Your Authentic Self (Mark 7:1–23)

CPT: Jesus exposes that the sinful defilement of a person does not happen from actions on the outside but from the person on the inside.

Purpose: To teach the church how to approach the underlying ideology of the current age in our culture.

CPS: Your authentic self needs redemption.

Introduction

Attention

We are entering into June. This month brings us the end of a school year. It brings the start of summer. Traditionally, there are a lot of weddings in June. Father’s Day is on June 18th.

But something that you may be confronting, something that is pushed in society, is the celebration of Pride Month, the celebration of the LGBTQ+ community. We are dedicating an entire month to celebrate sin. Homosexuality is a sin against God, and a sin that needs the saving grace of Jesus Christ.

The societal of this sin, as well as all of the gender conversations around it, is being pushed daily. It’s pushed in our stores. It’s pushed with our sports teams. It’s pushed in children’s TV shows and in our schools. There is a real frontal assault in our society that is targeting our children. There is a goal to normalize sexually deviant behavior, a sexuality that is apart from God’s design.

Why is this being pushed? If you want to understand an argument, you need to understand the underlying ideology. You need to know and hear where people are coming from. The ideology goes something like this, “You need to embrace your authentic self. The authentic self is who you are at your core, free from external influences, societal expectations, or the need to conform to other’s standards.” The authentic self is about self-acceptance, living in alignment with your true nature. You live according to your true nature rather than trying to fit into a societal mold.

Here’s the key: What is taught is that when you live according to your true self, in alignment with your inner desires, you will experience a greater sense of fulfillment, satisfaction, and well-being. If you don’t have personal satisfaction, than you need to do more personal growth in embracing your authentic self.

Where does this concept of embracing the authentic self come from? Embracing the authentic self is not something that comes from a biblical argument. Society long ago removed respect for God’s Word. The Word of God is viewed as ancient and oppressive.

But what’s interesting is that people will inevitably replace the Word of God with something else. This happens because human beings need guidance. Human beings are seeking direction. We want wisdom. We want help in making sense of life.

When you don’t take God at his Word, you replace his direction with something else. For many, God’s Word has been replaced by the field of psychology. Now, don’t get me wrong. I believe psychology is an important field. We need more Christians in this field. But when people don’t have faith in God, they attempt to put faith in something else.

One such person is Carl Rogers, a humanistic psychologist who emphasized the importance of self-actualization, congruence, and authenticity in his person-centered therapy. You reach self-actualization when you align your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors with your true nature. In his worldview, the self plays the central role. All a person needed was a safe and supportive space to explore their feelings to reach their truest potential.

There were other influences. But whether it is humanistic, existential, or positive psychology, the focus on the importance of the person and the ability for that person to reach their fullest potential through being in tough with your inner, authentic self has created a society obsessed with being true to yourself and your feelings.

The main argument is, “If I can accept myself for who I am, no matter where my inner drives take me, than I’ll be happy. Then I’ll be fulfilled. I shouldn’t have to conform to what you tell me. You’re the oppressor. I just need to be aligned with my authentic self, and you need to accept me for who I am, no matter what that looks like.”

We will be in a place in the Gospel of Mark where Jesus describes the authentic self, and what your authentic self exposes about you. Let’s take a look together in the Gospel of Mark 7:1-23.

Scripture Reading

Mark 7:1–23 CSB

1 The Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him. 2 They observed that some of his disciples were eating bread with unclean—that is, unwashed—hands. 3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, keeping the tradition of the elders. 4 When they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they have washed. And there are many other customs they have received and keep, like the washing of cups, pitchers, kettles, and dining couches.) 5 So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders, instead of eating bread with ceremonially unclean hands?” 6 He answered them, “Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written: This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. 7 They worship me in vain, teaching as doctrines human commands. 8 Abandoning the command of God, you hold on to human tradition.” 9 He also said to them, “You have a fine way of invalidating God’s command in order to set up your tradition! 10 For Moses said: Honor your father and your mother; and Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must be put to death. 11 But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or mother: Whatever benefit you might have received from me is corban’ ” (that is, an offering devoted to God), 12 “you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother. 13 You nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many other similar things.” 14 Summoning the crowd again, he told them, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand: 15 Nothing that goes into a person from outside can defile him but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.” 17 When he went into the house away from the crowd, his disciples asked him about the parable. 18 He said to them, “Are you also as lacking in understanding? Don’t you realize that nothing going into a person from the outside can defile him? 19 For it doesn’t go into his heart but into the stomach and is eliminated” (thus he declared all foods clean). 20 And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. 21 For from within, out of people’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders, 22 adulteries, greed, evil actions, deceit, self-indulgence, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within and defile a person.”

