A Matter of the Heart

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sermon. God Bless. Lord, you tell us that what

you desire is not sacrifices, but a clean heart,

a pure heart. Lord, now with the words of my

mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing

to you. Lord, our rock and our Redeemer. All

right, a few years back, Business Insider published

a little article titled, The 10 Most Critical

Problems in the World According to Millennials.

Here they are. Lack of economic opportunity,

safety and security, lack of education, food

and water security, government accountability,

religious conflicts, poverty, inequality. war,

and then the number one was climate change. Now,

here is the truth. I'm a millennial. Some of

you are Gen Z. Some of you are Gen Xers. Some

of you are boomers. And you could make your own

list, right? You probably have a different list.

If you're a Republican, you might have a different

list than if you're a Democrat. And as a friend

of mine said, If you're JZ, you'd say 10 is way

too few because he's got 99 of them, right? And

of course we have problems. We have lots of problems.

We have all kinds of problems. Lack of economic

opportunity is a problem that many people face.

We have real reasons to wonder at ways that the

government fails us, right? Or hides behind their

power. That's a real thing. But what's interesting

about most of these problems, what's interesting

about most of the problems is that they pretty

much consistently say the problem is out there.

It's out there. The problem is capitalism. The

problem is Republicans or religious folk is the

problem. It's out there. The problem's out there.

And since it's out there, we can be off the hook.

Or maybe more in line with the words of this

passage. It's the problems out there. We can

wash our hands clean And Jesus says something

pretty different to us This is interesting both

the Pharisees and the scribes and Jesus all say

that there's a defilement problem, right? They're

all actually in agreement. We got problems There's

this defilement problem. That's the big word

that keeps keeps going through the passage or

it's certainly the beginning at the Or you can

sort of inverse it. You can say we have a purity

problem. We have a problem with who's clean And

who is not and I kind of want us to walk through

with this word Defile right Defilement and I

want us to consider Defiled hands defiled relationships

and defiled hearts. Okay, so three points like

a good Presbyterian Which you know, sometimes

I diverge from and I'm like, why do I diverge

from just the good old three -point sermon? So

I'm back So look with me down at verses one,

two, and then I wanna jump down to verse five,

okay? One, two, and five, Mark chapter seven.

Now, when the Pharisees gathered to him, that's

Jesus, with some of the scribes who'd come up

from Jerusalem, by the way, this is kind of hearkening

back actually before chapter four, there was

already a little bit of conflict and we're supposed

to assume that now the conflict has returned.

They saw that some of his disciples ate with

hands that were defiled. That is unwashed. Verse

five. And the Pharisees and the scribes asked

him, why do your disciples not walk according

to the tradition of the elders, but eat with

defiled hands? So they've put Jesus and his disciples

in the dock and they're doing this for their

credentials, right? Are you really in? Are you

something that someone that's worth listening

to? Are you a spiritual authority that we can

maybe trust? Or are you part of the problem?

Are you part of the end crew or are you part

of the problem? You see, here's something you

have to keep in mind, right? The Pharisees and

the scribes, they knew their Bibles. They knew

the law of God. They knew that to be close to

God in terms of the temple and the tabernacle,

there were certain instructions and key to those

instructions you can find in Exodus 30 or Leviticus

8 was washing. So when the priests were to offer

the sacrifice, there was the great... this bronze

basin between the Tent of Meeting and the altar,

and Aaron and Levites were supposed to wash when

they were doing this, supposed to be clean, symbolic

cleanliness as they approached God, that you

need to be ceremonial clean to get close to God.

There was supposed to be this external act that

actually reflected this internal reality, but

people said, hey, to be clean, to be close to

God, you gotta get clean. Actually, Mark gives

us this parenthetical comment right in verses

three and four. You probably heard that earlier.

So let me read it again. So verses three, for

the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless

they wash their hands properly, holding to the

traditions of the elders. And when they come

from the marketplace, they do not eat unless

they wash. And there are many other traditions

that they observe, such as the washing of cups

and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.

