What is a Woman?

Genesis 1:26-27; 2:18, 20-22.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on May 08, 2022, Mother's Day.

[Note: There is no audio available for this sermon.]

We will take a break from our series in the book of Acts in order to focus on mothers today.

It has come to my attention that there are some people who do not know what a woman is.  Since, moms are first women, it is important for us to understand exactly what a woman is.  Now, if these were just kids who couldn't define what a woman is, then we could rest at ease.  However, these are full-grown adults who have graduated from our "best" universities that are having a hard time defining what a woman is.  We have reached a point in our society where the definition of woman is essentially: you will just intuitively know it if you are one.

Of course, the halls of academia and the philosophers of our age are purposefully breaking down the clarity that God has built within His creation, within reality.  For them, there can be no “mothers” in the future.  Only professionals can perfectly create and train the next generation.  Only smart people can know how many kids we actually need.  It is humorous that, for all of their great wisdom, God did not agree with them.  Instead, He made man and woman as we really are.  In general, He gave the power of creating and raising children into the hands of moms and dads, and not to professionals.  This intelligentsia is currently muddling the definition of men and of women (similarly to how they have been muddling the definition of family and marriage) to the point that men can now be considered women and even mothers.  However, this is just a transitional stage.  The end game is to destroy the whole concept altogether.  Men, women, boys, girls, families are all doomed by the purposes of the current intelligence running this planet.

Let’s go back to the beginning in order to understand what a woman is.

An essential part of imaging God

Humans are unique among all living things on this planet because we were created in God’s image and likeness (Genesis 1:26-27).  The Image of God, or in Latin the Imago Dei, is the essential difference between us and all other things.  Though evolutionists try to make man just another animal, it really doesn’t pass the sniff test.  There is something essentially different about humans and the Bible calls it the Image of God.

Throughout Genesis, we should recognize that the Hebrew word “Adam” starts out as a descriptor and only later becomes a particular name.  It can be used to mean the name Adam, or it can mean “a man,” or it can refer to “a human,” even “humankind.”  We should be careful reading maleness into the word in verse 26.  God did not say, “Let’s make Adam in our image…”  It is being used indefinitely and should be translated a “a man,” or “a human.”  Older translations that simply put “man” are using it to essentially mean human.  It is interesting that God states His intention to make “a human” and then the next phrase is “let them have dominion…”  Chapter one of Genesis pictures the individual and plural aspect of humans altogether.  It is not until chapter two that we are given an expanded look that emphasizes the maleness and femaleness of men and women.

We should note the plural aspect that is connected to God both in this verse and throughout the Bible.  It makes sense that God would design humans with a plurality, if we are to be made in His likeness.  Image and likeness are most likely being used as synonyms.  However, the word “image” is more of an external resemblance.  Whereas, “likeness” has a more abstract sense to it.  The image of God is not only connected to the male, but rather to humans.  The imaging of God is something that men and women have individually, but also as we operate together.

Women, you were made in the image of God in a unique way.  You must reject this androgynous notion where we work to erase all the differences between men and women.  To do so is to attempt to erase God’s image within us.  Women image God in ways that men cannot, and we image God together in ways that we cannot alone.  Your greatest value is not in being married or in having children.  Your greatest value is being an imager of God.

God’s purpose was to give humans dominion over the earth.  This too goes back to the image of God.  Just as God exercises dominion over the heavens, humans would be His representatives upon the earth.  The way in which we exercise such dominion is important.  We either rightly reflect God’s image in our dominion, or we image something other than God.  We are not to destroy the earth and its animals, and yet neither are we to elevate them above ourselves.

For today’s purpose, notice that it is both men and women who are to have dominion over the earth.  It pictures a side-by-side dominion of two beings, who are in the image of God, working together in one accord.

Verse 28 gives another command to humans (men and women).  They are to be fruitful and multiply.

This involves the sexual aspect of a woman and a man.  The woman, Eve, would also become Adam’s wife.  Together they would begin to populate the planet.  By the way, Adam and Eve had many children beyond Cain, Abel, and Seth. 

However, fruitfulness and multiplying are about more than reproduction.  What would God think of a family that had 20 kids, but never taught them the way of the Lord and how to be a righteous person like the one pictured in Psalm 1?  I doubt that he would say that they had done a pretty good job.

