A Matter of the Heart

Call to Worship

To all who are weary and in need of rest

To all who are mourning and longing for comfort

To all who fail and desire strength

To all who sin and need a Savior

We, Moraga Valley Presbyterian Church, open wide our arms

With a welcome from Jesus Christ.

He is the ally to the guilty and failing

He is the comfort to those who are mourning

He is the joy of our hearts

And He is the friend of sinners

So Come, worship Him with us.

Scripture Reading & Reader

Mary Bester, Scripture Reader

Mark 7:1–30 NIV

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.” And he continued, “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and, ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’ But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is Corban (that is, devoted to God)—then you no longer let them do anything for their father or mother. Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that.” Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.” After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. “Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.) He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.” Jesus left that place and went to the vicinity of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know it; yet he could not keep his presence secret. In fact, as soon as she heard about him, a woman whose little daughter was possessed by an impure spirit came and fell at his feet. The woman was a Greek, born in Syrian Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to drive the demon out of her daughter. “First let the children eat all they want,” he told her, “for it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs.” “Lord,” she replied, “even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” Then he told her, “For such a reply, you may go; the demon has left your daughter.” She went home and found her child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

Post-Scripture Prayer

Pray.

Introduction to Sermon

Good morning, my name is Brandon Morrow and I serve as one of the Pastors here at Moraga Valley! So glad to be with you all on our Fall Fiesta weekend, — if you haven’t already, please go ahead and open your Bible to the Book of Mark and this week and next we’re going to be finishing up a short series over Mark, Chapters 4-8, that we’ve called, “Who is this King?” Where we’ve asked questions about Jesus and His identity, and as we get to Mark 7 this morning, what we’ll find is an invitation that is so clear concerning the character of this King.

Jesus’ invitation is an invite for us to focus our attention on things that matter, and when you hear that invitation, it draws your attention to the fact that we might have been paying attention to some things that don’t matter.

In Mark 7, Jesus is comparing what does matter, to what doesn’t matter; and what matters is who we are internally, but yet we focus an awful lot on how we live externally.

To be clear, Mark 7 is hard, because it’s ultimately an issue of authority — we spend our times on the wrong areas, because we live under the wrong authority. Allow me to explain:

Some religious leaders show up and they start attempting to poke holes in what Jesus and His followers have been doing. Jesus and His followers are developing quite the following, impressive; but they’re not like us, because they don’t wash their hands before they eat.

I think, just as a general rule of thumb, we should wash our hands before we eat, but they didn’t follow a ritual pattern that Jews were known to follow, and so they ask Jesus in verse 5:

Mark 7:5 (NIV)

“Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with defiled hands?”

Mark has already made clear in verses 3-5 that what’s being expected of Jesus and His followers are just

(v3) “tradition of the elders”

(v4) one of many other traditions

(v5) and again, just a tradition of the elders.

And Jesus’ response in verse 6 is a quote from Isaiah, that you can follow all the right rules and regulations — you can look good on the outside, and still have a heart (an inside) that is far from God.

I hope there’s a part of this in Mark 7 that is genuinely freeing for us, because we’re prone to live behind three very similar lies that are at work in our culture:

“That’s the way we’ve always done it before.”

"I can make myself happy.”

“You have to find your own truth.”

I won’t go into detail about those three lies that we believe, but I will say whether it’s Mark repeating the use of tradition, or those 3 lies that we believe, their origin is the same: they’re made up.

Look at verse 7 & 8, Jesus says the authority we’ve been living under is of human origin, and we all know human authority can’t solve the issue that the religious leaders know have to be solved.

Mark 7:7–8 NIV

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 presents this moment that feels startling for some reason, because there’s something that is defiling us that we can’t just wash off, that we can’t expect tradition to make up for, that self improvement, or a set of vague moral values can fix.

Jesus isn’t worried about the hands of the disciples, He is far more worried about addressing something is more defiling than unclean hands. He says in verse 15, Mark 7:15

Mark 7:15 NIV

Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.”

Not even Jesus disciples get what He’s talking about, so they ask Him, and He responds in verse 18, Mark 7:18

Mark 7:18 (NIV)

“Are you so dull?” he asked.

And Jesus tells them what can defile a person in verses 20-23

Mark 7:20–23 NIV

He went on: “What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.”

Human tradition, 5% more happiness, or privatizing meaning in us developing our own truth — that doesn’t fix the root cause, it might temporarily treat a symptom, but it doesn’t address the core of human defilement. The core of the issue is there’s something evil at the pit of who we are, that’s corrupted, there’s a part of us that is contaminated, — but I like the word defiled.

