Mark 7:14-23 Let Your Mouth Speak Good Things

Mark 7:14-23  Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen to me, everyone, and understand this.  Nothing outside a man can make him ‘unclean’ by going into him.  Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him ‘unclean.’”  After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable.  “Are you so dull?” he asked.  “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him ‘unclean’?  For it doesn’t go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods “clean.”)  He went on: “What comes out of a man is what makes him ‘unclean.’  For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.  All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean.’” 

In today's scripture, Jesus declared all foods clean, but conversely, He declared certain, hidden thoughts within men and women's hearts to be very much unclean.  These evil and destructive thoughts defile a person's inner being and eventually come to the surface in the form of words and actions, poisoning  people and the environments around them, including how they treat others in their lives.  How many homes within the Christian community are being poisoned by thoughts that originate from the evil one that are sinful and directly opposed to the purity of God and his will in this world.  Words and actions that are contrary to the will and purity of God lead to destruction for oneself and for others who surround us.  As Christ's followers, we cannot allow our minds to run loose, thinking thoughts that will eventually lead to evil and destructive actions.  We are to be servants of God, his ambassadors of his loving kindness and tender mercy.  We are not to show forth a self-willed, hedonistic attitude or to be full of thoughts of revenge and harm toward others.  We are not to seek life merely for its pleasures or to seek to destroy others because we feel they have wronged us.  Instead, we are to be sinless in thought and actions, forceful in doing the will of God by displaying his mercy and grace.  People know us by our deeds.  Jesus said, No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit.  Each tree is recognized by its own fruit.  People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers.  The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart.  For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.  (Luke 6:43-45)  

Now, all of us are susceptible to a corrupt spirit under certain circumstances.  But thankfully, these situations should be rare in our lives.  When they do come, we should turn quickly to the Lord for strength to overcome our adversary the devil.  Most of the time when our lives are normal and stable, we display the Spirit's attributes, the mind of Christ.  We do the will of God rather than the will of the flesh.  However, life has its times of temptation and trouble.  During those times we must submit our thoughts and actions to God's will.  Even when we feel life is unfair and hurtful, we must remain faithful to his words, to his expectations.  We are not to venture out on our own, hurting others because we believe we have been hurt.  We are not to fight flesh with flesh, destroy rather than build up.  When our spirits feel malevolent, we need to let Christ come along side and tell our "hearing ear" that He is with us and knows our struggle.  These times of malevolence can be times of great healing and supernatural intervention in our lives if we yield to the voice of the Holy Spirit, the Wonderful Guide and Counselor sent from heaven to dwell within us and to keep us strong in faith and able to withstand the snares of the enemy.  The same is true with the other sins Jesus mentions to the crowd.  He understood the hearts of the people: He knew that out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.  Yet Jesus came to provide a new and living way of escape when these temptations of the sinful nature come to seek and to destroy, when we feel helpless to stand in our own strength.  These are times when we can truly understand Jesus' mission on earth to redeem mankind from its sinfulness and despair, for Christ came to redeem, not to destroy.  In describing our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,  Paul tells Titus, Jesus gave himself for us to redeem us from all wickedness and to purify for himself a people that are his very own, eager to do what is good.  (Titus 2:13)  Paul understood the grace of God and often spoke of God's strength.  He wrote: That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties.  For when I am weak, then I am strong.  (2 Corinthians 12:10) 