Pray

The Lord is confronted here by the Pharisees. The Pharisees were religious leaders of the day. They were known for their strict adherence to Law. This Law they followed was the written Torah, and also something called the Oral Torah.

The Pharisees, the come up to Jesus and they confront him about his disciples. They gather around him and say, “We see that your disciples are not following our Law. They are not following the things we say will keep a person pure.”

The Pharisees had a ritual of cleaning their hands before a meal. This probably looked like pour water out from a ceremonial vessel over their hands, allowing the water to run down from the wrist to the fingers. They might pour it over the right, then left, then right, then left. They would rub the hands tightly, getting into all of the crevices, making sure they would remove any impurities. Perhaps there was some spoken words or blessings during the ritual.

So the Pharisees are saying to Jesus, “You need to show them that they need to separate themselves from any impurities. You are their rabbi. You need to teach them our ways, so they can be perfectly set apart.”

Mark says they had lots of rituals like this. They had rituals for washing cups. They had rituals for washing pitchers and kettles. They had rituals for washing their dining area. Why did they have all of these cleaning rituals? Well, they’re coming in from the marketplace. Perhaps they got into contact with some unclean food or thing along the way? Perhaps they wouldn’t know that a dish or kettle had somehow gotten into contact with some unclean food? After all, there may have been Greeks or Romans (Gentiles) out in the marketplace. They needed to be sure that they weren’t defiled by anything unclean.

In order to be sure that they were not defiled, the Pharisees followed the written Torah, which we know as the first five books in the Bible, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, and the Oral Torah.

The Oral Torah, pictured here in Mark 7:5 as the tradition of the elders, is a body of interpretation, commentary, and application of the Written Torah, was was transmitted orally for generations. This included additional Laws not found in the books of Moses, and different procedures on how to follow the Law. The Pharisees believed the Oral Torah had equal authority to the Written Torah.

The Oral Torah was eventually written down into documents called the Talmud. The Talmud includes the Mishnah and the Gemara. The Mishnah was compiled around 200 AD, and the Gemara around 500 AD. The Pharisees teaching of the Oral Torah continues today in what is known as Rabbinic Judaism.

What you’re reading in Mark 7 is an early form of Rabbinic Judaism, a form of Judaism that continues today where they attempt to follow the right path to God through a strict adherence of the Law.

All of this strict adherence and proper rituals to follow might be confusing to some, but the Lord understood and points out a hypocrisy in their actions. He quotes from the prophet Isaiah and says this in Mark 7:6:

Mark 7:6 CSB

6 He answered them, “Isaiah prophesied correctly about you hypocrites, as it is written: This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

“Your heart is far from me.” The Lord says, “You say that you are good. You say that you have it all together. But your heart tells a different story. You think you’re embracing your authentic self as a Jew? But I see the sickness inside of your heart.”

Yesterday, we had a maintenance day here at the church. Our volunteers do incredible work around this campus. I want to honor Sam and his team, Sam, Jack, Matt, and Ken. They come out here and do so much work around here to maintain the property so it can be a beautiful place for us here.

We have a set of stairs in the back of the church. I had pointed out to them a beam that was sticking from under the stairs and rotting. The beam went up into some stucco, and it looked like all you needed to do was knock it out and put in a new piece of wood. The stucco seemed good, so maybe all you needed was some new wood.

But these guys are pros. They said, “We should check what’s happening underneath.” So they started breaking off the stucco to see what was underneath. Sam came by my office a little later and said, “We opened up a can of worms.”

When they looked underneath, water had gotten trapped under there and rotted out all of this wood. From the outside, everything looked pretty good. There was just this little evidence of this one beam that was rotting. But when you pealed back the outer layers of the stucco and looked inside, you realized that all of this wood was rotting away.

