We need him to do what we can't do, and only he can do: We need Jesus to cleanse our hearts, and purify our souls, and thus make us clean before God our heavenly Father.ħĜhrist alone can make us clean, and the Scriptures make that clear. Our fasting and our charity and our prayer reveal all that. We need someone who knows just how filthy we are-but also how clean we're called to be-to come and cleanse us through and through. We need someone with a pure heart someone with a godly soul to clean up the mess in our hearts. Vain and shallow worship done with lips alone will never purely purge the impurities from our unclean hearts and sin-stained souls.Ħ Indeed, Jesus' words reveal that we need someone else to clean us up. Faithfully washing of our hands will never totally take away that which makes them unclean. We will always harbor evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication we will always harbor theft, false witness, and blasphemy within our hearts-even if we don't bring them to completion with our hands.ĥğaithfully keeping the commandments of men will never fully cleanse these sins from our hearts. The point of these holy disciplines is to remind us that we will always stand in need of cleansing. The great value of these pious practices is that through them we come to see that we will never completely cleanse ourselves and achieve godliness by any effort of our own. We dedicate ourselves to prayer, to sap the strength of unclean and ungodly desires. We increase our charity to lessen the consequences of unclean and unholy greed. To sharpen that focus, we fast in an attempt to lessen the effects of unclean and unhealthy appetites. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: these are the things which defile a man.Ĥĝuring Lent, we focus intensely on the sin that defiles us and makes us unclean. Those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart and they defile the man. Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man. You see, deep down in our inmost being, we are just as unclean as the Pharisees. Instead, our uncleanness demands a thorough cleansing by God himself, a cleansing of our hearts. The uncleanness that clings to us cannot be taken care of with a little soap and some hot water. It's worse than having germs or grit or grime on us that needs to be washed off. And this uncleanness is not just a matter of being messy or dirty or untidy. And you're worried about some guys who didn't properly washed their hands before they ate?" Jesus never says, "Cleanliness is next to godliness," but he makes it perfectly clear that to be godly, we must be cleansed.ģ We must be cleansed because we are unclean before God. You worship me with your lips, but your hearts-your hearts are nowhere near me. You substitute your own commandments for the doctrines of God. Jesus' answer might best be summarized like this, "You are all unclean. Cleanliness may not be next to godliness, but to be godly, we must be cleansed.Ģ In our gospel for today, the Pharisees ask Jesus why his disciples don't wash their hands before they eat, according to the tradition of the elders. So all the neat freaks, and all the slobs, and everybody in between can all rest easy. Thankfully, though, the Bible never says, "Cleanliness is next to godliness." The Law doesn't say it. And my desk at home might best be described as a disaster area. Amen.ġ My mother has a little plaque hanging in her kitchen that says, "Cleanliness is next to godliness." That saying has always bothered me, because if it's true, then I'm in trouble. Invocation In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Lutheran Senior Services at Meramec Bluffs RSS feed for Rev Weise RSS feed for all sermons Sermon List Other sermons by Rev Weise Notify me when Rev Weise posts sermons
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