Holy (Matthew 15:10-20)

How clean are you? In the Old Testament, the laws about being clean or unclean were extensive. There are over 100 times where the Old Testament mentions someone being defiled or unclean. It was unclean to eat many different types of animals or insects. It was unclean to touch their dead carcasses. But you also have uncleanness from childbirth, disease, and various kinds of discharges. Why does God call things clean or unclean in the Old Testament? The answer is found in verses 44-45.

Leviticus 11:44--45 (ESV) --- 44 For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy. You shall not defile yourselves with any swarming thing that crawls on the ground. 45 For I am the Lord who brought you up out of the land of Egypt to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.”

God wanted his people to be holy and different from the people in the land around them. How does the idea of clean, unclean, and holiness relate to us? If we are going to draw near to God in worship, we need to be holy, but how? That's what we will learn today.

Last time, we began our study in Matthew 15. Jesus' disciples being accused of eating with unclean hands, something that is not found in the Old Testament. Jesus responded with a glaring accusation. Let’s read those verses to refresh our minds.

Matthew 15:1--9 (ESV) --- 1 Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, 2 “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.” 3 He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ 5 But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,” 6 he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have made void the word of God. 7 You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said: 8 “ ‘This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; 9 in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ”

The scribes and Pharisees have substituted traditions for commandments to make them seem righteous. Jesus calls them out for this and accuses them of breaking the law of God by neglecting to take care of their own parents. They claim to be worshipping God while really being hypocrites who worship themselves. But, did you notice that Jesus does not directly answer their original question? Why don’t they wash their hands? The next section will answer this in the form of a parable.

Cleaning Up For God (15:10-20)

Matthew 15:10--11 (ESV) --- 10 And he called the people to him and said to them, “Hear and understand: 11 it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.”

Notice that Jesus does not address the Pharisees. He gathers all of the people to him to teach them why his disciples don't wash hands. Can you imagine him ignoring the Pharisees and focusing on the people the Pharisees are trying to deceive? But he teaches them through a parable again, and his parable seems to contradict the Old Testament. So everyone is really just more confused. How can it be that what goes into their mouths does not defile them? Doesn't Jesus believe in Leviticus?

Matthew 15:12--16 (ESV) --- 12 Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?” 13 He answered, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be rooted up. 14 Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” 15 But Peter said to him, “Explain the parable to us.” 16 And he said, “Are you also still without understanding?

Confusion

The disciples were upset over the Pharisees being offended. Why did Jesus offend them? These guys are from Jerusalem. We wouldn't want to offend them. We want them on our side! But Jesus says that God didn't plant them. They will be rooted up. This refers to the parable of the tares where Satan plants a seed, and God leaves them growing until the judgment where they are rooted up and thrown into the fire (Matt 13). Furthermore, he tells them to leave the Pharisees alone because they are blind guides who lead the blind into the pit. Have we ever heard such a remark come out of Jesus’ mouth? These men who are so focused on the traditions of men have become utterly blind to the commands of God. We might think, "Jesus, would never abandon someone who is blind." But, in this case, the blindness is a stubborn, rebellious choice. Everyone who is self-righteous takes offense when their sin is revealed to them. If the disciples want to follow them, they will end up in the pit with them.

Then, Peter asks for Jesus to explain the parable. Jesus wants to know why Peter can't grasp this. It turns out, as we read Acts 10, Peter has never eaten anything unclean in his entire life. He has kept the laws from Leviticus 11 about not eating unclean things, and what Jesus says in this parable makes no sense to him. How is it that, "It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles him?" Leviticus indicates the exact opposite to Peter. But Jesus reveals that God cares more about what comes out of the mouth than what goes in.

Explanation

Matthew 15:17--20 (ESV) --- 17 Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled? 18 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander. 20 These are what defile a person. But to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”

Jesus says that food is just something that goes into our mouths, passes through our stomachs, and goes out. It does not affect our relationship with God. God does not care about our food choices. Now, this would be radical for any Jew in the first century. The abstinence from certain foods made them distinct from the nations around them. But Jesus makes it clear here that he cares more about the condition of our hearts. What goes into the mouth does not defile a person, but what comes out of the mouth. In other words, uncleanness is not about what happens to us or the number of good things we do for ourselves. It's about what comes out of our hearts.