The Spirit's contention with us always revolves around perfecting Christ in us; conforming us to his image; bringing forth a harvest of the fruit of the Spirit in our lives; making us more loving, joyful, peaceable, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and self-controlled.  When these attributes permeate our thoughts, words, and actions, we are a healing balm, bringing Christ to a sick and dying world.  People hear the voice of Jesus, saying,  “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am GENTLE AND HUMBLE in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)  As the Holy Spirit guides us, we become more gentle and humble.  When we take his yoke upon us, Christ in us is gentle and humble, and we will find rest for our souls.  With his perfect rest, the burden of life does become easy and light, for we are no longer caught up with our selfish and hedonistic ways of living: doing evil, thinking evil, fighting evil with evil.  As we walk with the Lord in the light of his love, we will combat the troubles and the trials of the world with the goodness and the strength of the Lord.  When Paul described learning to depend upon the Lord in all situations and being contented with God's sufficiency, he wrote, I can do everything through him (Jesus) who gives me strength.  (Philippians 4:13)  This is our cry of hope, our anthem: Christ is our everything, our total sufficiency.  We do not have to wallow in sin without any hope.  We do not have to render evil for evil to free our hearts from thoughts of revenge.  We are no longer captive to sinful desires that defeat us, hurting us and others.  WE ARE FREE!  And we know the Bible says: So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.  (John 8:36)  Consequently, dear brothers and sisters, walk as free men and women, showing forth the mercy and grace of our Lord.  Do not fear what you take into your body; rather, concern yourself with what comes from your mouths.  Confess Christ: with your deeds and in your conversations.    

  

Mark 7:9-13  And he (Jesus) said to them: “You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!  For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.’  But you say that if a man says to his father or mother: ‘Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is Corban’ (that is, a gift devoted to God), then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother.  Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down.  And you do many things like that.”  

Jesus tells the Pharisees and the teachers of the law that their traditions, teachings, and lifestyles do not reflect God's light or image to the world when He says, You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions!  In fact, He knows their ideas and their ways of living hinder the revelation of the one, true God to the people of Israel.  They are actually obstructing the path to eternal life.  Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!  You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces.  You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.  Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!  You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.  (Matthew 23:13-15)  Even their interpretations of the Pentateuch distorted the truth of God's message to the Israelites.  Rather than bringing people closer to God by advocating his commandments above and beyond all other truth, they decided to elevate their manmade traditions and to place the rationality of their minds above divine scripture.  By doing this, they hid the truth, rather than propagating the truth of God's holy written commands.    

In our modern generation, we too must be careful not to elevate our personal desires, religion, and rational thinking above the Word of God.  We must strive not live our lives in the flesh, placing our willful purposes above the supernatural commandments and plans of God.  If we New Testament Christians accentuate the carnal nature's ways of living above God's desires for us to be like his perfect Son, we are abrogating the Word of God.  We are striking directly against his divine commands that are all fulfilled in loving God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength and in loving others as we love ourselves.  To live for ourselves is to strike against God's intentions for us to be servants to all.  If we are not servants, we will not take up the cross of Christ: we will not take care of our parents as Jesus indicated in the above scriptures.  We will first serve ourselves, even justifying this self-willed choice by proclaiming our good reasons for such a life.   Jesus declares the commands of God are far more important than man's self-willed ways of living, even if we think we can justify our lifestyles.  Of course, obeying God means we lose our will to God's will.  We die to ourselves, and as Christ is alive in us, God lives his will through our lives.  When we follow his will: meditate, pray, and sing songs of worship and praise to our God, we are storing up treasure in God's economy.  When we serve the least in this world by being a servant to them, we are storing up treasure in heaven, for we are serving the King of all things.  

The King will reply, "I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."

  (Matthew 25:40)  

By our service, we show the world God's unconditional love for people by loving others, such as our parents, more than ourselves.  We show the world God's nature by displaying the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  This is not the fruit of a life lived for self; this is the harvest of the Spirit from a life surrendered to the Lord.  Because we love Christ as He loves us, we willingly do unto our neighbors as we would want them to do unto us.  We choose to go the second mile with people as Jesus directed us to do.  We give mercy and grace because we have received the overflowing compassion of Jesus.  We are generous: we don't hold back in giving to the poor and the needy.  Our empathy for others who are in difficult situations motivates us to action: we cry when they cry, we rejoice when they rejoice, for we are tenderhearted, full of mercy and grace.  We are not double-minded because we are the light of the world through Christ in us.  This kind of committed living is a culmination of fulfilling all the commandments of God through Christ Jesus, the resurrected One.  Because of Jesus, we love God with all our hearts and we love our neighbors the same way.  The Pharisees and the teachers of law were obliterating this restoration message of God that we hear in the shepherds' field:  Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”  (Matthew 2:13-14)  Because the religious leaders were hindering the truth of God's grace and mercy, Jesus criticized them harshly and warned them sternly of God's coming judgement.  They chose darkness over light. 

