Washed, but Not Clean, Part Two

Luke 11:37-54

^37 When Jesus had finished speaking, a Pharisee invited him to eat with him; so he went in and reclined at the table. ^38 But the Pharisee, noticing that Jesus did not first wash before the meal, was surprised.

^39 Then the Lord said to him, “Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. ^40 You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? ^41 But give what is inside the dish^a to the poor, and everything will be clean for you.

^42 “Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone.

^43 “Woe to you Pharisees, because you love the most important seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces.

^44 “Woe to you, because you are like unmarked graves, which men walk over without knowing it.”

^45 One of the experts in the law answered him, “Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us also.”

^46 Jesus replied, “And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them.

^47 “Woe to you, because you build tombs for the prophets, and it was your forefathers who killed them. ^48 So you testify that you approve of what your forefathers did; they killed the prophets, and you build their tombs. ^49 Because of this, God in his wisdom said, ‘I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and others they will persecute.’ ^50 Therefore this generation will be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the beginning of the world, ^51 from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, this generation will be held responsible for it all.

^52 “Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering.”

^53 When Jesus left there, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law began to oppose him fiercely and to besiege him with questions, ^54 waiting to catch him in something he might say.

Dishwashers are a wonderful invention which saves lots of time. But once in a while my dishwasher plays a little trick on me. I will be putting away one of our white dishes, which looks sparkling clean, and just before it finds a safe haven with the other clean bowls, I notice the inside of the bowl is crusted with dried food. And you can’t put this back in the dishwasher again because the food is heat-dried onto the bowl and requires a long soak in hot water. But it looked so clean from the outside. It was sparkling white and I assumed that the inside looked as good as the outside.

This is one of the chief problems with Christianity, isn’t it? We become experts at looking good on the outside. To others, we look sparkling clean, but they can’t see the dried crud stuck to our inner being. To put it in Jesus’ context, we are Pharisees. We are hypocrites, and if you don’t like being called a hypocrite, it can only mean that you are a hypocrite and you don’t even know it. It’s OK to admit our hypocrisy because it is part of our sinful nature. There will always be a remnant of hypocrisy in us as long as we live in these earthly tents of ours. The question is not whether we are hypocrites, but “what is our level of hypocrisy?”

If you are uncertain of your level of hypocrisy, Jesus will help flush out the answer through his remaining five woes. Woe #2, ^43 “Woe to you Pharisees, because you love the most important seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. Hypocrites like to be recognized for who they are and what they do. In Jesus’ day, you didn’t just wave to a passing Pharisee. The common response was to stand and gloat over them with long titles and words of praise. This is one of the reasons I never use the title of “Reverend”. The title means “to revere” and I don’t think I deserve any more respect or reverence that anyone else. Some clergy carry the strange title of “Right Reverend” or “Most Reverend”. Yuck! I can’t imagine using such a title. I don’t even care for the title of “Pastor” because it carries a similar connotation of being set apart. I understand if you want your children to address me this way or if it is more comfortable for you, but in general I like to be called by my first name.

There are many ways of bringing recognition to yourself. Have you heard of all of the celebrities who announced their large donations to the media? Oprah gave so many millions, John Grisham gave 5 million. I even heard of one football player who was going to give $100 for every yard he gained in the upcoming game. Wouldn’t it be better if they just kept this to themselves? The only reason I can see for announcing their financial gifts is to draw attention to themselves.

People like titles and the perceived benefits that come with titles. For example, I heard a story of a senior pastor who harshly rebuked another staff member because he thought his authority was being challenged. This man was the “Senior Pastor” and thought he was somehow above any hint of questioning or criticism. Jesus didn’t use a title, did he? He didn’t need a title or man-made authority. He did not receive eloquent greetings in the marketplace, but children ran to him with joy. He did not sit at the preferred place for meals, but former prostitutes worshipped at his feet.

