New Thoughts (04/04/08-04/09/08)
It is amazing what Jesus has slipped into this discussion as little more than an aside. His disciples have brought to His attention how poorly the Pharisees had reacted to what He just said. Whether this was because they, too, misunderstood what Jesus was getting at, or whether it was precisely because they did understand, we are not told. But, what is truly striking to me is how Jesus responds to this issue. Here are these leaders corrupting the true faith, the very ones He repeatedly calls out as hypocrites, and how does He respond to this? “Leave them be. Ignore them. My Father will take care of them in His time.”
Now, given that parable about the wheat and the tares, this really shouldn’t surprise us all that much. However, I must admit that I had considered that message to be about the members of the body, more than its leaders and guides. Here, Jesus is making it clear that the same principle applies right up to the pulpit: Leave it in God’s hands. He will not long suffer Himself to be so misrepresented. If they were not planted in that job by His calling and His planting, then they are weeds and He will see to it that they are pulled from His vineyard.
Well then, what is our responsibility in this? That is the question we must address most carefully. The discipline of the leadership, it seems clear, is to remain in the hands of He who appoints and authorizes the leaders. That is not the same as saying that we bear no responsibility towards them. Neither is this to suggest that we ought to suffer ourselves to remain under the leadership of those who are clearly separated from true faith. No, we are not called to give any man such blind obedience, certainly not in the name of faith! We are responsible, each one of us, to God Himself. That responsibility includes seeing to our own care and feeding in matters of the Spirit. At a minimum, we must take upon ourselves the responsibility of seeing to it that the church we join ourselves to shall feed us on true food and not poison us with man-made nonsense.
Having joined ourselves to a particular family unit in the house of God, we can rest assured that there will be occasions for disagreement. There will be times when the direction of the church as a whole does not seem to correlate well with our own direction. What are we to do? Do we go to the pastor and castigate him for being deaf to what God is clearly commanding? No. Do we jump ship and go off to find another church that better fits our personal agenda? No. Understand that there will be times in life when a change of church bodies most assuredly is called for, whether for our growth or our protection. That is not what I am discussing here. This is simply a matter of disagreement, however strongly felt. In that case, I will maintain that the guiding principle is that we ought pray for our leaders.
We are given this principle in regard to those civil authorities placed in our lives. The same rule, though, applies even more to those given to us as spiritual leaders. At the end of the day, even the apostles were but men. As men, they were capable of error. That their capacity for error is not evidenced in the works that compose the New Testament is more a testimony to God’s power and ability than to theirs. My point is simply this: We shall meet no perfect man, no person or even denomination which has an absolute lock on Truth. Not in this life. We must, in light of this, include ourselves in that number of the imperfect in knowledge. However far we have advanced in our efforts to know God, our knowledge is ever and always in part. We are as fully capable of erroneous belief as any other. So, if our views are found to be in conflict with another we ought first, unless given firm evidence to the contrary, recognize that this one we disagree with is equally committed to knowing God in truth.
Our prayer, then, ought not to be for the fires of correction to fall upon our poor, misguided leader. We really should not come to God with this sense of, “show him he’s wrong! Cause him to see the wisdom of my ways, to take this church in the direction I would have it to go.” That’s purest arrogance. That’s willfully denying our own capacity for error. No, let us rather pray that God would have His way with His church, whether that requires our own change or another’s. Let us pray that His house would pursue His agenda to the exclusion of every distraction, every personal preference and every latest trend.
The biggest thing we can take away from this is Jesus’ admonition to His own: “Don’t worry about them!” Be aware of them, certainly. Be very aware that men such as these lie like hidden reefs in the body (Jude 12). By all means remain watchful, for you are warned that there will be mockers in these last days, intent on pursuing their own lusts (Jude 18-19). They are such as cause division in the body, being focused on the world and devoid of the Spirit. The problem is that quite often we act precisely as one intent on his own lust and causing division when we approach matters of spiritual direction. We allow our arrogance and pride to rise up, convinced that we are right and miraculously free of error in our understanding. As such, we allow ourselves to be blinded to our true condition. We choke off the voice of the Spirit, with His reminder as to the nature of our lying heart, and we let the heart lie to us.
We are off course! Jesus says, “Don’t worry about them. My Father will take care of them.” They are not our worry, not as far as discipline is concerned. Of course, warned of a hidden reef, we are expected to steer clear. Why else is warning given? But, really, the call is just as strong to make certain that we are not become such hidden reefs ourselves. In all such matters, while we are to be wise as serpents, we ought first to be ensuring that our innocence is like unto the dove. Think about Paul’s message. “Don’t you go judging your brother. You are not his master, and he is not legally bound to answer to you.”
Consider, as well, the message of Jesus (Jn 15:1-2). “I AM the true vine,” He declares. “My Father is the vinedresser.” Now, notice this: “Every branch in Me that is fruitless He removes.” The text continues, “He prunes the fruitful branch that it may be more so.” But, the point I want to focus on here, is those fruitless branches that are, in spite of their fruitless condition, in Him. On one level, it seems preposterous to suppose that one can be a branch of the true vine and yet be so devoid of life. I find myself asking how this can be. Is He not powerful to the banishment of death and sin? Has He not already conquered all? Yet, the God of all Truth declares that this is the situation, that there are those who are in Him and yet dead branches which the Father will eventually cut off and destroy.
