Thinking “Out of Men's Hearts, Come Evil Thoughts”

Thinking

“Out of Men's Hearts, Come Evil Thoughts”

 

It is what comes out of a person that defiles or makes clean

Jesus makes a big deal of our thinking

Our thoughts control what we do and who we are

Remember as good hearted a person can be there is still deception in that heart

Never forget your heart is trying to deceive you

So don’t trust your heart

Trust the Lord who searches the heart and examines the mind    

“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.

Who can understand it?

"I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind,

to reward a man according to his conduct,

 according to what his deeds deserve."

Jeremiah 17:9-10

“Out of Men's Hearts, Come Evil Thoughts”

What does washing hands

have to do with an evil mind?

The Pharisees and some of the teachers

of the law saw some of the disciples

eating without washing their hands.

All we know about germs and chemicals

gives us good reason to wash before we eat.

Jesus takes this as an opportunity

to teach us about evil thoughts.

Jesus made it clear that foods and

unwashed hands do not make us unclean.

It is amazing how the body can fight

off eating things that can hurt you.

Your stomach may get upset if you eat bad food,

it will either make you throw up or pass it out.

The stomach is made to reject

things that are not good for us.

Jesus compares the stomach to the heart,

the heart being the mind and our thoughts…

 “He went on: "What comes out of a man is what makes him 'unclean.' For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man 'unclean.'" 

Mark 7:20 -23

 Our hearts or minds are amazing things,

they are more than computers that process data.

The brain has a heart, emotions and feelings.

Just like food that goes into the body

can be healthy or unhealthy, so also is

the information that goes into the heart.

The stomach knows how to digest

food and send the nutrition to the

body and the rest to waste.

 It does this without us thinking about it.

In the same way information goes

into the brain and the heart digests it.

The problem is we have to determine how to digest

the information that comes into our brains.

Jesus made it clear it is not what goes into

the body or the brain that makes it unclean…

 But what comes out.

We need to take seriously the process of the heart.

Look at God’s description of the heart…

“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.

Who can understand it?

"I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind,

to reward a man according to his conduct,

 according to what his deeds deserve." Jeremiah 17:9-10

The heart is deceitful.

We don’t do things because they are wrong…

 We do things because we are

convinced they are ok or right.

The heart will tell us the commands

of the Lord are just suggestions.

The heart will draw our attention to pleasure.

We must not forget the heart is deceitful,

and we don’t know the deceit is going on.

Your heart and mind are capable of…

  

evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft,

 murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit,

 lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly

 There are things we can do like washing

our hands before we eat to help us control

 what is being processed in the heart.

Those things will not be enough to keep

you completely free from evil thoughts.

The cure to a sick heart or overcoming evil

thoughts is letting God examine your thoughts…

"I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind

 Jeremiah 17:10

When you don’t know why your stomach is

upset you go to a doctor to get some answers.

We too need to allow the Lord to

examine our heart, our thoughts.

Two very important ways to do this is…

Read and meditate on God’s Word,

it is like looking in a mirror…

Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it — he will be blessed in what he does.

James 1:23-25

The second way is prayer.

If you can’t talk to God about it,

than it is not good for you.

There is something refreshing about

getting our thoughts out before God that

helps us get the right prospective.

Your thoughts are what you act on.

Evil thoughts produce evil actions.

When we turn our thoughts over to the Lord,

we find our actions give us positive results.

It is what comes out of a person

that defiles or makes clean.

Jesus makes a big deal of our thinking.

Our thoughts control what

we do and who we are.

Remember as good hearted a person can

be there is still deception in that heart.

Never forget your heart is trying to deceive you.

So don’t trust your heart.

Trust the Lord who searches

the heart and examines the mind.

     

Scripture Reading

Mark 7:1-23 NIV

7:1 The Pharisees and some of the teachers of the law who had come from Jerusalem gathered around Jesus and 2 saw some of his disciples eating food with hands that were "unclean," that is, unwashed. 3(The Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they give their hands a ceremonial washing, holding to the tradition of the elders. 4 When they come from the marketplace they do not eat unless they wash. And they observe many other traditions, such as the washing of cups, pitchers and kettles.)

5 So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, "Why don't your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with 'unclean' hands?"

6 He replied, "Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written:

"'These people honor me with their lips,

but their hearts are far from me.

7 They worship me in vain;

their teachings are but rules taught by men.'  

8 You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men." 

9 And he said to them: "You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions! 10 For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and, 'Anyone who curses his father or mother must be put to death.'   11 But you say that if a man says to his father or mother: 'Whatever help you might otherwise have received from me is Corban' (that is, a gift devoted to God), 12 then you no longer let him do anything for his father or mother. 13 Thus you nullify the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And you do many things like that." 

14 Again Jesus called the crowd to him and said, "Listen to me, everyone, and understand this. 15 Nothing outside a man can make him 'unclean' by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him 'unclean.'" 

17 After he had left the crowd and entered the house, his disciples asked him about this parable. 18 "Are you so dull?" he asked. "Don't you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him 'unclean'? 19 For it doesn't go into his heart but into his stomach, and then out of his body." (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods "clean.")

20 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.'"