Mark 7:20-23 “He went on: "What comes out of a man is what makes him 'unclean.' 21 For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23 All these evils come from inside and make a man 'unclean.'"
What is coming out of you? Jesus has taken His disciples on an insightful journey through a redefining of the nature of purity and holiness. He has exposed the religious hypocrisy that has blinded the spiritual leaders of the day to their own damaged spiritual condition. He has called the people of God back to a place of esteeming the word of God over the traditions of men. And now He concludes this sequence of events and instruction with a pointed statement that gets to the heart of the matter.
Stop focusing on the externals! Jesus makes it clear through this passage the a man can look good on the outside and still be unclean on the inside. Through this simple teaching Jesus redirects the focus of purity away from external rituals to a place of honest self-examination of the inner-man. The phrase “what comes out of a man is what makes him ‘unclean’” is a powerful call to examine our lives. Food is not the issue, forms are not the issue, fruit is the issue! What kind of fruit is flowing out of your inner man? What is the condition of your heart!? This is the test of purity or cleanness. This is the test of a righteous life.
Jesus points us to the heart where evil thoughts produce the evil fruit of immorality, theft, murder, adultery and more. These evil acts that Jesus references flow out of the evil thoughts that are dominating a heart. His point is that no amount of religious washing, tradition keeping, psalm reading, or prayer praying can help us if we have not made a commitment to confront the condition of our hearts.
In Verse 23 Jesus closes this section by saying “all these evils come from inside a man and make him unclean.” These words call us to look inside. What is the state of your heart? They call us to go deeper with a deeply rooted honesty and look at what is going on inside of us. Are the thoughts that you are giving place to producing an unclean heart? What naturally flows out of you when you find yourself in various situations? Is it lust, maybe anger, how about greed or impatience? Jesus calls us to live from a foundation of truth in the inward parts that does not put on a religious performance around the people of God and yet cling to the things of the world when we are away from that crowd.
The world needs to see a people who have been transformed by an embrace of honesty in the inward man. Jesus identifies true worship in John 4 as worship that takes in Spirit and in truth. Paul develops this theme further in Ro.12 when he calls the church to worship the Lord by presenting ourselves as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable. It is a holy life that most honors God. The Psalmist also states in Ps 32:2 ‘Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit.” Ask the Lord to deliver you from any self-deception that would cause you stand before the Lord with hypocrisy in your heart. Present your whole life to the Lord as an act of love and invite Him to show you the areas of growth and change that will make your every thought, word and deed a pleasing sacrifice to Him
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