Well, surely, the example of Judas ought to serve as proof of the Truth of His words. Of course! Here was one who, for the duration of the ministry, walked and talked and lived in a fashion indistinguishable from the others. No outward sign marked him as being an imposter. He had even gone out on mission trips. Think about that. He was out there casting out demons, healing the sick, preaching the gospel, just like the others. But, he was a dead branch. The time would come when he began to bring dissention in the ranks. The time would come when his real purposes would be made clear and he would, indeed, be cut off.
This is our assurance and our confidence when error infests the pulpit in so many churches. This is our confidence when the airwaves are so full of false teaching trying to gain validity by stamping it with the name of Jesus. Yes, be aware of it. By all means, do what you must to protect yourselves and your charges from the influence of such falsehood. Pray, first and last, that God would swiftly purge such sickness from His body.
But, how are we called to combat such things? By proclaiming the Truth of the Gospel. We need not come with combative assault against these proclaimers of falsehood. They are blind leaders and if they attract any followers, it is only those who are likewise blind. For us, the call is to contend for the purity of faith (Jude 3). Present the Truth, not as a combatant, but as an emissary of the Kingdom. Teach the Truth, and be merciful to those who suffer their doubts. Rescue those who still have ears to hear, but for those who insist on pursuing the lie, leave them to their blindness.
So, what do we take from this? It is not that we simply allow lies and falsehood to spread unchecked. No, the history of the Church of God is rich in those who preferred Truth above all else. They would not suffer the Church to misrepresent the God it serves. There is clearly a time and a place for this, as there always has been. In large part, this is what the role of the prophet was in Israel, to bring God’s corrective voice to His representatives, be they priest or king or any other station in life. But, as we contend for Truth, we are not moved to action by fear or undue concern. No. It is God’s vineyard and He is the best fit to see to its weeding.
He has told us there will be tares. He has told us there will be dead branches. The best use we can make of this information is to do all within our power to make certain that we are not tares, that we are fruitful members of His body.
This draws me closer to the main thrust of the message Jesus delivers here. It is presented in some sense as a conviction of the Pharisees; but in looking at the problem, let me be ever aware of my own propensity for Pharisaism, particularly as expressed here. I want to look at the issues raised in this passage, and in those others which I am referred, with God’s warning in mind. “The lips of a priest should preserve knowledge,” He declares (Mal 2:7-8). Let me substitute ‘teacher’ for ‘priest’, and I think the same message applies. “But you have turned from the way and caused many to stumble by your instruction. You have corrupted the covenant of Levi.”
That’s a dire warning! You, who teach as God’s representative, proclaiming to understand the deep truths of His kingdom; if you are not teaching truly, then you are become a stumbling block, a corruptor of the covenant. You, who consider yourself a Levite, a servant of the True God, are you careful in handling the Truth? Are you careful in inspecting yourself, to see how you measure against the Truth? I tell you, and I tell myself, that if we react by thoughts such as, “Thank God I’m not like that!” then we are already in the danger zone. If we think our hearts so clean, we ought to take warning from this, that our heart is lying to us, and we’re listening too closely. It’s time to tell our hearts of God’s Truth, particularly as regards our hearts!
Consider what the heart wants to do with what Jesus says here. We hear, “nothing from outside can make a man unclean,” and immediately, there rises up this desire to be free of all the constraints upon our behavior. Why, if these outside influences don’t harm us, let’s have at them! If we can eat and drink with impunity, then let’s be off to the bar and have a few. Of course, it doesn’t take much for us to come to the point of deciding that indulging some sexual desires is just as much an outward issue, so it must be OK, too. In short, we are looking for an excuse; an excuse to indulge our sinful desires and yet hold to the hope of salvation. We want it both ways, the fun of sin now without the pain of punishment later.
If we listen to the whole message, though, if we accept the full counsel of Scripture, we cannot possibly hold to this course. There is a clear limit placed on the application Jesus teaches. His reasoning is that as these things never touch the heart, they cannot have any impact on our character. We may long to take that ‘nothing that enters’ literally, but we cannot. Too much of what enters from the outside absolutely touches upon our heart, our thinking and, given time, our character. We must, then, limit this to issues and activities that do not have any bearing on our way of thinking and behaving. Arguably, even choices in food and drink can exceed this bound, at which point I would have to say that the freedom Jesus proclaims here no longer applies.
As I considered this passage this morning a new flash of insight came. You see, just as we must be careful not to take the positive part of this message too literally, so too, we must not be overly literal in understanding the negative part. When He says that the words we speak defile us, this is not the literal truth of the matter. That list of evils that come from the heart is not a list of things that suddenly appear in the heart as we speak. No. The whole point is that what our speech reveals is what was already there in the first place. It is those things that are already there which defile, not the accidental revealing of them by our uncontrollable tongue!
