Church leaders are calling American Christians to “wake up” to the calls of the Gospel by living a radical life. Consumerism and materialism have made them captive to the American dream with focus on self instead of others and accumulating wealth instead giving to the poor. Jesus, in contrast, gave priority to comprehensive radical living, which begins with the heart and flows out to one’s actions in all areas of life. Passionate calls to become more generous must be integrated with simultaneous calls to service, worship and prayer so the body remains balanced and not grotesque. Jesus “does all things well,” which you will learn in Mark 7.
Pharisees and scribes criticized the disciples because they didn’t observe the tradition of the elders by washing their hands, cups, pitchers and copper pots prior to eating bread. Jesus responded that they were hypocrites who honored God with their lips, but their hearts were far away from Him. Because they taught men’s precepts as doctrine, their worship was false, worthless and empty. They neglected and even replaced God’s commandments with men’s traditions. For example, by arbitrarily giving something to God, they could invalidate God’s command to honor their father and mother (Mark 7:1-13).
Christ told them the heart defiles a person, not external observances. From the heart flows every problem: evil thoughts, fornications, thefts, murders, adulteries, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride and foolishness (Mark 7:14-23).
Christ showed that He could heal every part of a person’s life by casting out a demon from a daughter of a Gentile woman who came immediately and fell at His feet. He cast out a demon from someone who was deaf and spoke with difficulty after “they entreated Him to lay His hand upon him.” A multitude concluded, “He has done all things well; He makes even the deaf to hear, and the dumb to speak” (Mark 7:24-37).
What area(s) of your life do you want Jesus to “do well”? It could be in your attitudes, motivation, prayer life, finances, speech, work life, family life, recreation, etc. Call upon Him to change that area of your life.
