What God Truly Cares About

Clean Hearts, Not Just Clean Hands

Bible Passage: Mk 7:1–23

Mark 7:1–23 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.”

Intro — Today we are introduced to one of the major PET PEEVES of Jesus.

-Saying the right things but not being the right person

-Doing the right things but with the wrong motives

ME—> I was parenting the other day and two of my kids were in an argument eventually I had to step in.

-I told one to say sorry to the other and he said a line that Jesus would have smiled at. “I’ll say I’m sorry, but I won’t mean it.”

This isn’t just a childhood thing. The father that says, “Do as I say but not as I do.”

-The health guru cheating on their diet with oreos

-The pastor demanding integrity while doing sleezy things behind the scenes.

-The politicians preaching about caring for the poor while secretly capitalizing on them in their finances.

-The 2008 banking crisis came from banks demanding fiscal responsibility but engaging in practices that were risky

And it also hits closer to home…

-How often do we claim one thing out loud but secretly do another thing behind the scenes.

(Also see Authenticity) Hypocrisy is Hideous. What cancer is to the body, hypocrisy is to the church. It is a killing agent. Unfortunately, hypocrisy is also addictive. And even though Jesus reserved His most severe words of condemnation for the hypocrite, we still seem to prefer that lifestyle to truth and authenticity. —John R. W. Stott, Sermon on the Mount

John Robert Walmsley Stott (English Preacher)

Slyness The hypocrisy of reason is infinitely sly. That is why it is so hard to catch sight of. (D, 91)

Søren Aabye Kierkegaard (Danish Philosopher)

And here’s the problem that we need to understand. Hypocrisy is addicting and self-justifying. It’s sly. It hides, it rationalizes. This is where we find the first thing we need to discuss.

1. Priorities Of The Pharisees

Mk 7:1-8

What are the priorities of the pharisees? What is it they care most about?

-This is important because it will be convicting.

The main priority of the Pharisee is — Showcasing righteousness.

**If you go to a museum one of the things you see is showcases. Tons and tons of showcases. Displays often behind glass barriers so you can see but you can’t touch or use. It’s only for looking at.**

This is the priority of the Pharisees.

A display of righteous — cool and fantastic looking displays.

But what’s the problem with museum displays? None of the artifacts or articles are being used anymore. They are devoid of purpose besides being displayed. Which is fine for a Museum but is not fine for FAITH in GOD.

If you ever wonder… how can that person after so many years of being a Christian do those things OR walk away or decide to leave their family OR make a political party an idol OR cheat on their spouse… THIS IS HOW.

Mark 7:1–7 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.’

Let’s talk about the washing of hands — now it’s easy to go “ummm gross, please wash your hands before eating.” But it’s not talking about hygiene.

It’s talking about purity.

-Washing of the hands in the ceremonial washing for the Pharisees was the make sure that if you happened to touch anything unclean (and once again not hygiene) you could wash that sin off of you.

-The same is true for cups, pots, kettles… Transference of uncleanliness in terms of purity.

Which is actually INDICATIVE of their actual problem and core belief. Transference of cleanliness.

—If you wash your hands - you’ll be clean.

—If you follow all the rules - you’ll be pure.

—If you show up to church - you’ll be a Christian

This is where Jesus JUMPS to their problem

V. 6-7

You can do all the right things but have your heart far from me. Isaiah pointed this out YEARS ago.

Can we actually break this down for a second. These 3 things actually are important: 1- Honor with lips — but hearts are far

You can say something but not mean it as I illustrated earlier with demanding an apology.

You can utter empty things.

-promises. vows. claims. etc.

I love being able to do liturgy and saying the Apostle’s Creed together, praying the Lord’s prayer together. But I worry sometimes that God will go, that’s great, you’re saying all that but do you mean it?

Now - let’s be clear — the direction of the heart is what matters.

-You can say things in a trajectory of where you want to go — that’s not a problem. Don’t get into a place where you feel you have to have all the boxes checked before you can pray the Lord’s Prayer. He’s not asking for perfection.

-The problem here is they are saying great things but their hearts aren’t even pointing towards God at all.

2- Worship in vain

The word usage here means —- to no purpose or fruitlessly.

They worship with no purpose or without fruit. This is HUGE. You sing your songs but your heart is towards yourself. Toward your needs, your desires, your wants, your cares. Not singing to the Lord for he is the worthy one.

It’s not the fault of the song or the words, Jesus says, it’s once again it’s the problem of the heart.

3- Teachings - human rules

This leads us into the second point today…

2. Pitfalls Of Tradition

Mark 7:9–13 NIV

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.”

I’ve explained the pharisee’s legalism before but it’s essentially. If the rule is don’t play the piano if you don’t know how. The Pharisees came along and said don’t play it at all, that will keep us from accidentally breaking the rule. Then a new set came along and said, it’s too tempting so let’s put the piano in storage or build a wall around it so we don’t even have to see it.

Then they start to hold people to that WALL standard when that wasn’t even the purpose. You’ve now created a whole extra rule that isn’t necessary at all. Which what happens? The beauty of the piano is lost.

This is exactly what Jesus is calling to the carpet. He says, you’ve lost beauty for the rules.

He actually says you went so far to create rules and traditions that you’ve set aside the COMMANDS of GOD.

-Moses says “honor your father and mother” and “anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.”

But you let your parents slip into poverty.

CORBAN - a special offering or dedication unto the Lord. At this point, the temple leaders were taking full advantage of special offerings to get more money while people were slipping into poverty. The elders in the community were struggling to make ends meet. And Jesus says - how about instead of all these special offerings, we actually help the poor. We honor our parents by not letting them slip into poverty when they can no longer work.

