What Is True Religion? (Mark 7:14-23)
What Is True Religion?
Mark 7:14-23
Introduction
· What is true religion?
· There is no greater question we could ask.
o It determines how we spend our lives and into what we will pour our limited time and energies.
o By and by, it determines whether or not our lives end up pitiable or honorable, whether they were a good use or a bad use.
o Ultimately, it determines our final destination in heaven or hell.
· There are essentially only two ways to answer this question.
· The first answer says that true religion starts on the outside and works its way inside. These are the externalists.
o This is the religion of the world—the religion of human ability.
o It shouts, “It is through the regulation of the outside that we conform the inside.” It says things like, “Do not taste, do not touch, do not handle, all according to things that perish as they are used.”
o Therefore, externalists are big on rituals and processes, right words and right associations, correct prayers and sacraments.
o For example,
§ The Pharisees and their abundance of cleansing according to man-made tradition.
§ Roman Catholics in their assertions that you need to believe in your heart what the church says, only that you don’t disagree with it—and that your heart can be wrong but if you take mass and do confession and penance that you can be made right.
§ Modern Jews who believe in the accomplishment of righteousness by their fasts, feasts, Sabbaths, kosher foods, and acts of repentance.
§ Even some Christians—the insular Christians who define a pure church according to the conformity of all their opinions about schooling, politics, parenting, healthcare, and the like. Or, others who are the old “associationalists”—Pastor A associates with Pastor B, and Pastor B associates with Pastor C who believes wrongly, and therefore Pastor A has a responsibility to break off fellowship from pastor B.
§ Psychology – the belief that the regulation of physical and environmental factors will change the soul.
o Externalism begins with inherited religion—receiving and holding to the traditions which others have passed on to you which was never commanded by God.
§ The metric that externalists use to gauge their success in serving God is how well they adhere to their traditions.
o But this creates hypocrisy in people.
§ What is hypocrisy? An inside-outside mismatch. Isaiah defines it clearly in Isaiah 29:13: “This people honors me with their lips [external forms], but their heart is far from me [no corresponding internal reality], in vain do they worship me [meaningless worship], teaching as doctrines the commandments of men [directed by human commandments].”
§ External forms of religion without a corresponding internal reality leading to empty worship which is directed by human traditions.
§ Why does human tradition create hypocrisy? Because human tradition only regulates the outer man, not the inner man—the natural man rather than the old man. Human tradition does not kill remaining sin. It puts it to sleep, dreading the day it will wake up again.
o So, Jesus pointed us last week to the inevitable contradiction between holding to man-made traditions and obeying God’s commandments (7:8, 9, 13). You cannot keep both. Why? Because they do not regulate the same things. Human traditions only regulate the outer man. God’s commandments pierce to the heart.
· The second answer says that true religion starts on the inside and works its way outside. These are the internalists.
o This is the religion of Scripture, the religion of Jesus, the religion of the Holy Spirit.
o This is not the religion of human ability but of God’s power—not of the works of man but of the righteousness of God.
o It proclaims, “the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom 14:17)
o Therefore, while it does not ignore the regulation of the external person, it emphasizes the transformation of the heart, the regulation of the affections, the internal work of sanctification that must take place before any of our works will be acceptable to God.
o Illustration: How does food help kids grow? If it gets inside them. They don’t grow by taking their spaghetti and slathering it all over the outside of them. They grow by eating it so it gets inside of them and them shows up in how they grow.
o This is all summed up by Jesus’ repeated use of the word “heart” (7:6, 19, 21). True religion is internal religion, and internal religion is religion of the heart.
· We need to recognize that we all naturally love to be externalists.
o Col 2:8 – See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.”
o Col 2:16 – Therefore, let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink.
o Col 2:20-23 – Read.
o External religion is seductive. It appears plausible. It looks wise. It appeals to pride. And we are all in danger of being captured by it.
o James 1:22, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” What makes the difference between a hearer only vs. a doer? The engagement of the heart. So, what makes the difference between assuring ourselves that we belong to God through obedience and presuming that we belong to God because we have deceived ourselves? The engagement of the heart.
