Wednesday, January 10, 2007
God Made Dirt And Dirt Don't Hurt
Thursday, January 11, 2007
There’s an old saying I remember saying… when Mama would get upset about us eating with DIRTY HANDS… I’d always say to her, “God made dirt and DIRT DON’T HURT. If I die, God’ll know why.” I meant it as a funny, but from that little diddy, I pull tonight’s message…
“GOD MADE DIRT, and DIRT DON’T HURT;” If you’ll pardon my stunted English in that one, small phrase…
Mark 7:1-5
7:1 Then came together unto him the Pharisees, and certain of the scribes, which came from Jerusalem.
2 And when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is to say, with unwashen, hands, they found fault.
3 For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders.
4 And when they come from the market, except they wash, they eat not. And many other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups, and pots, brasen vessels, and of tables.
5 Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands?
Pharisees had a staunch tradition about everything. One of those matters was about cleanliness. They were so concerned with being clean on the outside. It stemmed from a teaching that a person could be defiled by anything he or she touched on the outside.
God had given instructions not to touch the unclean thing… a person who was leprous… a dead body… even a woman was unclean at a certain time of the month. God’s perspective of doing this was to prevent people from being harmed physically. Before Louis Pasteur discovered micro-cell biology, and biochemistry, God understood the harmful effects of microscopic organisms. He was protecting his chosen people from these things.
Today, we have anti-bacterial soap. We understand that we must cook meat thoroughly to eat it. We understand Salmonella, and E-coli, and the like.
Pharisees, in their attempts to be OUTWARDLY HOLY, had taken these teachings and had run them into the ground. And this is what they were fussing about with Jesus about His disciples. They were saying… “Your disciples are eating bread, but they don’t wash their hands…” They didn’t have an understanding that these rules were made to protect men. Men were not made to protect the rules…
The reason I don’t believe in drinking is not because of the RULE; I don’t believe in drinking because it is HARMFUL to the temple of God.
Today, I want to talk about DIRT. God made it. There isn’t a microorganism in the known world that is not embossed with the signature of God. Not so much PHYSICAL DIRT… but a SPIRITUAL PRINCIPLE. The Pharisees had a belief that you had to have clean hands to do the work of God. Jesus explained that these were the rules of men… not the doctrines of heaven. The men who were doing the TRUE work of God were the ones with the dirty hands. So today, we are talking about DIRTY HANDS. Doing kingdom work is going to get your hands dirty.
We know what the scriptures say. Faith without works is dead. Not everyone that says “Lord, Lord” to him is going to get into heaven… but the one that DOES the will of the Father.
I want you to know that doing the KINGDOM WORK is going to get your hands dirty. If you hang out with Jesus you’ll get dirty hands. If you hang out with Jesus you’ll get mussed by the needs of a dying world. If you hang out with the Lord… you’ll be besmirched by the times. If you spend time with the Master, and do what He’s called you to do… you’ll be scorned by Pharisees. Religious folks won’t like you so well. Real Kingdom citizens get DIRTY HANDS.
Jesus’ hands were dirty. He was the one who pulled Lazarus, decomposing, out of his grave with just a word. He’s the one who allowed prostitutes to wash His feet. He’s the one who TOUCHED the leprous. He’s the one who HUNG OUT with the ceremonially UNCLEAN.
There’s an old song that says, “Our Lord is coming back to earth again…”
Let’s just say He did. Let’s just say He came, and didn’t wear a Christmas play costume… the long dress-like robe, and sandals. Let’s just say He didn’t have his characteristic long hair and beard. Let’s just say He had a business man’s hair cut, and clean shaven face. Where would we run into Him? There’s a lot of religious folks who say, “You’ll find Him at the Church of God.” You’ll find Him at the Baptist church. I’d venture to say… just like a salesman goes where the customers are… A SAVIOUR goes where the SINNERS ARE. We’d probably have church as usual and NEVER KNOW He was around. He’d might be up at the DOCK, or outside the bar room; or maybe some other local watering hole. He might be calling some loose woman to repentance. He’d be probably hang out at the common centers of commerce. He might show up in church now and then. But he’s an outsider… that’s threatening to most of us… we’d probably run him off.
Jesus didn’t spend His days in cloistered TOWERS… He got His hands DIRTY with the REGULAR FOLKS. That’s what He’s about… don’t you think that’s what WE ought to be about? What were they doing to get dirty hands? To find that out, you have to go to chapter six…
In verse 2 He was teaching and astonishing people in the synagogue. Teaching the people will get your hands dirty…
You say “I don’t want to get my hands dirty…” Don’t worry about that kind of dirty. That’s the kind of dirt that differentiates a Pharisee, from a Christian. That’s the kind of DIRT that gets God attention.
