[VIDEO Intro] Each year during the time I was a student at Harding University Graduate School of Religion, a thick coat of white paint was applied to what we called “The Mansion.” This was the main administration building which housed the faculty and staff offices and a small chapel. It was literally an old southern mansion that had been renovated for use by the school. Every year in the spring workers would apply a fresh coat of white paint to the wooden exterior of the mansion. This left the building looking clean and sparkling. Then one morning we woke up and the mansion was on fire. Flames licked at the top of the structure while fire engines poured gallon after gallon of water on it. Eventually they doused the flames, but not before every office, file cabinet, computer, and precious book had been literally smoked and then immersed in water. It took hours for us to carry out furniture and books and supplies to see what could be recovered. After a few days we learned what had caused the fire. There was some old wiring in the attic which had sparked the fire. Deep in the mansion, hidden from view, in an area where few ever went, this fragile and aging wire had trigged the fire. What was on the outside appeared had appeared to be beautiful and stately. What was on the inside however, was tremendously dangerous. Something similar happens when it comes to spirituality. We’ve been studying this phenomenon on Sunday mornings in our series called “Masquerade.”
In our text this morning, Jesus reveals how a certain group of people in his day excelled at a spirituality that looked pleasant from the outside, but inside left the people with many hazards. 25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean. 27 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. 28So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” (Matt. 23:25-28 ESV).
The problem with the faith being practiced by the scribes and the Pharisees is that it created a pleasant exterior but left a hazardous interior. Jesus illustrates this problem with two sets of objects. One set is a cup and plate. [VISUAL] I have with me a cup and a plate. They are not very clean at all. I ate and drank from them and then just let the leftovers harden for a couple of days. The inside of both of them is pretty nasty. Jesus says, “Imagine taking that cup and that plate and washing only the outside.” I’ve got some dishwater, so I’ll do just that—I’ll wash only the outside of this dirty cup and plate. Now, what if I filled that cup with some nice clean water? How many of you would drink from it? Hardly any of us would drink from it because it is still filthy inside. Further, what if I prepared a nice steak and put it on this plate? How many of you would eat off this plate? Hardly any of us would because the plate is still filthy. They look pleasant enough on the outside. But on the inside they are filled with hazardous germs. And that was the problem with the way the scribes and Pharisees practiced religion. They practiced it only enough to look good from the outside. But inside they were still filthy and filled with spiritual hazards.
Jesus uses a second image to illustrate this. He refers to “whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness.” We may have a hard time connecting with this image because we’re so used to touching tombs. We go to cemeteries and we touch and grasp the stones and markers where loved ones are buried. But in the ancient world, Jews did not do this. Why? Because tombs were very unclean. If you touched a tomb you became ceremonially unclean. Some Jews even taught that if your shadow touched a tomb you became unclean.[1] This was particularly important each spring when pilgrims from all over would travel to Jerusalem for Passover. Prior to the arrival of these pilgrims, the local Jews would apply whitewash to the tombs in the area. This made the tombs easy to see so that the pilgrims wouldn’t accidentally touch them and become unclean and thus be unable to celebrate the feast.[2] But the result was this: you had these tombs with a bright and very pleasant looking exterior which held something very unclean and hazardous within. Jesus says that’s exactly what was going on with the scribes and Pharisees. They practiced a faith that looked pretty good on the outside but left many spiritual hazards on the inside.
Specifically, Jesus states that the faith of the frauds creates a pleasant exterior but leaves a hazardous interior of greed, self-indulgence, hypocrisy, and lawlessness. Listen again to the words of Jesus: 25 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence…27 Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. 28So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” (Matt. 23:25-28 ESV).
