The Heart of the Matter - Corruption from Within (Matthew 15: 10-20)

 10 When He had called the multitude to Himself, He said to them, “Hear and understand: 11 Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.” 12 Then His disciples came and said to Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?” 13 But He answered and said, “Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. 14 Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch.” 15 Then Peter answered and said to Him, “Explain this parable to us.” 16 So Jesus said, “Are you also still without understanding? 17 Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated? 18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. 19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. 20 These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man.”

I.             A Turning Point.

And so, we are at a turning point because here quite literally it tell us Jesus turns to the crowd in beginning of verse 10 drawing their attention to them he says this.

“Hear and understand: It is not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles them.”  (Matthew 15: 10a-11)

So, what in the world is he talking about, well remember they were eating bread with hands that had not been ceremonially cleansed.

Jesus now turns the crowd and says look people, it’s not what goes into the mouth that defiles the person it’s what comes out, in other words what they say and do. That’s all he says in response to the accusation and his response is directed to the crowds gathered around not directly to the ones making the accusations. So he goes over their heads so to speak and  says it directly towards the crowd, but then the disciples come along and say explain to us what you have just said to the crowd.

Now I will get to his explanation in a second but let me just pause here long enough to say that the conversation has shifted now. When Jesus turns to the crowd he’s widened what he is saying in both subject so as to not just refer back to the issue of tradition verses real righteousness but to include everyone in the conversation not just the religious leaders. He has shifted the whole debate from one that just dealt with tradition vs grace, to now be talking about that which is external versus that which is internal.

The conversation with the Pharisees was over tradition versus commandments the conversation with the crowd shifts to the external facade of holiness versus internal righteousness. Religion has a tendency to do this, it tends to put the focus and the emphasis on that which is seen and done, thinking it’s that which is external that defiles you, and it is also the things you do, which makes you righteous before God. The emphasis on religious activity which believe me friends can also be doing right and proper things but with the wrong attitude or expectation as to what doing these things will achieve.

Religious externalism can include such things even as church going, sermon listening, giving, lighting candles, singing hymns and worship songs and other religious activities that religion gets caught up with. The external trappings the rites and rituals of religion becomes potentially dangerous when we get caught up in us thinking that because we do these things we are right before God, and when we don’t do these things we are wrong before God. Now apparently the disciples didn’t quite get all the nuances of what was going on in this little exchange so verse 12 tells us.

“Then His disciples came and said to Him, “Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?”  (Matthew 15: 12)

Then Jesus turns to the disciples his constant companions and he says OK let me make a few observations about all of this in the first place.

He answered and said, “Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted.  Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch.”  (Matthew 15: 13-14)

If you recall the parable of the Sower, the plants represented people. So what Jesus is saying at this point is these people aren’t God’s people, these people aren’t God’s children, they’re not children of the father, and so they’re going to be uprooted. Quite a statement. Furthermore, they’re blinded to the truth, they are the blind leading the blind.  Both will fall into the ditch. Let me talk about the Pharisees for a minute they weren’t God’s people in this situation because they are blind to spiritual truth, and they are misleading people by putting the emphasis on tradition and externalism. That’s the big point though it’s not fully stated just yet. The blind leading the blind is a vivid illustration that is used to this day to describe similar situations about unwise or reckless leadership. In this case they don’t understand because they don’t see what the word of God really says and they are trying to lead people religiously when they can’t see the spiritual path ahead themselves.

There is the story of an elderly lady standing on a street corner waiting for the light to change and a gentleman walked up behind her and said shall we walk across the street together. She thought that was so sweet and she said yes, and she put her arm inside of his and they began the journey across the road. Within seconds cars were tooting their horns and zigzagging and others were slamming on their brakes and screeching. They finally made it to the other side and standing on the curb the woman turned to the man and said you almost got us killed out there, what wrong with you,  are you blind? And he said yes, of course I am, that why I asked if we could walk across the street together. These guys here are also spiritually blind, they’re not God’s children, and they’re headed out into a dangerous world without a safe guide to direct them.

Then Peter answered and said to Him, “Explain this parable to us.So, Jesus said, “Are you also still without understanding? Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated?  (Matthew 15: 15-17)

In other words, he explained the whole criticism started about this hand washing of hands. They worried about being ceremonially cleans and also worrying about what food people put in their mouths, and Jesus says, that’s all just physical stuff which just goes to the stomach and is then eliminated. That's all just physical, this isn’t really about washing your hands to eat bread, this is about something more important than that. 

II.     The Heart of the Matter.

But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man.For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man.”  (Matthew 15: 18-20)

If you got a Bible and a pen and don’t mind marking your bible, I suggest you underline verse 18. It is the heart that’s the issue for out of the heart proceeds all types of evil thoughts and deeds. These are the things which corrupt a person. To eat with unwashed hands does not corrupt us or make us spiritually unclean. Failing to keep some religious tradition isn’t the problem. Just because you don’t practice some external religious rites or rituals doesn’t defile you. I’ll tell you what defiles you, Jesus says, it's what comes out of your heart or as I might say, the heart of the matter is the heart.

