Mark 7:1-23

• Exodus 20:8 ESV

• Zechariah 3:4 ESV

• Zechariah 3:8-9 ESV

Reflect & Repent

• What skin-deep, external measures of obedience do you look to in order to make you feel clean?

• What heart-level defilement and sin do you need to bring to Jesus for true cleansing today?

Discussion questions:

1. How (in what areas of your life) do you tend to experience feelings of inadequacy or deficiency? How do you feel unclean? What skin-deep, external measures of obedience do you look to in order to make you feel clean?

2. What are the spiritual results of such skin-deep external performance and obedience?

3. The core teaching of Jesus revealed in this passage comes in verses 20-23. Jesus says that our sin is not a result of temptation, upbringing, circumstances, or anything else outside of us. Our sin is a result of our sinful, broken hearts. What difference does this teaching make - in how we think about ourselves, others, and even God himself?

4. What heart-level defilement and sin do you need to bring to Jesus for true cleansing today?