Clean
Luke 11:38 “And when the Pharisee saw it, he marvelled that he had not first owashed before ndinner.”[1]
I. External
A. Inspection
B. Rejection
II. Internal
A. Ingestion
B. Digestion
III. Eternal
A. Reception
B. Exception
Introduction: Is it wrong when you tell children to wash their hands before they eat? What if they had already washed their hands? Is it OK then or is it over-control? If the kid is like me you probably just know that just because he said he did doesn’t mean that he washed. Who knows what a kid might do. He might even try to use an eraser to clean away that which he doesn’t care to hear. Ask Jerry and Karen about that one after service.
We who pray openly in public places before we eat do not pray so that others can see. At least I want that to be true. If you are ones who pray before you eat, what is your reason?
People seem offended because our generation has been brainwashed into thinking that outward observances of faith should be avoided. Keep your religion to yourself and I will keep my politics to myself! That seems to be the imposed rule of the time. It has got to change.
Praying before we eat started out with us many years ago as a rather uncomfortable thing. It made me self-conscious. After the fact I would feel people looking at me and I wondered what they were thinking. Finally I decided that if someone were to be offended at what I do I would rather that I not offend God even if what I did offended others. Someone is going to be offended at what you do regardless.
Revelation 2:7 “pHe that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; qTo him that overcometh will I give to eat of rthe tree of life, which is in the midst of sthe paradise of God.” [2] When you do things not to please the sheep but to please the shepherd the sheep will be offended. People get comfortable in their madness. When someone comes along trying to bring back sanity and reminds that what is going on is madness, those who are in control of propagating the madness get upset.
I see it more and more each day. Unless more people question craziness Christianity here will continue to be put down until we become the underground church that exists in many other parts of the world. And it is inevitable! Before Jesus returns to take His bride home this world is headed more and more towards unity of purpose of hatred in whatever God wants us to enjoy.
Pastors are preaching yet ears are closing. Congregations are hearing but when the message is over and the world takes over the church members are falling in line with what they are being brainwashed into believing is the “right thing to do.”
Today we will examine an instance when Jesus accepted an invitation that turned out to be an opportunity to show his divisive behavior towards a thing that had become a ritual when it had no plausible reason to be,
Scripture: The scripture today is Luke 11:38. Please stand if you can for the reading of God’s Word.
Prayer: Please be seated.
Message: Listen as we hear from Jesus in Luke 11:33-36. It is amazing to watch people. The things that we know which please The Creator are the things that we are being told to do in the dark. For a while people would ask, even including my doctor, when do you think you might reopen the church to accept the congregation. Every time my answer seems to shock folks. You never stopped? It is almost like they are looking at an idiot. OK, I’m an idiot to many. Jesus said don’t hide the truth which is Jesus and I’m not hiding behind a veil.
The Pharisee that day really did not want Jesus to tell the truth. Let’s hear verse 37- 38. The Pharisee invited Jesus for supper. Was he sincere or was he only trying to find fault with Jesus? The Pharisee might have been sincere but was so programmed by culture that the only thing that he saw was that Jesus didn’t openly wash his hands before he began to eat.
In the preceding scripture, Jesus had been speaking about letting people see what and who you are. The Pharisee only saw that Jesus did not follow accepted protocol. The Pharisee did an external inspection of Jesus the Man and rejected Him because of what he saw.
When we meet rejection because we refuse to admit that those who govern us are wrong, we better be ready to defend our actions before Jesus at His judgment seat. Let nobody fool you, there will be rejection. Friends will not look at you the same once you finally decide for Jesus. The message from Jesus is clear here. When you are met with rejection let your light shine. Do not hide His light under a lampshade. We are here to be seen that we are different!
I pray that everybody finally realizes that what was done at the beginning of this outbreak did not help to lessen the spread of disease but in fact only kept people from becoming more resilient against it. We still are not testing many for natural immunity. It’s like the medical community doesn’t want to know who is immune and who might catch the virus. If I’m clean I’m clean. There is a test to know that but it’s easier to scare than to tell the truth.
The other day we went to a store in Cary where there is a mask ordinance. You don’t need to hear from me again that I use masks when masks are necessary. My patience has run out with this sheep thing. I refused to go into the store because it makes no scientific sense to me as one trained to teach respiratory prevention. After all the rule changes, people are still following along with whatever they are told to do. Frankly I have had enough. So my wife put on her mask and went shopping while I stayed outside. I’ll hear about that one day. Some things are important enough to fight over. Some things are just plain stupid and not worth the fight.
