Worship
Scripture
“The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus and saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. (The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers, and kettles.)
So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, ‘Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with defiled hands?’
He replied, ‘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 merely human rules.’You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.” -Mark 7:1-8, emphasis added
Understanding the Heart of Religious Tradition
I can’t tell you how many conversations I have with people when I go to share the gospel that the person quickly replies, “I don’t care for religion.” In agreement, I say to them, “Me either!” I believe Jesus had the same sentiment as He continually pushed back, rebuked, and addressed the religious of His day. If Jesus was worn out with it back then, after 2000 years of brewing religious tradition, how much more exhausted we should be! Anyone else tired of law abiding, fruitless, worthless religion?
The religious ruling authority came marching in to assess Jesus and His law-abiding ministry. In his Bible commentary, David Guzik said on the situation: “The concept of evaluating Jesus’ ministry was fine. In outward appearance, these men protected Israel from a potential false prophet or false messiah. But the way they actually evaluated Jesus was all wrong. First, they already made up their mind about Jesus. Second, they did not evaluate Jesus against the measure of God’s Word. They evaluated Him against the measure of their religious traditions.”
How Jesus Confronts Religious Barriers Today
That last sentence is key to me and a place I want us to land for a moment. As I was sitting with the Lord this morning, longing to just be with Him, He took me to this passage of Mark 7. This segment of Scripture is what jumped off the page for me. Then I sat with Him and wrote these words down:
“I am looking for authentic Lovers. I want to respond to deep longing for Me. I will take whatever you are willing to give me because My desire and longing for intimacy with you is enormous. I will meet My people whenever and however they come. But the one who comes to Me with raw, boundless longing- I have so much room to respond and move. Why? Because there are not religious limitations as to HOW I come. I can show up however I like and not be pushed away for lack of understanding on their part. My people are crippled under the weight of rules put on one another by mere men. They are not from Me. Rules and traditions erode intimacy. I want to come in a new way to My people- with wonder upon wonder. But some will get so offended. So I wait. Religion grieves Me. It’s empty and it’s heartless. It’s a mere checklist so My people can assume they are “doing it right”. Many want what their eyes have seen before and their minds have been able to comprehend. Anything outside of this familiarity causes offense and contempt. It causes them to actually doubt my goodness. And then the enemy likes to point fingers at others in the body of Christ in order to bring an even greater spirit of offense to my Bride. It’s all just empty religion. Where am I in all of that? I wait. I have such full intimacy for us to experience together but religion doesn’t allow for experiences. It only allows for what is common to be acceptable. I am tired of the religion that is holding My people back from experiencing all of me. People need to stop agreeing with the offenses of the enemy! I need My people to let me out of this religious box that keeps me unoffendable to them. Let me do what I want to do without being offended! Let me love you and show my wonders to you!”
I sat with a soberness in my spirit that we have got to let GOD out of the box of our human traditions, limitations, and judgments. There is so much more to experience of Him, but we are bound in fear, man-made limitations, and old traditions. And so, He waits for those whose hands are wide open, caution is thrown to the wind, and surrender encompasses our worship.
I can recall a time I began to wrestle with this concept of religious tradition. It came in the form of a question someone asked me. This man said to me, “If you saw a man with missing limbs, would you have the faith to pray for God to grow them back?” My religious tradition or denomination didn’t allow for the space of faith to pray for that. I never saw God do that, I only read about those stories during the Azusa Street Revival or oversees in Africa. Here in America? This simple question made me realize how small I had been believing God for wonders and how limited my real understanding of Him had been for those 34 years. Then my journey began into understanding the finished work of the cross, our partnership with Jesus here on earth, and the very little I actually knew about the power and wonder of God.
God’s Word Guides Us to True Relationship
Since my calling is to raise up women to be powerful forces for the Kingdom of God, I have wondered what the women of Jesus’ day, who would have been following Him, were being scrutinized for. The law had such extreme limitations on women. From the time of the fall of man, women have been oppressed— it’s what the devil likes to do to limit what God wants to do through women. You can see it from culture to culture and most definitely in religion itself. In Judaism, which emerged in the 400 years of silence, there were 617 laws against women. There were 247 Old Testament laws against women. In Jesus day, the Sadducees and Pharisees established 100 additional laws that were against women, to keep them oppressed! They were not permitted to be taught; they had no voice; they were the property of men and were forbidden to even speak to men in public. They couldn’t even be a witness in a court case because they were believed to be liars. And do you know that Jesus, who bore the very likeness and message of His Father came to liberate women— Jesus stood as the first pioneer to the women’s liberation movement. The cross redefined equality (Galatians 3) and freedom for those in Christ Jesus, irrespective of gender. Jesus established our value and identity and we women were given an equal Holy Spirit, it is not a subset or lesser Holy Spirit. So, I present to you today, the Biblical position of your value, authority, and critical calling as women to the greatest movement to ever sweep the world— the Gospel of Jesus to the ends of the earth.
Sisters, I believe it’s time to really take a deep dive into why we believe what we believe. Is it the counsel of the Spirit and the Word of God or is the traditions of mere men? Does your theology liberate or oppress God’s people? Is our faith to pray for impossible things bound by the tradition of “No one prays that at my church”? Are rules and regulations keeping you from the freedom to encounter God on HIS TERMS? Will you be ok if He is good but doesn’t move according to your timeline and expectations? What if He shows up in a way you have never seen Him before, will you welcome Him? What are the religious traditions you are following that were never in God’s heart for you?
“These people come near to me with their mouth
and honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship of me
is based on merely human rules they have been taught.
Therefore once more I will astound these people
with wonder upon wonder;
the wisdom of the wise will perish,
the intelligence of the intelligent will vanish.”–Isaiah 29:13-14, emphasis added
I wonder if the reason Jesus didn’t finish the passage from Isaiah was because He knew these religious people were not going to be the ones to experience His wonders? There was not capacity or room in the inn of their hearts for a Savior who wanted to pour out wonder upon wonder. Sisters, I pray that in the revival that God is unleashing across the Earth, that we are the first ones to dive head first into this wave of His Spirit. No limitations and no hesitations. No rules and regulations to His coming; no spirit of offense in us women because we know Whom we have believed! Will you ask Him to take you to your proverbial box that He may just reside in and show you the walls and boundaries He would like to blow down? Would you dare to let Him out and let Him take religion to the cross where it gets crucified so that grace and life and freedom can spring forth!
It’s time! It’s time to know who we are as daughters and to move with the heartbeat of Heaven! You were made for this moment— not to be limited by human tradition but to be wooed and wowed by wonders of the Lover of your soul! No more empty religion or heartless tradition.
JESUS, release passion in Your daughters for YOU and only YOU that we would be carriers of revival all of our days! And when You move outside of our understanding, keep offense so far from us, that our only response is face-down worship. Make me an unoffendable authentic lover of You, Jesus. Do what You want to do in my life all of my days. I give You permission to be wondrous!
A Few Key Notes
- Join Arise for a night of worship and prayer this summer! Worship will be led by Jourdan Gaudet, Lizzy King, and Julie King. Email me at [email protected] for details.
Dates: July 13 and August 10
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Lewisville, Texas
- Arise is looking for French speakers to join us for an upcoming short-term mission team. Join us in sharing the love of Jesus with those in Europe!
Europe team
September 17-26: Apply online.
- Join us July 10 as we share the love of Jesus with others in Waco, Texas, for Harvest Day! You can RSVP by emailing Kristin Hill at [email protected].