Fruitfulness would connect to how they tended the garden and how they exercised their dominion as they increased numerically.  Were they a blessing like a fruitful tree, or were they a curse like a poisonous berry?  Does life flow in our wake, or does death and suffering follow us all the days of our life?  Physical fruitfulness should be paired with the greater fruitfulness that is in harmony with the God we are to image.

In light of this, mothering is one part of what women do, and the birthing of babies is only one component of giving life to our children.  We should recognize that, in general, men and women pair up and marry.  Many of those go on to have children.  However, even Jesus recognized that not all are called or “given” to be married, and “given” to have children.  Matthew 19:12 says, “For there are eunuchs who were born thus from their mother’s womb, and there are eunuchs who were made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven’s sake.  He who is able to accept it, let him accept it.”  Jesus points out that there are congenital reasons why some people don’t marry in adulthood.  There are also times like kings and masters who have control over another person’s experience in life.  Lastly, Jesus recognizes that some people choose to be single for the sake of doing God’s will.  Like Paul who counseled Christians to give thought to the single life, Jesus recognizes that some can “accept this.”  A woman does not have to marry and become a mother to have value.  Those things are valuable, and moms need to know that as a wife and as a mom they are of great value.  However, those valuable things are on a greater, foundational value of being an imager of God.  Single people who never marry or have children have not fallen short.  Rather, they have chosen a path that only a small percentage are able to choose.  Even the single among us are able to participate in being fruitful upon this planet in both natural and supernatural things.

Genesis 2:18-22 pairs the concepts of aloneness and help.  Adam would be alone if it were not for the woman Eve.  God did not choose to give Adam a petri dish and the knowledge of how to create another “man.”  He gave Adam a woman.  She would help him in the gargantuan task of imaging God, being fruitful, and subduing the earth.  She was God’s answer for his aloneness.  Notice that God let Adam experience aloneness before he let him experience the help of the Lord.  This is another aspect of being in His image and separates us from the animals.

It is easy to think of Eve being a helper as a subclass.  The term in Hebrew is ezer and is seen in names like Eliezer (My God is Help) and Ebenezer (Stone of Help).  It is always used in the context of great need.  When Israel was under military threat, they needed help and were tempted to look to the Egyptians or others to be their answer.  All throughout the Bible, Israel is counseled to look to God as their help, and not other people, other nations.  Here are several examples.  Deuteronomy 33:26, “There is no one like the God of Jeshurun, Who rides the heavens to help [ezer] you, and in His excellency on the clouds.”  Psalm 146:5, “Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the LORD his God.” 

The woman is to be God’s help to do something that would overwhelm the man who is alone.  She is representative of God’s help.  It doesn’t come in the ways that we would create, but in a way that God creates.

The woman also represents humanity as a helper to God.  Christ and the Church are described as the Mystery that marriage is representing.  In a strange way, humanity is the helper that God has created for Himself in a display of His wisdom.  He who is the ultimate source of any Help creates a helper for Himself.

These things are all at the core of what a woman is, and is the foundation of what every mom is.  May God help us to honor the mothers in our lives and help them to image God as we all should.

The Things that God Hates 4: Hands that Shed Innocent Blood

Proverbs 6:16-17; Deuteronomy 19:9-10; Matthew 5:21-22; John 8:44; Luke 10:29-36.

This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on September 5, 2021.

Today, we are going to look at the third thing in the list of seven things that God hates.  The emphasis moves down to our hands.  There are many sins that we do with our hands.  However, the Spirit emphasizes hands that shed innocent blood.  This is a way of emphasizing murder versus capital punishment.

God hates hands that shed innocent blood

So, what is meant by innocent blood?  The point in this phrase is that they are not guilty of anything that deserves death at the hands of society.  It is not saying that they have no sin. 

Another point to be aware of is this.  It is easy to be confused between the laws of a country and the Law of God that is made clear in the Bible.  The taking of a life of someone who does not deserve it will always be hated by God, even when the society declares it legal.  Rome had no problem killing innocents in their Colosseum in order to keep the populace entertained and distracted.  Many places in the world have no problem killing innocents because they follow a different religion.  Even in these united States, we have no problem killing innocents in the womb because their presence is an inconvenience.  Of course, to assuage our conscience, we they are treated as not being a full person yet.  Sound familiar?  Such arguments were used by some to support slavery 200 years ago.