So here's what they did right they said, okay

if the priests are supposed to do this just do

this washing when they offer the sacrifices Well,

if you're gonna be really religious, let's take

that and just apply it all over the place Let's

make everything pure and clean If you want to

show that you're a real bona fide Religious person

somebody that's taken seriously do your washing

now I can't Aren't we all kind of like Washing's

normally a pretty good idea. I mean, wash your

head. That's a pretty helpful thing to do. It's

been, you know, sicknesses have been going around.

In our house, you can regularly hear me or Malise

saying things like, hey y 'all, wash your hands.

When you're at school, you know, would you get

there and wash your hands after you eat? Would

you wash your hands? Because there's all this

illness going around. And so for the most part,

we read this and we're like, Yeah, I don't know

about the dining couches, but the rest make some

sense, right? But here's what they're doing,

right? They're taking this good practice and

they're extrapolating out and by extrapolating

out, they're saying, I can tell you who's clean

and who's not, who's defiled, who's worth sort

of giving some credibility to and who's not,

who's in, who's out. Maybe it's like this. So

I watched this a little bit earlier this week

by Chris Fleming, the comedian. And he is talking

about how he kind of, well, he begins it by saying

that cheddar is really having its time and you

can kind of assess a grocery store by its cheddar

selection. So he says, he goes into the grocery

store and he immediately goes over the cheddar

and he goes, regular cheddar? Okay, mild cheddar?

oh all right sharp cheddar let's go okay extra

sharp cheddar yes totally sharp cheddar okay

and then he says which y 'all might not get because

we're on the east coast but being from washington

and having gone to the tillamook creamery many

times in tillamook oregon he ends this little

bit by saying give me that tillamook psycho But

he's saying that you prove your like bonafide

existence as a grocery store by how far you take

it, right? And that's partly what they're doing

is saying if you just do all this stuff, then

you'll have a level of credibility. Well, we'll

listen to you. The Pharisees wanted to keep the

cleaning party going, keeping everything clean,

including those dining couches. And of course,

what it means that if that you are defiled, if

you don't do it. You don't do it. It's not hard

to see, of course, how we do this. It's the sort

of age -old inner ring that C .S. Lewis wrote

about long ago. How do we show that we're the

in ones? How do we show we aren't defiled? How

do we show that we can be taken seriously? Of

course, we wear the right clothes. We post the

right things on social media. We show that we

get mad at the right causes, right? We have the

right list of problems in the world. and we let

people know about it. Okay, here, I hope you

kind of get this. One thing that's important

to say is that there was a motive that the Pharisees

had that's actually kind of a good motive. There's

something there that the Pharisees are doing

that in some ways is good. They have a sense

of their uncleanliness in a way. I mean, they're

saying, okay, everything that needs to get clean

because we want to be close to God. And so we're

going to, you know, they have a sense of needing

to be clean, that they were defiled in a way,

but they wanted to control whether or not they

were clean or not. So they had to wash everything

and make sure everybody else washed everything.

And it's important to understand that on some

level, there's a good motive, cleanliness and

relating to God and being close to him. And I

would say a lot of the ways that we wanna protect

sort of social cleanliness has a lot of good

motives. So for example, we have a real sense

of the need to care for the environment. That's

a good thing, right? And we debate things like

economic policies and structures because they

affect real people in the world. We wear certain

clothes because we actually desire to belong

to a certain community and relationships are

good, right? Like you got to find your people

as Drew Holcomb says and that's a good thing

We know that the wrong of the world does need

to be spotlighted and people do need to know

about it, right? We do need to highlight those

things which are actually harmful for the world

Which is to say that on some level the Pharisees

knew there's this defiling thing that's happening

They knew that something needed to be cleaned,

something needed to be done about it. And they

even took their cues of this from God, right?

