Truly Clean

I would see a small spot of dirt and wipe it but it always smudged into a much bigger spot. This has continued even months later I will try to wipe a spot clean only to find it smearing into a bigger mess.

In today’s message we will see that a clean heart is much more important to God than clean hands.

And I want our younger people to hear clearly right up front - this doesn’t mean you don’t have to listen to Dad and Mom when they tell you to wash up before dinner.

Series

We are continuing our series: The Crown & The Cross sermon. Mark’s Gospel shows Jesus as a man of decisive action with a clear message and mission, and the reader is called to actively response to the message.

Mark divides Jesus’ life into two parts: his identity as Messiah and King over all things in the first 8 chapters (the crown) and then in the last 8 chapters we see Him fulfilling His life’s purpose in suffering and dying on the cross.

Last Sunday, we saw Jesus calming his disciples fears out on a stormy sea, helping them overcome their hard hearts of unbelief, and healing all who reached out to Him in faith. It showcased Jesus’ power as King over all creation - including weather, laws of physics, and the ability to heal the human body.

Today in Mark chapter 7, a group of religious leaders seek out Jesus looking to discredit Him and his teaching with accusing his disciples of disregarding the traditions of the elders.

Jesus responded by pointing out the problems caused by people focusing more on outward actions than on their hearts.

We will see how religious people following traditions with the wrong motives can become hypocrites.

Jesus, the Son of God, has authority to interpret and declare the fulfillment of God’s OT laws.

We will see why we can't make ourselves clean, now matter how hard we try.

AND most importantly, God’s Word reveals that only Jesus can clean our hearts.

PRAY

READ Mark 7:1-23

Pharisees’ Accusation

(vv 1-5)

The Pharisees and Scribes were the religious leaders of the day. They must have been hearing more and more about Jesus, because this is the second time Mark records them making the long trek from Jerusalem to check out this man from Nazareth, claiming to be Messiah, with all of these miracle accounts being told and retold.

They are looking for a way to discredit Jesus’ claim to be Messiah. Last time they claimed he was casting out demons with power from the devil himself. Jesus explained how illogical that was and then warned the people about the leaven or sin of the pharisees and the king Herod. Another time, the pharisees challenged him because his disciples ate some grain as they walked through a field, but it was on the Sabbath - they said that was working.

Now the accusation was that some of his disciples were eating with defiled or unwashed hands. How many of you were taught to always wash before eating? No exceptions?

Origins of Netilat Yadayim from https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/hand-washing/

Traditionally, Jews are required to wash their hands and say a blessing before eating any meal that includes bread or matzah. The ritual, known as netilat yadayim, is typically done using a special two-handled cup. The common practice is to pour twice on the right hand followed by twice on the left (this is reversed for those who are left-handed). Hasidic custom is to pour three times on each hand.

The tradition of netilat yadayim prior to eating bread originated with the rabbis who wrote the Talmud. According to wikipedia “The Talmud is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law and Jewish theology.” Notice: It’s not God’s Word that is their primary source of law and theology. It’s their own human writings. Does that sound familiar to some other religions? Extra biblical texts or writings become the source instead of God’s Word. That’s where people go way off track. It was the reason for the protestant reformation.

God’s command was for the priests to publically, ceremonially wash before serving in the tabernacle or temple. Making this a rule for everyone was a totally man-made tradition. While washing your hands before eating is a good idea, this ritual of washing included no soap or scrubbing to actually clean the hands. It was just for show.

Other Times for ritual washing

On Waking in the Morning

After a Meal

Upon Returning from a Cemetery

After going to the marketplace many took a full bath

In Jesus’ day, the Mishnah had 35 pages describing how to wash household vessels and other household items.

Other added Talmud rules to protect the Sabbath:

Can’t wear false teeth, because if they fall out, it would be work to pick them up.

Can’t carry a handkerchief in your pocket (carrying something is work), but you could wear one.

If a man had a wooden leg it might catch on fire and it would be work to carry it outside, so it’s better to not wear it on Sabbath.

Don’t look in a mirror on the Sabbath, because if you see a grey hair you will be tempted to put it out and perform work.

God's only actual commands for washing hands before eating applied to the priests and Levites who wash before serving in the tabernacle or temple. It was to make them clean physically and to symbolize God’s holiness and no dirt or sin being allowed in his presence.

So this conflict was not only between God’s truth and man’s tradition, but also between two divergent views of sin and holiness.

