Inner Defilement
Mark 7:14-23 is today’s text:
14 And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: 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.” 17 And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. 18 And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, 19 since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) 20 And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. 21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”
1. The purpose of “unclean foods” in the O.T. (Mark 7:14-19, Lev 11:1-7) The main purpose for the clean/unclean food requirement was to reveal that only God is holy. It was to instill an awareness of God’s holiness and the reality that sin is a barrier to fellowship with God. Now, because of the Atonement of Christ Himself, defilement of the heart is removed, and the barrier is broken down.
2. The standard for comparison is perfection. (Mark 7:20-23) No man can completely complete the law, nor can no man completely keep verses 21-23. The inner defilement of a man is still the sins listed in these verses. However, positionally, and in reality, Christ has placed His righteousness on unrighteous men. (Isaiah 53) We still will battle with these defilements in our lives. When we encounter this truth, there should be a conviction of us missing the mark. This should drive us by faith to repent.
3. Ramifications of clean food/drink. (Mark 7:18-19) This reinforces the truth of the sins of drunkenness and gluttony. The partaking of alcohol is NOT itself a sin, in fact Jesus turned water into wine as His first recorded miracle. Having a slice of cheesecake is not a sin either. Having them in excess, however, introduces the inner defilement of drunkenness or gluttony, thus reinforcing the teaching here. It is the inner desire of the heart to have more and more and more – which is nothing more than sins of the flesh that have overpowered the spiritual conviction to say, “I’ve had enough.”
Psalm 104:14 You cause the grass to grow for the livestock
and plants for man to cultivate,
that he may bring forth food from the earth
15 and wine to gladden the heart of man,
oil to make his face shine
and bread to strengthen man’s heart.
We see here in this text that wine and bread are their for “gladness” and “strength”; but mankind has gone to excess with drunkenness and gluttony. The same can be true for sex. Sex itself is a beautiful thing – when done God’s way. When not done God’s way – it turns VERY ugly quickly. All kinds of pervertions then are borne.
Too many times Christians are unbalanced: They condemn mild alcohol intake, yet accept gluttony as a viable thing that is acceptable to God. To say that one HAS to be a tee-totaller with alcohol is the same as saying to a married couple that they should not have sex, or to a person that they should not eat. It’s the PERVERSION of these freedoms that get us in trouble. I have no problem with one who refuses to eat anything (however, he may eventually die), and no problem with the one who abstains from sex, and no problem with the tee-totaller. However – to enforce your personal conviction on a believer that is outside of scripture is wrong, and nothing more than Pharasism. This is exactly what Jesus condemns in this passage.
The essence of this text is that as in all things: the sins of the flesh come from the heart, not from external things consumed. Why can’t we leave it at that? Why do we strap on other burdens?
This entry was posted on Thursday, October 16th, 2008 at 8:19 am and is filed under Devotional. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
