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This Week's Sermon THE THIRTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST 30 August 2009 "Out of the Heart" Mark 7:14-23 LSB Series B Pastor Philip G. Meyer Soli Deo Gloria!

We often blame a person's circumstances for his wickedness, but there are often times [more so lately] when the wickedness is just so perverse and thorough that we cannot account for it. Why would a person commit some of the violent acts that scream at us in our headlines and on our 24 news programs? What causes a husband to hack his wife to pieces and stuff those body parts into a suitcase? What causes a father to kill his own flesh and blood by inflicting great pain on them? Just "pure wickedness" if I can use an oxymoron! It isn't a person's circumstances that cause it; rather, it is the wickedness that lives in his heart, his underlying sinful condition, the condition of being "in sin."

Following the Fall of Adam and Eve into sin, God's good creation was changed by sin. Before sending the Flood of Noah to destroy the earth, God said:

"The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." (Genesis 6:5, ESV)

David says in one of his Psalms:

"The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray from birth, speaking lies." (Psalm 58:3, ESV)

Our Gospel this morning continues the discussion begun last Sunday about traditions and commandments. The Pharisees focused on externals while neglecting internals. Things reached a climax after Palm Sunday when the confrontation with the Pharisees and others reached a breaking point. Jesus accused them, saying:

""Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence." (Matthew 23:25, ESV)

The cup, so to speak, was clean on the outside but its contents were poison!

The Pharisees were scrupulous about keeping external rituals. Notice the graphic on your bulletin cover. You might be wondering why those food items are there. There is a standing pork rib roast, a lobster, and a squid. Strange, isn't it? Yet, these were all foods forbidden by the Old Testament, and it is true that God himself gave the laws through Moses which forbade the Jews to eat these foods. The foods were non-kosher, that is, religiously unclean. He set the Jews apart as his own people for a purpose, to be a light to the Gentiles, but while the kept the external law by not eating such foods, they broke the intent of the Law.

The foods themselves were neither good nor evil. Jesus made the point that it is not what a person eats that defiles him but what comes out of his heart that does. He made all foods clean, says Mark. Food is merely food, but actions betray the heart. One is able to look pious on the outside but be filled with great wickedness in his heart.

The problem is not your outward circumstances but your heart. Can there be a more devastating diagnosis of the human heart than the one Jesus gives here?

"For from within, out of the heart of man, come 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."" (Mark 7:21-23, ESV)

Sinful man simply does not understand, says Jesus. He has no comprehension because his heart is darkened by sin. His thinking is corrupted. He can't think the way God demands. The sin in which he lives keeps him from recognizing his own sins. The heart is desperately wicked. Like the roots of a tree, sin causes all kinds of wickedness and unrighteousness to erupt.

Let's take a stroll down the list of sins Jesus gives.

Evil thoughts. Man's thinking is corrupt. His thoughts, his opinions, his reasoning, and his designs are not pure. He cannot think straight when it comes to the things of God and continually twists and perverts them. If his thinking is corrupt, how can he get things right? He can't even get right what defiles him. Instead, he blames God or he blames others for his failures. The criminal mind, in particular, continues to blame others for his predicaments. How often do you hear someone say these days, "It was my own fault, my own grievous fault and no one else's. I am responsible."? No one blames himself because he blames others or his circumstances. It is the same flight from responsibility that Adam and Eve showed when God confronted them with their sin.

Sexual immorality. The word from the Greek is the same root for pornography. It refers to every kind of sexual immorality forbidden by God's Word. Simply put, it refers to every sexual activity outside of the marriage of a man and a woman. Prostitution, fornication, and sexual perversion of every kind is meant. Our society has in mind catching up with the perversion of the ancient world as though this were progress! Sensuality. This comes a little later in the list, but it really means debauchery, which means following the inclinations of one's heart and giving in to that which is evil. The gross immorality of our day merely reflects the sinfulness of our hearts. What is in man's heart shows itself in its actions.

Thefts. Stealing hasn't gone out of style in spite of all the laws we have passed to protect the property of others. Three words in the Commandment-"Do not steal"-and literally thousands of laws to enforce three words. Are we making progress? Not really, because the heart of man is filled with great wickedness. Man finds new ways to break this Commandment because his heart is corrupt.