The problem with a spirituality that focuses only on looking good is that it allows things like greed, self-indulgence, hypocrisy, and lawlessness to thrive in our hearts. The word “greed” simply refers to the desire for things that do not belong to us.[3] It can refer to our desire for money or possessions. But it can also carry a broader meaning of a strong desire for anything that doesn’t belong to us. The problem with a faith that only focuses on the outside is that it allows this kind of desire to grow in our hearts. We end up looking like spiritual people but in our hearts we still crave and yearn for the wrong kind of things.
Can you identity with that? We know we shouldn’t have the doughnuts and the ice cream, but we want it anyway. We know we don’t need the new car, but we want it anyway. We don’t want to want that pornography, but we crave it nonetheless. Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, appeared on March 2 to announce the arrival of the iPad 2. I admit: I watched the announcement on video. And as I saw all the features of the new iPad, I couldn’t help but thinking: “I want that!” I didn’t need it. But I really, really wanted it. And that’s a small taste of everyday for those whose faith only focuses on the outside. It leaves within a heart that craves all the wrong things.
The word “self-indulgence” comes from two words meaning “without” and “power.” It refers to the lack of power over the self, the absence of control over the self.[4] Paired with the previous word “greed” this word refers to the fact that not only do we desire the wrong things, but we give in to those desires. We indulge those desires. We fail to exercise power over our greed. The result is that we both crave the wrong things and fulfill the desire for those things.
Think back over the last week. How many times this week did you not only want the wrong thing, but you acted on that desire? You ended up doing the wrong thing. You gossiped. You cursed. You spoke in anger. You spent money on something you really didn’t need. That’s a taste of everyday for those who live the faith of the frauds. It creates a pious enough looking outside. But inside our heart still wants what’s wrong and still acts on those wants.
Let’s explore the next two words. The word “hypocrisy” is one we’ve talked a lot about. It’s a favorite word of Jesus’ in this chapter. It refers to someone who plays a part. Specifically, it refers to someone who appears one way in public, but another way in private. In public, when others are watching, they appear spiritual and pious. But in private, when no one is watching, they revert back to self-indulgent patterns. The problem with the faith of the frauds is that it creates this gross dichotomy between who we are in public and who we are in private. Essentially, we end up living a lie. When others are watching, we pretend to be godly and full of integrity. But when no one’s looking, our true self comes out.
Did you experience that at all this week? Did you put on a religious face for someone or for a group and then take it off later that day when you got home? Did you appear to be godly at work or at school but when you were by yourself you ended up doing things that were not godly? That’s a taste of everyday for those who live the faith of the frauds. Though possessing a pleasant exterior, within they wrestle with hypocrisy.
The final thing Jesus sees inside the scribes and Pharisees is what he calls “lawlessness.” This simply refers to living without a standard. A law is a code of conduct, a standard to be upheld. And a person who is lawless does not have a code of conduct. He/she doesn’t uphold any standard. And that was one of the greatest ironies about those practicing the faith of the frauds. On the outside they appeared to be upholding the highest standards of God. They looked like they were living out a very holy code of conduct. But when you looked more closely, you found it was all a sham. In reality, they virtually had no code of conduct at all.
Here’s the challenge: a faith focused only on externals cannot deal with these internal hazards. No one excelled at external faith like these scribes and Pharisees. Nonetheless they remained hostage to these four issues. In spite of all their temple attendance, Torah reading, and tithing, they were like my cup and plate: clean on the outside, hazardous on the inside. They were like those whitewashed tombs: pleasant to look at but deadly to touch. They were like the Harding Mansion: a pretty outside but a dangerous inside.
That’s why you see some people who’ve attended church and Sunday School all their life, given to the collection each time the trays are passed, and taken communion every Sunday but they are still bitter, cold, arrogant, and insensitive. A faith that focuses only on the outside cannot address these internal issues.
What’s needed, Jesus says, is a very different kind of religion. That’s exactly what Jesus offers. Jesus offers a religion that addresses the inside as much as it addresses the outside. Jesus invites us, to “First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.” [VISUAL] I don’t have enough time this morning to actually do that with my plate and cup. But imagine if we took the time to immerse these two items in hot water and powerful soap and we scrubbed their insides instead of only attending to their outsides. When we pulled them up out of the water, they would be clean inside and out. That’s what Jesus offers.
