Traditions

Jesus was in Jerusalem and got into a heated argument with the Pharisees about hand washing. The Pharisees emphasized a ritual of hand washing to a priority place in their traditions that if you did not follow procedure they would call you out on it.  And so they asked Jesus why his disciples did not ceremonially wash their hands before they ate.  Jesus goes right after the Pharisees traditions that had become more important than the heart of the Law of God. The disciples are concerned that Jesus offended the Pharisees and ask him to explain his reasoning. 

Matthew 15:  16 “Don’t you understand yet?” Jesus asked. 17 “Anything you eat passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer. 18 But the words you speak come from the heart—that’s what defiles you. 19 For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander. 20 These are what defile you. Eating with unwashed hands will never defile you.”

Jesus goes to the heart of the issue which is the heart.  You can clean up the outside all you want for outward appearances but our hearts are the key.  So think with me today what traditions Jesus might confront in our American church culture: 

1. We are very offended by the language of our culture and we say we would never us certain profanities in the church.  But Christians are some of the worst people about talking about other people in ways that are slanderous and hateful but we seldom object. 

2. We are often offended by the inappropriate clothing people wear and we might say I would never wear that in public.  But then we turn around and spend an extraordinary amount of money on clothing that is meant to impress other people.  

3.  Do not even get me started on our Christmas and Easter Traditions...

4. What do you recognize is tradition over heart in our American Christian Culture? 

Guys hear me - I do not want you to wear your Speedo bikini swimming suit to church next Sunday or to come in dropping the F-bomb.  Just like Jesus was not saying washing your hands before you eat was a terrible thing.  Jesus just wants us to look at the heart of what we are doing and why we are doing what we do. The heart is really the battle ground for the enemy to trip us up and defeat us.  

Lent 21- Pure Hearts

I remember the school days when teachers would grade on a scale.  So if there were some students in the class who did not really care about the class they would always drop the scale and help me out.  It was not something that motivated me to improve, but rather it made me a bit lazy.  When I think about the concept of having a pure heart I seem to always have the temptation to think of it as a grade on a scale.  There are always people below me and so I must be okay.  

God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God.  (Matthew 6:8 NLT) 

Maybe of all the "blessing statements" of Jesus, this one is the one that is so far out of reach that we tend to only be able to manage it with comparison.  I mean I know my heart at times is really good and then there are times when jealousy, prejudice, unforgiveness, impurity, and... well you get the idea.  It makes me feel like I can not live up to a pure heart standard.  

One thing I have learned is to discern where my thoughts are coming from.  The devil is a master of sending temptations our way.  These temptations are often in the form of thoughts to distract us from God and His way.  Just because I have an impure thought does not mean it came from my heart.  I just have to decide what I am going to do with that thought.  Dwell on it?  Act on it?  Tell the devil to get away from me. 

Another thing I have learned is that God does not expect me to not be human.  He loves me in my human form and understands my humanity.  He understands all the brokenness of humanity.  A pure heart is not a desire by God for me to quit being human, but rather to learn to depend more and more on the Holy Spirit of God.  My only shot at a pure heart is the heart of Jesus in me.  Jesus must increase in me as I decrease and that is a daily process of surrender.  Then it is clear, the more Jesus is my pure heart the more clearly I see Him.