Where is your heart? - Mark 7:1-23

Often in Christian circles, our own Christian culture, we adopt things that are not necessarily biblical. They may seem moral and good, but sometimes go beyond what’s in Scripture. Examples? Forbid people to get tattoos, listen to certain types of music, forbid alcohol and smoking, frown upon wearing certain types of clothes, think that God cannot bless you unless you tithe.

It can be very easy for those of us who know Christ and his grace to us, to fall into the trap of legalism. Legalism? Default setting of the human heart – doing things in order to make us right with God, salvation through our own efforts.

In our passage from Mark 7, we see Jesus take aim at the legalists of his day, the Pharisees. We’ve met them before earlier in Mark’s Gospel – they were the Jewish religious leaders at the time of Christ. Strong emphasis on external obedience, and obedience to the oral law – extra laws, interpretations of the Law of Moses, added onto the Bible. Essentially – man-made laws. Obsessed with this external obedience to these laws, thinking it would make them right with God. Not performing all these things = defilement, cut off from God.

Jesus exposes the darkness of their hearts in all of this – showing that defilement doesn’t happen by doing various external actions – eating certain foods, or not washing etc. but actually all our hearts are defiled deeply by sin. So because sin defiles our hearts, we need a Saviour who gives us a new heart.

Preacher: Rev. Antonio Coppola.