MARK 7 Not hard to be found if you are looking for it – fault With a person’s friends and where he goes With a style of hair or with the type of clothes; With another’s politics or the kind of his religion; With the wife he married or the behavior of children; With the way he spends his money or how he saves, With the kind of dog he has, and how the dog behaves. They looked so hard at Jesus but found no fault or sin, They scrutinized His followers and blamed their faults on Him.
Not from the heart if you demand it – tradition With pressure to conform to someone’s own opinion, With an eye to pleasing others, you ignore your own decision. With elders watching on, you fear men more than fearing God, With the short view of tomorrow, you compromise God’s Word. With traditions of men important, you begin to follow men, With lips that say one thing, and deeds that don’t match them. With someone’s man-made tradition you soon may make it yours, And you soon fall into following men, instead of following the Lord.
Not from without but from within – defilement With allowing thoughts to flow unchecked from within an active mind, With sights that appeal to an evil heart that seeks and soon will find. With fleshly lusts that never sleep and war against the soul, With covetous desires to want and have, for which you did not toil. With listening to others talk and beginning to speak like them, With pride rising up success’s ladder, you look down on other men. With foolish talk, suggestive words and a life-style that suits others, That defilement won’t go away until you are cleansed like sinners.
Not from self but from God Himself – faith With opened ears she heard from far of One who could meet her need. With anxious steps she made her way and in faith fell at His feet. With voice so plaintive she spoke so clear of the problem with her daughter. With words that tested her firm resolve, the Lord Jesus explained an order. With words of humility and faith she replied taking a low position. With a heart of love and tenderness the daughter was healed by the Great Physician. With a heart that responds to faith in Him, Jesus saves each one who comes. And every one who comes to Him rejoices in all He has done.
“O Gracious Eternal God, in reading this chapter I can see how quickly one problem like finding fault can lead to another. Give me the conviction that living by faith and looking for faults never can go together. I need to be like Him of whom it could honestly be said, “He hath done all things well,” the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.”
MARK 7:6b, 37. “This people honoreth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from me---- And they were beyond measure astonished, saying, ‘He hath done all things well…” THIS PEOPLE – HE! CONTRASTS He. THE COMMANDMENTS OF GOD: He makes them because He is God and has all authority in heaven and in earth; He gives them because knows what is best in the eternal view of things; He gives them because He knows what is best for us; He gives them because He knows the result of commandments carried out in the fear of God; He gives them because His Word is effective in guiding us in every phase of life; He gives them because when they are carried out in God’s way, all are blessed; He gives them because they do what is needed in the best possible way. This people. THE TRADITIONS OF MEN: they are imposed because frail mortal men want to feel important; they are imposed because men want control of their own lives; they are imposed because they look good to others; they are imposed because of convenience; they are imposed to maintain a conduct by which actions can be controlled by others. He. THINGS FROM WITHOUT: air, food, water all comes from without. Sounds of music or discordant noise come from without. Smells of cooking food, of burning wood and a thousand other smells come from without. All that I see comes from without and enters the filter of my mind. I cannot avoid many of the things from without that enter my mind and body, but I can filter them all and determine, for the most part, what is good or bad for me. Yet by these entrance channels I am defiled by what comes in from the outside. The processing of information takes place within the mind of a man. We cannot avoid temptations, but we can avoid yielding to temptations. We cannot avoid the attraction that evil might have, but we can avoid doing the evil. We cannot avoid looking at something we like and do not have, but we can avoid coveting that thing. This people. THINGS THAT COMES FROM WITHIN: the words that we hear; the sights that we see; the thoughts that we have; when they come out without the restrictions of the Spirit, defile a man. The thoughts expressed and actions done come from within and can defile a man. The pride of the heart, the foolishness of careless words, the wrong look of the eye come from within and defile a man. The desire to have and then to take, the wickedness of the deed because it seems acceptable, defiles a man.
He. THE CHILDREN FIRST: He knows His own; He came to them, and they received Him not. He was one of the Jews; He was the Lion of the tribe of Judah and His interests were in their well-being. He wanted to feed them, to nourish them, to meet their need. He had food for the soul of the nation and for the heart of every individual. He had what they needed; He offered it to them; all the blessings He had for them could’ve been theirs; but they chose to reject Him. The children could’ve been fed for these 2000 years but they would not receive Him. The people. DOGS UNDER THE TABLE: the need was there and admitted to by the Gentile woman. The inability to meet that need was not covered or ignored in any way. The total need of the help of the Savior was recognized.
He. THE MAN IN NEED: The Lord knew the curiosity of the multitude was superficial. He took the man aside privately. He identified the man’s need. He took personal interest in each aspect of the man’s need when He put His fingers in the man’s ears and spit and touched his tongue. There was no question that the Lord’s interest was genuine. The impaired man could feel His fingers in his ears and the touch on his tongue. The Lord identified Himself with that man and fully met his need. The people. THE MULTITUDE: their interest was superficial. Their need was not admitted to. Curiosity was the drawing attraction. Their astonishment was because His blessings were outside the bounds of their experience. They saw the results but never felt the need.
“Father of mercy to those of us who don’t deserve it: Thanks for giving such insights into the ways of God with willful men. It passes anything that mankind can produce. Thy mercies abound in small things as well as the large. I see evidence of Thy mercy in a large company of souls saved here in El Salvador. I see evidence of Thy mercy in a bag by a bed of my brother in the hospital. Thy mercy endures for ever. Amen.”