Don’t kid yourself.  When you stand before God, you will not be able to use the excuse that it was legal where you lived.  God’s Word stands above all nations, and this Republic, and holds us accountable to the truth about God and His Law.

Exodus 20:13 is the sixth commandment that God gave to Moses.  “You shall not murder.”  Yes, we are no longer under the Law of Moses.  Yet, murder was wrong before the Law of Moses (God held Cain accountable to his murder of Abel).  In the New Testament, we are reminded that murder is still wrong in the era of the Everlasting Covenant.  Why?  It is wrong because God still hates it, and it represents a rejection of the Truth of Christ.  The Law of Moses is filled with laws that were intended to teach symbolic truths such as the laws on sacrifice and the dietary laws.  However, the moral laws were not symbolic.  Early Christians understood that these things were still sin and God did not want people of any era participating in it.

It has become common place for our larger cities to see over a hundred murders a year, with places like Chicago leading the pack with over 1 murder a day.  Our systems do not keep track of the innocent who were murdered, and even if we did, they would not put the abortion numbers in it.  How enlightened we must be that we have legalized murder at the hands of some of the doctors in our land.  Around a million innocents a year have their blood shed in the united States of America.  Yes, the Taliban in Afghanistan are even now going door to door to kill collaborators and Christians.  This may seem repugnant to our delicate Western sensibilities, but God is just as repulsed by our clinical slaughter of babies in the womb.  You shall not shed the blood of the innocent!

Even though we are not under the Law of Moses, a study of it can help us to understand how God thinks on these matters.  For instance, take the cities of refuge talked about in Deuteronomy 19.  God is making provision for a person who accidentally kills another person (innocent blood).  He does this by having Israel set apart three cities to be a place of refuge for such a person.  He even tells them to add three more as they expand.  The point is not the system, but the intent that God had in setting it up.

Not all deaths are intentional.  Though it is bad to kill someone who doesn’t deserve it, it is also bad to kill the person who accidentally killed another.  By the way, the cities of refuge were never used as a sanctuary for murderers, law breakers.  The leaders of the city were to hear both sides of the event and any witnesses that were available.  If there was enough evidence to make it clear that the death was intentional, then they were to be handed over to their executioner.  There can be no sanctuary for a murderer, but the sanctuary of true repentance and faith in Jesus.  Our Republic has done a fairly good job in making a system that protects in the cases of manslaughter, though any system can be abused.

In Matthew 5:21-22, Jesus raises the bar for murder.  If God hates murder, then He hates the junk that goes on in a heart that leads to it.  No society can hold people accountable for the things that are listed in this passage: being angry at someone without a proper cause, calling someone an “idiot” (literally “empty-head”), and calling someone a fool (as an insult).  Yet, God will hold us accountable to these things.  He hates these things.  Jesus reminds us that to think and act in these ways towards another person is to be in danger of hell.  Like Jesus told the “Sons of Thunder,” you do not know what manner of spirit you are.  God is trying to save people from their sins, not execute them for them.  However, the rebellious will eventually be dealt with by Him.

A Christian doesn’t need to be against capital punishment, but they do need to have a heart that has given up anger, hatred, and despising others for their sins.  A Christian is a person who has repented of doing things that God hates, and who seeks to become like God, like Jesus, which raises this question. 

What image am I taking on?  When Cain killed Abel, 1 John 3:12 tells us that he was “of the wicked one.”  Cain had been warned by his Heavenly Father (God).  God was trying to help him overcome the temptation to sin, but Cain didn’t want to be like God.  He didn’t know it, but in refusing to become like God, he then became like someone else, the wicked one, aka the devil.  According to the Bible, Cain was not the first murderer.

John 8:44 tells us that the devil was a murderer “from the beginning.”  Who did he murder?  There may be more behind this verse than we know, since Jesus has knowledge that we do not and may be sending a message to the devil through it.  However, Genesis 3 lays out the classical act of talking someone into killing themselves.  We cannot blame our sin upon Satan, but his heart was the heart of a murderer when he tempted Eve to disobey God.  He is guilty of the death of innocent blood when he took advantage of their naivety.