 

We are to be the light of world, the salt that brings savor to the world.  We, who are IN CHRIST, are called to REFLECT the image of God to the world.  We are known as the body of Christ.  Because Christ is the same today, tomorrow and forever, our attitude should be consistently his attitude.  Our words should be his words.  Our desire, his desire.  Jesus chose the Father's will over his own will, always saying, Not my will but yours, Father.  He could have had everything in this world for his own grandiosement and comfort, but He set his needs aside for God's purposes.  Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  (Philippians 2:5-7)  Our likeness in this world should reflect Jesus' likeness as He walked on this earth, full of love, mercy, and grace.  Any other purposes for our lives skew our paths in the wrong direction.  The Pharisees and teachers of the Law thought they could construct their own lives and the lives of others on their manmade traditions, traditions that elevated themselves in the eyes of the people.  Jesus said they were completely wrong.  They were not to honor themselves, but to serve the people around them.  Their lives needed to be subservient to God's will, by loving others, caring for the needs of others, and going the extra mile.  They were to lose their lives in serving, not to construct them for their own glory.  Living for Christ is a daily challenge for each of us.  Today, let us all ask God to help us portray his image by serving a sick and dying world.  

Mark 7:1-8 Walk in the Light and Love Others

Mark 7:1-8  The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus and saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were “unclean,” that is, unwashed.  (The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders.  When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash.  And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.)  So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with ‘unclean’ hands?”  He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: “‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.  They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.’  You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men.”

"They worship me in vain" is a startling statement directed at the most austentatiously righteous people in Israel: the Pharisees and teachers of the law, those who best knew God's holy commands.  Their obedience to the religious and cultural laws and customs of their time brought great honor and respect to them.  The people looked to them for leadership and deferred to their judgment on how to live a righteous life.  Their wisdom was sought in almost every situation.  As respected leaders, they were accustomed to receiving honor at the feasts and celebrations.  The head tables of any gathering would belong to them.  The people believed the Pharisees and teachers of the law had a unique and special relationship with God because of their knowledge and their experience.  The people believed if anyone knew God, these set-apart and specially ordained holy people knew the God of creation and held the keys to his kingdom.  They would have believed the Pharisees had every right to accuse the disciples for not completing the appropriate rituals for washing their hands before eating.  And the people would have been shocked when Jesus attacked this group of church officials, inferring they were sanctimonious and supercilious, saying, These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.  Yet Jesus had no fear of quoting the prophet Isaiah, when He called these men hypocrites, for He knew the Pharisees and teachers of the law had raised these manmade commandments and customs for self-serving reasons: to elevate their position in the Jewish society.  Consequently, Jesus knew it pleased the Father to fault their self-serving lifestyle and their lack of grace.   

Jesus constantly looked to the hearts of the men and women.  He warned the people, “Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them.  If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven."   (Matthew 6:1)  Contrary to these religious leaders,  Jesus asked the people to fulfill God's commandments: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’  This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.  (Matthew 22:37-40)  Jesus was asking them to reflect God's nature by loving.  The Pharisees and the teachers of law were caught up with loving themselves and their lives first and foremost.  They used religion and self-sacrifice to accentuate their holiness.  They were focused on manmade righteousness, not on God's holiness.  They were oriented this way for self-engrandisement; not for God's glory.  This show of self is not in any way a reflection of the Spirit of light that comes from on high, for it does not reflect God: it reflects the carnal man, Adam, the fallen man.  A self-righteous attitude cannot be tolerated in God's kingdom for it is an anti-Christ spirit.  When a person fails to elevate God's mercy, grace, and goodness; he or she elevates his or her own efforts to be like God, with the implied attitude, "I can become holy and righteous without God's help."  This is a vain, vacuous spirit--a humanistic spirit that is directly opposed to God and his work through Jesus Christ on the cross.  What the religious people of that time showed forth as light was denounced by Jesus as great darkness.  If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!  (Matthew 6:23)  If the way you SEE life revolves around yourself: what you want, where you want to go, when you want things to happen; something is terribly wrong.  How great is the darkness in your life!  You have strayed far from the true path of righteousness, and you do not have your eyes on the light of Christ.  When people point to themselves or a list of laws rather than Christ, beware!

