Food Cannot Defile You -- Defilement Comes From Within

Mark 7 is loaded with instruction. We can be thankful for the incorrigible Pharisees, for without their constant harassment of Jesus, we would not have a good deal of sound instruction that emerged in his rebukes of their darkened philosophies. The Pharisees thought defilement came from without and so they prescribed a man-made hand washing tradition that mimicked the various washings God prescribed in the Pentateuch for defilement. But Jesus rebuked their ignorance. They had the wrong diagnosis and therefore the wrong solution. Defilement comes from within the human heart, not from eating unclean foods. In a day in which thousands of purists are trying hard to find the perfect diet that will help us live forever -- the Paleo diet being the latest -- this passage provides a rock of stability. Food does not defile you. Your heart does. Would that more were concerned about their sinful heart than they were about their cholesterol levels. For a more thorough analysis of this subject, check out my book, "To Eat or Not to Eat?", featured on this sermon page and available in the sermon audio bookstore.