Fifteenth Sunday After Pentecost: The Problem is Me

Unedited Transcript Follows:

In the name of God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Oh man. It's presidential election season, everyone's favorite time, right? Every four years, we all get to uh, Be mean to each other and act like something that matters. Very little matters. A lot for a while.

And then, uh, and then hopefully all our relationships aren't destroyed. By the time we come back together at the end of it all. But here we are and election season is always interesting. Because you'll hear a lot of campaign promises on both sides, but you want to know what you never hear.

More of the same. You never hear someone's campaign slogan say We're gonna just keep doing things like, we're doing even if they're the come incumbent, they never say that, right? They never say, hey, you know what? Just more of what we're doing. It's working well and everything seems to be flowing well and going.

Well, we're just going to keep doing it. Uh and so vote me in and I'm gonna just keep doing what I'm doing because it's working. Right that never happens. Why? Why has that never happened, no matter how well things are going. Sometimes things are going well. Um, and But I think always within us, we have this.

Desire and this need to see things reformed to see things, make new. Because we know things are actually Broken that we're looking for change. We're looking for reform. We're looking for something new. We know, no things aren't aren't right yet. It's why we never hear a politician say more of the same.

Right. Some people even point to the phrase, simple refermanda or always reforming. To say that the church is always in need of re-examination or Reforming of some kind. We know that reform is necessary. No one's ever can content just saying hey, it looks like we made it. Yeah, we're there.

We've arrived. All the problems are fixed. And the reason for that is, we know that it isn't true. We know that everything isn't okay. Everything isn't right. Things are broken things aren't the way that they're supposed to be? So we know we need to be reformed and made new.

And what we see laid out in our readings today is a conflict between two different routes of Reform. Both routes recognize that things aren't how they should be. Right. But they diagnose the problem differently and therefore they diagnose the route toward healing. Differently. And they do this because they fundamentally disagree on God's purpose in setting, aside of people And in giving them a law.

So we'll start by just looking at the gift of the law and why it was given the law was given to create a unique people for the sake of the Nations. The law was given to God's people to create a unique people for the sake of the Nations. So in Deuteronomy 4, it's one of my favorite passages in scripture God discusses why?

He gives this people a law. The people are called to be faithful to God. They're called to show loyalty to him and not be like the people who before them who worshiped Baal and went after Baal, right? So they're called to be faithful. That's numbers. 25, if you want to read about that story, But they're called to not be like those people and to be faithful to God.

And God tells them. The reason for this. The reason that they're called to be a faithful that there's this unique set aside people of God, that's going to be unique. Is that all people might see what a, why is an understanding people this people are There to see that.

There's not another God like this God. God is not, it's really important. God didn't wait until Jesus to start being until Jesus came in the flesh, right? To start being concerned about the Nations. So like it's not like when you read the old Covenant, the vast majority of the scriptures.

You're not reading about God didn't really care about the Nations or was worried about the Nations. He was really only worried about the people of Israel until later, but when, when Jesus came In the Flesh, and walked the Earth, and then all of a sudden when Jesus in Matthew 28 says go and make disciples of all Nations.

Now, something new has happened entirely and God has all of a sudden concerned for everyone on the earth that isn't Jewish. That's not the story we see in scripture that's not why God set aside a people and gave them a law. He gave them a law Deuteronomy, 4 tells us so that the peoples so that the Nations might say look what a wise and understanding people this is and look, there's no other Nation that has a God like this God, who dwells near to his people and gives them such wonderful laws to follow.

Verse 7 is striking the people have a Near to them.

A God. It dwells with them. From the very beginning at the call of Abram. God is telling his people that my relationship with this people is to bless all the nations of the world. From the very beginning that was the purpose when God sets aside a temple. Solomon prays in front of the temple.

But would you answer when a foreigner prays at this Temple? Would you answer his prayer? So that all might know that there's a special that there's a God in Israel that there's no God like him. All over the old Covenant. We're going to see That God's concerned for the Nations.

And what? And and the way he sets aside a people is by dwelling near to them and by being with them so that they might bless the world because they have this close relationship with God. But when I think about God being near to them, there's a fly. He was really interested in me.

Um, when I think about God being near to them, right? I think about us in our relationship with God, who has a God nearer to them than the people of God in the New Covenant who are fed the body and blood of Jesus, who was it? God nearer to them than us who receive Jesus body and blood every time we come together in worship who has a God nearer to them than us.

