Today, I want to begin with some words from Jesus. And if you're not a particularly religious person, or if you're not a Christian, or maybe you used to be and you've kind of you're kind of done with that. You're going to like this. You're going to love this. In fact, if you're not a religious person, and maybe you had you've had trouble with the church in the past.
You might like this too much. You might love this too much. And honestly, these words from Jesus make me a little bit nervous because, he was directing them at the first century version of me, the first century version of what? Of what I do. He may have me in his sights. And in this rant, I don't know anything else out of the way to call it like a Jesus rant.He actually coined the phrase that you have used before, and you have quoted Jesus without knowing you were quoting Jesus. He originates this statement that honestly, we use all the time referring to religious leaders. Then I'm going to read the whole rant. Not all of I'm going to read a bunch of it to you, but in the middle of it, he he makes this this comment.
He says, do not do what they do. And then here it is. You wondered where this came from. You thought this was this. This is original and Jesus do not do what they do. Talking about religiously, they do not practice what they preach. So if you've ever said you're not practicing what you preach or he doesn't practice what he preaches, that actually came from Jesus.
And the Greek text is shorter and pithy. And I kind of love this. When I looked it up, I thought, this is what we should say. Here's what it says in Greek. For they say and do not for they say. So Jesus, had just finished going around or two with the religious leaders.
They were kind of his perennial enemies for lots of reasons. He made them look bad. And so he, he's at this point in the, in this his ministry, he is fed up with their hypocrisy. And specifically the reason he's ed up with their hypocrisy is their hypocrisy. Position them to actually harm the people they were supposed to be shepherding, harming the people they were responsible for.
And he just he just the thing that made Jesus just irritate. Only thing that really irritated him consistently was when people were mis treated. So he's sick and tired of these religious leaders hurting the people. And so he just unloads and he uses a word that we don't use. But maybe we should because this first word is like, get ready, here it comes, ready.
Here's here's here's Jesus. If you're not religious person or Christian person, you just you you gotta love Jesus. Here's what he says. Woe to you. We don't do that. And that's like, whoa. Like if you're a teacher in the classroom and your students are misbehaving, you start with, woe to you, students. It's kind of like a Gandalf thing anyway, so woe to you teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrite.
It's this, you know, you clean the outside of the cup and dish and now he's related to talking about something we can all relate to. You got your coffee mug. You know, you walk over to the sink, you don't clean the outside, you clean theinside. Yeah, not a trick question. You clean the outside of the cup.
And this, in other words, he says, you look good on the outside, you hypocrites, because. But on the inside, you are full of greed and self-indulgence. What's going on? On the inside, he's saying to them, does not match what we see on the outside. What's on the inside doesn't match your performance. And this is Jesus way of saying, gentlemen, I see right through you. And then he commands, this was so offensive t o them.
He gives the purveyors of the commandments a command. I mean, these are these were the people who taught the commandments. And Jesus gives them a command. He looks at them and he says, clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside will also be clean. In other words, you're gonna you're going about it all wrong.
You look good on the outside, but on the inside you are not clean. You need to focus on what's going on on the inside because you've got it out. You've got things out of order. And if you do, if you clean what's on the inside, then the outside, then the outside will also be clean. What's he talking about?
Well, then he switches images. Now we're all good with dishes and coffee cups. We understand what he's talking about. Now he switches to something that we're not as familiar with, so it takes a little explaining. He switches to two rooms. He says this. Whoa. One more. Whoa, whoa. Do you teachers of the law of Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like, this was so.I mean, he keeps going, takes him lower and lower and lower. Lower. It takes him all the way down the bottom is we're going to see in a minute. He did this on purpose. You're like whitewashed tombs. Now, here's what he's talking about. In fact, if you visit that part of the world today, you can actually see these wealthy people would build, a tomb.They would actually build a building or carve a little building into the side of the hills, into the side of the mountains and the mountains where there's this white rock. And they would build these little houses that they would put their ossuary in or their bones. It's where they would be buried. And they were like little buildings. And then they would plaster them in white.So when the sun came up or when the sun reflected on them, they just they were they were beautiful. I mean, people would you would view them from the outside like, wow, that's beautiful. He's like, that's what you're like. You are like a whitewashed tomb. You are elaborate on the outside. You look beautiful. On the outside, you reflect the sun on the outside, he says.
You worry you teachers of law and Pharisees, you hypocrites. You're like whitewashed tomb which look beautiful on the outside. Down. What do you says next? I'm going to try to be careful. But he is extreme, he says, but on the inside you are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean are English versions of the Bible.
Clean this up appropriately. Is this word. This is Jesus way of saying you are full of…. That's what he's saying. And they're like, whoa, whoa, whoa. And when they listen, he's saying you. Not only are you, what they heard is you areunfit to approach the temple, much less work. They're much less teach. They're much less serve. There you are ceremonially unclean.
