Sin and Circumstance

Matthew 15:18-20 "But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false, witness, slander. These are what defile a person..."

In the greater context of this passage, we see that Pharisees (and all other people really) like to look alright on the outside. We like to make sure we have it all together. The Pharisees liked to do "ritual washings", our own taste might lend itself to other outward things, but the point of them is the same. Do we look like we have it all together?

There's nothing wrong with looking like things are alright. The problem is that things aren't, and we don't care how bad they get inside, as long as we are ok on the outside. It did not matter to the Pharisees if they dishonored their mother and father (v. 5) as long as they washed their hands in front of their peers. It was worth more to them for other Pharisees to say, "what a righteous man", than for God to say "what a righteous man." Better not to eat with , tradition-breaking, dirty, ceremonially unclean mits than to eat with clean hands and a morally filthy, law-breaking heart. We may not have the same traditions, but we have the same heart.

Our morality shows this, because of the excuses we make. "I wouldn't have done that if it wasn't for him or her." "I'm usually not like that". "It was just a bad week for me, and I was stressed." All these excuses are really attempts to maintain control of the "outer", while neglecting the inner. We are really saying, "let me wash the dirt off my hands, and ignore the guilt of my heart. Let me make an excuse for my actions, and ignore the engine that spun it out in my chest." Circumstances and temptations merely reveal the moral imperfections in our hearts. They do not cause them. Pornography does not cause lust in a man's heart, it merely reveals it. We might say, "I wouldn't have ever watched that unless my friend put it on TV for me. Then I was hooked." We are really washing our hands, and ignoring our heart. It is true that certain sinful actions happen in some people that do not happen in others. Not all of us act like Adolph Hitler, and we write it off saying that he was abused and that's why he was so bad. The abuse did not cause the sin, it merely allowed it an escape. Most people have a "brake" that keeps some actions from happening, abuse and sin merely break the brake, they do not cause the sin to come be in our hearts. That sin has been there from Eden on.

We must realize the absolute moral poverty within our hearts to fight sin. We must not blame it on the moral poverty of our circumstances. It is true that sometimes we must leave our circumstances because they hold temptations too great. (1 Ti 6:11, 2 Ti 2:22, 1 Co 6:18, 10:14) But to merely run from those temptations and not acknowledge the root of their power in our hearts is worthless. We must realize it is our heart that has the problem. We are the deviation from God's standard, not our atmosphere! We are the defilement. Not that person who makes me angry. Not that drive who flicked me off. Not the sex-saturated pop culture. Not these unwashed hands, but this uncircumcised heart!

It is not the fault of the God of the Universe, it is not the fault of the false god of this world even, but the guilt lies in the false god of this body.