST 23 August 2009 "When Religion Goes Bad" Mark 7:1-13 LSB Series B Pastor Philip G. Meyer Soli Deo Gloria!

First of all, we need to offer a definition of the word "religion" because this term is not necessarily equivalent to Christianity although it is commonly used as a description. The Athanasian Creed never uses that term, but instead uses the term "the Christian faith." However, it is a commonly used term to describe particular faiths as well. The word "religion" comes through a number of languages, beginning with Latin. From the root meaning of the word we get "conduct indicating a belief in a divine power." The connection is made between what one confesses with his lips and how he lives. There is a true religion and false religions. We confess Christianity as the one true religion and all others as counterfeits because there are claims as to what is true and what is not.

Behind every religion are always those who profess one thing and do another. It has always been so, even from the days of Adam and Eve. Cain, for example, is one who said one thing and did another. God was not pleased with his sacrifice. Israel had a history of saying one thing and doing another. God sent judges and prophets to them to call them to repentance. We hear God's call through Isaiah in today's Old Testament reading, words repeated by our Lord in accusing the Pharisees of hypocrisy.

The Pharisees were a sect of the Jews who set themselves apart. In fact, the name "Pharisee" is supposed to mean "those who are set apart" [John of Damascus, ACC Mark, p. 97]. They were thought of as being the most moral people of the day. They believed in the chief doctrines of the Bible, such as the resurrection of the dead, the existence of angels, and holiness of life [Acts 23.8]. They practiced a rigorous morality of asceticism, sexual abstinence for periods of time, fasting twice a week, paying tithes of everything, including the first fruits, the recitation of prayers at prescribed times of the day. And they practiced a rigorous ritual cleanliness, even down to cups, pots, copper vessels, and dining couches. It appeared that they took their religion seriously. They were the kind of people you would like to have for your neighbors-maybe.

What you see and experience about a person's religion is really the only information you get. You cannot see into a person's heart to see whether he truly believes it. Only God can do that, but often times actions betray lack of faith. When that happens, we say that such a person's religion has gone bad. Of course, if a person starts out with a corrupt religion, his actions will also be corrupt. For example, Islam officially forbids murder, but Sharia law [the traditions of their elders] allows and encourages the practice of "honor killings," that is, the murder of those deemed to have brought disgrace to the family or to Islam for dressing in a way deemed inappropriate or for engaging in sexual practices not permitted by the tradition [cf. Wikipedia, "honor killings"].

This morning we are not so much concerned about others as ourselves. We cannot control what others do with regard to their religions, but what we do matters a great deal to our Lord. It either reflects the love of Christ or it betrays him to others.

"Going through the motions" might be a way of describing this kind of religion that the Pharisees practiced, a religion that is disconnected from one's confession of faith. I discovered that there are quite a number of published songs, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer to Blue Oyster Cult to so-called "Christian lyrics" that contain the words "going through the motions." It seems to be a problem for a lot of people. We say one thing and do another.

Going through the motions is a kind of tradition. That's the way you've always done something. Traditions are things handed down to us from others. Some traditions are good and some are not. Kissing your loved ones good night could be considered a good one while abusing them is not. Sometimes traditions become machine-like, that is, we forget why we do them. Our hearts are not in them and they become a kind of benign hypocrisy.

The Pharisees' hypocrisy was far from benign. It was malignant. Their religion went bad because it trumped the Word of God. Its slavish nature enslaved them to the degree that their hearts were far from God and his Word. Things got so bad that they twisted God's Law into knots. In this case that Jesus cites, the Pharisees' rules allowed some to avoid taking care of their needy parents so that they could be recognized for what they had dedicated to God. They acquired through their religious rules what should have gone to their parents. They made the Fourth Commandment of no effect-all in the name of religion. It can be explained like this: "It is Corban, that is, a gift which I have promised to the altar and will present at the temple, where it will relieve you as much as if I were to give it to you directly to buy food." It would be something like taking food from your destitute parents and giving it to the Church. While it appears that giving to the Church would be right and good, it would not if you failed to meet the needs of your loved ones. The Pharisees wanted to look good religiously, but they broke the Fourth Commandment in ways most never think of. They made void the Word of God while appearing to be very religious.

