The Gospel of Mark #18 – “Clean Hands or Clean Heart?”
Mark 7:1-23
Intro –
1. ILL – A man was watching the news one night when it was reported that a car was going the wrong direction on the freeway. The man knew his wife was on that freeway and became very concerned so he called her on her cell phone. She answered and he said, “Dear, there’s one car going in the wrong direction on the freeway.” She exclaimed, “One car! There’s hundreds of them!”
2. This facetious little story relates a principle that is not altogether uncommon. People, in spite of all evidence to the contrary, believe that they are absolutely correct. No question about it. Those other cars on the freeway are the ones that are wrong. It couldn’t possibly be me. And in the process, we lose our focus & our sense of why we do what we do. It is more critical that we are deemed correct than whether we are right with God & others.
3. In this passage, Jesus is dealing with very religious people who allowed their traditions replace the authority of God’s Word.
4. Mark 7:1-23 (Read)
5. As Jesus went about teaching, He often ran into trouble with the religious leaders over keeping traditions...(i.e. – plucking heads of grain on the Sabbath - Mk 2:23-28).
6. In this passage, Jesus has an encounter with a group of Pharisees who have come from Jerusalem in order to find fault with Him & His ministry. When they arrive & begin to watch Jesus, it does not take them long to find something to complain about.
7. These men see the disciples of Jesus eating food without washing their hands & they are offended. They attack Jesus over this issue, but He turns the tables on them. They think the issue is one of clean hands, but Jesus shows them that the issue is really about clean hearts.
8. Jesus is not impressed with religious ritual or tradition, rather He is concerned with the condition of our hearts.
I. Jesus & the Traditions of Men: the Hands – Vs. 1-13
5x in this passage Jesus made reference to tradition.
*This is certainly significant for our day as Christianity is so splintered over this idea. Let me explain…On the one hand, many in “churches” today think that anything new is evil. On the other hand, many think that everything should be new & that anything the church has ever done is outdated & ineffective.
*Brett Blair, “To those who are argue that tradition alone can kill a church: remember, the second time you do anything it becomes a tradition.”
How did Jesus deal with tradition?
A. He did not reject all tradition.
1. The word tradition comes from a word that means “giving over or handed down.”
It refers to teaching that is handed down either by word or in writing.
2. 2 Thess. 2:15 (NASB) “So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word of mouth or by letter from us.”
3. In one sense, we should be very thankful for what has been handed down to us.
4. I praise the Lord for the people who faithfully wrote & then copied down the Scriptures so that we have them today. That's something that has been handed down to us, unlike anything else, because it's authoritative & came directly from the hand of God. But I'm thankful for the way it has been handed down.
5. Not all tradition is bad – valuable things have been given to us through the years, & we must learn to appreciate those.
6. Even Jesus had a tradition of attending the synagogue.
7. Luke 4:16 “He went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom…”
B. He did reject traditionalism. **There is a difference!!
1. Jaroslav Pelikan, U.S. News & World Report: “Tradition is the living faith of the dead; traditionalism is the dead faith of the living. Tradition lives in conversation with the past, while remembering we are where and when we are, and that it is we who have to decide. Traditionalism supposes that nothing should ever be done for the first time, so all that is needed to solve any problem is to arrive at the supposedly unanimous testimony of this homogenized tradition.”
2. When this passage speaks of unclean hands, it had nothing to do with hygiene & everything to do with a man-made ritual.
3. Explain “washing hands” –the priests, added to the people, more & more rules…
4. Jesus refused to be bound by man-made rules & rituals. He didn’t teach his disciples to observe them either & that is what made the Pharisees so angry.
5. Why did He reject traditionalism?
a. It leads to fake religion – vs. 6-8
1) Traditionalism can lead to hypocrisy. The Greek word used here means “to pretend” in the sense of being an actor in a play.
2) Jesus was telling these Pharisees, “you have turned religion into play acting.”
3) ILL – It reminds me of the story of a priest who was returning to his rectory after dark one evening. He was attacked by a robber who pulled a gun on him and demanded, “Your money or your life!” As the priest reached his hand into his coat pocket, the robber saw his clergy collar and said: “I see you’re a priest. Never mind, you can go.” The priest was relieved and surprised by the robber’s courtesy, so he offered the robber a candy bar that he remembered was in his pocket. The robber replied, “No thank you, Father. I don’t eat candy during Lent.”
