Sunday, March 22: Son of God

Mark 7:1–37

How is the social distancing going? As it turns out, this week we will be talking about the importance of washing your hands.

Seriously. That’s our text for the week. But it’s not what you think.

In Mark 7, Jesus gets into a debate with the Pharisees about the importance of washing your hands—not for hygiene, but for worship.

The Pharisees recognized the holiness of God and rightly emphasized the importance of personal holiness. Unfortunately, they mistakenly thought that the key to personal holiness was washing their hands before they ate. They figured that since they were holding on to their traditions like that, they were okay with God. They criticized Jesus and his disciples for not following their example.

Mark 7:1–37 is a series of stories related to holiness. While the subject matter is handwashing, the true issue is worship. Who can be close to a holy God? Jesus’ teaching on this subject was shocking. He departed from the teaching of the religious leaders of his day.

In it, we learn something crucial about the heart of God: He does not distance Himself from the unclean; He seeks them out.

We are online only this week. The stream is best viewed at 9:00 AM on Facebook Live (https://www.facebook.com/BelieversFellowshipGH/), but you can also watch on the website (https://www.believersfellowship.net/watch-live/) or the mobile app.

“See” you on Sunday!