Easter Devotional - Day 33
"Everything is pure for someone whose heart is pure. But nothing is pure for an unbeliever with a dirty mind. That person's mind and conscience are destroyed. Such people claim to know God, but their actions prove that they really don't. They are disgusting. They won't obey God, and they are too worthless to do anything good." Titus 1:15-16
Some would be tempted to quote Paul as a voice to eliminate concerns of morality and parameters for acceptable action. Paul was not speaking of morality, however. He was addressing issues of Jewish tradition, legalism, and dietary regulations on food. These were concerns over ritual purity. Codes of ritual purity were to assure that God would accept an offering being presented. They were questions of sacrifice and participation in temple worship. They included things like the ritual hand-rinsing that Jesus had been accused of allowing his disciples to ignore before eating. They were questions of certain foods and people considered to be unclean, yet whose state of purity was brushed aside in Peter's vision upon the visit of Cornelius.
Ritual purity, according to Paul, was an impossible standard, yet also a roadblock in the path of true purity. It focused on the wrong issues and enslaved one to a ritualistic observance, rather than the worship of God in the wholeness of life.
Ritual purity was concerned with a woman's monthly flow of "blood" and a man's issue of semen. Ritual purity was concerned with contact with the dead or diseased. Ritual purity was concerned with questions of procedure, not with questions of the heart and faith. It was about appearance. It was also built on the notion that God could not have interaction with anything ritually unclean. So much for God taking on human flesh and living in an unclean world, touching lepers, healing outcasts, ignoring rituals designed over ceremonial purity concerns!
Jesus was not seemingly concerned with issues of ritual purity, but was very concerned with moral and ethical purity. This is where he focused his attention. What went into the mouth, he called unimportant. What flowed from the heart, he considered indicative of one's standing before God. This is what Paul was addressing for Titus. The rituals and legal wranglings of Jewish traditions regarding ritual were something Titus should ignore. They were not spiritual, after all, but a deviation from God's true concerns. It was the matters of the heart with which God was concerned—moral and ethical purity.
Ritual purity was like our concerns over proper attire for worship. It was like discussion over the form of Baptism, rather than as demonstrating the conversion of one's life. It was akin to worries over the correct style of music for worship, the correct version of Scripture, the patterns of religious observance, and the order of a service. It is rather the heart of out dedication to serving God that should occupy our attention. These other concerns are unimportant in comparison to living a life of worship in purity before God.
Jesus was not so concerned with the trappings of religious expression. He was concerned as Paul with the heart and its purity before God. Missing that focus indicates we are missing the very gospel.
It is time to assess where our emphases may be falling short of the gospel of Christ Jesus.
"Lord, help me to accept your concern with the heart, transforming my purity by your ideals."
—©Copyright 2009 Christopher B. Harbin
http://www.sermonsearch.com/contributors/104427/
My latest books can be found here on amazon
Some would be tempted to quote Paul as a voice to eliminate concerns of morality and parameters for acceptable action. Paul was not speaking of morality, however. He was addressing issues of Jewish tradition, legalism, and dietary regulations on food. These were concerns over ritual purity. Codes of ritual purity were to assure that God would accept an offering being presented. They were questions of sacrifice and participation in temple worship. They included things like the ritual hand-rinsing that Jesus had been accused of allowing his disciples to ignore before eating. They were questions of certain foods and people considered to be unclean, yet whose state of purity was brushed aside in Peter's vision upon the visit of Cornelius.
Ritual purity, according to Paul, was an impossible standard, yet also a roadblock in the path of true purity. It focused on the wrong issues and enslaved one to a ritualistic observance, rather than the worship of God in the wholeness of life.
Ritual purity was concerned with a woman's monthly flow of "blood" and a man's issue of semen. Ritual purity was concerned with contact with the dead or diseased. Ritual purity was concerned with questions of procedure, not with questions of the heart and faith. It was about appearance. It was also built on the notion that God could not have interaction with anything ritually unclean. So much for God taking on human flesh and living in an unclean world, touching lepers, healing outcasts, ignoring rituals designed over ceremonial purity concerns!
Jesus was not seemingly concerned with issues of ritual purity, but was very concerned with moral and ethical purity. This is where he focused his attention. What went into the mouth, he called unimportant. What flowed from the heart, he considered indicative of one's standing before God. This is what Paul was addressing for Titus. The rituals and legal wranglings of Jewish traditions regarding ritual were something Titus should ignore. They were not spiritual, after all, but a deviation from God's true concerns. It was the matters of the heart with which God was concerned—moral and ethical purity.
Ritual purity was like our concerns over proper attire for worship. It was like discussion over the form of Baptism, rather than as demonstrating the conversion of one's life. It was akin to worries over the correct style of music for worship, the correct version of Scripture, the patterns of religious observance, and the order of a service. It is rather the heart of out dedication to serving God that should occupy our attention. These other concerns are unimportant in comparison to living a life of worship in purity before God.
Jesus was not so concerned with the trappings of religious expression. He was concerned as Paul with the heart and its purity before God. Missing that focus indicates we are missing the very gospel.
It is time to assess where our emphases may be falling short of the gospel of Christ Jesus.
"Lord, help me to accept your concern with the heart, transforming my purity by your ideals."
—©Copyright 2009 Christopher B. Harbin
http://www.sermonsearch.com/contributors/104427/
My latest books can be found here on amazon
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