Mt 15:1-9 Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!” Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’ and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’ But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you: “ ‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’ ”
-Their motives were not pure
Heart - that part of us where our emotions and desires dwell. Gen 6:5; Jer 17:9; Prov 28:26a; Mt 15:18-19.
Our Creator cares about what we do, but more about the how and why we do it.
Three areas of struggle for our heart motivation (what drives us):
1. Status, success, approval. Mt 6:1
2. Selfishness: we give to get (why do I pray?) Jas 4:3; to make ourselves feel better Gal 6:1a
3. Security (we don't want to mess it up with God). Rom 5:1
What we should be motivated by: seek to honor God by pointing others to Jesus.
1. Guard your heart. Prov 4:23
2. Get into God's Word regularly. Heb 4:12-13
3. Put God first. Jas 4:8-9
4. Be honest with God. Ps 139:19-24