Woe #3 from v. 44, ^44 “Woe to you, because you are like unmarked graves, which men walk over without knowing it.” If you touched human bones or even walked over a grave, according to the law, you became ceremonially defiled. The Pharisees avoided this possibility at all cost, but they failed to see how they were not only defiled, but were actually a source of defilement. Had Jesus said that they were defiled and were not aware of it, that would have been bad enough. These men thought they were untouched by sin and would have been repulsed at the thought of being defiled. But Jesus said something far harsher than this. He told them they were like unmarked graves, meaning they were actually a source of defilement. It’s bad enough if you were defiled, but it was far worse to be a source of defilement. Their moral character was equivalent to decaying bones. This was not exactly the type of greeting they were expecting to receive!

We can understand the accusation against the Pharisees, but how are we guilty of defiling those around us with our hypocrisy? We defile them by driving them away from Christ. As believers, we are ambassadors for Christ. Most people we meet will get the clearest picture of Jesus through our actions and attitudes toward them. Have you ever heard someone say, “If that person represents Christianity, then I don’t want anything to do with it!” God does not expect us to be perfect. If perfection was possible, then the Law would have been sufficient, the Pharisees would have been the most righteous people and there would have been no reason for the cross. Imperfection does not equal hypocrisy, but pretending you are without fault is hypocrisy. Can I demonstrate some of the most powerful words that you could ever utter? Here is it: “I am sorry”. Let’s suppose you spoke some mildly harsh words to a co-worker recently. What is that person thinking about you? Maybe they went home and told their spouse how you treated them that day. They know you are a Christian and you have not given them a very pretty picture of Christ. Now what will happen if you utter those three magic words to them tomorrow? I can almost guarantee you that your apology will mean do far more good than your harsh words did evil.

A few weeks ago my friend Cory Passehl shared some of his missionary stories with us. That morning he related another story to me. He told me about how he had stole some money from his employer when he was a teenager and before he became a Christian. In the past few months he did one of the most difficult things in his life. He went to his former boss and told him the whole story. He paid back the money he stole and apologized for stealing. How do you think his former boss reacted? Cory told me that the man was absolutely beside himself. He profusely thanked Cory, told him that he had never seen such a display of honesty and guaranteed him a job at any time. When we pretend and fake being a Christian, we defile people like decaying bones, but simple humility and honesty can lead others closer to Christ.

This principle is perhaps more true in the home than anywhere else. As parents, we lay down external rules to guide the external behavior of our children. We have high expectations for our children and we want their behavior to match our standards, but we often forget that they can readily see the difference between our standards and our behavior. Children can sniff out hypocrisy faster than a drug-sniffing police dog can find a stash of cocaine. They may not call it hypocrisy, they make never accuse us of being fake Christians, but it affects them in deeper ways.

I have a friend who graduated from Moody Bible School and he told me how he used to smoke marijuana with his roommate at Moody. I did not know him when he was in college and it surprised me that he had so much rebellion in his past. I also knew that his dad was a pastor, so I asked him how he went from being a pastor’s kid to a pot-smoking Moody student. He explained that he had never had a close relationship with his father and quoted to me the old adage, “Rules without relationships leads to rebellion.” His parents had good, Christian standards in the home, but they were more concerned with external righteousness than with matters of the heart. When he was five and ten years old, he didn’t go around thinking, “My dad is a hypocrite,” but when he was released into the freedom of the college life, these internalized feelings came out in the form of rebellion.

I have been sitting on an ordination council for two years and we always get to hear the testimonies of these pastors who are seeking ordination. It has surprised me that in more than half of the cases, these Godly men went through various levels of rebellion in the late teen and college years. One the one hand it is a relief to see that so many people recover from these years of rebellion and return to the Lord. But on the other hand I wonder why it is so common. There is nothing we can do to guarantee our children will turn out alright. It is foolish to think that our homes are like little people factories and we can just punch the right buttons to get what we want.

Many of you are familiar with Reb Bradley—a former pastor and homeschooling speaker and author. Let me read you a portion of his newsletter. “In the last couple of years, I have heard from multitudes of troubled homeschool parents around the country, a good many of whom were leaders. These parents have graduated their first batch of kids, only to discover that their children didn't turn out the way they thought they would. Many of these children were model homeschoolers while growing up, but sometime after their 18th birthday they began to reveal that they didn’t hold to their parents’ values.

Some of these young people grew up and left home in defiance of their parents. Others got married against their parents' wishes, and still others got involved with drugs, alcohol, and immorality. I have even heard of several exemplary young men who no longer even believe in God. My own adult children have gone through struggles I never guessed they would have faced.  

