INNER PURITY

What does inner purity have to do with traditionalism? One day Jesus was confronted by some Pharisees and teachers of religious laws. They had noticed some of his disciples were not following rituals of hand washing before eating. This is very disturbing to real traditionalists. Jesus was confronted by these religious law enforcers; and asked, "why don't your disciples follow our age old custom?"

It appeared that some of the disciples were eating without first performing the handwashing ceremony. I had a farmer tell me once when I suggested he could wash his hands before eating a snack. He said, "nay, I'm a farmer. I've had dirtier hands than these hands today." He said, "on the farm you can't always wash your hands when lunchtime rolls around." Did I know this farmer's heart? No! He may have had a contract with God to protect any all food that entered his body. We can't judge man's heart. Only God can judge your heart.


Jesus' reply to the religious teachers was, "Isaiah prophesied about you people when Isaiah said, "These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far away. Their worship is a farce, for they replace God's command with their own man made teachings. He said, you ignore God's specific laws and substitute your own traditions." You reject God's laws to hold on to your own traditions."

These people were using religious laws such as not helping a needy parent because they had vowed to give to God what they could have given to a needy parents. Jesus said, "As such, you break the law of God in order to protect your own tradition. Another tradition was eating only certain foods. Jesus said, "Can't you see what you eat does not defile you?" Mark 7:1-23 NLT

Well, what are God's specific laws for worship?
Inner purity! What's that? The innermost part of our being free of adulteration and contamination. When and how does inner purity enter into our worship? Are ceremonies and rituals necessary in our worship to God? What is worship?

Jesus said, "it is your thought life that defiles you. For from within, out of a person's heart come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, eagerness for lustful pleasure, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. All these come from within, they are what defile you and make you unacceptable to God."

What is worship to God? It's adoration and praise from deep within our heart. If God knows our every thought, I wonder if our mind can stay on Him. Isaiah said in 26:3 "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee; because he trusteth in thee."
I don't believe Jesus is telling the religious leaders that their ceremonial rituals are necessarily wrong in their worship to God; however, He wanted them to understand that every kind of food (ritual) is acceptable; the food (rituals) do not come in contact with the heart, but only pass through the stomach and then comes out again. The heart of man is the key. A ritual is outward and the heart in inward (inner being of man). Rituals are outward actions and only God knows the inward heart of each one. Psalm 139

Can a ritual ceremonial worship be acceptable to God? Only if it does not interfere with our spirit of inner purity with God.