That’s a perfect illustration of what the Lord is pointing out in these verses. On the outside, you believe that you look good. You believe that you need to take care of the outside so that your authentic self remains clean. But your authentic self shows that its not the outside things that are corrupting you. It is your inside self, your authentic self, that is corrupted and needs cleansing.

There are two basic things in this text that talks about your authentic self, The first is,

Your authentic self exposes an unclean heart.

What does Jesus say about the Pharisees? He says in Mark 7:7-13:

Mark 7:7–13 CSB

7 They worship me in vain, teaching as doctrines human commands. 8 Abandoning the command of God, you hold on to human tradition.” 9 He also said to them, “You have a fine way of invalidating God’s command in order to set up your tradition! 10 For Moses said: Honor your father and your mother; and Whoever speaks evil of father or mother must be put to death. 11 But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or mother: Whatever benefit you might have received from me is corban’ ” (that is, an offering devoted to God), 12 “you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother. 13 You nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many other similar things.”

By setting up all of these additional laws and procedures, but claiming their way is correct, they have invalidated God’s Law in preference for their own Law. He gives an example. Moses said to honor your father and mother and whoever speaks evil of father or mother must be put to death. But not you! No, you try to get around this, which means you end up denying God’s Word all together because you prefer your own ideas. You tell people they don’t have to follow God’s law if its for the greater good.

We do this today in society. What does God’s Word say about homosexuality? In Leviticus 18:22:

Leviticus 18:22 CSB

22 You are not to sleep with a man as with a woman; it is detestable.

Also, in 1 Cor. 6:9-10:

1 Corinthians 6:9–10 CSB

9 Don’t you know that the unrighteous will not inherit God’s kingdom? Do not be deceived: No sexually immoral people, idolaters, adulterers, or males who have sex with males, 10 no thieves, greedy people, drunkards, verbally abusive people, or swindlers will inherit God’s kingdom.

And we could point to other verses. But what do we say today in society? That sounds oppressive. Don’t put on me any of your societal pressure. If I want to be happy, I need to embrace my authentic self. Your just being phobic. I need to be me. In the most blasphemous way, they say God created them that way, blaming God for their actions.

By claiming a need to embrace their authentic self, they invalidate God’s Word for human tradition. God’s Word doesn’t say that embracing your authentic self will make you happy, peaceful, and fulfilled. God’s Word says that your authentic self is the problem! Your authentic self just exposes that you are a defiled on the inside, and you need salvation in Jesus. Your authentic self is leading you to hell. Don’t embrace your authentic self. Embrace Jesus! Embrace God, know your Creator and his design for your life.

Look at what Jesus says about the authentic self. The Pharisees were concerned about some unclean food or thing coming in contact with their eating utensils. But God shows them where they are truly unclean.

He says in Mark 7:20-22:

Mark 7:20–22 CSB

20 And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. 21 For from within, out of people’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immoralities, thefts, murders, 22 adulteries, greed, evil actions, deceit, self-indulgence, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness.

There are a number of things on this list, and we don’t have time to get into all of them. There are thefts, murders, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. But there are at least four items on this list that have sexual connotations. Two of them are obvious, where he lists sexual immoralities and adulteries. That might be enough there. Certainly a third could be evil thoughts, which include things like lust. The fourth here may not be so obvious, but its the Greek word that is translated in the CSB as self-indulgence.

The word “self-indulgence” is the Greek word ἀσέλγεια (aselgeia), which can also be translated as licentiousness. It means shameless, outrageous behavior or debauchery.

I read a paper on this word - now, there’s probably nothing more Bible nerd than writing a paper on a Greek word, or maybe reading the paper. The Jews would use this word to describe shocking violations of sexual morality, things that go beyond the norm. So in this list, by using this last term, Jesus is covering all kinds of sexual sins, from sins of sin outside of marriage, sins of adultery, sins of lust, and sexual sins that go beyond the norm, including homosexual sin.

Now you might have a question. Why does God care so much about sexuality anyway? Why does he care about what two people do?

To understand God’s plan for sexuality, you need to look at the Adam in the Garden of Eden. In the Garden, God made everything good. But he does say that there was one thing that wasn’t good. It wasn’t good for man to be alone. So God brings all of the animals to Adam, but none of them were suitable for him.