You are full on the inside. You are full of the worst kind of filth on the outside. On the outside, you appear to the people as righteous, but on the inside then you are full of hypocrisy. And now he takes another dig and lawlessness. I know, Mia, I'm not, you know, he takes these two words is an anti law.
You are law breakers. This is so offensive because they control Torah, they teach tours, they tell people how to apply Torah. And he's like, hey, you're responsible for teaching Torah and you are lawless. You are law breakers. You so- called keepers and teachers of the law are the law breakers. And then he takes them down another notch. You snakes.
That's as low as you go right there, right? You snakes. You are the lowest of the low. And of course, in the book of Genesis, a snake is a cursed animal. You are an animal cursed by God. And then he goes even lower. You brood of snakes! You brood of vipers! What are you saying? Is this that your teachers, your teachers were snakes and you're reproducing more snakes.
You're reproducing more people just like you. I mean. You wonder why they wanted to get rid of Jesus. Nobody talk to these people like this. Nobody. And the crowd went wild.
They loved this. They loved Jesus for this because he said what they were thinking. Not only could he see through them, he spoke what he could see and they could see through them as well.
But they were afraid. They feared saying what they thought because the religious leaders had the power to I'm making this word up. They would ex-temple-ate you instead of excommunicate you. They would ex-temple-ate you, which meant you couldn't participate in sacrifice. You couldn't approach the temple, which meant you would be always out of favor with God. If you're familiar with some of Jesus parables, he talks about being cast into the outer darkness. Andthat's what.
That's what? That myth. That's why he used that phraseology to be in the outer darkness, was to stand outside the blessedness of the people who were in and sync with God, and to be on the outside looking in and wishing, oh, I wish I could be in that inner circle with the people who were blessed by God. And Jesus was clear.
You Pharisees who threaten people with that, that's what you're going to experience unless something changes. He was so clear. It was the religious leaders who should have feared for their souls. Now that brings us to us. Aren't you glad you're not like those Pharisees? I mean, that's brutal. Snakes. whitewashed tomb full of…, you know, your coffee cup.
You know, you clean the outside, but the inside you know, it's it's terrible. Look up here a second, aren't you glad you're not like this? Religious leaders and you're not, are you? I mean, isn't it safe to assume that you, you spend time every morning working on your inside like you do, getting ready so people see what's outside, that you spend time every morning checking your heart and your mind in the mirror, steaming the wrinkles out of your motives, flossing your soul. Don't you do that now. And thought about that much?
Not sure that's so important is something to think about because according to Jesus, and if you're a Jesus follower, if he's your king, if you're not a Christian, you just pick and choose what you want to do with any of this stuff. But if you're a Jesus follower, if we're trying to be Jesus followers, Jesus according to Jesus, this is a command.
This is a command. This is an a hey, if you want extra credit, he says to you and he says to me, it's very convicting to me first. First like first thing, like first thing in the morning, maybe first. Clean the inside of the cup in the dish. To which we say, if you know, if we're talking back, which you don't really talk back to Jesus, but if you are, you say, well, but Jesus, I mean, I can see why that might be important, but nobody sees what's on the inside.Jesus. It's like Vegas. What happens on the inside stays on the inside. So I understand that, you know, I should probably pay attention to what's going on on the inside of me. But nobody sees what's on the inside of me. And look at, you know, as long as I look good on the outside, I think that's enough. And I think if we said that to Jesus, he would smile and he would say, you sure about that?And then I think he would repeat himself --first clean the inside of the cup and the dish. And then this is a promise. By the way, if you're married, this is so important. If you're thinking about getting married, if you want to be married someday, if you want your future to reflect what you imagine your future could be, this is so important, he said.
If you clean up what's going on on the inside, here's a promise. And then the outside will also be clean.
Let me illustrate it this way. The person who hurt you the most, I hate to bring that up. Betrayed you, stole your idea at work. In fact, you don't even work there anymore because the people lied about you or made stuff up. Maybe an ex, and maybe a parent who just walked out and left. The person. The person that hurt you the most?
Don't you wish they'd pay closer attention to what was going on on the inside before it leaked on you? I have a hunch. Just guessing for somebody here today. For somebody watching, there is someone in the world today. Perhaps they're even praying this for you. There is someone in the world who hopes that you will start paying close attention to what's going on inside of you, because the only person that can do anything about what's going on inside of you, is you.
So today, as I mentioned earlier, we are wrapping up this series that I've enjoyed so much the responsible and responsible and responsible. And this is an invitation, this whole series, as we wrap it up, if you haven't been with us or if you've missed the first three parts, this is an invitation to join. And the elite group of citizens, of husbands and wives, of students, of college students of seniors, of, you know, brothers and sisters, an elite group of people who have decided I'm going to take responsibility for my life.