In verse 5, He was praying for folk. You’ll get your hands dirty by PRAYING. Every child of God ought to have those kind of dirty hands and dirty knees.
In verse 7, He sent out the first missions workers. Jesus recognized that you can’t keep all the dirt for yourself. Kingdom WORK produces mass quantities of that kind of DIRT. And He allowed the Disciples to start getting a little dirty for the Kingdom.
In verse 12 they were preaching repentance. PREACHING the TRUTH will get your hands dirty. The Pharisees won’t like it… but that’s a kind of dirt that changes the world. It’s the kind of dirt that will help you live with a clean conscience.
In verse 13, they were casting out devils and healing the sick. Flowing in the miraculous is a great way to get your hands dirty.
Kingdom work isn’t what happens in the cloistered halls of Christendom. It’s what happens with the demon-possessed, and the infirmed out in the back alleys. It will get your hands dirty.
By verse 33, people were running after Him. If we preach with authority… that kind of truth, folks will run after us too. Preaching the TRUTH will get your hands dirty. Folks will start chasing you, and stir up dust for the Kingdom. PREACH THE TRUTH.
Verse 34 saw Jesus was moved with compassion… and he started teaching again. Compassion will get your hands dirty. Caring about people will get your hands dirty. Being concerned about the plight of those who don’t know HIM will cause us to have dirty hands. The religious folks might not like us for it, but it will certainly get the favor of heaven.
In the 40’s verses… Jesus threw a small dinner party for 5,000 men. The men were those males over 13 years old, in Hebrew culture. That number was not including the women and the children who were present. There might have been as many as 15,000 people there. Just a little dinner party. PROVIDING for the needs of people will get your hands dirty.
In verse 48 He took a little walk on the sea. Jesus was able to work miracles because He listened to the Father. Listening to the voice of the Heavenly Father will cause you to have dirty hands. It was cause you to do PHENOMINAL works for the Kingdom of God.
And by the end of the chapter, He was healing again…
If we’re really going to be about the work of the KINGDOM, we’ll have DIRTY HANDS. The church today is more about external cleanliness that it is about GETTING DIRTY FOR JESUS. We don’t want to be touched by the dirty people… and their dirty little habits.
I hate to tell you this… but DIRTY PEOPLE are DIRTY. They live DIRTY LIVES… in a DIRTY WORLD. They are in over their heads into things that make our heads swim.
Now, I need to say… that the scripture says that the disciples had dirty hands… NOT DIRTY EVERYTHING. They didn’t jump into the world. But they had their hands in it. They were involved in it without being participants. They were touching it… without sharing in it.
Let me ask you a great question. I love the music in this church… it’s great. Some folks say, “I’d like more praise and worship music.” Some folks say… “We need more hymns.” What would you do, if you got to heaven, and you found out that God’s favorite music is RAP? I sincerely hope it’s not… but what if it was? What would you do, if God’s favorite music was rock and roll? I’m not talking about the words… I’m talking the style. What if the Angels aren’t leading Hymns out of the Red Back Song book? Will you pack up and move out of your mansion?
Heaven MIGHT just surprise some of us a bit. It might not be JUST what we think it’s going to be.
Folks, we have to recognize that we have to GET OUR HANDS DIRTY… to TRULY AFFECT THE WORLD.
My children get into some kinds of messes… they get into some things that I don’t even want to touch… but sometimes to get them cleaned up, I have to touch some things that I don’t care to touch.
Sometimes to get folks liberated, we’ve got to lay hold on some things that aren’t really appetizing for us. But we’re not liberated from the task of deliverance… even when the task is awful, revolting or disgusting to us spiritually.
What are we gonna do… if we get to heaven and find out Jesus wasn’t Church of God? What are we gonna do… if the Musical Selection in heaven isn’t Southern Gospel? What are we gonna do… if we find out our pursuits don’t really interest the Father? What are we gonna do… if we thought we were disciples, and we get there and He calls us Pharisees… What will we do?
Folks, I’d much rather reexamine the Word now… find those things that Jesus is blessing – and get our hands dirty. Clean hands won’t win the Kingdom… And don’t worry about getting dirty. God made dirt… and DIRT DON’T HURT.
