Jesus Christ is absolutely, positively loving, kind, and full of grace. He extends those qualities to everyone. However, He also speaks truth. Sometimes the truth is difficult to receive. It doesn’t always sound nice to our ears, make us smile and give us warm fuzzies all over.
In Matthew 23, Jesus was rebuking the religious leaders who were listening to Him as He spoke to the people who had gathered. I want to share with you some of that conversation.
Matthew 23:25-26 NLT “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside you are filthy—full of greed and self-indulgence! (26) You blind Pharisee! First wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and then the outside will become clean, too.
Here we see the loving Savior telling the religious leaders they are dirty on the inside. He spoke of how nice they look externally, but he said inside they are filthy, full of greed and self-indulgence. He called them hypocrites, which means actors, like those in a performance, or one who pretends to be someone else. I can assure you, those remarks did not sit well with these highly respected church leaders. It was because of comments like this that they were always discussing amongst themselves how they could kill Him. (Matthew 26:4, Mark 11:18; 14:1)
What I want us to understand clearly today is that it is possible to look so good on the outside and be so incredibly filthy on the inside. You can spend hundreds of dollars on an extreme “external” makeover, including the best hair style, tan, great clothes, nail job, and spa treatment and still be in desperate need of an “internal” cleaning. You can even be a religious person, or yes, a religious leader, and give the appearance that you have your life all together spiritually and still be a mess within.
What was it Jesus pointed to as evidence of their need for inward cleaning? Their attitudes and actions.He said they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Now check this out! These guys knew the Word of God. They memorized it, they taught it. They were highly educated. They and their ancestors even invented hundreds of additional religious rules and regulations (beyond what was in the Word of God) and attempted to obey them and force others to do the same. They were respected by the people because of their position. But what were they full of? Greed and self-indulgence.
Just how greedy were they? They had a lot and wanted more. They wanted the best of everything. They exploited and oppressed the people to get even more out of them. They took spiritual advantage of them to fatten their wallets. They used the threat of God withholding His blessings from them if they didn’t give more to the temple, which would then benefit them financially as the religious leaders.
Their self-indulgence was obvious! Everything was all about them. They were the center of the religious universe and the community. They were important. They were the leaders. They were impressed with themselves and expected everyone else to be, too. They didn’t want to be inconvenienced, they wanted to be pampered. They weren’t servants, they were little tyrants, wanting to be served. They always put themselves first.
I’ve seen these behaviors in leaders and non-leaders alike. It’s rampant in society and politics. It runs freely in the Church of Jesus, too. So many people I encounter in my life have these issues, some more than others. And so many in the younger generation are deeply stained with this filthiness. It’s time to get clean personally. It’s time to clean up the church. It’s time to clean up our nation. We don’t look as good as we think we do.
1 Samuel 16:7 NLT ……The LORD doesn’t see things the way you see them. People judge by outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
Let’s get honest and start to see things the way God sees them. When sin is exposed, we need to repent and do what Jesus said, “First wash the inside of the cup and the dish, and then the outside will become clean, too.” We need a heart makeover. We need a heart cleansing. Only Jesus can do that, so we have to go to Him, ask Him to clean us, and then receive our internal scrubbing from Him by the Holy Spirit.
1 Corinthians 6:11 NLT ……you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
Go, ask, receive! Get clean, but then stay clean so you can live clean. Go back and get some more if you need to. Behavior matters to God. Jesus criticized the leaders for their actions and attitudes. That’s what revealed them to be actors, looking good outside, but filthy on the inside.
Philippians 2:15 NLT Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people.
We should shine like a bright light in the world, not be dim or even dark like the people in the world. People notice light when they are in darkness. People notice honorable, good behavior when they are living in sin. Live right. Eyes are on you.
1 Peter 2:12 NLT Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when He judges the world.
Your good behavior will even give people cause to honor God. They might even want to come to Jesus when they see how you live because of your relationship with Him. A lot of people want something real, something that works. If you have it inside and show it outside through your deeds, people will notice and think about wanting what you have. You can change the world by the way you live in your relationship with Jesus. It’s not what you say, but what you do that makes the biggest impact on people.
So let’s say “Good-bye” to acting (hypocrisy) and save that for Hollywood. Get connected to Jesus and get cleaned up inside so that greed and self-indulgence are not part of your life. Let’s be different. Let’s serve, give, put others first. That’s what Jesus did when He walked the earth. Let us become more like Him. Then you will really look good on the outside!
