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March 17/18, 2018
Jason Meyer | Mark 7:14-23
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.) 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, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”—Mark 7:14–23
At January’s All-Church Quarterly Strategy Meeting, Pastor Chuck Steddom gave an update on the South Campus Building Project, and he made an appeal for $350,000 to allow us to include classroom dividers, acoustic clouds in the Sanctuary, a partial kitchen space, and a concrete floor in a partially-finished gymnasium space. Completion of the gymnasium/multipurpose area and kitchen were to be part of Phase 2.
Then something happened that is nothing short of a miracle. To date, we’ve received over-and-above special gifts totaling $899,000!
These gifts from several individuals and the Bethlehem Baptist Church Foundation not only meet most of the needs we shared, but the funds also provide the finances required for a completed gymnasium that includes a floor-to-ceiling dividing wall. This wall will allow two much-needed classroom spaces. With these gifts, we will also have a fully functional completed kitchen. And there’s one additional praise item: A new seating layout has increased our seating by nearly 8%. The additional 51 chairs will bring the Sanctuary capacity to 715. Dear friends, the Lord is in this!
As for the construction progress, all the pre-cast wall panels are up, the gymnasium roof is completed, and the roof over the remaining structure should be completed by late March. Glass windows are due to be installed by mid-to-late April. Despite the cold and snowy winter, our date of completion is still anticipated to be the first week of September.
Thank you again for your prayers and generous gifts. Let us pause and thank our Father because we recognize that every good and perfect gift comes from above.
Prayer
How many of you ever had to do a litmus test in high school or college? I can remember you had red litmus paper and blue litmus paper. You would test whether the solution was an acid or a base (alkaline). Blue litmus paper stays blue if the solution is a base and red if it is an acid. Red litmus paper stays red if it is an acid and blue if it is a base. There are other colors as well that help determine what something is on the pH scale.
The Gospel of Mark has a litmus test to see if someone is an insider or an outsider to the kingdom of God. The parables function as a litmus test. We first saw this dynamic in Mark 4:10–12:
And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. And he said to them, “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, so that
“ ‘they may indeed see but not perceive,
and may indeed hear but not understand,
lest they should turn and be forgiven.’ ”
The summary of the parable section in Mark 4 says the same thing again: “He did not speak to them without a parable, but privately to his own disciples he explained everything” (Mark 4:34). Both groups hear Jesus’ parables, but the insiders (i.e., the disciples) ask for more. The outsiders only get parables. They do not press in and ask for more. Why don’t they ask for more? Jesus shows that Isaiah 6:9 is the answer: They are hardened. They have ears, but can’t hear; they have eyes, but cannot see.
Now we come to another parable in Mark 7. Will the same pattern reveal itself again? I am glad you asked.
Outline
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.”
Let’s start with a little bit of background orientation for this text from last week and this week. In the Old Testament, the priests working in the tabernacle would wash their hands with a basin of bronze. They were in a holy space and the washing helped them stay ceremonially clean (Exodus 30:17–21). They would also eat the portions of the sacrifices that were regarded as holy—and everyone could share in this food when it was ceremonially clean (see Numbers 18:8–13).
The Pharisees took these texts about priestly washing and extended the laws to everyone in the land (not just priests serving in the temple). They took the laws about priestly purity with ceremonial pure food in the temple and applied it to all food (not just holy offerings). The issue is that the Pharisees took the demands for ceremonial purity and went the extra mile with them—and then they sought to be the purity police for everyone else.
Jesus took the issue about washing and ceremonial cleanness and extended it to all food—working in the reverse direction as the Pharisees. The principle comes in verse 15: There is a going in and a coming out. “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.”
Jesus says something profound, but no one quite has categories yet to understand the fullness of his point. But it is amazing that no one except the disciples ask for more clarification.
A. What Cannot Defile: What Goes Into a Person (Mark 7:17–19)
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?”
Jesus begins by confronting the disciples for their lack of understanding in verse 18. He does the same thing in Mark 4 during his private explanation to them.
And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?”
This is exactly how the first half of this gospel ends in Mark 8:15–18.
And he cautioned them, saying, “Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” And they began discussing with one another the fact that they had no bread. And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember?
What is wrong with the disciples?
