"And summoning the multitude again, He began saying to them, 'Listen to Me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside the man which going into him can defile him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man. If any man has ears to hear, let him hear.' And when leaving the multitude, He had entered the house, His disciples questioned Him about the parable. And He said to them, 'Are you too so uncomprehending? Do you not see that whatever goes into the man from outside cannot defile him; because it does not go into his heart, but into his stomach, and is eliminated?' (Thus He declared all foods clean.) And He was saying, 'That which proceeds out of the man, that is what defiles the man. For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts and fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.'" (Mark 7:14-23)
Ray Stedman shares a letter in one of his books from a sharp-minded, Christian business man friend of his. I'd like to share it with you along with Steadman's comments about it.
DON'T TAKE ME TO THE HOSPITAL, PLEASE!
This scene didn't make sense, There he lay in the street, bleeding -- the hit-and-run driver gone. He needed medical help immediately! Yet he kept pleading, "Don't take me to the hospital, please!" Surprised, everyone asked why. Pleadingly, he answered, "Because I'm on the staff at the hospital. It would be embarrassing for them to see me like this. They've never seen me bleeding and dirty. They always see me clean and healthy; now I'm a mess."
"But the hospital is for people like you! Can't we call an ambulance?" "No, please don't. I took a Pedestrian Safety Course, and the instructor would criticize me for getting hit."
"But who cares what the instructor thinks? You need attention." "But there are other reasons, too. The Admissions Clerk would be upset." "Well, why?" "Because she always gets upset if anyone for admittance doesn't have all the details she needs to fill out her records. I didn't see who hit me, and I don't even know the make of the car or the license number. She wouldn't understand. She's a real stickler for records. Worse than that, I haven't got my Blue Cross Card."
"What real difference would that make?" "Well, if they didn't recognize me in this mess, they wouldn't let me in. They won't admit anyone in my shape without a Blue Cross card. They must be sure it isn't going to cost the institution. They protect the institution. Just pull me over to the curb. I'll make it some way. It's my fault that I got hit."
With this, he tried to crawl to the gutter while everyone left, leaving him alone. Maybe he made it, maybe he didn't. Maybe he's still trying to stop his own bleeding.
Does that strike you as a strange, ridiculous story? It could happen any Sunday in a typical church membership. I know it could happen, because last night I asked some active Christians what they would do if on Saturday night they got hit and run over by some unacceptable sin. Without exception they said, "I sure wouldn't want to go to church the next morning, where everybody would see me."
Now, be honest -- would you? Or would you reason, "The members would ostracize me. They would look at me like I was strange, and didn't belong there any more. Some of the self-righteous would accuse me of being a hypocrite. The Sunday school teacher would be mad at me for not learning what had been taught. Those sitting next to me would be embarrassed, not knowing how to react because they didn't know how everybody else felt. They really wouldn't know how to react to a known dirty saint."
In the good-natured spirit of the conversation we decided, if caught -- hit and run over -- by some unacceptable sin, we would be better off to go to the pool hall instead of to the church. At the pool hall we would find sympathy, real understanding. Immediately, someone would say, "This isn't the end of the world. It happened to me, and I lived through it." Another would say, 'I see you slipped and got caught. Well, don't let it get you down. I know a good lawyer who will help you." Another would add, "You really seem more like one of us than you did before. Now we know you're just like us."
Now, the question that bothered us is: Where should real love and understanding live -- in the pool hall or in the church of Jesus Christ, who died for sinners? Is the church really going to be the church until every Christian, hit and run over by some sin, starts pleading, "Take me to the church. My brothers and sisters are there. They care for me. I can get well there. I'm a weak member of the Body, but when I hurt, the strong members favor me. And I don't need a paid-up Blue Cross card. And I know they won't talk about me when it's over." Yet, to the last single person at the party, there was not one who said he would feel welcome in his church if they might before he had been caught in some sin which had become known.
Unfortunately, far too many people are quick to judge others based on external appearances. But when we do, we make a serious mistake. Personal experience tells us that sometimes bad things do happen to good people. If we look only at the external circumstances of people's lives, we may get a false impression of who they are. Is an unemployed person lazy, merely because he lost his job? Does cancer mean someone has been smitten by God because they are an evil person? Does a mistake on the job mean that someone is a poor employee seeking to undermine the company? Do children who refuse to come to Christ indicate a moral failure in their parents? The modern-day Pharisees who seek to judge people on the basis of external appearances will find themselves just as mistaken about the things really important in life as the ancient Pharisees found themselves.
The Church of Jesus Christ ought to be especially sensitive to the real needs of people, the needs that lie under the surface of their external circumstances. The Church should be a place of love and support; a place where people can find health and healing, forgiveness and wholeness. We in the Church need to emphasize what is important and de-emphasize what is secondary. We must see people as Jesus sees them, and be careful never to jump to conclusions based on outward appearance.
Today, we will see how Jesus evaluates what is good and bad in people. If we listen closely to what He is saying, we will get the inside story on what is really important to Him. Perhaps we can re-evaluate our priorities and discover what should be important to us.