The Jews tend to focus on external appearance rather than a heart that loves, honors, and adores God. They believe that God sees people focusing their time on keeping these rules they have created. He couldn't care less about the evil in their hearts. But eating with unwashed hands is an example of the silly rules they make to call themselves righteous. In God's eyes, they are not righteous.

What's The Point?

Isn't it amazing that the Pharisees from Jerusalem focused on cleaning themselves for God, and everyone around them had completely bought into that way of thinking? But Jesus says, "To eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone." What do we learn?

Pictures of Holiness

The laws of unclean foods and defilement can be confusing to us. So I would like for us to look at them a little more closely. Back in Matthew 5:17, Jesus said that he has come to fulfill the law and the prophets, not abolish them. Why does Jesus seem to abolish the laws about unclean food? Jesus explains that these laws were a picture for us of what God wants on the inside. Laws like this, circumcision, and many others were shadows. They were intended to give us all a picture on the outside of what is happening on the inside. So the scribes and Pharisees were adding to the pictures that God had set up for their benefit. Can you imagine us going in and drawing all over the Mona Lisa? What would the artist think, and what are the odds people understand or appreciate that picture after it has been altered? Hebrews 9-10 shows us that Jesus brings us the fulfillment of the pictures.

All About The Heart

If we want to be clean before God, we have to remove the unclean things in our hearts. Traditions have the potential to help us grow more holy, but they also have the potential to lead us away from what God wants us to be. Do we see how these Jews are failing to be holy? Their traditions had become additions. They were blind to God's actual teachings because they had drawn a line so far back from the original that no one knew why the line was there.

We want to be planted by God instead of planted by the Devil. So, how does Jesus teach his disciples to do that? He brings them back to the foundational principles of righteousness. Ultimately, God is pleased with people who have pure hearts. We must develop the right desires and the right motives to please God. This is so much more difficult than keeping a bunch of rules! Notice the list in verse 19: Evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, and slander. These come out of our evil hearts. This is what he was talking about in the Sermon on the Mount. God wants hearts that love him more than we love anger, lust, retaliation, lying, or any other evil. He wants people who desire to be righteous like he is righteous, not people who make their own form of righteousness and call it good.

Not All About Traditions

Doesn't this teach us how our traditions can lead us astray from what God wants us to be? We started last week talking about traditions. Now I would like for us to look a little deeper at this topic. Consider the pitfalls of tradition making. The Pharisees are using them to appear righteous before men, overrule God's commandments, and condemn innocent people.

Have we seen that in our lives? How many ultra-religious people do we know who look down their noses at others? How easy is it for them to completely disobey the command of God while focusing on their tradition? Have you ever been condemned for doing something that the Bible does not condemn? There are certain pitfalls that we can see others falling into, but what about us? Have we ever done these things?

Traditions and Holiness

This might make us want to reject all traditions. I have heard of plenty of Christians going that route, but is that really what Jesus wants us to do? When Paul tells the Corinthians to maintain the traditions he has delivered to them in 1 Corinthians 11:2 or when he tells them to do everything decently and in order (14:40), does he not encourage some level of orderly tradition?

I was with a group of preachers, studying Jeremiah over the last week, and were amazed at God commending the Rechabites in Jeremiah 35. The Rechabites were descendants from Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses. They were foreigners who had been grafted into Israel. These men and women were wholly devoted to the traditions of their fathers. They would drink no wine, plant no vineyards, and build no houses. They would live all of their days in tents. Wasn't that tradition keeping extreme? Absolutely! There was nothing sinful about drinking wine or building houses. But God commended them for holding faithfully to their father’s tradition. That is something Israel refused to do at that time. They would even make a vow then turn around and break it.