“A parable cannot be understood from the outside but only by entering into it and seeing the reality that it depicts from within. The disciples are like a dog looking at the pointed finger of its master rather than the object to which the finger points. They are like people looking at the stained-glass windows of a cathedral from the outside. Their sight and understanding are correspondingly dull and lifeless” (James Edwards, The Gospel of Mark, p. 212).
Did you catch the irony here? Jesus goes from the outside (the crowd, ochlos) and goes inside the house (oikos). This is a frequent pattern—the house becomes a place of revelation for the disciples (Mark 9:28, 33; Mark 10:10). Even though Jesus takes the disciples inside, they cannot see inside the parable. And the parable is about the difference between the inside and the outside. Jesus is talking about what is on the inside of the person, not what is on the outside. The disciples are getting caught up looking at the outside and need deeper discernment to get to the heart of what Jesus is saying—about the heart! Look at verses 18–19:
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.)
Jesus does not just disagree with the Pharisees over the tradition of the elders and the washing of hands. He could have just said: “Quit overextending what God said was to be true of the priests and imposing it upon everyone. Go back to the original demands.” But he doesn’t. He dismantles their whole approach to the Law as an external issue. They focus on external defilement. Jesus shows the absolute error of this approach with an absolute statement followed by the rationale.
Statement: “Whatever goes into a person from the outside cannot defile him.”
Rationale: “Since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled.”
Purity and holiness are first and foremost issues of the heart, not the stomach. Mark follows this up with the implication of Jesus’ teaching.
Summary of Implication: “Thus he declared all foods clean.”
In one sweeping sentence, all the dietary laws for what foods to eat or not to eat were changed. Paul says the same thing in Romans 14:14, “I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself.” Three verses later he adds the bigger principle: “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:17). The old wineskin of Judaism cannot hold the new wine of Christ’s teaching. But Jesus is not done. He has only covered the folly of thinking what goes in from the outside can defile. Now he goes right to the heart of true defilement—literally.
B. What Does Defile: What Comes Out of a Person (Mark 7:20–23)
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.”
Jesus gives another statement, rationale, and then an overarching summary.
Statement: “What comes out of a person is what defiles him” (v. 20).
Rationale: “For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft [8th commandment], murder [6th commandment], adultery [7th commandment], coveting [10th commandment], wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness” (vv. 21–22).
Summary: “All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person” (v. 23).
The first six terms are all plural. The second six terms occur in the singular. If the heart is the source, then evil has both an upstream and downstream dimension. Evil covers both evil deeds (sexual immorality, theft, murder, adulteries, slander) and evil desires (coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, pride, foolishness).
What is the point of Jesus’ parable about purity and defilement and holiness?
Main Point: Holiness is a matter of the heart. If you summarize the discussion from Mark 7:1–23, you could say holiness is a matter of the heart, not the hands. Notice how many times Jesus places the stress on the heart.
And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,
“ ‘This people honors me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me;” (v. 6).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?”(vv. 18–19).
“What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man … All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” (vv. 20–23).
Jesus does two amazing things here with the Law of God: revoking and recovering.
1. Revoking the Law
The first thing Jesus does is totally set aside the food laws like Leviticus 11 with respect to clean and unclean. Cows were clean; pigs were not. Fish were clean; shellfish like shrimp were not. There are two things we should say with respect to Jesus revoking these food laws. First, sometimes application is downright delicious. I applied this text in a personal way this week by eating a bacon double cheeseburger. You better believe that I said a big thank you to Jesus. But second, don’t miss the claim that this text makes. Jesus is God. Only the voice of God could change or alter what he originally said. This is unparalleled authority. He is not simply interpreting the law, but changing it because a new day has dawned in the history of redemption. Christ’s coming recalibrates the Law.
2. Recovering the Law
Second, Jesus does not just revoke aspects of the Jewish Law, but he also recovers them. The Jewish Scriptures are not meant to be a timeless, unalterable code of behavior, but a story that leads us to Jesus. The purity laws are supposed to serve as a signpost to a deeper reality—the problem of pure and impure, which Jesus now addresses. He recovers the real focus of the Law: the heart. The Law does not address mere external behavior; it addresses the heart. The Ten Commandments begin with idolatry and end with covetousness. There is an inward focus.
The apostle Paul says exactly the same thing in Romans 7.
So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good … For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin (vv. 12–14).