So the Lord causes a deep sleep to go on the man, takes one of his ribs, and creates a woman. God brings the woman to the man, and he says, “At last! This is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh.” Then we have this explanation in Genesis 2:24:

Genesis 2:24 CSB

24 This is why a man leaves his father and mother and bonds with his wife, and they become one flesh.

God then blesses them and gives the man and woman a command, to be fruitful and multiply.

So we have laid out for us this process: A man goes along in life. He seeks a partner. God brings a woman to the man. The two join together in marriage. They now enter into a sexual relationship, and the sexual relationship has a purpose. It is with the purpose of creating more of us. The end goal is to create a family.

But somewhere in our society, we changed the end goal. We made the goal the sexual relationship. We decided that we don’t need the marriage part. We made the family an annoying consequence of the end goal of sex. So now, if the end goal is sex, we make that to be whatever we want.

If find it interesting that every time you invalidate God’s Word for your own ends, you end up creating all kinds of issues. Sex outside of God’s design is the reason for so many of our problems today, including disease, broken homes, depression, and mental illness.

An unspoken issue within the LGBTQ community is an alarming rate of mental health issues. A recent report on LGBTQ+ youth, this is young people ages 13-24, found that 41% considered attempting suicide in the past year. 14% had attempted suicide. Nearly one third reported that their mental health was poor most of the time.

Now the report attempts to make the point that society simply needs to be more affirming of these individuals. If these individuals were not harassed or oppressed from the outside, they would be better on the inside.

I believe that leads us to our last point.

Last,

Your authentic self does not need social change; it needs God’s cleansing.

The Lord ends his statement about the authentic self by describing it this way in Mark 7:23:

Mark 7:23 CSB

23 All these evil things come from within and defile a person.”

We live in a culture that is demanding that the outside change. People want social change so they can feel good. The world says people need to feel validated and accepted for who they truly are. We all need to adjust our thinking so that people feel accepted and validated.

And if the Bible disagrees, that’s an old, outdated book. Society needs to evolve and change so that people can feel validated and live out their authentic self.

It is exactly people living out their authentic self that is causing all of the issues. Why is that? Because society is made up of a whole bunch of people living their authentic selves, and their authentic selves are corrupted. They are defiled.

Your authentic self doesn’t need social change. Your authentic self needs God’s cleansing.

If you want to find happiness, peace, contentment, and joy, these don’t come by embracing your inner desires. It comes by aligning your desires with God’s desires. It comes from aligning your heart with God’s heart.

Paul says this in Col. 3:5-11:

Colossians 3:5–11 CSB

5 Therefore, put to death what belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desire, and greed, which is idolatry. 6 Because of these, God’s wrath is coming upon the disobedient, 7 and you once walked in these things when you were living in them. 8 But now, put away all the following: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and filthy language from your mouth. 9 Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self. You are being renewed in knowledge according to the image of your Creator. 11 In Christ there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free; but Christ is all and in all.

The good news of the Gospel is that God wants to remake that authentic self, which is the defiled self, and have you put on a new self. Paul says, “Put on the new self, which is according to the image of your Creator.”

The good news is that Christ wants to live in you, if you only believe in him. He will take your corrupted self and make you into a new person. Put off the old self, and take on the new self of Christ.

I was thinking of those corrupted stairs in the back. It was created good. It was created with good materials. The wood was good. But years of water and things creeping in corrupted the wood and created rot.

You know what we have to do? We have to talk out the old rotted wood, and put in new wood, so that it will be the way it was created.

In the same way, Christ takes out your old, rotted self. He wants to put in a new person, if you trust him.

Conclusion

Your authentic self exposes an unclean heart.

Your authentic self does not need social change; it needs God’s cleansing.

Conclude

Prayer

Communion

We will have communion, remembering Jesus and his sacrifice for us. Meditate on the Lord and where your heart is with him.

1 Corinthians 11:23–26 CSB

23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

Last Song

Doxology

Numbers 6:24–26 CSB

24 “May the Lord bless you and protect you; 25 may the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; 26 may the Lord look with favor on you and give you peace.” ’

Jude 24–25 CSB

24 Now to him who is able to protect you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of his glory, without blemish and with great joy, 25 to the only God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority before all time, now and forever. Amen.

You are dismissed. Have a great week in the Lord!