The teacher of the class pointed to a story about Jesse Owens. Jesse was doing the broad jump before world war 2. You get three tries at the broad jump. The first jump would have been a world record, but he was disqualified for touching the line. He could have set the record with the second jump, but he was again disqualified. Before the third jump, he took chalk and drew a line ten inches before the actual line. He set a world record with that jump. Do we see the value of traditions? I don't want to throw away the importance of using wisdom to help us avoid sin. God commended the Rechabites for this while the rest of the Jews were condemned. There was nothing evil about building houses or drinking wine. But they did not want to connect themselves with the people of this world in a way that would pollute their hearts. They could see the evil in the world, and they knew that they needed to be holy for God. So we might be tempted like the world to disregard traditions, but the making of traditions can be wise.

What Is In Our Hearts?

The lessons from this are plentiful. But the overall point is that we need to evaluate our hearts. Let's consider three ways our hearts must be changed.

1. Think more deeply about God's will. These men had a very shallow understanding of God's will. They looked at the clean and unclean food laws then made erroneous conclusions about what God wanted them to do. We have to stop being surface-level Christians. This is a significant failure that we, as Christians, have to overcome. We want the cliff notes of the Bible. Our relationship with God is dependent on our study of God's word. I have printed handouts in the back for those of you who would like to join us on a daily reading plan.
2. Fear overruling God's word with our traditions. After learning more about God's will, we have to continually evaluate our application of God's will to our lives. One of my biggest fears is becoming a blind guide, teaching people something that is not true (James 3:1-2). Today, many churches are focused on coming up with programs and spending tons of money so that the world will see their good works and give them glory. Many of them are willing to do just about anything without careful consideration. They don’t study the Bible to be what God calls them to be. It's so easy to get carried away. Then the work is all about having fun, making people happy, and growing larger. This will draw more people in and make people think that they are doing a lot for the Lord. But is God really glorified in that? He showed us back in verse 5 that it's not about how much we can give God. God is more concerned about genuinely fulfilling his every commandment with our hearts. He wants us to be careful to obey his commandments. Are we fulfilling what God has called us to do as his church? Do we genuinely care about applying all of God's commands?
3. Avoid condemning the innocent for breaking our traditions. This is a failure that is killing the Lord's church. I have seen and heard of people biting and devouring one another for far too long. We can't look down our noses at brothers or sisters in Christ for having different opinions. This is a group of imperfect people trying to obey God's word. We all need patience and compassion as we deal with one another. We don't need "tradition police" speaking harshly and condemning Christians for doing something that God does not clearly condemn. We are here to build up and not tear down. Talk to me if you are concerned, and we can figure out how to build up instead of tear down.

How can traditions help us grow closer to God?

Righteousness and being clean is not about rules and works that we can do. It's ultimately about the washing Jesus provides for those who love him and submit to his reign. We want to become clean, as God has made us clean. We want to respond to the love God has shown us by becoming holy. But holiness is deeper than rule-keeping. Don't get me wrong. I don't want to get rid of our traditions. I appreciate them, but our hearts must make our traditions effective in drawing us closer to the image of God. It is so disheartening to see Christians go through the motions without preparation or a love for God. It is also sad to see them zealous about keeping traditions while they display an evil heart. If we chew someone out for using a pitch pipe because we believe that God hates pitch pipes, we have an evil heart.

We don't want to become numb and offer up vain worship to God. We don't want to ride in cruise control doing external activities like robots. We want to be continually learning and growing so that God's love is filling our hearts. If our traditions are not helping us, we may need to alter them or refine them. But it might be a heart issue instead of a tradition issue. If our traditions do help us, we need to become 100% committed to making these traditions more productive. New practices are good when they bring us closer to God through his word.

Conclusion

Holiness is a function of our hearts' desire for God. The imagery in this text is hard for us to miss once we see it. When our desires become evil, we become unclean and unfit to worship God. We need to take every thought captive and push ourselves to have pure and holy desires before worshiping God. Selfish desires result in selfish actions. We must seek the things above. Becoming like Christ is not a matter of external obedience. It is a matter of internal submission and seeking after the will and the ways of God.