Now, that in itself is no great new understanding of the matter. What was added to it this morning is simply this: if we recognize the real issue that Jesus points out, then we begin to recognize just how far off course the Pharisees really were. If we get a handle on that, I think we probably begin to discover that we, too, are far off course. Notice where the Pharisees’ concern was. They were deeply concerned that something they did, however accidentally, might defile them. But, that whole perspective starts from a false premise. It presumes that their condition was one of purity to begin with! How can one defile what is already profane?
We are inclined to exactly this same attitude as often as not. Whether it is our own folly or some cultural affectation of church life, we rapidly develop a habit of trying to look and act our best when we are knowingly in the presence of other believers. This comes in varying strengths and forms. It may be something as simple as that we try to keep a closer rein on our tongues come Sunday. It may be that we add a few bits of Christianese to our vocabulary for such occasions, or that we simply avoid other terms that might be deemed offensive. It gets worse, though. We develop this sense that we must not confess to having any problems whatsoever in our lives, because frankly, we think a lot like Job’s friends did. We figure that these problems must be evidence of unaddressed sin in our lives, and we’d prefer that we could deal with those more privately. No sense advertising it to the entire congregation. Nope. No financial issues here. Never felt better! Everything’s great. Kids are perfect, the job’s fantastic. The sun’s been shining on our house every day, but it rains on our garden. You just couldn’t ask for better!
With time and maturity, we are able to cast aside some of this foolishness. I don’t think we are ever rid of it entirely, but we manage to eliminate some of the more egregious aspects. We learn to be a bit more honest with God. We begin to notice that even David, the spiritual giant among giants, was willing to complain to God, to tell God how he really felt. God didn’t seem to mind. So, we grow more honest with Him. But, ahem, out of respect for the weakness of our brother, we will still put on our Sunday show, for they might not understand what we have learned.
Yet, all of this is but the first stage. We may be coming to honesty with God, but we’ve still got an issue of honest dealing when it comes to ourselves. You see, we really don’t buy into what God says about us. When He declares that none are righteous, we’re pretty sure that no longer applies to us. When He declares that our righteousness is no better than filthy rags, we are utterly convinced that this was a message for the Pharisees, the Old Testament crowd. Maybe, just maybe, it might still apply to that denomination down the street, but it’s certainly no longer directed at us. Now, there’s a pretty strong likelihood that we would never admit to thinking this way. See that first stage issue! But the evidence is in our actions.
You see, we are still deeply concerned with avoiding all these things that might pollute us. We fear that if we see this movie, listen to that band, read the wrong newspapers, whatever it might be; we fear that these things might make us unrighteous. When we live this way, we have missed the point as thoroughly and completely as the Pharisees had! You and I are already unrighteous. We are filthy beyond all imagining! The issue is not how do we keep ourselves clean. The issue is how shall we ever be clean in the first place!
This is where the Pharisees had sailed right off the edge of the map. This is where we, too, have a tendency to get so thoroughly lost. Jesus says, “Don’t you understand yet?” And, here, I like the TLB. “It is the thought-life that pollutes.” That has been the whole point in what Jesus has taught. Think back to His lesson on the Law. It’s not enough to avoid the physical act of murder. If you have so much as thought of your fellow man as an idiot, you’re already guilty. It’s not enough to avoid the adulterous bed. If you’ve thought of climbing in, you’re already guilty. The sum total of what we need to hear is in those last three words. “You’re already guilty.”
When the NCV comes to Matthew 15:18, it says this: “What people say with their mouths comes from the way they think.” In other words, “You’re already guilty.” The issue, then, is staying clean, it’s getting clean. The issue is that you’re already a confirmed law-breaker, and the law leaves no recourse for you. The penalty of sin is death. You have violated the law of the God of Life. Justice demands life for life. This is what the Pharisees missed. This is what we tend to miss. We catch it for a moment. We believed it, let us say, long enough to accept the gift of the Christ. But, then, we start tuning into the lies of our heart again. Well, He came. He paid our penalty. So, therefore, we are clean now, and must therefore strive harder than ever to remain clean.
That is not without truth to it. Absolutely, there are things that we were perfectly happy to participate in when we were still in the dark that most clearly must be set behind us now that we know better. Yes, and as our Lord and Savior works within us to free us from other, more persistent ills, we would be ingrates and worse to return to them. But, again, the focus I see, the focus that we need to maintain in ourselves is that the issue is not so much what’s getting in as what’s already inside.
Oh, certainly, there’s a place for that admonition to be careful of what we see and hear. Of course! These are things that feed the mind, and therefore things that touch the heart. If we are not, at the least, listening and watching critically – in the sense of judging what is coming in by the light of the Word of God – then we are fools. If we feed our minds on a junk food diet – all lust and desire all the time – well; we are what we eat. If it’s true of our bodies, it’s doubly true of our thinking. World view! Where do you suppose it comes from? Why do we rail against what passes for education in our day? Because, they are not teaching children to think. They are indoctrinating them with a world view.