I am either a child of God becoming more like Him each day, or I am a child of the devil, expressing one more novel way of becoming like the wicked one.  Thus, Jesus brought to the surface the real image that the religious leaders of his day had been taking on.  They didn’t believe that they were killers any more than our society today thinks that we are enlightened and righteous, more righteous than God Himself.  If Jesus were to step into my life, and I didn’t know it was him, would I hate him for revealing my sin?  Would I despise him and malign him to others behind his back?  Would I openly attack him?  Would I have the heart of a murderer towards him?  We duck these questions in this life because the people who may confront us are humans who are fallen too.  Lord, help us to be more aware of the image that we are taking on, and through repentance, keep near to God.

God loves hands that heal

Let’s take some time to focus on what God loves.  Instead of hands that shed innocent blood, we should have hands that help and heal others.  To show this, let’s look at the story of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:29-36. 

The Good Samaritan had compassion upon an enemy.  The story is not ultimately about having compassion.  Most people are capable of compassion when they want to be.  However, those who were most likely to help this Jewish man along the road, a priest and a Levite, chose not to help.  We don’t know what their rationalizations look like.  Perhaps they speculated that it was a trick.  Maybe they just didn’t want to be inconvenienced or made late for the temple service.  For some reason, they both ignored the man’s dire situation.

Jesus makes the hero of the story a person that Jews despised, a Samaritan.  To be fair, there was much despising coming from the direction of the Samaritans also.  This “half-breed” follower of a religious cult was the one who stopped and had compassion on the dying Jewish man.  I know the story doesn’t exactly say the man is Jewish, but it is most likely since the man had gone “down from Jerusalem to Jericho.”  The people hearing the story that day would have understood him to be a Jew that was helped by a Samaritan.  This would be like a BLM protester finding a wounded cop and helping him, or the reverse, a cop finding a wounded BLM protester and helping him.

Just because someone is my enemy doesn’t mean that I should desire their death.  The good Samaritan is good because he did what God would do.  He did all he could do to save the dying person.  He had compassion.  The reason I said this isn’t about compassion is because it is ultimately about who we are imaging in our actions.  Many priests and Levites in Jerusalem of the days of Jesus lacked far more than compassion.  They lacked the image of God.

We are told some very practical things that the Samaritan did to help the man.  He treated his wounds with the equivalent of antiseptic and salve.  He bandaged the wounds.  He then took the man to a safe place where he would not be harmed further, and where he could recuperate.  This couldn’t guarantee that the man would live, but it would give him the best chance.  The rest would be up to God.  He even paid for the cost of the man’s convalescence.  This man was more than a neighbor.  He was more than a good neighbor.  He was a godly neighbor, the hand of God to a man in need.

Think about it.  This Samaritan, if he was religious at all, would have had some twisted doctrines.  No self-respecting Jew of that day would want a Samaritan living by them.  Rather, they would want good Jewish neighbors, especially a Levite or a priest.  Maybe some of their blessing will land on me!  However, this Samaritan was the better neighbor of the three, a better lover of his neighbors.  His hands were not quick to shed blood, or to allow it to happen, but quite the opposite.  They were quick to help and to heal.

So, what can I do?  Notice that this story is not about a Samaritan who purposefully walked the road looking for robbed travelers.  It was a chance (or was it) meeting that gave him no time to prepare.  This is life.  Tests and choices that come our way that we were not expecting.

What can I do?  It starts with quick repentance when hard-heartedness surfaces in me.  I must develop the image of God within my life through choosing to help others, spiritually and physically.  The sad thing is that they won’t always want your help, and may even reject it.  How more like God can you get than that?  His help is spurned every day by hundreds of millions of people.

Friend, the spirit of this world is stirring us up against one another, to despise, and not love one another, but the Spirit of Christ is here this morning to teach us to love one another, even when it hurts.

Seeking the Things that are Above

Colossians 3:1-11.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on July 8, 2018.

Last week we talked about not turning to legalism as a legitimate expression of Christianity.  Yes, there are certain things that Christians should not do and others that they should do.  But lists of things we shouldn’t eat or drink, and special days we should observe in order to be holy has nothing to do with Christ. 