· This is what Jesus is driving at—what is true religion? Where does defilement come from? And consequently, where does holiness come from? And his answer is from the heart. And Jesus would have us understand three lessons about true religion that we might live holy lives:
o First, True religion springs from faith in Christ and his word. In other words, if we are to practice true religion, it will not come through the exertion of human willpower, nor the flexing of human understanding. Rather, it will come through a vital, living, and faith-filled relationship to Jesus which causes spiritual understanding. (7:14-18)
o Second, true religion does not come from the regulation of the external person. If a vital, living, and trusting relationship to Jesus is what opens the heart to spiritual understanding, then it by definition cannot come through the strict regulation of external things like food. Food does not change the heart, and therefore regulating food is not the solution. This has Testament-level implications to it when it comes to Leviticus and the food laws (7:17-19).
o Third, true religion does come from the transformation of the heart. If regulating external things like food does not change the heart, then we must look elsewhere for the solution. In other words, regulating our food does not change our hearts—instead, changing our hearts then changes how we interact with food. Holiness is inside out, not outside in. (7:20-23).
I. True Religion Springs from Faith in Christ and His Word (7:14-18)
· Upon reading vv14-15, your interpretation senses should be kicking into gear, and this should be reminding you of things earlier in the book. He speaks to the crowd, calls them to hear and understand, and then speaks in a “parable” (7:17, properly, a “riddle”). We should immediately go to Mark 4 and remember what the Lord taught us there.
· Why does Jesus speak in parables to the crowd?
o Mark 4:12 – “so that they may indeed see but not perceive, and may indeed hear but not understand, lest they should turn and be forgiven.”
o It is only hearing/receiving the word in a fruitful life that we understand the meaning of Christ’s word (Mark 4:20). We must hear, accept it, and bear fruit for it to make sense. Only then do we perceive, hear, turn, and are forgiven.
o Interpretation is a matter of faith before it is a matter of technique.
· So, in Mark 7:14-15, what is Jesus doing?
o He publicly teaches in a veiled way what it means to truly obey God’s commandments—Outside things going into a man cannot defile him. Only the inside things coming out of him can defile him.
o Yet this is a “riddle,” and it confuses everyone (even the disciples!).
o So, Jesus is not only teaching the crowd about true obedience, but he is also saying “You must come to me in faith in order to understand—you need a true and living relationship to me in order to obey God’s commandments and be freed from human traditions.”
o Isn’t this true? Faith frees us from human tradition, because faith gives us the word of God in our hearts, and when we have the word of God in our hearts, we find it far more satisfying than powerless human traditions!
· He is saying, in so many words, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). Learn at my feet. Ask me the meaning of these things. I will surely tell you and teach you.
· Yet, he goes into the house and his disciples still don’t understand.
o You can understand Jesus’ exasperation by this point. They should understand by now, but they are still dull.
o Can you relate?
o How quick are we to be taken captive by human traditions?
o How soon do we settle for the regulation of the outside and don’t strive for the transformation of the inside?
· So, learn: You will never be freed from human traditions until you come to faith in Christ—until you hear and accept his word and determine to live by it. Which is to say, the only way we can become dissatisfied with external religion is if we see how powerless it is!
· Correspondingly, you cannot come to Christ by faith and still cling to human traditions! Why would you?
II. True Religion Does Not Come from the Regulation of Externals (7:18-19)
· Jesus points to a self-evident truth—food doesn’t change the heart. It only enters the body.
· Even though food technically goes inside of us, it doesn’t go inside of us in the most important and meaningful way. That is, it doesn’t enter into the spiritual person but the physical. It enters the stomach and not the heart.
· If food enters the stomach and not the heart, it stands to reason that regulating food doesn’t change the heart but the stomach. It doesn’t change the internal, spiritual person. It changes the physical person. Therefore, it cannot be used as the benchmark for true religion.