We fail, though, if we don’t notice how we do the same to ourselves day in and day out. What are you feeding your mind? What ideas are you reinforcing, and what ideas are you allowing to die off? Whose standards are you inculcating in yourself? What do you believe? Oh, but we’re stronger than all that, right? We could quit watching and listening to that stuff any time. No, our thoughts are so cast in concrete that we can now pursue this entertainment with impunity. So they curse a little bit. So there’s some sexual innuendo in there that we didn’t particularly care for.
This is the balance point! The issue, though, is not that this stuff is somehow going to make us unrighteous. The issue is that we are, in ourselves and left to our own devices, so thoroughly unrighteous that it won’t take much instigation for that unrighteousness to gain the upper hand. God has been laboring on us to crush that rebellious spirit. We have welcomed that labor, for we have recognized our rebellious nature and we know ourselves incapable of dealing with it alone. Yes, and if He has expended so much labor to help us be free of that spirit, what are we doing giving that spirit aid and comfort?
Look. For myself, when I come to the many lists of characteristics that ought have nothing to do with a child of God, I stand convicted. Guilty as charged. Just start with the list from Ephesians 4:31. It’s more than enough. Bitterness? Check. Wrath? Sometimes. OK: check. Anger? Check in spades. Slander? Better check that one to be on the safe side. Malice? Not acted on, but yeah, the thought’s there isn’t it? Remember that security guy yesterday that practically ran you over in the parking lot? What were you thinking about that? Remember? OK. Check. But, say! These aren’t the ones I’m supposed to be cultivating! These are the ones Paul says to put away from myself. Oh, man! I’m supposed to be shooting for kindness, a tender heart that forgives like God forgives.
I guess, given the evidence, I should be more worried about what’s already inside than what might corrupt my pure and innocent self. How easily I could slip into despair with such an assessment as this! Truly, that is the only viable response, at least as a first step. A true assessment of ourselves really ought to lead us to despair, for apart from despair at our hopeless condition, we will never be driven to repentance and the hope that lies on the far side of repentance. Apart from the hopelessness of admitted guilt we will never bother ourselves to do what is necessary to attain to the solid hope of salvation. So, by all means, let this despair overwhelm me for a time. Let my heart be utterly cast down by its own terrible failure. This is as it should be. For a man of God to find it necessary to confess that all those things I should be eschewing are still such an ingrained part of my personality even sixteen years on in this walk; how else should I respond? My! If sixteen years hasn’t been enough to dispense with even one of these things, what hope is there that I shall ever see it done?
Yes, it must begin here. But, it dare not end here. Let there be encouragement in the midst of despair, and there is. As terrible as the situation remains, it is not as it once was. That I can confess truly. Yes, all these sins remain in me, yet not with the strength they once held. I may not have arrived, nor do I truly expect to in this lifetime, but I have progressed. It is not enough, not by my own standard, let alone by God’s, but it is something. It is evidence that He truly has begun His good work in me, and knowing this, I can abide in confidence, for He is faithful to complete it.
That is a true promise of Scripture. We may prefer to think that it is matters of earthly healing and earthly prosperity that are the promises that matter, but that is purist foolishness. To such thinking, let me apply the Word of God: “Don’t be foolish. Understand the Lord’s will” (Eph 5:17). This admonition comes on the heals of a warning to set aside our participation in ‘the unfruitful deeds of darkness’ (Eph 5:11), and it is reinforced by the admonition to be filled with the Spirit (Eph 5:18). Now, we tend to take that as permit to be drunk in the Holy Spirit, but that is not what Paul said. He simply said to be filled, and to express that infilling in psalms and hymns, to know His presence as a melody in our hearts. Again, the Spirit within gives expression in our capacity to ‘always give thanks for all things’ (Eph 5:20). That’s not drunkenness in any form. That’s coherent belief. That’s knowing that if God is for us, nothing can stand which seeks to oppose us, and all things shall most certainly be for our good.
But, once more, the focus is upon the Spirit and the kingdom which awaits, not upon the flesh and the world in which we tarry. In sickness or in health, for richer for poorer; these are the terms by which we join in marriage. Well, are we not the betrothed bride of the Christ? Can we not promise Him as much?
Yes, Lord, I am with You, Yours whether I must endure sickness or whether You bless me with health. Yes, Lord, my love for You endures whether You pour out material goods upon me in this life, or whether You require me to subsist on the most meager provisions. For, You know what is not just for my good, but for my best. Your love for me is such an absolute certainty, and Your promise to me so absolutely trustworthy, that while I might have enjoyed having a different life, I shall count myself blessed and thankful that You have given me the life that is best for me.
Though I cringe at the rate of my progress as Your representative, though I know even now the need to come to You in repentance for all the failings that are yet in me; yet I am utterly thankful to know that You have brought me to this place of repentance so that You can likewise bring me into the place of forgiveness. This, too, is Your certain and utterly trustworthy promise to me. And, yes, Lord, I do come in just such repentance. Too long I have known these traits were in me yet, and too long I have willfully ignored that fact. I have excused myself in the utmost foolishness, and this has been no more than to display the very pride I sought to excuse. But, Lord, these things ought not be part of me any longer, and I know it. That it is Your work alone that can bring about the change I need is really no excuse, for I must also confess that I have not tried terribly hard to do my part. This You know.
