Matthew 15:10-20 Mark 7:14-23

http://biblehub.com/parallelgospels/Eating_with_Unwashed_Hands.htm

Doctors tell us that it is important for us to go in and have a “checkup” every year so they can try to catch any problems before they become too serious.  Most of us don’t take that advice seriously.  The main motivation we have for going to see a doctor is illness or pain.  Unfortunately, once those symptoms are bad enough to make us willing to go see a physician; our problems are much more complicated than they would have been if detected earlier.  God is much more concerned with our spiritual well-being than He is with our physical well-being.  Jesus outlines His diagnosis of the Pharisees and the religious leaders and their spiritual condition.  He gives us the basic ingredients for a spiritual “checkup.”

BAD MOUTH: The Pharisees were all concerned with what was going into the mouth, but Jesus was much more concerned with what was coming out of the mouth.  They were striving to be pure by eating with hands that were washed because they confused physical cleanliness with spiritual purity.  Jesus insisted that the only way to determine their spiritual condition was by examining the words that were coming out of their mouths.  Our tongues are the hardest part of our bodies to control.  James said that if anyone could control his tongue he was a perfect man.  Our words can be a source of great blessing to God and to others or they can be a source of great hurt.  When we are walking close to God we will use our mouths to encourage others, teach God’s Word, counsel believers, evangelize unbelievers, praise God and worship.  When we are far away from God we lie, gossip, yell, criticize, discourage, blaspheme and complain.  If we truly want to know our spiritual condition we need to look at what is coming out of our mouths.   

BAD EYES: The disciples were concerned with the way that what Jesus taught was being received by the Pharisees.  They told Jesus that He was offending them with His teachings.  Jesus told them not to be concerned with how they were feeling because they had not been chosen by God or given the authority of God.  The people had great fear of the religious leaders because in their minds they represented God and had the authority to cast them out of the synagogue and condemn them.  The Pharisees considered themselves to be spiritual guides and leaders.  Jesus calls them blind guides of blind people.  Jesus diagnoses them with bad eyes because they cannot see or understand spiritual truth.  They were simply self-appointed spiritual leaders with no divine authority or even true relationship with God.  Jesus warns His disciples that these religious leaders and all who were listening to them were blindly walking into a pit of everlasting punishment eternally separated from the presence of God.  We often have a hard time seeing our own sinfulness and a hard time understanding spiritual truth.  The only way that our spiritual blindness can be lifted it through the Spirit of God reveling our sin and God’s truth to us.  They key to spiritual transformation is Spirit-led perception.   

BAD HEART: The Lord’s main concern in our lives is the condition of our heart.  In reality, “bad words” and “bad eyes” are symptoms of a “bad heart”.  While the Pharisees were getting all worked up about Jesus and His disciples eating bread with a dirty hand; Jesus was concerned that the Pharisees were living life with a filthy heart.  All our sinful behavior can be traced back to our hearts.  Unkind or untrue words flow from a sinful heart.  Immoral or violet acts are committed because of sinful hearts.  Evil or impure thoughts come from sinful hearts.  It is abundantly clear that modifying behavior is not the answer to our problems.  We can’t wash away our spiritual depravity by running some water over our hands.  What we desperately need is a heart transformation, or better yet, a heart transplant.  This is the work that Jesus came to do.  He wants to give us new hearts that have eyes to see the truth and will respond to that truth by speaking the truth in love.  Men are constantly looking for ways to feel better about themselves.  We strive in vain to impress one another and God with our religious rituals.  We blindly think that a little hand washing will cure our diseased and idolatrous hearts.  We must repent from such foolish thinking and turn to Christ alone as our only hope for salvation.  When we abandon our self-help religions and believe in the death of Christ as the only means by which our sin can be forgiven; the Spirit of God opens our eyes, transforms our hearts and will use our mouths to edify others and glorify God.


APPLICATION: Recognize all of our religious rituals and good deeds as mere washing of the hands and repent of such prideful attempts to earn God’ favor.  Cry out for God to open the eyes of those who are spiritually blind so they can receive Christ.  Know that our thoughts, words and actions flow from our hearts that are either controlled by the Spirit of God or Satan and our sinful flesh.  Take some time to do a spiritual checkup of our mouths, eyes and hearts.

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