Consider these questions as you dwell in Mark 7:14-23:

1. How does Jesus challenge the prevailing religious understanding of cleanliness and holiness in this passage? What is the key distinction he makes between external rituals and internal disposition?

2. The passage emphasizes the importance of what comes out of a person's heart, listing various sinful tendencies. How can believers guard their hearts and minds to ensure that what flows out is aligned with holiness and righteousness?

3. Pastor Mark highlights the need for a renewed mind and a focus on God's Word to shape our thoughts and desires. How can individuals actively cultivate a mindset that aligns with holiness and pleases God? What practical steps can be taken to guard against defiling influences?

Transcript:

Well, this is a rather well-known teaching of Jesus. You have likely heard it before, and it's such an important part of what we know about the Christian faith. What is Jesus referring to here? He's looking back on the religious system that they would have known at the time. The idea was that they were to be ritually clean, and they were to do these different things, the things they ate, the things they did or did not touch could make them clean or unclean. But, Jesus is doing something interesting here. He's flipping the whole thing on its head, isn't he? He's saying that, hey, while you have been taught these things, and we have to remember that, yes, the Bible, the Old Testament taught these things, but the Pharisees had expanded these things that made them clean and unclean. They'd expanded the rules dramatically. Jesus was not trying to undermine the Old Testament here, but he was getting down to the point of the rules that ultimately our cleanliness, our holiness comes from within us, not from without us. But that's the system that Jesus was operating in. That's the way people understood things. And again, it had been expanded by all the extra rules that the Pharisees had added.

And so, as Jesus is talking about this, he's saying, Hey, we're really concerned here. You're really concerned here about all these things that you eat and don't eat. But you don't seem all that concerned about how you live, about what is in your heart. And so Jesus says here in verse 15, There's nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of person are what defile him. In other words, you can eat something, but that doesn't make you holy or not. Now we should eat good stuff. We shouldn't eat things that are unhealthy. We all do, but we shouldn't say, Hey, we can eat whatever we want. Jesus says here because it's not defiling us. Jesus is talking about the idea of holiness here and in their system. Holiness could be defined by many different things, but specifically by the rituals that they followed. And so Jesus makes this statement. Now, there's one little thing that I want to point out here in verse 19, before we look at the final thoughts of Jesus here and think about this a little, in verse 19, it says, thus he declared all foods clean.

And so, thinking that Peter is probably the one who is telling Mark about what Jesus did here, that Mark is the one who wrote the Gospel, but Peter was his source. Remember, Peter was the one who experienced the dream about being able to eat foods that had previously been considered unclean. And so, Peter may be expanding upon that idea. Look, Jesus is making the point here that none of these rituals are actually going to make you holy. And so, what we need to do is focus on what comes out of us. So, that may be why that little aside is there. But anyway, as we close up this little passage, we can see verses 21 through 23, For from within, out of the heart of man come evil thoughts, sexual morality, theft, murder, adultery, covenant, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come within, and they defile a person. Now, that is something that we know to be true. We know about the thoughts of our heart, about the things that lead to the sinful actions that we take. Those are the things that cause us to sin. Those are the things that really cause us to be defiled.

And so, when we think about holiness, it really starts for us with our mind. It starts with our desires and our thoughts. And so, what we want to do, we want to have a renewed mind. We want to have that focus that is looking to holy scripture and letting that work in us to shape how we think to give us that renewed mind. And so that is where we want to focus. And so, as we think about what this means for us. These words of Jesus cut us through, do they not? Do they not convict us of our sin? And so may we be thinking about what is going on in our minds, what is coming out of our hearts? And when we think about that, we have to remember, what are we putting into our minds? What are we putting into our hearts? Because those things, when they come out of us, are truly what defiles us. That's our sin. And so, as we think about this, may we be convicted of what we think and what we desire after. But may we, most of all, have a desire to live a holy life.

May we, most of all, have a desire to do that which is pleasing God. May we not want to be defiled. And so, may we seek out holiness today. And we know what that looks like. It's seeking after the things of God. And so may we remember His word today. May we remember these words specifically. May the Spirit work in us, convicting us of our sin and causing us to live in repentance and faith, moving towards God, trusting that he is truly the one who can make us clean. Our sin has defiled us, but Jesus has forgiven us, so, may we desire that our lives would reflect that great truth.