Out of the Heart of Man
Mark 7:14-23
Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 17)
Grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ amen. The sermon text for the fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost is the Gospel reading Mark 7. People are always trying to look good. There is an old British comedy called “Keeping up Appearances”. It is about a woman, named Mrs. Bucket, who tried to look better than she really was. She would not pronounce her name Bucket, but she insisted on being called Mrs. Bouquet. She was a middle class person who wanted to appear rich in front of others. She was not very nice, but she wanted to appear friendly and polite to the people around her. She tried to make herself look better, more wealthy, and kinder than she really was. In other words she tried to keep up appearances. People are always trying to look good and those around us often judge us by our appearance.
In the time of Jesus the Pharisees always tried to look good in front of others. They dressed very well. They followed the traditions of the elders. They said long prayers in front of others. They gave money to the temple in such a way that people would notice their generosity. The common people often respected the Pharisees because they looked good. But Jesus knew what was in their heart. In the verses right before our Gospel reading He said these words to them. “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me”. People are very interested in keeping up a good appearance but we see in our text that the Lord is very concerned about the condition of the human heart. The Lord is concerned about what is in the heart of a person. Jesus tells us that sin comes from the heart.
Remember what He said in our reading. “For from within, out of the heart of man, comes evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person”.
I am sure you have heard the popular advice to “just follow your heart.” As we hear the words of Jesus, we can immediately conclude that following your heart is a bad idea. Following our heart will only lead to disaster. We must remember that the sinful heart is the source of sinful emotions, intellect, intuition, understanding, and will. Every heart is by nature defiled and yields only evil.
Jesus is pointing out to us that sin reside in the heart. We might be able to hide our sin from others by looking good in public, but we cannot hide it from God. The Lord sees what is in our heart. Yet all too often we will want to focus on the sinful things around us rather than reflecting on what is in our own heart. For example we notice all the things that are wrong in our country. We could talk all day about the problems that we see around us, but do we notice what is going on in our own hearts? Are we angry with someone in the church or in our family? Do we ignore another person because we resent them? Do we understand that hating a fellow human being in our heart is committing murder in the eyes of God? We often want to focus on what is wrong in the world rather than what is wrong in us.
We are also very good at noting the sins of other people. We notice when someone is showing off, but do we see our own pride? We notice when someone’s marriage is destroyed by adultery, but do we understand that a lustful thought is committing adultery in the eyes of God? We notice a lazy coworker, but are we mindful when we have a poor attitude at work?
People can smile, pay their taxes, and act polite but that does not do away with the sin that is in their heart. We can have nice cars and our lawn might look just right but what about the condition of our heart? Jesus tells us that sin comes from inside us. It is so serious that it is killing us. It is so serious that God had to step in and save us.
God looked into His own heart, and He came up with a plan to clean our hearts by sending his Son Jesus Christ into the world to be our Savior. What comes out of the heart of God is love and compassion. What comes out of the heart of God is forgiveness and mercy. God sent His Son Jesus into the world to renew and restore our hearts. Jesus willingly suffered and died on a cross to pay the price for all of our sins, including those that reside in our heart. It is the shed blood of Jesus that cleanses our heart.
In the beginning of our service we read Psalm 51. “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit with in me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and uphold me with a willing spirit”. God could have casted us away from His presence when He saw what was coming out of our heart. God could have casted us away when He saw our evil thoughts, coveting, deceit, pride and foolishness. God could have casted us away, but He did not. Instead He was gracious to us. God creates new clean hearts in us through the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
Through the Gospel God gives us what Jesus won for us on the cross and that is life and salvation. By the Gospel we are washed clean from all of our iniquity. We are saved and restored. The Holy Spirit working through the Gospel creates faith in our heart and so by faith in Christ we receive God’s grace. The Holy Spirit now works through the Gospel to sustain our faith and fill our hearts with what is good. It is the Spirit that moves us to repent of our sins. We repent of sins that we have done in word and deed for sure but we also repent of sins that we have done in thought and attitude. We turn away from evil and we turn to the Lord. We turn to the Lord and receive His grace.
The Spirit comes to us in the Gospel to sustain our faith and to fill our hearts with what is good. It is the Lord who fills us with hope, joy, peace and comfort. Motivated by God’s love we are now able to forgive those who have sinned against us just as Christ Jesus has forgiven us. Motivated by God’ grace we can look at those around us and love them and care for them. Our strength for these works of love comes only from the heart purified by Jesus. Paul sums it up in 1 Timothy 1:5. “The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.” Motivated by God’s good heart we can be content with what we have knowing that all good things come from the hand of the Lord. Our heart is made clean and fruitful once more.
“Just follow your heart.” No, that is not our creed. “Create in me a clean heart, O God.” That’s more like it. That is relying on God’s grace in Christ. It is looking outside yourself to the Lord’s work and Word. And that leaves you with a clean heart cleansed in the shed blood of Jesus. Amen.