That’s what’s missing here,  Isaiah said in the Old Testament people try and drew near to God with their lips, but their heart remains far from me. What God wants is our heart, that is the point that Jesus is making here. Sometimes our physically bodies may be in a posture of prayer , but in our hearts, we are still standing defiantly before God.

III.    Internal Obedience over Man-made Rules.

I promised you that I would try to simplify the issues in this passage and try and tie them all together for us. If were going to try and say everything that’s in this passage as simply as possible, I’d say this. God wants internal obedience to his word, not external observance of man-made religious rituals. May I repeat God wants internal obedience to his word and not external observance of man-made religious rules and regulations. That one statement incorporates a number of different ideas at the same time so let me take a minute and break it down and let’s look at each of these parts because each are significant.

For example, one of the points in this passage is that tradition should never replace the commandments of God. So, there is something in this passage about tradition and I ought to say there is not anything wrong necessarily with tradition, tradition is not wrong in and of itself. You could even argue that some traditions have benefits. We observe Christmas and that’s a tradition there’s nothing wrong with that we observe Easter that’s a tradition and there’s nothing wrong with that. Families have tradition and there’s not anything necessarily wrong with those. But, what Jesus is after is that these people became so focused on the tradition of men that they negated the commandments of God. 

One author has said it is difficult to break free from tradition because there is often something in us that wants to hold on to the past and make no change in how we live in the present. That is exactly where Jesus drew the line he said look when your traditions are so binding that it causes you to violate the commandments of God then tradition has become a problem, because you remain stuck in the past. 

There’s another thought in this message that has to do with externalism on a wider basis. So let me say that the deeper point of this passage is our whole problem in life is not external, it’s not our environment, which is almost a mantra today. People who say, “it’s all this external stuff in the world that’s the problem”, but then also say, “it’s not me”. Let me just say that the scripture is emphatic about this, our real problem is not external, or is about other people.

I get the distinct impression that a great many people think if they could just eliminate all the external problems that other people create, we could all live happily ever after. This is an entirely false premise. The best illustration of that false premise I know of is this the story of the first man himself. Adam had a perfect environment, Adam had God as his father, Adam had a God designed wife and still Adam made the wrong choice. Adam’s problem was not external, Adam’s problem was not his environment it was his rebellion and his sinful state.

This leads me to the point that Jesus is making in this message, and it is that our problem is internal, our problem is not outside of us, the problem is inside, it’s in the heart , the inside that is important not the outside stuff.  We need to think about that for a minute, because we put so much emphasis on the external, we want to look good, we want to be seen to do the right thing. We want people to think we’re good when we’re definitely not, but the real problem is always internal. The real problem is what’s going on the inside. This is an inside job folks. If you want to really be right with God, it starts on the inside it starts with the heart and it works out from there into you everyday life. That really is the bottom line of this passage.

Jesus quotes Isaiah who says you draw near to me with your lips but your heart is far from me, and he says several times it’s not what comes out of the mouth it’s what comes out of the heart. Verse 19 is the point of the passage, “for out of the heart proceeds evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication, lies, false witness and blasphemies. Please note this lists includes evil thoughts, out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, and then there are the acts that follow on. Murders, adulteries, sexual sin, thefts, those are the things that we do, but there also arises out of an unclean heart the problems of what we say. Lies, false witness, and blasphemies. That is as good list as you’re going to find in so much as it includes our thoughts and our actions and our speech.

The problem is that all three of these types of problems begin in the heart. It is the heart God wants, that’s the point of this passage. We are saved when we understand that Jesus died for our sins and rose from the dead and from the heart, we trust in him meaning an internal act of trust.  It's not an external act and this emphasis on the heart attitude towards God should remain throughout the remainder of the Christian life. I think that’s why this was called one of the most important passages in all of the gospels. This is one of the most significant teachings in all of the ministry of Christ. It's the heart he said. Elsewhere Jesus says love the Lord your God with all of your heart, that sums it all, that’s the greatest commandment according to Jesus. God wants your heart.

Colossians 3 says we are to sing with grace in your heart to the Lord. In second Corinthians Chapter 9 Paul says that God wants a cheerful giver and then he makes this statement to say you give with a happy  heart.  This whole passage started out as a criticism of Jesus and his followers because they didn’t do something external, and Jesus takes that opportunity to make one of the most important points in all of the scripture and that is God could care less about your religious external rituals, what he wants is your heart.  There’s nothing wrong with tradition in its proper place, there’s nothing wrong with some external religious rituals in their place, but the bottom line is God wants our heart it’s got to come from the heart. I wonder how many times we go to church and feel very proud of ourselves at least I went to church I wasn’t like some who just stayed in bed this morning.

This is a major teaching of the scripture God wants your heart. God wants his children’s heart; he wants us to love him and serve him from the heart and not get sidetracked on tradition or external things of life.