Clean and Unclean

INTRODUCTION

• Cleanliness & Godliness

MARK 7:1-37

A Matter of the Heart:  Defiled by Hypocrisy (1-23)

• Religious Porcupines (1-13)

• Inside-Out (14-23)

A Matter of the Heart:  Undefiled by Understanding (24-30)

• Declaration of Dependence

The Heart of the Matter:  Jesus Frees Deaf, Dumb & Defiled (31-37)

• His Way of Holiness

COMMUNITY MEDITATION QUESTIONS

Growing in knowledge

• How do Isa. 29:13-14 and 35:5-8 relate to Jesus’s dealings with Jews and Gentiles in Mark 7?
• How does the New Covenant pattern of “clean-unclean” resemble and differ from the Old Covenant pattern (Day of Atonement/Lev. 16 & Holiness Code/Lev. 17-26)? 

Feeling life deeply

• Which “traditions of men” do you prefer (license = no rules or legalism = only rules)?  Why is this?  How do you change?  
• How does 7:21-22 shape our understanding of “the heart?”
• Name some things that keep us from seeing our need for Jesus in the way the woman did?  What “other tables” do we go to for sustenance and satisfaction?  

Living  with courage

• Jesus’s cleansing results in new hearts and walks.  Name 1-2 people (home, work, neighborhood) and invest in them with the Gospel so that God might cleanse and give them new hearts.