Notice what the text tells us. Christ Jesus was still at the height His public ministry – He was highly popular with the common people. Of course much of that had to do with His miracles, but still, some people were listening to Him. That popularity was causing some jealous consternation down in Jerusalem. This was a Judean delegation investigating and castigating the Lord Jesus Christ. So the state church, with their officially approved and politically correct leaders went looking for flaws in Christ. “We will have no Anabaptists around here. If you people were just doing your thing in your caves and closets, we might ignore your foolishness, but you’re convincing some of our people that we are not the leaders of God’s religion.” Of course they found no flaws in the Lord, “for he did no sin neither was their guile found in Him.” “We have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” So the Pharisees turned their attentions towards the Lord’s more fallible followers – you and me. Some of the disciples didn’t take seriously the washing of their hands. Perhaps some actually came to meals with dirty hands. Others washed, but didn’t go to the lengths that Pharisees did to ceremonially wash hands that were already perfectly clean.
The Pharisees looked at religion way the old woman looked at dog that she had found. She not only put on flea powder all over him, but shaved the poor dog bald just make sure that there were no bugs hiding there among the hair. She didn’t want her new dog to bite any of the neighbors, so had all its teeth pulled out. And she didn’t want barking at night, so she gagged it before she went to bed. Of course, she didn’t want it running away, so she had one front leg and one hind leg cut off. She ended up with a dog that looked like two legged snake, but with more poison hate than a whole herd of rattlers.
The Pharisees – and their modern-day kin – take the joy out of serving Jesus. They are so minute in their rules and regulations – for the glory of God of course – that they force people to take their eyes off the Lord and Glory, and to watch themselves and their neighbors like hawks. Some make wearing facial hair a sin; while others make not having a full beard some sort of sin. Wearing contact lenses is vanity and pride, hiding our weakness from the neighbors. They take reading anything but Bible, some sort of rebellion against God. They take rulers to people’s hair to make sure that their locks are either long enough or short enough. They do the same thing to skirts and sleeves.
Do you suppose that some of the disciples really did take hand washing seriously? By that I mean, I wash my hands often, and almost always just before eating my bread. Does that make me a Pharisee? In this particular case, the Lord had not so much as one word of criticism for either party. There is no sin involved either in washing or not washing one’s hands.
Washing is logical, but nowhere in Bible do read any regulations about washing hands like this. Apparently, one of the early Pharisees had started going to extremes in cleanliness. Then another Pharisee thought that was almost as religious as taking an offering. Soon it became as much a part of their religion as the weekly bingo party.
Brethren, “God is spirit and they that worship must worship Him in Spirit and Truth.” Sure, I admit that sin destroys the possibility of worship, but a little dirt on the hand is not sin. Neither is it sin if you dye your hair, drink two cans of Coke in a day, or read Sir Arthur Conon Doyle. When men force others to live according tradition rather than the revealed Truth, a false religion is created. These Pharisees had divorced themselves from the “religion” of Jehovah. It is the heart that the Lord is interested in, not the cleanliness of one’s hands. The Devil delights in Phariseeism. The washing of hands was just the tip of the iceberg for these people. Generally, they will throw away the counsel of God I other areas, in order to follow the counsels of men.
The Lord’s example was the Bible’s demand of children’s obedience and honor towards their parents. The Bible teaches that if in their old age parents have unmet needs – if they are poor – then the children are to come to their aide and rescue. And if any child implies by his actions, or if he says, “Forget it old man,” that child is cursed of God. But the Pharisees had come up with a plan, creating something like a trust. The Book of Mark tells us that they called it “corban.” That was an Hebrew word adopted into the Greek of the New Testament and left untranslated. It means a gift or offering consecrated to God. Anything over which this word was once pronounced was irrevocably dedicated to the temple. Land was the only exception because of some clear Old Testament laws.. Selfish, sinful children might say, “Dad, I would love to give you my new Mercedes, but it is “corban.” I have dedicated it to the Lord. I use it to drive to synagogue each week, but I can’t give to you, because it belongs to God. I’m sorry, but I can’t pay for your doctor bills, because I have given all but my meager living expenses to Jehovah;, it is corban.” By such means as this the Pharisees had circumvented their obvious duties toward their parents.
Christ said that they had made the Word of God of none effect.
Jesus brushes up on some very important theology here. He speaks of “the commandment of God,” and of course that commandment is found in the Word of God. He quotes or paraphrases two Old Testament writers – Moses and Isaiah. But throughout His discussion, the Lord goes beyond the human writer to the Divine Author. Jehovah is the author of the Book that I now hold in my hand. He is not author of merely the original versions this book, but through His divine hand of protection and promise, He is the author of this particular book. I hear people say that the original writings of Moses and Isaiah were inspired by God – certainly true. But many of them do so with the idea that through translation, the accuracy or the authority of the Word of God is gone. These people need realize that the Lord Jesus used a copy of the Bible just like we do. He held up His copy and said, “This is what God hath said.” “Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit of the Lord.” But when Jesus referred to Isaiah the prophet, he could have said, “God has said unto you… Why didn’t He say that? So that His hearers would know the mouth-piece and the reference. Why didn’t He say that God commands obedience to and the honor of one’s parents? He could have, but to show the people chapter and verse, He used language which no Jew could mistake. Then in verse 6, why didn’t he say, “You’ve made void the words of Moses and Isaiah?” Because they were not merely the words of Moses and Isaiah, but the words of God.