When we stray from the truth, we must stop and remember what are the commands of God?  The two cardinal commandments to love God and to love our neighbors as ourselves confront the self-serving and hedonistic lifestyles of humans and fulfill all the commandments ever given by God.  They turn the world upside down.  Self-interest is replaced by love, the unconditional love of God the Father shown through his Son's sacrifice at the cross.  We see this change in orientation clearly illustrated in the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus said: Don't bless yourself by bragging about giving to the needy or receive honor for how much you give.  Don't let men praise you for your prayers, and don't fast to get attention.  Don't find pleasure in holding a grudge.  Don't gain as much wealth for yourself as you can, for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.  Don't for the sake of gain try to serve two masters.  Don't vent your frustration by fretting about what you need or want.  (See Matthew Chapter Six)  The Bible indicates we are strangers here, pilgrims bound for a heavenly city.  We are different from the natural man who is dead in his trespasses and sins.  Therefore, we are to love in place of hate, pray for our enemies.  When we do, we are TRUE children of God because He sends rain and sunlight on all people, regardless of their attitudes toward him.  We are to be as He is, slow to anger and quick to forgive.  The flesh is self-oriented, self-serving and self-righteous: this natural spirit leads to death.  As children of God we have the spirit of a servant--we willingly serve.  We take up the cross and follow Jesus.  The Bible says while we were yet sinners, Christ loved us.  We should also have that same mind in us.  Loving leads to LIFE.  If you love those who love you, what reward will you get?  Are not even the tax collectors doing that?  And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others?  Do not even pagans do that?  Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.  (Matthew 5:46-48)  Be blessed dear ones as you go about doing good, as you go about loving others with the love of the Lord.   

  

Mark 6:53-56 Delivered From the Land of the Dead

Mark 6:53-56  When they had crossed over, they landed at Gennesaret and anchored there.  As soon as they got out of the boat, people recognized Jesus.  They ran throughout that whole region and carried the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was.  And wherever he went — into villages, towns or countryside — they placed the sick in the marketplaces.  They begged him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak, and all who touched him were healed. 

Jesus, through his healing ministry, reveals to the Jews that He is from the land of the supernatural, a place where God resides.  In Matthew's account we read, Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people.  News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed, and he healed them.  (Matthew 4:23-25)  Jesus restores people's lives by healing them of illnesses, casting out demons, and cleansing them of all types of afflictions.  He attacks sin and death directly, causing people to understand He is no ordinary man.  He displays his divinity and special abilities clearly in his interactions with the people.  Life is given back to them; death is placed on hold.  All humans will experience death someday, for we have inherited death from our ancestor Adam.  Because of Adam's sin, the DNA of death resides in us.  Our bodies will wear out either by sicknesses or old age.  Death will eventually have its victory over our human bodies.  Aging is a visible sign of sin's vestige in our lives.  We are destined for death in this world.  Now, in the land of Judea in Gennesaret and into the world at large, comes Jesus.  He walks into this life of sickness and death with a message of eternal life.  For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  (John 3:16)  He backs up his teaching of LIFE by healing ALL OF THOSE WHO ASKED HIM TO HEAL THEM OR WHO GOT CLOSE ENOUGH TO TOUCH HIS CLOAK.  He brought ETERNAL LIFE to those who lived in the land of the dead.  He healed to validate his teaching, the message of love from his Father God.  He healed so the people might put their total trust in him as the Son of God and find true life in him: transiting from their death-bound life to eternal life; no longer known as Adam's children, but as Christ's eternal brothers and sisters.   