The beginning of it actually comes from what

God commanded. The problem though, the problem

is that they thought that if they just washed

enough, if they just did it enough, they could

manage it. and it could all be fine. They could

control the problem. They had defiled hands,

but what they could do is wash enough that it

could all be clean and tell everybody else to

do it too. So Jesus then goes on, of course,

to point out that there's a real problem with

this, and he points it out by saying this action

of just sort of how you treat these defiled hands

actually shows that you've got defiled relationships,

okay? So that's the second point, defiled relationships.

And first, Jesus calls them hypocrites, right?

This is how it begins. Verse six, well did Isaiah

prophesy of you hypocrites. Hypocrites is the

word for actor, putting on a show. And this acting

defiles the relationships that they have. It

defiles their relationship with God and it defiles

their relationship with others because they are

intrinsically connected. So first, they defiles

their relationship with God, again, verses six

and then reading seven. So, well did Isaiah prophesy

of you hypocrites as it was written, this people

honors me with their lips, but their hearts far

from me. In vain do they worship me, teaching

us doctrines the commandments of men." And he

says in verse eight, you leave the commandments

of God and hold to the tradition of men. So here's

what's happening. As long as they thought they

could be clean by simply what they are doing,

all this washing, but what they do, they're actually

defiling their relationship with God. They honor

me with their lips, but their hearts are far

from me in vain. Do they worship me? And of course,

why would this be the case? Why, if they're taking

something good like this cleaning and extrapolating

it out? Because they are controlling God. Right?

If I can do all this, then I get to be with you.

It's an outward kind of thing that says, if I

just do this, then you've got to see that I'm

clean. I can clean everything, even the dining

couches. It's all clean, God. And I come. And

of course, when they do this, they naturally

defile their relationships with others because

they learn that they think deep down if they

can control God, of course they can control other

people. Or if I'm on the right side of justice

and you are not, then it probably really doesn't

matter too much what I say about you or how I

treat you. So here's what happens. Jesus gives

this sort of ultimate example of relationships.

He talks about this idea of devotion to God and

controlling God in relation to one of the key

relationships, which is how you honor your father

and mother, which you'll remember is the fifth

commandment and the commandment with a promise.

But what happens is that they say, you know what,

you're relating with me with this idea of Corbin,

which is dedicating your life to God, to such

an extent that you're actually harming your parents,

even your aging parents in their time of need,

which is to say you've dedicated your money to

the church building campaign and now your parents,

are in need in their old age. You don't have

funds to care for them. You're like, well, I've

given it to God. I'm this relationship with God

is I'm controlling this. And so now I'm controlling

that and I'm actually harming that. So it's a

defiled God relationship and it's a defiled human

relationship. Or how about this? You say, I know

that Jesus says, love your enemies, do good to

those who hate you, bless those who curse you,

pray for those who mistreat you. But this person

I'm talking about is part of the problem. They

are a part of that list of 10 problems. They're

the reason the city keeps closing down restaurants.

They're the reason that we have such deep climate

concern. They are the reason for the economic

inequality and the job insecurity. So whatever

language is warranted, God, I'm doing something

good here. I'm in. And so it defiles, not just

our relationship with God, it defiles our relationship

with others. The problem is out there is what's

happening. The problem is the Democratic House

representatives here in Pennsylvania, the mayor,

the White House. The problem is my out of touch

parents who didn't save enough or whatever. It's

just out there. And Jesus says that as long as

you think this way, as long as you just think

that if I just clean my hands and I clean everything

else about me, then you are an actor. You're

a hypocrite. And it actually creates harm in

all of your relationships. Okay, so I feel like

I should acknowledge that I have this little

mustache thing because I don't normally have

it. And I know some of you are like, is that

fuzz? What did he clean? So I'll explain. Last

night was the sixth grade union ball for my daughter

Lily's class. And it was down in the Capitol

building. It was absolutely lovely. It was really

a wonderful time. The ladies and the girls got

dressed up in these beautiful ball gowns. And

we were supposed to dress kind of period -like.