In our passage today we will see that we need to turn to Jesus rather than a list of regulations.  He needs to become our life, to become everything.  When it comes to the Christian life, we must never forget that Christ is everything to us.  He is the foundation on which we stand, the image towards which we are being transformed, the power by which it is all done, and the hope that lies before us.

So as we look at this passage, let us hear the words of life that teach us how to truly live.

We have died with Christ and been made alive with Christ

Back in chapter 2 Paul had reminded us that the fact that we have died to the world with Christ should refute the regulations of legalism.  Here in verses 1-4 of chapter 3 he continues to the other side of this truth.  We have been made alive with Christ.  Thus our life and how it is lived must be connected to Christ and not this world.  This means our focus or concern should be towards heaven where Christ is.  Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father.  His perspective and commands will be quite different from a person who is here on earth.  Ultimately it is the things of heaven, the things of Christ, that should concern Christians.

Now this could give rise to the phrase that a person is “So heavenly minded that they are no earthly good.”  However, this is not what Paul is getting at.  He is not talking about ignoring the earth, but rather about looking to Christ for our directions on how to operate in this world.  God is deeply concerned with this earth and the people on it.  That is why Jesus came and died on the cross.  When we look at life with His concerns and walk in His purposes and direction, then it does much good for this earth.  Thus to be heavenly minded as Paul means it, is to live in this life directed by the leadership of Christ.

In verse 3 he mentions that the things that make for our life are hidden from the world.  Christ cannot be seen by the world and His instructions to us cannot be seen either.  His connection to us through the Word of God and the Holy Spirit is not something that can be touched or seen.  Sure they should see how we live and the effects of these things in our lives, but they cannot actually see the influence.  Thus the world will not understand the reasons and motivations, which come from heaven.

In verse 4 we are told that when Christ is revealed from heaven in glory, it will suddenly become clear what we were living for.  In fact the glory of Christ will be our glory too!  It takes faith and trust in God’s Word.  We must believe that He will do what He has said He will do.  Christians are those who walk in the faith that though our life may not make sense to the world around us, it is directed by God Himself and will be rewarded in due time.

We put off the old man

Starting in verse 5 Paul uses several metaphors for the Christian life.  One of these is that of the old man.  It is a metaphor for our old life of listening to our flesh (body, mind, and heart) and following its desires.  We are told to put it off like we would do with the clothes that we sleep in at night, in order to then put on the right clothes to go about our day.

In fact, in verse 5 he opens with an even harsher metaphor- “put to death.”  The terminology can be a bit foreign to us.  The term “members” refers to the parts of us that are centered upon the things of the world.  These are expressed in certain sinful activities and conditions of our heart.  They need to be sacrificed on the altar to God by dying to their pull on us.  Paul lists several things.  Fornication is any sex outside of a committed marriage between one man and one woman.  Uncleanness is any impure desire or motive.  Passion is those afflictions of our mind and heart that push us towards sin.  Yes, passion can be a positive thing, but it is clearly about sinful things in this list.  Evil desire speaks for itself.  Covetousness is called idolatry because we allow ourselves to become a slave to the thing we covet rather than a slave of God.  It becomes god in our lives.  All of these things need to be put to death in our life.  This is something that has to be done daily, as they surface in our hearts and minds.  Like weeds we will not be able to completely remove all traces of them in this life.  But we can keep them from growing and bearing evil fruit in our life.  If we follow these things they will not bring us true life, no matter how alive one may feel when they first give in to them.  In the end these things will leave you empty and hopeless regardless of what Ashley Madison has to say.

In fact in verse 6 Paul reminds us that these are the things that are bringing the wrath of God.  Just in case we thought these were nice suggestions on how to have a better life, we are reminded that those who practice such things are in jeopardy.  This world may be progressing in technology, which gives it the allusion that we are somehow becoming better.  But, morally we are not progressing.  We are wallowing in the same muck and mire that mankind has always wallowed in.  The message of the Gospel is this, “Save yourself from this wicked and perverse generation by fleeing to Jesus before it is too late!”  We will all face the wrath of God one way or another.  We will either be alive when it is poured out at the end of the age or we will face it when we die and come before God.  Believers can face both situations with confidence because Jesus has taken the wrath of God that should fall on us, upon Himself.  We can stand in His presence with confidence because of Jesus and Him alone.

