There is a candy called Kinder Joy Egg that looks like a delicious chocolate egg but when you break it there is a toy surprise inside. Kids love the surprise, and it is a selling point. Tootsie Pops sell because you get two treats in one. These candy items are popular because you are not sure what you have when you buy them. Some stores sell mystery boxes that are supposedly valued at more than they are selling them for. Those who buy them like the idea of getting more than they paid for, but most of the time are disappointed because it is something they couldn’t use. When it comes to situations like these it is not a big deal if we do not get what we were expecting, but when it comes to our spiritual lives it is a matter of life everlasting or death eternally. Jesus speaks about what is on the inside in Luke 11:39.
In Luke chapter 11 Jesus is speaking to a group of people and a Pharisee asks Him to come to his home and have a meal with Him. Throughout the New Testament, you will find that Jesus does not have much good to say about the Pharisees because they were religious, they did not recognize Him as the Son of God, and they had perverted the Old Testament with their made-up rigorous laws. Yet, Jesus accepts the invitation and dines with this man at his home. Note, that Jesus gave everyone a chance to accept Him or reject Him. We need to do the same by reaching out to those who do not know the one true God.
Luke 11:37 “And as he spoke, a certain Pharisee besought him to dine with him: and he went in, and sat down to meat.”
When Jesus entered the home of the Pharisee He committed a big no-no. He did not wash his hands, as was customary before dinner. Jesus had been teaching the public. This would include those who were Jews and those whom the Jews considered unclean because they were Gentiles. As the Pharisee watched Jesus he wondered if Jesus had touched any of those people. A Pharisee would always wash before he ate, not just because he would be eating with his hands and they may have been dirty with physical dirt, but because he wanted to be ceremonially clean. When Jesus did not wash his hands the Pharisee was astonished. We have no record of the Pharisee saying anything to Jesus about not washing His hands. However, Jesus knows their thoughts, just as He does ours.
Luke 11:38 “And when the Pharisee saw it, he marveled that he had not first washed before dinner.”
Next, the Lord speaks. He rebukes the Pharisees for putting so much emphasis on the washing of their hands. He charges them with hypocrisy. They take great pains to make sure they look good on the outside but inwardly they are full of wickedness. He also says they are “ravening,” this word means greedy. This is the same thing He is accusing them of in Matthew 23:25. Jesus says they are “full of extortion and excess.” They put on a good front to the public, but they were not right with God. They were like many today who are religious, but they have no relationship with Jesus.
Luke 11:39 “And the Lord said unto him, Now do ye Pharisees make clean the outside of the cup and the platter; but your inward part is full of ravening and wickedness.”
In the next sentence, He calls them fools. Their conduct was wicked. They were using their religion as a cover for their sin. Their actions were designed to exalt themselves and make others think they were godly men, but they were the worst kind of sinners because they were seeking to deceive many and make others feel less than them. In the process of living to deceive others, they had deceived themselves. If you live a lie long enough you believe the lie.
Luke 11:40 “Ye fools, did not he that made that which is without make that which is within also? “
Jesus is not interested in our good deeds if they are not done from a pure heart, seeking only to please Him. God sees the heart and He knows us better than we know ourselves. In I Samuel 16:7 when God was choosing someone to take Saul’s place as king of Israel He tells Samuel, “Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD sees not as man sees; for man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.” God has not changed, He still looks at our hearts. He wants our hearts, our inward being, to be honoring and glorifying Him. When that is the case, our outward will reflect it. We can put up a front for a while but sooner or later our heart will be revealed in our words and actions.
Matthew 15:18-19 “But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.”
Does your inside match your outside? If you are faking it, it will catch up with you. Check yourself. Think about what you are projecting and determine you will be deeply rooted in Christ and then it will flow naturally.