It is important that everyone understand that when I read, quote or refer to this Book, I am giving you, not my opinions, but the message of God. When I read the Bible, those words are not open to debate or contradiction. We may struggle with understanding, and sometimes we may disagree about meaning, but the words themselves are not to be questioned – they came from God. There is not a person here who should not be listening attentively to what the Word of the Lord says. “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but the Word of the Lord endureth for ever. “Not one jot or tittle of the Word of God shall fail or fall – ever!!!”
Well then how is the Word made of none effect?
As the Lord tells us here, by placing the words and traditions of man above the message of God. Sinful men would much rather be lead by sinful men than by an holy God. They would prefer men of passions like their own; blind men fancy blind guides. Tradition suits us much better than a holy revelation from the infinite God. When Jesus showed up in Gadera and healed most notable derelict, the people begged Him to depart from their coasts. We will not have this man to rule. We will not have this Bible to rule over us. Tradition is like the mold on a very, very old piece of cheese. The cheese may be perfectly fine underneath, but all that we can see is the fungus. And with the passing of time that green, blue and red scum, just keeps growing and growing. Over the months, if it doesn’t stop, it just gets bigger and uglier. But then some religious person comes along and tells us that the mold is better than the cheese. “Some of that is Penicillin – it is very helpful to the average body.” When we are told something like that often enough eventually it comes to the place where believe it. Finally Satan has us convinced to throw away the cheese and just eat the mold. Paul says, “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” Don’t give heed to Jewish fables and the commandments of men, that turn people from the Truth. Peter says, “It is the vain traditions of your fathers that keep people from redemption through the blood of Christ, the lamb of God.” There is reason to destroy the modern traditions about baptismal salvation and infant baptism. There are dozens of soul-damning doctrines just like these. It is the declaration of God, not tradition, which this sin-cursed world needs.
There are other ways that the word of God is made of none effect. We can make it ineffective by looking at the Bible rather than at the revelation which is in the Bible. I have read of a prisoner who was condemned to solitary confinement for two years. His only companion was to be a Bible in which it was hoped he might find reform. He was ordered that to secure his release he would have to prove that studied God’s Word. So after months of study he reported – The Bible contains 3,586,489 letters; 773,692 words, 31,173 verses. The word “and” occurs 46,277 times; the middle verse is Ps. 118:8. All the letters of alphabet are found in Ezra 8:21. The longest verse in the Bible is Esther 8:9,and the shortest John 11:35. Because he proved that he had studied the Bible, the man was released. He left that prison after two years without seeing a soul except for his guards. Then he went to a bar, got drunk, found the two men who had betrayed him, and slit both their throats. He had studied his Bible, but he got nothing from that study. In fact, his two years of study should have made his second sentance much worse than the first.
Psalm 119:126 says, “It is time for thee, Lord, to work, for they have made void thy law.” The Bible is made of none effect by considering it nothing more than a religious novelty. We are wasting time to look at it like a telescope – studying it’s shape, lines, lenses, case and so on. Telescopes are for using to look toward heaven. And the Bible is to be used to look toward the Heaven of Heavens. Yes, you studied the deity of Christ this morning – praise the Lord, it is what you should have done. Those of you who were not here at 10:00 this morning will have to explain your absence to God. But you who were here, were you looking at the deity of Christ as only an intellectual novelty? Did our study prepare you to listen to what the infinite God has to tell you? The Word of God is of none effect where there is no application made.
It is also ruined in its effect by way of we live our lives. The woman with the lost husband can forget about preaching the Word to him, if she refuses to live the Word of God. The man who wants to win his friend to Christ, can’t do that while drinking himself drunk with the man. We can’t tell people that we love the moral righteousness of Christ, when we love the sinfulness of the world. We can’t invite the lost to the house of God, and we come in the door fifteen minutes late every service. It is quite easy to make the Word of God of none by our conduct. Did the sailors listen to Jonah’s preaching as he ran from the face of the Lord? Did David’s children follow him to the house of God, when they knew that he lived in adultery? Did the Israelites bring Canaanites to Christ as they walked with them to their high places?
Is it possible to strip the Word of its power and its blessing? Yes it is. We can put so much water in the soup that it loses all possibility of actually feeding us. We can dilute the medicine to such a degree that it can never help our ailing body. We can make so many of our own corrections to the map of life that it becomes impossible read. To paraphrase Paul, “While the Word of God was nothing but facts, figures and history, I was fine, but then one day the law revived and I died.” One day the Command of God took on life in his ear, and he saw that he was without hope. The curses which we find in the Word of God are essential to the need of our souls. “There is not a just man upon the earth that doeth good and sinneth not.” But it’s not until the Word tells us this that we have any real concept of fact. The curses of God are as much a part of His blessings as His promises of Heaven. Making the word of none effect robs men of that important lesson.
“Forever, O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven.” “The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but word of our God shall stand for ever.” “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but the Word of Christ shall not pass away.” There is no doubt but that God’s word is sure and eternal, but through our sin we can make the word of God of none effect to ourselves. And sadly we can make sure that it is of no effect to others as well.