And throughout the series, I challenge you with this question. Am I taking responsibility for my life? Am I taking responsibility for my life? Are you actually taking responsibility for what you're responsible for? Your actions, your reactions? We've talked about our past obligations. We've talked about our future obligations, our attitudes, our responses again, our actions and our reactions. Are you taking full responsibility for what you're responsible for?
And we've said throughout the series, the primary reason this is such a big deal is that ultimately, your irresponsibility and my irresponsibility becomes somebody else's responsibility.
So in week number two, we look back and ask the question, hey, there's some and is there some unfinished business in the past? So I left somebody with a mess. I need to go back and address. Then last week we looked into the future and said, are there things I'm doing now that are setting someone up to have to clean up what I am messing up because of my financial responsibility?
The fact that I'm ignoring my health, the fact that I'm ignoring key relationships, are there things I need to take responsibility for now as I prepare for the future? And then today, as I've already indicated, we're going to look within. So I have a new version of our question. Am I taking responsibility for the me? Nobody can see?
Am I taking responsibility for the me that nobody sees? Am I taking responsibility for the me nobody can see am I? This is very convicting. One of the reasons I love to work ahead on messages is that they kind of sit on my shoulders and sit on my conscience for weeks. Am I taking responsibility for the me? What's going on in here?
What's going on in here that nobody can see? Are you taking responsibility for the you that nobody can see and shouldn't you? And the reason you should is you don't want to be a hypocrite, because you certainly expect him to take responsibility for what's going on inside of him, so it doesn't leak out on you. And you are hoping that she's going to take responsibility for what's going on inside of her.
So what's going on inside of her doesn't leak out on you or on one of your children? I mean, we all want people to manage their inner life in such a way that their outer life reflects something good. Then shouldn't I ask this question? Am I taking responsibility for the me that nobody can see? So I know this is kind of weird, but.
So let me ask you a few questions. What's what's going on in there? What's going on in there? What? What are you thinking about? What? What do you try not to think about? What are you worried about? What should you, in a proper context, be more worried about or more concerned about? But you're so distracted by some things that you know aren't all the important and you're ignoring the things or what's what's what's going on in there?
What what what are you considering? What are you secretly planning? What are you avoiding? What are you craving? Borrow from Jesus? I know this is kind of convicting, kind of complicated, but it's so important to. To borrow from Jesus. You look great on the outside. What about the inside? And imagine this. What if you. Or even better, what if all of us?
Or what if every Jesus follower. What? What if we took Jesus command to heart? What if? Imagine this what if the first thing, what is the first thing every single morning? What if the first thing every single morning you did and we did an internal audit, an internal inventory where we spent some time recentering our soul and renewing our minds and being honest with our king, and honestly honest with our heavenly Father about what's going on on the inside, the good and the bad.
What if every single morning you got up and you cleared your conscience with your king, and then invited your king to show you who else you needed to talk to to clear your conscience. If you do that, here's a promise from Jesus this, this, this is a promise. And then he says, the outside will also be clean. And when he talks about the outside being clean inthis context, he's not talking about your face and your hair and your clothes.
He's talking about your life. He's talking about your actions and your reactions and your your character. When we get this right, you know what happens. And some of you, you've experienced this because you've been a Christian for a while or you just became a Christian and you're just grow and grow and grow and you just can't get enough.
You know what happens when we do this? And this is why Jesus emphasizes, you will begin to close the gap. If there's a gap, you'll begin to close the gap between who you present yourself to be, who you appear to be, and who you actually are. That fun fact? Actually, it's not even that fun. But anyway, here's here's something else this rant that Jesus went on with the religious leaders.
That's not the first time he talked about this. Earlier in his ministry, he actually covered the same territory. But in a much more polite tone, with just average people. Just people like us. In other words, if Jesus were to come in here and kind of give us that same spiel, it would it would sound a little bit different than he sounded when he was going after the Pharisees and the teachers of the law.
Here's here's the other version of that, that same talk or that same content. Here's what would happen. Tax tells us. Mark tells us that Jesus called him Mark, by the way. He got his information from Peter, who was an eyewitness to all of this.
Jesus called the crowd to him, and he said to the crowd, the crowds like us normal people. And he said to the crowd, everyone who said, listen to me, everyone. And then this is kind of a weird command and understand this, which is kind of weird. Understand? You know, if you're a teacher, don't try that in the classroom.
Understand? Oh, I got it. I didn't got it, he said, I understand it, but he doesn't. So what is he getting at? Here's what he's getting at. This is important. The implication is, look, don't be deceived and don't deceive yourself. Don't be deceived and don't deceive yourself. This is easy to miss. So they're leaning in like, okay, I think this is going to be a bit complicated.