Perhaps that day with that Pharisee Jesus saw an opportunity to illustrate a point. Be who God made you and not what the world wants you to be.
Let’s read on from Luke 11:39-42. We look at the outside but pay no attention to what is going on inside. Jesus’ point of the outside of the platter and the cup seems pretty straight forward. Why would you wash the outside of your cup and leave crud on the inside. If you use it again that crud is still there. The inside is more important to have clean isn’t it?
In verse forty one Jesus even talked about the food and that if God made it then it’s OK for ingestion. That’s not to say that everything is good but it is to say that what God gives us to be ingested is good. If you eat poison chances are it isn’t good for you. Yet here I stand taking medicine that is zapping the strength from me. If He allows it for my good then I must be patient and not judgmental as I wait for His cure.
The stuff that comes out of me through the process of digestion is what becomes dirt. Literally I don’t put dirt in and yet dirt comes out. Figuratively and spiritually Jesus tells us that what God gives us is not bad. When we take it in and change it so that filth and hatred come out of us, that is on us and not His intention.
We try to make amends by giving back something that is less precious than what He gives. The Pharisees made their offering of things that were of little value. They figured as long as they made an offering that they were free to judge even Jesus for not washing His hands.
Do ya’ll do that? I do! Lord help me I do. I hear of people in need and the first thing I try to learn is not what they need but how did they get where they are. We have got to make sure we tithe! The other stuff will work itself out but we have got to tithe. Jesus said no!
Jesus was not saying that tithing is unimportant. Read it again! What Jesus was saying is if you are going to hold something back you better not hold back the love of God. Until this point Jesus was speaking of temporal things; those things that affect you here in this temporary life. Now He switches to the real thing.
The love of God is eternal! Jesus did not do anything unless there was a lesson to be learned. He is Rabbi. He is teacher. Why did I not just put on my mask the other day and go into the store? Did it help anyone to learn a lesson? No! It was because I am tired of doing something that I think is stupid and I’ve had enough. Jesus didn’t have enough until he had expended all that He had on the cross for me. His motive for not washing his hands was to teach love.
Prayer:
Invitation: This is what the apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 13:1-3. “Though I speak with athe tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or ba tinkling cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of cprophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all dknowledge; and though I have all efaith, fso that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. 3 And gthough I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.” [3]
We are here for such a short time. I don’t know about you but I am getting more tired of the mess that this planet is in with each breath that I take. He continues to give the breaths and the stuff is still coming and the people are still blindly following the culture of the day.
If all that I can do is stand here and talk the words that God gives me without loving all of you and those outside who are lost I am spinning my wheels. If all that we can do in here is to talk and discern what the messages of the Bible are so that we know more yet we could care less about those in need, this is all a waste of time. If we learn the mysteries of space so that we think we might find a place to leave this place where God has placed us and we don’t care about loving those who are here and near, what a mess that is.
Finally Paul said that if we work ourselves to death and have not learned how to love those we are left here to care for, we are missing what God counts as the most valuable gift of all. We are to love even when others are watching and waiting for us to fall on our faces. That is the love of God. We are to warn others and serve to remind them that there is nobody else than God who can love enough to take care of that which He created and yet He left us with the greatest responsibility of all to love each other regardless.
If you feel clean and are comfortable with where you are in loving those who could care less about you then I suggest that you simply sing this last song and leave without letting Him have any effect on you today. Otherwise the invitation is to pray that God will clean away the things that you think are so important so that you can show His love. Can you do that as we sing…
o Mark 7:3, 4.
n See Matt. 22:4.
[1] The Holy Bible: King James Version. (2009). (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Lk 11:38). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
p ver. 11, 17, 29. ch. 3:6, 13, 22. & 13:9. See Matt. 11:15.
q ver. 17. So ver. 11, 26. ch. 3:5, 12, 21. & 21:7.
r Gen. 2:9. ch. 22:2, 14. 2 Esdr. 2:12. & 8:52. So Ecclus. 19:19. See Prov. 3:18.
s 2 Esdr. 7:53. See Luke 23:43. Comp. Ezek. 28:13.
[2] The Holy Bible: King James Version. (2009). (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., Re 2:6–7). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
a See Acts 2:4.
b So Ps. 150:5 (Gk.).
c See Acts 2:18. Comp. Matt. 7:22.
d See ch. 12:8.
e ch. 12:9.
f See Matt. 17:20.
g Comp. Matt. 6:1, 2.
[3] The Holy Bible: King James Version. (2009). (Electronic Edition of the 1900 Authorized Version., 1 Co 13:1–3). Bellingham, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