Jesus had been engaging the Pharisees and scribes in a conversation about tradition. They were upset because Jesus' disciples didn't observe the tradition of the elders. They were not keeping certain ceremonial laws. They were not observing the outward rituals which these Jews felt were vitally important. The disciples were not observing the ceremonial washing of hands before they ate. The Jews were very particular about this. They were afraid of any uncleanness and felt that washing their hands in this manner would protect them from it.
But Jesus saw through their tradition and emphasized what was really important. After condemning them for their hypocrisy, He spoke directly to the issue of external trivialities. External trivialities are what we appear to be based on the application of some standard of performance. But as we shall see, not everything is as it appears.
The first thing Jesus says to them is that you are not what you eat. While the catchy little slogan, "You are what you eat," may be popular, it is not true. Listen to what Jesus says in verse 15:
"There is nothing outside the man which going into him can defile him; but the things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man."
The Jews were worried that eating with unwashed hands would make them ceremonially unclean. They put great stock in the outward observance of certain traditions and ceremonies. Jesus, however, challenged them directly on this point. He said, in essence, "You are not what you eat." In other words, eating food with unwashed hands does not make you unclean. That's not the real problem in man. The problem in man goes far deeper than the external situations and outward circumstances of our lives.
We are told, in our text, that because Jesus said what He did, He declared all foods clean. In other words, Jesus was saying that external things are neither good nor bad. What makes a thing good or bad is the person who uses it. God created many good things which man has perverted. All of God's creation is good. Yet, man has taken chemicals and used them to destroy himself and others. Sexual fulfillment in the context of marriage is one of God's good creations. Yet, we have turned love into lust; and through the misuse and abuse of this good gift, scarred ourselves and others for life. You see, things may not be bad in themselves. It's how a thing is used. There is a great deal of truth to the statement that "Guns don't kill people; people kill people."
What you see may not be what you get. Things are not always as they appear. People who are rich may appear to be poor. People who are sad may appear to be happy. People tend to over-compensate for their weaknesses. I have personally made the mistake in dealing with certain people, of assuming they were fairly tough-skinned because their behavior seemed to be brash and outspoken; only to find that I was greatly mistaken. While they were quick to challenge me, when I challenged them, they were offended. It was a case of being able to dish it out but not being able to take it.
It's important for us to understand that what we see may not be what we get. In dealing with people, we must never make the mistake of assuming we know what they are really like, by looking only to the external circumstances of their lives. Even their behavior can be very deceptive. It's not so much what people do, but why they do it, that tells us who they are. Jesus was making the point that the outward observance of certain ceremonies is not an accurate indication of a person's righteousness. You can go to church and be actively involved. You can sing in the choir, be on committees, give your money, give your time, observe the ordinances, and outwardly be as faithful and committed as anyone who is a member; and yet, do it all for the wrong reasons. Sitting in church doesn't make you any more a Christian than sitting in a garage makes you a car. While those who seek to follow Jesus will find their way to church, it does not necessarily follow that those who come to church are Christians. We may appear to be something other than what we really are.
External trivialities are what we appear to be. Internal realities, however, are what we are in fact. Jesus rejected external trivialities, but He pointed us clearly to the internal realities which make us the person we are. This is the real inside story. This is the scoop on how God sees a man.
Is a book its cover or its contents? They say, "You can't judge a book by its cover." I have found that to be true. It is especially true in our day and age. When you pick up a book to decide whether or not to buy it, you read all the glowing testimonials on how great a book it is. Are they true? Sometimes. We may revise this little slogan in order to make it more contemporary by saying, "You can't tell a videotape by its cover." If you go to the local video store, you will read on the cover of the video-tape all of the great reviews of how excellent the movie is. Unfortunately, when you get it home, you realize you have been subjected to a clever marketing scheme, designed to get ignorant people to rent badly made movies. Unfortunately, it works in reverse as well. What the so-called experts like, sometimes I find patently offensive. So it seems we are caught between the proverbial rock and hard place.
The point is that a book should be judged by its content, not merely by its cover. This is the point Jesus was making. He said, "The things which proceed out of the man are what defile the man." When His disciples came to Him to have Him explain the parable, He said, in verses 21 through 23,
"For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed the evil thoughts and fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and defile the man.'"
In other words, what we are is what we are on the inside. This is the inside story. If you want to really know who you are or who someone else is, then look inside. What are our attitudes? What are our thoughts? From these you will find who we really are. These comprise our character.
There is a neat little acrostic often used in computer-speak: GIGO. It stands for "Garbage In, Garbage Out." Obviously it means that when you put garbage into the computer as input, what you will get out of the computer is garbage as well. It assumes something that, while it is true for computers, is not true for humans. It assumes that the computer has a clean and neutral environment. If that is, in fact, the case, then when you put good programming in, you get good programming out. And when you put garbage in, you get garbage out. But for humans, that does not hold true. In fact, we can reverse this little acrostic and say, "GOGI," which stands for, Garbage out means garbage in. In other words, when you see garbage coming out of a human life, it means that garbage was already in that life. This is what Jesus is saying. What is inside of a human eventually comes out. If there are sinful attitudes, they will eventually manifest themselves in sinful actions. The problem with man, however, is that those sinful attitudes are there from birth. Because of the fall of Adam, we all inherited a sinful inclination. Our natures are sinful. And that sin nature must be replaced by a spiritual nature. We are not merely the product of our environment. We do not start with a clean slate. Therefore, it is important for us to understand that what is really important is who we really are on the inside. When we get our inside right, the outward behavior will be right as well. But the difference will be that what we do then externally will reflect what we are internally. We will not simply be acting like we are Christians. We will be living like we are Christians.
