"Precepts as Doctrines"

 I choose not to shorten the text as does the Lectionary.  The Gospel lectionary text for next Sunday is Mark 7:1-23.  I am not afraid to offend with the truth of Jesus here.  If you are offended, you may leave as did those from last week's lectionary.  Thanks.

Thank GOD we are back in Mark!

The corrupt religious cult leaders accused Jesus and His disciples of uncleanness.  They just loved to weaponize the Word for their own purposes - to judge others out of hatred, to exercise control over their lives in order to gain more money from their sacrifices in the Temple, to give the appearance of being authorities by their abuses of power, and to appear to be upright to gain status over others.  These are, of course, BOGUS claims.  Their unfaithfulness to God's Word is the stuff of Gospel corrections and admonishments, as we have in this text.

Jesus, quoting Isaiah 29, accused them of giving lip service to God but their real devotion and obedience to other gods, including themselves.  They used their own, twisted precepts to get what they wanted, as do we.  Prosperity Theology, Purity/Holiness Self-Righteousness theologies, Personal Salvation theologies, Church growth theologies with Blessed and Highly Favored theologies serve self as god, rather than Jesus.

As Jesus graphically pointed out (perhaps why the lectionary folk were offended), regulating purity and holiness, false pieties produce SHIT just like anything else.

Instead, we need to find our faithfulness in following Jesus' Law of Agape Love in Grace.  We need to purify our motives and live guileless, agape loving, self-sacrificing, humble and generous lives, instead of the self-serving lives that the false teachers and prophets promote in the church.  It was true then, and is still true.

We right now see the mess that the falsehoods of laissez-faire Capitalism have brought us to, and we can see, if we will, how the church in America with Jesus' name on it has promoted these falsehoods as well.  Peoples' hearts and minds have been polluted with the twisting of the Gospel of Jesus in this nation and across the world, thanks to the American Desolating Sacrilege which began long ago.

Outward pieties mean NOTHING to God.

Do you want to show your love and respect for God?  Do you want to be right with God?  Respect God's Word by living Jesus' Gospel Way in the world.  Strive to live Agape Love (active commitment on behalf of the other, even stranger and enemy, and especially the most vulnerable among us) in Grace (undeserved loving mercy, given freely).  Jesus COMMANDED it.

Then, the world may be saved, from sin and ultimate death, and so may you and I be saved.

Pastor Jamie