In verse 7 he reminds us that these things should be a part of our past.  It is how we used to live, before Christ.  This is the old life, but now Christ is our Master and Savior.  His Spirit has taken up residence within us.  Let us not fool ourselves.  We cannot continue to follow the ways of the world and the ways of our flesh and find life.  They can only lead us to destruction.  Like Joshua of old we must choose today whom we are going to serve, and may it be Jesus that we chose to serve.

In verses 8 to 9 Paul continues with a list of deeds that many would think of as “little sins.”  We are tempted to coddle them and allow them to remain in our life.  We can justify them in our heart more easily.  But Paul warns against such deeds of the old man.  Anger- I used to get angry about things, but Christ is calling me to leave anger behind.  I am to be directed by heaven, not my anger.  Wrath- My flesh is focused on justice and getting people back, but heaven reminds us that this is not our job and that we must let it go lest we fall under the wrath of God ourselves.  Malice- This is typically a deeper-seated, festering ill-will towards others.  Christians are to root this out and reject its seductive logic.  Blasphemy- It is not just untrue things we say of God.  It basically means to slander or say untrue things about any other.  Filthy language- Our old life learned all manner of crude and vulgar ways to express ourselves.  Such talk should be left in the dust.  We must let the Lord purify our speech.  Lying- How easy it is to lie to one another in order to get what we want or to protect ourselves.  Whether it is active lying where we state untruths or passive lying where we mislead people so that they make the wrong conclusions, lying is a form of manipulation that brings destruction into our life and the lives of those around us.

Jesus was none of these things.  If we have truly rejected the world with Him and are living only for Him, then these things should change.  There is no way around this truth.  Yes, it doesn’t just happen in an instant.  But it does happen nonetheless.

We put on the new man

We will talk more about this next week.  But let’s end on the positive.  If we are to take off the old man then clearly we must put on the new man.  Paul points out in verses 10-11 that the new man is renewed in knowledge.  Knowledge is key to our transformation.  We know that these things hold nothing but God’s wrath for us.  So why would we then hold on to them?  We also know that Jesus is not like these things.  So why would we continue in them?  We also know that Christ died to set us free from these things.  So let’s be renewed in body, mind, and heart.

He also mentions that we are renewed according to the image of Christ.  The renewal is not just a “new me.”  It really is a taking on the image of Jesus.  We are taking Him on and being transformed.  In that sense, Jesus is the new man.  We are all taking on the One New Man, Jesus.  WE are the students becoming like the master, as His Holy Spirit works within us to enable the transformation.

He ends this section by pointing out that the old distinctions are irrelevant when Christ is our everything.  It doesn’t matter what race or station of life a person is or comes from.  A believer in Jesus sees one thing.  Is Christ living within that person as well as me?  Christ is everything and all those distinctions are nothing.  How we interact with people, both believers and the lost, should have nothing to do with race, economic station, gender or what else.  It has only to do with Christ.  What does He think and what does He want.  The power of Christ has come to break all of these distinctions down so that Christ indwells every kind of person on the earth, and we can receive another believer as a brother or a sister in Christ, not because of earthly things, but because of the heavenly reality that Jesus dwells within us both.  Does Jesus dwell within you today?  Pray and ask Him to forgive you of your sins and become your Lord and Savior.  Let us put off the old man and put on the New Man!

Seek the Things Above audio

Faults of the Evil Generation II

Today we are looking at Luke 11:37-44.

We have been looking at the things Jesus pointed out about his generation which evidenced their wickedness.  Their unbelief always wanted more signs.  Also their ability to see spiritually had been lost.  Today we will see how sin had caused them to give greater attention to superficial things over the top of the deeper and more important issues of their hearts.  Such a superficial existence not only fails to do good things, but actually causes us to do evil.  In this passage our favorite bad guys (the Pharisees and the Lawyers) are on the whipping post.  However, we need to ask ourselves today this question.  How am I like this?  Or, at least, how have I been dealing with this reality in my life?

They Focus on Image over the Inside

Now in this passage there is a Pharisee that asks Jesus to come to his house and eat with him.  During this situation Jesus recognizes something that is going on inside of this man.  There is no indication that the man had said anything openly.  Yet, Jesus is not content to have image without an accompanying inner reality.  That which looks good on the outside but is poisonous on the inside is more dangerous than that which looks bad on the outside.  People will be tempted to accept something into their life that looks good on the outside but can hurt them, whereas something that looks bad is generally rejected outright. 