What are the implications of this passage for us? There are several lessons here. I call them eternal certainties. They reveal what God desires for us. All of us want to be what God desires us to be. Here we see what God considers important. And what is important to God should be important to us.
Shakespeare said, "What's in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet." Would a rose by any other name smell as sweet? I'm sure it would. You see, the truth is that the thing is what it is, not what someone calls it. Names are assigned to us, based on our outward circumstances by ourselves and other people. "Sinner, Failure, Stupid, Dummy," all are names which label us. But what we are called, either by others or by ourselves does not determine who we are. It might speak of those external circumstances, but it might be wholly inaccurate. You see, a failure is not someone who fails. In reality, the people who fail the most are the ones who succeed. You only get to success by taking risks and risk-taking brings many failures along the way. A failure is someone who simply doesn't try. No, names do not determine who you are. You are who you are on the inside.
So, the first important lesson is that we must cultivate the inner person. The inner person is the person who counts. The apostle Paul desired that we be strengthened in the inner man. When we come to Jesus Christ, He changes our inner nature. He begins to redirect us from the inside out. He begins there because He knows if we are thoroughly changed on the inside, that the outside will eventually take care of itself. Without the change on the inside, all external changes would merely be superficial. We would merely be pretending to be a Christian. There are many such pretenders, but we must never be numbered among them. Certainly, there are hypocrites in the Church. These are they who have a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof. But the mere fact that there are pretenders means that there is a reality to be pretended to. Where you find the counterfeit, it is always based on the true. So, we must be careful to cultivate the inner man. We must develop our spiritual life. What we do on the inside will make all the difference in what we do on the outside.
But how do we cultivate the inner man? This is an important lesson indeed. We cultivate the inner man by nourishing our spirit, by feeding on the Word of God. It's been said that "An apple a day keeps the doctor away." But an onion a day keeps everybody away. The same is true for our spirit. We can feed our spirit on the things of God, namely His word and prayer, fellowship and service. Or, we can allow our spirit to be influenced by the things of this world. We have already seen in verses 21 and 22 a list of those evil things which can proceed out of our inner being. It mentioned evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, deeds of coveting and wickedness, as well as deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness. If we feed our spirit with evil things like these, then we will find ourselves behaving in a manner consistent with them. What is inside will come out. So we must take these attitudes and throw them out. Then we must nourish our spiritual life with the good things of God's Kingdom.
Again, it boils down to our relationship with Jesus Christ. We are only as strong as our personal, devotional life. You have probably heard me say that before. It's true. I have said it. And I will say it 10,000 times more if need be. For unless we cultivate a personal, intimate, committed, living relationship with Jesus Christ, we will forever find ourselves defeated by the devil.
The good news of the grace of Jesus Christ is that we can be changed. The old life can be dealt with and a new life can come forth. We can enjoy a free and full abundant life in Jesus Christ. We can start again. If your life has been filled with attitudes of bitterness and defeat, come to Him and allow Him to renew you in the inner man. If you find that flowing forth from your heart are attitudes and behaviors like the ones mentioned here in our text, by coming to Him, you can have them replaced with love and peace, joy and forgiveness. But the key is coming to Him.
"I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." (Romans 12:1-2)
Here Paul speaks of the reality that our minds can be renewed, in fact, transforming us in the process. This is all a part of nurturing the inner self. But how do we do it? I believe we do it in two ways: Firstly, by putting aside everything that is not of Christ. This is real spiritual warfare. What we are doing is described in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5:
"For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ."
We are engaged in the spiritual warfare of taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. We must cast down every imagination, thought, attitude, an inclination which is not of God. That is the first step. But we must not take the first step unless we also take the second. And that is: we must replace those things which are not of God with things which are. We see a prescription for this in Philippians 4:6-8:
"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things."
We must spend our time thinking on those things which are of God and rejecting those which are not. It's as simple as remembering to keep your eyes on Jesus. "Turn your eyes upon Jesus; look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth shall grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace."
Copyright © 1997 J. David Hoke. This data file is the sole property of the copyright holder and may be copied only in its entirety for circulation freely without charge. All copies of this data file must contain the above copyright notice.
This data file may not be copied in part (except for small quotations used with citation of source), edited, revised, copied for resale or incorporated in any commercial publications, recordings, broadcasts, performances, displays or other products offered for sale, without the written permission of the copyright holder. Requests for permission should be made in writing and e-mailed to J. David Hoke, at David@JDavidHoke.com.