Pastor Slaughter
Pentecost 15
9-1-2024
Reality Check
1)On what makes us unclean,
2) On what makes us clean.
Text: Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
Have you ever had to have a reality check in life before? I had one a few years ago. My Explorer would not start, so I changed the battery. Still would not stat. So, I changed the terminal connectors. Still would not start so I tried Pop the clutch, but it still would not start. I needed to have a reality check. So, I got it towed to mechanic. I needed a reality check because I was too stubborn and thought I could just do it by myself, but truth was, that I couldn’t.
Have you had a reality check? Maybe it was a situation where you needed someone to tell you something. Maybe we are doing something where we think we are helping but we are really just hindering. Reality checks are good because they tell us what the situation really is.
Today we are going to do a reality check that hits a little closer to home. Today we want to do a reality check on our hearts. Are we going through the motions of being a Christian but our hearts are not in it…(are we honoring God with our lips but our hearts are far from him)? Do we only see the sin in our hearts that we forget that Christ forgives us, makes us clean? So let us do a Reality Check on us and the Reality of what makes us unclean, and the reality of what makes us clean.
The Pharisees needed a Reality Check in our lesson. They did all the right things. they even went above and beyond what they were required to do. They claimed to follow God’s Moral law. God’s Moral law is every law that is written on our hearts, it is the 10 commands which we are still to keep today. They followed God’s ceremonial laws which were designed to keep the Israel separate from the other nations. Thing that said if you touch a dead body then you are unclean, or to avoid foods that were considered unclean like pigs. But you and me no longer have to keep all the ceremonial laws because after Jesus died the curtain torn from top to bottom.
However, the nation of Israel started shift around the 3rd to 4th century and they began to see God’s Moral and ceremonial laws and not sufficient. So they added other laws rules and regulations that they were to keep, Mark describes some of these laws and says, “When they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions they adhere to, such as the washing of cups, pitchers, and kettles, and dining couches.”
The Pharisees thought they were good, that they were righteous BECAUSE of all the laws that they kept, all regulations they followed. They needed a reality check. They thought their actions brought them salvation. They thought they could keep God’s law and obtain salvation apart from Christ. Their outward acts only served to mask their hypocrisy. Their outward acts only served to mask the sin inside of their hearts.
Jesus gives them a reality check and says, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites. As it is written: These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts is far from me. They worship me in vain, teaching human rules as if they were doctrines.” They thought what they did was what makes them clean, but in reality, it is what kept them unclean. They thought that they were righteous, that they were Holy, they thought that they deserved salvation because of all the things they did, the laws they kept but in reality, it blinded them to the only one who could make them righteous, Jesus. So, Jesus said, “You abandon God’s commandment but hold to human tradition like the washing of pitchers and cups, and you do many other such things.”
They were blinded toward their sin. The law that should have drove them to look for a Savior, drove them further and further away from God. It’s like they had a chip on their shoulders and wanted Jesus to see it. YOUR disciples aren’t as good as us because they don’t wash their hands, they aren’t following the traditions.
Can’t we see that in our own lives? Maybe some of you are sitting there this morning, because your wife made you come, or maybe you find yourself at church simply because you want to teach you children good morals and you are simply going through the motions because you that’s the right thing to do but your hearts are far away from Jesus.
Maybe it’s a little different then the Pharisees. We do see a need of our Savior. That’s why we are here. But a subtle change can happen. We can get the pharisaical chip on our shoulders. Pretty soon we start comparing ourselves with other people. I am more righteous then the visitor who came in with a hat on this morning. I am more holy then the person who was on their phone before/during church. Doesn’t that sound like man made laws? Don’t we sound like the Pharisees who found their righteousness by what they do/don’t do?
“They honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.” As soon as we focus on our righteousness, our hearts drift away from Christ. That is precisely when we need to do a reality check on our own hearts. When we do we realize that it is not our righteousness that makes us clean, that saves us. But it is Christ’s. It is not the extra things we do, but it was what Jesus has done in our place. Through Jesus and him alone we are saved.
So, Jesus calls the crowd together after addressing the Pharisees and gives them a reality check, “There is nothing outside of a man that make him unclean by going into him. But things that come out of a man are what make a man unclean.” What Jesus is essentially saying is that sin originates in the heart. If the heart is not clean, then actions are not either.
When sin takes root in the heart, sin shows itself by what say, think, and do. As I read from what Jesus said I want you to do a reality check on your own life, “In fact, from within, out of people’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual sins, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, unrestrained immorality, envy, slander, arrogance, and foolishness. All these evil things proceed from within and make a person unclean.”
To be unclean is to be unfit to be the in the presence of God, unfit to worship God, unfit for salvation. Once we realized the depravity of our own sin, once we feel the crushing blow of God’s law then we are ready to hear the cleansing words of the gospel and to have a reality check on what makes us clean!
Think of all that Jesus did to cleanse you from your sins. How he came to fulfill God’s moral law and ceremonial law perfectly for you! His heart is pure, his actions perfect. Jesus and Jesus alone makes us clean and it was achieved by a heavy cost, by a sacrifice, the price of his own blood. Do you see? God’s law drives us to our knees! It drives us to the foot of the cross, So that we can see our savior and what he has done for us.
Have you read the little introductions in the beginning of the bulletin? They expound on the theme of the worship service for that day. And I think this week especially it has a great picture explaining what we have going on here in the text. A loving father gives his Son and daughter a list of rules and regulations. Chores, curfews, civilities, dress code—the father makes his will clearly known. The son follows the rules for two reasons. 1) He is afraid if he breaks the rules the father will punish him. The daughter strives to follow the rules for two reasons 1) She believes her father established those rules not to control her but for her safety and blessing. 2)She wants to demonstrate how much she loves and trusts her father. Outwardly their actions may look very similar, but their hearts are very different. The Pharisee’s actions may have looked outwardly good, but their hearts were far from God. The believer sees what Jesus has done for them and has a heart to want to keep those laws, because they know its for their good, and as a way to show how much they love and trust God.
My dear family, it’s time for a reality check in your life! When God law strikes a blow to our hearts, and feel its despair, It’s time for a reality check on what Christ has done for you. The reality that he has cleansed you, that he forgives you. And if there is any doubt about the forgiveness, go back to your Baptisms where he cleanses us with Water connected to his Word. Amen.