So why was Jesus invited to dinner?  We do not know the man’s motivation.  More than likely he hopes to find reasons to discount Jesus and thus move up in the ranks of his religious group.  Thus pretended favors always lead to real attacks.  Yet, maybe this man simply wants to have the attention of one who had Jesus at his house.  Jesus was widely popular and to be associated with him in anyway would reflect upon the Pharisee.  Or, perhaps the man is interested in Jesus and wants a closer look.  No matter which of these is the truth, remember this one thing.  When you invite Jesus into your house, he is not going to content himself with only looking good.  Jesus is going to point out those hidden issues of our heart that need to be dealt with.

Now something happens before dinner.  Jesus neglects the traditional washing that the religious did before eating.  Now this washing wasn’t about hygiene.  It was a symbolic washing that represented being spiritually clean from sin.  It seems impossible that Jesus simply forgot.  Even if he didn’t normally observe this washing, Jesus knew the teachings and practices of the Pharisees all too well.  Thus it seems that Jesus purposely neglected washing because he knew it would provide a situation in which he can speak to the heart of this Pharisee’s life.  Although we are talking about the faults of an evil generation, we need to recognize that Jesus is also pointing out precisely where they needed to change in order to be saved.  It is like a surgeon.  Yes, cutting a person is bad.  But if a surgeon cuts a person precisely where they need to be cut then it is actually a good thing.  When God points out our sin it is not in order to condemn us, but in order for us truly to be set free.

Now when the Pharisee sees that Jesus does not do the traditional washing, he “marveled.”  Instead of seeing the heart of Christ he was stuck on this outward act or lack thereof.  We must understand that focusing on the outward without working on the inside is utter foolishness.  Jesus uses the metaphor of a cup to illustrate this.  Have you ever opened the dishwasher to pull out a cup or bowl that looked clean but when you turned it up there was some crud still left in the bowl?  Someone didn’t rinse it well enough for the machine to clean.  Although it looks good on the outside, you are not going to eat from it.  This is how God saw the Pharisees.  On the outside they looked like good followers of God and He should be happy to have them and use them for His glory.  But the problem was that they were full of sinful things.  Jesus points out that God had made mankind both material and spirit, or with outer and inner parts of their being.  Would God be satisfied for his people to clean only the outward?  The Pharisees were right that God was concerned with man’s need to be cleansed of sin.  But they focused only on the outward things.  In fact in this case the washings were merely symbolic.

In Matthew 15:11 Jesus makes the case that we are not defiled by outer things.  Rather we are defiled by what flows out of our heart into our material life.  Thus a person can make their life look good, but if their heart is wicked, it is not only unacceptable, but is even a worse evil.  Are we not a generation that fights against the reality that our inner man is more important than our outer man?  Do we not focus far more on image and material things than on truth, reality, and inner things?  It is an evil thing to focus on the outward and ignore the inner.

In vs. 41 Jesus tells him to give alms of what he has and then he won’t have to worry about washing his hands before dinner.  That is he will truly be clean spiritually.  Notice that it is possible to use external actions to wash internal sins.  This man was guilty of greed and wickedness (vs.39).  He focused solely on the symbolic act of washing, but never actually did anything about the greed and wickedness in his heart.  Did he not know he was greedy?   That is unlikely.  By his actions he was testifying that he would rather live in shadows and hide from the Truth than walk in the light of God.  Not all who come to Christ and go to Church seek His light and life.  Many are merely looking for shadowy places in which to hide themselves.  But where Jesus is there will always be a confrontation which such wickedness.  We must wash our hearts by actions that crucify those inner sins.  Are you proud?  Then take a humble position and seek no credit for it.  Become a servant of others and in so doing crucify the pride in your heart.  Such a person will be seen as clean by God.

They Focus on Trivial Matters over Heavier Things

Similar to focusing on the external is this problem of focusing on trifles over the top of heavier issues.  In another place Jesus used the picture of straining out a gnat, but then swallowing a camel.  The inability to truly face and deal with the inner issues affects how one prioritizes outward actions.  This imagery has to do with light and heavy objects.  Do you remember in the old cartoons how the character would be weight lifting and the two round weights would have 1,000 painted on them?  Yet, later you would find out that they were just black balloons.  This helps us to see several issues.  So keep this metaphor in mind.

