The Inside Matters Most

Bible Passage: Mark 7:14-23

INTRO

“Soma Church exists to love the body of Christ and equip them to do the work of ministry here, near and far, all for the glory of God.”

Over the last couple of months, Jenna and I have been on a search for minivan to accomodate our growing family

So for hours, I searched autotrader, carmax and marketplace trying to find a minivan that frankly I was convinced didn’t exist within our very modest budget.

But nevertheless, I was able to find what I believe to be a unicorn at our price point.

But I noticed something interesting and frustrating during my van search…

Outward appearances were very misleading.

I would come across a van that from the thumbnail photo looked immaculate. Paint was untouched, headlights unfaded, tires matte black and clean.

But then you would see the photos of the inside and the underneath. Gross stains, ripped upholstery, rusted frame, broken electronics. And then I was just sad because what I thought was a perfect vehicle turned out to be rotting from the inside out.

Who would have thought that van shopping would be so profound because in the story we are looking at today this is the very issue at hand.

Jesus is going teach us that even though people can look pristine on the outside, they can be rotting and dead on the inside.

Jesus wants us to see in His word today that The Inside Matters Most.

BODY

Last week we looked at a story of Jesus going toe to toe with the scribes and the pharisees from the city of Jerusalem who are trying to get Jesus to be quirt, go away or die.

They want Him quiet and gone by any means necessary.

They challenged Him on the issue of ceremonial washings and why His disciples don’t participate in them prior to eating.

We talked about this at length last week but the short synopsis is that this was a practice created by the Scribes of Israel in addition to the Torah and was really birthed out of ritualistic legalism which God hates.

Jesus rebukes them, and calls them out for their worship of God being more about following rules than love for Him from the heart.

And then we pick back up in verse 14 where Jesus is done addressing the scribes and then begins to teach those who listened to this encounter from verses 1-13.

Mark 7:14–19 ESV

And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.” And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.)

If you remember back to last week when we discussed the origin of the washings in question from the previous verses, the jewish religion had become extremely outward focused.

There was a prolific teaching that still holds to this day in modern judaism that so long as you do the right things (Follow the teachings of the scribes) then you can keep yourself free from the stain and grime of sin.

Philippians 3:4–6 ESV

though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.

These words from the apostle Paul provide a lot of context to what is going on in our story.

Paul basically says here, “I am a jew of jews! I have done all of the things, I have kept myself clean from outward things making me unclean. How? By doing all of the things.”

You see, Judaism had become and still is a religion that is all about stuff.

If you say and do all of the right stuff you will be clean on the exterior which in turn keeps what’s inside pure as well.

These things include touching certain things and eating certain food. Wearing certain clothing. All things prescribed by God for His people to follow but like we said last week, they have abandoned the heart of what God wanted.

Jesus wrecks these people’s entire worldview when he looks at them and says, evil can’t come from things on the outside.

You aren’t sinful because of your environment, what you touch, what you eat, your family of origin, your social media algorithm or anything else that comes into contact with the outer self.

Rather, Jesus says the real problem with humanity is what’s inside…

Mark 7:20–23 ESV

And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

We have to understand a couple of things about what Jesus just said…

First, this would have made the elders and scribes furious.

They thought they were pure because of the outside.

Second, Jesus Speaks loudly to the condition of our hearts.

We aren’t sinners because we sin but rather we sin because we are sinners

Psalm 51:5 ESV

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Every single person who walks the earth is infected with the cancer of sin.

And because of this, it makes us do, say and be awful things.

Jesus says that birthed from out of the human soul is where evil comes from.

Talk about the Epstein files.

Things like this happen because it is what’s inside of us.

The jews thought that if you just keep everything out then you can be pure but Jesus came to get out what’s already inside of us.

Jeremiah 17:9 ESV

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

The human heart is sick broken by default.

I don’t know about you but there are times when I am amazed by the evil I am capable of.

And those are just the moments I am aware enough to catch myself in my thoughts, words or actions.

But I think there is something to be said about recognizing your own brokenness.

Think of it like reading an amazing novel, watching an award winning film or going to a symphony.

These art forms use tension to make the resolve that much better.

For us recognizing the bad news of our sinful nature makes the good news of the gospel that much better.

Because when all hope was lost and when there was no way for human hearts to be redeemed, Jesus came in and made a way for us to purge the evil that is inside of us.

CLOSING

Some of you in the room this morning are far ore concerned with the outside than the inside.

You like giving the appearance of holiness or morality but the inside is dead.

Instead of letting Christ and His righteousness flow from the inside out, you are hoping that what you do on the outside makes its way in.

It doesn’t work that way.

Some of you are not concerned about either at all, therefore, all of the evil that’s in your heart frequently makes it’s way out.

This is why we need to remember the gospel and daily preach it to our hearts.

Remind ourselves that we are hopelessly sick and the only way that we can be clean is through the purification of Christ’s blood that He shed on the cross.

And when we believe that, we will be redeemed and what was once there before will begin to fade away as the new person comes out.

Proverbs 4:20–27 “My son, be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Let them not escape from your sight; keep them within your heart. For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh. Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. Put away from you crooked speech, and put devious talk far from you. Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you. Ponder the path of your feet; then all your ways will be sure. Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil.”

If you have believed the gospel, then your heart has been cleansed from hopeless and sick and is now the fountain of life.

How can you guard it?

PRAY