There’s an old saying I remember saying… when Mama would get upset about us eating with DIRTY HANDS… I’d always say to her, “God made dirt and DIRT DON’T HURT. If I die, God’ll know why.” I meant it as a funny, but from that little diddy, I pull tonight’s message…
“GOD MADE DIRT, and DIRT DON’T HURT;” If you’ll pardon my stunted English in that one, small phrase…
Mark 7:1-5
7:1 Then came together unto him the Pharisees, and certain of the scribes, which came from Jerusalem.
2 And when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is to say, with unwashen, hands, they found fault.
3 For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, except they wash their hands oft, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders.
4 And when they come from the market, except they wash, they eat not. And many other things there be, which they have received to hold, as the washing of cups, and pots, brasen vessels, and of tables.
5 Then the Pharisees and scribes asked him, Why walk not thy disciples according to the tradition of the elders, but eat bread with unwashen hands?
Pharisees had a staunch tradition about everything. One of those matters was about cleanliness. They were so concerned with being clean on the outside. It stemmed from a teaching that a person could be defiled by anything he or she touched on the outside.
God had given instructions not to touch the unclean thing… a person who was leprous… a dead body… even a woman was unclean at a certain time of the month. God’s perspective of doing this was to prevent people from being harmed physically. Before Louis Pasteur discovered micro-cell biology, and biochemistry, God understood the harmful effects of microscopic organisms. He was protecting his chosen people from these things.
Today, we have anti-bacterial soap. We understand that we must cook meat thoroughly to eat it. We understand Salmonella, and E-coli, and the like.
Pharisees, in their attempts to be OUTWARDLY HOLY, had taken these teachings and had run them into the ground. And this is what they were fussing about with Jesus about His disciples. They were saying… “Your disciples are eating bread, but they don’t wash their hands…” They didn’t have an understanding that these rules were made to protect men. Men were not made to protect the rules…
The reason I don’t believe in drinking is not because of the RULE; I don’t believe in drinking because it is HARMFUL to the temple of God.
Today, I want to talk about DIRT. God made it. There isn’t a microorganism in the known world that is not embossed with the signature of God. Not so much PHYSICAL DIRT… but a SPIRITUAL PRINCIPLE. The Pharisees had a belief that you had to have clean hands to do the work of God. Jesus explained that these were the rules of men… not the doctrines of heaven. The men who were doing the TRUE work of God were the ones with the dirty hands. So today, we are talking about DIRTY HANDS. Doing kingdom work is going to get your hands dirty.
We know what the scriptures say. Faith without works is dead. Not everyone that says “Lord, Lord” to him is going to get into heaven… but the one that DOES the will of the Father.
I want you to know that doing the KINGDOM WORK is going to get your hands dirty. If you hang out with Jesus you’ll get dirty hands. If you hang out with Jesus you’ll get mussed by the needs of a dying world. If you hang out with the Lord… you’ll be besmirched by the times. If you spend time with the Master, and do what He’s called you to do… you’ll be scorned by Pharisees. Religious folks won’t like you so well. Real Kingdom citizens get DIRTY HANDS.
Jesus’ hands were dirty. He was the one who pulled Lazarus, decomposing, out of his grave with just a word. He’s the one who allowed prostitutes to wash His feet. He’s the one who TOUCHED the leprous. He’s the one who HUNG OUT with the ceremonially UNCLEAN.
There’s an old song that says, “Our Lord is coming back to earth again…”
Let’s just say He did. Let’s just say He came, and didn’t wear a Christmas play costume… the long dress-like robe, and sandals. Let’s just say He didn’t have his characteristic long hair and beard. Let’s just say He had a business man’s hair cut, and clean shaven face. Where would we run into Him? There’s a lot of religious folks who say, “You’ll find Him at the Church of God.” You’ll find Him at the Baptist church. I’d venture to say… just like a salesman goes where the customers are… A SAVIOUR goes where the SINNERS ARE. We’d probably have church as usual and NEVER KNOW He was around. He’d might be up at the DOCK, or outside the bar room; or maybe some other local watering hole. He might be calling some loose woman to repentance. He’d be probably hang out at the common centers of commerce. He might show up in church now and then. But he’s an outsider… that’s threatening to most of us… we’d probably run him off.
Jesus didn’t spend His days in cloistered TOWERS… He got His hands DIRTY with the REGULAR FOLKS. That’s what He’s about… don’t you think that’s what WE ought to be about? What were they doing to get dirty hands? To find that out, you have to go to chapter six…
In verse 2 He was teaching and astonishing people in the synagogue. Teaching the people will get your hands dirty…
You say “I don’t want to get my hands dirty…” Don’t worry about that kind of dirty. That’s the kind of dirt that differentiates a Pharisee, from a Christian. That’s the kind of DIRT that gets God attention.
