Title: The Intentions of the Heart
Text: Mark 7:1-8, 14-15 and 21-23 (Mark 7:1-23)
Thesis: Within, is the place where change needs to begin… where good intentions are reflected by godly actions.
Introduction
There is a project in the works that is doing Depravity Standard research. The intent is to establish consensus across various demographics, of what intent, action, victimology (the impact or effect of the crime on the victim) and attitude items make a crime depraved and just how depraved each item is.
We currently use terms like “heinous,” “atrocious,” “evil,” and “depraved.” The Depravity Standard seeks to establish just how heinous, atrocious, evil and depraved something is so that the judicial system can impose sentences based on the actual level of depravity. That standard would be the standard regardless of other racial or cultural or social factors that might influence judges and juries and other justice officials.
The purpose of the Depravity Standard is to not only focus on what an offender actually did but to also determine their intent. The intent is what is in the offender’s mind. It is tricky because we can’t see what is in a person’s mind… yet that is precisely where every action originates. So the level of depravity is both a matter of the actual, visible act and the invisible inner intent in the mind of that person.
So we might ask, “Did the 10 year-old boy pull his classmate’s ponytail because he did not like her and wanted to hurt her?” Did the boy pull her ponytail because he was in “puppy love” and wanted to get her attention?” “Did the boy pull her ponytail because some of his friends dared him to pull her ponytail?” “Did the boy pull her ponytail because he was trying to get attention by disrupting the classroom?” So just how depraved is this 10 year-old boy? Is he evil? Is he ornery? Is he insecure? Is he just an immature kid who does dumb stuff? What was in his heart? What was he thinking?
Our text today is all about the intentions of the heart…
Transition: Our text begins with the deceptive nature of the heart. (The heart is the most deceitful of all things, desperately wicked. Who knows how bad it is? Jeremiah 17:9)
I. We are deceived when we focus on keeping up appearances, Mark 7:1-8
These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God. Mark 7:6-7 (Isaiah 29:13)
Explain: William Barclay points out that the Law originally meant two things: First and foremost it referred to the 10 Commandments. Second it referred to the 5 Books of the Law or the Pentateuch, i.e., the first five books of the Bible. There are a number of detailed regulations and instructions as well as moral principles.
It is unfortunate that at some point the experts in religious law thought it would be helpful to make what was a general principle regarding good personal hygiene to specify how a good person was to practice one’s personal hygiene. That is where the religious teachers of the law got hung up. One resource said the water for washing had to be kept in a special jar to ensure its purity. A person had to hold his hands with his fingers pointing up while someone poured a minimal amount of water down over the hands. While the hands were still wet the hands were washed in the palm of the other. Then the hands, with finger-tips pointed downward, water was poured over the wrists which ran down over the hands and off the ends of the finger-tips. The simple act of washing one’s hands became a required religious ritual. The washing of one’s hands was an indicator of one’s spirituality.
We have all seen the “Employees Must Wash Their Hands before Returning to Work” signs in restaurant restrooms. In February of this year North Carolina Representative Thom Tillis, a strong proponent of governmental deregulation, suggested restaurant employees should not have to wash their hands before returning to work. Instead restaurants should post signs that state “Employees Are Not Required to Wash their Hands before Returning to Work.” Then diners could decide if they want to eat there or not… let the market decide. Of course having to post a “Hand Washing Not Required” sign is a new regulation unless we simply drop all regulations and hope for the best but assume the worst… and let e-coli prevail.
But how do we make sure they wash their hands properly? Should a rinse under running water suffice? Does the employee use disinfecting soap, scrubbing for a minimum of 3 minutes and rinsing under hot water suffice?
Jesus was simply saying that religiously performing a ritual does not constitute righteousness. The religious teachers of the law were more concerned with the outward appearance of righteousness than in the sincerity of the heart. The best question would be, “How is a person’s heart toward God and others?” But that was not the question the religious teachers of the law were asking. They were asking, “Why don’t you guys wash your hands like godly people are supposed to wash their hands?”
Appearances may be important but are never the deciding factor. In I Samuel 16 we are reminded that God does not see things the way we see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart. Consequently many Christians are more concerned about looking godly than in being godly. It is important that our spiritual practices reflect true inner piety.
What we do and do not do religiously, is not for the purpose of being seen and perceived to be godly, but for the glory of God and the good of others. Otherwise it is nothing more or less than hypocrisy.
At the root of hypocrisy is a deceptive heart that values appearance over integrity.
II. We are defiled by what comes from our hearts, Mark 7:14-15 and 20-23
It is not what goes into your body that defiles you; you are defiled by what comes from your heart. Mark 7:14-15
The religious teachers of the law had a rather elaborate system of labeling things as clean or unclean. (Leviticus 11) In Acts 10 there is the account of a vision God gave to Peter to help him understand that things, including people are not clean or unclean in and of themselves. The Jewish people had elaborate laws about clean and unclean animals. You can eat clean animals but not unclean animals. In his vision a sheet was lowered from heaven that contained all kinds of animals and he was instructed to kill and eat the animals. Of course Peter would not. He said, “I have never eaten anything that our Jewish laws have declared impure or unclean.” God’s response was, “Do not call something unclean if God has made if clean.”
Of course the general point about clean and unclean animals was a transferable principle that applied to people as well. Do not look at and label people as clean or unclean people. People are not defiled or made unclean by what they consume. People are defiled by what comes out of their hearts.
