Tag: unclean lips
Overcome by Glory!
Scripture reading for July 18th: Isaiah 5-8
In the presence of the Lord there is an awesome awareness of God’s holiness and of our sinfulness. It is always by God’s initiative that He reveals Himself to a man or woman. We can’t command a visitation although we can ask humbly. Job asked to have an audience with His maker and found himself unable to answer and repented in dust and ashes for words he had said. (Job 42:2-6) Isaiah had a visitation and saw the Lord in the year that King Uzziah died. (about 740 B.C.)
Isaiah beheld the Lord on a throne and his robe filled the temple. Above and around Him were heavenly beings called seraphs, or “burning ones”. They had six wings and were calling to each other “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty, the whole earth is full of His glory.” (Isaiah 6:3) When they spoke, their voices shook the doorposts and thresholds of the temple and smoke filled the house. It was the glory of God Almighty!
Isaiah himself began to cry out in terror of judgment in the presence of this Holy One! He immediately knew his sin would bring judgment and death. He also understood the people among whom he lived were in danger of judgment! Seeing God’s great white throne would spell disaster! (Revelation 20:11-14) God heard his confession. He sent one of the seraph’s with a burning coal from the altar. The seraph took the coal and applied it to the prophet’s mouth and his sin was taken away.
After cleansing, Isaiah heard the Lord asking a question. “Whom shall I send? And who will go for me?” Isaiah quickly responded with “Here am I, send me!” (Isaiah 6:8) God told Isaiah that He was sending him to a people whose hearts were calloused and ears were dull. (Isaiah 6:9-10) Jesus quoted these verses as he spoke to the religious people of His day. (Matthew 13:13-15)
In summary, the encounter Isaiah had with the Lord brought revelation of God’s glory. This led to recognition of his sinfulness and confession. Repentance brought cleansing. After cleansing he heard God’s call and willingly obeyed! This is a pattern for all disciples of Jesus Christ!
Lip service!
Scripture reading for January 22nd: Matthew 15:1-28, Psalm 17:1-7, Proverbs 4:5-9
Religious people often bothered Jesus. They were following Him around and looking with a magnifying glass at His actions to find out if He was keeping their laws. They were so focused on His actions, that they missed who He was and entry into the kingdom of heaven. Today, we have opportunity to see how Jesus dealt with religious people and to check our own hearts for traces of this kind of hypocrisy!
“You Hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: “‘These people honor me with their lips; but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teaching are but rules taught by men.'” (Matthew 15:7) The Pharisees and teachers of the law had come to Jesus questioning why He and His disciples did not wash their hands before they ate, as was the tradition of the elders. Jesus turned the tables on them and questioned as to why they broke God’s commands to satisfy the traditions of the elders! He confronted their hypocrisy by quoting Isaiah the prophet. Hypocrisy is play-acting. It is saying we stand for truth and obedience to God’s commands but fail to live correctly ourselves.
These religious leaders were saying that they honored and worshiped God, but Jesus said their worship was in vain. It was empty and useless because it did not come from a heart that was sold out to God and dependent on His mercy. Their worship was based on tradition, not humble obedience to God’s commands! True worship in it’s essence is complete obedience and lip service is not true worship!
Jesus called the crowd to Him and said, “‘Listen and understand. What goes into a man’s mouth does not make him ‘unclean,’ but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him ‘unclean.'” (Matthew 15:11) Washing hands cannot cleanse a heart that is unclean! Only repentance and faith in Jesus can do that! Jesus had offended the religious Pharisees with his strong statements. But Jesus had acted in love, hoping to wake them up and save them and their followers from sin and death. We must check out our own hearts and actions. Do we give lip service to following Jesus, or have we repented and put our trust in God’s mercy? Religion is bondage but faith brings liberty!