Who's like that? Who ingests God. Other than the Christian people of God who as a God that dwells is near to them as our God dwells near to us, who is it God near to them than a people who know and understand the message of the Loaves as we've been talking about for the past several weeks, right?

God has set aside a people. He's made them unique, he's given them a law to that they are to obey. This is not a law. Into them to pit them against the other nations. It was the opposite. It was a law given to them that they might bless the Nations.

By displaying a unique relationship and nearness to Yahweh. And we have that same gift given to us. Where our unique relationship with God, our closeness to God. The fact that we Dwell in Christ and Christ in us sets us apart, not against the world, but for the sake of the world, that we might be a blessing among the peoples and among the Nations that they might see what a wise and understanding people.

This is And who has it? God is near to them. As this people has or is near to their God. So what went wrong? So what went wrong is God set aside a people that they might be a blessing to the Nations and what we and what we see in this conflict with the Pharisees in Jesus, Is really a challenging of the world view of the Pharisees.

Like God's covenant people do like they do in the New Covenant just like in the old Covenant. Right. The Jewish leadership, misunderstands the goal of setting aside a people for the sake of the Nations and tends to understand themselves, especially the leadership, as it was a setting aside instead of the nation.

So we're people set aside instead of the Nations. This happens in Christian theology when we get so excited about election and sometimes talk about election as if it's a setting aside of people instead of the others rather than a setting aside of people for the sake of others. So it's not this isn't just Covenant problem.

This is a New Covenant problem, but they seem to misunderstand that this was this setting aside wasn't for the sake of the Nations. But instead It was. In like instead of the Nations and over and against the Nations. God chose us. Instead of them. Right. And the Pharisees are upset.

That the disciples don't do these ceremonial Washings. When the, when the Pharisees talk about, um, Eating in verse 5, the Greek text says, eat bread. So we're still learning the message of the Loaves in Mark that the disciples didn't understand, but they're talking about eating bread. Right. And the Pharisees did they did desire.

True reform. They did desire, true reform, they knew things weren't as they. It wasn't hard to know things weren't as they were supposed to be. They were a people. In a land that was occupied by a foreign leader. They had a cute little Temple. That wasn't anything like the temple.

They had before that. The Romans just let them have, you know? Uh, so there there was no sign that. Wow, this is like for all the nations to be blessed by by what we're doing, right? And they believe that the way toward reform to get things right was to get a community of people to be pure.

And to keep outside influences from making them impure, So this is how they and this is how they interpreted the law. We need to be pure and we need to like, hold out the outside influences that will make us impure. So that God will bless us and hopefully kick out donations kick out the Romans and anyone else that wants to be in charge of this land and give us our land.

Like he promised us and this is the goal. Hold ourselves up live a Pure Life. Keep the outside influences out so that God will bless us because of our Fidelity and faithfulness to his Covenant, right? And Jesus condemns them as Hypocrites. Talking to them about holding the tradition of men instead of God's Commandments.

What he's really doing is he's turning the Pharisees world view on its head. Saying that the defilement like coming together and trying to wall put walls around you. And live a Pure Life so that you can be faithful to God. And so that he'll bless you can't work. Because the problem comes from in you not outside, He's telling them, the problem is.

Within you.

The defilement comes from within and it's housed in the human heart. And for my kids, if you need armor in a or if you need weapons in a fight with Mommy, he makes a poop joke to do it, right? Uh Jesus makes a poop joke in this passage so he says uh hey all the the impurity.

Doesn't come from without whatever comes from outside. You just poop it out. That's what he says like. It's that it's gone. But the problem is actually within the impurities coming from within. It's coming from inside you not outside you. The problem is on the inside. The problems within This is the Christian doctrine of original sin.

So, the Christian doctrine of original sin, Teaches us that when Adam rebelled against God, that he didn't just become guilty before God but his nature was corrupted and he so he had a problem with his nature that he passes on to his children and we're all born with it.

So we're all born with a nature that will inevitably cause us to rebel against God who made us. Were corrupt from from our very birth. And so, because of that, our hearts is where Evil comes from, It's not we're not otherwise neutral and we got around the wrong crowd and that's why we're engaging in sinful behaviors.

Nope, the problem is in us within us.