And you might think that defilement is an antiquated way to think about the human condition, but I love this quote from JI Packer:

A sense of defilement before God is not morbid, neurotic or unhealthy in any way. It is natural, realistic, healthy, and a true perception of our condition.

J. I. Packer

We’ve got to be realistic about what’s really going on with us so we know how to fix it —

Do you know what the word defiled means? It’s a ritualistic term, but it carries something with it to effect that something has spoiled, or gone bad… another way you could think about it, is when something has lost its pizazz and become ordinary

We have to learn that without Jesus, we don’t have a pleasing aroma, and we don’t have the ability to become extraordinary

otherwise we’ll keep offering up solutions that don’t have the power to fix our condition. We’ll come up with a myriad of solutions...

But, Brandon, what if we try to legislate morality by electing someone to office? Can’t do it!

But, Brandon, what if we developed a WayBach machine and went to a more simpler time? Can’t be done!

But, Brandon, what if we moved far away from California in hopes of finding a cure for the human condition? Not in any of the 50 states, 193 countries, or the 2 recognized nations of Palestine and the Vatican City will you find the cure.

No amount of lifeless rule keeping can change people’s hearts… but Jesus can, and He does in verses 24-30.

Jesus comes upon a house in a nearby town about 35 miles away, and a Greek woman brings her demon-possessed daughter before Jesus.

Notice, I did not say that she was a God-fearing, hand-washing Jew, that honored all of the traditions of her ancestors.

She is a Gentile woman with a child that is far more defiled that we can imagine. The very fact that this woman’s daughter is demon possessed puts her in another category. If you’re Jewish, you already had the reputation that you were unlovable and unworthy in every way, one scholar even wrote:

The Jews believed that the shadow of a Gentile falling across a dish or plate made it unclean. (Donald English)

As if this woman didn’t have enough going for her, her daughter is demon possessed. At another point in Mark a demon possessed man had been naked and relegated to live in a cave! Mark paints for us how alienating it is to be unclean in the first century…

and here, at the feet of Jesus, this woman and her daughter find the redemption and mercy they were longing for. It’s actually a really beautiful story, and Mark is so rich with powerful imagery… let me share with you some.

First, verse 25 makes it clear that this woman and her daughter are considered unclean.

But Jesus tells her in verse 27 that there is a kind of sustenance, a meal she can eat, that can make her clean, and He’s mentioning Himself as the bread of life, but she acknowledges how unworthy she is to receive this blessing from Jesus.

She calls herself a dog in verse 28, and the likely reason for this is because Jews often equated unclean people with unclean and diseased dogs that roamed the streets. No Gentile dog would ever be caught dead with a Jewish Rabbi.

This is a major turning point in Mark’s gospel, because we read for the first time in Mark that the gospel is now available for everyone. Up to this point, Jesus has been singularly referred to as Israel’s Savior King, on a mission to save the descendents of Abraham, but we see that Jesus has now called an unclean, defiled daughter, He has referred to her as a child — a child who can eat the meal that will save her and make her clean.

No amount of hand washing or religious rule following can make our hearts right, but Jesus can, and He does so through His sacrificial death, the Bread of His body given for us, — the act of taking communion at church -- where He invites us to “take and eat” that moves us being dogs to being a part of God’s family.

There is daily nourishment for those who need heart cleansing!

I find that the issue isn’t in letting Jesus redeem the heart for Himself, but in repeatedly bringing our heart to Him for renewal so that we can keep focusing on the things that matter most.

In 1670 a Puritan named John Flavel wrote a book called Keeping the Heart, where he reflected for over 200 pages on Proverbs 4:23

Proverbs 4:23 (NIV)

Above all else, guard your heart,

for everything you do flows from it.

Flavel said that “It is not the washing of hands that makes a Christian (for many hypocrites can show their hands to be just as clean); rather, it is the purifying, watching, and right ordering of the heart.”

Today, as a response to our message, I want to give you 6 ways we can keep our hearts rightly ordered so that way when human traditions slip in, our hearts will be centered on lasting and worthwhile thing, which is Jesus, who is the only one who can rightly order our hearts:

Regularly observe the condition of your heart -

Be open before God about the condition of your heart -

Maintain a life of passionate prayer -

Set your life aside to Jesus -

Be jealous for your own heart -

Know of God’s presence with you -