Matthew 23:25-26

"Woe to you, teachers of the Law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!  You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.  Blind Pharisee!  First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean."


Jesus taught that we needed to be washed and cleansed from the inside out.  Greed and self-indulgence are only two things Jesus mentions, but they have a common link.  They both are evidence of selfishness.  The one who is greedy cares only for his own provision and possession and not for others.  Someone who is self-indulgent is focused solely on their own pleasure to the exclusion of those who live in misery.  They turn a blind eye to those who are in poverty and who suffer.  They eat cake and ice cream while starving children want only bread and water.

How detrimental is that old line "I deserve this,  I've earned it, I need to treat myself every once and a while" to receiving grace?  Is $9 spent on a 2 hour movie better spent that 2 hours chatting with a homeless man over a $9 meal?  How can we preach what we do not practice?  What good is it if everyone else believes it but you don't believe it?

Jesus called us to wash the inside of the cup and be justified and sanctified by his blood.  However, he still wants us to wash the outside of the cup too.

Titus 3:14

"Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good, in order that they may provide for daily necessities and not live unproductive lives."


Why should we do good rather than evil if in the end nothing we do is righteous to God and no sin can ever separate us from Christ crucified?  As Paul writes in Titus, there are two very practical reasons among many others.  First that we might provide for daily necessities and secondly not live unproductive lives.

We do good in order to bless others by providing for their basic needs and in return they bless us with gifts of humility and joy.  In addition we receive blessings from God and store up for ourselves treasures in heaven.  In so doing, we live productive lives because we are literally working for that which is eternal and does not rust or decay.  Nothing we do in this life is productive because ultimately everything in this world passes away.  How many ancients civilizations have there been with astounding technology lost forever to time?  No doubt they thought they were being productive at the time, but in the end they are forgotten as if they had never been.

And it all starts with hearts and minds transformed by the Holy Spirit.  So then we give ourselves over to Him so that we may be self-controlled, hospitable, upright, holy, and disciplined so that in every way we will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.

Proverbs 21:2

"All a man's ways seem right to him, but the LORD weighs the heart."


Does any man truly believe that what he does is evil?  Surely if a man thought his actions were wicked he would not do them.  Or perhaps he knows what he ought not to do, but finds some reason to justify his doing it and therein he does what he believes to be right?  Truly no one does what is evil in their own eyes but only what they can justify.

It is no wonder then that we are not fit to judge each other, for each person only does "what is right for them" and what is "right for them" isn't always "right for you".  Hitler told the German people that he wanted to create a supreme race.  Not a bad idea on paper, but we didn't see death camps.

Maybe we would tell him today that he has a right to his beliefs and although we might disagree, we each must only do what we think is right, but that's how wars start: two groups working towards opposite ends each doing what they think is right.

A world of relative morality is chaos.

Only one sovereign over humanity can set order for us.  God is the only one capable of judging us because he can see our hearts. We know God to be righteous fair in his dealings because of the Cross. We trust that he is just in order to be the one who justifies us.

Romans 2:1

"You therefore, have no excuse, you who pass judgment on someone else, for at whatever point you judge the other, you are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things."


Morality which superimposes itself on others is no morality at all.

We as followers of the Way, the Truth, and the Life are called to imitate Christ, but by no means were we ever to use that which we've learned from Christ (kindness, patience, generosity, etc.) in order to turn around and condemn those who do not possess such things.  As Christ-like as you become, you will never be God, you will never have authority to judge someone else, else you yourself will be condemned.

Not even Christ, who was God, did these things on Earth (but surely God has now exalted him to the place of power and authority to judge in the end of days), but rather "he did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing." (Phil 2:6-7)  Those who boast of their moral superiority have in fact missed the entire Gospel and still cling to the ways of the Law, the way of Death.

Are you a sinner?  If so then you must know you are deserving of death, but God's kindness and mercy on the Cross should lead you to repentance.  I do not preach my morals, but I preach Christ and Christ alone.  It is in his righteousness I boast so that none may brag.

Mark 3:4

"What is lawful to do on the sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?"

There comes a time in every man's life when he must decide whether to save life or to kill, to do good or to do evil.  However, sometimes doing the right thing has a higher cost than doing the wrong thing or not doing anything at all.

Jesus' life and ministry exemplified a life of doing the right thing at great cost.  He would touch that which was forbidden to touch and heal when it was forbidden to heal according to the law of the day.   But he did these things anyway because in his heart he knew it was the right thing to do.  To act contrary to what you know to be right is in a word, sin.

Peter felt it's pain after denying Christ three times.  I tell you the truth, the weight of guilt, remorse, and regret is far worse than anything man can do to you.  To do what is right, to save a life, requires self-sacrifice whether it be your time, your money, your freedom, or your life.  To simply do nothing at all for the sake of comfort is to forfeit potential good.  MLK understood this well.  Sometimes one must break all the rules in order to find shalom.

Therefore I say to you, do what is right even if it kills you. There are far worse things than death.