Dirty Cars and Clean Souls

If you live anywhere that snows you know that after the pretty white snow is done falling there is something horrible and dirty that happens…the salty car.  For those of you in milder climates you may not know that when it snows to prevent ice and to keep the roads clean many cities put salt on the roads.  Effective at melting ice and extremely effective at making your car filthy dirty.  Every winter we have to deal with our clothes brushing against the car and turning a dirty white.  Opening a car door only to get salt all over your fingers.  You might say, “get a carwash.”  But, what’s the point it is only going to snow tomorrow and there will be even more salt on the road then.  It only takes a block or two and bam you are right back where you started, a filthy dirty car.  Once, Jesus spoke about what makes a person clean.  He wasn’t talking about ice and cars, but I think the illustration works for our purposes.  J  Let’s see what Jesus had to say:

Mark 7:14-23

¹⁴ And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: ¹⁵ There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.” ¹⁷ And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. ¹⁸ And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, ¹⁹ since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?”^] (Thus he declared all foods clean.) ²⁰ And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. ²¹ For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, ²² coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. ²³ All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

Things to think about:

• First, I love verse 19…Thank you Jesus for the anatomy lessonJ 
• In that culture and time it was a big deal to be considered, “holy.”  Set-apart or different than all the others.  The Israelites were set-apart from the Gentiles.  The Levites were set-apart from the regular Jews.  The Pharisees were set-apart as experts in the Law.  Etc.  They thought what set them apart is what they did or did not do on the outside.  Wash this, wash that, observe this and not that.  Jesus says what sets you apart is what comes from the inside. 
• What comes from within you?  Take a moment and look at your heart.  Do you ever struggle with thoughts and feelings that Jesus would consider “evil?”  When we are honest with ourselves we know that we are filthy dirty, like a car that has been driving around in the salt/sand washed streets.  We might even think we are too dirty to touch…and we would be right.  But, though we are evil here is a promise from God.

Romans 5:8 – “But God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.  “

2 Corinthians 5:21 – “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

• Jesus has the power to change us from the inside out.  Through his death on the cross and our joining him in that death by faith our old unclean self was killed and our sins washed away.  We are then raised to a new life in Christ and this new life is better than a car wash that quickly fades as we drive through life it is an eternal wash that no sin, no accusation, no temptation can ever defile again for it is the righteousness of Christ.  When we have the righteousness of Christ in us we are clean!  Thank you Jesus.

Crowds With Lots of Ears

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and New Year.  Welcome to 2017!  Did any of you go to a Christmas party or New Year’s Eve party?  I am sure many of you had a great time with a crowd of people and lots of excitement in the air.  Today, I want us to look at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry when there was a bunch of excitement in the air and huge crowds following Him everywhere he went.  Let’s look at a few passages from the beginning of the book of Mark and then think about a few questions.

Mark 1:21-28

²¹ And they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and was teaching. ²² And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes. ²³ And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, ²⁴ “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.” ²⁵ But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” ²⁶ And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him. ²⁷ And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” ²⁸ And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee.

Mark 1:35-39

³⁵ And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. ³⁶ And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, ³⁷ and they found him and said to him, “Everyone is looking for you.” ³⁸ And he said to them, “Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.” ³⁹ And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons.

Mark 3:7-12

⁷ Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great crowd followed, from Galilee and Judea ⁸ and Jerusalem and Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from around Tyre and Sidon. When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him. ⁹ And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him, ¹⁰ for he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him. ¹¹ And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.” ¹² And he strictly ordered them not to make him known.

Mark 4:1-9

 Again he began to teach beside the sea. And a very large crowd gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat in it on the sea, and the whole crowd was beside the sea on the land. ² And he was teaching them many things in parables, and in his teaching he said to them: ³ “Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow. ⁴ And as he sowed, some seed fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured it.⁵ Other seed fell on rocky ground, where it did not have much soil, and immediately it sprang up, since it had no depth of soil. ⁶ And when the sun rose, it was scorched, and since it had no root, it withered away.⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked it, and it yielded no grain. ⁸ And other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.” ⁹ And he said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

Things to think about:

• Why do you think there were so many people that followed Jesus?  Why all the crowds?  What were they looking for?
• When the crowds gathered around Jesus how did Jesus react?  Why do you think he reacted that way?
• Jesus uses this phrase a lot in his ministry; “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”  What do you think that mean?  Do you have ears to hear the words of Jesus? 
• Some questions to think about as we start this new year are:
• Why do I want to be with Jesus?  Am I just part of the excited crowd that wants to see something cool?  Am I sick and in need of healing?  Am I just curious?  Am I really listening to what he says?  Do I have ears to hear?
• What caused all of these crowds to eventually abandon Jesus and cry out for his crucifixion?  Are there things in your life that might cause you to abandon the faith?  What?  Why?  How can you prepare yourself so that doesn’t happen?
• What kind of soil am I?  Do I trust God to use me to produce “thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold?”
• I pray that we all have a great new year and go to Jesus with open ears and open hearts prepared for him to save us, lead us, and use us for His glory and praise and our good.  God bless.