The rabbis and pharisees appear to have added these extra man-made rules to become the experts in the law and to further distance themselves from the rest of the people. Pride, control, and superiority seem to be their motivations rather than personal holiness and pleasing God. This seems evident in the way Jesus responded.

Jesus’ Condemnation

(vv 6-13)

Rather than directly answering their question, as usual, Jesus turns it back to them with some serious accusations and a clear example to back it up.

When Jesus called the Pharisees “hypocrites,” he took a term from the theater meaning to play a part on stage. Especially in Greek theater, actors wore various masks according to the roles they impersonated. The word “hypocrite,” accordingly, comes to mean someone who acts a role without sincerity - a pretender.

Jesus quoted the prophet Isaiah who talked about people giving lip-service to God, but not really honoring Him or his commands.

He also said they were teaching man’s traditions as though they were God’s law or commands. Then Jesus gave a specific example.

God’s Law says honor your father and mother and anyone who reviles or insults is parents must surely die.

But instead of obeying God their man-made tradition was called Corban.

Part of honoring one’s mother and father in the Jewish family was to take care of their needs when they got older. Yet, one of the ingenious ways to get around this command was to pronounce something as Corban. The word Corban literally means “an offering or gift dedicated to God.” Here is how it worked.

According to this tradition, a person would set aside money they would have given to help their parents but then said the property or money was “Corban,” or dedicated to God, then that could not be given to any other person—even your parents. It is a little like when someone gives you a birthday present - and when you open it, inside is a note saying we took the money we were going to use for your present and gave it to a charity instead.

But here was the real kicker - the hypocrisy of it all. The corban gift dedicated to God could still be used by its owner for personal gain and gratification. Therefore, by keeping the traditions of the elders a person was breaking one of the Ten Commandments—God’s law. Even if people who claimed Corban and later had a change of heart and wanted to help their parents, they could not according to the pharisee’s rules. And where did those properties and money ultimately go? To the priests and pharisees in the temple.

v. 13 ends with - and many such things you do! In other words, this is just one example of many more hypocritical rules.

Jesus defended His disciples actions and exposed the hypocrisy of their accusers. They were not breaking God’s law, they were ignoring the manmade traditions.

Authoritative Declaration

(vv. 14–16)

Then Jesus called everyone around and made this unbelievable statement.

v. 15 “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.”

Wait - was Jesus actually saying what you say or do is less important than what you think or believe? I thought I was supposed to behave properly, show good manners, speak when spoken to, be respectful to my elders, not make a fuss. If I do all those things won’t mommy and daddy be pleased with me? Won’t God be pleased with me? Isn’t good behavior what it’s all about?

Jesus announced to the whole crowd that the source of honoring God with holy living is from within, not from the outside. It’s what is in your heart that matters to God, not just your outward words or actions.

1 Samuel 16:7 ESV

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the Lord sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”

Our goodness does not come from outside. To be good or righteous to God, our hearts have to be right.

Jeremiah 17:9 ESV

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

The Jews had taken God’s great laws - summarized by Jesus as Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor and turned them into an elaborate religious system of minor rules that could be followed without any regard for God’s original intention. It became a show. A play. Hypocrisy.

Anyone notice anything odd about the verse numbers from 14 to 17?

16 is missing! Does anyone have a King James or New King James Bible? What does v. 16 say?

16 If any man have ears to hear, let him hear. KJV

This verse did not appear in the oldest manuscripts of Mark which were found after 1611 and so it is left out of many recent translations. It basically restates the call to hear already given in 7:14. Bible scholars today think it is an addition from someone making a later copy. This is one of the examples people use to say the newer translations are wrong, because they cut things out of the Bible.

Jesus was speaking on God’s behalf. He told them what it meant to obey God’s laws and truly please or glorify God. And he declared the religious leaders had twisted all around to their advantage, making themselves look better than everyone else.

But this left the disciples totally confused. How could the religious leaders be so wrong?

Jesus’ Explanation

(vv 7–23)

The human heart is sinful and produces all manner of evil desires, thoughts, and actions, everything from murder to envy.

Jesus said it’s not what’s on the outside that defiles or contaminates you with sin. Your sin is deep inside you. It’s in your heart or the center of your spiritual being.