So we try to whitewash this in various ways, right? We focus on other people's sins, rather than our own. Like, The sins that people are loudest about. That all you learn is that they're the sins, that that aren't a struggle for them, you know. Um, so like when Or sometimes you learn that, they are a struggle but it's secret, and they're pushing it down.

But but what we often learn is like, when we say, oh, the problem is all fill in the blank. What the real problem is out there, all we're learning about the person is that these are the sins that aren't their issues, but they bring plenty of their own because the problem is within we focus on other people's sins, rather than our own sins.

Or we might focus on getting what we want. Politically, if we can just get the right person, voted into office. Everything will be fixed. Or we try to do religious observance to clean ourselves up. And it's if we can just Observe religion, purely enough. We'll get this all worked out.

But the problem is with Our own heart. Eminem dropped a music video with jelly roll this last week. So, uh, And he he was writing from the perspective, he he almost died of a drug overdose in 2007. And he was writing from the perspective. Of what he would be saying to his children.

Had he died. So a lot of regret, a lot of things that he missed, right? A lot of things that Um, he he would have missed out on. And the chorus is from with jelly. Roll is somebody saved me? Save me from myself? I've spent so long living in hell, they say my lifestyle is bad for my health.

It's the only thing that seems to help. And there's just this desperation of. People experiencing what it looks like to. Lose their life to drug addiction. People in our own Community lose their lives to drug, addiction drug addiction takes and and All of us are losing our life to addiction to sin.

Like this is the story of Our Lives. We're broken. And the things that are worse for us, are things that we find ourselves engaging in and the things like, and we like the problem is us. Like, the problem is us. The problem is, my greatest enemy is me and your greatest enemy is you and it's not the things outside, it's not the power structures, it's not the governments.

It's not, it's not the the immoral people filling the group that that you're most likely to blame for the problems in your life, but it's not that the greatest problem that you and I face in our life,

Because, It's from within Jesus tells us that we get defiled not from outside. It's a true genius of Christianity. Is it leads us to not be focusing on outside or other people? But to recognize the problems that we all carry within, So, your problem with anger is not your spouse's fault.

Your problem with anger is not your spouse's fault. Your problem with bitterness is not your in-laws fault or your family's fault.

The problems in our society aren't the politicians we disagree with, they're part of it. I mean, they are They are part of the problem. So, But our our deepest problems are right. They're housed right within our own bellies that. It's it's from within That's the problem. This is hard problem, but I'll tell you, it's freeing when you're a parent.

I'll tell you. I I have five kids. It's a gift to me to reflect on this truth when I'm a parent. So when your kids do something awful and they do, they will Um, You might be tempted to say, how could my kid? Do this. Like, how could this, how could my child?

My beautiful child. Do this. Like they can and they will again because the problem is within them, just like the problem is within you. And so as we live our lives, we recognize

Even when we're asking the question, how could I have done that? It's because you got this problem, all the impurity and all that, your greatest enemy comes from within. So instead, what we could be asking is Lord, help me. Or as we prayed, may your grace continually proceed and follow after me that I may be given to good works.

Otherwise, I have no hope. Without you entering in and help somebody save me. Save me from myself, right? That's just right? And that's the story that we all find ourselves in. So we need, we do need To seek reform. But we receive reform within our own souls. And this affects how we approach God and how we approach others, right?

We approach God as humble needy people. Seeking the true reform that comes from within and that heals the greatest problem we have, which is within us. But it also, Impacts how we approach other people. We don't approach other people with someone standing above them. We approach people as humble and needy people who have found the grace that goes before and follows after us and that just leads people.

Into the presence of the only one that can help heal any of us. We just lead people into the presence of the only one that can give any of us healing.

We come to Jesus attempting. You know, like the woman with the impurity they were so concerned about impurity in this passage, right? Continual. She was ceremonial and clean cuz her continual flow of blood, right? But we attempt like we are just as impure and we attempt to touch the hand of Jesus garment.

We may be healed and that's our only hope. To look within your heart seek, the true healing that comes from within God wants to offer us. True healing don't get distracted by believing things on the outside. Are the problem, the greatest problem that all of us face comes from within us.

So let us go to God for True healing. Let us go to The God Who can save us. Save us from ourselves and then transform us into a wise and understanding people that dwell nearly with, so closely to God that people say, what a wise and understanding people Who as a people as who what other people is as close to their God as this people is to there.

Let us be a people that seek reform so that we can be a light to those who are outside. Amen.