8-25-24 Sermon
Let us pray: Dear Heavenly Father, through the power of Your Holy Spirit, please open our hearts and minds to Your Word for our lives, revealed to us through Your Son, Jesus the Christ, and by that same Spirit, please give us the courage and wisdom to live our lives for You, that we might truly worship You in spirit and truth. This we ask in Christ’s holy name. Amen.
What image comes to your mind when you think of someone or something that’s “Squeaky Clean?” For me it is a sparkling, streak free window or mirror.
The Pharisees and teachers of the Law, in today’s Gospel reading, desired to appear “Squeaky clean” before God because of their outward actions and appearances. These same teachers criticized Jesus and His disciples for not keeping “all the traditions of the elders” and Jesus, quoting Isaiah, said, “These people honor Me with their lips, but their hearts are far from Me. They worship Me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.” In Matthew 15, Jesus addressed the Pharisees and scribes and called them “HYPOCRITES.” He said in verse 8, “these people honor me with their lips but their hearts are far from me.”
It’s possible to say the right thing with the wrong heart. We can sing God-glorifying hymns on Sunday with hearts that are far from God. We can recite Scriptures and have God’s mighty Word come out of our mouths but have no intention of living for the One who inspired it.
When people always know what to say, sound wise, and speak eloquently, they seem like they know what they are talking about, and we assume they are close to God. That’s not what is impressive to God.
We see in Romans 12:2 that the Lord wants “living sacrifices.” It is the living for Jesus that is “true worship.”
Singing the right words without living the right way makes our worship worthless. Quoting Scriptures without any intention of doing what it says is useless.
Don’t be impressed by mere words someone says, but rather look at how they live and what they do. Jesus said in Matthew 7:16, “You will know them by their fruits.”
If we get our hearts right and treasure God above all else, we can give Him the best form of worship and offer ourselves as living sacrifices. When the fruit of our lives matches the fruit of our lips – that’s what is holy and pleasing to God.
In explaining further, Jesus told the parable in Mark 7, “Nothing outside a man can make him ‘unclean’ by going into him. Rather, it is what comes out of a man that makes him ‘unclean.’”
Jesus later told to His disciples that the real “heart of the matter” is “What comes out of a man’s heart that makes him clean or ‘unclean.’ Because from within, out of a person’s heart, comes evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, profanity, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All of these evils come from inside and make the person ‘unclean.”‘
Only by God’s Word will we be able to define what is pleasing and what is displeasing to Him. God graciously gives us His Word so that by it we may gain wisdom and understanding. And He warns His followers – including you and me- not to “add to what He commands you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the Lord your God that I give you.”
The 13 “heart issues” which Jesus says make us unclean” divide into 3 categories –unclean thoughts, unclean words and unclean actions—that’s what defiles us. (Evil thoughts include greed, cruelty or hatred, deceit, envy and arrogance; ungodly and slanderous words include cursing, false testimony or lies and using profanity. Jesus goes on to say that the unclean actions which defile us “from within” include sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, obscenity and making light of what is serious.”)
Urged by the Holy Spirit, it becomes evident that we each need to humbly bow before our Creator in repentance, asking His forgiveness. In Christ Jesus, we fully and freely receive His mercy, forgiveness and grace because Jesus took upon Himself all our sin, guilt and shame. For these He was punished, crucified and died, in order that through His victory over sin, death and the power of the devil, we would receive forgiveness and eternal life!
What we could NEVER do for ourselves- making ourselves acceptable to God by our own actions and following man-made traditions- Jesus has fully accomplished for us. God doesn’t want empty promises. He desires a life that is truly aligned with His. Thanks be to God, through Jesus, we are “Squeaky Clean – Inside and Out!”
Gracious, merciful and all loving God, it is not always easy to follow You. Please strengthen our willingness to trust You and do what pleases You. As others once shared the good news and invited us to follow, so may we be the ones to invite others, that by sharing the Gospel they too will meet the God who gives new life. May we live Your love with joy each day. In Jesus’ name we pray Amen.