God, I pray You would strengthen me to try more diligently to heed the message of this passage, to labor constantly that these characteristics might be obliterated from my heart. Oh, Lord! Dare I cry out to You to create the clean heart You desire within me? I fear I must, whether I dare or not. I see no other way to be rid of the me that has been, no other way to approach the me that You are fashioning. So, yes, Lord, even as I cry out to You for forgiveness, I join this cry for a true remaking of this heart of mine. God, strengthen me to stand on my part, and come abide. Not that You do not yet abide in me, for I know You do, though I cannot imagine how You stand it. But, fashion this soul into a home for Your own pleasure, my Lord, that Your abiding here would be no chore, but a true joy to You. Yes, and as you cleanse what is within, my God, let me heed that word I see, “give what is within you as charity, and everything will be clean to you.” God, to give what I feel within me at the moment would hardly cleanse anything. But, I shall indeed give thanks, for I know that as You work upon me (and I know that You have and that You shall continue to) there is that forming within, there in that corrupt heart of mine, which is indeed clean, for it is fashioned by Your hands, and as it is formed, You grant me to give of it as I may, in service to Your kingdom and in service to Your children.
Thank You, Lord! Let those things which You are forming within me be the things which constantly proceed out of me! Let these remnants of the old man be shut up as they wither and die away. Come, Lord Jesus, and take up Your place in me, and I shall be satisfied. Amen and so be it.
All these things are to be put aside: my anger, my wrath, any malice, any slander. In short, all such abusive speech should be far from my mouth. There is to be no place in me for lying or any other such practiced evil as characterized my former self, for I have put on this new self, renewed by true knowledge and formed in the image of my Creator (Col 3:8-10). These things ought not to be found on my lips quite simply because they are no longer found in my heart. How easy it is to stop my considerations with the expressing of these sins. It’s all well and good to have the appearance of righteousness, but it’s ultimately less than worthless. It’s deadly, for it deludes me into thinking that I am as I appear to others. Of course, I know the truth is otherwise. I tell you, when Jesus accused the Pharisees of being whitewashed tombs (Mt 23:27), if there was one man among them who still had the least understanding, then he was nodding to acknowledge the truth of that assessment.
The unbeliever looks upon the believer and proclaims him a hypocrite for not living out his beliefs perfectly. Truth be told, there is not a man on the face of the earth, believer or not, who lives perfectly in accord with his ideals and beliefs. But, that’s neither here nor there. The believer, the real believer who has allowed God to present an honest appraisal of himself to his eyes, will concur with the unbeliever’s assessment of himself. But, he will reach that conclusion for a much different reason. You see, the believer knows the full extent of his imperfections, and these – were it not for the certitude of Christ’s own efforts on his behalf – would crush him in utmost despair. Fail of perfection? Would that it were just that!
Personally, I am far less inclined to agree with those who tell me how far I’ve come. Oh, you’re so well grounded, so steady in your faith. You’ve got it so together. Not at all! I’m apparently doing too good a job with the whitewash. Thank God for the unbelievers who can cut through all that and remind me what I’m really like. No. Honestly, it’s not as bad as that. There was a time. But, God has been working. I do see a difference, not as large as I’d like, but I know it’s there. Then, when I see lists like the ones I’ve been seeing in this study, I also know how far I have yet to go. You know, for all the speculation about what that thorn was in Paul’s side, does anybody need more than this?
If we do no more than run ourselves through such analysis as the Scriptures offer us; if we look at the standard and look at ourselves honestly: there need be no greater thorn for us, no stronger goad to try harder, pray harder. I recall, in studying 1John, that there was a great deal of effort put into explaining how John could say on the one hand that the one who abides in Him does not sin (1Jn 3:6) and on the other that any one who claims to have no sin is devoid of the truth (1Jn 1:8). The distinction lay in the frequency, if you will. In the former case, John is talking about a constant recurrence, the steady state of a man’s life. In the latter, he is talking about those exceptions to the general rule of our life. It is the distinction between general practice and accident. It is the distinction between the whitewash of our ideals and the cracks in the whitewash brought on by our reality.
In that sense, the whitewash is not a completely bad thing, not if it reflects the desire of the heart. Here, I think, lies the distinction between that hypocrisy that Jesus condemns in the Pharisees and the hypocrisy that remains present in the life of the believer. In the case of the Pharisees, the appearance had no connection with personal desire. They were not seeking to look like what they were striving to be. They were seeking to look completely different from what they were striving to be. They were not seeking to set forth the ideal, but to disguise the corruption. In the case of the believer there is still a sense of disguising the corruption. We seek to disguise it because we are disgusted by it. We seek to disguise it because we long to be rid of it. So, we set forth the ideal toward which we are striving, even though we know we are far from it yet. We try to maintain some control over our tongues. Yes, things slip out that we wish had not, but really, we try. And trying, we confirm to ourselves the accuracy of James’ assessment. The tongue: who can control it?