· Objection: What about Leviticus? Didn’t God command them to regulate what they ate?
o Yes, he did, and they were required to follow that. Jesus ate Kosher.
o However: What was the lesson which God was intending to teach them in giving them the kosher laws?
o It was not “some foods are good, others are bad”—eating this and not this makes you righteous. That was never the intent.
o Instead, it was always a dramatic picture of the effects of sin and how one could approach God.
o “Clean” wasn’t the same thing as “righteous.” “Unclean” was not the same thing as “sinful.” Therefore, being unclean didn’t mean that you were not part of the people, it just meant that you couldn’t come into the tabernacle, or into the camp.
o Thus, the laws of clean and unclean foods (etc.) were always designed to do two things:
§ First, to separate between the Jews and the Gentiles—no table fellowship means no temptation to idolatry. But in separating, they were to witness to the nations that they were different, set apart.
§ Second, to teach them what it means to live in a contaminated, sinful world while in the presence of God. And in so far as it pointed to sin, it pointed to the origin of sin, the human heart—and taught of the need for its transformation. (Deuteronomy 6:5)
o In other words, you didn’t become holy by not eating bacon. Instead, by avoiding bacon, you were saying, “There is a deep problem in me which needs to be fixed.”
o This is exactly what Jesus says. “Whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him.” Really? Then why all the laws? To teach where defilement actually comes from—the heart.
o What does this mean? If the heart is cleansed, all foods are clean! This is precisely what Jesus does—he cleanses the heart and declares all foods clean, and therefore all foods are good.
o Notice how sweeping Paul’s view of the goodness of creation is
§ 1 Timothy 4:1-5 – Teaching to abstain from sexual relations in marriage and to abstain from food for religious reasons is a mark of a false teacher. Everything [feel the force of that word] is created good, and nothing [feel the force of that word] is to be rejected. Why? It is made holy by the word and prayer—by a living relationship to God in Christ.
§ So, 1 Cor 8, eat the meat offered to idols. It’s just meat, and God created meat good. Rom 14:2 – eat all foods, not just veggies (sorry vegans), because all foods are good. Rom 14:5 – observe all the days. All time and space and material is holy in relationship to Jesus.
§ Rom 14:14 “nothing is unclean in itself.”
§ Can you see how freeing this is? You can enjoy anything that God has made, because all of it is good! All of it is external man, and if the inside is clean, then we are free.
· Does this then mean that there are absolutely no restrictions on what we can enjoy? No.
o We have not been freed from any and every restriction on God’s good creation. Rather, we are freed from the slavish use of God’s good creation for self-righteous purposes. In other words, we are free to obey God’s word for the first time.
· The NT teaches us that there are three guides on our enjoyment of God’s good creation.
o First, our conscience restricts our freedom. “I know and am persuaded in the Lord Jesus that nothing is unclean in itself [nothing is off limits!], but it is unclean for anyone who thinks it unclean” (Rom 14:14). In other words, don’t force yourself to enjoy something that you don’t feel right enjoying. Listen to your conscience. Do not violate it. It is dangerous.
o Second, our love restricts our freedom. “If your brother is grieved by what you eat, you are no longer walking in love” (Rom 14:15). We consider not only our own consciences, but the consciences of others when we enjoy God’s good creation. Why? Because the kingdom of God is not a matter of external things—the internal reality of love is more important.
o Third, biblical principle guides our freedom. 1 Timothy 4:5, “sanctified by the word of God and prayer.” Even the things which our consciences allow and which are loving to do must be guided down the path of God’s word.
III. True Religion Does Come from the Transformation of the Heart (7:20-23)
· Jesus has told us where the problem isn’t—it isn’t with food, and by extension all external things. Now he tells us where it is.
· “What comes out of a person is what defiles him.” – That is to say the source of defilement is the heart. Food doesn’t defile. Sin defiles. Avoiding bacon never made you holy. A clean heart made you holy.
· Look at how insightful Jesus is into the nature of sin. First, see how he points to the heart as the source of all defilement.
o What makes something defiled? It isn’t the physical reality itself. Eating bacon is not intrinsically defiling. It is the heart which eats bacon greedily or in defiance of God’s law that defiles.
o What makes our actions sinful? Is it not the intentions we pursue in our actions? Is it not the internal reality of sin which makes our actions sinful?