Who is this Christ and who are we?  He is the Creator of all things.  Paul wrote he wanted the church to understand the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ.  (Ephesians 3:9)  Jesus is life; He is the light of the world; He is the bright and morning star; He brings delight to God's heart.  And behold, a voice from heaven said, This is My Son, My Beloved, in Whom I delight!  (Matthew 3:17, Amp)  Christ alone totally pleases his Father; He sits at the right hand of God.  Everything opposed to his absolute authority, to his will, is death.  But, Jesus came not to condemn but to deliver life to the lost.  He came to transform the carnal, self-oriented, self-willed person to God's will of love, peace, and servanthood.  He came to  break the self-serving, destructive, and hedonistic lifestyle of fallen mankind.  Hedonism is living your life for yourself with little or no regard for others, seeking as much pleasure and ease from life that you can get for your own purposes.  A hedonistic person desires a good life that revolves around his or her needs.  This person wants as much pleasure and wealth as possible because life is short and why not try to live abundantly.  Obviously, we don't see this kind of lifestyle viewed positively in the New Testament.  Instead, we see servanthood, self-sacrifice, and following in the footsteps of Jesus.  We see the apostles and the early church literally giving up their lives for the sake of God's will.  They were transformed from hedonism which leads to death, to servanthood, which leads to life eternal.  Jesus said, For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.  (Matthew 16:25)  We see this kind of selfless life illustrated everywhere in the early church.  We see James beheaded, Stephen stoned to death, and Paul always living his life on the edge of being killed.  We see the early Christians chased from town to town by those like Paul before he was saved who want them to either recant or be killed. The Gospel is not a better life for yourself, but it is doing the will of God.

The world and some Christians would like to fit the gospel into their hedonistic lifestyle centered on themselves.  Give me Christ if He will make me live longer; give me Christ if He heal all my sicknesses; give me Christ if He will give me a more secure life; give me Christ if He will make me more wealthy.  Give me Christ IF HE WILL MAKE MY SHORT TIME OF EXISTENCE ON THIS EARTH BETTER.  How many of us want all these things in addition to our faith?  The writers of this breakfast would find all these desires very attractive, but is that really the gospel of life for those called to show forth Christ in the land of sin and  death?  We all pray for better things in our lives, and we seek Jesus to meet our needs, but Jesus Christ still remains our LORD.  He knows what will put the oxygen of real life into our family and in our children's children.  To pray, "Not my will but yours be done," sometimes, almost takes away our breath.  This is too hard, we sometimes say.  It is not always the desire of the flesh.  Two kinds of people walk this earth: those dead in sin and those alive in Christ.  The dead live their lives for themselves, for what they can get now.  In the story of Lazarus we see Abraham recounting the rich man's life.  Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’  But Abraham replied, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your GOOD THINGS, while Lazarus received bad things.  (Luke 16:24-25)  Notice, the story does not give an account of the life of rich man as sinful.  In fact, we can surmise because Lazarus was brought to the gate of the rich man every morning that the rich man must have given food to Lazarus often.  If not, Lazarus would probably been placed at another rich man's gate.  No, all this says is that if you are as the rich man, you lived your life for yourself, you received the good things of life, Lazarus did not.  

Christianity is an all-out commitment to God.  No other life is worthy of God.  In fact, in Revelation we read, I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other!  So, because you are lukewarm — neither hot nor cold — I am about to spit you out of my mouth.  You say, ‘I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.’ But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.  I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.  (Revelation 3:15-18)  Our lovely breakfast companions, this meal is not to cause you to fear, but to rejoice that your life is all in for Christ.  Remember constantly to readjust yourself towards loving the lost world and serving others, rather than seeking to be served.  Jesus said, For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.  (Mark 10:45)  IN CHRIST, we are the light of the world; IN HIM, we reflect the love of God; and because of him, we love our neighbors as ourselves.  We are willing to go the extra mile at all times, for our desire is to display the image of God to a dying people that live in the land of the dead.