Morning Message Text: Matthew 15: 10-20
10 Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand.
11 What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.”
12 Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?”
13 He replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots.
14 Leave them; they are blind guides. If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”
15 Peter said, “Explain the parable to us.”
16 “Are you still so dull?” Jesus asked them.
17 “Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and then out of the body?
18 But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them.
19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.
20 These are what defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile them.”
Morning Message:
There are different types of blindness. We naturally think of being blind as the inability to physically see. Physical blindness is a terrible thing. Those of us who are blessed with vision can’t start to comprehend what it would be like to go through life without seeing. Physical blindness does not prohibit people from living productive lives. We may think of blindness as an affliction that cannot be overcome, but many who do not have the gift of sight make up for it with their other senses. There are some who, even though they lack physical sight, function better than people with sight. Many times, those of us who are blessed with sight and every other means of experiencing the world around us, miss or overlook what is right in front of us. Let me use myself as an example. I have limited hearing. Now someone please cover my wife’s ears, so she doesn’t hear me admit to this; Sometimes I don’t hear because I don’t pay attention.
Let’s be honest. Most times we go through life not using the wonderful blessings that God has equipped us with. We sing, “Open My Eyes That I May See,” but then we look past the person that we encounter that is hurting and in need. You know we hear the story of the good Samaritan, and we think that Jesus is pointing him out as the exception, but Jesus is really saying he should be the norm. This is not the case in our society, and I would venture to say that this is not the case in our lives. Why? Because we have developed a kind of blindness to the world around us. Oh, we see the hurting, and the pain, sometimes it is right in front of us, but we have become obstinate. Now stay with me for a moment. I know what you are thinking. I can’t help everyone that is looking for a handout. I agree, but are we helping any. Obstinate means: stubbornly adhering to a purpose or opinion. We become set in our ways and subconsciously develop an attitude that everyone with their hand out is trying to take advantage of us.
Let me say to you today exactly what Jesus said to the crowd. “Listen and understand. What goes into someone’s mouth does not defile them, but what comes out of their mouth, that is what defiles them.” This should be easy for us to understand. I love what Jesus says here. “Are you still so dull?” Listen, physically, you can eat whatever you want, it might make you physically ill, but it has no effect on your spiritual well-being. Why is this upsetting to the Pharisees? Because they have taken things like ceremonial hand washing and put them on the same level as spiritual matters. Their traditions have become their religion, and their religion had very little to do with what God had called them to be about. Yes, they had become blind, and worse than that, they were attempting to lead others into this same blindness. Now we need to take a moment here and look at the current state of the church because it is easy to stumble into this blindness. Where is our focus? Is our traditions, our worship habits more important to us than the one we are worshiping?
Becoming blind to what is most important in our faith is troubling, but there is a step farther that is even more troubling. These Pharisees were blind when it came to true faith in God instead of relying on their traditions, but something more serious had occurred in their hearts. They had developed that callousness that I talked to you about several weeks ago. They had become obstinate about their traditions. They believed in this religion of tradition so strongly that they stubbornly adhered to this opinion and were making it their purpose in life to make sure that everyone else did as well. Listen to me church. We need to be aware of what is taking place all around us in churches all across this nation. We have become a nation that accepts the tradition of religion but not the tenants of the faith. Our politicians speak of a systematic religion that will one day lead to a world church and Jesus clearly says in Revelation, “Come out of her my people.”
As the true church, true believers in Jesus, we must avoid the blindness that leads to apathy and obstinance. We must pay attention to what is going on right before our eyes. If we open our eyes, we will see the awful things that are coming from the hearts of mankind: murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These things are so prevalent all around us, and our leaders, our politicians, tell us it’s okay; really, nothing to see here. Have you been watching as mobs go into department stores and steal everything in broad daylight. The news media for the most part turns a blind eye to it and that is because they want us to be blind as well.
Well, I am not blind, and as the church none of us should turn a blind eye to what the world around us has turned into. Yes, focus on Jesus, but don’t allow the world to tell you what you should and should not see.
In Christ’s Love and Peace,
Pastor Bob
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