So 1860s, which is the same decade that our church

here was started. And so, Melissa. got this outfit

from some other parent of like the seventh grade

class or eighth grade class, I don't remember.

She told me, I forgot. And I looked at it and

I was like, I don't like this. I just had like

a vest and suspenders and some stripy pants and

some funny tie stuff. So I was like, I think

I, I'll just wear something that I like, right?

So I just put on my own clothes. But I was like,

I don't think I'm gonna, I don't think I'm gonna

fit in very well with just my own clothes. I

need to like try to look the part. And I hadn't

shaved in a while, and I was like, well, I guess

I can leave a mustache. And truly on some level,

I'm telling you, truly on some level, I wanted

to control other people's perception of me. I

still fit in. I didn't wear the outfit, but can

I still be a part? Which is a very mundane example

of something that we all know is actually much

bigger dynamic in the world, right? Who's in

it? Who's out? Let me tell you a story from my

good friend, Sean Slate. He used to lead RUF

with me in Virginia. He was at UVA when I was

at VCU. He was talking about going to his local

Kroger, which is like giant down in Knoxville.

He was doing the shopping and he was walking

into the Kroger and he was following us. He says

this young, hip, cool looking, dressed young

man. And he was like, oh man, we would be friends

because I like to think of myself as young and

hip and cool. And Sean is as bald as I am. And

he's walking in there. And as they're walking

in, kind of like out walks this older man with

this bright red MAGA hat. And as they pass by,

the young man says to the older man, why don't

you just go home, you racist? And as soon as

that was said, the older man turns on him and

gets right in his face. And as Sean says, said

a lot of things that are not appropriate to say.

And they turned on one another and just had a

yelling match. And of course, you can imagine

this happening. This is not a foreign thing for

us. But it does not mean that it is not a sad

thing, because this is the people we've often

become. But here's the other thing. Both of them

felt clean in doing it, didn't they? Didn't they?

They did. This is part of my cleanliness. I'm

making the world right. And what we do is we

actually live not in the way of love, but in

the way of hate. Our relationships are defiled

with this kind of action that says, as long as

I get stuff right, I can look out in the world

and say the wrong is all out there. It's all

out there. Which is why, This passage is not

just talking about defiled hands and defiled

relationships, but defiled hearts, right? So

Jesus in verse 14, yeah, it says, he called the

people to him again, right? So he's kind of in

this dialogue with this crowd, right? That's

where he had been. And he's talking to the scribes

and the Pharisees, but he's like, you know what?

This isn't an issue just for the scribes and

Pharisees. This is a human issue. Everybody's

got to hear me. Which is to say this is not just

a problem for the scribes and Pharisees or Eugen

Xers or us millennials, right? Or Eugen Z, right?

It's not a Republican and get Democratic problem.

It is not as much as you may want to believe

that it's not. It's a people problem. Which is

why I think this is actually what Jesus says.

Hear me, all of you. Hear me all of you and understand

there is nothing outside a person that by going

into him can defile him But the thing that comes

out of a person are what defiles him Then we

learn what he what he does next actually his

disciples he gathers his disciples to him and

it seems as though they're still confused Which

happens a lot in the Bible the disciples are

still confused which is why church folk, we still

need to hear this again and again and again,

right? And he says 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 his heart, but it enters

not his heart, but his stomach and is expelled.

By the way, Jesus actually says it goes into

the latrine, but our Bible translators are a

little like, we don't know if people should know

that Jesus said that. All this is to say is that

the problem is not just that we have defiled

hands and we can just get our life in order,

which leads to defiled relationships if we have

that approach. What Jesus is saying is that you've

got defiled hearts. You need a clean heart. You

need a clean heart. And I know maybe some of

you are thinking, and I think somewhat understandably,

no way, we've got all kinds of external problems.

We've got all kinds of external problems, systemic

racism, systemic injustice, policies that do

not encourage fatherly accountability in families,

political systems that hide sexual predators

under power and all the rest. And Jesus actually

does sort of hint to these problems, doesn't

he? Down in verse 21. He says, there's problems

of sexual immorality. There are problems of theft.