Most of these parents remain stunned by their children’s choices, because they were fully confident their approach to parenting was going to prevent any such rebellion. Some were especially confident, because as teens these kids were only obedient.  Needless to say, the dreams of these homeschool parents have crashed, and many other parents want to know what they can do to prevent their own children from following the same course?” 

Whether or not you homeschool, the point is the same, we don’t have sovereign control over our kids, but we must not forget the amazing influence we do have over them. What my friend said is so true: rules without relationships leads to rebellion. But the opposite is also true: relationships without rules also leads to rebellion. As parents, we must have the highest of standards. Growth in Christ-like character is our primary goal, but we must also be intensely relational and full of grace and mercy.

This balance of grace and truth is the number one challenge for a family and the most difficult thing for a church as well. Many well-meaning churches started with high standards and quickly denigrated into full-blown legalism. Every week as I consider the challenge laid out in a text, I wonder how I can present the challenge as forcefully as possible without crossing the line into legalism. The best way I know to do this is simply to cling to Christ. Think about it—a legalistic or Pharisaical life is a life without Christ. Pharisees and legalists both think they can please God in their own strength. What was the standard Jesus presented? “Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect” What?! God expects me to be like God? Of course not, that would be idolatry, but the expectation is that we will strive toward holiness and completion, but we do it by clinging to Christ. Abide in Christ and forsake sin in the power of the Holy Spirit. I believe the Bible teaches that we should lay up heavenly rewards, but even these heavenly treasures are gained by clinging to Christ. We cannot accomplish anything of lasting value unless we did it by clinging to Christ.

What are we going to tell the Father when we see him in glory? “Lord, did you see how I raised Godly children? Lord, did you see me—I preached to thousands of people. I led 50 people to Christ in my lifetime. I served in my church more than anyone else.” Is that what you are going to tell him? I think this is what he will want to hear. Lord, I kept my eyes on your son Jesus, the author and perfecter of my faith. I can boast of nothing but Christ.

The first three woes are directly addressed to the Pharisees. My favorite verse in this passage is v. 45, where an expert in the law decided to speak up. ^ One of the experts in the law answered him, “Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us also.” I said last week that the Pharisee that invited Jesus for a meal walked straight into his own trap. If that is true, then this lawyer set his own trap and walked into it. It is almost humorous if you think about it. Of course the reason he was offended was because he did not think any of the accusations were true. His heart was made of Teflon—none of the accusations could stick, they just rolled off his heart. Who me? What wrong have I done? I am innocent. This lawyer had a Teflon heart.

This is a warning for us to not be Teflon Christians. The Lord wants to do regularly perform heart surgery on us to make sure that our hearts beat as one with his. This is called conviction and repentance, but too often when the Lord comes at us with his Holy Spirit scalpel, he finds an impenetrable Teflon heart. And you know what, he won’t try to force his way in. Revelation tells us that Jesus stands outside the door of our hearts and politely asks permission to enter. He is a gentle Master who will not force his way in. But he does want in.

These two men are parables of our lives. The lawyer has a Teflon heart and the Pharisee is just plain clueless. Remember last week, we noticed that he invited Jesus to his house after Jesus soundly condemned him? He just didn’t get it. And that is the way we read our Bibles, if we read our Bibles. We read it like the morning paper. “Oh, look at this, honey. The Philistines are fighting the Israelites again. There goes that wacky Jesus and his sidekick disciples.” Instead, when we read our Bibles, even if we don’t have a preacher interpreting it for us, the word of God ought to cut into our hearts like double-edged sword. As Hebrews says, “Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account” You can pretend to be a Christian in front of others, but God sees through your mask. When we read the word of God, the Lord intends to do business with us. But how many times have you read it and thought, “This would be a good verse for Johnny or Suzy.” No, no, no—this is a good verse for us. God wants to touch our hearts with his truth.

So which man are you most like—the one with the Teflon heart that won’t allow the truth inside, or like the clueless one who thinks that everyone else needs to repent but you? You don’t have to exactly like these men, but all of us are like them to some degree. We are all hypocrites. What is your level of hypocrisy?

Rich Maurer

October 2, 2005