Sermon Cloud

After what we read last week, I decided to take some precautions this Sunday...
Matthew 15:1-20, 23:25-26 I tell you what, it's dangerous stuff opening up your bible. You never know what projectile might fly out and pierce you in a very uncomfortable place. I've heard it said that Scripture is meant to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. Just like last week, today's passage hits pretty close to home. As I've reflected upon these passages, God has been revealing some painful things to me. I'm also going to share some thoughts from a message I heard by a great writer and preacher named Greg Boyd. So if you feel like your eye might get poked out today, believe me, I know how you're feeling.
The first passage was one of the 7 "Woes" we discussed last week. Jesus has such a polite, gentle way of making his points, doesn't he? He tells the Pharisees they are so careful about cleaning the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they're filthy. If you remember from last week, the Pharisees were the religious leaders of Jesus' day who believe it's their job to enforce morality on all those who aren't like them. That if all the sinners would just behave, their nation's fortunes would be reversed; from weak to powerful.
The rules they wanted everyone to keep were the rules for ceremonial cleansing. Last week we talked about gnats and camels, this week it's washing the cups and hands. Washing the hands and cup before eating for Jewish people was like our pre-meal prayer; it was consecrating the food to God. It was like the tithe, an act of personal morality the Pharisees were very serious about keeping. But unlike the tithe, which Jesus commended, we read in the 2nd passage that he didn't care whether his disciples washed their hands. Jesus saw the ceremonial washing for what it was; a big show. "You make a big show of washing the outside, but inside you're full of greed and self-indulgence."
Jesus was rudely but honestly pointing out a sad reality of the Pharisees; their outside was much cleaner than their inside. Now, thankfully that only applies to Pharisees, there is no connection with us today.
Of course that's not true. And that's where today's passage starts to really get painful. While there may be some of us who have recently crashed and burned and our outside reflects the turmoil of our inside. And there may be some of us who are so righteous that we're as good on the inside as we look from the outside. But I'm guessing that if we were honest, most of us would admit we aren't always what we appear. We work pretty hard at making ourselves more presentable. All the while hoping some of our secret attitudes or behaviors remain secret. But Jesus is saying here, "that isn't good enough. If the inside doesn't match the outside, something's gotta change. The inside and outside must be brought to a level of equal importance."
So, how then do we make that happen? How do we bring the inside and outside together in congruity?
Let me share two ways religious people try to deal with the inconsistencies.
I. Focus on externals I'll just focus on the outside and trust it will make me clean on the inside. This is the strategy of the Pharisees and even someone who went to public school can figure out this doesn't make Jesus happy. It's a performance-based approach. "If I just do the right things (wash my hands the right way) then I'll be clean and God will have to accept me." Or, "if I just believe the right things, cross all the ‘t's' and dot al the ‘I's' then I'll be okay." You're made right with God by keeping the rules or believing the right things. This idea was in full force in Jesus' day and it's in full force still today.
If I just pray a certain way. If I just ascribe to a list of beliefs. If I just tithe, bring 5 people to church, avoid R rated movies, don't smoke, don't chew, don't run with girls who do; then I'll be okay. If I just conform myself to this list, I'll be clean. I was once told by a guy I was working with (straight-faced), "I'm a Christian because I don't drink, smoke, dance, cuss or wear shorts."
Now, to be honest, there are some advantages to this way of thinking.
1) Security There are some people who are immature emotionally and they need to be told what to do and what to think. This is very tangible, "just give me the list." Some people live in fear that they're not good enough, so they find security in a concrete list.
2) Safety There's a lot of safety in this way of thinking. If I'm just focused on keeping an outward list of rules, I won't have to deal with all the junk inside of me. All I need to make are surface changes. If I just believe and do the "list" I'll be okay. And in the process, I can avoid the deeper, more painful issues.
Which is why you find a lot of dysfunction among legalistic communities. Gossip, judgment, racism aren't on "the list." They aren't able to notice the sickness in their own lives because they're so focused on a list of externals.
I experienced this one summer as a college student. I spent some time working with some people close to our family who are a part of a church that is one of the sickest examples of this way of thinking. I still haven't found this in the bible, but for some reason they believe the fashions of the turn of the last century are ordained by God. No makeup, only skirts (and most of the rules are directed at women). My boss I worked for seriously believed that my mom was in danger of hell because she but her hair. And yet, one day we were riding to a job site, passed a house, and this lady said, "Oh, that's where the ____-lover lives." My first thought was, "that's exactly what Jesus would say." It still makes me sick to think about that. They were so focused on keeping men's hair short and the women's hair long that they didn't even see their racism.
And if you've been around this, you'll notice that the people who rise to leadership are usually the ones who are the most shallow and the least prone to introspection. Because those who think just a bit are able to see right through the façade of external, legalistic religion.
I hate to say this, but there was a time in which this way of thinking was very prominent in our denomination. And while we've come a long ways (which makes me very proud) we're still dealing with the lingering effects of this kind of legalism.
Here are the problems with this way of thinking:
1) It presupposes a behavior-focused God God's love for you is conditional. Do the right things, believe the right things - you're in. Get anything wrong and you're out. God's love is dependent. God's more concerned with the rightness of your belief and the rightness of your behavior than he is in YOU.
This is a sub-Christian view of God. We can know this is unbiblical through the teachings and example of this marginal guy in scripture by the name of Jesus. Jesus' love for people wasn't based upon the rightness of their beliefs or behavior. He repelled those with the "right" beliefs and behavior while attracting those with "wrong" beliefs/behaviors. And Jesus said, "if you've seen me, you've seen the father." And what did Jesus do people who certainly didn't deserve it? He died on the cross to show us the father's love, no matter our behavior.