They lost the COMMAND of GOD for the religious rules and religious advancement.

-We’ve seen this done in church’s over the years. If gambling isn’t good, then you can’t even play cards.

-If movies sometimes are raunchy then you can’t watch any movies.

We can still create artificial rules today and BIND people to them.

“And you do many things like that”

-This can be from the — you’re missing the point.

-To your missing the NEW thing God is doing.

Traditions can be SOOO good but there can also be pitfalls.

-One thing churches are not good at is letting traditions go. It’s hard because nostalgia and memories are attached… and we think - this new generation just doesn’t get it. And because we hold on so hard to our old ways, we don’t give the ability and creativity to NEW traditions to rise up from the ashes. And then we get mad cause things aren’t “like they used to be” but it’s US holding white knuckles to the things that we think matter. When maybe we are missing the NEW THING God is doing.

This is a human tendency. How many movies and books are based on this idea:

-This is what our family has always done.

-Everyone in your family goes to THIS college or gets THIS career.

-We all LIVE in this town.

Now there are certain things that we are SUPPOSED TO HOLD ON TO. The commands of God as Jesus calls them. But we have to know the difference. And not make the molehills the mountains.

Which gets us to our last section:

3. Purity From The Inside

Mark 7:14–23 NIV

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 is working along a interesting line here because he says - it’s not the food that messes up your heart, the worst that will do is mess up your stomach.

Defilement doesn’t come from what you eat but what is in your heart?

In a similar passage when he talks about the overflow he says in Matthew 12:33-37

Matthew 12:33–37 NIV

“Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. But I tell you that everyone will have to give account on the day of judgment for every empty word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”

What goes in

So it’s not the stuff you put in your stomach but the stuff you put in your heart.

Out of the overflow of the heart. The heart grows full of what you put in it and when it is full it overflows. The analogy that Jesus is using here is fairly simple but profound. If you have a mug of coffee and you keep pouring coffee into it, what will overflow out? Coffee. It won’t be anything else, it can’t be anything else for that’s all that is in it. Water won’t come out. Juice won’t come out. Jesus says the heart works with the same principle. If you pour evil into the heart as he expresses here, then good can’t come out. He goes so far to say that the words are evil because they are empty. In other words, even when they say something good, it’s not because of the overflow, it only sounds good but it is empty and full of selfishness.

We can only access the resources we have allowed to be put into us. If the heart is full of selfishness, out of the overflow is going to be only more selfishness. If the heart is empty, we have nothing to give.

The hard part with this passage and this concept is we don’t have the ability to put too many good resources within us without mixed motives. In our own strength our cup will simply be full of mixed motives. We help a person in need of food because it makes us feel better. We loan out our car with the hope that someone will do the same for us. We give to charity but get frustrated when it doesn’t count towards our taxes. In our own strength our cup is full of mixed motives.

This is why we need Jesus. For Jesus has all the resources we need and more. If we abide in Jesus and he abides in us, our cup will overflow with Jesus. His power, his resolve, his patience, his joy, and on and on the list goes. This is where Paul in Galatians tells us that the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. The one singular fruit of the overflowing life is all of this, for that’s what Jesus has in his cup and that’s the cup that overflows within us.

Our job is not to stuff our heart full of good things, for it will always be limited. However, if we abide in the heart of Jesus, our heart will overflow with the abundance of his resources. This is good news.

Here is the truth for you today, your pattern of with Jesus and like Jesus is going to affect your overflow. The more you are with Jesus and like Jesus, the more you will experience the fruit of the Spirit in your life. However, the more you are with and like the world or culture or ________ the more you are going to have the fruit of that.

But to get back to JESUS’ bigger point in our passage in Mark he talks about the source of life.

We know that food gives us energy and strength. Good food gives us LIFE while unhealthy food often makes us feel sluggish or tired. This source of life is important. But the source of life that comes from the HEART is even more important.

Source of LIFE

Our flesh wants to make our source of life - OURSELVES

-What we want. What we need. What makes us happen. Fleeting pleasure. Temporary gains.

This is where these evil desires come from… our source of life. Not just what we put in BUT where we aim ourselves. What is our source of strength and energy we draw LIFE from?

-If it’s ourselves we will need… sexual immorality to have that pleasure… we will need theft to get what we want… we will need murder to offload anger… we will need adultery to chase desire… we will need greed to get more and more… we will need malice to offload shame… we will need deceit to make sure we appear perfect all the time… we will need arrogance to build a good wall of self-justification… we will need folly to create our own sense of wisdom.

This is if our SOURCE of life is from OURSELVES. We may not use all of those evil desires but we need some of them to make sure we are drawing from the well of selfishness.

Where is your source of life?

Our natural desire for SIN (or selfishness)

The other indication that Jesus brings up in this text is our natural readiness to sin.

It has been said that the lump in your throat is called the “Adam’s apple” because the forbidden fruit got stuck in his throat.

-However, the reality is - it wasn’t the fruit itself that was the problem. It was the overflow of the desire for autonomy.

Outside of Jesus - it’s perfectly natural and reasonable to look out for “yourself” and make sure your life “revolves around yourself” with just enough niceness and kindness sprinkled in so people don’t hate you in life.

We have this readiness to sin apart from Christ.

The only thing that can fix this bend this angle is Jesus. That’s it.

Not displayed righteousness.

Not empty words.

Not vain worship.

Not more rules.

Not chasing desires or selfishness.

Jesus and only Jesus. If Jesus is the overflow, our lives begin to take a whole new shape.