3. Recovering Real Repentance
If we understand that holiness starts in the heart, then we will also begin to understand the nature of true repentance. Jesus’ list of impure evils does not just focus on evil deeds. So many people think that they are good people if they avoid scandalous external behavior like sexual immorality, theft, murder, or adultery. But Jesus goes right to the fountain—these things spring from a wicked fountain. You may not steal what other people have, but do you covet it and struggle with contentment? You may not be having sex outside of marriage, but are you constantly lusting after that? You may not have ever murdered someone, but have you ever felt burning anger towards them? Do you covet what people have or are you envious of people who are popular, athletic, etc.? Jesus even addresses the attitude of the heart called pride that contends with God for supremacy. It is a self-centered orientation that does not just think high thoughts of self or low thoughts of self, but lots of thoughts about self. Pride is preoccupation with self.
The New Testament epistles teach the exact same lesson. External sinful deeds flow from internal sinful desires. Take the book of James.
What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel (James 4:1–2).
What is that which causes relational discord? We cannot start with an external diagnosis. Normally, we are quick to diagnose the reason for our actions as external. Someone else’s behavior led to our behavior. We are quick to blame what we do on someone else. If they wouldn’t have done that, then I wouldn’t have pushed them.
We also should not press for a psychological or personality explanation. It is not that people are not compatible on Myers-Briggs or something like that. James goes right to the heart. “Your passions are at war within you” (v. 1). It is the passions or desires of the heart. James says, you desire something and don’t have it. You covet something and cannot obtain it. That is why you fight and quarrel. He repeats the words fight and quarrel twice, but he also uses a stronger word “you desire and do not have, so you murder” (James 4:2).
We don’t go to the heart issues. And when we do, we minimize them. What is the big deal? I wanted something and they wouldn’t give it to me, so I tried to make it happen. Do you see how James won’t let us minimize the severity of sin? We might call something “sibling rivalry,” while God calls it “murder.” James is taking a page out of Jesus’ playbook in the Sermon on the Mount. “You have heard it said, ‘Don’t murder,’ but I say ‘don’t be angry.’” God looks at the anger as murder.
Paul teaches the same thing as Jesus and James. Paul distinguishes between godly grief and worldly grief in 2 Corinthians 7. Worldly grief is shallow, self-centered, and typically feels sorrow when we get caught for wrong behavior and have to suffer the consequences. The grief or sorrow is multiplied with shame when these sins are exposed so that others know about it. Even when someone apologizes for it, it is not specific, but a blanket apology.
Godly grief is not self-centered sorrow, but God-centered. Godly grief is broken over sins of the heart that no one except God sees. Man-centered grief does not care about sins of the heart that no one can see. God-centered grief confesses sins specifically, including sins of the heart. There is a greater specificity of confession because there is a greater sensitivity to sin. There is a specificity of confessing both the “upstream sins,” in addition to sinful words and actions, the “downstream sins.” God-centered grief recognizes that we do bad things because we are bad. David confessed, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity and in sin did my mother conceive me” (Psalm 51:4). As Thomas Watson said, “A wicked man may be troubled for scandalous sins; a real convert laments heart-sins.” (Thomas Watson, The Doctrine of Repentance, p. 21). This also means that God-centered repentance has grief for the offense against God, not just sadness over the coming punishment. Loss of worldly gain does not shake a Christian as much as the fact that he or she has abused God’s love and kindness.
Take stealing as an example. Let’s say that as you walk by someone’s car in the parking lot, you notice their window is open and you see a $20 bill on the seat. Some would take the $20 and some would not. But it is not that simple. Why did some not take it? Some did not take it because they were afraid of getting caught. Maybe there were too many people around. But if they were guaranteed to not get caught, they would take it. Perhaps some did not take it because they would not like it if someone did that to them. Others perhaps would not do it because it would dishonor God and hurt that person.
Some people try to water down the Law so that it only speaks to manageable behavior—like stealing. I have been good because I have not stolen. The Law searches much deeper to the heart. That is why the purity laws were so out of step with the moral problem of the people. Food laws were powerless to remove the pollution from the heart.
The sin of coveting is the opposite of contentment. A covetous heart is a heart that is not satisfied with all that God is for us. Listen to Hebrews 13.
Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (v. 5).
