HONOR AND WORSHIP GOD FROM OUR HEARTS
Mark 7:1-23
Key Verse: 7:6
1. What accusation did the Pharisees bring against Jesus’ disciples (1-5)? What were the traditions of the elders, and how had they developed1?
2. Read verses 6-8. According to Jesus, what was the Pharisees’ problem? Why is it so important to honor God from our hearts (Gen 6:5-6; 1 Sa 16:7; Pr 4:23)? How does Jesus relate this to their attitude toward God’s word?
3. What example does Jesus give of their setting aside the commandments of God to hold to the traditions of men (9-13)? What can we learn here?
4. What did Jesus teach the crowd about what makes a person unclean (14-16)? How did Jesus explain to his disciples what really defiles a person (17-23; Jer 17:9)?
5. How can we honor and worship God with a pure heart (Tit 3:5; Heb 9:14; 1 Jn 1:7-9)?
See NIV Study Bible note on Matthew 15:2, which reads, “After the Babylonian exile, the Jewish rabbis began to make meticulous rules and regulations governing the daily life of the people. These were interpretations and applications of the law of Moses, handed down from generation to generation. In Jesus’ day this ‘tradition of the elders’ was in oral form. It was not until c. AD 200 that it was put into writing in the Mishnah (see note on Ne 10:34).”↩