We seek to make covenant with our eyes, that they would not lead our minds down sinful avenues. Yes, and we even succeed for a time. But, in the end, our eyes break covenant with us. We discover an appreciation for what passes for beauty. Truth be told, it has little to do, really, with beauty. It has far more to do with the appearance of accessibility. Yes, there are cracks in our ideal. Yes, it is hypocrisy. There is a difference, though. Called on this hypocrisy, we admit of it. Reminded of these failings, we commit ourselves to standing more firmly next time. Shown our weakness, we turn more completely to the strength of the Lord, and we know this to be a good thing.
So, when I look at what Jesus is teaching in this passage, I discover that He is discussing the issue of what constantly proceeds from the mouth. We’re discussing trends here. What is the trend in your behavior? That’s what is at issue. God long ago gave up on finding any perfect man on this earth, if ever He thought to find one. No. He knew that the Jesus ministry was going to be necessary even before the first moments of creation. He is not, in the purest sense of the word, satisfied if we are at least trending in the right direction, but He accepts it. He accepts it in light of His Son, and the perfecting work He has done. He sees in our trending toward righteousness in thought and action confirmation that His perfect plan is proceeding as it should.
It’s the trend that defines the reality. We cannot honestly claim faith in Christ and not be trending toward His example. We cannot honestly claim to believe Him and fail to recognize that we are not even close to perfection in pursuing our course. It is a trend line, not a bee line, and until the day we meet Him as He truly is, it will remain so. Were this not the case, there would be no need for all these exhortations to the believers to set aside old ways!
This is worth remembering. Paul, with all these lists of things to be done with, is not writing to a group he hopes he might convert to Christianity. He is writing to the Church, to the converted. He’s writing to people that have been in the Church for years. Peter does the same. John, with his reminders about sin’s deception, and the constant need for repentance, is writing to a church that’s been around for decades. The need to be reminded doesn’t go away because the battle to put down the old man and take up this newness of life more completely doesn’t go away. I know there are those still who preach that perfection is possible in this life, but these preach from deepest delusion. They cannot, apart from that delusion, point to one least example of a man who has reached this perfection.
Before finishing up on this passage, there remain a few brief points that I wish to consider. One issue is something of a technicality, but I think it worth mentioning. Matthew notes that it is Peter who spoke on behalf of the apostles, seeking an explanation of what Jesus had meant (Mt 15:15), and Mark’s account points out that the answer Jesus gave made it clear that all foods had been declared clean (Mk 7:19). Now, there are two things that are rather striking about this. First, there is the whole business of Peter’s vision, wherein God had to pretty much smack him upside the head and get him to accept what He was saying. Look, Peter! I’ve told you several times now: These things are clean, feel free to partake. And, how does Peter keep responding? Oh, no, Lord! I could never do such a thing. I’ve never let anything unclean into my stomach yet, and I’m not starting now, no matter what You say!
Now, the patent foolishness of so blatantly defying the command of God is bad enough. But, leave that aside, and recognize the obstinate ignorance that is on display here. For, it is an obstinate ignorance that we all share in to some degree. Who knows. Maybe he thought he was being tested in this vision, that he was hearing deceiving spirits, and therefore he felt it necessary to stand firm in his convictions. Maybe. But, then we have this passage before us. Here is Peter the visionary asking Jesus to explain, and the explanation is so simply declared: What you eat doesn’t touch the heart. It doesn’t matter! So why, Peter, are you still holding on to this concept of the kosher three or more years later? Well, as I say, we are just as talented at blinding ourselves to the obvious. So, let’s not get too down on Peter here, unless we’re willing to get down on ourselves, too.
What I wanted to point out is how this provides us with something of an accidental support for Peter being the source of Mark’s Gospel. You see, that parenthetical remark that is given, noting how this declared all foods clean, is something Peter clearly didn’t recognize until after that vision. And, having had that vision, it would be a matter he was particularly sensitized to. In other words, those aren’t Mark’s parentheses we are reading so much as they’re Peter’s. Peter, having had his vision clarified by that rooftop experience, suddenly comes back to this teaching and realizes the full scope of what Jesus had said. It’s his own moment of illumination. It’s a reassuring confirmation that what he understood on the rooftop was no mistake, no false doctrine, but was just God doing what He must to get His previous message through.
In fact, given that context, we might go so far as to say that Peter is still a trifle short of the full implications of that message. After all, what was the point in that rooftop vision? It wasn’t about food, was it? It was about every tribe and every nation. Can it be, mustn’t it be, that this same applies to what Jesus is saying now? While He is addressing the specifics of those rituals that surrounded matters of food and drink, we must look at the full ramifications. Just as thou shalt not murder covers so much more ground than just the act of shedding a man’s blood, so here. It’s a setting aside of all these outward forms and distinctions as having any efficacy. They were never more than shadows anyway, and even that degree of usefulness is now gone, for the Real has come. With the coming of the Real, distinctions are being done away with.