It is such hypocrisy that the world despises even though the world cannot see its own hypocrisy in many things. Really, it is idolatry. With idolatry man always wants to put himself in the place of God, to be his own god, to act like him, to speak for him. The idolatrous person creates his own rules, adding to or subtracting from God's Law whenever it is to his advantage. He'll subtract from God's Word when he doesn't like it, make exceptions and excuses for doing it.

We have watched the word of man trump the Word of God often in our day as many denominations have adopted practices directly in conflict with God's Word. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America adopted this past week the recommendations of a select committee to allow congregations to "recognize, support, and hold publicly accountable life-long, monogamous, same-gender relationships" [Recommendation on Ministry Policies from the ELCA Church Council to the 2009 Churchwide Assembly]. More than that, the recommendation goes on to encourage such persons to be "rostered leaders of this church." That means they recommend ordained homosexual clergy as pastors and church leaders. They have set aside the Word of God and elevated the recent traditions of man over God's Word. The resolutions passed with a two-thirds majority even though the assembly had changed the rules to allow a mere 51% margin. In order to appear compassionate to those who flaunt the Word of God, they made the Word of God nothing. We are filled with a great sadness as we see fellow Christians abandon even more of the Christian faith and we pray for our relatives and friends who continue to be members of this denomination.

Going through the motions can hide what's really in your heart. I suppose that happens a lot when it comes to attendance at Divine Service. Regular attendance is a good tradition, no question about it. This is the place that God wants you to be to receive his gifts. But your sinful heart can get in the way and can even pervert this good tradition and make it something bad. That's what happened to the Pharisees. What started out nobly became something very perverted and evil. They went far beyond the Word of God and elevated the word of man and the traditions of man so highly that these traditions trumped the Word of God himself!

What becomes more important to you than the Word of God? What becomes your idol? As Luther reminds us in the Large Catechism, an idol is anything you think more important than God himself.

Do you bend or even break God's Word to suit what you like or what you wish to do? Do you excuse your sins because you know that you can always ask for forgiveness? Do you neglect your Christian vocation with regard to others so that they begin to doubt your confession of Christ? Are you guilty of what might be called "false advertising" about Christ? There are more failures than you and I would care to admit, but admit them we must!

In fact, it involves more than admitting that you have failed . . . it means confessing that before God. It means owning up to the fact that your actions may have harmed another person, just as the Pharisees did with "Corban." It means hearing the Word of God, especially this Word of God spoken through Isaiah and again by our Lord:

"'This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me . . .'" (Mark 7:6, ESV)

It means repenting.

Ah yes, repent! But there is a danger here, too, because you can simply "go through the motions!" Each Divine Service you confess, in one form or another, the same thing: "I, a poor, miserable sinner . . ." Some years ago I occasionally removed The Preparation from the Divine Service. I had a couple of members challenge me on that. When I asked why it bothered them, they said, "Because we've always done this before." Tradition! "But," I countered, "you can always confess in Private Absolution if you have such burdens." "Oh," they said, "but we've never done that before!" Ah, another tradition, one of not doing something! It was not a matter of what the Word of God said, but of tradition.

Repentance is the only answer. Resolutions to do better won't work because the sin of idolatry is always crouching at your door. The only answer is repentance and faith in Christ. Jesus is the only One who never acted hypocritically, who never sought his own interest or advantage, who never made promises he didn't intend to keep. He is the only One who ever honored his father and mother as God demands. In short, he is the only One who has ever kept the Commandments as God demands they be kept. He is the only One who was never guilty of idolatry, of a heart far from God. Through his innocent life, his suffering and death, he conveys forgiveness to you. Through Holy Baptism you live in his life. He empowers you through his Word and Sacrament to fulfill your Christian vocation, even if you do it imperfectly. As you receive Christ you receive his strength and power to live genuine Christian lives. Listen to these words from one of our great Lord's Supper hymns:

627 Jesus Christ, Our Blessed Savior

10 Let this food your faith so nourish
That its fruit of love may flourish
And your neighbor learn from you
How much God's wondrous love can do.

Text: © 1980 Concordia Publishing House Used by permission: LSB Hymn License .NET, number 100010193.
Created by Lutheran Service Builder © 2006 Concordia Publishing House.

That's genuine Christianity. It is not your perfection but Christ's. The most important thing in the Christian religion is not slavish adherence to the traditions of men but firm trust in the Word of God and receiving Christ's gifts so that you are able to serve your neighbor in your Christian vocation.