Chris Bean

Due to my affinity for brewing coffee and sharing lattes, capps, macchiatos, etc…I end up seeing a counter full of dirty cups quite often.

I can’t imagine sharing a skillfully prepared espresso beverage for someone in a dirty cup. That would just be disgusting, right?!

In Matthew 23:25-26 Jesus chastises the religious leaders:  “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. ²⁶Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.”

It is certainly easy for us to get this spiritual truth turned around.

I was reminded and encouraged by someone in our worship gathering yesterday morning that the primary “work” of salvation is an eternal and internal transformation. This work was finished by what Christ did on the cross and becomes internally transformational as we cooperate with God’s grace and submit to His lordship in our lives.

Typically, this gets lived out with a high level of excitement and spiritual energy as a new believer appears to be “on fire” for Christ. Those who have recently passed from death to life in Christ tend to be bold in sharing Christ with their friends, family, co-workers etc although they may still have some external, “sinful”, behavior issues to work out in their daily lives.

But the problem is…at some point it becomes easier for a Christian to manage the external things (legalism, moralism, behavior modification, do’s and don’ts) and neglect the internal matters (spiritual intimacy, fruit of the spirit, motivations, progressive sanctification, etc).

So even as we experience worship, community, biblical teaching, etc…it’s like pouring a delicious fresh latte into a dirty old cup which may have looked clean on the outside but was full of disgusting, dried, caked-on filth on the inside. And keep in mind, taking care of the inside of the cup is not something we do by working hard and self-scrubbing. It is positioning ourselves to be cleansed…spending time with God…inviting the Cleanser to do His thing.