Now Jesus had counseled the man to give alms because he knew the man gave precious little that didn’t somehow benefit him.  The Pharisees had developed a meticulous system of rules about tithing (giving a tenth of your income).  Within this system of rules they were able to look like they were lifting a lot of weight spiritually, but in reality they were not lifting anything at all.  Here Jesus points out that they would make a big deal about tithing to the point that they would even give a tenth of the herbs in their herb gardens.  This scrutiny on a trivial area of “income,” became a mark of great piety; as if they had lifted such a great weight.  In another passage Jesus shines a light on some of the things that they were doing.  Under the Law an adult child was responsible to take care of their parents in their old age.   However, a tradition had developed that said if a person had already made a vow to give their extra money to the Temple then they could be excused from having to care from their parents.  Now which is the heavier weight that needed lifting; caring for elderly parents, or donating to the temple?  More importantly which was the greater responsibility for the shirker; caring for their parents or caring for the temple?  Clearly caring for the parents is the primary responsibility.  So why would they do such a thing?  They would do it because they would get more honor and prestige out of giving a great sum to the Temple than out of “merely” caring for their parents.  This is how upside down their priorities were.  God is more concerned that you care for your immediate family than he is to get 10% of your income.  He is concerned that we be clean on the inside, and money /wealth is one of the biggest defilers of man.  Now you may think I just made a case for why poor people don’t have to give.  You couldn’t be more incorrect.  Do poor people have the need to be cleaned from greed and materialism?  Of course they do.  Our greed will always tell us that we don’t make enough to give to God, whether at a Church or directly to others in need.  A person who gives in to such greed will not be condemned because they failed to give enough.  They will be condemned because they embraced greed and nurtured it with false logic.  The Pharisees had trivialized tithing.  It was intended to be a means that broke the back of greed in their life, taught them how to live within their means, and helped those that were hurting.  These are the big weights that God wanted them to lift.  But they turned it into a means of stroking their pride.

In vs. 42 Jesus gives us two “heavy things” God wanted them to work on: Justice towards their fellow man and Love towards God.  The whole time they were coming up with rules and loopholes in the area of tithing they did not lift a finger towards justice for their fellow man and truly loving the heart of God and His ways.  Micah pointed this out in his book (6:6-8), “With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the High God?  Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?  Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, ten thousand rivers of oil?  Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?  He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?”  Today social justice has become a code word for big government programs.  This movement has co-opted the biblical language for its own political gain.  They two are defiled by the lust for power and greed for money.  We do need to care for one another in our society.  But God’s plan has always been for individuals to freely choose to either serve Him or not.  Only then can they truly cleanse their hearts.  But the modern system of turning all compassion over to the State is not only hurting the poor, but defiling all of our hearts.  Ask yourself, what is due my fellow man, and do I love God and His ways more than the things of this world?  You will be cleaned or defiled by how you deal with those questions.

In verse 43 Jesus points out the vain things that they loved.  They wanted the best seats in the Synagogue (those that had the most social prestige) rather than being content with the place God would give them.  They wanted the kudos of their fellow Pharisees rather than the kudos of God.  They wanted people to notice them when they walked through the marketplace rather than to be noticed by God.  Respect, position, and power are not necessarily bad things.  But the love of these things causes much sin and defiles many.  These things are empty if they are sought over the top of God and a clean heart.

Lastly, Jesus points out how our neglected sins defile us and others.  What is the big deal?  Inner sins don’t just stay inside.  They grow and their defilement infects us and spreads into society.  We will end up defiling others by our sinful actions.  Jesus uses the picture of an unmarked grave.  To touch a dead body or grave made a person defiled under the Law.  This is something the Pharisees would have meticulously focused on.  Yet, here Jesus says they are like a person who made a grave but didn’t mark it (through negligence or purposefully).  People who interacted with them thought they were clean, but in fact they were being defiled unknowingly by them.  O friend, are you pretending to be all righteous and clean when in fact you are defiling everyone around you?  Take this to heart.  Begin to clean the inside of your heart in the fear of the Lord for He is the one that you will stand before and give account one day.

Faults II audio