Preschool
Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. Matthew 24:42
Clean from the Inside Out
Memory Verses
Primary
Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. Matthew 24:42
Junior
Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. Matthew 24:42
Background Scripture: Matthew 15
Lesson Scripture: Mathew 15:1–11, 15–20
Introduction
Cleanliness is naturally associated with good health. To be healthy, one must not only appear to be clean—he must be truly clean in every respect. The gospel teaches that in order to be saved, we must repent of our sins so the Lord can cleanse our heart. Only by having our heart washed by the cleansing blood of Jesus will we have pure motives and live a clean life. Our spiritual health is dependent on having a clean heart. “Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God” (Matt. 5:8).
Key Verse
And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil (Joel 2:13).
Lesson Scripture
Matthew 15:1 Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying,
2 Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread.
3 But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?
4 For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death.
5 But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me;
6 And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.
7 Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying,
8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.
9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
10 And he called the multitude, and said unto them, Hear, and understand:
11 Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.
15 Then answered Peter and said unto him, Declare unto us this parable.
16 And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding?
17 Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught?
18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.
19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:
20 These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.
Studying the Lesson
The scribes and Pharisees were caught up in every detail of the law, but they only kept it at their convenience. The commandments of God were clear, but if there was something unpleasant or difficult for them to do, like honoring their parents, many of them twisted the law to suit their own interpretation. Some even chose to cleverly circumvent the law. They falsely claimed they could not financially assist their parents because they had dedicated a certain sum of money to God, who was greater than their parents. When their parents called for assistance, they would deny them, saying they had devoted to the temple all they could spare. The rabbis had approved this exception to the commandments of Moses and, in effect, nullified God’s law. This resulted in a life of form and hypocrisy that displeased the Lord.
The Old Testament law contained no commandments about washing one’s hands before eating with the exception of priests, who were required to wash before eating holy offerings (Lev. 22:6–7). The ritualistic washing of hands advocated by the Jewish leaders in Jesus’s time consisted of pouring a symbolic trickle of cold water over the hands. Traditions such as these were manmade rules that had been added to the Law of Moses. They had been passed down orally through the generations, and many people felt they were as binding as the genuine law of God. The men who vehemently advocated ceremonial hand washing were not necessarily concerned with cleanliness; rather, they found comfort in tradition and were bound to the ritual itself.
When the scribes and Pharisees accosted Jesus for allowing His disciples to eat with unwashed hands, the Lord reproved them for their hypocrisy. He pointed out that they were guilty of the greater sin of transgressing the commandments of God.
Practical Truths for Today
In Old Testament times, the law was strong in revealing man’s sin but weak in bringing about a change of heart. Many rituals and ceremonies focused on an outward show of purification. But without the blood of Christ, the heart was left vulnerable to sin because sin could not be washed away by these superficial ceremonies. The law was unable to cleanse man from the stain of sin and unrighteousness.
The human temptation to appear better to others than we really are is born of our proud nature. Much like the Pharisees, we do this by putting a great effort toward an appearance of purity. We hope others will notice our good deeds. We may cloak our actions in a false humility that is designed to attract the attention of others. This approach will never cover our selfish nature, and the impurity of our motives will be visible to the perceptive observer. This hypocrisy is an exhausting pursuit that leaves the soul restless.
Though God knows everything about us, pride motivates us to want others to think we are better than we really are. To overcome this duplicity, we must have a heart change. Perhaps it is not practical to completely disregard what others think of us, but it is vital to our spiritual health to disregard how we appear to others and seek to have a pure heart before God. We must believe that what God thinks of us is more important than any praise or acceptance of man. If we can let go of the perceived expectations of those around us and focus on God’s will and plan for our life, we can have a relationship with our heavenly Father where we seek to “do always those things that please him” (John 8:29).
As young Christians, we may be tempted to believe that there is a level of spirituality that is “good enough” for our youthful years. We may think we will deepen our commitment later, perhaps when we marry. This approach leads to shallowness and carnality and sets the bar of acceptable Christian life low enough to include some worldly entertainment. God wants us to commit ourselves to a humble walk of obedience and service when we are young so it becomes a way of life to obey the voice of the Spirit. We will avoid the cycle of good intentions and failure that defines those who try to live by outward form. From our heart, we will bear the acceptable fruit of righteousness that is pleasing to God and benefits our fellowmen.
Illustration
I gave my heart to God when I was nearly eighteen years of age. Before my conversion, I had been a typical young man in the community. I was not from a Christian home, and I did not know what Christian life consisted of. When I gave my heart to the Lord, a great change took place in my life. I felt clean inside, and I knew my life was acceptable to God.
As life went on, Satan began to nag me with the thought, “Was I truly saved if I still had flaws?” I knew that perfection was impossible, yet I began to believe that I must at least appear to be perfect in order to be accepted by the church. In allowing myself to be deceived in this way, I rejected the only thing that could make my heart perfect before God: the blood of Jesus.
I was soon trapped in a web of spiritual bondage; I tried to live above reproach and harshly castigated myself at any failing. My heart became hard, and eventually I was dominated by a spirit of self-righteousness. I began to trust in my actions alone to correct my failings. I relied on a false humility and other outward displays to prove my purity to my brethren. Soon this became like the ritual hand washing of the scribes and Pharisees. It was an appearance of cleanliness, but I was miserable, and my heart was filthy.
Ultimately, I failed. The evil spirits in my heart produced fruit, and I committed sins that could not be covered. When my condition was revealed, my façade of perfection was shattered. Then I also became aware that Jesus and the brethren still loved me despite my failings.
In a broken spirit I committed myself to prayer. The Lord had mercy on me, gently showing me that I could never be clean, or even appear to be clean, if it were not for the blood of Christ. As I repented of my sin and accepted this simple truth, I found a deep peace and rest that had eluded me for many years.
May we never take for granted the liberty that comes when our heart is truly clean.
Questions
- How are spiritual legalism and the fear of man related?
- Is it ever spiritually beneficial to consider what others think of us?
- Why are we tempted to only clean the outside when we know the joy of having a clean heart?
- Unsubscribe
Source: COGICM Daily Bible Readings (Daily Bible Readings, PO Box 124, Glenn, CA 95943).