I think maybe the Minnesota State Fair is the mecca of state fair food. There is the Gizmo Italian and ground beef sausage covered with melted mozzarella; Sweet Martha’s Chocolate Chip Cookies; Minneapple Pie sprinkled with powdered sugar; Marcini’s Canolis; Maple Bacon Funnel Cakes; five flavors of Spam Burgers; Meatloaf on a Stick; and Walleye Stuffed Mushrooms… they may all be bad for you but they aren’t yucky.
Yucky is Samoan Palolo (Reef) Worm Spread; Icelandic Hakari… putrefied shark fermented for 4 – 5 months; the Massai favorite drink of fresh cows blood mixed with sour milk; or Thai Wok Tossed Dung Beetles. No one should ever consume anything so despicable… things not only bad for you but just plain disgusting.
Jesus said, “Can’t you see that the food you put into your body cannot defile you? Food doesn’t go to your heart, but only passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer. It’s what comes from within you that defiles you. From within, out of a person’s heart is what defiles…” Mark 7:18-23
For most of his career as a British journalist, Malcolm Muggeridge was a quarrelsome writer known for heavy drinking and smoking, womanizing, and espousing his agnostic viewpoint. But towards the end of his life he came to faith in Christ. But as a younger man who wrote a letter to his father, he described an incident that revealed the sinful bent of his heart.
Just after graduating from Cambridge, Muggeridge moved to India to teach English. One day as he was strolling by a nearby river in the early evening, he spotted the silhouette of a woman bathing on the other side. Muggeridge later wrote that his heart began to race with what he called the "wild unreasonableness which is called passion." Overcome by lust, he plunged into the water and started crossing the river. As he approached the woman, he suddenly realized that she was a toothless, wrinkled, and deformed leper. He quickly threw himself back into the river and started swimming in the other direction.
Years later, Muggeridge admitted that the real shock that evening was not the leper, as mind-bending as that would be. Rather, it was the condition of his own heart, dark, with appetites overpowering his weak will. (Adapted from Simon Ponsonby, Loving Mercy, (Monarch Books, 2012), pp. 46-47)
We tend to focus on what is happening outside, so to speak. There is a hospital in the metro area that has a very large parking lot so there is no shortage of parking spaces… the problem is if the parking lot were any further from the hospital it would be in Nebraska. The issue is exacerbated by the fact that once in the hospital, if the rooms were any further from the entrance they would be in Wyoming. So imagine yourself hoping to get a parking spot within walking distance of the entrance. You see an elderly couple making their way to their car so you slow down and creep along behind them so you can get their space. When they get to their car the man makes his way to the passenger side and opens the door for his wife. He then makes his way around and gets in the driver’s side. He eventually gets his car started and carefully backs out of the space and just as he gets out, a van coming from the other direction swings into your hard earned parking spot.
My tendency is to focus on the pokey elderly gentleman who was seeming unaware that someone else might be interested in finding a parking spot before nightfall and the inconsiderate jerk who ripped off my parking spot.
Jesus says they are not the problem. The problem is in me. Love is patient and kind… love is not irritable and keeps no record of being wronged. (Yes, it’s in the bible… I Corinthians 13)
Proverbs says, “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.” Proverbs 4:23
Paul wrote in Philippians: “Always be full of joy in the Lord… don’t worry about anything, instead pray about everything. Then you will experience God’s peace which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:4-7
Guard your own heart…
We guard our hearts because our hearts define who and what we are.
III. We are defined by what is in our hearts, Matthew 12:33-37 and Luke 6:43-45
“A tree is identified by its fruit. If a tree is good, its fruit will be good. If a tree is bad, its fruit will be bad…. A good person produces good things from the treasury of a good heart. And an evil person produces evil from the treasury of an evil heart.” Matthew 12:33-37 and Luke 6:43-45
Our text concludes with a list things or sins (7:20-23) that defile a person. They are evident to ourselves and others when we act upon those inclinations but the point Jesus makes is that everything we think, say and do originates within us… in our hearts, so to speak. So it is, what we think, say and do is the fruit that comes from what is in our hearts.
A repository is a place where things are stored: Places like vaults, archives, warehouses, deposit boxes, silos and grain bins, thumb drives, our minds, files and treasuries are all repositories. Jesus said that the mind and/or the heart is where we make deposits and withdrawals. And what we withdraw, so to speak, reveals what we have stored in our hearts.
The fruit of our lives defines who and what we really are. The seed a farmer plants determines the kind of harvest he will reap. We must plant and cultivate and nurture good seed in order to have a good crop.
To make sure we have good fruit in our hearts: Plant the truths of Scripture deep into your heart and mind through consistent Bible reading, study, meditation and prayer… practice a personal quite time with God every day. Get involved in a Life Group.
Conclusion
It is an old and well-worn story of a Native American grandfather passing on his wisdom to his grandson.
“Grandson,” he said, “there are two wolves living in my heart and they are at war with each other. One is vicious and cruel, the other is wise and kind.”
“Grandfather,” said the alarmed grandson, “which one will win?”
The grandfather paused before he said, “The one I feed.”
There are two forces vying for the desires of our hearts…: Galatians 5:16-25
a. The desires of your sinful nature, Galatians 5:19-21
b. The Holy Spirit, Galatians 5:22-25
Since we are living by the Spirit let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives. Galatians 5:25