Murder. How our society is awash with violence of every kind! We have a violent society. Our entertainment depends on violence as well as sexual perversion. The more violent it is the more we seem to like it. Why? Because it reflects what is in our hearts! As a man thinks, so he is. Think of all the murders committed on a daily basis throughout the world, here in our own nation, to say nothing of the millions of babies that have been aborted, being ripped violently from the womb! Our hearts betray us by rationalizing as a "health issue!"

Adultery. Jesus comes back to this particular sin that fractures family life. More than two-thirds of infants born in our nation today are born to couples who are not married to each other. It is no longer seen as out of the ordinary as celebrities do it all the time. And very few see how this has damaged the social and economic fabric of our nation, plunging millions into poverty from which they cannot escape, to say nothing of the attendant emotional problems that compound the situation.

Coveting. To covet is to have a sinful desire for something or someone that does not belong to you. When it comes to things, it indicates an insatiable greed, avarice, a desire to have more and more. Ours is a demanding society. We want what we believe is owed to us, by whom I don't know. Perhaps many feel that the world owes them a living or that the government owes them benefits. Politicians like to call them "rights," playing to our sinful nature.

Wickedness and deceit. Jesus couples wickedness with deceit. A man like Bernie Madoff comes to mind as an example. How does one steal billions of dollars from people without their knowledge? Amazing cunning and deceit! Man has found so many new ways to steal without breaking and entering or robbing. Your bank account can simply be emptied by a clever thief who knows how to steal your identity. Your money is gone before you ever know about it.

Envy. Literally, it means "the evil eye." It means bearing malice toward others that covets something that belongs to another. But the eye isn't really the offending organ, it is the heart.

Slander or blasphemy. When used in a list such as this one, it includes all abusive speech, whether it is directed at God or at others. With electronic devices literally at our fingertips we have the opportunity to slander and defame others without ever opening our lips or moving our tongues! Again, our fingertips, tongues, and lips are not the offending organs. Our hearts are! We say things to injure others, particularly when they are not around to object. Texting, perhaps the main activity of adolescents, makes it so easy to betray our hearts, sometimes so viciously that some victims have been moved to suicide.

Pride. Synonyms include arrogance and haughtiness. It means one who thinks more of himself than he ought, who believes himself to be more important than others. The antonym would be humility, generally not thought of as a virtue in our society. Again, look into the heart!

Foolishness. This indicates the inability to have a moral and/or intellectual sense. Foolishness. "What were you thinking?" Perhaps you simply were not. Your brain did not put up any filters and the foolishness of your heart simply spilled out through your eyes, your mouth, your lips, your hands, your feet. Nothing stopped your sinful heart from acting. Your defenses were down and you didn't care who saw into the inner recesses of your heart.

Others may or may not see what is in your heart, but God does. He sees-always! His Law condemns your sinful heart, your sinful will. What is on the outside doesn't matter to him; what is on the inside does. "The soul that sins shall die" [Ezekiel 18.4, 20], God warned Israel through Ezekiel. Through Isaiah, God warned of the day of judgment, saying:

""For I know their works and their thoughts, and the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and shall see my glory. . . " (Isaiah 66:18, ESV)

In this life physicians try to repair damaged hearts. Some patients require a different heart, a transplant. But simply transplanting another human heart will do you no good when it comes to the things of God. You need a new one fashioned by God himself. Through Ezekiel God promised,

"And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh." (Ezekiel 36:26, ESV)

In Holy Baptism you were born again of water and the Spirit. You were given a new heart, just as the Apostle Paul writes:

"For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator." (Colossians 3:3-10, ESV)

Live in your Baptism as one who has a new heart, as one who is a new creation in Christ! Your heart has been sprinkled clean from and evil conscience [Heb. 10.22]. We sing the words of the Psalmist in one of our Offertories,

"Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me" [LSB DS 3]

And God, in his grace and mercy, does just that for you. As you confess your sins, the sins that lie in the deep recesses of your heart and erupt in your words and actions, God, for the sake of your sinless Savior, cleanses. He renews it after the likeness of Christ.

You come in joyful repentance to the Holy Supper knowing that your Lord will again give you the assurance through his body and blood that he has forgiven your sins of thought, word, and deed, and that he will strengthen you with his grace to life everlasting. You receive a purified heart.

566 By Grace I'm Saved

6 By grace! On this I'll rest when dying;
In Jesus' promise I rejoice;
For though I know my heart's condition,
I also know my Savior's voice.
My heart is glad, all grief has flown
Since I am saved by grace alone.

Text and Music: Public domain. Created by Lutheran Service Builder © 2006 Concordia Publishing House.

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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Update 31 August 2009
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