It’s what we are inside, not outside, that counts.
6 He replied, ‘Isaiah was right when he prophesied about YOU HYPOCRITES; as it is written:
‘“These people honour me with their lips, (External)
but their hearts are far from me.
7 They worship me in vain;
their teachings are but rules taught by men.”(Isaiah 29:13)
8 You have LET GO OF THE COMMANDS OF GOD and are HOLDING ON TO THE TRADITIONS OF MEN.’ Mark 7
The Pharisees and teachers of the law had come all the way from Jerusalem to criticise the Lord and His disciples. Their line of attack this time was eating with unwashed hands (washing our hands before eating food is sensible, but has no value for Righteousness/Right Standing before God). Their focus was external and the traditions of the elders. Jesus quoted the Words of the Prophet Isaiah to them, that THEY ONLY HONOURED GOD SUPERFICIALLY WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT NOT FROM THE HEART.
According to Isaiah, LIP SERVICE IS NOT GOD SERVICE!
God wants and expects a lot more from His people. They were following men’s traditions and had turned from God’s commands. We need to be sure that we have hearts towards God and not just following what others may tell us.
9 He went on, “Well, good for you. You get rid of God’s command so you won’t be inconvenienced in following the religious fashions!” Mark 7 MSG
Jesus challenged them on how they told people not to honour their own parents, if they’d set aside their money as a gift for God. Religion always wants our money, even at the expense of taking from the very ones who’ve given us life.
14 Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, ‘Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. 15 Nothing outside a person can defile them by going into them. Rather, it is what comes out of a person that defiles them.’
Jesus then had to explain this privately to His disciples;
18 ‘Are you so dull?’ he asked. ‘Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? 19 For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.’ (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.)
External food doesn’t stay in the body, but what’s in the heart does. To use a modern phrase ‘Stinking Thinking’, what we carry inside our hearts is crucial. This scripture ends with a list of thirteen things which people can carry in their hearts;
21 For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come – sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23 All these evils come from inside and defile a person.’
We can be religious outwardly and still have corruption in our hearts – the religious Pharisees did and Jesus chastised them.
May God protect us keep our hearts true to Him in these days.