It’s not just in these matters of food. It’s in all the externals. They don’t matter. In truth, they never did. What mattered was the internal of obedience. That’s still what matters. What matters is not whether you were born Jew or Gentile, but whether you have set your heart upon accepting the grace of Christ and pursuing the righteousness of Christ. Let me take another step here. Jesus has already manifested His ability to cleanse the unclean. It was on display when He touched that leper (Mt 8:1). It’s on display here, in His declaration that those foods considered unclean by Levitical ruling and Rabbinical tradition were no longer unclean. There was, after all, Mosaic support for some of this, at least in terms of not eating this or that. If we dig into the roots of those prohibitions, though, we discover that much of it had to do with avoiding any resemblance to idolatrous practices. But, Jesus has triumphed over every idol, and those who have their share in Him share in that triumph. In Him, the idols are made powerless over us. In Him, righteousness is shown powerful to the eradication of sin.
Every premise of Pharisaical practice and every experience of man left to his own power shows that sin is more powerful than righteousness. That has been our experience apart from Christ. That has been the premise behind our every code of behavior. The very existence of books of law are indication that we realize at some level that the corrupting power of sin is beyond a man’s capacity to counter. So, we institute force to assist the man. And, if we are wise, in instituting those forces, we institute bounds to contain those institutes lest they be corrupted by the sin they are sent to counter. Even in the practice of many Christians today, the underlying assumption is that sin is the stronger combatant. How many we know who are more inclined to fret over the efforts of the devil than to rest in the assurance of an all-powerful God!
How often, when confronting our own sinful behavior, do we insist that the sin is just too much for us? That we can’t help it, can’t resist it? How often do we rather insist that sin can’t resist the power of that Holy Spirit Who is in residence within us? Who is greater, after all? You see, when we give the devil the edge in our thinking it can only be because we have erased God from our thinking. We have returned to trying to fight in our own strength, and our own strength is pretty much nonexistent in this case. It’s a matter of retraining our thinking. We don’t battle with flesh and blood, and if we rely on our own strength, that’s all we’re battling with. No! We battle in the strength of our Lord and Savior, and He truly is mighty to save. He is the Victorious One. If, instead of telling ourselves how hopeless our solo struggle is, we would remind ourselves that we’re not alone, that we’re safely behind the Sword and the Shield of our King, how much it would change our perspective! No longer would we feel ourselves like grasshoppers before a giant enemy. No, like David, we would see the giant as no more than a scrawny, half-starved dog inevitably going down before the attack of the righteousness.
You see, it is very simple. The Light always overcomes darkness. It is only our vain imagination that seems constantly to think it the opposite. Sin cannot overcome righteousness. The unclean cannot sully the truly clean. Death cannot vanquish Life. Now, let me turn my eyes on this rather cryptic statement that I hear from Jesus in Luke 11:39-41. I will consider it but briefly here, for it has its own place in the course of my studies. But, as it touches on the topic at hand, it deserves a moment’s thought.
This passage comes to my attention because its closing verse comes up as a parallel thought to what is being studied more directly here. That passage reads, “Give what is within as charity, and then all things are clean for you.” That is, on the face of it, a difficult idea, isn’t it? When I place it in its setting, it only gets worse. Jesus has just finished telling the Pharisees that their interior life is characterized by theft and wickedness. He is again pointing out that for all their care for outward appearance, their inner life, their character, has been left untouched. He proceeds to point out that both the outward and the inward are products of the same Creator, and then gives that closing admonition: give what is within as charity.
Well, if what is within is all theft and wickedness, how can that be given in any charitable way? Have I misunderstood charity? Webster’s speaks of charity as being a benevolent love of humanity, shown in helpful generosity toward the suffering and needy. What is the suggestion, then? That we stealing is acceptable if the proceeds are given away? That wickedness is proper in the Lord’s sight, so long as it is done towards a helpful end? I don’t think so. Certainly not as a norm for our behavior. No, I really don’t think Jesus, about to pronounce several woes against the Pharisees, is preceding those pronouncements with an excuse for their behavior.
Better that we should combine this passage with what we are hearing on this present occasion. The things that proceed from what is inside us are matters such as murder, adultery, theft, lies, slander, pride and foolishness, and all these things are declared evil. All these things are of a nature that defiles their possessor. Surely, then, we cannot give from such defiled and defiling stock in any fashion that could count as charitable. Surely, to pour out our own defiled essence into another’s life is hardly to be counted as a display of benevolent love! This simply cannot be the meaning Jesus imparts.
It seems to me we must take this in a somewhat different sense. We ought to hear it as ‘when you are able to give what is within you as charity, then you may know that everything is clean to you.’ It really does come down to the same concept. Where the Pharisaic focus has been on avoiding being touched by anything unclean, the Christian focus is on being of such character as may pour out one’s inner cleanness in overflow. Of course, we understand that this inner cleanness is nothing of ourselves. We are quite aware of our shortcomings. But, we are also quite aware of the indwelling Presence which abides; the Holy Spirit Who has, improbable though it seems to us, come to be enthroned in our very being. We are quite aware that He is at work, cleaning up that internal mess which is our native character. We are intensely aware that the state of our character since His arrival has dramatically improved. Well, then, though our character yet has too many flaws to make a proper gift to anybody, yet that Spirit Who has so much improved it makes a most excellent gift, an unsurpassable gift!
