Community Church Sermons
August 17, 2008
Pentecost
14
Matthew 15:1-20
Rev. Dr. R. Tim Meadows, Associate Pastor
Listen to this Sermon!
It is only fair that I begin today by giving
proper credit to my father- in -law for the title of the sermon. For the nearly
thirty years that I have known him, this has been one of his favorite
“biblical” sayings. He always credits it to his father, who probably swiped it
directly from the seventeenth century translators of the King James Version of
the Bible. My father - in -law usually connects the phrase with the consumption
of some libation or food that my mother-in-law or others around him might find
questionable. Once he utters the phrase his conscience is assuaged enough that
he can consume whatever without pause.
Strangely enough, it is in the context of eating
and drinking that the phrase is offered by Jesus as indicated in today’s New
Testament lesson. Jesus is being harassed by the guardians of the faith about
the unsanitary habits that he and his disciples practice, and in indignance he
responds to his accusers. You can feel his indignation build as he points to
his accusers own deficiencies. You can hear the crescendo of Jesus’ argument
when he questions the commitment of their hearts and condemns their worship as
a farce. Not wanting to miss a teachable moment or have the truth evaporate in
a simple tirade, Jesus gathers the crowd to offer a word of encouragement.
Whether the vanquished guardians of the faith
remained for the lesson or not is unclear, what is clear is that Jesus’ simple
message to those who would listen was the message of my father -in –law: “It is
not what goeth in…but what cometh out!” Jesus was probably more willing than my
father-in-law to acknowledge the obvious connection that often what goeth in
effects what cometh out, but nevertheless the point is clear; faith was not to
be about ritual, tradition, or the precision of practicing those things. Faith
was to be about what the things of God compelled you to produce from your life.
Faith was not to be about outward appearance, but about the inward
transformation of your heart.
Jesus knew the game of these guardians.
Guardians focus on outward details because they are easy to measure, they can
be quantified and assessed. Demerits and applause can be given appropriately,
allowing the successful to celebrate and notifying the deficient on where they
need to improve. Religion becomes a system and God becomes a tool to be used
favorably by those who know “how to work the system”. Jesus knew the game of
these guardians and he did not like the game, so he offered a new system, based
on the simple principle: “It is not what goeth in…but what cometh out!”
In
this system:
-
It is not the cleanliness of your hands but the
work of your hands that matters to God. What work have you done lately, that
would please God?
-
It is not your outward appearance, but your
inward transformation that matters to God. How are you being conformed to the
image of Christ?
-
It is not what you eat, but what you do with the
energy the food produces that matters to God. In this time when energy
resources are the center of our attention, how are you using your resources in
a way that would please God?
-
It is not what goes on in worship, but what
worship motivates you to do for others that matters to God. When was the last
time your worship motivated you to do something positive for God or others?
-
It is not how much or how little you possess,
but what you do with those possessions that matters to God. How are you using
the vast possessions with which you have been blessed to honor God?
-
It is caring for others, valuing life and truth,
and making sure that our actions are fed by positive attitudes that matters to
God. Are you doing these things to bring honor to God?
So go ahead; drink what you want and eat with those dirty hands, and remember “it is not what goeth in…but what cometh out” that counts! May God give us the grace to make sure that what goes into our lives will produce good things that come out of our lives. AMEN!