There are problems of murder and adultery. There

are external dynamics that are at play, right?

He does say that. But he says the problem is

a defiled heart. That is at its root. Here's

what he's saying. The problem out there in the

world is that you're out there in the world and

that I'm out there. I mean, who builds our systems?

People with defiled hearts. As the illustrious

Selena Gomez says, the heart wants what it wants,

right? So out of the heart, Jesus says, from

within, out of the heart of man comes evil thoughts,

sexual morality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting,

wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander,

pride, foolishness. All these evil things come

from within and they defile a person. And we

are all inclined to just say, okay, let me just

put everything in order. Or let me accept you

if you have your things in order that fit within

sort of my social construct of who I might give

my attention to. He says, that is our inclination.

It is our inclination. And it's worth asking

ourselves, it's worth asking ourselves, what

are we attempting to sort of clean up? Or how

do we like dismiss somebody if they don't have

this and this order? These words clean. These

problems on their list, whatever. It's worth

asking how you engage. with the externals of

your life and how that might actually be a reflection

of your relationship with God and with other

people. What's it doing? What's how you're engaging

with the external world influencing how you're

engaging with God and with others? How are you

inclined to think that the problem is just out

there? But the other thing that this passage

is doing, the other thing that this passage means

for us is this great invitation to a new heart.

And the scriptures talk about this all over.

Our hearts of stone do not have to be hearts

of stone. God transforms hearts of stone and

makes them hearts of flesh. And he says he will

give this to you as you come to him. As you come

to him confessing, Lord, the problem with the

world is that I'm in the world. Lord, give me

a clean heart. Guard my judgmental ways. Almost

every social sort of setting, every social group

has a degree of what cleanliness is, right? If

you do these certain things, if you do these

sorts of acts, if you say these kinds of words,

you're in a clean group. And when that happens,

so often what we say is if you're not doing that,

You're the problem, right? Say the right things

and all the rest, wear the right clothes you

can be in. And here's another truth. Is that

virtually every other religion says that exact

same thing. Do this. Look like this. And you

can come into the presence of God, but it is

not what Christianity says. What Shandy says

is you need a new heart. You need the pure one,

the undefiled one, to come for you, the defiled

ones. And he does that for you. And as you trust

in him and as you rest in his work on your behalf,

God changes your heart. And he changes your life

with him or your relationship with him. And he

begins to change your relationship with others.

And this is on offer for you. As Christianity

alone offers this, doesn't say, wash this and

wash this and wash this and wash this and say

these things and get this list of problems right.

And then you can be in. Does the undefiled one,

Jesus himself comes among us and for us in our

sin that we might be washed clean. So there's

a lot of things we can think about in this passage.

And I encourage you to do that. Think about those

external things. What are the things that really

get you mad? What are the ways you want to tell

everybody else to get clean? Think about that.

But more than anything, more than anything, this

morning, please ask Jesus to give you a new heart.

To give you a heart of flesh that's receptive

to Him. That grows in love for Him and necessarily

grows in love even for your enemies. Lord does

this he does Change his hearts and he can change

yours and mine Let me pray for us Lord Thank

you for your word God you know how inclined I

am we are to live thinking that if we just get

everything right we'll be able to live before

you and that the problem is out there in the

world and that can justify all kinds of things

in our minds, how we speak to our spouses and

our children and how we think about our neighbors.

And God, we hear your commands to love our enemies

and we think it just sounds so foreign in our

world and so crazy. And yet we see it in you,

Lord Jesus, the undefiled one who comes for us

when we were still far off and enemies. Yet you

love us and in loving us, you change us. And

so God, I pray that you'd give us your heart

this morning. God, remove our hearts of stone

and give us a heart of flesh by the powerful

work of your Holy Spirit. Please do this. Hear

this prayer, we ask. Amen. Thank you for listening

to Second City Sermon's podcast. We hope this

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God bless.