In verse 5, He was praying for folk. You’ll get your hands dirty by PRAYING. Every child of God ought to have those kind of dirty hands and dirty knees.
In verse 7, He sent out the first missions workers. Jesus recognized that you can’t keep all the dirt for yourself. Kingdom WORK produces mass quantities of that kind of DIRT. And He allowed the Disciples to start getting a little dirty for the Kingdom.
In verse 12 they were preaching repentance. PREACHING the TRUTH will get your hands dirty. The Pharisees won’t like it… but that’s a kind of dirt that changes the world. It’s the kind of dirt that will help you live with a clean conscience.
In verse 13, they were casting out devils and healing the sick. Flowing in the miraculous is a great way to get your hands dirty.
Kingdom work isn’t what happens in the cloistered halls of Christendom. It’s what happens with the demon-possessed, and the infirmed out in the back alleys. It will get your hands dirty.
By verse 33, people were running after Him. If we preach with authority… that kind of truth, folks will run after us too. Preaching the TRUTH will get your hands dirty. Folks will start chasing you, and stir up dust for the Kingdom. PREACH THE TRUTH.
Verse 34 saw Jesus was moved with compassion… and he started teaching again. Compassion will get your hands dirty. Caring about people will get your hands dirty. Being concerned about the plight of those who don’t know HIM will cause us to have dirty hands. The religious folks might not like us for it, but it will certainly get the favor of heaven.
In the 40’s verses… Jesus threw a small dinner party for 5,000 men. The men were those males over 13 years old, in Hebrew culture. That number was not including the women and the children who were present. There might have been as many as 15,000 people there. Just a little dinner party. PROVIDING for the needs of people will get your hands dirty.
In verse 48 He took a little walk on the sea. Jesus was able to work miracles because He listened to the Father. Listening to the voice of the Heavenly Father will cause you to have dirty hands. It was cause you to do PHENOMINAL works for the Kingdom of God.
And by the end of the chapter, He was healing again…
If we’re really going to be about the work of the KINGDOM, we’ll have DIRTY HANDS. The church today is more about external cleanliness that it is about GETTING DIRTY FOR JESUS. We don’t want to be touched by the dirty people… and their dirty little habits.
I hate to tell you this… but DIRTY PEOPLE are DIRTY. They live DIRTY LIVES… in a DIRTY WORLD. They are in over their heads into things that make our heads swim.
Now, I need to say… that the scripture says that the disciples had dirty hands… NOT DIRTY EVERYTHING. They didn’t jump into the world. But they had their hands in it. They were involved in it without being participants. They were touching it… without sharing in it.
Let me ask you a great question. I love the music in this church… it’s great. Some folks say, “I’d like more praise and worship music.” Some folks say… “We need more hymns.” What would you do, if you got to heaven, and you found out that God’s favorite music is RAP? I sincerely hope it’s not… but what if it was? What would you do, if God’s favorite music was rock and roll? I’m not talking about the words… I’m talking the style. What if the Angels aren’t leading Hymns out of the Red Back Song book? Will you pack up and move out of your mansion?
Heaven MIGHT just surprise some of us a bit. It might not be JUST what we think it’s going to be.
Folks, we have to recognize that we have to GET OUR HANDS DIRTY… to TRULY AFFECT THE WORLD.
My children get into some kinds of messes… they get into some things that I don’t even want to touch… but sometimes to get them cleaned up, I have to touch some things that I don’t care to touch.
Sometimes to get folks liberated, we’ve got to lay hold on some things that aren’t really appetizing for us. But we’re not liberated from the task of deliverance… even when the task is awful, revolting or disgusting to us spiritually.
What are we gonna do… if we get to heaven and find out Jesus wasn’t Church of God? What are we gonna do… if the Musical Selection in heaven isn’t Southern Gospel? What are we gonna do… if we find out our pursuits don’t really interest the Father? What are we gonna do… if we thought we were disciples, and we get there and He calls us Pharisees… What will we do?
Folks, I’d much rather reexamine the Word now… find those things that Jesus is blessing – and get our hands dirty. Clean hands won’t win the Kingdom… And don’t worry about getting dirty. God made dirt… and DIRT DON’T HURT.
# posted by PastorChris @ 9:18 PM 
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