Matthew 15 DEVO: Lips vs. Hearts and Another Feeding

Chapter 15:
Romans 10:9 says, “That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” You have to both profess (confess) and possess (believe in heart) Jesus to be truly saved. The Pharisees only professed. It was all about the “rules” with them: "Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don't wash their hands before they eat!" Jesus’ reply? “Why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition?” It was rules not relationship with them.
The example Jesus states in 5-6 is this. A person could call all his possessions “korban”, meaning they were dedicated to the Lord. But if they decided to use them for their own purposes, all they had to do was to simply say “korban” over them again. So here’s what people were doing. If a family member was in need they would say, “oops, sorry, can’t help ya’, all my stuff is korban.” And this supposedly made them look spiritual was well! How selfish is that?!~! That’s why Jesus quoted Isaiah, “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.” Ya gotta love what the disciples told Jesus as this all went down…………. ummm Jesus, I don’t think they liked what you said!~ Ha!
As always, Jesus then addresses the heart! It’s not what goes into us that makes us unclean. Can things that go in damage us? Yes. But that is not near as damaging as a cold, sin-seeking heart. This is the very heart that each of us has until we believe in Jesus and get a new one!
Next up is Jesus’ second reference to great faith (8:10). Because she kept asking, seeking and knocking Jesus granted her request.
Finally, Jesus does another large buffet, probably only like 15,000+ peeps to feed this time, certainly a wimpier miracle (just kidding). Tidbit – It’s interesting that Jesus ended each phase of His ministry with a feeding: In Galilee – fed the 5,000, here in a Gentile area – fed the 4,000 and in Judea (before His death on the cross) he fed His disciples (last supper).
SO WHAT?!
*When it comes to faith in Jesus, what are you all about? Do you like to play judge & jury regarding the “rules”? It’s about RELATIONSHIP! Let’s allow God to work on each of our own lives. I’ve learned that as I do that, I don’t have much time to be checking on everyone else’s life!
*Ever honor God with your lips and not your heart? When I hear this I think of Sunday morning worship. How often do we sing songs we don’t mean or be singing them and have my heart be totally in some other place!~ Ouch! This Sunday we worship, Lord please help us to be in tune with YOU!