And now he says now he kind of gives us the scoop. He says it is from within, out of a person's heart or mind, the center of our internal being. These words are interchangeable in the New Testament terminology. It is from within and out of a person's heart that evil thoughts come that is unhealthy, thoughts that become unhealthy behaviors, unhealthy thoughts that become potentially destructive, behaviors that wreak havoc on the people who report to us, live with us, that depend on us, the people we say that we love, he says.
All of all of those behaviors, all of that outside behavior, it actually originates from or comes from within us. And then he lists what originates from within us. And here's here's this list. It's from within, out of a person's heart that evil thoughts come. And here's the behaviors sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice. To see these, this whole list lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and bad judgment.
He's like all that stuff that you despise and other people, all those things you don't want your children to embrace. All those things that as a result of other people embracing some of this, ultimately hurt you at work or in your relationship or in your marriage, he says. Do you realize all of those things started in here for those people?
And in the same way, whatever's going on in here for you has the potential to emanate and become something like this or begin to look like this in the real world. All of these evils, he says. All of those evils come from inside, and they defile a person. And by defile, this is a religious term for their context.
This is these evils actually separate them from God. And the reason they separate people from God is because theyseparate people from people. And when you get separated from people God loves, and when you do things that hurt the people that God loves, you're separated from God. As I've said a thousand times, if you hurt one of my children, don't invite me to lunch.
You got to go make things right with my child first. And this is how your Heavenly Father feels about you and every single person you know. So let me ask you another kind of silly question. Rhetorical question. Have you have you ever hurt someone or damaged a relationship because you didn't spend enough time looking in the mirror in the morning?
No. Me neither. We I mean, look at you. We have mastered the mirror, and they were so good in the mirror. Do you know how long you look in the mirror in the morning? I know exactly how long you look in the mirror in the morning. As long as it takes. You don't leave until you're just right. Hopefully.
Right. We have. We have mastered the outside of the cup. All of us. That's not our problem. But what's in here? What's in here? Is ultimately determinative of what happens out here because it doesn't stay in here. You know this. We all leak our behavior ultimately reflects the condition of our hearts. So again, just one more time there.
We're done. What if we took Jesus command to heart? And what if tomorrow, beginning tomorrow, what if first thing, first thing every morning we took responsibility for the me that nobody can see. What if you took an internal inventory recentered your soul.
I've taught you how I do this. You can do it your own way. I just work my way through the Lord's Prayer with some rabbit trails along the way. My father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your God. I can't argue with you, your God. There's just one response to God is yes, your God. There's just one response to you this morning I surrender.
I mean, how foolish not to surrender. Here's everything I own, everything I am, and for me know what I do. I think through my day I'm going to see so-and-so. I'm going to meet with so-and-so. We're going to have a meeting. Heavenly father, as a leader, I want to be humble like you're my is humble. I want to listen.
I don't want to push back. I want to honor other people. Heavenly father, I want you to be the king of my heart and my life. And I want my life today to reflect what you want for the people I'm going to be around for Sandra, for my kids, if I get to see them today, I just I and then, you know, as part of the Lord's Prayer, your will be done and reveal anything in me that's not part of your will.
I want to deal with that. If it's contrary to your will, I. I want to know you're at the end of the Lord's Prayer. Thy kingdom come. You know what that means? And we talk about, you know, we talk about this all the time is Heavenly father, I have been invited to follow a king, and I. I don't want to be on the outside looking in.
I want to participate in your kingdom. Your kingdom come. Your will be done. Remember how it says on earth. Thatmeans your kingdom come, your will be done. In my life, on my earth, in my circumstances, just as it is in heaven. And if there's anything in me that needs to be dealt with, I want to see it.
And if I can't get it just this morning, if somebody else mentions it, I just give me the grace not to resist and to push back, but to say tell me more, tell me more. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done. On earth as it is in heaven. And then open your Bible. find a Gospel of John and just say, I want to follow your. I want to follow my King through the gospel. Renew your mind, clear your conscience re surrender to your King. And if you do, this is a promise. If you do, the new inside of you will eventually be reflected through you.
This is a promise. And then the outside will also be clean. You. You'll begin to close the gaps between who you appear to be and who you really are on the inside. So I just want us to ask one more time as we wrap up this message and as we wrap up this series, am I taking responsibility for the Me nobody can see?
So let's do this. . Let's start this. Let's be the most responsible people people have ever met. Let's join the ranks of the superheroes, the responsible. Let's take full responsibility for our lives, our past, our futures, our hearts and minds and motives. Because that's what love looks like. And that's what following Jesus acts like.
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