Here is something I can give charitably to a world in need. Here is salvation, rescue, a curative for the illness of sin. Here is a purifying power able to cleanse every defilement. He is the Light that is guaranteed to overcome darkness. He is the Purity that cannot be defiled. He is the payment of sin’s every penalty, the Atonement for our lawlessness, the Healer of sin’s deforming effect upon us. He is Life, and He is made available to us, even as we continue in opposition to Father God, our Creator, Lord of All. This mercy, given to us, is the very thing which overflows in us, that must be given out of us. It is for this that we were saved, and for this that we were left for a time n this fallen world. How much easier for both God and man if He had simply worked His perfecting work in the briefest moment and then taken us home. How much anguish we would avoid! How many disappointments, as we once again fall short of His glorious purpose in us.
He does leave us here, though. He does suffer us to continue in this fallen flesh, struggling with ourselves as we approach closer and closer to home. He is not frivolous. There is a reason. He is not capricious. There is a good in what we go through. Is it not a great good that we can know the joy of serving? Is it not a great good that we can give out of the abundant gift of salvation and see others brought up from their own enslavement to sin?
Some of us know the joy of family reunions, and we know the joy of new members added to the family, whether through childbirth, or marriage, or adoption. Isn’t this exactly the joy we are given in being messengers of the hope which is the Gospel of Jesus the Christ of God? We are adding to His family with each one who comes to His Light. We are welcoming new brothers, new sisters into the household of God, family members whose company we are assured of throughout eternity!
This is the great matter of Christianity, that we would put our efforts into satisfying God’s desire that all would be saved. Now, I freely admit that we will not achieve that desire in full, any more than I expect to achieve the purity of righteousness in full during this lifetime. But, in both cases, the impossibility of attaining the goal is no reason to slacken our efforts. We have been taught to set achievable goals for ourselves, lest the disappointment of failure overwhelm us and keep us from trying. God, however, teaches no such thing. He sets the goals high; impossibly high. Then, He encourages us to try again and again. He teaches us to acknowledge our shortcomings with each attempt, and He picks us up after each failure. He does not berate us for having come up short once again. No. He turns us around for a moment so that we can see that we have progressed since our previous attempt. See? Back there is the point you reached last time. This time you have done better, drawn closer. Don’t give up! You’re growing. You’re getting stronger, standing more firmly, running more swiftly. Now, let’s see what you can do with the next try.
This is what it’s about. In contrast to this, Paul points to those whose interest in the Christ is purely philosophical. These are the ones whose interest is in arguing controversial points and debating over words (1Ti 6:4). Now, this does not come as a condemnation of theology or commitment to sound doctrine. It is a boundary. It is a matter of motivation, as so often proves to be the case. Where is their concern? Is it in knowing God truly, that they may better express Him to a world in need? No. Their concern is in the pride of knowing and nothing more. Their concern is to display the superiority of their own thinking. Though they cloak it in theology, dress it up with discussions of God’s nature and being, their focus is solely on self. It is for this reason that their efforts lead only to envy and strife, to abusive language and evil suspicions.
There are, and always have been, those who are committed to a sound and well-reasoned defense of true doctrine and a true understanding of God. This is to be commended. God has placed these men in their time and position for the express purpose of preserving Truth. There are others who merely put on the dressing of such defenders of Truth. They look similar. They sound similar. But, they are not driven by any love for God or for man. Their love is solely for themselves. They are ‘given up to their sensuality,’ callous when it comes to any other (Eph 4:19). They are caught up in all manner of impurity and greed, for it is only pride that moves them. Against such men as these, blind leaders of blinded and foolish compatriots, men of Truth must stand. Against such men as these, we ought expend every effort to rescue those who have been swayed by their lies, bringing them out, even as from the fire.
But, return to that injected admonition Jesus gives to His disciples here. “Leave them be, these blind guides. My Father did not plant them, and He shall surely see to it that these tares are rooted up.” Yes, there will be those who are lost with them. But, they too are tares in the field. Let your effort be on preserving the wheat, not in cutting out the tares. It’s too hard, in this life, to clearly distinguish which is which. Better that you should cause no damage to the real harvest by your overzealousness. So, don’t be drawn into vituperous argumentation against these false shepherds. Let your focus be upon speaking the Truth, and let your clear delivery of that Truth serve.
Give what is within you as charity to any who will listen, knowing that you speak the clean, pure word of God, only declaring what is prompted in you by the Holy Spirit. Always be prepared to give a defense of the hope that is in you. But, for all these foolish controversies? Leave them to the foolish. Stand strong for the Truth of God, but stand as an expression of His Truth, and remember that His Truth includes the very strong admonition that, “Vengeance is Mine. I will repay.” Take it not in your own hands, which belongs only to God.
