What's In Your Heart?

Matthew 15:15-20

It's Monday again and I don't think it was that crazy. I had classes, I went a ton of homework assignments and I have a lot of things that I need to take care of for the week. A lot of today I found myself listening to sermons though. I recently found that John MacArthur has a website with a lot of his sermons on it. It's very very good, so if you guys have an opportunity to listen to them, you should check it out.

Other news is Alex Rodriguez. What do you guys think about this? I mean steroids at first I was completely against, but it's gotten really out of hand. It's to a point where I don't know what to think of it. I'm waiting for how he will respond.

The Heart Of Man
Reading: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew%2015:15-20;&version=49;

To start this reading, we need to go back to the reading from yesterday, which I said I will cover today. Starting from verse 10, Jesus tells the crowd that it's not what enters the mouth that defiles the man but what comes out of it. The disciples were worried that this would hurt the Pharisees and asked Jesus if this was such a good idea. Jesus replied that every plant that God did not plant will be uprooted. He tells them to leave them alone for the blind lead the blind into a pit.

Before moving on it's important to note the situation. Jesus just told the Pharisees that what they were worshipping was not God but their traditions. And that for the sake of tradition, the Pharisees were not truly worshipping and honoring God. Then Jesus tells the crowd, probably the crowd that has been following Jesus, that it's not what enters the mouth but what comes out of it. Why is this important? Well I think Jesus is actually trying to explain two things here.

1. The tradition that the Pharisees have. You have to understand that the Pharisees were very faithful in following the law. Anything that came out of Leviticus, they followed strictly. If you remember, in Leviticus, God lists things that you can and cannot eat. Things that would be not good before worshipping. Jesus is saying that that's not the point. It doesn't matter what you eat. How offended would they be! Here all their lives the Pharisees have been living under the notion that this was crucial. Yet Jesus is showing them that they're missing the point. If you look around the New Testament, Jesus will show us this. I think the following verse in Titus summarizes it best:
"This testimony is true. For this reason reprove them severely so that they may be sound in the faith, not paying attention to Jewish myths and commandments of men who turn away from the truth." Titus 1:13-14
Basically all these "myths and commandments" are turning men away from what's true. It's interesting to note that Jesus tells us to completely ignore these people. He calls them the blind. He leads other blinds into a pit. It's not our job do anything with them. In other words, don't go out there trying to make it right yourself. God never told us to do that. It's God's job. Don't worry about it. Don't let it hurt you in return.

2. What comes out of your mouth is important. Now why Jesus uses the mouth I don't know. But basically what comes out of you is what matters. What then do you need? You need a firm foundation. You need something good inside to come outside. That's what's important. What then is that important thing? We learn that from today's reading.

The heart of man is the response. Peter asks Jesus what all this meant. Jesus tells us that in order to have the good things come out of our mouth, we need a pure heart. If the heart is unclean, then we will in turn be defiled. If you have a bad heart, then nothing good can come out of it. And this brings us back to the Beattitudes. Remember, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." This is the key point. If we don't have a pure heart, then all this is meaningless. I hope we can all pray for a pure heart.