Did you notice that Hebrews says this is a “love” issue? We do what we do because we want what we want because we love what we love. Contentment is the polar opposite of coveting. Coveting is not just the desire for something but the love of it. You are loving it more than you love God. That is why Paul can say, “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry” (Colossians 3:5).
The opposite is true as well. If you love God, there will be an attitude of contentment, and you will be able to give rather than hoard. When money stops being money and becomes your god, you will not be able to give it away because it has captured your heart.
Sometimes people see a change in someone’s life and think that they have really grown spiritually. Take the example of someone that has been living a party lifestyle. Then they get their act together, stop drinking and partying during the week, and apply themselves to their grades in school. They get a good paying job, and they work hard in order to climb the corporate ladder and grow in success. Is that “success” maturity? In many cases, they have simply traded one idol for another. Rather than worshipping sensuality, they start worshipping success and all that it can get them. Worship gets us into our sin and only true worship can get us out. I challenge you to look at your sin patterns and examine what you are worshipping or loving in those moments.
Some idols are obviously destructive (drugs, alcohol), but others make you successful (love of money, hard work). Both are offensive to God. You take something and use it as a platform to make much of yourself. The Pharisees even did that with religion. They did good works so that people would see and say “what a good person.” Christians use all things as a platform to make much of Christ. Matthew 5:16 calls us to “Let your light shine in such a way that people see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”
That is why repentance changes us at the core and there is a full circle to it. The Bible teaches that true repentance would be like a tree that would grow the fruits of repentance (Matthew 3:8). The Pharisees are told to bear fruit in keeping with repentance. What do we mean by the full circle of repentance? Let’s go back to stealing for a moment. Biblical holiness is not primarily negation: Simply “thou shall not.” Listen to Ephesians 4:28.
Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.
There is a “thou shall not”—steal no more.
But then there is the opposite—“bur rather let him labor.”
Why? So he will be rich and can have a status symbol and a new idolatry?
No: “Doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.”
I am very sensitive right now to any non-Christians listening to this sermon. I do not want you to think that Christianity is a matter of moralism. That somehow you just need to do better or try harder. Don’t think to yourself that you need to start doing good in order to qualify to be a Christian. You can’t truly obey from the heart without a change of heart. God has to take out the heart of stone and put in the heart of flesh. He writes his commands on our hearts so that we desire them from within rather than trying to impose them from the outside. That can only come if you are born again.
Don’t fall prey to thinking like an unbeliever with respect to coming to Christ. They think change comes before coming to Christ instead of after. Do you not see? You come to Christ, you are cleansed and then you change. You do not cleanse yourself and change so that you can come to Christ. They think that they have to clean up their lives before they can come. What? Do you try to go to the sink and wash your hair and arms and legs before you take a shower?
It is the same thought as if someone needs to make a first payment before Jesus will pay the debt. This kind of grace is offensive. You can’t earn it. Some people think that they can’t just receive it; they need to add something to it.
I remember the story of a man who was driving to a car wash after he had spent some time mudding with his big truck. He was prepared to spend about $30 on a car wash. As he was driving, he happened to see a youth group car wash, and he thought that it would be better to give the $30 to the church rather than a business. So he pulled up and tried to give them the money. They responded and said, “Sir, it is free; just like salvation.” It bothered him a little, but he didn’t want to argue. But when he saw all of the dirty rags piling up because of how dirty his truck was, he said, “Here is $20. You have to at least take that. My truck is bigger and muddier than all the other cars.” They said, “Sir, it is free, just like salvation.” Later, he couldn’t take it again, when he saw the huge pile of towels that it took to dry his truck. He said, “Here is five bucks. You have to at least take this. Please!” They replied more firmly: “Sir, it is free, just like salvation.” This man was so offended that he spun out his tires in the parking lot and threw his crumpled up five-dollar bill out the window as he left.
What about you? Do you really think that you can add something to Jesus’ defeat of death? You are robbing the cross and the resurrection of its glory if you try to add something to it. Jesus paid it all. Throw down your crumpled up five-dollar bill of self-righteousness and receive the free gift and shout a little louder that he is stronger and worthy of all praise!
Closing Song: “Jesus Paid It All”
Outline
Main Point: Holiness is a matter of the heart.
Discussion Questions
Application Questions
Prayer Focus
Pray for a grace to love the Lord with all of your heart and soul and mind and strength.