The cross shows us that a "behavioralistic God" is a sub-Christian view of God.
2) It isn't life-giving You can do all the right behaviors and believe all the right things. And even if you do those things perfectly (which isn't likely) you're going to feel empty. This type of living doesn't bring fullness of life or joy, peace or power of Jesus to anyone. And the reason is that we were created to experience UNCONDITIONAL love, worth and significance. But if I believe God's love for me is based upon my performance than I'll believe that what is really loved is not me but the things I do/believe.
You may be tempted to think, "if I just try harder, I'll get it right and then I'll know God's love." But it never happens.
God loves US, no matter our beliefs or behaviors.
3) It can't transform Externally focused religion doesn't get to the innermost being of a person, so it can never truly transform a person. Legalism can never heal wounds and sin, it only covers them. So, religious people become experts at "faking" it. "Look at how perfect I am." But when things aren't dealt with, they fester and come out in sick and dysfunctional ways, forcing you to work harder at hiding.
When we're all walking around with our facades up, we become more and more isolated. "I'm the only one dealing with this" and it gets worse and worse. No one in transformed and the dirtiness is intensified.
Or you could go to the other extreme of 11 Ignoring Externals
Some people are set free from legalistic/ performance based religion and go to the whole other extreme. Having no concern for the outside at all. "Since God loves me no matter what, it doesn't matter what I do. I'm loved just as I am."
"It doesn't matter that I don't serve the poor, it doesn't matter that I never read scripture, it doesn't matter that I spend 98% of my money and 98% of my time on myself like all other Americans, it doesn't matter that I blow up at my spouse or that I'm addicted to porn or shacking up with my boyfriend. It doesn't matter what I do because when God looks at me, all he sees is Jesus. He can't see my sin, he only sees Jesus. That's grace, right? I can do whatever I want."
There was a German pastor whose commitment to Jesus cost him his life in a Nazi concentration camp, who called that way of thinking CHEAP GRACE. Grace is free, but it's also costly. I've been hammering those the past month or so, so I won't spend a lot of time on it. But do you remember what I declared this way of thinking to be? BS - Biblical Stupidity.
Jesus isn't recommending we become apathetic about our outward behavior, it matters. 15:17-20 Jesus is saying that you aren't defiled by not living up to some man-made list of rules. But if you've got all of this junk coming out of your life, then it's evidence that something is wrong with your heart. Habitual sin matters because it's a symptom of a serious problem. Our outward behavior matters.
So, let's summarize: the belief that you can get clean on the inside by focusing only on external behavior is wrong. The belief that you can live however you want, that outward behavior doesn't matter is equally wrong. Both of those are BS.
Which leaves us in a bit of a conundrum, huh? Which way do we turn? Well, that's for you to figure out, I'll see you next Sunday....
Actually, Jesus has already given us a picture of how we deal with both the inside and the outside. Matthew 12:33-35
III Allow Jesus to change your heart
If you've got an apple tree in your backyard that keeps producing rotten apples do you hang ripe apples on the branches hoping that fixes the problem? No. Do you keep eating the rotten apples hoping they don't make you sick? No. Somehow or another, you've gotta deal with the roots. Bad roots produce bad fruit. This is what Jesus is saying. Your heart is your root system. If what's in your heart is bad, the behavior/fruit will be bad. But rather than focusing on the behavior/fruit, you focus on your heart, the roots. And how do you do that? Well, for the best news of the day - you can't!
Only God can truly make you clean. Only God can change your heart. Only God can change your roots so you go from producing rotten fruit to healthy fruit. Only God can allow the Holy Spirit to enter into your life and transform you. Ezekiel 36:25-27
It's not about you. It's not about me. It's about what God can do in us and through us. It's about God's mercy and power working in our lives. Only God can make us clean. Only God can renew us.
2 Corinthians 5:17-21 God does the work in us. The only thing required of us is yielding to God. Being a follower of Jesus means we say "yes" before we even hear the question. We surrender EVERYTHING to Jesus. And then God makes us new, actually remakes us.
You don't adjust your behavior to be MADE new. You adjust your behavior BECAUSE you've been made new. You don't do the works of a new creation to BECOME a new creation. You live like a new creation because you ARE a new creation! Jesus is telling us to "live a lifestyle consistent with who you really are."
Now, just because you said yes months or years ago doesn't mean you're living for God right now. Being made new is a process of continual yeses. Being made new is a moment-by-moment decision. Every moment is about bending our lives to God's will for our lives. Are you surrendering to Jesus right now? If so, your behavior will demonstrate that decision. Jesus transforms us from the inside-out.
Now there's a flipside to this as well. The more you choose to practice Christ-like behavior, the more your heart longs for the things of Christ. The way to grow in your new life is not to WAIT to first experience the change and to then start living rightly. Rather, start doing what you know to be Christ-honoring and those decisions will help you grow into who you really are.
Now this may seem contradictory and in a way they are. But being a Christ-follower means living in the tension between what God does in us and what we choose to do because we love God. And you grow into your newness when you choose to become "others-centered." 2 Corinthians 5:20 We've made new to help others become new. So live-out what God is creating you to be by serving other people; through your money, time, words.
The best way to experience healing and wholeness is to stop waiting to be completely healed and begin living a whole, others centered life now. You'll experience healing. Which is what Jesus meant when he told us this, Matthew 6:33.
You can't make yourself clean, you can only surrender to God and let him make you clean. You then begin living a lifestyle consistent with who God has made you to be. Right away. Don't wait.
Prayer