· Second, look at how there is a structure to what he says here: the banner the waves over the rest of the list is that term “evil thoughts.” Evil thoughts is not strictly speaking one of the vices, but is the vice from which springs all the other vices. Literally it is “evil reasonings.” Dialogismos—the internal conversation that unfolds by which we justify our sinful actions as actually good.
o Evil reasonings are what make a vice a vice. The moralizing’s, rationalizations, false doctrines, and justifications of why such and such a thing is good.
o Adultery — “But we love each other, besides my spouse is terrible”
o Avarice — “God’s creation is good, therefore I should enjoy as much of it as I can.”
o Theft — “I need this in order to survive.”
o Murder — “He had it coming to him.”
o There is no sin which does not have a rationale behind it—even if we don’t consciously think these thoughts. Evil reasonings are the source of our sinful actions.
· Third, see how Jesus’ list of vices encompasses both sinful states and sinful actions. In fact, the list is very intentionally structured—12 vices, six in the plural and six in the singular. The plural represent actions, singular represent states.
o This is an important distinction. Sometimes sin is a flash-point, like adultery or theft or murder, adultery, coveting, and wickedness (which has to do with flagrant violations of God’s law)—there is a decisive moment in time when it is committed.
o Yet there are other sins which are less actions and more states of being. Deceit. Sensuality (living by physical sense), envy (lit. the “evil eye”), slander, pride, foolishness. Sometimes we are better at recognizing the former than the later.
· Fourth, see how this list is designed to be read through the lens of the heart. Why do we fail to overcome sin? Because we see it as a matter of regulating the external person. But that will not help. Jesus’ point is that we need to see the source of these actions from the heart.
o Why does a man or woman commit sexual immorality? Or theft? Or murder? It is because their heart is defiled and from a defiled heart flows defiling actions.
o Why does a man or woman live in a state of deceit or sensuality or envy? It is because the heart is defiled and there is a kind of life which flows from a defiled heart.
· All of that drives toward the necessary application: If the inside is the problem, then what is the inside-solution?
o Jesus does not say here—and that is because the solution is still veiled from them and has yet to be accomplished.
o 1 Corinthains 6:11
o Hebrews 10:22
o Titus 3:4-7
· If we are to practice true religion—to truly obey the commandments of God—our hearts must be cleansed, not our foods.
· Sanctification is inside-out, not outside-in. And that inside-out sanctification happens as we come to know Jesus more and more in his word, in prayer, and in his church.
Concluding Applications
1. What does it mean to be a “holy” Christian? Does it mean to have the right opinions? Wear the right clothes? Associate with the right people, or not associate with the wrong people? Perhaps it means not doing certain activities or drinking certain things or celebrating certain days. These things are not holiness. A holy Christian is one whose heart is being transformed to love God and love others. He is one who is freed from the external, surface-level religion of the Pharisees. He feels in his heart not a compulsion to keep up with all the religious ceremonies, but rather a compulsion to love God from the heart. Which means…
a. All the things that he once did out of a slavish obedience to human commandments become the delight of his soul. Bible reading is no longer a task to complete but the fountain of life from which all his strength comes. Prayer is not the drudgery of saying the same old things about the same old things, but the joyful dependence on the Father’s promises as we lift up all our needs to him. Church is not an obligatory requirement to keep up our membership but the most delightful place on earth.
b. So, Be careful that you do not begin to define your faith by criteria which the Bible does not use. We can begin to unwittingly identify our pet issue, our favorite doctrine, our personal opinion about this or that as the same thing as keeping God’s commandments. This is dangerous.
c. Be careful, then, that you foster in yourself a warm-hearted freedom of conscience which is full of love for God and his word.
2. What does it mean to be a holy Church? Does it mean that we have the perfect traditions? That we all look the right way? That we have an unspoken dress code? Or listen to the “right” music (or at least not the “wrong” music)? That we promote a certain kind of political opinion or schooling choice or way to use social media? No. A holy Church is one that lives in freedom—freedom from the condemnation of the law, freedom of conscience, and therefore freedom that we allow for others.
a. To look at it differently, do we believe that holiness works its way from the outside into a church, or from the inside of the church out? If a church becomes holy from the outside in, then its only the right kind of people that can be here—the people that are like us. But if the church is holy from the inside out, then any can come and see and be transformed themselves!
b. So, let us be careful that we do not foster a church environment where we categorize people as pure and impure according to human tradition.