Thursday - August 25, 2016

Woodlawn Family Bible Study
THURSDAY

BIBLE READING:  Matthew 15:1-20

 Defiled. Even the word brings about feelings of something spoiled, ruined, contaminated or rotten.  The word means to pollute or profane. There is no way in which you can make the word sound pleasant or appealing because of its characterization.  Why would anyone want to be defiled or have something defiled?  That is why the Jews were very careful to observe all of the laws concerning being clean and not having their bodies defiled. 

 That is why they were so quick to criticize the disciples for not washing their hands before they ate bread in Matthew 15:1. Jesus uses this opportunity to teach them a lesson about Law and tradition. “It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person" (Matthew 15:11).  To us that seems backwards, and that is exactly His point. We place our emphasis on the physical, while Jesus wants us to focus on the spiritual. The real things that will defile us, is what comes out of our mouth. While it is true that we have all heard some language from people that truly is “polluted or profane”, there are times when we all say things that would classify as “rotten.” James 3 tells us that the tongue is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison.  So if we want to make sure that we keep from spreading any contamination or anything rotten, we need to be careful as to what comes out of our mouth.

 Application: Think about the words you used today. If you were talking to Jesus, would you have used those same words?

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