The Joshua Victor Theory

  Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. Today we’re in Mark 7, where last week we heard about the Pharisees trying to go “above and beyond” God’s Law, in a way that hurt instead of helped. Jesus showed them that God’s heart is not found in the regulations. God’s heart is found in the Gospel, the Good News that Jesus Himself went “above and beyond” the Law by doing all it required and far more, by dying on the cross for our sins. God’s heart comes to us in the Gospel. Jesus concludes the conversation today about clean and unclean. In this whole discussion, what is the matter? In effect, Jesus answers: “The Heart is the Matter.” Let’s open our hearts to God’s Word. Jesus gives a heavy diagnosis about our heart. But if you read carefully, Mark 7:1-23, last week and this week, Jesus never prescribes the solution. He only diagnoses what cannot make us clean, and what makes us unclean. He never says how we become clean or ge...

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. In many churches today, the word “sin” is either missing from their vocabulary, or largely ignored. And this is from the pastors themselves. Sin is too negative—we’d rather focus only on the positive. Or talking about sin might offend us or make us feel bad about ourselves. Imagine if a doctor felt the same about diagnosing and treating diseases, or cancer! Would such a doctor be allowed to practice medicine, if he only sought to make the patient think better of themselves, while ignoring the disease and its treatment? Now who really does the diagnosing though? It’s God’s own Word that makes the diagnosis of our hearts and our lives. It’s God’s own Word that identifies sin and prescribes a cure—both to the heart of the pastor and to the hearers of God’s Word—you! But why should we take sin so seriously anyway? Isn’t it enough to focus only on the positive? Well, gloom about the problem with no word about the ...