Jesus then gets very specific and talks about stuff we do in the bathroom. To disobey these handwashing laws was a matter of ceremonial defilement, and that was an external matter. Food ends up in the stomach, but sin begins in the heart. The food we eat is digested and the waste evacuated, but sin remains and it produces defilement and death - separation from God.

v. 19 Jesus declared all foods clean. He didn’t say the laws were bad, he said all food are now clean. This continued to be a debate in the early church with Jewish believers trying to force kosher food rules on the new Gentile believers. Jesus was clearly making the way for gentiles and Jews to come together in worshipping God without any rules or traditions. Peter himself struggled with this until he had the vision of the unclean food spread out on a cloth and was commanded to go eat.

v. 21 Jesus gives a list of sins that come from our own hearts.

The first six terms are all evil actions we do with our bodies

The last six terms are all evil attitudes in our hearts

This is another example of Jesus’ authority as the Son of God. He came proclaiming God’s kingdom with a new standard of worshiping God in spirit and in truth.

- Jesus' authority was equal with God's

- over Sabbath, over food laws, washing, etc.

- The Law was fulfilled in Jesus

Later at the passover meal, he would say this blood is the new covenant. Do this. His blood replaced the sacrifice of lambs. Communion replaced the OT temple activities. There is no need to follow all the ceremonies and feasts. Jesus replaced them all as the perfect High Priest giving us direct access to God.

The Jeremiah passage Dawn led us in reading earlier speaks of the change from the written law of Moses to a freedom in obeying God as we are lead by his Holy Spirit in our hearts.

Jeremiah 31:33 ESV

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Our internal sin nature, the sin that separates us from God, is the source of our sin. Sin doesn’t come from hanging around with the wrong people, or being born in a poor neighborhood. Sin is in our selfish, prideful hearts, poisoning our thoughts and desires. It’s just waiting to get out in our words and actions. that’s where other people can see it clearly, but it was always there.

Sometimes older people like to comment on just how bad things are today compared to when they were younger. I agree sin is more visible and accepted by media and society, but sin has always been with us.

We have the same sin problems as people did 200 or 2000 years ago.

People choose to follow a religious system that says pleasing God is about following the rules

This produces the same hypocrisy, the same legalism

And the bottom line is we can't clean ourselves from the outside

People who choose no religion will recognize that they don’t measure up

They’re not smart enough, thin enough, well-dressed, cultured, never enough money or stuff

They are not loved and accepted based on who they are - it’s what they do or have, or control that gives them value and worth

Jesus’ explanation is that Our sin makes us unclean and unrighteous before a holy God whether we believe in Him or recognize the one true God.

Summary

Only Jesus' blood and forgiveness can wash us and make us whiter than snow. Only confessing my sin and trusting in Jesus’ righteousness makes me acceptable to God. Nothing I do changes my value in God’s eyes.

Salvation from sin and the gift of eternal life are where we find true freedom and unspeakable joy!

I like the way Warren Wiersbe outlines the difference between man’s traditions and God’s truth.

Man’s traditions

Outward forms—bondage

Trifling rules - specific to one situation

Outward piety

Neglects or replaces God’s Word with man’s rules

God’s truth

Inward faith—liberty

Fundamental principles - apply to all of life

True inward holiness

Exalts the Word of God - it’s our authority

Warren W. Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary

Our Christian liberty should always be used to build others up not to break them down or cause them to sin. (Rom 14:20-21, Gal 5:13)

Save for Growth Group?

Dangers of Traditionalism

- legalism - elevating human traditions to the level of Gods law

- hypocrisy - following rules and missing the heart of God

Jesus said follow the True Spirit of the Law

- don’t ignore parents and miss showing them love and mercy

- you can observe purity laws but do it in love and compassion

Take Aways

Don't focus on outward actions to make you right with God. - Maybe you grew up in a church where the focus was on following rules and doing everything just right so God would accept you. Most religions (man-made) are all about the rules. Even God’s people, the Jews took what God gave them and added a bunch of their own traditions that ignore God’s original intentions.

Repent and find forgiveness in Jesus. Becoming a follower of Jesus Christ is not a man-made religion. It’s a personal relationship with God the Father through His Son Jesus.

Allow the Holy Spirit to keep working on you - from the inside out. The Apostle Paul said " I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1:6 ESV

If you have already been forgiven and saved by Jesus, don’t become a religious person who places following rules ahead of loving people and bringing them to meet Jesus.

Rules like no running or talking too loud in church. No coffee in church. Don’t use the good plates. That room or those supplies are only for our meetings. Make sure you’re dressed right. Don’t ask too many questions. Don’t question anything we say. Legalism and following rules is no better than hypocrisy.

We can only be truly clean when we confess our sins to God. Because He is faithful and just and promises to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Benediction

May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, so that He may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints. In the holy and righteous name of Jesus I pray. Amen.

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