Today's Reading - Matthew 15:1-39, Mark 7:1-8:9
Background
The battle escalates.
Jesus' ministry has moved into phase 2. The early Galilean ministry was one blessing after another - miracles, popularity, crowds, adulation. But as we saw yesterday, Jesus' teachings began to drive people away, slowly but surely. He did not back off, not even a little.
In today's readings, we see the key battle in Jesus' life escalating. The religious leaders were jealous of his popularity and determined to maintain their own power. They challenged Jesus, perhaps seeing the tide of his popularity beginning to turn. Jesus pulled no punches with them, calling them hypocrites and telling them (Matthew 15:8, Mark 7:6) that their hearts were far from God and all they were giving God was lip service.
Matthew tells how the disciples sidled up to him and whispered in his ear that the words had hurt the religionists' feelings. Jesus refused to back off but confronted again the pharisaical tendency to focus on legalistic righteousness and external things instead of the heart.
Devotional - Lip Service to Jesus
Have you seen that t-shirt? Or perhaps you have seen it in a Facebook status. People today are quick to announce their loyalty to Christ, or at least that they think Jesus is cool. Can you remember back to children and youth camps when someone started a chant on one side of the cafeteria to be mimicked on the other side. "We love Jesus, yes we do. We love Jesus, how 'bout you?"
It is great for those who are followers of Jesus to announce their love for him in any way they can. But in Matthew 15:8 Jesus quotes the prophet Isaiah as he analyzes the spiritual standing of the people of Israel.
"These people honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me."In context, this refers to people who give preferences to the traditions of man over the actual commands of God - Jesus was confronting the dead religion of the Pharisees. But there is a universal principle at work behind this instance. God is more concerned with our inner devotion to him that our outward words.
It is great to honor Christ with our tongues, to sing his praise, to proclaim his goodness, but that is not enough. We must honor him with more than just our lips. He demands that we honor him with our hearts.
Frankly, it is a lot easier for me to SAY I love Jesus than it is to truly love him with a pure and unadulterated devotion. It is easy to sing praises with my voice than it is with my heart. But God is never impressed with empty words that come from impure hearts.
True spiritual change, true spiritual growth; it comes from a work of Jesus that begins on the inside. The process is spelled out in Romans 12:1-2.
God is at work to transform us. He doesn't just want to help us break a few habits, go to church a little more or be a nicer person. He wants to radically change us, to make us like Jesus Christ. He wants to break the hold of sin and cause the righteousness of Christ that has been given to us through the work of Christ in our hearts to be displayed in our lives daily.
He does that through the "renewing of (our) minds." It's not about behavior modification, but about changing the way we think, the way our minds work. How do our minds change? The most important aspect there is the inculcation of the Word of God into our sinful minds.
The Spirit of God uses the Word of God to do the Work of God in the People of God.So, when the Spirit of God takes the Word that we read and study, and renews our minds to be like Christ's, then we are changed, no longer conforming to the ways of the world, but being transformed to be like Christ.
There is nothing easy about the process, but it is not a mystery either. Get into the Word of God and seek him in prayer. As you do that, over time, God will bring changes to your thinking that will transform the way you live.
Father, keep me in your word, that your Spirit might remove the lies of the evil one from my thought process and replace it with your truth. Make me more like Jesus every day, so that I will praise you not just with words, but with a pure heart!
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