The faith of the frauds is content to focus solely on exterior appearances. But the religion of the real is not content until the parts of us that no one but God sees are also addressed. The faith of the frauds is content to just wash the outside of the cup and the plate and to splash some whitewash on the outside of our lives. But the religion of the real wants to get deep down and clean both inside and outside.
But how does that work? How do we join Jesus in cleaning both our inside and our outside? Two things are needed. First, we need a way to see our hazardous interior issues. Those of us who practice an external-based faith often become blind to our internal issues. We don’t even see what’s going on in our hearts. That’s why Jesus, in this text, calls the Pharisees “blind.” What we need are some ways to open our eyes to see what’s inside of us. Confession and accountability are two practices which can help us see our hazardous interior issues. Confession is simply taking time every day to think back through the day, identifying behaviors, motives, and thoughts that were less than godly, and confessing them to God. Accountability is doing the same thing, only confessing those sins to trusted friend. In confession we acknowledge and confess our failings to God. In accountability we acknowledge and confess our failings to a trusted person. If we start practicing these two habits, we’ll find ourselves much more aware of the hazardous issues that are going on within our hearts. We’ll be able to see just what kind of dirt is in the inside of the cup and the plate.
Thus, first, we need a way to see our hazardous interior issues. Confession and accountability can help with that. Second, we need a way to address those interior issues. We need some way of joining Jesus in transforming what’s inside of us. Let me make two recommendations here. The Ten Minute Mystic and Spiritual Practices for People in a Hurry can help us transform our interior issues. The Ten Minute Mystic is a series on my website (www.chrisaltrock.com) During the 40 days leading up to Easter I’m discussing 12 spiritual disciplines that can each be done in ten minutes or less. Try out some of those disciplines. You’ll find that they will help clean the inside and not just the outside of your life. Second, read this small book by Gary Holloway called Spiritual Practices for People in a Hurry. I love two things about this book. First, it’s very brief. Second, it highlights spiritual practices exemplified in the life of Jesus. Gary focuses on Jesus’ practice of solitude, silence, simplicity, Sabbath, and service. These practices can transform you from the inside out. These two resources can help you join Jesus in transforming your interior issues.
The History Channel features a reality show about a Las Vegas pawn shop.[5] In one episode, a man brought in a violin to the pawn shop and asked for an appraisal. According to the man’s story, he had recently purchased property that included a house and a barn. Shortly after his purchase he inspected the barn. Inside he found an old chest and discovered this violin safely tucked within. As he dusted off the near-perfect instrument, he found the word “Stradivarius” inscribed on it. The man was hoping the “Stradivarius” was worth millions of dollars. However, after the pawn store owners examined the violin and then had it appraised by an expert, they told the man it wasn’t a genuine Stradivarius. Instead, it was a cheap imitation. The appraiser concluded by telling the crestfallen violin owner, “Just because something has a label doesn’t mean it’s real.” Just because you slap a label “Christian” or “spiritual” on the outside doesn’t mean it’s the real deal. Just because we look good on the outside, doesn’t mean there’s no problem on the inside. But thankfully, Jesus offers a way of life that focuses as much on the inside as it does on the outside. Jesus provides a way to become the real deal, a person who is on the inside exactly what the labels says on the outside.
[1] Craig S. Keener, A Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew (Eerdmans, 1999), 553.
[2] Keener, 553.
[3] Swanson, J. (1997). Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains : Greek (New Testament) (electronic ed.). Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc.
[4] Kittel, G., Friedrich, G., & Bromiley, G. W. (1995). Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (196). Grand Rapids, MI: W.B. Eerdmans.
[5] Pawn Stars, History Channel (2-7-07).