4) The worst from of hypocrisy is religious hypocrisy & Jesus spoke about it.
5) Matt. 23:26-28 “26Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean. 27Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. 28In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.”
b. It leads to fractured relationships – vs. 9-13
1) Again, in the Pharisees' minds, the teachings of the rabbis, along with all of their loopholes, had become more important than the Scriptures.
2) What is the 5th commandment? “honor your father & mother.”
3) By a tradition named “Corban” a man could avoid his biblical responsibility to his parents. **Explain…
4) When we exalt our traditions over the overwhelming commands of God to care for one another & be in relationship with each other, we not only hurt each other, but we hurt the testimony of Jesus in our community & world.
5) Karl Rahner “The number one cause of atheism is Christians. Those who proclaim God with their mouths and deny Him with their lifestyles is what an unbelieving world finds simply unbelievable.”
6) John 13:35 “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
II. Jesus & the Condition of Men: the Heart – Vs. 14-23
Someone has said, “the heart of the issue is an issue of the heart.”
J. C. Ryle, “The heart must be the principal point to which we attend in all the relations between God and our souls. What is the first thing we need in order to be Christians? A new heart. What is the sacrifice God asks us to bring to him? A broken and a contrite heart. What is the true circumcision? The circumcision of the heart. What is genuine obedience? To obey from the heart. What is saving faith? To believe with the heart. Where ought Christ to dwell? To dwell in our hearts by faith. What is the chief request that Wisdom makes to every one? ‘My son, give me your heart.’”
The heart is mentioned 830x in Scripture. It is the “real you” the core of who we are.
When Jesus dealt with people He pointed out the “heart issues” that led to their outward issues. (Ex – the rich young ruler…).
A. Sin is an issue of the heart – vs. 14-23
1. Jesus uses the illustration of the human body & what you put in it.
2. Jesus was not talking about being healthy, He was talking about being holy.
3. It is not what you put in your body that makes you a sinner before God, it is truly the condition of our hearts before God.
4. Jer. 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?”
5. In vs. 21-23 Jesus shows us an x-ray of the human heart. (read)
6. Jesus is teaching that every one of us has the capability of committing any of these sins. The root of all of them lies within each of our hearts.
7. ILL – Marriage is not only a process of getting to know your spouse, it is also a process of getting to know yourself. It creates circumstances that let us see things in our lives that we would have never imagined were there. I had no idea how selfish I was until I had another person to consider! (Toilet paper, toothpaste cap, how the bed gets made, etc…) For example, you get into a discussion (fight) & you say, “She makes me so angry.” No, she doesn’t make you angry. Rather, circumstances have arisen that have revealed the anger that is already there. The problem is inside!
8. The good news is that there is hope through Christ!
B. Christ can change the heart –
1. When Jesus died on the cross, He dealt with the sin issue in our hearts.
2. Now He offers us the possibility of a changed heart through His grace & forgiveness!
3. 1 John 1:8-9 “8If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
4. Let me share some verses that speak of the type of heart surgery Christ can do!
5. Joel 2:12-13 “12'Even now,' declares the LORD, 'return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.' 13Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love…”
6. Eze. 36:25-27 “25I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. 26I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.”
7. If you want to be clean, truly clean, it doesn’t start with you trying to clean up your own act or attempting to change your outward behavior. NO! It starts with you admitting your inward sinfulness & trusting JESUS to change you from the inside out.
Conc. –
1. Let’s sum up this passage with some personal applications –
a. Hang on to truth tightly – We need to stand on & insist on the truth of God's word. Where the Bible speaks, speak. And where it is silent, let’s try some selfless humility.
b. Hang on to traditions lightly – We need to allow for changes & other opinions concerning things that the Bible doesn't address. “In matters of faith, unity; in matters of opinion, liberty; in all things, love.”
c. Guard your heart fiercely – Prov. 4:23 “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.”
2. Look into your heart right now. What do you find there? Anger? Lust? Divisiveness? Unforgiveness? Pride? Hatred? Deviousness? Or, do you find, love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance?
3. What dwells in your heart is what you really are!
4. The old chorus should be our prayer, “Change my heart, oh God. Make it ever true. Change my heart, oh God. May I be like You!”
