Defiling Things
Scripture Reading: Matthew 15:1-20
People have always focused on externalities and promoted the idea that the most important thing about you is what you put in your body. This obsession with externalities often takes on religious connotations. We measure holiness (whether or not we use that particular word) by these externalities. In other words, we judge the goodness of a person based upon their rituals. To use Jesus’ words, we see them as defiled if they aren’t doing life right.
It isn’t that externalities don’t matter at all. It’s a good idea to wash your hands before eating, but not because it endows you with moral superiority. It doesn’t. You aren’t a better person for being a vegan or eating fish on Friday. These things might have some physical and health benefits, but they don’t make you righteous.
What is more important than what goes in is what comes out. You can “eat clean” and have a horribly dirty heart that reveals itself in what comes out of you.
Why do we focus on externalities and not heart issues?
· Externalities are things largely within our control. We don’t need the work of God to work on them.
· Externalities are visible to others, and we get positive feedback and praise. Our pride gets fed.
· Externalities make us believe we are good and help us overlook the deeper issues of the heart.
We see this with the Pharisees in Matthew 15. They were feeling self-righteous about their ability to keep the externalities of their religion. Yet, as Jesus points out, the real issues of godliness went unattended. They honored God with their words, but their hearts were far from Him.
Dealing with heart issues requires a humble, repentant spirit. It requires us to turn from our methods of self-saving to the Savior, Jesus Christ. It means we have to acknowledge there is something amiss inside of us, something we can’t fix on our own. It means we have to bow before the Cross and find our hope of redemption there.
